Message to the Church in Sardis
And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith
He that hath The Seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works,
that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready
to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast,
and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief,
and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their
garments; and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy.
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and
I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his
name before My Father, and before His angels.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what The Spirit saith unto the
churches.
Rev 3:1-6 KJV
Sardis, an ancient city of Lydia, on the banks of the
mountain ‘Tmolus’ said to have been the chief city of Asia the-Less, and the
first city in that part of the world that was converted by the preaching of
John; and, some say, the first that revolted from Christianity, and one of the
first that was laid in its ruins, in which it still lies, without any church or
ministry.
This ‘message’ was sent by The Lord Jesus Christ Who
has “The Seven Spirits of GOD,” that is, The Holy Spirit (Rev. 1:4).
And He has “the seven stars”—the angels of the seven churches.
They are faithfully accountable to Him as His
‘ministers’—they minister for the good of His Church.
The Holy Spirit works by the ministry which GOD has
given to the Church. Our ministry will be of no efficacy without The Holy Spirit.
Both our ministry and that of the angels depend on The
Holy Spirit.
The body of this epistle. There is this observable in
it, that whereas in the other epistles Christ begins with commending what is
good in the churches, and then proceeds to tell them what is amiss, in this (and
in the epistle to Laodicea) He begins, with a reproof, and a
very severe one: “I
know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”
Hypocrisy, and a lamentable spiritual decay, are the
fault with this church, and this was pointed-out by One who knew her well, and
all her works.
The church in Sardis had gained a great reputation; it
had a name, and a very honorable one, she was lively and pure in doctrine,
there was true unity and uniformity in worship, decency, and orderliness. Everything
appeared well, as to what falls under the observation of men.
This church was not really what it was reputed to be.
They had a name to live, but they were dead; in soul, in service, in ministry,
in prayer, what little life was yet left among them was, in a manner, expiring,
ready to die. There was a form of godliness, but not the Power, a name to live,
but not a principle of Life.
The message of The Lord Jesus to them was: “Be watchful, and strengthen
the things that remain, and that are ready to die.”
The cause of their deadness and declension was that
they had let down their watch.
We must continually watch for The LORD.
Whenever we are off our watch, we lose ground, and
therefore must return to watchfulness against sin, and Satan, and whatever is
destructive to the life and power of godliness.
They were instructed by The LORD to go back to what
they heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly and turn to Him again.
They were to remember what they had heard and received—the
tokens of His Mercy and Favor towards them, the Gospel and the Grace of God
which they first received.
The Lord made mention of His faithful remnant in
Sardis, though but small: “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled
their garments…”
They had not given into the prevailing corruptions and
pollution of the day and place in which they lived. God takes notice of the
small number of those who abide with Him; though they are few, they are
precious in His sight.
He makes a very gracious promise to them: “…they shall walk
with Me in white: for they are worthy.” They shall walk with Christ
in His ‘Heavenly-Paradise.’
A great reward is promised to the conquering saint
(verse 5).
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and
I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his
name before My Father, and before His angels.
They shall be clothed in white, just like the 24
elders, and the angels.
Their ‘white raiment’ represent the Righteousness of
GOD in them.
GOD’s Glory in them shall be the perfection of Grace.
Another promise very suitable to the case: “…and I will not
blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before
My Father, and before His angels.”
Christ has His ‘Book of Life,’ a book with register
and roll of all who shall inherit Eternal Life.
It is ‘a book of The Father’s Eternal Election of
Grace.’ Names of His Elect are recorded in it.
“The Book of Life” is GOD’s Encyclopedia—‘book of
remembrance’ of all those who lived their lifetime to GOD; apostles, prophets,
and all saints.
Christ Jesus will not blot the names of His chosen and
faithful ones out of this book; men may be enrolled in the registers of the
church, as baptized, as making a profession, as having a name to live, and that
name may come to be blotted out of the roll, but the names of those that
overcome shall never be blotted out of “The Book of Life.”
He will confess the names of the faithful who stand
there, before His Father, and before all the angels.
“…Behold I and the children which God hath given Me” (Heb. 2:13 KJV)
The demand of universal attention finishes this
Message. Every Word from GOD deserves attention from men; that which may seem
more particularly directed to a few men has something in it instructive to all.