Letter to the seven churches - Part Six: To the church in Sardis

Having begun our series with an overview of the Book of Revelation in Part One, and looked more closely at Jesus’ message to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos and Thyatira, and now arrive at Sardis.

 

Revelation 3:1-6

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

 

One suggested meaning of Sardis is ‘Red Ones’ - apparently after the semiprecious sardius stone which was red in colour (and may even have been a ruby) which was worn on the breastplate of the High Priest of Israel, inscribed with the name of Yehuda (Judah) which means Praise.

Another suggestion is ‘Of the Flesh’ - probably from the Greek σάρξ (sarx) which Paul used to describe man's sinful (animal) nature. Benjamin Wilson in his appendix of his Emphatic Diaglott even goes so far as to suggest it means ‘Prince of Joy’, presumably taken directly from the Hebrew שר דוץ (sar doots).

I am unconvinced by either Hebrew alternative, as I see no rationale for a pagan Greek city to have a blatantly Hebrew name, and so sarx gets my vote as the most credible etymology.

Sardis was once a city of some opulence - the ancient capital of the Lydians, who had actually destroyed Smyrna in 627 BC. However, the Sardians were repaid in kind by Cyrus the Great who, in 546 BC, destroyed their city. And, as if that were not enough, even by John’s time, Sardis had never fully recovered from the devastating earthquake that she suffered in 17 AD.

But far worse than any disaster that might previously have befallen Sardis was its dire distinction among the seven churches of sharing with only one other (Laodicea) the ignominy of receiving no word of commendation from Jesus whatsoever. In this Sardis stood in direct contrast to Smyrna and Philadelphia, whose churches received no word of criticism.

What Jesus did have to say to Sardis was not pretty, among which his first and most scathing verdict was that the Sardis church was dead. The second most concerning thing was that the Sardis church didn’t know it. And that is something that reminds me of one of the most tragic accounts in the Old Testament.

 

Judges 16:18-20

 

When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up again, for he has told me all his heart." Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands.

 

She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.

 

And she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And he awoke from his sleep and said, "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free." But he did not know that Yahweh had left him.

Maybe those are just words to you, but the very idea chokes me, because throughout the account of his exploits in Judges, whenever Samson manifested extraordinary feats of strength we are told that ‘the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him’.

Tragically, once Samson had been bewitched by the Delilah’s sexual allure into revealing the secret of his strength, she had his head shaved as he slept whereupon Samson was easy prey to his enemies. So, it is quite clear from the context that when verse 20 says Samson ‘…did not know that Yahweh had left him’, it means he was unaware that the Holy Spirit had departed.

Yet, if we read through the account of Samson’s career, we discover a deeply flawed individual who was incorrigibly disobedient and led an entirely dissolute lifestyle. Yet not once did God withdraw his Spirit from Samson…until Samson betrayed himself, whereupon the Holy Spirit could no longer remain. Yet, so calloused and insensitive had Samson’s heart become, due to his persistent neglect of his relationship with God, that when God’s Spirit did depart from him, Samson never even noticed.

It’s often said (indeed, I have taught it) that the difference between an Old Covenant believer and a New Covenant one is that whereas God’s Spirit could always depart from the Old Covenant believer but would not leave his New Covenant counterpart.

That inference has been drawn form Scripture.

 

Hebrews 13:5-6

 

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"

 

And that inference is perfectly sound because the writer of Hebrews drew it from the Old Testament.

 

Deuteronomy 31:6

 

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is Yahweh your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.

 

The problem is that when we read both these scriptures the context is of a believer who is walking obediently with God, as we see when we put the verses back where we found them.

 

Deuteronomy 31:6-8

 

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is Yahweh your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you."

 

Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that Yahweh has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it.

 

It is Yahweh who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

 

Hebrews 13:1-9

 

Let brotherly love continue.

 

Do not forget hospitality, for by this some unknowingly took in angels as guests.

