Holy Thursday, April 17, 2025
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The Lord Jesus instructs us to be zealous and repent. I want to discuss the context of this command and define the terms being used: lukewarmness, repentance and zeal.
Revelation 3:14-19 Revised Standard Version
“14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
15“ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!
16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.
17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
18 Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.
19 Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous and repent.”
Let us lay the context of this scripture passage. It is always important to understand context when reading a portion of scripture. Scripture out of context can be used as a pretext for wrong teaching and thinking.
The Beloved Disciple, the apostle John, wrote 5 books in the New Testament. Four of those books bear his name and lastly the book called Apocalypse or Revelation.
In chapter 1 of Revelation, the apostle tells us that he is a sharer in the present tribulations. At the time of writing Revelation, he was exiled to the Island of Patmos. The apostle was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, when he heard a voice like a trumpet behind him. Turning toward the voice, he saw the risen Lord Jesus and the apostle fell as a dead man at His feet. Then the Lord said to him, “Fear not.” This is an important context for us to understand today in our culture of familiarism regarding the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Then the Lord requests of the apostle to write all that he sees and send this to the seven messengers of the seven churches of Asia Minor, present-day Turkey. Laodicea is one of those seven cities to which the apostle John is writing to. The messages to all the churches, though in the first century, are important for us.
The Laodiceans thought they were rich, prosperous and needed nothing. They were blind to their own spiritual condition. This is not an uncommon occurrence. This is possibly more common in the 21st century.
The main issue with the Laodiceans? Lukewarmness. I struggle in my own life with this. A fancy word, you will see in the writings of the Church Fathers is tepid. Tepid and lukewarm are synonymous terms. When not referring specifically to water, these words are characterized by a lack of conviction or enthusiasm, half-heartedness.
The consequences of their lukewarmness resulted in the Laodiceans being wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. This whispers of Adam and Eve being naked in the garden and hiding from the Lord, in Genesis 3:7. The big difference being that the Laodiceans did not recognize they were naked. Lukewarmness causes spiritual blindness.
When we are spiritually blind, we do not see our sins or our condition. This is a dangerous place to be. It is a facet of God’s mercy that He pricks our hearts and allows us to see our condition. The Lord Jesus loved the Laodiceans too much to allow them to stay in that condition. The same is true for us.
The Lord Jesus gave them the remedy for their lukewarmness. It is a two-fold solution, which we will finish this essay with. Be zealous and repent.
Zeal according to the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary[1] is defined as “passionate ardor in pursuit of anything.” The context of all of scripture and tradition is not a zeal toward anything but a zeal toward the Lord. The chief commandment of God is to love Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matthew 22:37). The first commandment given is to have no gods or idols before the Lord. (Exodus 20:2,3). Although impossible without the help of the Holy Spirit and grace, we must make the conscious decision to be zealous toward God, this is repentance.
We must realign our lives to the proper order. To place anything in our lives in a position of more attention and affection than the Lord constitutes idolatry. To repent is to acknowledge the tepidity in our lives and instead of making excuses for it, owning it, confessing it and turning from it. Far from being a one-time thing, repentance is our life.
This is the purpose and reason behind BeZealous319. Together, we are reaching toward God and yearning to grow closer and closer to Him. Be Zealous and repent.
Be Zealous 