Fr. Stephen De Young: So, verse eight! [Laughter] Yeah, Gail, you should have been here the time… There is an episode of this Bible study podcast that’s on two verses. [Laughter] 45 minutes on two verses. So, it could be worse—has been worse. I think it was in Ephesians; I think it was two verses in Ephesians. Anyway, back to verse eight.

“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it. For you have a little strength, have kept my word, and have not denied my name.” Again, you see how each of these letters kind of has a motif running through it. This one, he mentions the keys because he sits on the throne of David, he has the keys of the house of David, he can lock and unlock the doors. He says, “I’ve put an open door in front of you. You have a little strength.” What does that mean? All you have to do is walk through it. You’re not going to need to climb a mountain; you’re not going to need to push this rock up a hill. Just: Here’s an open door; walk through it.

Q1: Well, this is complementary to this epistle.

Fr. Stephen: Yes, and that’s because they’ve kept his word; they have not denied his name. So they’ve been facing some kind of persecution; they’ve remained steadfast. And so Christ says, “I’m opening the door for you. Walk through it.”

Verse nine: “Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not, but lie; indeed, I will come and make them worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you.” This is another case—we’ve already seen one of these, I believe—where you have a synagogue in Philadelphia that is predominated by non-Christian Jews at this time and who are in some way—it doesn’t give us specifics: it says in some way are oppressing or persecuting the Christians. Probably they’ve thrown them out, would probably be step one, and then whatever else in terms of the Roman authorities and that kind of thing.

This language here of them being the synagogue of Satan, and them claiming to be Jews but not being—or Judeans, is what it actually says—but not being, is really reminiscent of what Christ says to the Pharisees in St. John’s gospel, when they come to him and say—accusing Christ of being illegitimate. There are several places in the gospels where people basically accuse Christ of being illegitimate. It’s one of the evidences of the virgin birth, even in gospels like St. John’s that doesn’t make the virgin birth explicit: all these people are constantly questioning his… So they come to him and say, “We know who our father is; our father is Abraham.” And Christ replies to them and says, “No, if Abraham was your father, then you’d do the things that Abraham does.” And he says, “Your father is the devil, because you do the things that he does, because he’s a liar, he’s a murderer from the beginning. And that’s what you do.”

So that language there of them not actually being sons of Abraham, not actually being Judeans, even though they claim to be sons of Abraham, but actually being gathered together with Satan is sort of paralleling that language. This is— Remember, the idea of someone being your father in the Hebrew idiom is that you are the image of them. The son is the image of the father. So whomever you imitate, whomever you image, whoever is pictured, whomever your life is an icon of—that’s who your father is, and so that’s the idea here. So if you want to be a son of Abraham… This is what St. Paul says in Romans, too. Abraham’s life was summarized by faithfulness, so if you live in faithfulness to God in Christ, then you’re a son of Abraham; it doesn’t matter genetically or ethnically or whatever else: you’re a son of Abraham. And if you don’t, if you’re faithless, then you’re not a son of Abraham, because you don’t do the things he did. So this is the same idea here.

Where this is translated “worship there” actually means “bend the knee.” So the idea here is that they have rejected them and belittled them and humiliated them, and Christ is saying, “I’m going to make them recognize that, no— that you’re loved by God, not hated, and that they were wrong to persecute you.”

Verse ten: “Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” As we’ve said before, “testing”—we’ll do this in reverse—is not like you’re going to take a test. We tend to think of testing that way, as if God doesn’t know, like God needs to come and give a test to people to find out if they’re faithful or not, or to find out if they’re good or evil. [Laughter] He knows already. There’s no information he needs from a test. This is “test” more like the way you test metal if you’re a blacksmith, try metal or test or try something that— You know, you build a piece of furniture. You put weight on it, you test it. You put strain on it to make sure it’s going to hold together.

There’s a time coming when everyone is going to be tested, and that’s not going to give new information to God, but it is going to reveal who they are; whether they crumble or whether they hold fast, that’s going to be revealed. So what Christ is saying is: “The way you have stood fast, the way you have been patient, and the sufferings you’ve already had have already revealed who you are,” and Christ just promised he was going to reveal to the people persecuting them who they are. And so that means they’re not going to need some further test or trying in the future. It’s already been revealed. So Christ is saying as part of his promise to them, he’s going to guard them and protect them from future such trials, because they’ve already demonstrated who they are.

