Cold or Hot? Revelation 3:15

John the apostle saw the vision of Jesus in chapter one of “Revelation”, and he began to write to the “seven churches in Asia”. He started with the church located in “Ephesus”, then the “church of Smyrna”, the “church in Pergamos”, the “church in Thyatira”, “the church in Sardis”, “the church in Philadelphia” and finally the “church of the Laodiceans” where He told them, “These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God”, and in chapter three and verse fifteen of Revelation Jesus addressed “the church in Laodicea” being “neither cold nor hot” where we read:

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would you were cold or hot.

The verse reads, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot:” John began with the words, “I know” which means “Jesus perceived, understood, noticed, discerned and discovered” “your works” or “the church of the Laodiceans' business, employment and that in which they were occupied”, “that you are neither” which means “that the church of the Laodiceans are not and in no way” “cold” which means “sluggish, inert and destitute of warm Christian faith and the desire for holiness” “nor hot” or “and in no way boiling hot and a fervor of mind and zeal”. Jesus knew that the “business” of the “church of the Laodiceans” was done in neither a “sluggish and inert” way nor with a “mind with fervor and zeal”.

The verse goes on to say, “I would you were cold or hot.” John added the words, ““I would you were” which means “Jesus desired that the church of the Laodiceans were” “cold” or “sluggish, inert and destitute of warm Christian faith and the desire for holiness” “or hot” which refers to “or boiling hot and a fervor of mind and zeal”. Jesus desired the “church of the Laodiceans” to be one way or the other – either “destitute” from the ways of God or “fervently zealous” for them.

When we think through John's words in this verse, we see how Jesus wanted the “church of the Laodiceans” to be either “totally cold, sluggish and inert” from Him or “on fire” for Him. The idea was not to be “sitting on the fence” as a Christian group. When people are “cold” to the gospel of Jesus Christ, they can be convicted by the Holy Spirit of God and moved to make a decision to receive Him as “Savior and Lord”, and when people are “hot” for the gospel of Jesus Christ, they have been fully convicted and convinced that following Jesus is the best choice not only for themselves, but for others also. The “church of the Laodiceans” was neither, and Jesus recognized their fault and flaw.

Next time we see John share how Jesus tells the “church of the Laodiceans” what He will do “because” they “are lukewarm”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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