In verse 18 we see the Lord’s counsel to the church in Laodicea: “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.” To “buy” requires the paying of a price. The degraded recovered church needs to pay a price for the gold, white garments, and eyesalve, which she desperately needs. After having contact with the Brethren assemblies, I realized that probably no one among them understands what it means to pay a price. Perhaps they have never heard that they must pay some price in order to experience the riches of Christ. They know the knowledge and doctrine, but they do not know how to pay the price. They know how to learn, but they do not know how to buy. They know certain “truths,” but they do not know the cost of experiencing the riches of Christ.
Firstly, the Lord counsels the church in Laodicea to buy “gold refined by fire.” In the Bible, our 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 also typified by gold (Exo. 25:11). We partake of the divine nature of God by faith (2 Pet. 1:1, 4-5). The degraded recovered church 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 may become a pure golden lampstand (1:20) for the building of the golden New Jerusalem (21:18).
If we have experience, we shall realize that all three things which the Lord counsels the church in Laodicea to buy—gold, white garments, and eyesalve—are just the Lord Himself. As we have seen, 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 only become our enjoyment 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, saying, “Lord, I have much knowledge of the Bible truths, but I admit that I don’t 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 don’t have this living faith, but I look unto 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 you speak to the Lord in this way, He will immediately say, “All right, if you would gain Me, you must pay the price. There is a certain thing that I want you to drop because it is a hindrance and a frustration from My becoming your enjoyment.” Dropping these things is the paying of the price. Many of us have experienced the Lord in this way. Often the Lord has said, “I am here. Do you want Me, or do you want that thing? If you want to keep that thing, then I shall stay away. Your hands are full of many things. You must drop them, empty your hands, and then grasp Me. Then you will have Me as your enjoyment.” Only when we pay the price can we gain Christ.
Consider the words of the apostle Paul in Philippians 3:8: “But surely I count also all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them refuse that I may gain Christ.” For Paul, there remained nothing except Christ. He spent everything for Christ, paying the full price. Whatever Paul had, he spent it to gain Christ. Today, we must follow this spirit to pay any price, even the cost of our lives, in order to gain Christ.
We can never separate living faith from the divine nature. Although this is difficult to explain doctrinally, we know experientially that when we have the living faith, we enjoy the divine nature. And 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.