The Throne

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

THE THRONE

Rev 3:14-22

14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." 

NIV

Here we have the completed picture of Jesus, after seeing who holds the stars and walks among the churches. That he is the first and the last, the one that was dead and now is alive. That he is the one who has the sharp double-edged sword. That he is the Son of God who has blazing eyes and feet like burnished bronze. He holds either the messengers or the sevenfold Spirit and now we add that he is the Amen, the faithful and true witness and the ruler of God’s creation. What more do we need to know that he rules over all of his creation including us. If we think for one moment that we have any rule over our own selves we are sadly mistaken. That is one of the messages in this statement to the church. However, we need to understand the first part of this message about being lukewarm. What does a lukewarm Christian look like? What does a cold Christian look like? What does a hot Christian look like? It is sure we could know that a cold Christian is one who has absolutely no fire in their belly, they are just going through the motions of attending a Sunday morning service, never sensing the presence of the Spirit or engaging in true communication with the Lord. They are Christians in name only. We can also know a hot Christian is one who is on fire for Jesus. This fire is not just in words, but is in the spirit of the believer. Their lives are sold out to Jesus. Every action, every decision, every choice in their lives are dependent on their hearing from Jesus. Their conversations are centered on Jesus. Although they can engage in small talk, their thoughts are always looking for an opportunity to bring Jesus into the conversation. Everything they think and do is based on their faith. But to be lukewarm is to be spit out of the mouth of Jesus. What is lukewarm? Is this the believer who sort of believes, who has a certain amount of belief that is filtered by a certain amount of doubt? Is this the believer who thinks they believe but still lives in the same manner as many of the unbelievers? Is being lukewarm saying we believe in Jesus, we trust in Jesus, but we also trust in our own ability to provide for ourselves and store up for our future? Is being lukewarm telling people we are saved, but they cannot see our salvation in action? Is being lukewarm just getting by minimally in the Spirit, not fully engaged, not accepting all the gifts, not growing any of the fruit, not truly experiencing communion as well as Pentecost. Clearly we can see that storing up wealth for ourselves promotes the sense of being rich, at least in the eyes of the world, but in the eyes of God those who think themselves as being rich are actually wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Wealth in itself is not necessarily bad, but it is the trust in that wealth which promotes that kind of thinking which is detestable in the eyes of the Lord. We are admonished to buy Gold, buy wealth from Jesus. His wealth is eternal life, the true wealth, clothed in his purity. If we are clothed in his white robe we can stand righteous before God. He sees us as he sees Jesus, his Son. Jesus is standing at the door of our hearts and he wants us to invite him in to be the Lord of our very being. In doing this we will have the right to sit upon the throne of Jesus.