Were you Raised in a Barn?

Google says that Laodicea was in a valley with no independent water supply. Water arrived via aqueducts, creating lukewarm, sediment-filled water that was neither refreshing (cold) nor healing (hot). According to John’s letter, the church’s spiritual life was equally ineffective.

Laodicea was situated at a crossroads, and was a hub for banking, textiles, and medicine (specifically eye salve). It was a wealthy city. In fact, following an earthquake in 60 AD, the city famously refused Roman financial aid, choosing to rebuild on their own, instead.

Jesus had this to say to their angel:

14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.

Recall that before Jesus, Satan was the ruler of God’s creation. Now Jesus has taken that crown for himself. The moment of this transition is documented in Matthew 28:18, when Jesus tells his disciples that all authority in heaven and earth was given to him. He did not yet hold the keys to Death and Hades. He had to die first, as a criminal, to get them. Dying and resurrecting gave him the keys to Death, but Hell is reserved for criminals. To get into it, and free his fellow convicts, he had to die as the worst of us. Remember also, that Jesus and Satan are two sides of the same coin. Therefore, it was only his evil nature that he conquered.

15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

We want a spouse who reacts to us, whether it is a warm embrace, or a cold shoulder. Jesus is no different. If we love him, he’ll love us back. If we hate him, he’ll ask us why, and work to change our mind. But if we ignore him, his only recourse is to walk away from us.

If you spit out lukewarm coffee, it will change depending on the weather. If it’s a sunny day, the water will evaporate, leaving behind the heavier substances as a sticky mess on the sidewalk. If it’s cold, the water will freeze and become ice until the weather changes enough for it to evaporate. Being spat out does the same thing for us. It forces a change in our temperature.

17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

Money can’t buy love. Wealth doesn’t make you rich, family does… or knowledge does… or… beauty is in the eye of the beholder. These are all things that poor people say to make themselves feel rich. These sayings cover up the truth and allow us to win an envious argument. We say them, because we secretly want what someone else has, but don’t know how to get it for ourselves. To cover our shame, we choose to content ourselves with what we have, but that is not the way of a Son of Man. He forever wants more.

More treasure. A bigger fire in his heart. Another road to walk down. More love, and more understanding. Only when he has it all, will he be satisfied. He does not cast away, or overlook broken or seemingly useless things. He knows that every one of God’s creations has value, and until he sees that value, and collects it for himself, he is poor. Until he sees the world for what it really is, he is blind. Until he is fully dressed as a Son of Man, he is naked.

18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Fire represents scrutiny. Things change when they are heated. Impurities burn away, or float or sink, where they can easily be separated. The value of gold is dependent on its purity. Gold itself, is a luxury item. It’s not very useful compared to other metals, like iron, but it’s pretty, and it stays pretty forever. As far as we can tell, gold does not decay or decompose in any way. It does not rust or tarnish. Gold only becomes ugly when it is full of impurities. Its beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

White clothes are mentioned a few times in Revelation. Those who die because of the word are given white robes to comfort them. In essence, they are wrapped in the knowledge that they were right. Their understanding and actions were pure. The people who killed them just couldn’t see it, because their eyes were full of styes.

Jesus healed many blind people, according to scriptures, but in only one instance did he use a salve made from dirt and spittle. If we examine those two items, and what they symbolize, we can see the truth of that story.

Our world is made of dirt and water, mostly. Spit is referred to as the fruit of the mouth, in the Old Testament. In the scriptures, spittle symbolizes harsh words. The dirt that Jesus mixed with his harsh words represents his view of the world, and its dirtier aspects. The man that he healed was not blind in the body, he was blind in the spirit. He could not see any good reason to go on. His soul was being crushed under the weight of a filthy world.

To cure him, Jesus showed him that all things have value, even dirt. Evil is just as necessary as good, until we all walk in the house of the Father. Even then, evil will be a pyre that will burn before our eyes, forever. It will be under constant scrutiny from us. Once we understand this, our perspective changes, and it cannot be unchanged.

The Devil, God’s prosecutor, is working for us, to help us walk properly. Good and evil are both gifts from a loving God. Two things are always better than one. Being blind, then having your sight returned to you, is much better than only having one or the other. Being lost, then being found is better than never going astray. This point of view is a hard pill to swallow, made easier with a bit of saliva.

