SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR

Letter to Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6)

Sardis Information:  Located in W. Central Asia Minor, Sardis was located about 100 miles from the Mediterranean Sea; approximately 30-35 miles southeast of Thyatira.  It was positioned on the northern ridge of Mt. Tmolus, about 1500 feet over the Hermus (Pactolus) river.  Before the first century it was an excessively rich city.  Ancient history tell us that Sardis was the capital Lydia.  Their riches were due to mining of gold and minting of money.  Some Bible scholars tell us that there were sheer (flimsy) walls on three sides making the city practically invincible, providing its people with a feeling of safety and protection.  Nevertheless the city was captured by surprise when Cyrus, King of Persia, brought the city down in about 549-546 BC.  According to tradition a solider found a crack in the rocky hill and led a band of soldiers to the top.  The city was caught napping again when approximately 330 years later Antiochus the Great seized the city in the same way.

(V1) "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."
(V1) Sardis means those escaping or renovation.  Here the Lord reveals Himself as the One who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit God controls the churches and their messengers.  Sardis was a church with a lifeless profession.  The church was well known as a Christian congregation, but in all actuality it merely went through a powerless routine.  Glistening spiritual life was not flowing through the assembly.  It did not gleam from supernatural powers working among them.  Now God calls the lifeless church to a new enthusiasm and a new endeavor to strengthen what they had left for Him.

(V2) "Be watchful, and strength the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God."
(V2) In the preceding verse God instructs the congregation to complete the works they had begun to reform the church.

(V3) "Remember therefore how thou has 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."
(V3) Now He warns them to remember how they had received and heard, and to hold fast, and to repent.  He sternly commands the church to keep a constant watch, for since He would come as a thief, they would not know the  hour that He would come upon them.  This should cause all false date setters to shake like King Belshazzar when he saw the fingers of a man's hand writing his doom on the plaster of the wall (see Daniel, chapter 5).

(V4) "Thou has a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy."
(V4) In verse 4 He finds a few names even in Sardis which held onto their Christian testimony.  These Christians who had not profaned their clothes with worldliness would walk in white with Jesus Christ.  Their white garments speak of the righteousness of their lives.

(V5) "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."
(V5) Verse 5 speaks about the overcomer and 1 John 5:4,5 tells us, "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."  Then he asked a question, "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"  Since they were evidently true Christians, their names would not be blotted out of the book of life.  I would venture to say that in most Evangelical churches today, regardless of their size, you could find a few true believers that are still walking the old paths.  Our Lord then adds the promise that He would confess the names of the overcomers before His Father and the angels of heaven."

(V6) "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."
(V6) Again the Holy Spirit calls men to hear this serious warning against having a religious profession without ever being born again.  The Sardis congregation is frequently taken as a photograph of the post reformation period when the church became formal, ritualistic, and political.  The European protestant churches and the American colonies were leaders in the drift.

Dear Reader, Are YOU Rapture Ready??