 

Be mindful of the prisoners, as having been bound with them; of those ill-treated, as also being in the body yourselves.

 

Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled; but God will judge fornicators and adulterers.

 

Set your way of life without money-loving, being satisfied with present things; for He has said, "Not at all will I leave you, not at all will I forsake you," never!

 

So that we may boldly say, "The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?"

 

Remember your leaders who spoke the Word of God to you, considering the issue of their conduct, imitate their faith: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever.

 

Do not be carried away by various and strange doctrine; for it is good that the heart be confirmed by grace, not by food, in which those walking in them were not profited.

 

As we have seen, God never reneges on his promises and always honours his Covenants, so even when we sin quite grievously, as Samson undoubtedly and repeatedly did, his Holy Spirit will neither leave us nor forsake us. Read Samson’s story again and you will see how often he broke every commandment in the book - including his Nazarite vows to abstain from any product of the fruit of the vine. And Samson was very much inclined to avail himself of the services of prostitutes. Indeed, it’s hard to judge whether Samson had fewer morals or lesser character. Yet not once did God relinquish his hold on Samson.

It took Samson to walk away from God before God would walk away from Samson.

 

So, when Jesus told the Sardis church she was spiritually dead it would have come as a great surprise, because the problem with being spiritually dead is that you are unconscious of the fact…Because, well...not to put too fine a point on it …You’re dead!

But worse than that - nobody else seems to have noticed either.

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.

There are three things to notice here:

Firstly, Jesus is described as, ‘him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars’.

The seven stars we already know from the previous chapter to represent the angels of the seven churches (verse 20). But what are the seven Spirits of God?

Many have conjectured and offered different theories on this, but here are my thoughts.

 

Seven, as mentioned earlier, is the number of divine completion and rest, which points to divinity, but there is only one Holy Spirit, so what might it be about the Holy Spirit that is seven-fold? Watch this:

 

Ephesians 6:13-18

 

Therefore take to yourselves the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

 

Therefore stand, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

 

Above all, take the shield of faith, with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

 

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching to this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

 

This is Paul’s famous passage exhorting the believer to put on the whole armour of God. It’s well known and well used, but what is not always appreciated is that Paul drew most of it from the Old Testament.

Also, take "the helmet of salvation," and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God…

 

Isaiah 59:17-21

 

For he put on righteousness like armour, and a helmet of salvation on his head. And he put on robes of vengeance as clothing; and he put on zeal like a mantle.

 

According to works, so he will repay; fury to his foes; recompense to his foes; he will repay recompense to the coasts.

 

So they shall fear Yahweh's name from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the foe comes like a flood, the Spirit of Yahweh shall cause him to flee.

 

And the Redeemer comes to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn back from their rebellion, declares Yahweh.

 

As for me, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh: My Spirit who is on you, and my Words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your seed, or out of the mouth of your seed's seed, from now on and forever, says Yahweh.

 

Here, we not only see the armour analogy but an Hebraic parallelism, connecting these two ideas:

My Spirit who is on you, and…

…my Words which I have put in your mouth.

And we see this parallel again in another verse:

 

Isaiah 11:4

 

But he shall judge the poor in righteousness, and shall decide rightly for the meek of the earth. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and he shall cause the wicked to die with the breath of his lip.

The parallel here is straightforward:

…the rod of his mouth, and

…the breath of his lip.

 

Any Bible scholar will tell you that in both Hebrew and Greek, the same word serves for both spirit and for breath - ruach in Hebrew, and pneuma in Greek.

And another Hebrew word for breath - נשׁמה (neshamah) is closely linked with Ruach.

 

Genesis 2:7

 

And Yahweh Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

 

In this verse, ‘breath of life’ is נשׁמה חיים (neshamah chayim), where as, in the following it is רוחחיים (ruach chayim).

 

Genesis 7:15

 

And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.

 

In the following verse, however, we see both expression used simultaneously:

 

Job 33:4

 

The Spirit (ruach) of God made me, and the breath (neshamah) of the Almighty gives me life.

