A lukewarm spiritual state results in decreased alertness, a slow response, and indecisive action. If the Laodicean church were cold, the Spirit of God might the more readily convince it of its dangerous condition.
The following statement throws light on why a “cold” condition is preferable to a “lukewarm” one. “It would be more pleasing to the Lord if lukewarm professors of religion had never named His name. They are a continual weight to those who would be faithful followers of Jesus. They are a stumbling block to unbelievers” (1T 188).
Neither cold nor hot.
It has been suggested that this figurative expression must have been particularly meaningful to the Christians at Laodicea. One of the chief landmarks of that vicinity was a waterfall over which a stream from the hot springs at Hierapolis flowed, leaving mineral deposits. Laodicea’s water source was not these hot springs or a cold one, but a water tower filled by an aqueduct that shows deposits from similar mineral water, probably warm. Lukewarm water was thus a familiar phenomenon to the Laodiceans, and fittingly characterized their spiritual condition.
The tepid spiritual condition of the Laodicean church was more dangerous than if the church had been cold. Lukewarm Christianity preserves enough of the form, and even of the content of the gospel, to dull the perceptive powers of the spirit and renders men oblivious to the earnest effort necessary to the attainment of the high ideal of a victorious life in Christ. The typical Laodicean Christian is content with things as they are and proud of the little progress he has made. It is almost impossible to convince him of his great need and of how far he is from the goal of perfection.
Since the messages to the seven churches reflect the entire course of the history of the Christian church (see on chs. 1:11; 2:1), the seventh message must represent the experience of the church during the closing period of earth’s history. The name Laodicea implies the final step in the Christian process of history, that of perfecting “a people adjudged” (see on ch. 3:14) righteous. Further, it implies that the preparation of such a people and the divine process of adjudging them righteous will be achieved by the close of the period (see on Dan. 8:13, 14; Rev. 3:8; 14:6, 7). Appropriately, then, the Laodicean message may be thought of as applying in a special sense to the church from 1844 to the close of time (see Additional Note at end of the chapter), and the period of time thus represented may be characterized as the Age of Judgment.
The Laodicean message is applicable to all who profess to be Christians (see 6T 77).
For more than a century Seventh-day Adventists have recognized that the message to the Laodiceans also has a special application to themselves (see James White, RH Oct. 16, 1856; cf. 1T 141-144). A recognition of this application stands as a constant rebuke to self-satisfaction and an encouragement to live wholeheartedly according to the pattern of a of perfect life in Christ Jesus (see on ch. 3:18).