The Counsel of Jesus (Revelation 3:18)

The Lord Jesus has been describing life in a faithless church in the prosperous city of Laodicea in Asia Minor, and it makes sad reading for us when we consider the other New Testament references to it. How had that church begun? The church there was connected to the church in Colosse and was planted in the AD50s at the same time by Epaphras (Col. 2:2; 4:3) when Paul was living in Ephesus. In that letter, sent to the Colossians several years after the founding of the church, Paul reminded them that he was praying for the Laodiceans and he also indicates there that he had never met them (Col. 2:2) and had written a letter to them (Col. 4:17), a letter that has not survived. But things had declined over the next three decades in that church and life in it was now quite different from what it had been. Maybe none of the present church members were truly converted – after all, that problem was in some of the other seven churches that Jesus addressed.

Yet the Lord of the church also describes what life could be like for those in the faithless church in Laodicea if they would listen to his words and respond to them in the right way. Although they had failed to show by their lives that they were his people, it is obvious that they were not yet beyond the reach of his grace. In this verse, he offers to them three blessings that would be beneficial for them in their current state, and we can consider each of them briefly.

What are the blessings that Jesus the head of the church offers to them? They are refined gold, white garments, and new eyesight (each alludes to a feature of the city’s life – it was famous for its banking system, its wool industry, and its medical centre). We should note that the three blessings go together, which means that the Laodiceans cannot have any of the three blessings by itself. Nor could they have two of the three. Rather, it is the three together or none of the three. So all who respond correctly to the gracious offer of the Lord Jesus will have the three blessings of that signified by the refined gold, the white garments, and the new eyesight.

Refined Gold

Gold is the most valuable of metals, or at least it was in the past. Yet gold could be affected negatively by other things which meant it had to be purified by fire to remove those defects. This means that refined gold is better than mere gold. If a person came to you with untreated gold in one hand and refined gold in the other, and asked you to chose one option, you would choose the refined gold. Refined gold therefore illustrates what is most valuable.

Moreover, this refined gold is not from anywhere on earth. Instead, it is refined gold from heaven. In the second chapter of Genesis Moses refers to the gold found in the land of Havilah and says about it that the gold of that land is good. You can ask Google which place today has the best gold, but it could only list locations in this world. The gold that Jesus has in mind here comes from a remarkably different place because it comes from heaven, the place that he lives in, and from where he speaks to the churches. Jesus offered perfect gold from the perfect country to a very imperfect and a very impenitent group of people. That he did so reveals his desire to bless them.

What is the most valuable commodity that heaven has that will result in sinners becoming incredibly rich? Surely, the gold that Jesus speaks of here is salvation. Salvation is a huge subject, and the Bible says much about it. One way to describe it is to say that the Father planned for them to have it, the Son purchased it for them on the cross, preachers presented to them in the gospel, and the Holy Spirit will yet perfect it in them.

Or we can think about it through the common explanation of salvation that says every Christian has been delivered from the penalty of his sins when he believed in Jesus, that he is being delivered from the power of his sin as he moves along in life as a disciple, and he will yet be delivered from the presence of sin when he dies and goes to heaven.

A saved person therefore has incalculable riches and unlosable riches because he has divine riches. Are you saved? If you are, your bank account is full for eternity.

While raiment

The second benefit that Jesus offers is white raiment. What does this refer to? It refers to garments that cover a sinner completely, not merely outwardly but also inwardly, not only for the body but also for the soul. What we have here is a picture of the righteousness of Christ reckoned to the personal account of everyone that believes in him. In a sense, Jesus is offering his own clothes to the lukewarm sinners in Laodicea.

How did Jesus get this garment? He did not always have it, although he always knew that he would yet have it to give to sinners. He put it together when he came to live in this world. Each thread in it is connected to his constant perfect obedience which he lived whether as a child, as a teenager and as an adult, whether he was in pleasant circumstances or in unpleasant situations, whether he was at home or in a neighbour’s house, whether he was alone or with a crowd, whether he was in Nazareth or in Jerusalem, whether he was physically free or whether he was nailed to the cross, whether he was in full communion with his Father or whether he was sensing the absence of his Father when on the cross. Through it all, his obedience was suitable, full, and marked by love for and dedication to God as well as for sinners.

