Sunday School Notes: Revelation 3:1-3

¹ And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: “Thus saith he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works, that you have a name [or reputation] that you are alive, yet you are dead. ² Be awake and strengthen what remains [or those that remain] that is about to die for I have not found your works completed before my God. ³ Remember, therefore, what you received and heard, and keep and repent. If, then, you do not wake up, I shall come like a thief, and you certainly won’t know at what hour I shall come against you.”

We started with good intentions of getting through the entire letter to the church in Sardis, but we ran out of time and rather than hurrying through the last three verses, I decided to hold those over to next time. So this is “The Letter to Sardis, Part 1.”

The city of Sardis was an illustrious city about 40 miles south-east of Thyatira, and about 45 miles east of Smyrna. Its fame and prosperity can be attributed, at least to some degree, to the fact that it was situated on a number of important trade routes. While only a couple of temples have been discovered, it is believed there were many more back in the first century, dedicated both to the traditional deities, and to Emperors. There was also a significant Jewish presence in the city, and a large synagogue has been uncovered with inscriptions on the wall that indicate it numbered the wealthy and even city officials among its members. Clearly there were far more non-Christians in Smyrna than Christians, and many of them were rich and influential. I daresay being a Christian in Smyrna was as difficult as in the other churches we’ve read about, not only in terms of persecution, but also in terms of being pressured to deny Christ and conform to the world.

The way Jesus describes himself reminds us of the letter to Ephesus where he is has the seven stars. Chapter 1 tells us these represent the seven angels of the churches. In this passage, Jesus also says he has the seven spirits of God. Back in chapter 1, John addressed the book of Revelation to the seven Asian churches from “the one who is and was and is coming, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne.” In our discussion we recognized that the number “7” signifies completeness or fullness, and that the seven spirits were, therefore representative of the Spirit who empowers the whole church for service. This reminder of the work of the Spirit in the church is something the Sardians (Sardinians…? Sardinites…? Sardines…?!) need. As in 1:20, the seven angels, which Christ holds in his right hand, are symbolic of the fact that Christ is Lord of the church. Not only is he the one who, through the Spirit, empowers the church, but he is the final rule and authority of the church.

Jesus says he has seen the works of the church, and that they have a “name.” Just as the city had a reputation, so did the church. “Name” is a buzz word in this letter, and Jesus plays off of it to make a couple of points. In this instance, the Lord points out that they have made a name for themselves as a church that is “alive”–a reputation the church has bought into. Perhaps it’s a reputation they are proud of. What does it mean, though? From the rest of the letter it seems the church has compromised itself into impotence. Maybe they have a large membership and are very active in doing good and showing love to one another, but have forgotten their calling: to be salt and light in the world. A modern equivalent might be a large church with lots of programs and activities, maybe a large youth group that works in the community, or teams of people that visit the sick and elderly, perhaps even a softball league, which has lost sight of the gospel. Sure, they talk about Jesus and invite people to church, but are they willing to stand with Christ and be known as his when doing so may cost financially, or socially? Are they willing to talk to people about the need to repent of sin and cling to Christ as their only hope of salvation? Or have they become so comfortable in their self-sufficiency that they don’t need Christ, and certainly don’t want to risk ruining everything by being like those “fundamentalists” you hear about on the news.

The Lord of the church tells them that while they are famous for being alive, in actual fact they are dead. This seems a bit harsh–as if he’s saying they’re unbelievers! I think Jesus is using hyperbole, or overstatement here to make a point. The fact he offers a remedy in verses 2 and 3 suggest that he is, indeed, using a stark black-white dichotomy to shake the church up. If Jesus had told them they were merely sick, or struggling, that might not have made the impression he wanted to make. It seems Jesus wants to slap them into alertness and push them out of their comfort. Calling them “dead” might just do the trick.

In verse 2, the Lord tells them what they need to do, and in verse 3 he tells them how to do it. First, they need to wake up and strengthen “what remains.” The Greek term is a neuter plural, “those things that remain,” which could apply to works. Perhaps he’s saying that they need to strengthen what good things they are doing by injecting gospel purpose into them. However, the term could also point to the people within the church (the “few names” in verse 4) who have stayed “pure” and “undefiled”–i.e., they have remained true to the gospel and not contaminated themselves with the world. It’s very possible that Jesus is referring to these people, telling the church they need to affirm and strengthen them, not treat them like an odd little cult group. They should let their kind flourish within the church, especially since they are on the verge of dying out. At the moment, the church’s works are lacking in the sight of God, or they are “incomplete” before God. Only by returning to gospel faithfulness can the church and her works be mature, or “complete” before God.

How can the church wake up, strengthen the dying embers of gospel hope within, and be complete before the Lord? Jesus provides the answer to this in a series of imperatives. The fact that he strings together a series of verbs in this way gives a sense of urgency to his words. They also help to make the message he has for the church succinct and clear:

• Remember…: a present tense imperative indicating that they need to continually remember.
• …what you have received…: a perfect tense verb, which says that they received something in the past that has continuing effect into the present–i.e., the gospel message.
• …and heard…: an aorist verb, so it’s something they heard in the past, maybe letters from Paul, sermons, encouraging words, things of that nature designed to stir their hearts to faithfulness.
• …and keep…: another present tense imperative, indicating that not only should they continually remember these things, but they should hold on to them daily, hourly, minute-by-minute, because they are words of life.
• …and repent…: finally, an aorist imperative–they need to repent now. The aorist tense doesn’t make reference to any particular past, present, or future condition–it’s simply an “unbounded” point in time. I think it reminds us that repentance is something we need to do when we recognize sin in our lives, but once we’ve repented, we need to move on. We don’t need to continually repent for that sin (we’ll have plenty more sins to deal with in the future!). It’s been paid for, Christ has forgiven it.

If the church doesn’t heed this warning, Christ says he will come against them like a thief and they most certainly won’t know when that will be (the Greek grammatical construction is one that indicates strong negation). Jesus used the picture of coming like a thief when talking about his Second Coming in Matthew 24:42-44, and also in Revelation 16:15, a verse that has other parallels to this passage. Is he talking here about his Second Coming, or is this a special visitation upon the church in Sardis? Since the other passages use the “thief” imagery in reference to Christ’s Second Coming, and Scripture only speaks of two “comings” of Christ (Bethlehem and the End Times), I think he is warning the church to be prepared for his final return. However, it’s possible that Christ could come against them using the agency of, say, the local authorities. In other words, Christ doesn’t have to come against them personally to fulfill these words, though I’m more convinced this is an “End Times” warning.

But it’s not all bad in the Sardian church… and that’s where we’ll pick up next time.

PS: Speaking of Christians being willing to count the cost of their faith, see this CNN report . Let’s not forget to pray for our persecuted brethren throughout the world. I’m sure the passages we’re studying have particular meaning to them. “To the one who overcomes…”