The Lord’s Self-Designation (verse 1a)

In addressing this church, Christ refers to Himself as “He Who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars.” We talked about this in our Introductory Lessons. We talked about the interpretation of the Lord having the seven stars in His hands. We talked about the fact that the understanding of this, we feel, is the spiritual nature of the congregation. So in this regard, the Lord is saying that He knows them, that He understands them, and that He has them and their spiritual nature in the palm of His hand. There isn’t anything that the Lord does not know about them.

Condemnation and Warning (verses 1b-3)

This church in Sardis is, perhaps, not quite dead yet, even though I mentioned that the heading in my Testament says “The Dead Church”; but it is certainly a church that is about to die. It may be on “life support.” We’ve seen in some of the other congregations that they had been influenced by the world, by the things that they were exposed to in their communities, and so on, like the courtship of the world that we saw in Pergamum, and the seduction of the world that we saw in Thyatira [Revelation, chapter 2]. But Sardis has become virtually “dead” spiritually. It would seem that it is not even interested enough to trouble itself about false teaching, or to be entangled in any kind of a spiritual struggle against anything that would be going on in the city. It had little or no opposition to evil. Why? Well, we don’t know exactly, but could it have been because they didn’t oppose anything, so no one opposed them. Where a person stands for Truth and right, where a church stands for Truth and right, there is bound to be opposition to it. So, perhaps this church in Sardis didn’t stand for anything.

The Lords gives this church a charge in verse 2 to “be watchful,” and then gives them a warning in verse 3. He tells them in verse 2 that you need to “be watchful”—you need to be looking. You need to be “on guard,” so to speak. He warns them that “if you will not watch,” then “I will come upon you as a thief.”

Sardis was a well-fortified city that sat high upon a hill. Its walls, or the bulk of its natural fortification, were the rocks and the natural impediments that kept someone from getting to the top of the hill. They were under siege in about 546 BC by Cyrus, the King of Persia. Cyrus had set up the Persian army around the base of the hill, but they could not take the City of Sardis. After this siege had been going on for about three months, Persian soldiers were watching the hill late one night. One of the Persian soldiers observed a citizen, or perhaps he was a soldier, of the City of Sardis make his way down a narrow passageway or a narrow path from the city down to near the bottom of the hill. The Persians realized, then, that there was a secret passageway—a secret way to get up to the city. At 3:00 a.m. that same morning, Cyrus took his forces up that secret passageway. The Sardinians were so confident that they could not be taken that they had not even posted a guard. When they woke up the next morning, the Persian army was in the city and had them surrounded.

Do you suppose that is what the Lord had in mind when He warned them to “be watchful,”—to keep watch, and if they did “not watch,” He would “come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you”? I imagine that those members of this church who knew their history—the history of that city—may have thought of this as well. You would think that one time should be enough, but in 214 BC, the City of Sardis was taken by Antiochus the Great in a very similar fashion. They once again let their guard down—they were not watching! So here are two incidents in their history that, I believe, the Lord would have had in mind, and members of that church would have, perhaps, thought about as they had this letter read to them.

Commendation (verse 4)

The condemnation of this church is severe, yet we notice that even though the condemnation is severe, there remain some names, some named individuals, some members of that congregation, who have not gone this way and who themselves are still alive. They have not “defiled their garments,” and “they are worthy” to walk with the Lord “in white.” [“You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.”] I think that is an interesting point for us to consider. Even though a church or congregation may be having its problems and may even be experiencing some apostasy, there may be within that body some who are not a part of that, who are worthy to walk with the Lord in white. If you need a proof text for that, I think this verse is the proof text. The Lord says that, even with this severe condemnation, there are still some faithful children of God here in Sardis who He counts among His own.

The Lord appeals to the church to, if you will, “wake up,” and to “strengthen” what remains. You are about “to die,” but there is still something left. There is still something that you can do to animate yourself and get back to where you were.

Promise and Exhortation (verses 5-6)

In this section, the Lord says that those “who overcome will be clothed in white garments.” This is an interesting expression and there may be several meanings that could be applied to it. Each meaning, I think, is interesting to note. Is He referring here to the wedding garments that Jesus spoke about in the parable in Matthew 22—the wedding which symbolizes and depicts those who are faithful and who are being part of the wedding party? That’s interesting to think about. Others have interpreted this as the robes of victory for those who are victorious. Again, think back to the “athletic analogies” that have been made. The victor in an athletic contest at this time would, many times, also put on a robe of white, in addition to the crown. Maybe that is what the Lord is referring to here.

When we also think about the analogy of having our sins washed away in the Blood of Christ and becoming pure and clean, we see here all of these images that relate to those who “overcome.” The Lord promises that “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” To “Overcome” is not accomplished by one’s own goodness or by one’s own value. To “overcome” is because of one’s association with and obedience to the Lord, having been washed free of sin, having put on the garments of righteousness, which are pure and clean before the Lord. So this is talking about and referring to God’s Own people. Christ will acknowledge them before the Father and His angels. What great promises He makes here to this congregation in Sardis! Once again, He comes across time to us in our day with these same promises.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”