Friday

Related Verses
Rev. 3:14-18 (14, 16, 18)
14 And to the messenger of the church in Laodicea write: These things says the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God:
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 about to spew you out of My mouth.
17 Because you say, I am wealthy and have become rich and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,
18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed and that the shame of your nakedness may not be manifested, and eyesalve to anoint your eyes that you may see.

1 Cor. 3:12-13
12 But if anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble,
13 The work of each will become manifest; for the day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will prove each one’s work, of what sort it is.

1 Pet. 1:6-7
6 In which time you exult, though for a little while at present, if it must be, you have been made sorrowful by various trials,
7 So that the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perishes though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

Rev. 21:18
18 And the building work of its wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.

Related Reading
Laodicea is a distorted Philadelphia. When brotherly love is gone, Philadelphia immediately turns into the opinions of many. This is the meaning of the word Laodicea…Lao in Greek means “many people,” and dikea or dicea means “opinion.” 

As soon as Philadelphia becomes degraded, the “brothers” become the “many people,” and its “brotherly love” becomes “the opinions of the many.”…When brotherly love is lost, the Body relationship is lost. The fellowship of life is cut off as well, leaving only the opinion of men. The opinion of the Lord is lost, and the only things left are the vote of the majority, ballots, and the show of hands. Once Philadelphia falls, it becomes Laodicea. (CWWN, vol. 50, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (3),” p. 784) 

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“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot” [Rev. 3:15]…Verse 17 says, “Because you say, I am wealthy and have become rich and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”…In the eyes of the Lord, the characteristics of Laodicea are lukewarmness and spiritual pride…Where does spiritual pride come from? It comes from history. Some were once rich, and they think that they are still rich. The Lord was once merciful to them, and they remember their history. But now they have lost that reality. 

There is only one group of proud people—those who were Philadelphia and who had once kept God’s word and not denied His name. Yet the life which they once had is lost…They remember that they were once wealthy and had become rich and had need of nothing. But they are now poor and blind! 

If you want to continue in the way of Philadelphia, remember to humble yourselves before God. 

Laodicea means to know everything, but in reality to be fervent about nothing…It remembers its former glory but forgets its present condition before God. Formerly, it was Philadelphia; today it is Laodicea.

The God-ordained pathway for the church is the way of Philadelphia. (CWWN, vol. 50, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (3),” pp. 784-787) 

The Lord’s counsel to the church in Laodicea [is] “…Buy from Me…” [Rev. 3:18]. Buying requires the paying of a price. The degraded recovered church must pay a price for the gold, white garments, and eyesalve, which she desperately needs. 

First, the Lord counseled the church in Laodicea to buy gold refined by fire. In the Bible our operating, working faith (Gal. 5:6) is likened to gold (1 Pet. 1:7), and the divine nature of God, which is the divinity of Christ, is typified by gold (Exo. 25:11). We partake of the divine nature of God by faith (2 Pet. 1:1, 4-5). The degraded recovered church has the knowledge of the doctrines concerning Christ but not much living faith to partake of the divine element of Christ. She needs to pay the price to gain the golden faith through the fiery trials that she may participate in the real gold, which is Christ Himself as the life element to His Body. Thus, she can become a pure golden lampstand (Rev. 1:20) for the building of the golden New Jerusalem (21:18). 

We know experientially that when we have the living faith, we enjoy the divine nature. And when we are in the divine nature, we surely have this living faith. Hence, these two things are combined and are both signified by gold. The church in Laodicea needs this gold—the divine nature applied, appropriated, by the living faith, which is Christ Himself. If we would gain this, we must pay the price. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 195-197)

Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 47, “The Orthodoxy of the Church,” chs. 6—9