Jesus was holding seven spirits and stars

JESUS WAS HOLDING SEVEN SPIRITS AND STARS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Revelation3:1 To the angel of the church in Sardis
write: These are the words of the One who holds the
sevenfoldSpiritof God and the seven stars. I know
your deeds; you have a reputationfor being alive, yet
you are dead.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
III.
(1) Sardis.—The modern Sart—now a mere village of paltry huts—once the
capital of the old Lydian monarchy, and associatedwith the names of Crœsus,
Cyrus, and Alexander. It was the greatentrepôt of dyed woollenfabrics, the
sheepof “many-flocked” Phrygia supplying the raw material. The art of
dyeing is said to have been invented here; and many-coloured carpets or mats
found in the houses of the wealthy were manufactured here. The metal known
as electrum, a kind of bronze, was the produce of Sardis; and in early times
gold-dust was found in the sand of the Pactolus, the little stream which passed
through the Agora of Sardis, and washedthe walls of the Temple of Cybele. It

is said that gold and silver coins were first, minted at Sardis, and that resident
merchants first became a class there. An earthquake laid it waste in the reign
of Tiberius; a pestilence followed, but the city seems to have recoveredits
prosperity before the date of this epistle. The worship of Cybele was the
prevailing one; its rites, like those of Dionysos and Aphrodite, encouraged
impurity.
The writer is described in words similar to those in Revelation1:4, as the one
who hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars;but there is a
difference. There Christ was seenholding the stars in His right hand; here it is
said He hath the sevenSpirits and also the sevenstars. In this language it is
difficult to overlook the unhesitating way in which Christ is spokenof as
owning or possessing that Holy Spirit who alone can make angels of His
Church to shine as stars. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9;
Romans 8:11). His promise is, “I will send the Comforter unto you” (John
15:26), as possessing allpower in heaven and earth. “He is able,” to use the
language ofProfessorPlumptre, “to bring togetherthe gifts of life, and the
ministry for which those gifts are needed. If those who minister are without
gifts; it is because they have not askedfor them.” This the angelof the
Sardian Church had not done; his faith and the faith of the Church around
him had sunk into a superficial, though perhaps ostentatious, state.Here,
then, lies the appropriateness ofthe description given of Christ, as the source
of life and light to His Church.
A name that thou livest.—It is only needful to mention, and to dismiss the
fanciful conjecture, that the name of the angelwas Zosimos, or some parallel
name, signifying life-bearing or living. It is the reputation for piety possessed
by the Church of Sardis which is referred to. Living with the credit of
superior piety, it was easyto grow satisfiedwith the reputation, and to forget
to keepopen the channels through which grace andlife could flow, and to fail
to realise that the adoption of habits of life higher than those around them, or
those who lived before them, was no guarantee ofreal spiritual life; for “the

real virtues of one age become the spurious ones of the next . . . The belief of
the Pharisees, the religious practice of the Pharisees,was an improvement
upon the life of the sensualand idolatrous Jews whom the prophets
denounced. But those who used both the doctrinal and moral improvements
as the fulcrum of a selfish powerand earthly rank, were the same men after
all as their fathers, only accommodatedto a new age” (Mozley). Self-
satisfaction, whichsprings up when a certain reputation has been acquired, is
the very road to self-deception. The remedy is progress—forgetting the things
behind, lest looking with complacencyupon the past, moral and spiritual
stagnationshould set in, and spiritual death should follow.
MacLaren's Expositions
Revelation
THE LORD OF THE SPIRITS AND THE STARS
Revelation3:1.
The titles by which our Lord speaks ofHimself in the letters to the seven
churches are chosento correspondwith the spiritual condition of the
community addressed. The correspondencecanusually be observedwithout
difficulty, and in this case is very obvious. The church in Sardis, to which
Christ is presentedunder this aspectas the possessorof‘the sevenSpirits of
God and the seven stars,’had no heresies needing correction. It had not life
enough to produce even such morbid secretions.Neitherweeds nor flowers
grow in winter. There may be a lowerdepth than the condition of things when
people are all thinking, and some of them thinking wrongly, about Christian

truth. Betterthe heresies ofEphesus and Thyatira than the acquiescent
deadness of Sardis.
It had no immoralities. The gross corruptions of some in Pergamum had no
parallel there. Philadelphia had none, for it kept close to its Lord, and Sardis
is rebuked for none, because its evil was deeper and sadder. It was not
flagrantly corrupt, it was only - dead.
Of course it had no persecutions. Faithful Smyrna had tribulation unto death,
hanging like a thundercloud overhead, and Philadelphia, beloved of the Lord,
was drawing near its hour of trial. But Sardis had not life enough to be
obnoxious. Why should the world trouble itself about a dead church? It
exactly answers the world’s purpose, and is really only a bit of the world
under another name.
To such a church comes flaming in upon its stolid indifference this solemn and
yet gladvision of the Lord of the ‘sevenSpirits of God,’ and of ‘the seven
stars.’
I. Let us think of the condition of the church which especiallyneeds this
vision.
It is all summed up in that judgment, pronounced by Him who ‘knows its
works’:‘Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.’ No works either
goodor bad are enumerated, though there were some, which He gathers
togetherin one condemnation, as ‘not perfectbefore God.’

We are not to take that word ‘dead’ in the fullest sense ofwhich it is capable,
as we shall see presently. But let us remember how, when on earth, the Lord,
whose deepwords on that matter we owe mainly to John, taught that all men
were either living, because they had been made alive by Him, or dead - how
He said, ‘Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, ye
have no life in you,’ and how one of the main ideas of John’s whole teaching
is, ‘He that hath the Son hath life.’ This remembrance will help us to give the
words their true meaning. Death is the condition of those who are separated
from Him, and not receiving from Him the better life into their spirits by
communion and faith.
Into this condition the church in Sardis had fallen. People and bishop had lost
their hold on Him. Their hearts beat with no vigorous love to Him, but only
feebly throbbed with a pulsation which even His hand laid on their bosoms
could scarcelydetect. Their thoughts had no clearapprehension of Him or of
His love. Their communion with Him had ceased. Theirlives had no radiant
beauty of self-sacrificefor Christ’s sake. TheirChristianity was dying out.
But this death was not entire, as is seenfrom the fact that in the next verse
‘ready to die’ is the expressionapplied to some among them, or perhaps to
some lingering works which still survived. They were at the point of death,
moribund, with much of their spiritual life extinct, but here and there a spark
among the ashes, whichHis eye saw, and His breath could fan into a flame.
Some works still survived, though not ‘perfect,’shrunken and sicklylike the
blanched shoots of a plant feebly growing in a dark cellar.
In some animals of low organization you may see muscular movements after
life is extinct. So churches and individual Christians may keepon performing
Christian work for a time after the true impulse that should produce it has
ceased. A train will run for some distance after the steamhas been shut off.
Institutions last after the life is out of them, for use and wont keeps up a

routine of action, though the true motive is dead, and men may go on for long,
nominal adherents of a cause to which they are bound by no living conviction.
How much of your Christian activity is the manifestation of life, and how
much of it is the ghastly twitchings of a corpse under galvanism?
This death was unseen but by the flame-eyed Christ. These people in Sardis
had ‘a name to live.’ They had a high reputation among the Asiatic churches
for vigorous Christian character. And they themselves, no doubt, would be
very much astonishedat the sledgehammerblow of this judgment of their
state. One canfancy them saying - ‘We dead! Do not we stand high among our
brethren, have we not this and the other Christian work among us? Have we
not prophesiedin Thy name? ‘Yes, and the surestsign of spiritual death is
unconsciousness.Paralysis is not felt. Mortification is painless. Frost-bitten
limbs are insensitive. They only tingle when life is coming back to them. When
a man says I am asleep, he is more than half awake.
One characteristic oftheir death is that they have forgottenwhat they were in
better and happier times, and therefore need the exhortation, ‘Remember
how thou hast receivedand didst hear.’ They have fallen so far that the height
on which they once stoodis out of their sight, and they are content to lie on the
muddy flat at its base. No stings from conscious decline disturb them. They
are too far gone for that. The same round of formal Christian service which
marked their decline from their brethren hid it from themselves.
That is a solemn fact worth making very clearto ourselves, that the
profoundest spiritual decline may be going on in us, and we be all unconscious
of it. Samsonwist not that his strength was departed from him,’ and in utter
ignorance he tried to perform his old feats, only to find his weakness. So the
life of our spirits may have ebbed away, and we know not how much blood we
have lost until we try to raise ourselves and sink back fainting. Like some rare
essencein a partially closedvessel, put awayin some drawer, we go to take it

