The Church Of The Laodiceans Series

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The Seven Churches of Revelation Lesson 7

Revelation 3:14-22 – The Church of the Laodiceans

(Rev. Barry Johnson and Rev. Rodney Johnson)

Introduction

Laodicea was situated in the valley of Lycus, near Colosse and Hierapolis. The church was probably founded by Epaphras, a companion of Paul. All three of these churches are named by Paul in the letter to the Colossians, and an epistle, now probably lost, was sent to Laodicea.

Colossians 4:12-16 records the following. “Epaphras, who is one of your own, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings, always striving earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. (13) For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis. (14) Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and Demas does also. (15) Greet the brothers and sisters who are in Laodicea and also Nymphas and the church that is in his house. (16) When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part, read my letter that is coming from Laodicea.

Paul references the letter that he wrote while in Laodicea. I can’t help but wonder if the issues that Jesus addressed with the church at Laodicea were similar to what Paul addressed in his letter and it fell on deaf ears.

Laodicea was located about 40 miles southeast of Philadelphia (not Philadelphia, PA :-) ) and about 40 miles east of Ephesus, churches we looked at in earlier lessons. Laodicea was a wealthy city. It had thriving banks, a textile industry, and a medical school. The city was also known for its sparse water supply. Although it was the largest and richest city in the region, it had neither hot nor cold running water. Now keep this in mind because Jesus will use it as an analogy in his message to them. When the city was destroyed in AD61, the Laodiceans refused Rome’s offer to help them rebuild the city. Instead, they decided to rebuild it themselves, which meant they also had to solve their water problems.

There were hot springs in Hierapolis, one of the neighboring cities. People would travel great distances to bathe in those waters, believing they had medicinal powers. Here in the United States, there is a city that is known for the same thing. You may have heard of it – Hot Springs, AR. The city has naturally heated springs and many of them are located in Hot Springs National Park, where you will find Bathhouse Row, which has eight bathhouses that were built in the 19th and 20th centuries. If you remember your history, Hot Springs and Warm Springs, CA were two of the cities where President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who suffered from polio, spent a great deal of time. Colosse, another neighboring city, was known for its cold waters. People would travel great distances to vacation in Colosse, where they would invigorate themselves by taking frequent dips into the famous, refreshing, and cool-to-freezing waters.

These two cities, while not as prosperous, had something the Laodiceans needed badly – water. The Laodiceans agreed with Hierapolis to obtain water from them. Archaeology shows that Laodicea had an aqueduct system that carried water from the hot mineral springs to them from about five miles away. Now I want you to think about what happened to the temperature of the water from the time it left its source to the time it arrived at its destination. Can you say “lukewarm”? Ladies and gentlemen, what we are going to see in this lesson is, by far, the harshest message that Jesus had for any of the seven churches. But it’s one that we need to hear, that we need to learn, and that we need to put into practice. Rodney, I know you will begin our study but do you want to add anything to my introductory comments?