It is obvious that the people of Laodicea did not have the best clothes on. They thought they did, but they did not. In everyday life they looked swell outwardly because Laodicea was famous for its woollen garments, and no doubt when someone from Laodicea visited another place people could tell where they were from by the quality of their clothes. But these costly garments would fade away eventually and would become useless. Out of love, Jesus offers to them another garment, the best garment, a garment that covers all their nakedness, covers all their sins and its effects. He offered his perfect life to them as their standing in the presence of God the Judge.

Of course, the benefits of his atoning death that he achieved when on the cross goes with this provision. The exchange is a twofold one. Jesus gives to sinners the blessings connected to his perfect life and atoning death. The garments of salvation are precious beyond calculation.

The same garment is offered to you, whoever you are, whoever you pretend to be, whatever mask you wear to hide the real you from others. Jesus knows who you are, and yet he offers you the best suit in the wardrobe of heaven, a suit that will cover you for eternity without becoming threadbare. Moreover, the price for this garment is free even though no-one can estimate its value. It is both priceless and free simultaneously and from the point of view of God’s justice all those who wear it are equal in his sight. How are you dressed at this moment? No doubt you spent some time preparing to come here. But are you clothed in the garments of salvation? Are you well-dressed in the estimation and sight of heaven?

Eye salve

The third benefit that Jesus offers to the church members in Laodicea is eye salve. When we think about it, why would a person need eye salve? He or she needs it to see the future. We cannot see the past, and the present is always momentary and at once gone. The direction in which we are walking is into the future and surely we want to see where we are going, where our steps in life are taking us. No doubt, many points could be made here, but I will mention only a few for us to consider.

First, we need good eyesight to see the dangers on the path we are travelling on. We do not know the days when those dangers are going to come close to us. The biggest danger we will face is temptations to sin. How will we see them coming or recognise them when they come if our eyesight is not good? On the other hand, there are pleasant things ahead. David revealed that he had this eye salve when he said that he would ‘look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!’ (Ps. 27:13).

Second, we need good vision to see the future of this world and we need good vision to see the future of the next world. We need to look ahead to the great white throne and see the verdict of the judge of all the earth. We need to see the beauties of glory and we need to see the descriptions of the sorrows of the lost. God, through giving us his Word, has given us a telescope to see what is ahead. It magnifies the future so that we can see it very clearly. There are many passages that we can look at and see the future detailed in great clarity. David revealed he had great vision in Psalm 23:6, when his vision took in this life and the next life: ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.’

Who gives us this ability to see and where does he give it? The Holy Spirit reveals them to us in the Bible. We can take the prayer of the unknown psalmist in Psalm 119:18: ‘Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.’ When temptations come, a little voice brings to our minds an instruction or an incident in God’s Word and tells us we are about to do something similar. Who can speak to us of the glories of heaven like the Holy Spirit who guided individuals to write about in his Word? Who can warn us so precisely about the awfulness of a lost eternity like the divine Spirit who desires our salvation?

How is your eyesight? Of course, maybe your problem is not blindness but a failure to always keep your eyes open because we live in a world of danger, while forgetting the descriptions given to us of the blessings and the penalties known in the next world. Thinking of heaven and hell will help you deal with temptations. Peter mentions some individuals who had poor eyesight and a bad memory, who could not see far ahead and who had forgotten that they had been purged from their sins.

The price to pay

Jesus tells the poverty-stricken people of Laodicea to buy from him. How can they do that when they have no money, as it were? It is not money that Jesus wants from them. What is his price for getting the gold of salvation, the garment of righteousness, and the vision to see the future? The price is your heart. Not half your heart, or two-thirds of your heart, but all your heart. The price is yourself, all that is within you, your mind, your affections, your choices. It is not perfection he is demanding from you, but he is demanding you.

The choice that comes to you is personal even as it was for those in Laodicea. We have no idea what choice those individuals made. Some must have repented because we know from church history that Jesus did not remove the candlestick from them. But did they all accept his offer of the three benefits?