out and find nothing but a faint odour, a rotten cork, and an empty phial. The
sure way to lose the precious elixir of a Christian life is to shut it up in our
hearts. No life is maintained without food, air, and exercise. We must live on
the bread of God which came down from heaven, and breathe the breath of
His life-giving Spirit, and use all our powerfor Him, or else, forall our name
to live, and our shrunken, feeble imitations of the motions of life, the eyes
which are as a flame of fire will see the sad reality, and the lips into which
grace is poured will have to speak overus the one grim word - dead.
II. Notice now the thought of Christ presented to such a church. ‘He that hath
the sevenSpirits of God and the sevenstars.’
The greaterpart of the attributes with which our Lord speaks ofHimself in
the beginnings of the sevenletters to the churches are drawn from the features
of the majestic vision of the Christ in the first chapter of this book. But
nothing there corresponds to the first clause of this description, and so far this
designationis singular. There are, however, three other places in the
Apocalypse which throw much light on it, and to these we may turn for a
moment. In the apostolic salutationat the beginning of the book {i. 4} John in
yokes mercy and grace on the Asiatic churches from the Eternal Father, ‘and
from the sevenSpirits which are before the throne,’ and from Christ, the
faithful witness. In the grand vision of heavenly realities {ch. iv.} the seer
beholds burning before the throne sevenlamps of fire, ‘which are the seven
Spirits of God,’ and when, in the later portion of the same, he beholds the
conquering Lamb, who looses the seals ofthe book of the world’s history, he
sees Him having ‘seven eyes which are the sevenSpirits of God, sent forth into
all the earth,’ an echo of old words of the same prophet who had been John’s
precursorin the symbolic use of the ‘candlestick,’as representing the Church,

and who speaks of‘the seven eyes of the Lord which run to and fro
throughout the whole earth’ {Zechariah 4:10}.
Clearly in all these passageswe have the same idea presentedof the Holy
Spirit of Godin the completeness andmanifoldness of its sevenfoldenergies,
conceivedof as possessedand bestowedby the Lamb of God, the Lord of all
the churches. The use of the plural and the number seven is remarkable, but
quite explicable, on the ground of the sacrednumber expressing perfection,
and not inconsistentwith personal unity, underlying the variety of
manifestations. The personality of the Spirit is sufficiently set forth by that
refrain in eachepistle, ‘Let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.’
The divinity of the Spirit is plainly involved in the triple benediction at the
beginning of the letter, and by the sacredplace in which there the Spirit is
invoked, midmost betweenthe Father and the Son. The sevenlamps before
the throne speak of the flaming perfection of that Spirit of burning conceived
of as immanent in the Divine nature. The seven eyes sentforth into all the
earth speak of the perfectness ofthe energies ofthat same Spirit, conceivedof
as flashing and gleaming through all the world. And the greatwords of our
text agree with that vision of these seven as being the eyes of the Lamb slain,
in telling us that that fiery Spirit is poured out on men by the Lord, who had
to die before He could castfire on earth.
This is the thought which a dead or decaying church needs most. There is a
Spirit which gives life, and Christ is the Lord of that Spirit. The whole fullness
of the Divine energies is gathered in the Holy Spirit, and this is His chiefest
work - to breathe into our deadness the breath of life. Many other blessed
offices are His, and many other names belong to Him. He is ‘the Spirit of
adoption,’ He is ‘the Spirit of Supplication,’ He is ‘the Spirit of Holiness,’He
is ‘the Spirit of Wisdom,’ He is ‘the Spirit of Powerand of Love and of a
sound mind,’ He is ‘the Spirit of Counseland Might’; but highest of all is the
name which expressesHis mightiest work, the Spirit of Life.’ The flaming
lamps tell of His flashing brightness; the seven eyes of His watchful

Omniscience and other symbols witness the various sides of His gracious
activity on men’s hearts. The anointing oil was consecratedfrom gold to
express His work of causing men’s whole powers to move sweetlyand without
friction in the service ofGod, and of feeding the flame of devotion in the heart.
The ‘water’ spoke ofcleansing efficacy, as ‘fire’ of melting, transforming,
purifying power. But the ‘rushing mighty wind,’ blowing where it listeth,
unsustained, and free, visible only in its effects, and yet heard by every ear
that is not deaf, sometimes softand low, as the respiration of a sleeping child,
sometimes loud and strong as the storm, is His bestemblem. The very name
‘the Spirit’ emphasizes that aspectof His work in which He is conceivedof as
the source oflife. This is the thought of His working which comes with most
glad yet solemn meaning to Christian people who feel how low their life has
sunk. This is the true antidote to the deadness, so realand common among all
communions now, howeverit is skimmed overand hidden by a kind of film of
activity.
Christ has this sevenfoldSpirit. That means first that the same peacefuldove
which floated down from the open heavens on His meek head, just raisedfrom
the baptismal stream, fills now and for ever His whole humanity with its
perfect energies. ‘Godgiveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.’ How
marvellous that there is a manhood to which the whole fullness of the Spirit of
God can be imparted, an ‘earthen vessel,’capaciousenoughto hold this
‘treasure’! How marvellous that there is a Sonof man, who is likewise Sonof
God, and has the Spirit, not only for His own human perfecting, but to shed it
forth on all who love Him! It is the slain Lamb, who has the sevenSpirits of
God. That is to say, it was impossible that the fullness of spiritual influence
could be poured out quickening on men until Christ had died, and by His
death He has become the dispenserto the world of the principle of life. In His
hands is the gift. He is the Lord of the Spirit, ascendedup to give to men
according to the measure of their capacity, of that Spirit which He has
received, until we all come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ. How unlike the relation of other teachers to their disciples!Their
spirit is the very thing they cannot give. They can impart teaching, they can
give a method and principles, and a certain direction to the mind. They can

train imitators. But they are like Elijah, knowing not if their spirit will rest on
their successors, andsure that, if it do, it has not been their gift. The departing
prophet had to say to the petition for an elder son’s legacyof his spirit, ‘Thou
hast askeda hard thing,’ but Christ ascending letthat gift fall from His
uplifted hands of blessing, and the dove that abode on Him fluttered
downwards from the hiding cloud, to rest on the Apostles’heads, as they
steadfastlygazedup into heaven. Therefore they went back to Jerusalemwith
joy, even before the fuller gift of Pentecost.
Pentecostwas but a transitory sign of a perpetual gift. The rushing wind died
into calm, and the flickering tongues of fire had faded before the spectators
reachedthe place. Nordid the miracle of utterance lasteither. But whilst all
that is past, the substance remains. The fire of Pentecosthas not died down
into chilly embers, nor have the ‘rivers of living water, promised by the lips of
incarnate truth, been swallowedup in the sands or failed at their source. He is
perpetually bestowing the Spirit of God upon His Church. We are only too apt
to forget the present activity of our ascendedLord. We think of His mighty
work as ‘finished’ on the Cross, and do not conceive clearlyand strongly
enough His continuous work which is being done, now and ever, on the
throne. That work is not only His priestly intercessionandrepresentationof
us in heaven, but is also His working on earth in the bestowalonall His
followers of that Divine Spirit to be the life of their lives and the fountain of all
their holiness, wisdom, strength, and joy. For ever is He near us, ready to
quicken and to bless. He will breathe in silent ways grace and power into us,
and when life if low, He will pour a fuller tide into our veins. He knows all our
deadness and He cancure it all. He is Himself the life, and He is the Lord and
giver of life, because the sevenSpirits of God sent forth into all the earth are
the seveneyes of the slain Lamb.
One greatchannel through which spiritual life is imparted to a dying church
is suggestedby the other part of the description of our Lord here as having
the sevenstars.’The ‘stars’are the ‘angels of the churches,’by whom we are

probably to understand their bishops and pastors. If so, then we have a
striking thought, symbolized by the juxtaposition. Christ, as it were, holds in
the one hand the empty vessels, andin the other the brimming cup, from
which He will pour out the supply for their emptiness.
The lessontaught us is, that in a dead church the teachers mostly partake of
the deadness, andare responsible for it. But, further, we learn that Christ’s
way of reviving a decaying and all but effete church is of tenest by filling
single men full of His Spirit, and then sending them out to kindle a soul under
the ribs of death. So Luther brought back life to the churches in his day. So
the Wesleys brought about the great evangelicalrevivalof last century. So let
us pray that it may be again in our day when another century is drawing near
its end, and the love of many has grown cold.
If we regardthe ‘angels’as being but ideal representatives ofthe churches
themselves, then we may gatherfrom the juxtaposition of the two clauses a
lessonwhich is ever true. In Christ’s one hand is the perfect supply for all our
need, wisdom for our blindness, might to clothe our weakness, righteousness
for our sin, life to flood our drooping souls. In Christ’s other hand He holds us
all, and surely He will not leave us empty while we are within His arm’s length
of such fullness. Let us look to Him alone for all we need, and rejoice to know
that we, held in His grasp, are near His heart, the homo of infinite love, and
near His hand, the source of infinite supply of strength and grace.
III. Consider, now, the practicaluses of these thoughts.

