The Tale of 3 Cities

There once were 3 cities in a land far from here. Two were very different than the one. The area of the 3 cities was a very unstable land, shifting with the earth as it moved now and then because of seismic activity below its earthly surface.

In one city to the south there was hot springs and many people would come from the other two cities to bathe and enjoy the hot springs, especially in the winter time, and many believed these waters contained medicinal powers.

The city to the north had cool springs and these were very attractive to the other two cities in the summer, when people could go for cooling relief from the heat.

All of these three cities had lots of citizens, but the city in the middle had the greatest population. It was a great city of trade and commerce. In fact they built a six mile long channel of piping aqueducts to bring the hot water from the southern city to the people, but it would only be lukewarm by the time it got there and had a smell after that. The cold water from the northern city would only be “luke cold” when it arrived from the other direction as well.

So the large city in the middle never had real cold water nor real hot water, but only medium tasting or bathing water to use.

Now those three cities are real. The northern city was called Colossae, the southern city’s name was Hierapolis, and the city in the middle was written about in the Bible as an example to the people of the time of living a lukewarm Christian life. In fact, God made the point that there is only one side or the other in this Christian life. No one in the middle wins. They lose.

The story is about the city and the church of Laodicea found in Revelation, chapter 3, in the letter to the seven churches. Which city are you a citizen of today?