Prayer of the Day: Lord Jesus Christ, who stands at the door and knocks, open our hearts by Your Spirit that we may not turn You away in fear or pride, but welcome You with repentance and joy. Clothe us in the white garment of Your righteousness, enrich us with the gold of Your grace, and keep us steadfast until we receive the crown of life. We ask this in the name of Jesus’ who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

“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: “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. 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—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. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’”

Dearly Beloved Fellow Christians,

A knock at the door can be a welcome sound. It might signal the arrival of an invited guest or a family member returning home. In such cases we are happy to stop what we are doing and go to open the door. But a knock at the door might also signal the arrival of someone we would just as soon not see: a salesman, a bill collector, a disagreeable neighbor with some complaint against us, or it might be someone bearing bad news. In such cases we would just as soon not answer the door.

In our text the person knocking at the door is one who ought to be the most welcome of guests: the Savior Jesus Christ. What better visitor could come to our home? What more highly honored guest could we receive at our door than the Savior, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Son of the Living God, the Redeemer, our friend and brother? Surely we would all say that if Jesus were to knock at the door of our home, we would gladly drop whatever we were doing and run to the door with joy to greet Him and invite Him in. Surely we would not call to Him to go away and say, “Come back another time; I’m too busy to see you today.”

But look carefully at what the Lord says to the Laodiceans in this letter: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” He was already at the door, knocking, seeking entrance, and offering to come in and dine with the one who opened the door to Him. And we today should realize that the same Lord is at our door knocking and offering us the blessings of His fellowship. Yes, the Lord will come on the Last Day, as He would have us bear in mind at all times; but He also knocks at our door today—and every day—in His Word. And if we are to be prepared for His coming on the Last Day, we will want to open the door to Him today and every day. This is the message of this last of the seven letters to the churches.

OPEN THE DOOR; IT’S JESUS

He may have a rebuke for you, but He offers it in love.

One reason that we may at times be reluctant to open the door to Jesus in our daily life is that we feel guilty on account of our sins. We fear that the Lord will meet us with a rebuke, for we know that we’ve got it coming. We find it hard to be rebuked by other people: the teacher at school, the boss or supervisor at work, the pastor or elder at church. How then can we stand to hear a rebuke from the Lord Jesus Christ? The way He introduces Himself in our text makes a rebuke from Him a particularly fearful thing. He is “the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God.” He is truth itself, everything He says is true, we can’t argue with it, and we must not ignore it. He is the one by whom the world was created. As Paul also writes about Him, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16).

In the case of the church in the ancient city of Laodicea the Lord does come with a rebuke, and His rebuke in this case is a particularly harsh one. He says that their works showed that they were neither cold nor hot. They weren’t cold, unconverted unbelievers, but neither were they fervent believers. They were lukewarm; they were believers who had once been fervent believers but who had cooled to lukewarm, near indifference. The flame of faith within them was burning very low, so low in fact that it was in danger of going out completely. And, as the Scriptures also teach in other places, the state of those who have once believed and have fallen away is worse than that of those who have never believed. The Lord also describes the spiritual condition of the Laodiceans in other devastating terms, calling them “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” And the worst of it was that they weren’t aware of their true spiritual condition. They were saying, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.”

When the Lord knocks at our door today, coming to us in His Word, He surely brings a word of rebuke for us, too, for there are always things in our personal lives, and things in the life of our congregation that need to be corrected. There is always need for repentance, which is why we always begin our Sunday services with the confession of sins. Let’s not be afraid to open the door to the Lord on this account. Let’s not be afraid to open the Bible, for fear of what we might find there. Let’s not be afraid of going to church, for fear of what we might hear there. Let’s not be afraid of the Lord’s rebuke, for it is always administered in love. We can see that in this letter. The Laodicean congregation was in a deplorable state, and on that account the Lord is very harsh and unsparing with them, as we have seen. But His purpose is to lead them to repentance. “Be zealous and repent,” He says. Let’s remember this whenever the Lord in His Word rebukes us, whether it is something we read in the Bible, something we hear in a sermon, or something the pastor, an elder, or other fellow Christian brings to our attention. It is for our good, for our uplifting and healing that the Lord rebukes us.

In the case of the Laodiceans it wasn’t fear that had kept them from opening the door to the Lord. It was complacency, it was indifference; this is the lukewarmness for which the Lord rebukes them. They thought they didn’t need anything that He had to offer them. This feeling of not needing anything is a great obstacle to spiritual growth. If anyone thinks, “I don’t need to read the Bible…I don’t need to hear a sermon…I don’t need to go to Communion,” let that person hear what the Spirit says to the church at Laodicea. The people there thought that they were rich and didn’t need anything. But Jesus says that they were “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”

He has costly gifts for you.

Yet the Lord still loved them. His love for them is evident in the promises that He makes to them, the blessings He still offers to them. Notice that He offers them things that are amazingly expensive: gold, pure gold, the kind that has had the impurities refined out of it and fine, white garments. But notice also that these are not presented here as luxuries, but as exactly what these people needed. They were poor (begging poor, according to the word used in verse 17); the gold the Lord offers would do away with their poverty. They were naked; the white garments would not just cover them but cover them in something spotless. He also offers them eye salve for their blindness. These things are the Gospel and the Holy Spirit who works through the Gospel. For in the Gospel there are great riches, things money can’t buy. The Gospel offers eternal life. People are willing to spend a fortune to prolong their life, even if only for a little while. But God through Christ gives eternal life to those who believe in Him. In the Gospel there is forgiveness of sins, pictured wonderfully here by the white garments. By faith in Jesus we sinners are covered by His perfect righteousness, so that the shame of our sins will not be revealed, nor will we be condemned for them. What a comforting truth! The righteousness of Christ covers us as with a garment.

As if this were not enough, the Lord adds this promise: “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.” Those who continue steadfast in the faith to the end will share in Christ’s rule and glory, as a reward of pure grace. The Laodiceans thought they were somebody (“rich… (in) need of nothing”) when really they were nobody (“wretched, miserable, poor”). Jesus calls upon them to confess their lowliness and need, and He promises to exalt them to true power and glory in His kingdom.

This the Lord offers to us and to all who hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He stands at our door today and knocks. He comes with a word of rebuke. Don’t ignore His knocking because you are afraid of His rebuke. Remember that He says, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” Don’t ignore His knocking because you think you don’t need anything. He has precious things to offer you: the forgiveness of all your sins, life and salvation. Open to Him gladly and listen to what He says. Consider what an honor and privilege that the Lord wants to come in and dine with us, that He wants us to be in His company. Let us spend time with Him now in this time of grace so that when He comes at the end He will acknowledge us as His own and take us to be with Him forever. Amen.

—Rev. John Klatt

Watertown, SD

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