That vision should shame us into penitent consciousness ofour own deadness.
When we contrastthe little life we possesswith the abundance waiting to be
given, like the poor scanty supply in some chokedmillstream compared with
the full-flashing store in the brimming river, we may well be strickenwith
shame. So much offered and so little possessed;such fiery energy of love
possible, and poor tepid feeling, actual!Such a mighty breath of God blowing
all about us, and we lying as if enchanted and becalmed, with scarce wind
enough to keepour idle sails from flapping. There in Jesus Christ is the
measure of what we might possessand the pattern of what we should possess -
does it not bow us in penitence, because ofwhat we do possess?
But while ashamedand penitent, we should be kept by that vision from
despondent thoughts, as if the future could never be different from the past. It
is not goodto think too much of our failure and emptiness, lestpenitence
darken into despair, and shame cut the sinews of our souls and unfit them for
all brave endeavour. Let us think of Christ’s fullness and hope, as well as
repent.
Let it stir us too to seek for the reason why we have not more of Christ’s life.
What is the film which prevents the light from reaching our eyes? I remember
once seeing by a roadside a stone trough for cattle to drink from empty,
because the pipe from which it was fed was stopped by a great plug of ice.
That is the reasonwhy many of our hearts are so empty of Christ’s Spirit. We
have plugged the channel with a mass of ice. Close communion with Jesus
Christ is the only means of possessing His Spirit. With penitence let us go back
to Him, and let us hold fast by His hand. If we listen to Him, trust Him, keep
our minds and hearts attent on Him, He will breathe on us as of old, and as we
hear Him say, ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost,’a diviner life will pass into our
veins, and the law of the Spirit of life in Christ will make us free from the law
of sin and death.
BensonCommentary

Revelation3:1. To the angelof the church in Sardis write — This city, “once
the renownedcapital of Crœsus and the rich Lydian kings, is now no longer
worthy of the name of a city. It lies about thirty-three miles to the south of
Thyatira, and is calledby the Turks, Sart, or Sard, with little variation from
the originalname. It is a most sadspectacle;nor canone forbear weeping over
the ruins of so greata city: for now it is no more than an ignoble village, with
low and wretched cottagesofclay; nor hath it any other inhabitants besides
shepherds and herdsmen, who feed their flocks and cattle in the neighbouring
plains. Yet the greatextent and grandeur of the ruins abundantly show how
large and splendid a city it was formerly. The Turks themselves have only one
mosque, a beautiful one indeed, perverted to that use from a Christian
church. Very few Christians are here to be found; and they, with great
patience, sustaina miserable servitude; and, what is far more miserable, are
without a church, without a priest among them. Such is the deplorable state of
this once most glorious city; but her works were not found perfect; that is,
they were found blameable before God; she was dead even while she lived;
and she is punished accordingly.” — Bishop Newton. Mr. Lindsay, however,
informs us, that there is a small church establishment on the plains of Sardis,
where, about five years ago, the few Christians who dwell around the modern
Sart, and who had been in the habit of meeting at eachother’s houses for the
exercise ofreligion, built a church within view of ancient Sardis; and that
there they maintain a priest. In consequenceofthis, the place has gradually
risen into a little village, now calledTartarkeury, and thither the few
Christians of Sart, who amount to seven, and those in its immediate vicinity,
resortfor public worship, and form togethera congregationof about forty.
There appears then still a remnant, a few names even in Sardis, which have
been preserved. “I cannot repeat,” says he, “the expressions of gratitude with
which they receiveda copy of the New Testamentin a language with which
they were familiar. Severalcrowdedabout the priest to hear it on the spot;
and I left them thus engaged.”
These things saith he that hath the sevenSpirits of God — That is, the Holy
Spirit, from whom alone all spiritual gifts and graces proceed;or he who
presides over and orders the various dispensations ofthe Spirit, and produces

thereby such wonderful effects;and the sevenstars — Which representthe
ministers of the churches, all whose motions he continues to governand
direct, according to his all-wise and gracious pleasure. I know thy works —
The state thou art in, and thy conduct: and that thou dost not answerthat
characterwhich thou generallymaintainest in the neighbouring churches for
true religion and virtue; that thou hast a name that thou livest — A fair
reputation; the characterof being truly alive unto God; of possessing spiritual
life here, and being in the way to eternal life hereafter; but art dead — Art
really destitute of that life, and in the way to the seconddeath.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
3:1-6. The Lord Jesus is He that hath the Holy Spirit with all his powers,
graces,and operations. Hypocrisy, and lamentable decay in religion, are sins
chargedupon Sardis, by One who knew that church well, and all her works.
Outward things appearedwell to men, but there was only the form of
godliness, not the power; a name to live, not a principle of life. There was
greatdeadness in their souls, and in their services;numbers were wholly
hypocrites, others were in a disordered and lifeless state. Our Lord called
upon them to be watchful againsttheir enemies, and to be active and earnest
in their duties; and to endeavour, in dependence on the grace ofthe Holy
Spirit, to revive and strengthen the faith and spiritual affections ofthose yet
alive to God, though in a declining state. Wheneverwe are off our watch, we
lose ground. Thy works are hollow and empty; prayers are not filled up with
holy desires, alms-deeds not filled up with true charity, sabbaths not filled up
with suitable devotion of soul to God. There are not inward affections suitable
to outward acts and expressions;when the spirit is wanting, the form cannot
long remain. In seeking a revival in our own souls, or the souls of others, it is
needful to compare what we profess with the manner in which we go on, that
we may be humbled and quickenedto hold fastthat which remains. Christ
enforces his counselwith a dreadful threatening if it should be despised. Yet
our blessedLord does not leave this sinful people without some
encouragement. He makes honourable mention of the faithful remnant in
Sardis, he makes a gracious promise to them. He that overcomethshall be
clothed in white raiment; the purity of grace shallbe rewarded with the
perfect purity of glory. Christ has his book of life, a registerof all who shall

inherit eternallife; the book of remembrance of all who live to God, and keep
up the life and power of godliness in evil times. Christ will bring forward this
book of life, and show the names of the faithful, before God, and all the angels,
at the greatday.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
The Epistle to the Church at Sardis
The contents of the epistle to the church at Sardis Revelation3:1-6 are:
(1) The usual salutation to the angelof the church, Revelation3:1.
(2) the usual reference to the attributes of the Saviour - those referred to here
being that he had the sevenSpirits of God, and the sevenstars, Revelation3:1.
(3) the assurance thathe knew their works, Revelation3:1.
(4) the statementof the uniqueness of the church, or what he saw in it - that it
had a name to live and was dead, Revelation3:1.
(5) a solemn direction to the members of the church, arising from their
characterand circumstances, to be watchful, and to strengthen the things
which remained, but which were ready to die; to remember what they had
received, and to hold fastwhat had been communicated to them, and to repent
of all their sins, Revelation3:2-3.
(6) a threat that if they did not do this, he would come suddenly upon them, at
an hour which they could not anticipate, Revelation3:3.

(7) a commendation of the church as far as it could be done, for there were
still a few among them who had not defiled their garments, and a promise that
they should walk before him in white, Revelation3:4.
(8) a promise, as usual, to him that should be victorious. The promise here is,
that he should walk before him in white; that his name should not be blotted
out of the book of life; that he should be acknowledgedbefore the Father, and
before the angels, Revelation3:5.
(9) the usual call on all persons to hear what the Spirit said to the churches.
Sardis was the capitalof the ancient kingdom of Lydia, one of the provinces of
Asia Minor, and was situated at the foot of Mount Tmolus, in a fine plain
wateredby the river Pactolus, famous for its golden sands. It was the capital
where the celebratedCroesus, proverbialfor his wealth, reigned. It was taken
by Cyrus (548 bc), when Croesus was king, and was at that time one of the
most splendid and opulent cities of the East. It subsequently passedinto the
hands of the Romans, and under them sank rapidly in wealth and importance.
In the time of Tiberius it was destroyedby an earthquake, but was rebuilt by
order of the emperor. The inhabitants of Sardis bore an ill repute among the
ancients for their voluptuous modes of life. Perhaps there may be an allusion
to this fact in the words which are used in the address to the church there:
"Thou hasta few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their
garments."
Successive earthquakes, andthe ravages ofthe Saracensand the Turks, have
reduced this once-celebratedcity to a heap of ruins, though exhibiting still
many remains of former splendor. The name of the village which now
occupies the place of this ancient capitalis Sart. It is a miserable village,

comprising only a few wretched cottages, occupiedby Turks and Greeks.
There are ruins of the theater, the stadium, and of some ancientchurches. The
most remarkable of the ruins are two pillars supposedto have belonged to the
temple of Cybele; and if so, they are among the most ancient in the world, the
temple of Cybele having been built only three hundred years after that of
Solomon. The Acropolis serves wellto define the site of the city. Several
travelers have recently visited the remains of Sardis, and its appearance will
be indicated by a few extracts from their writings. Arundell, in his
"Discoveries in Asia Minor," says:"If I were askedwhatimpresses the mind
most strongly in beholding Sardis, I should sayits indescribable solitude, like
the darkness ofEgypt - darkness that could be felt. So the deep solitude of the
spot, once the 'lady of kingdoms,' produces a corresponding feeling of desolate
abandonment in the mind, which cannever be forgotten."
John Hartley, in regardto these ruins, remarks:"The ruins are, with one
exception, more entirely gone to decay than those of most of the ancient cities
which we have visited. No Christians reside on the spot: two Greeks only work
in a mill here, and a few wretchedTurkish huts are scatteredamong the
ruins. We saw the churches of John and the Virgin, the theater, and the
building styled the Palace ofCroesus;but the most striking object at Sardis is
the temple of Cybele. I was filled with wonder and awe at beholding the two
stupendous columns of this edifice, which are still remaining: they are silent
but impressive witnesses ofthe powerand splendor of antiquity."
continued...
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
CHAPTER 3
Re 3:1-22. The Epistles to Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