 

Here, ‘the Spirit of God’ is virtually synonymous with ‘the breath of the Almighty’.

The only slight difference in nuance is that while ruach can be both the ‘Breath or Spirit of God’, and the ‘breath or spirit of man’, neshamah is never used of the ‘Spirit of God’, only his Breath, but can refer to both the ‘breath or spirit of man’.

Rhema is both message and medium

Now, we can return to Ephesians 6:17, which says…

…take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Contrary to widely held belief, the sword of the Spirit mentioned here is not the Bible, but the ‘ο ρημα θεου (ho rhema theou) ‘the Word of God’ - which some have rendered as ‘the voice of God’.

The parallel between the ‘sword of God’s mouth’ spoken of in Isaiah 49:2,the ‘sword of Jesus’ mouth’ referred to in Revelation 1:16; 19:15, and 19:21,and the ‘sword of the Spirit’, in Ephesians 6:17 - which all refer to God’s spoken Word, is all too clear.

If we then couple these two parallels, connecting God’s Word with the Spirit that goes out of his mouth, we can at last see that the seven Spirits of God are none other than the seven-fold Rhema spoken by Jesus to his seven churches in Asia.

 

That brings us to the second point I previously said we should notice, where Jesus says:

I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

Here is a dead church which is not only unaware of its deceased state, but even has a reputation of being alive.

This reminds me of a true testimony I once heard about a large American ministry that invited several Chinese pastors over on a visit.

The guests were given the royal treatment and shown all the impressive things that the Americans had to offer. A huge auditorium with plush seating, state of the art sound and video equipment, an impressive fleet of church vehicles and a vast car park. They were introduced to all the staff and shown round all the offices, outreach projects and children’s church facilities. They were dazzled by the praise and worship band and impressed by the smooth running of the whole operation.

Eventually, the time came for the Chinese visitors to leave and they were driven to the airport in some luxury by a deputation of the senior ministers. Once there, as they said their goodbyes, the senior pastor asked them what one thing had most impressed them during their visit.

The senior Chinese minister turned to his colleagues and they conferred for a few moments in their own language before the minister turned back to his hosts.

‘I have spoken to my colleagues and we are all agreed that what most impressed us about your church was just much can be achieved without the Holy Spirit.’

Ouch!

That’s a Sardis church. To all the world, a mighty impressive machine: Brimming with wealth, buzzing with activity, and replete with every innovation and gadget that money could buy. The only thing that was missing was God…And no-one had even noticed.

Once again, we have to look beyond the obvious…

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

And that was the third significant point about what Jesus said:

I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

Any church established on its own works is destined to die.

 

Psalm 127:1

 

Except Yahweh build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except Yahweh keep the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.

And that’s what connects Jesus’ warning, that the Sardis church was dead, with his admonition to ‘Wake up’, which can also be translated as ‘Watch’:

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.

 

Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent.

Just as the Ephesus church had ‘lost its first love’, so Sardis had lost the plot, and like many churches they had made the fundamental mistake of confusing being busy with being effective.

Sardis was not a poor city, but its church had become self-centred, self-serving and self-reliant…and probably more than a little self-righteous. Nevertheless, Jesus gave Sardis one small glimmer of hope:

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.

Sardis’ sin was not the gross immorality that was so prominent in some of the other churches, but the complacent self-satisfaction of the scribes and the Pharisees, who thought themselves the bees’ knees.

And that kind of complacency comes at a terrible price:

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.

That mirrors another warning that Jesus gave his disciples:

 

Matthew 24:37-44

 

When the Son of Man comes again, it will be exactly like the days of Noah. In the days before the flood, people were eating, drinking, and getting married until the day that Noah went into the ship. They were not aware of what was happening until the flood came and swept all of them away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes again.

 

At that time two men will be working in the field. One will be taken, and the other one will be left. Two women will be working at a mill. One will be taken, and the other one will be left. Therefore, be alert, because you don't know on what day your Lord will return.