Verse eleven: “Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.” He’s saying, “Right now, you’re in the right place.” This is sort of the opposite of Sardis. [Laughter] Sardis is in the bad place and needed to repent immediately, because he’s coming like a thief in the night. He’s saying, “I’m coming quickly; just hold on a little while more. Hold on a little while more and don’t lose what you have, because you’re in the place you need to be.” Notice that no one taking their— Someone taking their crown is a possibility. Sorry, Calvinists—I had to do it once.

Verse twelve: “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God. And I will write on him my new name.” That first part, notice he says, “I will make him a pillar in my temple, and he will no longer go out.” This is another reference to them being thrown out of the synagogue. “You were hated, you were despised, you were thrown out. You’re not only going to be back in to the true temple, you’re going to be a pillar there. You’re going to be a permanent fixture and an important part of the temple. And then, secondarily, they denounced you, they threw you out, they struck you off the rolls.” And this is all language of Christ coming and claiming them. “They threw you out; they didn’t want you. I’m coming to claim you. I’m going to write my name, the Father’s name, the name of the new Jerusalem. You’re claimed, you’re wanted—by me.”

Q2: Has the Temple been destroyed at this point?

Fr. Stephen: Yes.

Verse 13: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches,” which is at the end of each letter. Okay. Letter number seven!

Verse 14: “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, write: These things says the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” We’ll pause there. Oh, because here’s another place. “St. John’s definitely an Arian.”

Q1: Why?

Fr. Stephen: “Because he just said Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God.”

Q1: Oh my goodness.

Fr. Stephen: [Laughter] Right!? So what does that actually mean?

Q1: It seems to be confirming the opposite as strongly as he can.

Fr. Stephen: Exactly. [Laughter] How does Genesis start? “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” What does St. John say at the beginning of his gospel? “All things were made through him.” So when he identifies Christ as the beginning, he’s not saying he’s the first thing that was created. He’s saying he’s the beginning in which—he’s the one in which and through which the Father created everything.

Q3: Doesn’t Amen mean, like “I agree”?

Fr. Stephen: Yeah, or “truly.” It’s sort of a reference to “I am the truth” or “I am the affirmation”: the faithful and true witness, so he gives the testimony, affirms the testimony. So, yeah, it’s the exact opposite idea. It’s not that Christ is the first thing God creates. It’s that Christ is the one in whom and through whom God the Father creates everything.

Verse 15: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.” [Laughter]

Q3: I’ve heard a lot of sermons on this part.

Fr. Stephen: Oh, yeah. This is— This preaches like crazy, man! What’s interesting— You always get, when they do the sermon, though, it’s always: you need to be hot. When technically, it says he’d rather they were cold or hot, but you never hear them say, “You need to choose cold or hot.” They always say hot is what we always want. Around here, I’d rather have cold water. I’m just throwing that out. Anyway. [Laughter]

Q3: I always felt the opposite.

Fr. Stephen: [Laughter] Yeah. But so what’s the idea here? The idea here is that hot water has uses, for cleaning things, for example, purifying things. Cold water has uses: it’s refreshing, it’s cool. Lukewarm water—stagnant water, breeding mosquitoes around these parts. [Laughter] That’s not something anybody— Standing water that’s not flowing anywhere. That’s no good. That’s the idea. But we’ll keep going. But that’s the imagery. So he’s saying, “Since you’re lukewarm and blah, I’m going to spit you out.” [Laughter] Neither hot coffee nor cold-brew coffee, but just room temperature: nobody wants it.

Q3: I do.

Fr. Stephen: [Laughter] You like room temperature coffee?

Q3: Whatever the temperature, I’ll drink it.

Fr. Stephen: Okay. Any port in a storm for caffeine, I’ll give you that, yeah.