1. Sardis—the ancient capitalof Lydia, the kingdom of wealthy Croesus, on
the river Pactolus. The address to this Church is full of rebuke. It does not
seemto have been in vain; for Melito, bishop of Sardis in the secondcentury,
was eminent for piety and learning. He visited Palestine to assure himself and
his flock as to the Old Testamentcanon and wrote an epistle on the subject
[Eusebius EcclesiasticalHistory, 4.26];he also wrote a commentary on the
Apocalypse [Eusebius, EcclesiasticalHistory, 4.26;Jerome, On Illustrious
Men, 24].
he that hath the sevenSpirits of God—that is, He who hath all the fulness of
the Spirit (Re 1:4; 4:5; 5:6, with which compare Zec 3:9; 4:10, proving His
Godhead). This attribute implies His infinite powerby the Spirit to convict of
sin and of a hollow profession.
and the seven stars—(Re 1:16, 20). His having the sevenstars, or presiding
ministers, flows, as a consequence,from His having the sevenSpirits, or the
fulness of the Holy Spirit. The human ministry is the fruit of Christ's sending
down the gifts of the Spirit. Stars imply brilliancy and glory; the fulness of the
Spirit, and the fulness of brilliant light in Him, form a designedcontrastto the
formality which He reproves.
name … livest … dead—(1Ti5:6; 2Ti3:5; Tit 1:16; compare Eph 2:1, 5;
5:14). "A name," that is, a reputation. Sardis was famed among the churches
for spiritual vitality; yet the Heart-searcher, who seethnot as man seeth,
pronounces her dead; how great searchings ofheart should her case create
among even the best of us! Laodicea deceivedherselfas to her true state (Re
3:17), but it is not written that she had a high name among the other churches,
as Sardis had.Revelation2:1-6 What John was commanded to write in
commendation or

reproof to the angels ofthe churches of Sardis,
Revelation2:7-13 Philadelphia,
Revelation2:14-22 and Laodicea.
The angelof the church: See Poole on"Revelation2:12".
Write: See Poole on"Revelation1:11".
The sevenSpirits of God, and the sevenstars:See Poole on "Revelation1:3",
See Poole on"Revelation1:20".
I know thy works:this phrase here (as appears from what follows)can signify
nothing but Christ’s comprehensionof the works of this church in his
understanding, not his approbation of them.
That thou hast a name that thou livest; the ministry of this church had a
name, that is, were reported as famous for their faith, diligence, and holiness;
but their faith, without suitable works, was dead, and they were no better
than hypocrites.
And art dead; spiritually dead.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write,.... Of the city of Sardis See
Gill on Revelation1:11 when, and by whom this church was founded, and who
was the present angelor pastorof it, is not now to be certainly known;
however, here was a church in the "second" century, of which Melito was
then pastor; and he is thought by some to be the angelhere intended; this man
wrote upon the book of the Revelation, and an apologyfor the Christians, sent
to the Emperor Antoninus Verus, in whose time he lived (c); and in the
"third" century a church remained in this place;and also in the "fourth", as
appears from the councilof Nice, which makes mention of it; and likewise in
the "fifth", as is evident from the acts of the synod at Chalcedon, in which age
it was the metropolitan church of the Lydians; and in the "sixth" century
there was a bishop of this church in the fifth synod at Constantinople;and in
the "seventh" century, Marinus bishop of Sardis assistedatthe sixth synod in
the same place;and in the "eighth" century, Euthymius bishop of it was
present in the Nicene synod; and even in the "ninth" century mention is made
of an archbishop of Sardis (d): but now there are but very few Christians to
be found here, and who have not a place to worship in, nor any to minister to
them (e). This church represents the state of the church from the time of the
Reformationby Luther and others, until a more glorious state of the church
appears, or until the spiritual reign of Christ in the Philadelphian period;
under the Sardian church state we now are: (this was published in 1747, Ed.)
that this church is an emblem of the reformed churches from Popery, is
evident not only from its following the Thyatirian state, which expresses the
darkness of Popery, and the depths of Satanin it; but from its being clearof
Balaam, and those that held his doctrine; and from the Nicolaitans and their
tenets, and from Jezebel, and those that committed adultery with her; things
which the two former churches are chargedwith; but from these the present
church reformed. This city of Sardis was once a very flourishing and opulent
city; it was the metropolis of Lydia, and the royal seatof the rich King
Croesus, thoughnow a very poor and mean village; and may denote the
magnificence and splendour of this church state, at leastin name and figure, it
has appearedin, in the world; though now in a very low and mean condition,
and may be worse before the spiritual reign of Christ begins in the next
period: there may be some allusion in the name of this church to the precious
stone "sarda", which, Pliny says (f), was found about Sardis, and had its name

from hence; the same with the Sardian stone in Revelation4:2. This stone,
naturalists say(g), drives awayfear, gives boldness, cheerfulness, and
sharpness of wit, and frees from witchcrafts and sorceries;which may be
expressive of the boldness and courage of the first reformers; of the
cheerfulness, joy, and pleasure, which appearedin their countenances,and
which they spread in others by preaching the doctrines of the Gospel;and of
those excellentgifts and talents both of nature, learning, and grace, by which
they were fitted for their service;and of their being a means of delivering men
from the witchcrafts of Jezebel, and the sorceries ofthe whore of Rome: and
perhaps some allusion may be in this name, as is thought by Cocceius, to the
Hebrew word "sarid", which signifies a "remnant", since in this church state
there was a remnant according to the electionof grace, a few names, whose
garments were undefiled; or to the word "sered", whichsignifies a
carpenter's rule or line; since the first reformers were endeavouring to bring
every doctrine and practice to the rule and line of God's word:
these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God; the fulness and
perfection of the gifts and graces ofthe Spirit of God, as in Revelation1:4,
which Christ, as Mediator, has without measure, and are at his dispose, and
which he, having receivedfor men, gives unto them; and at the time of the
Reformationbestowedthem on many eminent servants of his in a very
plenteous manner; for which reasonhe assumes this characterin writing to
this church:
and the seven stars;the ministers of the Gospel;see Gill on Revelation1:16,
Revelation2:1; these were filled by Christ at this time with evangelicallight
and knowledge;and were sent, and held forth by him as lights in the world;
and were instruments in his hand for great good;and were wonderfully held,
kept, and preserved by him, notwithstanding the greatnessoftheir work, their
weakness in themselves, and the power, rage, and fury of the antichristian
party; Luther is a remarkable instance of this: Christ's making use of the
same title here as in the epistle to the church at Ephesus, which represents the
apostolic church, may show that this church state bore some degree of likeness
to that, and that it was a sort of renewing of it:

I know thy works;good works chiefly; the nature and imperfection of them;
and also bad works:that
thou hast a name that thou livest: the reformed churches have had a name for
spiritual living, by faith on Christ's righteousness onlyfor justification, that
article being the greatarticle of the Reformation:there was in them an
appearance ofliveliness, by their zealfor Gospeldoctrine and worship, and a
form of living according to godliness;they were esteemed, were celebrated,
and famous for these things, especiallyfor living by faith on Christ's
righteousness:
and art dead; or "but art dead"; for, the most part, or greaterpart of the
members of these churches, are dead in trespassesand sins; and as for the
rest, they are very dead and lifeless in their frames, in the exercise ofgrace,
and in the discharge ofduties; and under greatspiritual declensions and
decays, just as it were ready to die; and but few really alive in a spiritual
sense, and especiallylively, or in the lively exercise ofgrace, and fervent
discharge of duty; yea, dead as to those things in which they had a name to
live: and this seems to be our case now, who, it is to be hoped, are at, or
towards the close ofthis period,
(c) Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 4. c. 13. 26. & l. 5. c. 24. (d) Hist. Eccl. Magdeburg.
cent. 3. c. 2. p. 3. cent. 4. c. 2. p. 3. cent. 5. c. 2. p. 3. c. 7. p. 418. cent. 6. c. 2. p.
4. cent. 7. c. 2. p. 3. c. 10. p. 254. cent. 8. c. 2. p. 4. cent. 9. c. 3. p. 3.((e) Smith.
Notitia, p. 138. (f) Nat. Hist. l. 37. c. 7. Albert. Magn. de Reb. Metall. l. 2. c. 17.
(g) Ruaeus de Gemmis, l. 2. c. 6. Albert. Magn. de Rebus Metall. l. 2. c. 17.
Schroder. Pharmacopoeia, l. 3. c. 5. p. 18.
Geneva Study Bible

