Laodicea

• Laodicea was situated along the banks of a river and stood at the junction of three great roads traversing Asia Minor. The location of the city was conducive to commercial enterprise, hence it prospered as a large industrial administrative center specializing in banking, textile manufacturing and medicine. Many wealthy people attended the Laodicean church which, of course, caused the church to prosper.

Laodicea

• Evidence of this prosperity is found in the present day ruins of three large church buildings dating back to the early days of Christianity. Laodicea's economy was fueled by a textile industry that manufactured from the wool of black sheep, soft, sleek, black garments and carpets that were popular both locally and in the surrounding region.

Laodicea

• The medical school was likewise famous for successfully mixing chemicals to cure diseases. Its physicians, whose allegiance was to the serpent god Asklepios, produced an ointment for the ears and eyes. Especially famous was the Laodicean eye salve for healing certain forms of blindness. The banking industry likewise flourished in Laodicea because of the city's prosperous economy.

To Church in Laodicea

• NIV Revelation 3:14 "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!

To Church in Laodicea

• 16 So, because you are lukewarm-- neither hot nor cold-- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

To Church in Laodicea

• 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.

To Church in Laodicea

• 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.

To Church in Laodicea

• 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."

The Proud Free Town

• Laodicea means "the people speak or the people rule."

"I wish that you were cold or hot" (3:15–16)

• It is thought that the Laodiceans were being critiqued for their neutrality or lack of zeal (hence "lukewarm"). Based on this understanding, the term Laodicean is used in some modern Christian circles to derisively refer to the neutral or indifferent.[However, some scholars have suggested that this metaphor has been drawn from the water supply of the city, which was lukewarm, in contrast to the hot springs at nearby Hierapolis and the pure water of Colossae (Barclay). The archaeology shows Laodicea had an aqueduct that probably carried water from hot mineral springs some five miles south, which would have become tepid before entering the city. An historian of the time that the water was hard, though drinkable.

• The imagery of the Laodicean aqueduct suggests not that "hot" is good and "cold" is bad, but that both hot and cold water are useful, whereas lukewarm water is useless.

"Poor, blind, and naked" (3:17–18)

• The words attributed to the Laodiceans obviously mark an ironic over-confidence in regard to spiritual wealth. They, unlike the Christ who knows, are unable to recognise their bankruptcy. However the image may also be drawing on the perceived worldly wealth of the city.

• The reference to eye medication is again often thought to reflect the historical situation of Laodicea. According to Strabo (12.8.20) there was a medical school in the city, where a famous ophthalmologist practiced. The city also lies within the boundaries of ancient Phrygia, from where an ingredient of eye-lotions, the so-called "Phrygian powder", was supposed to have originated.

"Behold, I stand at the door" (3:20)

• This is among the most famous images of the Revelation, and is the subject of the famous painting The Light of the World by Holman Hunt. It bears similarities to a saying of Jesus in Mark 13:33–37, and Luke 12:35–38.

• Commentators variously view it as a metaphor of intimate fellowship, and/or a reference to the eschatological parousia of Christ. It is noted that the theme of divine invitations to eat, are found both in the New Testament (e.g. the Parable of the Wedding Feast) and in Graeco-Roman religion. Various papyri, such as POxy 3693, include invitations to attend a dinner with gods such as Sarapis, however these are issued by specified individuals to feasts at a temple of a god – and do not suggest the visitation of the home by the divinity.

Laodicea printed their own money that they could back.

                                                                                                          

Laodicea

• The place often suffered from earthquakes, especially from the great shock in the reign of Nero (60 AD), in which it was completely destroyed. But the inhabitants declined imperial assistance to rebuild the city and restored it from their own means. (Tacitus, Annals. xiv. 27.) The wealth of its inhabitants created among them a taste for the arts of the Greeks, as is manifest from its ruins; and that it did not remain behind in science and literature is attested by the names of the sceptics and , the successors of Aenesidemus (Diog. Laërt. ix. 11. § 106, 12. § 116), and by the existence of a great medical school. (Strab. xii. p. 580.)

Laodicea

• Antiochus the Great transported 2000 Jewish families to Phrygia from Babylonia (Joseph., Ant. Jud., xii.3.4). Many of Laodicea's inhabitants were Jews. They sent a sum of 20 pounds of gold annually to Jerusalem for the Temple.

Don’t go through the motions

• Who can revive us when this happens?

• Don’t base a congregation’s health on their wealth?