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Revelation 3:1-6, the Letter to Sardis

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 By
SARDIS
The Spiritually Dead Church


This letter is a call to the congregation to wake up to the person of the Holy Spirit, and thereby be made alive to the things of God. It’s the first church to which Jesus has nothing good to say.

3:1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

The great but tragic problem with Sardis lay in the fact that they had the name of Christ without the quickening influence of His divine Spirit. “A name in contrast with reality”, as one commentator puts it. So let’s look at the title of Jesus and see how it applies, and keep in mind that the “seven spirits” are interpreted to mean the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the “seven stars” are the pastors (see notes Rev.1:4-6,20).

“These things says He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars”. The idea here is that Christ Jesus holds as His possession both the Holy Spirit (without measure and in perfection) and the church leadership (as the Authority over the church). Therefore, by Him and through Him both are indelibly joined. Whereas He has sent forth the Holy Spirit to influence and empower the church (Jo.16:13-15), He has also commanded the church to walk and live in the Spirit (Rom.8:14).

What Sardis had done, was fraudulent. They were calling themselves a church, yet denying the Person of the Holy Spirit by not teaching soundly that He is the appointed power by which Christians are brought to faith and helped in their walk with God. In other words, they were not teaching that one must be “born again”. So they had a form of godliness in that they looked like a church, but because they were denying the power of the Spirit, they had no manifestation of life by the Spirit. By all accounts, Sardis was little more than a corpse with a nametag or as Jesus tells them “…you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.”

3:2-4 “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. 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.

Allow me to paraphrase this admonition.

Wake up, Sardis! While you’ve been carelessly slumbering, you’ve come perilously close to a point of death. So wake up, stay wide-awake, and listen carefully.

Strengthen what little trace of the Holy Spirit that still remains in your congregation, otherwise, when that goes, you will have nothing of His grace abiding in you. And you will die off as a church, and be of no further use to me. For I have diligently searched through, and carefully examined, every effort and work you have done in my name, and have not found them perfect before God (though they appear godly before man). So those things will not help you.

You will find what you need for recovery in those few spiritually pure ones you have been neglecting to hear in your congregation; for I find them worthy, and they shall walk with me in white, because they haven’t denied my Spirit (as you have).

So listen attentively to what they have to say concerning the Spirit. But act quickly, because those members won’t be around long.

Reconsider your ways, Sardis: humble yourselves before God, and start paying closer attention to those precious doctrines deposited into your care; as in the beginning, when the truth came to you with the demonstration of the Spirit, and you heartily received it. Because I must warn you, that unless you do, I will come upon you when you least expect it, and judge your church for its neglect of my admonition.

3:5-6 “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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments…” This refers to the glorified bodies we’ll be given in heaven (2 Cor.5:1-4). The word “white” is taken to mean “brilliant”. So the idea is, having been made the righteousness of Him, we will shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of our Father (check—Matt.13:43).

“…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.” In other words, because our name is written in the Book of Life we are given the assurance that it will not be blotted out. Christ Jesus will claim us as one belonging to Him, before the Father and before all the angels.

Okay, let’s pause here a minute and examine the Book of Life, and see if we can understand what it means to be “blotted out” of it.

The Book of Life is a “heavenly book” both held and kept by God. Its purpose is singular: To register the names of all who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and in turn have become citizens of heaven, joint-heirs to innumerable blessings, and future recipients of eternal life (see—Phil.4:3; Luke 10:20; Rev.21:2, 27).

It will be the Book of Life, therefore, when the condemned stand before Christ in the court of final judgment and must give a final account of their sins that ultimately convicts them to death. It will be opened in their sight, the names written therein carefully reviewed, and by the omission of their name, serve to prove their refusal to accept Christ’s gift of salvation and the forgiveness of sin (Rev.20:12, 15).

The word “blot out” is as it sounds. It means to erase, which carries with it the idea to wipe out or to obliterate. Therefore, if someone’s name is blotted out of the Book of Life, it means that the name is no longer contained in the Book, and ever again shall be. Unfortunately, this has caused some to suggest that a believer can lose salvation. They reason that because the Book of Life contains no other group of names but those of the redeemed, therefore this blotting out of names must apply to the redeemed alone. But Scripture contradicts that notion; clearly stating that it’s not the redeemed, made righteous in Christ (Eph.1:7; 2 Cor.5:21), whose names are blotted out, but those who are not redeemed. (See—Ex.32:33; Ps.69:27-28).

