Revelation 3:16 - Exposition

So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. The distaste and nausea produced by lukewarm food, which the stomach naturally rejects with loathing, are used as a figure in which to express the abhorrence of Christ for those who lacked zeal in his service (cf. Le 18:28 and 20:22, "That the land spue not you out also"). But the sentence is not irrevocable; there is still hope of averting it: ΄έλλω σε ἐμέσαι , "I am about to spue thee," i.e. if a timely repentance does not avert the impending doom. (Contrast the absoluteness of the future in Revelation 2:5 , etc., ἔρχομαί σοι ταχὺ καὶ κινήσω .)