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There are eight root words in the Scripture which are translated as ‘covet’, ‘covetousness’, etc. These are well worth half an hour’s meditation, primarily in order to measure our own conduct.
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THE LAW of Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver". So expresses the Spirit of Christ in Psalm 119:72. Indeed, the continuous reading of that wonderful psalm is of very great value in shaping our thought processes to conform to the mind of the spirit. Clearly the Laodicean ecclesia had not drunk deeply of that well: "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked..." (Rev. 3:17). Such condemnation identifies their problem as, in the words of Colossians 3:5,6, "covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience", words which would have been read by the Laodicean ecclesia (4:16).
This context of a materialistic spirit in the world affecting the spirit of the ecclesia is most relevant to our present age, where the Satan-spirit of the world drives brethren and sisters into thinking (sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously) that they must acquire possessions, to the exclusion of using their time and energy for the Truth. The word ‘naked’ in the above quotation occurs again in Revelation 16:15 in the context of the thief-like, unexpected return of Christ, so demonstrating that this Laodicean weakness will be prevalent in latter-day ecclesial life.
The spiritual disease of covetousness
The Greek word translated ‘covetousness’ is pleonexia, with a meaning of ‘holding’, in the sense of ‘desiring more’. So serious is this spiritual illness that Christ threatens total rejection from God’s creative purpose for those who refuse his healing balm (3:16-18). Indeed, "Thou shalt not covet" was the first commandment which was intended to affect directly the Israelite’s thought processes, compared with those other commandments which impacted on his actions. Israel did not heed: "And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin" (Hos. 12:8).
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The danger, both for the Laodiceans and for ourselves, of a society given over to ‘desiring more’ is well described in Ezekiel 16:49: "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy".
The reason for the spiritual decline
It is noteworthy and very sobering to consider that such Laodicean spiritual circumstances can be attributed to a failure to meditate upon, and to delight in, the Word of God. The reader may now wish to examine the following scriptures, which demonstrate how the Laodicean brethren and sisters failed to value the covenants of promise and the things of the Kingdom of God:
| 1 | In Revelation 3:14,15 Jesus Christ styles himself "the Amen", in contrast to "thou art neither cold nor hot". Compare 2 Corinthians 1:19,20, noting verse 20 in particular. |
| 2 | Also in verse 14, Jesus calls himself "the beginning of the creation of God". Compare Colossians 3:10, again noting that the Colossian epistle was written with the Laodicean ecclesia in mind (4:16). There is also an obvious link with Colossians 1:15. |
| 3 | In verse 15, compare "I know thy works", that is, "lukewarm" works, with the example of Epaphras in Colossians 4:12,13 in his ministry to the Laodiceans. |
| 4 | Again in verse 15, compare "neither cold nor hot" with Proverbs 25:13,25 and Jeremiah 20:9. |
| 5 | In verse 17, compare "Because thou sayest, I am rich..." with Colossians 2:2. |
| 6 | In verse 18 Jesus’s healing remedy commences: "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire". Compare Isaiah 55:1-3 and Romans 10:17 with 1 Peter 1:7. |
| 7 | Compare verse 18, "and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest
see", with
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| 8 | With verse 18, "... and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear", compare Proverbs 29:18, using the AV margin, "naked". There is also a connection between "shame of thy nakedness", with its link back to the Genesis Creation (Gen. 2:25; 3:10), and the title "the beginning of the creation of God" in verse 14; that is, the brethren and sisters were not conforming to the "new creature... in Christ" (Gal. 6:15), they were not being "renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created [them]" (Col. 3:10). |
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