Revelation 3:17 17For you say, “I am rich and I have prospered and I have need of nothing,” and you do not realize you yourself are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked.
The image changes from water to wealth. The Laodicean Christians may have considered themselves wealthy, especially given that they lived in a prosperous city. In today’s terms, their situation might be called a first-world or developed nation with a strong economy and little poverty. From the outside, they looked successful: rich, prosperous, and lacking nothing. They had all they wanted and needed. That is a nice place in life to be, but money cannot buy lasting happiness or provide the answers to the deepest human needs. Wealth cannot get us into heaven. Money opens us to many temptations, as the opportunity to please the flesh grows (1 Timothy 6:10). The thought that a person does not need anything more is deceptive and a lie Satan fools us with. The story of the Laodiceans gives a good example of this.
Jesus answers the wealth of the Laodiceans with a five-part assessment. Miserable captures the internal turmoil that grows when life is not centered on God. It shows the distress that comes with wealth. This might include the push to always accumulate more, the responsibility to take care of what we have, the fear of something being ruined, stolen, or deteriorated (Matthew 6:19), or the complaint of having to pay taxes. Pitiable captures the result of the misery because the pursuit of wealth can become a bottomless pit that never satisfies. Poor indicates the irony of the spiritual condition that money can lead to. Instead of happiness, one might experience loneliness. Blind shows wealth’s deception. People might not even realize the spiritual drought within them due to the false satisfaction that material goods provide. Naked expresses another irony. Wealthy people are often obvious by their nice clothing in the latest styles. Their closets may be overflowing with color-matched clothing and dozens of stylish shoes. This church was caught up in this great deception, just as many people are today. Wanting nice things is not wrong. We just need to keep material goods in the right perspective and priority, which Jesus gets to in the next verse.