 

You realize that if a homeowner had known at what time of the night a thief was coming, he would have stayed awake. He would not have let the thief break into his house. Therefore, you, too, must be ready because the Son of Man will return when you least expect him.

Notice, ‘the two men working in the field’ and ‘the two women will be working at a mill’. One would be taken, and the other left.

This has scripture has frequently been misused for years as illustrative of the Rapture of the Saints, but that actually runs completely counter to the context because we have to remember that Jesus warn his church thus:

…you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

Notice, he says ‘come against’, not ‘come for’, because, in the context of the Noachan Flood, the people being taken away were the wicked, which is precisely who Jesus is warning will be taken away again he when he returns in judgement.

And there’s another spoiler for those who believe in the doctrine of unconditional eternal security (also known as ‘once-saved-always-saved’), when Jesus says:

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.

Jesus’ promise, never to blot out from the book of life the name of anyone who conquers or overcomes, only makes sense if that person’s name is already in the book. But their name cannot always have been there, or else Jesus lied to Nicodemus:

 

John 3:17-18

 

For God did not send his Son into the world that he might judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. The one believing into him is not condemned; but the one not believing has already been condemned, for he has not believed into the name of the only begotten Son of God.

 

What Jesus explains here to Nicodemus is that the default position of everyone born into this fallen world is that we come into it already condemned. The corollary of that is that there must be a point at which the default can switch, and there is - it’s called Salvation. And is then that our names are added to the book of life.

When Jesus then speaks of those whose names he will never blot out of that book, it is reasonable to infer that there must also be others whose names can be blotted out, because the Greek word we translate as ‘blot out’ is εξαλείφω (exaleiphó) which means:

to besmear: cover with lime (to whitewash or plaster);

to wipe off, wipe away, to obliterate, erase, wipe out, blot out

In our modern parlance, we might say Tippex.

Nor is exaleiphó an insubstantial term but the same verb Luke uses to describe the forgiveness of sins:

 

Acts 3:19

Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out.

 

But might it be argued that Peter was not referring to believers here, therefore, neither was Jesus in his warning to Sardis?

Only if you redefine the word church, because that is certainly who Jesus was addressing in Sardis.

And the second part of his promise to those who overcome is:

I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

Nor is this a novelty.

 

Matthew 10:32

 

Then everyone who shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father in Heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father in Heaven.

That, at least, should be some reassurance to those who imagine that those of us who counter the teaching of unconditional eternal security are teaching that we maintain our salvation by works - a doctrinal position that is sometimes expressed as:

Saved by Jesus but discipled by Moses.

Not at all. As I have always insisted, a believer does not lose his salvation in isolation, merely because he sins, but because he abandons his faith and effectively divorces God. Or, as Jesus puts it so concisely: ‘denies me before men’.

 

Yet even to Sardis has that glimmer of hope we saw read of  earlier…

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.

This is another instance of looking beyond the obvious, because Sardis' main trade was in the manufacture and dyeing of woollen textiles, and that involved the craft of the fuller, who would prepare cloth by removing the oils and impurities and bleaching it in urine. Treading the cloth in urine was done in bare feet, and was a so disgusting a job it was given to slaves. Nevertheless, so important was it to the manufacture of cloth that urine was even taxed.

So Jesus is saying that there is hope for us all, because no matter how soiled and disgusting we think we have become, we are never beyond the ability of the Blood to cleanse us.

Nowhere is Jesus’ admonition, ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ more apposite than in Sardis where we truly need to look past the obvious to see what God sees, and hear what he is saying.

Because at Sardis we see a church with a lively reputation, that God calls dead. We see a church that is self-reliant and self-righteous, when it should have been obedient to God and careful of his Word. We see a church that was not watchful but complacent.

But, so that we don’t become down heartened, Jesus has yet more to say that we might be encouraged. And that is where we are headed for next -  when in Part Seven we will look at his message to the church in Philadelphia.