October 16 – Being Cold (Not Lukewarm)

        Revelation 3:15-16 – "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm, I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

       These verses troubled me for the longest time. Whenever a preacher would focus on these verses, he would always categorize the coldness in the same bad light as being lukewarm, for one simple implicit reason. We, as a Western culture, consider being hot, and on fire, as having a passion for something. If we are cold, then, it probably implies laziness and apathy toward something. However, we cannot force that cultural mindset on a 1900 year-old writing from the middle east.

        In the verses above, it is only the state of being lukewarm that is at risk. Jesus actually states that he would rather have us cold, than being lukewarm. Consider that the people in sub-tropical, or desert, environments two millenia ago, placed a great deal of importance upon water. Water at a cold or cool temperature was certainly not to be maintained since there was no refrigeration. So, how did one obtain cold or cool water? There are several ways: 1) from a natural underground spring flowing out; 2) from a well that had been dug; 3) from flowing streams or rivers; 4) from a collection of water or snow from a mountainous (cool) climate or in winter season; or 5) from a collection of any of the above that would immediately be placed in an underground cistern, meant for keeping water a little cooler than room temperature. Obtaining water through options 1-3 would take some time and effort to get to the source (a well was usually open to the public). Option 4 would necessitate being in a certain physical location or season. Option 5 depended on one's ability to have access to a cistern, (which might have been private). If one was therefore able to obtain cold water, it would have most likely been due to a spur-of-the-moment effort to retrieve it. It would also have been quite refreshing, since already-stored water would have been at room temperature and would have been the norm to drink throughout the day (unless one had easy access to a cistern). [The use of large clay water jars might have kept water a little cooler than room temperature, but not for long.] Jesus mentions cold water once in Matthew 10:42. He states, "If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones, because he is my disciple, that person will certainly not lose his reward". Giving that cold water could have meant sacrificing a little time and energy in obtaining it on-the-spot, in order to refresh someone who needed it and could appreciate the refreshment (see also Proverbs 25:25). The same could be said about a hot drink when it is cold. Doesn't that remind us also of being salt and light to a world that needs preserving and that needs to see (Matthew 5)? Don't they also need the refreshing love of God's forgiveness and freedom?

        From the context of verses 17 and following, we see what being lukewarm looks like. The Laodicean church thought they were rich and lacking nothing. But God rebukes them for not realizing that they were wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked – all synonyms for being in a sinful state of existence. God advises them to buy refined gold from him – a reference to 1 Corinthians 3:11-13. God also advises them to buy white linen to cover their nakedness – a reference to an earlier verse, Rev. 3:4, which describes a worthy believer wearing white. How is any believer worthy? By accepting the righteousness that only comes from Jesus (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). The upshot is that being lukewarm meant that this so-called church may have had some people who thought they were in Christ but were really not Christians, or at the very least, were nominal Christians. This idea is further pointed to, in verse 20, where Jesus says that he is knocking on your door and will enter your house to eat with you, if you only let him in. That could be a salvation invitation and/or an invitation for closer fellowship with the Master who loves us.

        Remember that Revelation was given to John in a cryptic fashion, and often needs explanations for its metaphorical pictures.