If you are lost, or blind, direct your harsh words at God, so that He can fix your eyes. That’s what every born-again criminal did, when they reached their rock bottom. Remember that God does not hate evil. It is His creation. So are harsh words. He is all powerful. There is nothing you can say that will hurt Him. If you cast your evil spirits out of your mouth, He will take them for a walk, and you as well. The first mile will take you where you think you want to go. The second mile will take you where you never thought possible. When you get there, you’ll find yourself with a chest full of gold.

If you believe Jesus would never say anything harsh to you, or that God is not capable of tough love, go back and read the story of Job again. Then go and count the number of times Jesus calls people names. If that doesn’t convince you, read Revelation 3:19, which says,

19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

Rebuke means to express sharp, stern disapproval for someone for their actions or behavior. If you find yourself in the congregation of Laodicea, you won’t just be spat out. You’ll be spit at. Water is life. Jesus will give you a mouthful of his, if that’s what it takes to get you going.

In the scriptures, water symbolizes philosophies. There was a time when it only bubbled up from the ground. This means that people had not yet begun looking up. Their philosophies were derived from the ground – the dirt, or the world around them.

In the scriptures, when the water starts falling from the sky, it brings a flood that lasts forty days and forty nights. This is the moment people realize there is a God above them. In other words, they figure out that they are not the rulers of the world, and the sky is beyond their reach. It was a drastic change of perspective. Our ancestors figured out that there was a Source behind the wind and the rain. They weren’t just things that happened, they were being controlled by unseen forces. This was a great leap in our understanding.

Our ancestors began classifying and studying these forces. They called some good and some evil, depending on how they affected people. That’s all good and evil are, variances of perspective. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Light was called good, because we could see where we were going, and see things sneaking up on us. The dark was bad, because it held monsters and mysteries only our imaginations could perceive. One day we will all be able to see in the dark, because we will be lit from within. Perhaps then we will see that light and dark aren’t really that different.

When all things are lit from within, there can be no shadows, because flames do not produce a shadow. That simple law of physics should give us some insight into how shadows are born. They only exist when light is aimed at matter. Turn off the light, and the shadow disappears. Move the matter, and get the same result.

The original state of the world was darkness, until God made Lucifer to light our way. There will come a time when we won’t need him, because we will become him. We will be our own light. That’s what the Philadelphians are promised, but we Laodiceans have stopped moving toward that goal.

In fact, we went too far. We have become lukewarm. We have found balance in the forces of the world. We like both sides of the coin. Perhaps we’ll flip it and let luck decide which brother we will marry? Or maybe some harsh words and a turned back will remind us who we should be pursuing?

I heard an interesting theory that women will start fights, because they long for emotional connections. To them, a warm embrace and a battle of words feel the same. It lets them know that their significant other cares for them enough to engage with them. I don’t know if it’s true, but it certainly seems plausible, from a male perspective.

Perhaps our guy understands this, and he isn’t about to let us call off the engagement? He wants to be engaged, too. He’s asking us to do something, whether it’s turn around and walk away, or go through the door. Just don’t stand there ignoring him. He wants us to acknowledge his presence. More than that, he wants us to follow him back to Philadelphia, where the door to heaven is.

20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Is it a date, or not? Dinner for two, or back to the drawing board to make other dinner plans? Before we can decide, we want to know what’s in it for us? Where do you want to take us?

21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Haven’t we always wanted to be a princess? And only a princess, because princesses become queens? What little girl doesn’t dream of sitting on a throne? Here’s our chance.

The letter to Laodicea comes after all the rest, even Philadelphia, because it offers us a choice to stop reading, or continue on to the next chapter, which describes the Throne in Heaven.

Before we can decide where to go, we have to know where we are. We all start in one of the seven churches. To move forward, we have to open the door. That door is in Philadelphia. Laodicea is the place where we doubt, and freeze in place, because we can’t decide if we want to go forward or back. You have to make that choice, right now. The revelation walk is not for the faint of heart. It’s a commitment. It takes guts and an iron will. It’s no fairy tale.

I hope you noticed that each of the churches is associated with a particular vanity. Ephesus with envy, Smyrna with pride, Pergamum with greed, Thyatira with lust, Sardis with sloth, Philadelphia with gluttony, and Laodicea with wrath. I didn’t plan it that way, that’s just the way it is. If you think that’s interesting, wait until we get to the plagues. They’ll blow your mind. They certainly blew mine.