And unto the angel of the church in {a} Sardis {1} write; These things saith he
that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars;I know thy works, that
thou hast a {b} name that thou livest, and art dead.
(a) Sardis is the name of a most flourishing and famous city, where the kings
of Lydia kept their courts.
(1) The fifth passageis to the pastors of Sardis. The introduction is taken from
Re 1:4,16.
(b) You are said to live, but are dead indeed.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Revelation3:1. ὁ ἔχων τά ἐπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ θεοῦ. This designationof the
Lord is new rather as to form than as to sense;for Christ would not be
everywhere Lord of the Church in the sense declaredby the following
predicate, and the entire description recurring in the commencementof the
epistles (Revelation1:12 sqq.), if he were not the one “having the sevenspirits
of God.”[1306]Christ, as the Son of God, has[1307]the Spirit of God, as of the
Father; thus Christ works and speaks through the Spirit in and to the
churches,[1308]andthus both designations of the Lord, Ὁ ἜΧΩΝ ΤᾺ ἘΠΤᾺ
ΠΝΕΥΜ. Τ. Θ. and (Ὁ ἜΧΩΝ) ΤΟῪς ἘΠΤᾺ ἈΣΤΈΡΑς,[1309]appearin
their inner connection.[1310]But, just because the ἜΧΕΙΝ Τ. Έ. ΠΝ. Τ. Θ.
applies to Christ in his relation to his Church, not as something particular,
but as something general, and as expressing a principle, the declarationὉ
ἜΧΟΝ, Κ.Τ.Λ., cannot be referred like, e.g., Ὁ ἜΧ. Τ. ὈΦΘΑΛΜΌΥς,
Κ.Τ.Λ. (Revelation2:18), etc., in the beginning of the epistles, to any special
manifestation of the Lord; neither to his omniscience, according to which he
tries the hearts and reins, and also judges aright what is hidden;[1311] nor to
his unlimited powerto punish and reward.[1312]The Lord designates

himself, in general, as the one from whom the spiritual life-forces of the
Church proceed,[1313]and who thus continually rules in his churches,[1314]
sending forth the sevenspirits as his Spirit, and speaking, reproving, warning,
consoling, and promising through the same. In a like generalway, the relation
of Christ to the churches (Revelation2:1, Revelation3:14) is made prominent;
yea, even the more specialfeatures in the other titles to the epistles, with their
more precise references to the specialcontents of the epistles, have, at the
same time, an entirely generalsignificance, andmake known the specific
position of the Lord with respectto his churches in general. Hence it is an
arbitrary assumption, when Ebrard lays emphasis upon the fact that Christ,
“in the first part of his missive, does not appealto that point in his
manifestation[1315]whichafterwards[1316]is establishedwith special
reference to Sardis,[1317]viz., to the white robe; but to his generalrelation to
all the sevenchurches.” There is, therefore, no foundation whateverfor the
explanation of this “remarkable” circumstance,by the fact that the epistle to
the church at Sardis has, in addition to its historical, a special“prophetical
sense;” and, as the first of the epistles referring to the “synchronistic”
condition of the church, it symbolizes that “among the ecclesiasticalbodies
which arose in consequenceofthe Reformation,” in which “there was a
possessionandboast of pure doctrine, while there was such an over-estimate
of doctrine and the objective institution of the Church, that, on that account,
the continual reformation of the life was neglected.”[1318]
[1306]Cf. Revelation1:4.
[1307]Cf. Revelation5:6.
[1308]Cf., e.g., Revelation2:7; Revelation2:11; Revelation2:17, etc., with the
introductions to the epistles.

[1309]Cf. Revelation1:16;Revelation1:20.
[1310]Cf. also Bengel, Ewald, Hengstenb., Ebrard.
[1311]Vitr., Züll., De Wette.
[1312]Hengstenb.
[1313]Beng.
[1314]Ebrard.
[1315]Revelation1:13 sqq.
[1316]Revelation3:4 sq.
[1317]This is not even altogethercorrect;the “white robes,” Revelation3:4
sqq., do not have a specialrelation to the Lord’s garment, Revelation1:13.
[1318]p. 572.
Upon οἶδα depends, first of all, the accus. σου τὰ ἔργα, then the clause ὅτι ὄν.
ἔχ., κ.τ.λ., before which a καὶ dare not be inserted.[1319]The inner relation of
the two expressions placedalongside ofone another, without an express

combination, is that the Lord, just because ofhis knowledge ofthe
imperfection of the works of the church (Revelation3:2), knows that the same,
although it has the name that it lives, is nevertheless, in truth, dead. The
expressionὀνομα ἔχεις refers neither to the individual name of the bishop, as
Zosimus, Vitalis, etc.,[1320]norto the name of his office;[1321]but designates
the reputation and esteemof the church,[1322]yet in its oppositionto actual
truth, which is then expressly made prominent.[1323]The “life,” if it were
actually present, and then, of necessity, wouldefficaciouslymanifest itself,
would be “to live according to Christ;”[1324]but the judgment has the force:
νεκρὸς εἷ; i.e., not “nigh to death,”[1325]but instead of the indeed seeming,
yet deficient, life, death is there. This, of course, is to be understood, not
unconditionally, but as, according to what follows already in Revelation3:2,
where the call to watchsounds forth, the being dead is representedas a
sleep,[1326]it is to be limited according to the spiritual meaning of the
expressions ζῇς and νεκρὸς ἐι. Cf. Jam 2:17.
[1319]De Wette:“And that thou hastthe name.” Cf. Revelation3:15.
[1320]C. a Lap., Beng.
[1321]Hengstenb.
[1322]N. de Lyra, Zegar, Areth., Ewald, etc.
[1323]De Wette, Ebrard. Cf. Herodot., vii., p. 485:ἡ στρατηλασία

όνομα μὲν εἶχε, ὡς ὑπʼ Ἀθήνας ἐλαύνει, κατίετο δὲ ἐς πᾶσαν τὴν Ἐλλάδα
(“The expedition had a name, as though directed againstAthens, while it was
really put in motion againstall Greece”).
[1324]Grot.
[1325]Eichh.
[1326]Cf. Ephesians 5:14.
Revelation3:1-6. The epistle to the church at Sardis.
Sardis, the ancient capitalof the kings of Lydia, of whom Crœsus was the last,
in a rich plain irrigated by the auriferous Pactolus, bounded on the south by
Mount Tmolus, lying about thirteen hours south of Thyatira, and three days’
journey eastof Ephesus, was distinguished for its wealthand luxury. Under
Tiberius, Sardis, with twelve other cities, sufferedseverelyfrom an
earthquake, and was restoredby the assistanceofthe emperor.[1300]In the
history of the Christian Church, it does not againappear until the middle of
the secondcentury, and then as the residence of the Bishop Melito.[1301]The
present Sardis is a paltry village.
[1300]Tacitus, Ann., ii. 47.
[1301]Eusebius, H. E., iv. 13, 26;v. 24.

The church at Sardis is severelyreproved; yet it is rather intimated than
expresslysaid as to wherein its wrong consisted. We are not to think of a
proper, i.e., intentional hypocrisy,[1302]but of a mode of life which did not
agree with the confessionfirmly maintained externally.[1303]Its members
had a dead[1304]faith; they faltered in their faith, and lackedthe works, and
the holy, pure life, which proceedfrom the living powerof the true
faith.[1305]
The supposition of Ewald, that their heathenish life protected the Christians
at Sardis from being annoyed by the heathen, and, that, for this reason,
nothing is said in the epistle concerning ΘΛῖΨΙς and ὙΠΟΜΟΝΉ, is only
reconciledwith the text with greatdifficulty. At all events, the church had
enough Christian appearance (Revelation3:1) to restrain the friendship of the
heathen. But whether it had actually experiencedno form of ΘΛῖΨΙς, even not
from the Jews, andhow this perhaps occurred, is not perceptible.
[1302]Vitr.
[1303]Cf. Ebrard.
[1304]Revelation3:1-2.
[1305]Cf. Revelation3:2-4.
Expositor's Greek Testament
Revelation3:1-6. The message to Sardis. The title of the speaker(drawn from
Revelation1:4; Revelation1:16; Revelation1:20), as generalas in the similar
letter to Ephesus, has no specialbearing on the subsequent address, unless an
antithesis be implied betweenthe plenitude of the divine spirit and the

deadness of a church which had the name or credit of being “alive”. The
sweeping verdict of Revelation3:1 upon the formalism of the localchurch—
which had lapsed from its pristine vitality, just as the township of S. had by
this time declined from its old historicalprestige—is modified by the
recognitionof better elements not yet too far gone in decayto be recovered(2)
and of a goodly nucleus of members. The metaphor is paralleled by a Jewish
estimate of orthodoxy (Kidd. 71 b) which dubbed Mesene as “dead,” Media as
“ill,” Elymais as “in extremis,” and the strict inhabitants of the Ghetto
betweenthe Tigris and the Euphrates as “healthy”.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
The Church in Sardis. Chap. Revelation3:1-61. that hath the seven Spirits of
God] See the last note on Revelation1:4. Though “the Seven Spirits” were
mentioned there, we have not yet heard of them as speciallybelonging to
Christ: but this we End in Revelation3:6.
and the seven stars]Cf. Revelation2:1. We find the “Spirits” and the “stars,”
i.e. Angels, mentioned coordinately, a further argument againstidentifying
the Spirits with Angels, even angels other than these. These attributes of
Christ are mentioned, because He speaks as Judge ofthe Churches: cf. 1
Corinthians 2:15 for the conceptionof judgement as the Spirit’s work.
Pulpit Commentary
Verses 1-6. - The epistle to the Church at Sardis. This Church is one of the
two which receives unmixed reproof. Smyrna and Philadelphia receive no
blame; Sardis and Laodicea receive no praise. Sardis lies almostdue south of
Thyatira, on the road to Philadelphia, betweenthe river Hermus and Mount
Tmolus. It had been in turn Lydian, Persian, Greek, and Roman, and, like its
last Lydian king, Croesus, had been celebratedfor its wealth. The auriferous
stream Pactolus, in summer almostdry, flowedthrough its marketplace;but
its chief source of wealth was its trade. In A.D. "twelve famous cities of Asia
fell by an earthquake in the night... The calamity fell most heavily on the
people of Sardis, and it attractedto them the largestshare of sympathy. The

