Revelation 3:21-22 21The one who is victorious, I will grant to him to sit with me on my throne, as I have also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22Let the one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
Victory does not come without pain and hard work. In terms of spiritual victory, we also must push hard towards the goal. The Apostle Paul provides a good model of this in his testimonies scattered through his letters of pressing on toward the goal (Philippians 3:12-14). The early Christians had to pay a high social cost to be part of the church. Sometimes, they had to experience shame and even physical harm for following Jesus. In some places of the world today, believers still face such challenges. Every Christian, in one way or another, must count the cost of following Jesus and take up his or her own cross. It can be costly to be a true follower of Jesus anywhere in the world. The Laodicean church faced a crucial decision about the direction they would take. Would they conform to the patterns of their city, particularly in the pursuit of materialism? Would they shift their priorities back to what go them started with Jesus in the first place, or would they get trapped by the lure of a self-focused culture? Would they be mere Christians by name, or would their identity be found in Jesus?
In this short letter, Jesus tells the Laodiceans that they could be victorious by repenting from the direction they were headed and put the focus of their love back to him and his will for them. Their reward for obedience and endurance would be honor before God. They needed to follow the same path he did. He willingly forsook any honor for himself and went to the cross, where he died as an expression of love for the Father and the world. For his total obedience unto death, the Father exalted him to his right hand. Verse 21 prepares for the throne scene of chapters 4-5, where this point is vividly portrayed. The core challenge of this letter is about citizenship. Of whose kingdom will we be a part, God’s or the kingdom of this world? By choosing God’s kingdom, we will also, in the end, receive the kingdoms of this world, because Jesus will be the sovereign King of kings and Lord of lords over all things. As 1 John 5:4-5 states, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”