Church at Sardis (2)

English Standard Version Chapter 3

“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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 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. 5 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. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 3:1–6.

Verse 4a

English Standard Version (Chapter 3)

4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments,

Let’s begin by looking at this idea of soiled garments.

What does this refer to?

Zech 3:1-5 “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.”

The removal of these garments symbolized the removal of guilt. It was an act of removal of the old and the past.

Rev 7:13-14 “Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Rev 22:14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.”

Even in other writing from the first and second century christendom there were statements about the robes of Christ. They were described as able to pass through mud and not soiled. One commentator of this passage described the clothes similar to teflon.

and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

What does walking with Christ mean to you?

Am 3:3 “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?”

In other words, will two people walk together unless they agreed to walk together. They have to agree with what they agree.

Rev 14:1-4 “Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb,”

Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 52A: Revelation 1–5 Comment

περιπατεῖν

The word was used to describe behavior; how someone acts. Some parallel passages use the term “walking worthily.”

1 Thess 2:12 “we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.”

Can someone describe what it means to walk in a way that is worth of God?

Paul also used this idea several times through out his writing. For instance, Col 1:10 and Eph 4:1.

The word for worthiness is typically reserved for God or Jesus Christ. This is especially true in the book of Revelation. This act of walking with Christ is when we are moving in the likeness of Christ. It speaks of our relationship with God that makes us more like him. It is not works and trying that makes us like Christ, but our connection with him and our agreement with him.

John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””

Again, walk is the same word. Here the understanding is “discipleship”. Those who follow Christ will not walk in darkness but in stead live in the light of his love.

Think for a moment, who is someone from the Old Testament that, walked with God?

Gen 5:22 speaks of Enoch walking with God. Gen 6:9 speaks of Noah walking with God. This appears to be an unmediated relationship with God. The Gen 17:1 Abraham is commanded to “walk before” God.

Revelation 3:5 (ESV)

“The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.

This statement leans back to the idea of being clean, morality, and purity. Ritual purity was a common practice of many cultures in the Old and New Testaments. For instance, Esther was put through a long purification ritual before she was able to become the Queen.

Angels and Heavenly messengers are typically described as wearing white clothes. Rev 4:4 the 4 and 20 elders were clothed in white. The priests of the ancient world wore white. The Greek and Roman Gods were also believed to wear white robes. Daniel 7:9 describes God as wearing white. As was Jesus’ garments in the transfiguration.

Let’s take a look at the the description of God in Daniel and the Description of Jesus in Revelation.

Dan 7:9 “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.”

Rev 1:13-16 “and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.”

Furthermore, white garments were also used as a metaphor for heavenly reward. It is also a symbol of salvation and immortality. In other words, it was the gift of eternal life.

We mentioned last week that Sardis was famous for its red fabric dye. These people knew about fabric dyes so they would understand the concept of the need to clean their clothing.

How hard is it to get red dye out of white clothes?

Is 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

These people knew about dyeing cloth. When Christ spoke about washing clothes so they are white, the people would have known exactly what he was talking about.

It is basically impossible to remove scarlet dye and make the cloth white again. However, what is impossible for us to do, Christ is fully capable to do.

Revelation 3:5b (ESV)

I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

Ex 32:32 “But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”

There are three different types of heavenly records that were mentioned in the Bible.

Book of Life, which is the heavenly record of those who are considered righteous and worthy. Luke 10:20 “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Book of Deeds, which records the good and bad deeds a person performed. Rev 20:12 “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”

Book of History, records the history of the world. Ps 56:8 “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”

We don’t typically think about these libraries in Heaven, however, imagine there is a beautiful library and it is filled with all of the annals of history. It includes a living biography of every person alive. It includes volumes of everyone that have ever existed. It includes our pasts, our presents, and our futures. That sounds like an amazing thing.

No matter how great and amazing those books are, the book that is more important is the book of life. It is a book of those who will have eternal life in Heaven.

Mal 3:16 “Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.”

Now here is the interesting thing. Many times we see the statement “blot out”. For most of us, I think we interpret that as we piss off God enough to make him erase our names out of the book of Life. Nevertheless, blotting out in the Bible and ancient times was never used to refer to Christ being ticked off and canceling it out. Instead, someone’s name was blotted out when they died. If someone in the Greek culture was to be executed they began by erasing or blotting out his name from the register of citizens.

The book of the Living in Heaven is a register of every citizen of God’s kingdom. The only way that he or she can be blotted out is if the person makes the conscious decision to no longer walk with God. When their name is blotted out, it is down because he or she has now suffered the second death. Which revelation describes as Hell.

There is no, My name is written, oop I messed up, now its blotted out, oh, I’m sorry, so it is added back, and now I messed up again and it is erased. We see that erred theology in some churches.

Romans 8:37-39 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”