emperor [Tiberius] promised ten million sesterces(£85,000), and remitted for
five years all they paid to the exchequer" (Tac., 'Ann.,' 2:47). A little later
Sardis was one of the cities of Asia which claimed the honour of erecting a
temple in honour of Tiberius, but the preference was given to Smyrna ('Ann.,'
4:55, 56). Of the inscriptions which have been,discoveredatSardis, nearly all
are of the Roman period. Cybele, or Cybebe, was the chief divinity of Sardis;
but no reference to this nor to any of the specialfeatures of the city can be
tracedin the epistle. In the secondcentury, Melito, Bishopof Sardis, held a
very prominent place among Asiatic Christians, both in personalinfluence
and in literary work. Among his numerous writings was one on the
Apocalypse of St. John. The prosporous and luxurious capital of Lydia is now
representedby a few huts and a collectionofruins buried deep in rubbish. It
still retains its ancientname in the form Sart. The Church in Sardis has no
Nicolaitans, no Balaam, no Jezebel. But there is worse evil than the presence
of what is morally and doctrinally corrupt. The numbness of spiritual torpor
and death is more hopeless than unwise toleration. The Church in Sardis,
scarcelyout of its infancy, has already the signs of an effete and moribund
faith; and it is possible that this deadness was a result of the absence of
internal enemies. Verse 1. - He that hath the seven Spirits of God (see notes on
Revelation1:4, 16, 20; but observe that this designationof Christ does not
occurin the opening vision). In Revelation5:6 the Lamb is seen"having seven
horns and seveneyes, which are the seven Spirits of God." The sevenSpirits
being the Holy Spirit in his sevenfoldactivity, it is manifest (as Trench
observes)that this passageis of importance in reference to the doctrine of the
double procession. The Son hath the Spirit, not as One who receives it from
the Father, but as One who canimpart it to men. As man he receivedit; as
God he gives it. And a Church sunk in spiritual deadness speciallyneeds such
a gift. Hence the repetition about having the seven stars, which appears also in
the address to the Church in Ephesus (Revelation2:1). Note, however, that
here we have ἔχων for κράτῶν, which would not have been appropriate to
express the Son's possessionofthe Spirit. It is he who holds in his hand the
angels of the Church that also has the Spirit wherewith to quicken them.
Those that are alive owe their life and growth to him. Those that are dying or
dead may be restoredto life by him. Thou hast a name that thou livest, and
thou art dead. This, again, is thoroughly in the style of the Fourth Gospel. St.

John frequently states some gracious fact, andin immediate sequence gives
the very opposite of what might have been expectedto result from it. "Thou
hast a reputation for life, and (instead of being full of vigour and growth) thou
art a corpse."This has been called"the tragic tone" in St. John (comp. John
1:5, 10, 11; John 3:11, 19, 32;John 5:39, 40;John 6:36, 43, etc.). In all these
casesthe contrastis introduced by a simple καί, which may be rendered "and
yet;" but the simple "and" is more forcible. Beware ofthe unworthy
literalism which suggeststhat the Bishop of Sardis bore a name which implied
life, e.g. Zosimus, or Vitalis. As alreadystated (notes on Revelation1:20), it is
improbable that "the angel" means the bishop. And in any case "name" is
here used in the common sense ofcharacteror reputation. Comp. Herod.,
7:138, where the historian says that Xerxes' expedition had the name (οὔνομα
εῖχε) of being directed againstAthens, but was really a menace to the whole of
Greece. We have very similar uses of ὄνομα in Mark 9:41 and 1 Peter4:16.
The Church in Sardis had a name for Christianity, but there was no
Christianity in it.
Vincent's Word Studies
Sardis
The capitalof the ancient kingdom of Lydia. It was situatedin a plain watered
by the river Pactolus. The city was of very ancient origin. Herodotus (i., 84)
gives the accountof its siege and capture by Cyrus, and of its previous
fortification by an old king, Meles. It was ruled by a series ofable princes, the
last of whom was Croesus, celebratedfor his wealth and his misfortunes. In
the earlierpart of his reign he extended his dominion over the whole of Asia
Minor, with the exceptionof Lycia and Cilicia. The Lydian rule was
terminated by the conquestof Cyrus. From the Persians it passedinto the
hands of Alexander the Great, after which, for the next three hundred years,
its fortunes are obscure. In b.c. 214 it was takenand sackedby Antiochus the
Greatafter a siege of two years. The kings of Pergamus next succeededto the
dominion, and from them it passedinto the hands of the Romans.

In the time of Tiberius it was desolatedby an earthquake, togetherwith
elevenor twelve other important cities of Asia, and the calamity was increased
by a pestilence.
Sardis was in very early times an important commercialcity. Pliny says that
the art of dyeing woolwas invented there, and it was the entrept of the dyed
woolenmanufactures, carpets, etc., the raw material for which was furnished
by the flocks of Phrygia. It was also the place where the metal electrum was
procured. Gold was found in the bed of the Pactolus. Silverand gold coins are
said to have been first minted there, and it was at one time known as a slave-
mart. The impure worship of the goddess Cybele was celebratedthere, and
the massive ruins of her temple are still to be seen. The city is now a heap of
ruins. In 1850 no human being found a dwelling there.
The sevenSpirits of God
See on Revelation1:4.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
TONY GARLAND
Revelation3:1 Open Bible at Rev. 3:1 Listen to Rev. 3:1
Jesus dictates letters to the remaining three of the SevenChurches of Asia.
This chapter completes the recordof “the things which are” (Rev. 1:19‣ ). The

reader is encouragedto “have ears to hear what the Spirit says to the
churches”, evendown to our own day.
the angel
See the discussionconcerning the identity of the angelat Revelation1:20.
church in Sardis
See commentary on Seven Churches of Asia.
Sardis
Sardis was the ancient capitalof Lydia.
Temple of Artemis at Sardis
Temple of Artemis at Sardis
1
Sardis was knownfor its greatwealth and may have been the earliest
kingdom (7th century B.C.)to use minted coins.2
In John’s time it was a trade centerknown for textile manufacture, dyeing,
and jewelry. Sardis had been Lydia’s capital and was proverbial for its riches.
To this day, our idiom “as rich as Croesus” acknowledges this fact, for
Croesus was the king of Sardis who had almostunlimited riches, yet who led
the Lydian empire into defeatand decline. Sardis epitomized the
complacency, softnessand degenerationwhich invariably ultimately
accompanywealth.3

It was also considereda mountain fortress4 which was very difficult to
capture, exceptthrough the negligence ofthe defenders:
At the approachof Alexander, . . . the Sardians hastenedout to surrender
their city without resistance. . . . the place was againcaptured by Antiochus
III in 214 BC through the negligence ofthe defenders.5
The rock on which Sardis was built is friable, which means that while the
slopes were precipitous, because ofthe cracks andfaults, it was climbable.
One of Cyrus’ soldiers had noticed a Sardian soldier climbing down this slope
to retrieve a helmet he had dropped, and so concludedthat the slopes were
negotiable in that particular spot. So that night he led a party of Persian
troops up to the citadelby following the fault in the rock. When they reached
the battlements they found them unguarded, for the Sardians considered
themselves too safe to need a guard. The battle of King’s Mountain in
American history is similar to the Sardian collapse, forin that battle the
rebels scaleda redoubt while the Englishrelaxed in false confidence of their
security. Astonishingly, Sardis did not learn from experience, for two
centuries later one of Antiochus’ soldiers repeatedthis feat and again led the
capture of an unguarded city which had resistedsiege for a year. Twice, the
Sardians lost their city because theywere too complacentto watch! This
historicalbackground underlies Christ’s injunction to watchfulness (Rev. 3:2-
3‣ ), and Rev. 3:3‣ alludes to the means by which the city was losttwice
before—a thief in the night.6
A large temple dedicatedto the Asiatic goddess Cybele stoodat Sardis:
Excavations . . . unearthed . . . an exceptionally large (160 by 300 feet) temple
dedicatedto Artemis. Its seventy-eightIonic columns (of which two are still
standing) are eachfifty-eight feet in height. . . . It was dedicatedto a local
Asiatic goddess usuallyreferred to as Cybele, who was identified with the

