Lesson 9: The Letter to the Church at Sardis

Revelation 3:1-6
1 “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.
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.’

Jesus’ description of Himself – He has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars (showing Christ as sovereign over the Church).

Conditions – Sardis was the home of Melito (writer of the earliest commentary on Revelation). This city was fabulously wealthy from mining gold, a center of garment industry (first dyed wool), and in a nearly impregnable location which made residents complacent until they were conquered by the Greeks and never again free.

Commendation – There are many who have not soiled their garments.

Concern – You think you live, but you are really dead. I have not found your deeds completed.

Command – Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which are about to die, remember and repent.

Counsel – Overcomers will be clothed in white, names will not be removed from the book of life, and Jesus will confess their names before God’s throne.

 
In church history, this is the time we know as the Reformation as men who believed in the Bible and hated the evil practices that were becoming common in the church broke away and began teaching Truth to the people who were hungry for it. This was the time in history when the printed Bible became available to common people, and individuals began to read it for themselves.

Today, in a time when false teachings are again widely taught, we need to return to the Bible and the Truth it teaches us. We must not follow those who say they have a “new word” for us, new revelations or new interpretations of what the Bible says. We must not be like the people in Jeremiah 6:16 when God said, “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.” But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Only Jesus said HE is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). He is the only way we can come to God.