Rev 3:17-18  “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich;…”

 

As one reads the words of Jesus he cannot help but notice that this passage implies that physical wealth is not the real riches of humanity. Jesus warns that one can have all that this physical world has to offer but yet be poor. He is contrasting the physical with the spiritual. Fortune 500 lists individuals who have the most assets and collected the greatest amount of money. Jesus tells the church in Laodicea that in they may have great wealth, but they are poor, wretched, miserable and blind. In this passage we see that Jesus sees things much differently than we see them. The very things that Laodicea boasted were actually a curse. The one thing that was needed the most they were destitute in, the gold of Jesus “refined in fire”. This is the real riches. Think about the sacrifices men make to obtain more physical blessings. Now contrast the sacrifices we are willing to make to obtain the spiritual blessings in Christ. This indicates where our true allegiance lies. In the parable of the soils, the seed (which is the word of God- Luke 8:11) was sown in different soils. One type has thorns growing up in it. Notice what Jesus said, “Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” Mar 4:18-19  . Notice that Jesus tells the disciples that the worldly cares and the desire to get more things literally choke the word out of an individual. In 1 Timothy 6:9 Paul tells Timothy to warn those who seek to attain great wealth and “who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.” It is not the wealth itself it is the individuals DESIRE that becomes a detriment to his faith. The very next verse reads, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” v.10. Money and wealth is not in itself evil, but rather the person’s desire and lust for it that becomes a threat to salvation.

Notice in the text that we are encouraged to buy His gold which is refined by fire. The word “refine” means to burn with fire. This method is used to remove the contaminants from the pure metal. Though it may appear that it will destroy the gold, it actually makes it more pure. But it does not come easy. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 1Pe 1:6-7. That is the precious refined gold of Jesus.