Revelation Study Week 9: Chapter 3:1-6

Revelation 3:1-6

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars:

“I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. 3 Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.

4 “Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.

6 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

Literal Meaning

vs. 1a - “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars:

The sevenfold Spirit of God is a reference to the Holy Spirit, all encompassing.

The seven stars, as stated in 1:20, is the angles to the seven churches.

Vs. 1b - “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead.

I know your deeds is what Jesus says to churches when he is talking about their strengths.

The phrase “you have a reputation for being alive” is a little deceptive. The Greek actually says, “you have a name that you are alive.” the difference is subtle. One says, people believe you are alive by what you do, the other says. Your name describes you as alive but...

Whether it is a description of them or what people perceive about them, it is false, they are not really alive but dead!

This, of course, is in reference to their spiritual state.

Vs. 2-3 - Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.

What we see in these two verses are 5 commands.

Wake up

Strengthen what remains

Go Back to what you heard/believed

Hold firmly

Repent

Vs. 4 - “Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

Who are those with soiled clothes? Non-Christians?

Isn’t the naked in reference to the unbelieving, or those going to Hell, who don’t know God?

Soiled clothes can be a reference to their witness. Those who have not soiled their clothes will reap the rewards, those who have will loose what they have.

The question is how do we know if we have soiled clothes?

We often think we are OK because we are not naked, but that is not the case.

Vs. 5 - All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.

With victory comes white clothes. The idea of never erase their names from the Book of life is often associated with losing one’s salvation. A common Jewish writing technique is proving something by negating it’s opposite. So saying never erase their names means it will be forever written.

How you interpret will inevitably be based on your belief of eternal security.

Are you once saved always saved?

Can one lose their salvation?

Consider this, if a man is drowning in the ocean and you come along and throw them a lifeline, they grab ahold of it and you start pulling them to your boat. Then they simply let go of the line and drown, where they every really saved even though they had al lifeline?

A person who says he is a christian, does all the things Jesus desires, but one day abandons his faith then dies and goes to hell, was he ever really saved?

Vs. 6 - “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

If you have the ability to comprehend then you should understand what this means...

Universal Understanding

Reputation is a dangerous thing. Just because something believes something about you does not mean it’s true. A church is only alive by the definition God gives it, not by what is seen by people.

Prophetic Nature

In 1517, Martin Luther, a monk and university professor, posted a ninety-five theses ( or 95 statements) on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg.

All his teachings rested on three main ideas,

Saved by faith alone thorough God’s forgiveness.

The church should be based on the word of God alone, not the word of God and tradition.

All people in the faith are equal , there was no need for priests to intercede for you.

Germany took on Lutheranism

Switzerland took on Calvinism

England took on a “midway” belief between Calvinism and Catholicism

While the idea of 5 solas

Scripture alone

Christ alone

Faith alone

Grace alone

To God alone be the Glory

The tragedy of this reformation was the lack of evangelism. Where as the Catholic church was going to conquer the whole world, the reformation focused on getting rid of heresy within the church and forgot the mission of the church to evangelize.

They pushed their agenda, not God’s and as a result soiled their clothes.

Personal Application

Are you being a witness for Jesus?

Do you have an image of being alive but are really dead?

Have you lost sight of what you believed in the beginning?