Okay, but how do we reconcile the idea that the Book of Life, a record of the redeemed in Christ, could at the same time contain names belonging to the condemned that will be divinely obliterated? I have a suggestion based upon another scripture in Revelation.

“And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life” (Rev.22:19)

Okay, let’s look at this passage. The word “part” is a Greek word meaning “to get as a section or allotment”. In other words by its use of that specific word “part” that passage can be interpreted to suggest that it’s one’s “section” in the Book of Life that’s blotted out and not one’s “name”. Let’s consider an example. When you reserve a room in a hotel, management allots you a room in your name. But until you actually arrive and claim the room, your name is not officially recorded in the registry as an occupant. You only hold a reservation. If you fail to claim the room, then your name is deleted, and you forfeit your reservation.

In my opinion, the Book of Life is both a reservation and registry. I believe that God, Who is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet.3:9) has “reserved” a space inside His Book for the names of all who are born. When a person receives Christ Jesus as Savior, that person’s name is registered permanently as the occupant of that space. Whereas, when God determines in His infinite wisdom that one will not be saved, an allotment of space is “blotted out” and the reservation made to include that name is forever forfeited.

It’s only a suggestion, dear ones. But it’s certainly not a contradiction to the immutable gift of salvation freely offered to us in Christ Jesus our Savior, and seems in perfect harmony with the riches of the grace of God.

Historically: Ancient Sardis was the capital city of Lydia in the province of Asia Minor, and in fact was one of its oldest and most important cities of its day. It’s said that silver and gold coins were first minted here. Moreover, during its days as a Roman city, Sardis became an important Christian center that evidently became complacent due to a reliance on its past glory. At the time of this letter, Sardis was comparatively insignificant. Successive earthquakes, and the ravages of the Saracens and Turks, have reduced the city to a heap of ruins. Today the site (part of Turkey) is occupied by a village named Sart, which is said to be “A miserable village, comprising only a few wretched cottages, occupied by Turks and Greeks”.

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Revelation 2:1-7, the Letter to Ephesus

Monday, June 29, 2009 By
EPHESUS
The Insincere Church


This message to the Ephesians is a grieving complaint that the congregation had left its “first love” and thus stopped loving Jesus sincerely.

2:1 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:”

Two things in this opening address are consistent in all seven letters:

  1. The letter is addressed to “the angel of the church”
  2. Jesus speaks of Himself in imagery mostly drawn from Chapter One

The “angel of the church”, as we discussed earlier, is the pastor of the church (see notes—Rev.1:20). These letters are addressed to the one responsible for sharing the message with the members of the congregation.

The imagery Jesus draws from in these letters is consistent with the way He revealed Himself to John (in Chapter One) because it’s part of that event. Whereas, John, as instructed, described for us in the previous Chapter what he had seen in beholding Christ, he now writes what Jesus has to say concerning the things which are; namely, the Church. We will see in these letters, Jesus using components of His image to describe Himself to the particular congregation in order to speak to the nature of that church’s condition.

“He who holds the seven stars in His right hand…” This seems intended as a reminder to Ephesus that He (Jesus) is the One Who upholds and empowers the pastor, and therefore He to whom the church is subject in all things as the Head of the church (Col. 1:18).

“…who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands” continues the admonition by reminding Ephesus that He does move about the church, watchful to guard against internal and external evils, and mindful to rightly preserve its spiritual well-being.

2:2-4 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

It’s not a good sign when Jesus follows praise by rebuke. But it is worth noting, as we will see in these letters that Jesus ascribes His knowledge of the congregation’s works, good or bad, but always acknowledges the positive before the negative.

On one hand, the works of the Ephesians were great. According to Jesus, they labored hard to serve the church, persevered in their duties with patience, weeded out the unrepentant, and guarded themselves against false teachers and doctrines. Moreover, they did it gladly for His name’s sake without growing weary.

