Revelation 3:18 goes on to say, “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed and that the shame of your nakedness may not be manifested, and eyesalve to anoint your eyes that you may see.” Christ is the gold, the white garments, and the eyesalve for the overcomers to buy. Buying requires the paying of a price. The church in Laodicea must pay a price for gold, white garments, and eyesalve, which she desperately needs. In order to be the overcomers, daily we need to pay the price to buy the gold (Christ as our increasing faith to partake of His divine element), the white garments (Christ expressed as righteousness in our daily life), and the eyesalve (the Spirit as the enlightening ointment to anoint our eyes so that we may see the spiritual things).
In the Bible our operating, working faith (Gal. 5:6) is likened to gold (1 Pet. 1:7), and the divine nature of God, which is the divinity of Christ, is typified by gold (Exo. 25:11). By faith we partake of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:1, 4-5). The church in Laodicea has the knowledge of the doctrines concerning Christ but not much living faith to partake of the divine element of Christ. She needs to pay the price to gain the golden faith through the fiery trials that she may participate in the real gold, which is Christ Himself as the life element to His Body. Thus, she can become a pure golden lampstand (Rev. 1:20) for the building of the golden New Jerusalem (21:18).
As mentioned above, in typology, or in biblical figure, gold signifies two things: God’s divine nature and the living faith by which we appreciate and appropriate the divine nature. These two things are combined. If we do not have the living faith to appreciate and apply the divine nature, it cannot be ours. The divine nature can become our enjoyment only through our living faith. Christ is the embodiment of the divine nature, and He is also our living faith. If we have faith, then we can participate in the divine nature. This means that we must have Christ. We must pay the cost and tell the Lord, “I have much knowledge of the Bible truths, but I admit that I do not have much of You. Lord, I would rather have You than mere knowledge or vain teachings. Lord, You are the real gold, the embodiment of the divine nature. In order to appreciate and apply this divine nature, I need living faith. Yet, Lord, I do not have this living faith, but I look to You. Lord, be my living faith. I want to live by You as my faith, the faith of the Son of God” (Gal. 2:20). If we speak to the Lord in this way, He will tell us that if we would gain Him, we must pay the price by dropping things that hinder Christ from becoming our enjoyment. If we keep these things, the Lord will stay away from us, but if we drop them, empty our hands, and grasp Christ, we will have Him as our enjoyment.
We can never separate living faith from the divine nature. Although this is difficult to explain doctrinally, we know experientially that when we have living faith, we enjoy the divine nature. Conversely, when we are in the divine nature, we surely have this living faith. Hence, these two things are combined and are both signified by gold. The church in Laodicea needs this gold—the divine nature applied, appropriated, by the living faith, which is Christ Himself. If we would gain this, we must pay the price.
In the New Testament our faith, the living faith, is a person, and this person is Christ. This is why we must look away unto Him, pray to Him, have fellowship with Him, and read His Word (Heb. 12:2). The more we read His Word and listen to His word, the more the living Christ will be inwardly unveiled to us, and this inward Christ will be the spontaneous faith to us. Faith is not a mere action but a living person, living in us and acting in us. The living faith, which is Christ Himself, is the gold that we need to buy.
The Lord counsels the church in Laodicea to buy white garments that they may be clothed and that the shame of their nakedness may not be manifested. In figure, garments signify conduct. White garments here refer to conduct approvable to the Lord, which is the Lord Himself lived out of the church, and which is required by the degraded recovered church to cover her nakedness. These white garments are not Christ as our objective righteousness for justification. Rather, the white garments are Christ as our subjective righteousness, Christ lived out of our being. The Christ who is lived out of us will be our second garment for us to be approved by the Lord. This is not for salvation but for being chosen (Rev. 17:14). We all need this second garment. When we have living faith and participate in the divine nature, this divine nature will eventually come out of us to be our living. This living is Christ lived out of our being, and this is the second garment, which gives us the standing and the qualification to be approved by Christ. This garment will cover our nakedness. Yes, we all have been justified and have been covered by the first garment, the best robe put on the prodigal son in Luke 15. But after being justified, we must love the Lord, be on fire, and be absolutely for the Lord. If we are this kind of Christian, we will have the living faith to participate in the rich, divine nature, which will become the Christ lived out of our being as the second garment to cover our nakedness.
After being justified, if we do not love the Lord and live by, for, and with Him, we are naked. A brother who does not love the Lord or live by the Lord is shameful and is naked. He does not have the lovely Christ as his covering. He believes in Christ and belongs to Christ, but since he neither loves Him nor lives by Him, he is naked both in the eyes of the Lord and in the eyes of other believers. He does not have Christ as his beautiful covering.
We must pay the price for this second garment, the Christ lived out of our being. This is the subjective Christ, the Christ experienced by us in a subjective way. According to our experience, we can testify that, on the one hand, we may have the assurance that we are justified, but on the other hand, we may sense that we are naked. Undoubtedly, as children of God, we have been justified, redeemed, saved, and regenerated, and we are members of Christ. But on the other hand, we sense that we are naked, not having Christ lived out of us to be our beautiful covering. Inwardly, we condemn ourselves for this. If we check this word with our experience, we will see that it is true. Thus, we all must pay the price, saying, “Lord, whatever the cost, I will pay the price to have You live out of my being. Lord, I want to have You as my living. I do not want to behave myself, correct myself, or improve myself. Lord, I desire to have You lived out of me. Day by day I want You to live out of my being to be my outward living. Lord, be not only my inward life but also my outward living.” If we pray this way to the Lord, He will become our outward covering, the second garment for us to be approved and chosen by Him. There is no need to wait for the day of His second coming. Even today we may have the assurance that we have been approved and chosen. Therefore, when that day comes, He will surely tell us to come with Him to enjoy our portion and to fight with Him against the army of the Antichrist.