Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

3:1-3
3
THE DOMINION MANDATE
Sardis: Judgment on the Dead (3:1-6)
1 And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who
has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars, says
this: I know your deeds, that you have a name that you
are alive, but you are dead.
2 Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which
were about to die; for I have not found your deeds
completed in the sight of My God.
3 Remember therefore what you have received and heard;
and keep it, and repent. If therefore you will not wake up,
I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know
at what hour I will come upon you.
4 But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled
their garments; and they will walk with Me in white; for
they are worthy.
5 He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white
garments; and I will not erase his name from the Book of
Life, and 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.
1 To the bishop of the church in Sardis, Christ
announces Himself as the One who has the seven
Spirits of God. As we have seen (on 1:4) this is a term
for the Holy Spirit who, as the Nicene Creed declares,
“proceeds from the Father and the Son.” Christ also
possesses the seven stars, the angels of the churches
(1:16, 20). The rulers of the churches are owned by
Him and are at all points accountable to Him. And the
elders in Sardis desperately needed to be reminded of
this, for they had allowed the church to die.
I know your deeds, the Lord tells them. You have a
name that you are alive. The church of Sardis had a
reputation for being an active congregation, “alive” for
Christ. Undoubtedly it was well-known in Asia as the
representative of the Christian faith in a wealthy and
famous city. It was, perhaps, fashionable and popular in
the community; there is no evidence that, in a period
of growing persecution, the church in Sardis was
coming under attack. In fact, the evidence is all the
other way, indicating that the church had almost
totally compromised with the surrounding culture. This
busy, seemingly fruitful and growing church was, in
fact, dead. We should note that the death of Sardis did
not necessarily consist in a lack of youth activities or
fellowship meetings (which is the reason why churches
tend to be called “dead” today). Rather, the church had
become, as Mounce correctly observes, secularized. 1 Its
fundamental worldview was no different from that of
the surrounding pagan culture. Its outlook was similar
to that of those who are elsewhere in Scripture
characterized as “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1-
3). Sardis had “completely come to terms with its pagan
environment.” 2
2-3 The Lord gives Sardis two admonitions. First, He
says, Wake up! G. R. Beasley-Murray points out some
interesting history about the town of Sardis which
serves as an appropriate background to this statement:
“Sardis was built on a mountain, and an acropolis was
constructed on a spur of this mountain, which was all
but impregnable. Yet twice in the city’s history it had
been taken unawares and captured by enemies. The
parallel with the church’s lack of vigilance, and its need
to wake up lest it fall under judgment is striking.” 3
Sardis is not quite completely dead, but these things are
about to die. Although the Lord has not written off the
entire church yet, the danger is real and immediate.
The elders at Sardis must begin now to strengthen the
things that remain.
At this point, some members of Sardis could have
complained: “What are You scolding us for? We haven’t
done anything!” And that was precisely the problem.
Sardis had works; but they were not completed; they
were unfulfilled in God’s sight. In fact, Sardis may have
appeared to be the most “alive” church for this very
reason: As a dead church, it experienced neither
theological controversy nor persecution. “Content with
mediocrity, lacking both the enthusiasm to entertain a
heresy and the depth of conviction which provokes
intolerance, it was too innocuous to be worth
persecuting.” 4 Satan may have felt that Sardis was
coming along rather nicely without his interference,
and was better off left alone.
In His second admonition, Christ commands: Remember
therefore what you have received and heard –
the Gospel, the ministry and sacraments, and (in the
case of the elders to whom this is specifically addressed)
the privileges and responsibilities of officebearing in
the Church of Jesus Christ. All these things they were
to keep, to watch over and guard; and that meant that
they must repent of their slothful attitude and conduct.
If therefore you will not repent, Christ warns, I will
come upon you like a thief, and you will not know at
what hour I will come upon you. To repeat what has
been painstakingly pointed out above (see on 1:7; 2:5,
16), the threat of Christ’s coming against a local
1. Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation
(Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co., 1977), p. 112.
2. Ibid., p. 109.
3. G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation
(Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co., [1978] 1981), p. 94.
4. G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine
(New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1966),
p.48.
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