Spue You Go

I know… Spue doesn’t even seem like a word, right? I mean, maybe it should be spelled spew, or something. Well, the word spew is pretty close to the context of this writing, but spue is actually the word Jesus used to describe just how aggressively He will reject you!

Wait… Jesus rejects people?

Wait… Jesus isn’t patient, trusting, kind, compassionate?

Wait… what the spue?

No… I didn’t misspell it just to get your attention. See, in Revelation 3:15-16, He said; “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth“. It is that word Spue that caught my eye, my ear, and my heart recently… I was thinking about the ‘So then’ part of this verse.. the verse begins with the word SO. I mean, ‘so’? So what? Well, I backed up just one verse and read, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.” He uses this two-three verse presentation several times in this chapter, so it is a recurring theme… hint… pay attention!

Now as much as I know about the Bible and God’s word, I still had to look up this spue word because I actually thought it was just an Old English version of the spew word… but the word spue is MUCH more aggressive and definitive than that. The dictionary actually described SPUE as;

Spue: [spyoo] to discharge the contents of the stomach through the mouth; vomit. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/spue

In the Greek, it is “emeo” (em-eh’-o), which is used as a verb and also means, “to vomit”.

It sure sounds the same as SPEW, but mercy… quite a different picture we have now! I mean, the word spew connotes having put something into your mouth to only spit it right back out (and sometimes quickly)… with that blargh sound, too! This spue word that Jesus uses is something much deeper… much more internal… and much more impacting on your body when it occurs. But, that is how Jesus spoke, that is how He taught, that is how He wordsmiths His phrases to help get our attention. See, to vomit something out of your body is much more than just ejecting something from your mouth. Sure, it goes through your mouth, but the journey began down in the stomach… down in the bowels, the abdomen, and the very core of your body as it were… down in the depths of your very life.

Now just imagine being out to dinner, or being at a camping picnic, or even just traveling abroad and ingesting something that is so good tasting… so filling… so comforting actually (like you just ate the best desert ever!). Unbeknownst to you, something bad was in that food that neither your tongue, your sense of smell, nor your taste-buds could detect. See… those senses help protect your life so that you don’t ingest something that can/will make you sick and cause you to die… but, they missed it this time… they didn’t catch the subtle and pending doom… they didn’t suspect a thing. Hence, your sense of fulfillment is well intact, for the time being! Whatever it was, it got past your senses and you’re none the wiser… nor do you care actually because that warm-n-fuzzy feeling was just so completing and so rewarding… all is right with the world, you think.

Some 3 or 4 hours later though, you are not feeling so well… things are brewing… festering… they’re fermenting, actually… causing tumult on your entire system and ultimately, those contents need to be ejected from your body. Otherwise, for them to remain there will poison you, will sicken you further, and in many cases kill you! Yes… this involuntary action of vomiting is your body’s way of protecting your very life. Sure, you fight it off, drink some water, lay down, settle yourself… who likes to puke anyway, right!??

The inevitable does finally occur and it IS quite a violent experience. Me?? I hate it! It feels like I will never get a clear airway again and get another breath of air. Literally, it is a gut-wrenching experience (I just had to… couldn’t help myself!).

Now… back to Jesus using this as a reference and picture to describe rejecting ‘lukewarm’ people. Why would he introduce this “you could be ejected” idea in Revelation? I mean, there’s always been this standing “once saved, always saved” argument, or the “my name is written permanently in the Book of Life”, or even the core ‘security of the believer’ promises we lean on…. Jesus even told us, “I’ll never leave you, nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6). This event isn’t God changing His mind, it is not a ‘gotcha’ thing where you neglected to read the fine print in some buried scripture deep in the ‘boredom’ of the Book of Chronicles, or something like that.