[Chapter 3-1] Letter to The Church of Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6)
(Revelation 3:1-6)
“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. 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. 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.’”
Exegesis
Verse
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
Lord has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. The Church of
Sardis had many shortcomings in its life of faith. God therefore
admonished the Church to live by faith. God said here to the servant of
the church of Sardis, “you have a name that you are alive, but you are
dead.” By this, God meant that the faith of the servant of the Church of
Sardis was dead for all practical purposes.
Verse
2: “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready
to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.”
The
Lord no longer permitted the angel of the Church of Sardis to continue
in faithlessness. He rebuked this Church because it had lived without
the whole faith in the Word of God. For the saints not to live their
lives by wholeheartedly believing in all of the written Word of God is
akin to living while committing sin before God’s presence.
Even
when they are weak, if the saints live by their faith in the Word of
God, they will be raised high before both God and men. To become such
saints whose faith is whole, we must live our lives by faithfully
believing in and following the Word of God that has made the saints
whole.
Verse
3: “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.”
The
saints and servants of the Early Church had to pay immeasurable
sacrifices to hear and keep the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The
Lord therefore told them not to lose their faith in this precious gospel
of the water and the Spirit, the gospel that took so many sacrifices
and even their lives for them to receive. Believers must clearly
demonstrate their faith and its deeds to God by holding fast to this
gospel of the perfect salvation of the water and the Spirit.
Those
who are saved must always remember how they first heard and believed in
the gospel of the water and the Spirit, living their lives in
thankfulness for the grace of salvation. The born-again saints and
servants must always dwell on how great and blessed the gospel that they
received from the Lord is. If not, they will then stand in the place of
the fools, not knowing when the Lord will come back to this earth.
Verse
4: “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.”
Nonetheless,
the Lord tells us here that the Church of Sardis still had a few
believers who, not having defiled their garments, were holding fast to
their faith. The Lord also says that these faithful saints will live as
the servants of God, who, clothed in His righteousness, will walk with
the Lord. They could walk with the Lord because their faith was worthy
of walking with Him.
The
saints whose faith is approved by God follow the Lord wherever He may
lead them. The fact that they have not defiled their garments means that
they did not, trusting in the Word of the Lord, surrender to the things
of the world. Those who have been clothed in the garments of the
righteous by the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by the Lord
hold steadfast to His Word and do not compromise with the world. They
draw, in other words, a clear line of separation from the false gospels.
Those
who have been clothed in white by believing in the Lord’s gospel labor
for His gospel and live a life in this world that walks with Him. This
is why the Lord is always with them, for they have always followed Him
by believing in His Word.
Verse
5: “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.”
Those
who overcome the world by believing in the Word of God will live
eternally, clothed in the righteousness of God as His saints and serving
the Lord’s works. The Lord will also approve their faith and write
their names in the Book of Life, and these names will not be blotted out
forever.
Our
Lord’s Word of promise tells us that those who have the true faith will
surely triumph in their struggle of faith against God’s enemies. “He
who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments.” The white garments
here mean victory in the battle of faith against God’s enemies. The
winners of faith are given the blessing by which their names are not
blotted out from the Book of Life forever. And their names will also be
written in the New Jerusalem. “I will confess his name before My Father
and before His angels.” By “confess” here, it means that the Lord will
approve their faith.
Verse 6: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Those
who have the true faith always hear what the Holy Spirit says to them
through His churches. As such, they live with God, and are constantly
guided by the Holy Spirit.
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