Bible Gem 2211 – A More Plausible Explanation of Revelation 3:20

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s new creation: “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.

Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.”

Revelation 3:14-22

Now we come to this fascinating verse which many Christians have learned by heart and which has been used as the classic verse to challenge non-Christians or those who haven’t yet made a decision to invite Jesus into their hearts as their personal Saviour. But hang on a minute this verse is set in the midst of Jesus’ challenge to the CHURCH of Laodicea. This church is made up of Christians, those who say they are followers of Jesus, yet live as though they are not followers at all. In Jesus’ words, they make Him sick. Have we got the wrong interpretation of what is being said here? I believe so as does David Pawson, Gordon Fee, and Eli Lizorkin Eyzenberg and Pinchas Shir of the Israel Bible Center. Many others have wondered about this verse and its fit to the passage as a whole.

Firstly, we need to take in the overall context of Jesus’ comments to the Laodiceans. They were indifferent and complacent about their relationship with Christ. He described them lukewarm which made Him want to vomit. They knew exactly what Jesus was saying to them because of the problem with their water supply. But you know from all I have told you in the preceding Gems that there was more to it than this. Now we need to put the total big picture together. Everything I have told you about Roman society for each of these seven churches applies here. Let me remind you that Jesus had no commendation whatsoever to tell this church; only rebuke. All you know about emperor worship under the Romans applied here in this city. Everything I have told you about the trade guilds applied here in Laodicea. They had trade guilds for the woollen industry, they had trade guilds for the pharmaceutical industry, they had trade guilds for gold and finance. With the trade guilds and emperor worship came idols, food sacrifices, temple prostitutes, homosexuality, orgies and more. The local god of this city was Men, the god of healing. Everything was available and practised in this city, much like every other Roman city.

At this point in the text Jesus switches from referring to the followers of the church and now focuses on the individual. – The text at this point records “If anyone hears My voice and opens the door. . .”. The Greek word is [τίς] referring to “anyone, any man or any woman” as opposed to everyone in the church who claimed to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ and The Way. There has been much debate about this one verse. Some suggest there are parallels with Mark 12:33-37 and / or Luke 12:35-38 where two other stories of invitations to eat with Jesus are recorded. There are similarities and differences with this verse in Revelation with these other accounts. Clearly there is the sense of intimate fellowship with Christ in all. But so too are there variations between the stories in the backgrounding. Is Jesus depicted as the house owner or a guest? How many servants are there? Whose house are they at? What meal or food was served? Is this a metaphor for lunch, dinner, the Lord’s Supper or an allusion to the Messianic Banquet? Just what is the setting that lies behind each scenario? More to the point what is the background to the verse as it is used by Jesus for the “believers” of Laodicea?

With Revelation 3:20, the focus is on an individual, it’s personal and specific. So which of the above scenarios is most likely? Is Jesus the returning master of the house? Is He leading the simple breaking of bread as he did in Emmaus? Is this scene in Revelation 3:20 communion? The analogy is to do with supping, sharing a meal together; ah but what sort of meal? It certainly seems that Jesus was not the Lord of the house in Revelation. He is clearly the one outside knocking. Assumedly, the one inside is the house owner.

Some experts have suggested that the background here could well be a match with the Greco-Roman world related to an intimate personal dinner with a god or spirit being. There are numbers of texts which record a dinner with the god Sarapis; thirteen such texts have been found. The background to these is that a table was laid for the god to appear with a sacral offering placed on the table, bread and wine was involved. An idol of the god was placed on the table, while the point of the meeting was to receive revelation from the god by way of a revelatory word. The demon who was invited in was likely to be a familiar spirit whose voice was known. The purpose and terminology involved in such paredros daimon were part of the Hellenistic divination meetings. No one is suggesting that Jesus was taking a mystical divination approach. That would be nonsense; when the very purpose of the letter to the seven churches of Revelation was countering the effects of the pagan world. However it was quite likely that the people of Laodicea were involved in such practices and even some from the church of Laodicea being involved.

Now allow me to switch mode here and suggest what could well have been going on. If indeed Jesus was seeking access to a Christian in their house, He (Jesus) would knock and identify Himself as was the cultural custom. Thus the element “if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will share a meal together as friends“. Let’s consider this in general terms for a moment. Jesus is at the door knocking to gain entry to my house. I have learned to recognise His voice but will I open the door to Him? If I have idols of gods and offerings along with a statue of the emperor I may be ashamed to open the door to Jesus. If I were a wealthy gold merchant in the city and had regular orgies in my house I would certainly not wish to open the door to this One Whom I am aware knows all things about me and things that happen in my city. There would be things in my home I would not want Jesus to see. Therefore I would not open the door.

David Pawson talks in his Commentary on the Book of Revelation about a piece of artwork called The Light of the World by Holman Hunt. There are two copies in existence, one in London at St Paul’s Cathedral and the other in Oxford which depict Christ at the door in Revelation 3:20.

David thinks there are three reasons why some people would not open the door to Jesus.

1. They are too absorbed in other things and are distracted.
2. They are too afraid to open the door knowing they have things in their house Jesus would not like.
3. They are too ashamed knowing their house contains evidence of their lifestyle.

I believe I have a better piece of artwork to illustrate this scenario depicted in Revelation 3:20. I use it in Deeper Bible at Level Seven. I am sure you see the obvious connection. Ask and you shall receive that your joy or your enlightenment may be full. Get the picture?

The real beggars of Laodicea were the rich who had nothing but money.

David Pawson

Were you to open the door to Jesus would the state of your home invite His commendation or His rebuke?

Ian

The harshest punishment Christ can give is to not correct you and to let you go your own way.

Ian

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

John Heywood 1546