On the other hand, however, they were short of love, and Jesus rebukes them for it. Listen to His complaint:

“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

The love in question here is the “early love”. That first enthusiastically warm and affectionate love following a new life in Christ, where self is denied, all that displeases God is gladly abandoned, and fellowship one with another is joyfully embraced. It is this love, the love kindled in the beginning when we first accept Christ as Savior, from which the Ephesians had strayed. As one commentator puts it, because they lacked sincerity, “they were going through the motions without emotion”.

Here’s my guess how the delinquency might have played out in the church:

Services were attended out of obligation or force of habit rather than a passionate desire to worship God as it was in the beginning; and fellowship, where earlier hearts for one another were tender, became argumentative and divisive.

2:5 “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place– unless you repent.

This is a strong admonition, but at the same time, I see it as a very tender appeal by Jesus because of one word:

“REMEMBER…”

Memory is a powerful and driving force. Otherwise, we wouldn’t return to the ocean for a walk on the beach, to a restaurant for our favorite food, or to an old photo album for the umpteenth time. Memorable recollections of pleasant experiences always cause us to return to those things that we’ve enjoyed in the past. That’s why I believe Jesus uses the word. Not just to command them, but to arouse in them into a fond memory of their early love with Him. So they would correct their condition by their own volition and not require Him to chasten them.

Okay, but we can’t neglect the ultimatum: Ephesus must repent and return to their first love quickly or else they would be chastened by having their “lampstand” removed from its place. What does that mean?

Keep in mind that the Church is symbolized as a lampstand because our primary function to Christ is that of a light-bearer to uphold light (Matt.5:14-15). When we, the Church, uphold Jesus Christ (Who is light; John 8:12), we serve Him because we illuminate Him to the world. On the other hand, when a wrong attitude quenches the work of the Holy Spirit, and we no longer enlighten hearts with the love and glory of God, our usefulness to Christ ceases; a concern, incidentally, that generally plagued even the Apostle Paul (I Cor.9:27). Much the same way you and I would remove a lamp that becomes faulty because it’s no longer useful, Jesus threatens to remove Ephesus. Not that it meant a loss of salvation; the congregation was at risk of losing any future opportunity to be of service to Him.

2:6 “But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

It’s generally accepted that the Nicolaitans were an early heretical sect that arose during the apostolic period of the church, and in some cases influenced it (much as they did Pergamos and Thyatira). Although their origin is somewhat of a mystery, their practices were most likely pagan in nature and crowded with idols and idolatrous worship. It’s also possible that this sect embraced a system of ideas involving tyrannical lordship over the church; that is, they pretended to have apostolic authority in order to rule over the affairs of new Christians in the early Church. This is drawn by some commentators from the meaning of the name nicolaitans, which in Greek means, “to overcome the people.”

Whoever the Nicolaitans were, though, Jesus found their deeds abhorring, and further commended the Ephesians for keeping them out of the congregation.

2:7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”

It should be pointed out that each of these letters to the Church concludes in the same way:

  1. An admonition to “hear what the Spirit says to the churches”
  2. A promised blessing to “him who overcomes”

Before His departure, Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, “He will guide you into all truth” and “He will tell you things to come” (John 16:13). We must “hear” (not just listen, but also hear with the heart to be in agreement with God) when the Spirit speaks. For the Holy Spirit speaks truthfully to us about both, admonition and promise. We take the phrase “him who overcomes” to signify the ones, who by faith, overcome the world and find victory in the saving grace of Jesus Christ (1 John 5:5).

“To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” This speaks of the immortality of heaven that awaits every believer. For it’s inside New Jerusalem (the eternal city of the saints) that the tree of life will yield its fruit throughout eternity (Rev.22:2).

Historically: The church at Ephesus began about 50 AD by what is believed to have been the efforts of Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:18). In about 52 AD Paul established a ministry there that lasted nearly 3 years, followed by Timothy, and eventually (at least according to some traditions) John himself, following his exile on Patmos. Ephesus was the largest city in the province of Asia, having had perhaps a population of 300,000 people. It was also significant for its religion, including the Temple of Diana (ranked as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Sometime before the first millennium, however, the city lost importance, decreased in population, and saw many of her sculptured stones (falling to ruins) carted off to Italy. In 1308 the Turks took possession of what little remained of the city and either deported or murdered its remaining inhabitants. Today, as a result perpetual river flooding, the ruins of the city lie in a swamp, and only the small nearby Turkish town of Ayasaluk represents her.

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