Greek Artemis. This patron deity was believed to possessthe specialpowerof
restoring the dead to life [cf. Rev. 3:1‣ ].7
Being situated in a mountainous region, the city was earthquake-prone:
Sardis, like neighboring Philadelphia, suffered a catastrophic earthquake in
AD 17. . . . this was nothing less than the sudden collapse ofa greatpart of the
mountain and the consequentdisappearance ofmuch of the very site of the
original fortress-city.8
Becauseofthe earthquake, which drove them from the city proper, and
because ofthe fertility of the soil, many of the people had turned to farming as
a means of livelihood, specificallyto the cultivation of vineyards. Apparently,
because offamine, in A.D. 92 Domitian issued an edict that at leasthalf the
vineyards in the provinces be cut down and no new ones planted. This action
was designedto increase production of corn which the Empire needed badly.
This crisis affectedPhiladelphia more critically than any other, because no
city of Asia depended on the fruit of the vine more than it. Dionysius, god of
wine, was the principal deity.9
(Some correlate Domitian’s edict with Revelation6:6‣ , although we believe it
to be unlikely.) In the secondcentury, Melito was bishop of this city. 10 but
Christianity was completely exterminated in the Hermus Valley in the Middle
Ages.11
In more recent times, Sardis has none of its previous opulence:
Sardis, the once proud capital of Lydia, and the residence of its opulent
monarchs, is now reduced to a wretched Turkish village called Sart, the
habitation of herdsmen, buffaloes, and oxen, situatedat the foot of mount
Tmolus, on the banks of the Pactolus, between30 and 40 miles eastfrom
Smyrna. The ruins of Sardis are peculiarly grand, and lift up their heads, as if

to asserttheir ancientglory; but it now contains not a single Christian
family.12
The derivation of the name Sardis is uncertain as is the meaning, having been
given as remnant, “[Some]have derived it from the Hebrew, and have
assignedit the significationof remnant, or an escapedfew.”13those escaping,
[J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come:A Study in Biblical Eschatology
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958), 152]renovation,
[Ibid.] the sun, [Smith, The New Treasuryof Scripture Knowledge, Rev. 3:1]
red ones, [Ibid.] and prince of joy.14
sevenSpirits of God
See commentary on Revelation1:4. Christ emphasizes to this church that He
is the source ofthe sevenSpirits of God (John 15:26; 16:7) because ofHis
assessmentthat they are dead. It is the specialtyof the third Personof the
Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to bring forth life from that which is a lifeless
wilderness (Gen. 1:2):
Jesus answered, “Mostassuredly, I sayto you, unless one is born of waterand
the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said
to you, ‘You must be born again.’The wind blows where it wishes, and you
hear the sound of it, but cannottell where it comes from and where it goes. So
is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8)
Prior to the Day of Pentecost,Jesus explainedthat it was the Holy Spirit that
would be the source of “rivers of living water” which would flow out of the
heart of those believing in Him (John 7:37-39). This life-giving Spirit was
poured forth on the Day of Pentecost(Acts 2:33). It was on this day that the
body of Christ was first animated by the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9). As God
had first breathed the “breath of life” to animate dust from which he formed

man (Gen. 2:7), so eachbeliever is animated by the Holy Spirit when he comes
to spiritual life and is joined to the body of Christ (1Cor. 12:12-13). Christis
here emphasizing the Spirit as the means by which they might strengthenthe
things which remain, that are ready to die (Rev. 3:2‣ ).
It need hardly be observedhow important a witness this verse, when the right
interpretation of “the sevenSpirits” has been seized, bears to the faith of the
WesternChurch on that greatpoint upon which it is at issue with the Eastern,
in respect, namely, of the processionof the Holy Ghost. he is indeed the Spirit
of the Fatherand the Son.15
sevenstars
The stars are the angels of the churches. If elders, they are to be men “full of
the spirit” (Acts 6:3-5; 11:24). See commentary on Revelation1:16 and
Revelation1:20.
ALAN CARR
He Comes Proclaiming His Deity – Jesus comes to this church as One Who
has the “sevenSpirits of God” and as One Who is holding the “sevenstars”.
The “sevenSpirits of God” refer to the Holy Spirit in His complete
ministry. The seven-fold ministry of the Spirit is defined in Isaiah 11:2. In
His hand is the plentitude of the Holy Spirit. This is a reminder to the
churches that we are to operate, not under the power of human skill,
leadership and organization, but under the awesome powerofthe Holy Spirit.
When the church walks in the powerof the flesh, we will surely fail, but when

we walk in the power of the Spirit, there will be success. There willbe glory
and there will be powerand life instead of deadness and ineffectiveness!
(Ill. When the human spirit is in control of the human body, amazing
things can be accomplished. Forinstance, a pianist cansit down at a
keyboard; perform thousands of delicate, precise movements that will
produce beautiful music. However, let that same pianist suffer some injury
that leaves the arms paralyzed, and the mind is no longer in control of those
arms, hands and fingers. Then, try as it might, the human spirit cannotwill
the hands to make music. So too, when the Spirit of God is in controlof the
members of the church, great things can be accomplished. However, whenHe
is not, paralysis is the result and nothing can be accomplishedfor God.)
The “sevenstars” are the Pastors ofthe churches, Rev. 1:20. They are
the messengers who bring the people the Word of God.
Jesus appears as One Who has everything the church needs to succeed.
His Spirit has all the powerthe churches need. His Word has all the direction
His churches need.
Jesus seems to be saying, “If you will submit to me, you will find in me
all you need to accomplishmy mission in this world.”

THOMAS CONSTABLE
Destinationand description of Christ3:1a-b
Sardis (modern Sart) stoodabout33miles southeastofThyatira on a major
highway that led all the way to Susa in Mesopotamia.[Note:See Caird, p47.]
It had been the capitalof the ancient kingdom of Lydia. It was famous for its
military history, jewelry, dye, and textiles. Due to its situation on a steephill,
many people thought the city was impregnable. HoweverCyrus the Persian
had captured it about549 B.C. by following a secretpath up a cliff. Antiochus
invaded the city in the same way about218 B.C.
"The dominant religion of the city ... appears to be that of the general
Anatolian religious forms: a worship of the forces of nature, which were
viewed as subject to death but also as having the power of self-reproduction."
[Note:Thomas, Revelation1-7 , p243.]
The Lord presentedHimself to this congregationas the all-wise God. The
"sevenSpirits" may refer to the seven principal angels of God(cf. Revelation
1:4). The sevenstars are the angels ofthe sevenchurches ( Revelation1:20).
Christ also reminded the readers of His lordship over the churches (the
"sevenstars," Revelation1:20; Revelation2:1).
FLOYD HITCHCOCK
The SevenSpirits of God

Now, first of all let us notice how Jesus addressedHimself to the Church at
Sardis. He said, “These things saith He that hath the Seven Spirits of God, and
the SevenStars.” We do not need to be in doubt as to the SevenSpirits of God
and the Seven Stars. In chapter 1: and verse 4, in the wonderful salutation to
the SevenChurches, John made mention of the Seven Spirits which are before
His Throne! By referring to Isaiahthe 11th chapterand the 2nd verse, we
discoverthat this refers to the sevenfoldplentitude, or composite fullness of
the Holy Spirit. In Isaiah11:2, speaking ofChrist, it says, “The Spirit of the
Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of Wisdom and understanding, the Spirit
of Counseland Might, the Spirit of Knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord.”
And thus did Jesus address them here as the one who possessedall these
things, and also as the one who had the Seven Stars in His right hand, as
statedin Revelation1:16.
The SevenStars
In Revelation1, and verse 20, we are told that the SevenStars are the Angels
or messengers,orpastors of the sevenchurches. Therefore in His salutation to
the Church at Sardis, Jesus revealedHimself to them as Christ the anointed
one, who had been anointed with the sevenfoldplentitude or fulness of the
Holy Spirit, and who by divine authority held the messengers orpastors of the
churches in His own right hand.
J HAMPTON KEATHLEY III
THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD
“The sevenSpirits of God” is a reference to the Holy Spirit who proceeds
from the Fatherand the Sonto the believer (John 7:37-39;15:16, 26). He is

the Son’s gift to enable believers to experience genuine spirituality through
the multiple ministries and work of the Spirit symbolized here in the number
sevenwhich is a clearallusion to the seven-foldministries of the Spirit
mentioned in Isaiah11:2-5. But believers have a responsibility to walk by the
Spirit who indwells them. The responsibility is to walk by faith in His enabling
powerand to deal with the sin in their lives through honestconfessionorthey
will hinder (grieve and quench) the work of the Spirit. So part of the problem
was the believers in the church at Sardis were grieving and quenching the
ministry of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:19).
THE SEVEN STARS
In the introduction I shared my reasons why I, along with many others, have
believed the sevenstars referred to the spiritual leadershipwhich is primarily
responsible to hold forth the light of the Word to the localflock of believers.
Here, it appears, was anotherkey area of weakness;the failure to
communicate and receive the Word in a consistentand an in-depth way with
personalapplication and response ofthe mind, heart and will. Therefore, the
two life-giving provisions of God for man—the Holy Spirit and the Word—
were being neglected. The result was spiritual
WILLIAM KELLY
And to the angelof the church in Sardis write: These things saith he that hath
the sevenSpirits of God, and the sevenstars." There is an evident allusion to
the manner in which the Lord presentedHimself to the church in Ephesus,
but with a marked difference. Ephesus was the first presentationof the
generalpublic state. Sardis gives the rise of the new state of things, not strictly
ecclesiastical - the Lord acting in the way of testimony rather than in that
precise order. Hence it is not said here that He held in His right hand the

sevenstars and walkedin the midst of the sevengolden lampstands: this was
ecclesiasticalstrictly. But here He "has" the sevenSpirits of God and the
sevenstars. He changes not, but does not describe Himself as before. Yet all
power, all governing energy, is in His hands, and the sevenstars, that is to say,
all the instrumental lights by which He acts on souls here below. Let them not
look to the world - to the powers that be. "I know thy works, thatthou hast a
name that thou livest, and art dead." Such was Protestantismafter the
impulse of the Reformationpassed. How sad but true! The decline was sure if
slow. They did lean on the world; and what canthe issue of this be for those
who are not of the world, as Christ is not?
DAVID LEGGE
With minor exceptions, we have noticed as we have studied these churches
thus far that there is a pattern in how the Lord Jesus addresseseachofthem.
First and foremostHe is revealedto eachassemblywith particular
characteristicsthat are fitting for that assembly. For instance, here in chapter
3 verse 1, the Lord Jesus is revealedto Sardis as 'the one who has the seven
Spirits of God, and the sevenstars'. Of course, we saw that eachof these
characteristicsis derived from the vision that we have in chapter 1 of the
glorified, risen Lord Jesus, as the GreatHigh Priestand Judge of the church.
Of course, we see in chapter 1 verse 16 that the Lord Jesus is seenthere as
having the sevenstars in His right hand. We also see in chapter1 verse 4 that
the sevenSpirits of God are described as being before the throne of God.
So the characteristic ofhow Christ is revealedto Sardis is particularly fitting
to their need. They are, of course, as we shall see in greatdetail tonight, 'the
dead church'; and Christ is revealedto them as the one who has the life-giving
Spirit, the sevenSpirits of God depicting the perfection and completion of
God's Spirit - He having all that we need to succeedand triumph as