Verse 17: “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—” [Laughter] This is one of the more negative ones, if you haven’t picked that up yet. What is, then—? How does lukewarm equate to being rich, wealthy, and not needing anything? Lukewarm we’re saying is like the useless kind of water, if not the befouled kind, stagnant. Those who are wealthy— So we’ve got to roll back to the first century. I know we live in a modern capitalist country where we’re told that the people who are the richest are the ones who work the hardest. I haven’t seen Jeff Bezos break a sweat recently, or Bill Gates. [Laughter] But especially in the Roman world, the richest people were not the ones working the hardest; they had slaves doing the work for them. They lived lives of luxury and indolence and obscene displays of wealth, meaning: kind of useless. They’re not doing much of anything; they’re kind of stagnant as people. That’s this “I have need of nothing.” Well, if you don’t need anything, what are you going to do?

Q1: Nothing.

Fr. Stephen: Nothing. [Laughter] You have all your needs met. You’re fat and happy, and you just sit. That’s the image here, and that’s that lukewarmness. And so he says, “You’re saying that about yourselves, that’s how you perceive yourselves, but in actuality you’re wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” I know the blind part’s a little ableist, but you get the point. They think they see and understand. Sight is related to understanding. You think you know, you think you understand; you don’t know anything, you don’t understand anything. You think you look beautiful on the outside, but you’re naked: you should be ashamed. And you think you’re rich and have everything, but you’re poor because you don’t have the things which are important, etc.

So he goes on: “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich. And white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. And anoint your eyes with eye-salve, that you may see.” So what’s he talking about here? What is “gold refined in fire”? We were just talking about testing and metals.

Q1: It’s purified.

Fr. Stephen: Right. So you need real gold, which is going to involve you being purified, which is going to involve some suffering and some denial on your part. Instead of giving in to your appetite and sating all your appetites all the time, you’re going to have to deny them. You’re going to have to be purified, you’re going to have to work, you’re going to have to repent. But then when you get that gold at the end of that process, then you’ll be rich, regardless of what physical wealth you have.

And regardless of what designer clothes, regardless of whom you’re wearing this evening, you are naked and should be ashamed—because Christ sees who they really are. They’re not fooling anybody. And so they need white garments, that they may be clothed. Remember the white garments two letters ago? White because they’re pure and they’re clean, like white baptismal garments.

And then “anoint your eyes with eye-salve that you may see.” You need to be healed; you need to have your vision healed. You need to come to Christ and learn to really understand, because if they could really see and really understand, they would know how poor they are and how naked they are and how wretched they are and how miserable they are, and it would drive them to repent.

So this sounds awful mean, to have someone say this to you, but as I’ve said before, when Christ says mean things in the Bible, he’s still talking to them; he’s not writing these people off. He’s trying to confront them with the reality. Why? Because he wants them to repent. This deception they’ve fallen into, that they have it all and everything’s fine and they could just live this life of luxury and indolence is killing them, and they don’t see it. And so Christ is being harsh here to try and get their attention and knock some sense into them.

Verse 19: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent.” So when I was a kid, before I got spanked, I got the old “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you,” and that’s bull. [Laughter] That is not true. Parents and grandparents were lying back then! But what would have been more true was that they were doing it because they loved me, not because they hated me and wanted to hurt me, because they were trying to get my attention, because there was something I was doing that needed to change, or it was going to have really bad consequences for me in the future. And so Christ is saying the same thing here. The reason he’s rebuking them, the reason he’s chastening them—which means punish, basically—the reason he’s doing that is because he loves them. He’s saying, “So therefore, be zealous and repent. I love you, and I don’t want to see you perish.”

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Here’s another one that gets preached all the time. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me.” But now, let’s take that in context. He says, “I’m here. I’m knocking. I want to come in. I want to be with you.” Come in where? This is addressed to the church, meaning he’s right now standing outside their church. Christ is outside their church. That’s the level the problems are at. He’s saying, “I want to come in and dine with you.” This is talking about the Eucharist. “I want to be in your midst. I want to be there with you, but you need to hear me, and you need to come and open the door. You need to repent. You need to turn back.”

“To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.” This is talking about—and this is imagery that’s going to get picked up later in the book—that, just as Christ ascends into heaven at the completion of his work and he’s enthroned upon the throne of God, in the same way he’s going to share his dominion and his rule with his faithful disciples who follow him and who are victorious in this life. So that’s sort of the ultimate promise there.

Verse 22: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” This is a little shorter than last time, but I don’t want to get started on chapter four yet, because we have to kind of shift gears. So we will stop here for tonight. Thank you, everybody.