When They Excommunicated Jesus - Himalayan Heights – June 3 Readings: Revelation 3:14-22 – Laodicea

 Revelation 1-5 - Seeing Jesus

All Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but there are some Scriptures that we can consider the Himalayan mountaintops of the Bible. In the next few months, we will be looking at a series of great texts that inspire and move us - the "Himalayan Heights" of God's Word.

Today's Reading:  Revelation 3:14-22

The last book of the Bible does exactly what its title says it will do, it reveals Jesus Christ to us in a way that is unique in Scripture.

“Write to the angel of the church in Laodicea: Thus says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator of God’s creation: 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent. 20 See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 “To the one who conquers I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Through the Bible Readings: 2 Kings 11-12, John 10:1–21, Psalm 69:21–27, Proverbs14:17-18

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional: When They Excommunicated Jesus     

It is perhaps the most horrible metaphor in Scripture, when understood properly. We misuse Revelation 3:20 as an evangelistic verse, picturing Jesus knocking on the door of the sinner's heart asking to come in and give salvation. That is not what the verse says. Jesus is knocking at the door of the church, asking to come in and fellowship with what we call the "Body of Christ." Somehow, Jesus has been excommunicated from the church he died to redeem and establish.

Do you get it? Jesus was on the outside looking in! He was excluded from HIS church.

How did that happen? Of course, the issue at Laodicea was lukewarmness, which we usually assume is an issue of passion. They were neither passionate FOR Jesus nor were they passionate AGAINST him, they were just meh, blah, lukewarm. But is that really what Jesus was saying? Would Jesus rather people be against him than to be lukewarm? Could there be another meaning to this passage?

Laodicea, according to many scholars, had a terrible water supply, lukewarm and with a bad taste. But just a few miles away was Hieropolis, where there were hot springs with mineral water that was believed to have healing properties. Colossae, also only a few miles away, was known for its cool spring water, tasty and refreshing. They were just a few miles from hot healing water and a few miles from cool refreshing water.

Like the waters of Hieropolis, we are meant to be agents of healing in this world. Like the waters of Colossae, we supposed to bring the refreshment of Christ to the spiritual desert in which we live. Healing and refreshing waters are to flow from us - hot and cold. Jesus wishes that hot healing water flowed from us or cold refreshing water, but instead, too often, like the Laodiceans, we are lukewarm, neither healing or refreshing.

The faithful and true witness, Jesus Christ, had been excluded from the church so there were no "streams of living water" flowing in the church. According to verse 17, they believed they were rich and had all they needed but were living in self-deception. They were actually wretched and lacked life's necessities.

Because “the Faithful and True Witness” Jesus Christ was outside the church, knocking, asking someone to let him in! What were they told to do? Buy from Christ. Seek Jesus. Draw near to the source of the refreshing and healing water! They were to open the door to him and let Jesus in. 

The church is only the church when Jesus is at the center. The issue is not about how much passion you can work up, but how much your life is centered on and focused on Jesus Christ. Are the streams of living water flowing from him, through you, to the world?

Father, thank you for Jesus, the living water, who gives to me, and to the world through me, healing and refreshing. May I be faithful to share that with the world. 

Think and Pray:

Are you walking closely under the Lordship of Christ so that the living water of Christ can flow through you, bringing healing and refreshing to others?