In the letters to the seven churches recorded in the book of Revelation, the True Witness - Jesus Christ - presents a clear picture of the spiritual condition in which the churches are found. The letter to Laodicea describes the wretched and deplorable condition in which she is found. Although she is making a high profession and thinking to be in need of nothing, she is found destitute of heaven’s greatest riches.

“The great Redeemer represents Himself as a heavenly merchantman, laden with riches, calling from house to house, presenting His priceless goods, and saying, ‘I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich” (Revelation 3:18).1 What does He mean by this, and how can we carry out His plain, forthright counsel to us?

Certainly not everyone can afford to buy expensive precious metals - especially pure gold. Yet Christ, in His deep love and heartfelt desire to enrich His beloved people dearly purchased with the high price of His own blood, bids us do exactly that. How can we?

Many years before the message was ever written to those who would be alive during the Laodicean era, the True Witness inspired the prophet Isaiah to extend an invitation to us. He says: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1). Yes, beloved brethren and sisters, without money and without price! None can say that he or she cannot afford to buy the precious merchandise. “The Saviour comes with jewels of truth of the richest value in distinction from all counterfeits, all that is spurious. He comes to every house, to every door; He is knocking, presenting His priceless treasure, urging, ‘Buy of me.’ ”2

“The gold mentioned by Christ, the True Witness, which all must have, has been shown me to be faith and love combined, and love takes the precedence of faith. Satan is constantly at work to remove these precious gifts from the hearts of God’s people. All are engaged in playing the game of life. Satan is well aware that if he can remove love and faith, and supply their place with selfishness and unbelief, all the remaining precious traits will soon be skillfully removed by his deceitful hand, and the game will be lost.”3 How urgent, then, is our need!

What kind of gold are we really looking for? The Bible tells us that we should not be overcharged with the affairs of this life, that the final day may not take us unawares. Jesus gave a warning to be emphasized especially toward the end of time, to “take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares” (Luke 21:34). Yet so many are preoccupied with the cares of this life. In their heart, the gospel seeds “are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection” (Luke 8:14). Such persons usually dedicate the major part of their precious time seeking after the gold that this world offers. At the same time they neglect the greatest riches - the conclusion of all matters - that is, the fear of the Lord and obedience to all His holy commandments. Because of this neglect, some lack conversion and are found in the Laodicean condition. The psalmist declares that “the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:7-10).

The gold that Christ offers is the faith that works by love as it is revealed in His spotless character. This love which all can buy from Christ is not the mere love limited by finite human understanding, but rather is that love which is the real credential of true discipleship. By the purchase of this precious merchandise, men and women have the privilege of being partakers of Christ’s divine attributes: “To know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).

“Faith and love are the true riches, the pure gold which the True Witness counsels the lukewarm to buy. However rich we may be in earthly treasure, all our wealth will not enable us to buy the precious remedies that cure the disease of the soul called lukewarmness. Intellect and earthly riches were powerless to remove the defects of the Laodicean church, or to remedy their deplorable condition. They were blind, yet felt that they were well off. The Spirit of God did not illumine their minds, and they did not perceive their sinfulness; therefore they did not feel the necessity of help.

“To be without the graces of the Spirit of God is sad indeed; but it is a more terrible condition to be thus destitute of spirituality and of Christ, and yet try to justify ourselves by telling those who are alarmed for us that we need not their fears and pity. Fearful is the power of self-deception on the human mind! What blindness! setting light for darkness and darkness for light! The True Witness counsels us to buy of Him gold tried in the fire, white raiment, and eyesalve. The gold here recommended as having been tried in the fire is faith and love. It makes the heart rich; for it has been purged until it is pure, and the more it is tested the more brilliant is its luster.”4

The greatest honor ever bestowed upon humanity is to possess the spiritual graces of heavenly origin and thus reveal to this world the good tidings of Jesus’ love. “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34, 35). This love is not something that humans naturally possess, though created in God’s own image. Because of disobedience, people no longer reveal the divine attributes of their Creator’s character.

“We live in a hard, unfeeling, uncharitable world. Satan and his confederacy are plying every art to seduce the souls for whom Christ has given His precious life. Everyone who loves God in sincerity and truth will love the souls for whom Christ has died. If we wish to do good to souls, our success with these souls will be in proportion to their belief in our belief in, and appreciation of, them. Respect shown to the struggling human soul is the sure means through Christ Jesus of the restoration of the self-respect the man has lost. Our advancing ideas of what he may become is a help we cannot ourselves fully appreciate. We have need of the rich grace of God every hour, then we will have a rich, practical experience, for God is love. He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God. Give love to them that need it most. The most unfortunate, those who have the most disagreeable temperaments need our love, our tenderness, our compassion. Those who try our patience need most love. We pass through the world only once; any good thing we can do, we should do most earnestly, untiringly, with the same spirit as is stated of Christ in His work. He will not fail nor be discouraged. The rough, stubborn, sullen dispositions are the ones who need help the most. How can they be helped? Only by that love practiced in dealing with them which Christ revealed to fallen man. Treat them, you may, as they deserve. What if Christ had treated us thus? He, the undeserving, was treated as we deserve. Still we are treated by Christ with grace and love as we did not deserve, but as He deserved. Treat some characters, as you think they richly deserve, and you will cut off from them the last thread of hope, spoil your influence and ruin the soul. Will it pay? No, I say no, a hundred times no. Bind these souls who need all the help it is possible for you to give them close to a loving, sympathizing, pitying heart, overflowing with Christlike love, and you will save a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins. Had we not better try the love process?”5

