Mid-week Prayer Focus - Laodicea
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Greetings Church! We’re now into this Covid-19 thing for almost 2 months, and I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve gotten a little numb to a lot of things. I feel numb to the overage of contrasting/conflicting news information about the virus. I feel numb after not having as much interaction with others as I’m accustomed to, I feel numb to caring if I’m going down the aisle in the grocery store the right way or not. At this point, I just want to get my box of cereal and go home. I feel a little numb as to whether my kids get their school work done each day or not. Even spiritually, I’ve had to repent of that numbness trying to creep in- through feeling numb towards needs in the world, and numbness towards the urgency to share the gospel- I don’t think I’m alone, this season has probably put many in a little bit of a spiritual funk.
Today we’re looking at the letter to the church in Laodicea, from Revelation chapter 3, verses 14-22. In this letter, Jesus addresses a church who had become numb and apathetic, a church who was experiencing a spiritual funk. He describes them as neither “cold nor hot,” and because of that Jesus says He will spit them out of his mouth. Jesus is comparing this church to a beverage, like tea- which is tasteful to drink hot, or as we do it here in the south- cold, iced, and sweetened- but just room temperature, lukewarm tea is not worth drinking. It’s so much better either warm or cold.
Jesus goes on further to mention in verse 17 that the church sees themselves as not needing anything- they see themselves as wealthy- having all they need- but Jesus says, referring to their spiritual state, that they are actually wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. In the following verse 18, he advises them to come to Him for true wealth, to come to Him for real clothes, to come to Him for the healing of their blind eyes. He goes on to remind the church that He loves them, and that His love is why He is encouraging them to be zealous and to repent. Zealous means having zeal- it means having great energy, enthusiasm, and desire- in this case- for the Lord. This energy, enthusiasm, desire- zeal for the Lord- is what I need right now. I need this boost of zeal right now, and you probably might need it as well. I’d like to pause just for a moment and pray for this zeal for us…
Each one of these 7 letters to the churches has listed at the end of it a reminder of the reward for those who apply the message and overcome life’s difficulties. Jesus knows this life is difficult- every one of these letters contains the encouragement to overcome. Overcome is the word being used. You don’t use the word overcome referring to a person who has life made and things are easy. No- to overcome something means to prevail against great difficulty- it requires endurance, perseverance, and zeal. And for me, I feel like the mentioned reward to the overcomers in this letter is particularly special. Listen to what verse 21 says “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” It’s like He’s saying, “I was able to overcome the great difficulties, and you can too- and you will share in my reward.” This imagery of sitting down with Him on His throne, is so powerful to me. We’re not just talking “a” throne, we’re talking about “THE” heavenly throne of Christ. It’s pretty convenient that if you keep reading into Chapter 4 of Revelation, we have a description of God’s throne in Heaven, which is encircled by a rainbow, out of which come flashes of lightning and sounds of thunder, before which are 7 lamps of fire, and a sea of crystal-like glass, with also four living creatures around it.
Now I’m not going to pretend to understand how in Heaven God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will be differentiated from each other, whether they all share the same throne or have different thrones, but I think it’s safe to assume either way that sitting up with Jesus on His throne is a big deal. Even though we associate God as the father figure, here I image Jesus as a loving father-like King, reaching down and pulling me up into His lap as if I were a little kid. And there as He embraces me tightly, He allows me to look at the world from His vantage point. Can you imagine what that would be like?
May the Lord use this passage to fan the flames within your heart, and may you overcome, and be able to experience the joy of sitting with Jesus on His throne.