,, And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
Rev. 3: 14-22
,,,, And write to the angel of the Laodicean church: Thus says Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God's Creation: In our language, this word is translated with "really" in other words, the beginning of this verse would be, "so says" True ".
Jesus could say for himself that He is True because God is the Truth and Jesus is the incarnate Truth and everything Jesus said was true and this church needed to recognize that Jesus was talking about them only the truth because He is the Truth and on one occasion Jesus he said:
,,… To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”
John.18: 37
Every warning or promise of Jesus is true and that is why He says Amen about Himself and the Apostle Paul writes the following about the promises and the truth:
,, For all the promises of God in him [are] yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”
2 Cor.1: 20
"The beginning of God's creation:" or as it is written in the new Serbian translation, "the beginning of God's works of creation" or "the beginning, the originator, the cause of God's creation." Here Jesus says that He is the originator or cause of creation, He is the Creator. confirmed in verse:
,, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”
Rev.22: 13
Jesus is the Creator, He is the Beginning and the End, He has authority over all creation:
,, Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”
Col. 1: 15-16
Jesus addresses the church in Laodicea like this because this church had fallen under the influence of materialism even though it was initially faithful, over time money began to take center stage and truths that were initially primary were increasingly pushed aside and there was more and more unsaved people in the church who were there probably because of their personal material interests. That is why Jesus says;
"I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot. Oh that you are cold or hot! So, being lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth. "
Jesus used the term "lukewarm" here because it was familiar to them and referred to the hot muddy water they had in the city which they delivered by pipes from the mountain. It was lukewarm or muddy because under the influence of temperature the water that was cold in the mountains it gradually warmed up and by the time it arrived in the city it became lukewarm and had a bad taste when used. The faithful in this church wanted to be in the church as well as to associate with the world, to please the world and to live by their rules, and that is why Jesus tells them, "I will vomit you out of my mouth." With these words Jesus gave them or left them some time to repent because he did not say "I will punish you immediately" but in the future, he gave them enough time to change the way of life at that time and to return to the old way they initially set out. .That path that led to God is Jesus r Jesus said of himself in John:
,, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
John 14: 6
The only way is Jesus without a golden mean, writes Matthew and James:
,, No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Matthew 6:24
,, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
James 4: 4
"For you say, 'I am rich, and I have become rich, and I need nothing; and you don't know that you are unhappy, and reluctant, and poor, and blind, and go "Under the influence of material things they forgot God and thought they didn't need anything because they have material things they go to church to see them there and all It's okay, but Jesus doesn't think so, and that's why he warns them out of love to change their way of life and return to the true God, if they don't do that, follow the realization of what Jesus promised them, "I'll spit you out of my mouth."
Here we see a lot of contrast, they said one thing and Jesus tells them that it is not so. First they say that they are rich and that they don't need anything and Jesus says, "you don't know that you are unhappy, and reluctant, and poor" and then they say to see everything and Jesus tells them that the blind are still under the influence of materialism they probably had good suits but Jesus tells them they are naked. So material things help nothing before God because otherwise Jesus would not tell them their true condition as we have seen already I would probably praise them for being rich, well-trained, and behaving accordingly. But we see that this is not the case, and Jesus offers them a solution.
"I advise you to buy from me gold burnt in the fire, to get rich; and white garments, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thine eyes with ointment, that thou mayest see.
Jesus advises them to return to the faith they had in the beginning because "gold" is a symbol of faith,
,, That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”
1 Peter 1: 7
Since they knew what gold was and how much it was worth, Jesus offered them real gold in the form of faith which is "gold burned in the fire" and that gold is imperishable, it is gold that has withstood all possible tests so far and it is the only true spiritual Jesus further advises them to buy from Him "white robes, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness not be shown;" because he had already told them that they were naked, they were actually spiritually naked and needed to be dressed in "white robes." In their area at the time they were raising a special kind of sheep that had gray wine from which they made various clothing items and they probably looked nice but Jesus offers them completely "new white robes" and they refer to the righteousness of Jesus which is pure and holy.
Man's righteousness is like an unclean garment,
"... and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags …”
Isa.64: 6
that is why white robes are a symbol of this holiness in which Jesus wants to train everyone who wants to wear them and in that way they are dressed in Jesus' righteousness and that is the only way to appear before God holy and righteous through Jesus.
As for the eyes, Jesus advises them, "and anoint your eyes with the fat of your eyes to see." And here is an example from their environment when they knew, and it was the fat that was produced in the temple of the god Asclepius, which served as a remedy for eyes and was known throughout the world at the time.They practically cured other people of eye diseases and maybe blindness and they themselves were blind because Jesus tells them “and blind” of course here Jesus thought they were spiritually blind and in that case they needed anointing with the Holy Spirit.
,, But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.”
1 John 2: 20-21
When a person is born again, the Holy Spirit enters him and such a person is witnessed and his spiritual eyes are opened and he is able to see spiritual things and can discern what is true and what is false. Jesus advises and recommends Jesus to the church in Laodicea to recognize the false teaching of the world and turn to the true spiritual teaching of Jesus and in that case they would have what they lack: faith, the justice of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Here we have a trade term because of their materialistic view of the world and Jesus says "buys" because they probably used it often. When it comes to salvation it is free and does not require money or gold. Jesus calls everyone:
,, ... come, buy wine and milk without money... "
Isa.55: 1
but this "free" had its price and Jesus paid for it with his blood on the cross
,, Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, [as] silver and gold, from your vain conversation [received] by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”
1 Peter, 1: 18-19
Jesus gave them oak's advice and warnings because he loved them and did not want them to perish, and he wants that for everyone else through all the centuries, including us, we just need to believe in him and repent.
He said to this church, "I counsel you," "I, whom I love, rebuke and teach; take care therefore, and repent." This applies to all people, and Jesus advises and says to the unbelievers, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in to him and dine with him, and he with me."
Unlike the church of Ephesus where Jesus was among his church
"walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks"
here we see that in front of the door which means that there were many unbelievers who were waiting for Jesus to repent and live by the counsel we saw that Jesus gave. ,, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in to him and have dinner with with him, and he with me. "
Jesus wants everyone to repent and join Him. He will knock on the door and someone will have to open it and receive him inside because He Himself will never open the door to force your way inside.
"He that overcometh, I will give him to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."
Here we have two thrones, the first is the throne of the Father, and Jesus sat on the Father's throne through all eternity before coming to earth. Jesus who is God and therefore sits on the throne of God.
But Jesus Christ, as a God-man, has his throne in the Kingdom to come, and this verse refers to "He who overcomes, I will give him to sit with me on my throne."
The one who opened the door of his heart to Jesus is the victor and he will have communion with Jesus and sit with Jesus in the throne when the throne is on earth and we read what we will be and what we will do in the future kingdom.
,, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father”
Rev. 1: 6
,, And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”
Rev.5: 10
,,He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."