3 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. 4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
The city of Sardis is addressed in the fifth of Jesus’ letters to the churches. The city was located along an important trade route which allowed the city to prosper as the capital of the Lydian empire before the rise of Rome. The original city was located atop a plateau which was virtually impregnable, leading the city to consider itself invincible. This led on two occasions to the city falling to enemies because of a false sense of security. Economically, the city had been known in the past for its vast wealth, but its reputation had begun to fade under the control of Rome. The one prominent industry which had continued to thrive within the city was the processing of wool.
As the Lord begins His letter, He refers to Himself as the one who has “the seven spirits of God” and the “seven stars.” We observed earlier in our series that in 1:4 the seven spirits refers to the Holy Spirit and in 1:20 that the seven stars refer to the angelic representatives of the churches. The church at Sardis needs to be reminded that Jesus is the one who sends the Holy Spirit and is also the one who is concerned with the spiritual well-being of his church.
Jesus then declares His knowledge of the church in Sardis, stating that although they have the reputation of being alive, He knows that they are in reality spiritually dead. Although this church appears to have been active in terms of their works, those works were incomplete in the sight of God (Rev. 3:2). In light of Christ’s description of Himself, it seems likely that while the church was involved in doing good works, those works were not done for the glory of Christ by the power of the Spirit. His exhortation, then, is for them to wake up! Their church had begun by the power of the Holy Spirit through the hearing of the gospel and they had born faithful witness to Christ. Over time, however, it seems that they had lost a reliance upon the Spirit and had continued in their own strength and perhaps even for their own glory. The church must remember what they have received (the Spirit) and what they have heard (the gospel) and to repent of their lethargy. Christ’s promise is that if they do not repent, He will come to them like a thief. As we have noted previously, this is not a reference to His second coming, but is instead a reference to His coming in judgment. If the church in Sardis refuses to heed the words of Christ, He promises to judge the church temporally. Although much of the church has entered into this state of near spiritual death, there are some who remain faithful.
These faithful believers are described by Jesus as those who have not “soiled” their garments. The Greek term used here is molynō, which is used only two other times within the NT (1 Cor. 8:7 & Rev. 14:4). Given these uses, we can infer that “soiling” is a metaphorical description of believers engaging in the eating of food sacrificed to idols (1 Cor. 8:7) as well as practicing sexual immorality (Rev. 14:4). The dead works of the church are the result of the spiritual compromises that many within the church had made. There are many within the church however who have not been compromised in these ways and the Lord states that the reward for these believers will be that they will walk with Him in white.
The letter concludes as do all the others with a promise to the one who overcomes. For those who repent and who remain faithful, the Lord gives a threefold promise. First, they will be clothed in white, being declared fully righteous because they are in Christ (Rev. 19:9). Second, their name will never be removed from the Book of Life because their salvation is guaranteed ultimately by God’s sovereign power. Finally, Christ will confess them before His Father and His angels because they have faithfully confessed Him before an unbelieving world. If believers will heed the words of Jesus, the Great prophet to the churches, then they can be assured that these promises will be theirs for eternity.
Join us this Sunday as we come together to worship Jesus and to hear His Word!
Soli Deo Gloria.
-Thomas