Poor, blind and naked

Recently in the Sunday meeting we have been determined again with the letter to the church in Laodicea. As a result, here are a few comments.

The letter to Laodicea is, so to speak, the last letter that the Lord Jesus sent to the Church (Revelation 3:14-22; see also here). It is His Word especially for Christians living in the last days.

Lukewarmness

The great hallmark of Christendom is lukewarmness; we think that everything is fine, but meanwhile do not realize that reality – as God sees it – is actually different and even opposite. The reality is that in reality we are poor, when we think we are rich and do not need anything from God. We think we're all seeing it right, and our ideas about life will match how God thinks about it; but in reality we are blind. And finally, we feel like we've all got it right in our lives, when in reality we're naked. It is reminiscent of the story of 'the emperor's new clothes'. Thinking you're wearing the most beautiful clothes, when in reality you're walking naked.

Poor, blind and naked, while we don't notice anything and think that everything is fine and that God will be happy with us. It looks like the people of Israel who are apostate, but say, “Surely I am innocent . . .” (Jeremiah 2:35 and also 16:10). The lukewarmness of Laodicea is the reason the Lord Jesus distances himself and us'spews out of His mouth' (Revelation 3:16).

But He is still merciful and comes with three 'advisements' (3:18). I call them 'advice' because they are not orders; He 'recommends us some things'. With the Lord there is no compulsion, we don't have to do anything, but He wants us to act voluntarily, out of love for Him and follow His advice. That pleases Him most and brings the greatest blessing to our own hearts as well.

Gold

“Buy gold from Me, refined by fire, that you may become rich”.

Glory

'Gold', that can be about none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Gold is a type of the glory of God, and in whom is God's glory expressed? In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul puts it this way:

“(…) the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God . . . to enlightenment with the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:4,6).

The glory of Christ is that He is the image of God, and so when we look at Christ, see His face, see Who He is and what He has done, we see the glory of God. You could say that He offers Himself – God's Gold – to us. He, God's Son, Jesus Christ, Who accomplished the work of atonement on the cross of Calvary. The letter to the Hebrews says so beautifully:

“He Who is the radiance of God's glory and the imprint of his substance, who upholds all things by his mighty word, having wrought out the cleansing of our sins by himself, hath seated himself at the right hand of the majesty in the highest heavens.” (Hebrews 1:3).

Christ the Crucified

It is 'gold, refined by vuur' and that shows that it is about Christ, who was made sin on Calvary's cross and who bore the judgment of the holy God for our sins. In doing so, He hasthe cleansing of our sins accomplished' and He now sits in the highest heavens at the right hand of the Majesty (as it is written in Hebrews 1). There is one Man in heaven with God, Jesus Christ, who was glorified by God after His work here on earth (1 Peter 1:21). God's glory is not visible to us if we leave out the cross of Christ. It is about Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23 and 2:2) – He is the 'Gold of God' so to speak.

Buying gold

Practically, it means that we have to re-enter the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He must again become the most precious thing to our hearts. For this we have received God's Word, which above all speaks of Him, the Son of God's love. We will have to take up His Word again and take in and ponder what is written about Him in our hearts. In this way we must once again see the value of the Lord Jesus and be impressed by Him.

Isn't it more than normal that the One who is most precious to God is also most precious to the hearts of all God's children?

But we have to pay something for it: it costs us something and that is why the Lord also says that we must 'buy' the gold. It does not cost us money, but only time and we will have to 'sacrifice' it to obtain that gold from God. When we do that, we will experience that the gold we get in return is worth infinitely more than the time it 'costs' us. That is exactly what the Lord Jesus also says: “(…) so that you may become rich' (Revelation 3:18).

White clothes

“. . . white garments, that you may be clothed, and the shame of your nakedness may not be manifested.”

“White garments” immediately remind us of the fine linen garments that the priests in Israel wore when they performed their work in the tabernacle or the temple. It reminds us of our priestly service: the daily bringing of 'offerings of praise and thanks'. Praise and thanks for the work the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross. We've written about it before (see for example here).

It can't be otherwise, can it? If the Lord Jesus is precious to us – gold of God – then will the thanks and praise of our hearts rise naturally from our hearts to Him and to God our Father? Isn't that more than logical? The text also gives rise to this:I advise you to buy from Me gold (…) and white clothes (…)”.

The gold and the white clothes belong together; the one not without the other and the other not without the one.

Clothed

When we follow these counsels from the Lord, those white garments will also clothe us. Practically, that can mean showing more of the Lord Jesus; become more like Him. That covering also ensures that we no longer walk around naked and “the shame of our nakedness is not revealed”; just think of the 'Emperor's clothes' above. You could say that it is no longer visible that we are sinners by nature. It is what Paul writes:But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not nourish the flesh to arouse lust” (Romans 13:14).

Here too the Holy Spirit is active in us, according to what Paul writes:

“All of us now, who with uncovered face the glory of the Lord to behold as in a mirror, to be transfigured changed in the same image, from glory to glory, as this the Spirit of the Lord being edited.” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Blindness

The Christians in Laodicea thought it was all right, but they didn't see it right. In fact, the Lord says they were blind. They couldn't see it at all and they didn't understand what the Lord was talking about. It is like the Lord Jesus saying to the Pharisees:And some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard this, and said to Him, Are we then also blind? Jesus said to them, If you were blind you would have no sin, but now that you say, We see, your sin remains.” (John 9:40,41). Both the Pharisees and the Christians in Laodicea were spiritually blind and the Lord Jesus confronts them very directly. They live in their own spiritual world – nowadays you would say 'in their own religious bubble' – and that is the reality they believe in. But the Lord tells them that they are blind and cannot see reality as it really exists, reality as God sees it.

Eye Ointment

What is the remedy? Eye salve! In other words: admit that you are blind, that you do not see well and that you are not doing well and take the advice of the Physician to heart and follow it. That means: buy gold from God! That's where it starts and then the rest comes after that. Putting the Lord Jesus Christ before your heart, reading His Word, thanking and honoring Him. Then God's Spirit works through His Word and we begin to see things again as God sees them. And above all: then we will see the greatness and glory of the Lord Jesus again. Then our lives will change!

He's at the door

The Lord gives the advice we have pondered. Someone might think that it is still quite a search for that 'Gold of God'. But then you are mistaken in the Lord: He is already standing at the door of your heart, knocking to be let in.

He wants you to enjoy Who He is, He wants to dine with you, to have intercourse with you.

And not just once, but every day. We must persevere, in it we must grow and overcome. The reward for the overcomer is to sit with Him on His throne.

Over and over again

The above will not be new to you. We've talked about it several times. But it strikes me that the Bible speaks of it again and again, albeit often in different terms. I also have to keep telling myself that this is where the secret of our Christian life lies. If we want to overcome in these last days we will have to buy the 'Gold of God'! It won't work otherwise.

“Therefore, brethren, be all the more zealous to make your calling and election sure; for if you do, you will never stumble again. For thus shall the entrance be given to you in abundance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I will not fail to remind you always of these things, though you know them and are strengthened in the truth that is with you.” (2 Peter 1:10-13)