It is only through Christ that we can become rich. By receiving the gold that Christ offers, we can be born again, be a new creature, and finally be counted as gold in the crown of Jesus. Of such the Lord declares, “I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir” (Isaiah 13:12).

Christ’s invitation is for all to come to Him, that He may supply their every need. The richest Merchant is calling every heart with celestial gold to bestow upon those who accept the cordial invitation to buy from Him. He wants to dwell in the heart of those who come to Him with the desire to receive the richest blessing of His grace who “is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Christ offers us the beauty of His immaculate character that enables us, with His power, to be called His children. He longs to impart His knowledge to those who come to Him to buy gold without money and without price. The wise man says: “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold” (Proverbs 3:13, 14).

Job, one of the wealthiest men of ancient generations, possessing a great amount of gold, was inspired to ask the following question: “Where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living” (Job 28:12, 13). That wisdom is found in the words of Christ, and it has been with us from the beginning of creation. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). This is a different type of gold than that which is commonly known by people. It is not perishable, neither can it be compared to the gold found in the mines. “It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.” (Job 28:16, 17).

“O that our youth would treasure up the knowledge that is imperishable, that they can carry with them into the future, immortal life, the knowledge that is represented as gold and silver and precious stones! . . . Let every student who values the heavenly treasure put to the stretch his mental and spiritual powers, and sink the shaft deep into the mine of truth, that he may obtain the celestial gold - that wisdom which will make him wise unto salvation.”6

There is an old saying, “Not all that glitters is gold.” A mere profession of faith will not save anyone in the great crisis that is coming to this earth. Many members of the church are falling in the trap of Laodicea. People are always tempted to put more value in the gold and the wisdom of this world than in the merchandise offered by the True Witness. The message to Laodicea applies to all believers in this particular time. “The pure and the base metal are now so mingled that only the discerning eye of the infinite God can with certainty distinguish between them. But the moral magnet of holiness and truth will attract together the pure metal, while it will repel the base and counterfeit.”7

In the time of Noah, the people were so absorbed in seeking after temporal riches that they had no time to seek after the Lord. “God bestowed upon these antediluvians many and rich gifts; but they used His bounties to glorify themselves, and turned them into a curse by fixing their affections upon the gifts instead of the Giver. They employed the gold and silver, the precious stones and the choice wood, in the construction of habitations for themselves, and endeavored to excel one another in beautifying their dwellings with the most skillful workmanship. . . . They adored nature in place of the God of nature. They glorified human genius, worshiped the works of their own hands, and taught their children to bow down to graven images.”8

The True Witness is at the door of every heart, but He cannot bestow His most precious and finest gold unless we buy it from Him. In the heart of many there is no room for Jesus. The soul temple is so cumbered with the affairs of this life that there is but little time to seek after that which is eternal. The church of Laodicea fell into a deplorable condition because they thought they were rich and in need of nothing. They were not aware of their own sad condition.

Pretending to possess the love and the faith of Jesus, they were seeking after the gods of this world that led them to eternal perdition. “The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 7:25).

“Let no one deceive his own soul in this matter. If you harbor pride, self-esteem, a love for the supremacy, vainglory, unholy ambition, murmuring, discontent, bitterness, evilspeaking, lying, deception, slandering, you have not Christ abiding in your heart, and the evidence shows that you have the mind and character of Satan, not of Jesus Christ, who was meek and lowly of heart. You must have a Christian character that will stand. You may have good intentions, good impulses, can speak the truth understandingly, but you are not fit for the kingdom of heaven. Your character has in it base material, which destroys the value of the gold. You have not reached the standard. The impress of the divine is not upon you. The furnace fires would consume you, because you are worthless, counterfeit gold.”9

If all Christians receive the counsel of the True Witness to the church of Laodicea, it will bring the long expected revival and reformation that will testify that Christ’s precious blood has power to purify a people zealous of good works, “that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7). The church, just as in the time of the apostles, will be made rich again - not only by possessing the celestial gold, but actually by being purged as gold. “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:3). Christ longs to supply His children with the rich grace of heaven symbolized by the heavenly gold.

“ ‘Open unto me; buy of me the heavenly wares; buy of me the gold tried in the fire.’ Buy faith and love, the precious, beautiful attributes of our Redeemer, which will enable us to find our way into the hearts of those who do not know Him, who are cold and alienated from Him through unbelief and sin. . . . Oh, shall we not open the heart’s door to this heavenly visitor?”10