March 28, 2018
Revelation 3:15-17
(All Scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated)
Revelation 3:15 through 17 is our featured Scripture in which Jesus gave the Laodician Christians Three Options – cold, hot or lukewarm!
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you
were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold
nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich,
have become wealthy, and have need of nothing” — and do not know
that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked….
We looked in the last blog at being hot first. Before we move on to cold, I want to give another observation about being hot :
We are in an ongoing war against Muslim extremists! These are people who take their religion of Islam very seriously. For the Koran (also spelled Qur’an) – their sacred text accepted as the foundation of Islamic law, religion, culture, and politics – spells out what Muslims are to do with non-Muslims:
• Let them be converted to Islam! Qur’an 8:38-39 – “Say to those who have disbelieved, if they cease (from disbelief) their past will be forgiven….And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism: i.e. worshiping others besides Allah) and the religion will all be for Allah Alone. But if they cease (worshiping others besides Allah), then certainly, Allah is All-Seer of what they do.”
• Subjugate and tax them! Qur’an 9:29 – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”
Jizra is a yearly tax levied upon non-Muslim ‘people of the book ’ (especially Christians and Jews with some exemptions). Paying Jizra allowed them to continue living in Muslim lands with certain protections.
• Kill them!
★ Qur’an 5:33 – “Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and his messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the hereafter is a great punishment.”
★ Qur’an 8:12 – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.”
★ Qur’an 9:5 – “When the sacred months are over, slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them.”
Why do I bring this up – at the risk of being labeled an Islam-aphobe? It is because if one takes what is said so often in Koran seriously, he or she will be labeled a Muslim fanatic in other cultures!
If one is going to follow Jesus Christ seriously – that is, to “…love [to obey – see John 14:15] the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength…”(Mark 12:30) – then that one will be labeled a Christian fanatic! Such a ‘fanatic’ is one whom Jesus would term as being hot in Revelation 3:15 and 16.
Let’s move on to what Jesus said in Revelation 3:15: “I could wish you were cold or hot.”
• A person who is cold is one who is not a Christian, but is concerned only with his or her own agenda and might even fight against God! There are several examples of being cold toward the things of God in the New Testament. For the sake of space, here are three:
✞ Mark 14:61 through 64 – As Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin, “…the high priest asked Him, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ ” When the Lord answered in the strong affirmative, “…the high priest tore his clothes and said… ‘You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?’ And they all condemned Him to be worthy of death.”
✞ Luke 12:16 through 18 – “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself…‘I have no room to store my crops…I will pull down my barns and build greater, and…store my goods. And I will say, “Soul [self] you have many good laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ ”
✞ Matthew 10:4 – Judas Iscariot was selected to be one of the twelve disciples. But…
▸ John 12:6 – He is called a thief !
▸ Luke 22:48 – He betrayed the Son of Man with a kiss!
▸ John 17:12 – He is also called the son of perdition!
Obviously, the Lord Jesus would have us be hot for Him! But if not hot, His second choice is cold ! Why would this be the second choice of the Savior? You can know at least where a cold person stands – solidly against God and His Christ! However, do not stay cold ! The consequences are horrible!
• Psalm 1:6 – “…the way of the ungodly shall perish.” The way of the ungodly is the life they choose to live! It is that on which they focus all their time, talent, energy, and resources! What will happen to their way? It will be just dust and ashes in the end!
• Revelation 21:8 – “But the cowardly, unbelievers, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second [eternal] death.”
Please do not be found cold in the eyes of the Lord!