Christians and as the church. Sardis is lifeless, and Christ is the one who has
the life-giving Spirit. Now, if these sevenstars are angels - as I believed them
to be severalweeksago -or indeed if they are elders and overseersofthis
assembly, it doesn't really matter: these sevenstars seemto representGod's
administrative control in the church. So I believe Christ is being revealedhere
as the one who has the sevenSpirits of God, possessing the sevenstars, as the
answerto Sardis' problem of lifelessness. Whatis the answer? The answeris
spiritual ministry and spiritual leadership in this church. That might seemto
be a strange answerfor deadness, and we will tease that out a little bit later on
- but it is clearlyhow Christ is revealedto them: they needed spiritual
ministry and spiritual leadership.
JOHN MACARTHUR
Now, He introduces Himself as the one who has the seven Spirits of God.
Anybody who studies the New Testamentknows there is one Holy Spirit, that
the trinity is just that, it is three members. And the third member, as usually
designated, is indeed the Holy Spirit, the secondone being the One we know
as the Son of God, the Christ; the first One, the One we know as God,
Jehovah, the Father. But the Holy Spirit is described as a sevenfoldSpirit.
This can be a reference to Isaiahchapter 11. You might want to look at that
just briefly as a reminder.
In Isaiah chapter 11, there is a sevenfolddescription of the Holy Spirit which
could be in view here. We coveredthis in our study of chapter 1, verse 4, I’m
just briefly reminding you of it. Verse 2, we meet the Spirit of the Lord, and
the Spirit of the Lord is describedas the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
counsel, strength, knowledge, andfear. Adding those six to the title Spirit of
the Lord gives you the sevenfoldSpirit, that would be the Holy Spirit
describedin the fullness of His operation. Rather than the seven Spirits, it is

the sevenfoldSpirit. It could be that our Lord is referring to that particular
text in Isaiah11.
There is anotherpossibility, however, as well, and that is from Zechariah
chapter 4. I won’t take the time to go into greatdetail there, but there is a
description of the Holy Spirit in Zechariah chapter 4 that refers to the Spirit
in terms of His fullness, in terms of His omniscience, in terms of His
testimony. That description in Zechariah 4:1 to 10 is also repeatedas to some
of its features in Revelation4:5 and 5:6, and we went into some detail in our
prior discussionto note that it could be that description in Zechariah 4 that is
behind what the Lord is saying here. In either case, the emphasis is on the
fullness of the Holy Spirit.
By the way, Zechariah4:6 gives that greatfamiliar verse, “Notby might, nor
by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord.” So the author, the Lord Jesus
Christ, here, then, is referring to the Holy Spirit. Be He the sevenfoldSpirit of
Isaiah11 or the Spirit describedin Zechariahchapter 4, it is the same Holy
Spirit. The One who has the Holy Spirit, the One who is, to put it this way,
representedin His church by the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, then, He says, “And the One who also has the sevenstars” or the
sevenpastors, the sevenmessengers,the sevenleaders of the church. Now,
why does He introduce Himself in this fashion? Well, I believe what He is
saying here is simply that the One who writes this letter is the One who
ministers in His church through the Holy Spirit and through godly shepherds,
godly leaders, godly messengers, godlypastors. That’s what He is saying.
Why would He say that to Sardis? I guess the best response to that is a
reminder of what they had forfeited. A dead church would not have the
benefit of the living powerof the Holy Spirit nor would it have, obviously,

leaders who were godly and who manifestedthe life and power of God. That
was the problem. It’s almostas if He introduces Himself as the One who
sovereignlyworks in His church through His Spirit and through godly
leaders, both of which were absent in the case ofthe church at Sardis.
That is not to say there wasn’ta particular leaderthere who was a true
believer but maybe simply to emphasize the fact that in their deadness, they
had forfeited spiritual leadership and the powerof the Holy Spirit. We have to
say that the way Christ introduces Himself in the letter doesn’t give us a hint
of the severity of the situation. We might have expected that He would
introduce Himself in judgment description, like He did, as we noted, in the
last letter to Thyatira, with eyes like a flame of fire and feet like burnished
bronze, back in chapter2, verse 18.
We might expectHim to introduce Himself in a judgment description, but
that is not the case. He introduces Himself describing Himself as the One who
gives to His church the Holy Spirit and gives to His church godly leadership,
and maybe it’s a reminder of what they don’t have, what they had forfeited by
their deadness. The life, the powerof the Holy Spirit was not there, neither
was the godly leadership, and they desperatelyneededboth. Devoid of the
Spirit and devoid of Spirit-filled, godly leaders, the church was dead.
Here, then, was a church dominated by the flesh, dominated by sin,
dominated by unbelief - listen carefully - populated by the unregenerate, a
church populated by the unsaved who did not have the life of God in them
and, apparently, also populated by a few Christians who were indifferent. So
you had the unregenerate and the indifferent. The result was a dead church.

WILLIAM BARCLAY
In the introduction to this letter the RisenChrist is describedin two phrases.
(i) He is he who has the seven Spirits of God. We have alreadycome upon this
strange phrase in Revelation1:4. It has two aspects ofmeaning. (a) It denotes
the Holy Spirit with his sevenfold gifts, an idea founded on the description of
the Spirit in Isaiah 11:2. (b) It denotes the Spirit in his sevenfold operation.
There are sevenChurches, yet in eachof them the Spirit operates with all his
presence and power. The sevenspirits signifies the completeness ofthe gifts of
the Spirit and the universality of his presence.
(ii) He is he who has the sevenstars. The stars stand for the Churches and
their angels. The Church is the possessionofJesus Christ. Many a time men
act as if the Church belonged to them, but it belongs to Jesus Christ and all in
it are his servants. In any decisionregarding the Church, the decisive factor
must be not what any man wishes the Church to do but what Jesus Christ
wishes to be done.
RICH CATHERS
:1 He who has the sevenSpirits of God
We saw this phrase back in the introduction of the book in chapter one (1:4).
We talkedabout it being a reference to the Holy Spirit.
We see a seven-fold work of the Holy Spirit described back in Isaiahwhen
talking about the Messiah:

(Is 11:2 NKJV) The Spirit of the LORD shall restupon Him, The Spirit of
wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counseland might, The Spirit of
knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
If you count carefully, you will find seven things about the Holy Spirit
As Jesus deals with Sardis, the “dead” church, it is important to make the
connectionof “life” in a church and the Holy Spirit.
:1 the sevenstars
Jesus told John back in Rev. 1:20 that the stars were symbolic of the “angels”
of the churches, the leaders of the churches.
Jesus holds the stars in His hand.
JOHNNY SANDERS
The number sevenis the perfectnumber, the complete number, or the mature
number. The seven spirits denotes the Holy Spirit. One can hardly miss that
either in 1:4-5 or in this passage. Jesus is the One Who sent the Holy Spirit on
the Dayof Pentecostto empower His church.
The sevenstars are the pastors of the sevenchurches. Jesus calls pastors and
other ministers, and He anoints them to preachand teachHis Word. In 1:16,
we learn that Jesus holds the pastors in his right hand. The right hand is the
hand of power. He does not saythat He will use that powerto prevent trials
and tribulations. I do not know anyone who is anxious to face persecution,
torture, or martyrdom for the Lord, but the simple fact is that we belong to
Him. That means He has the sovereignright to use us, or may we sayinvest us
in any way that serves His purpose. He did not keepPaul, Peter, James, or

John from persecutionor death. Why do we think we deserve better than
they?
Revelation3:1
by Grant Richison| Nov 6, 1998 | Revelation| 0 comments
ReadIntroduction to Revelation
“And to the angelof the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has
the sevenSpirits of God and the sevenstars:I know your works, that you
have a name that you are alive, but you are dead‘”
We now turn to the fifth church that Jesus addresses.
And to the angelof the church in Sardis write
Sardis, locatedabout 35 miles southeastofThyatira on an important trade
route, was a wealthy city. This trade route ran east/westthrough the kingdom
of Lydia. Sardis’ industries included textiles, dye and jewelry.
It was also a centerof pagan worship. Temples of Artemis and Augustus stood
there. Todaythe city of Sart stands on the site. It also had a temple dedicated
to Augustus. Archeologists found an ancientChristian church building next to
this temple and they also discoveredone of the largestancientsynagogues

ever found, seating about 1,000 people. The Jewishcommunity must have
been very large in Sardis. The primary cult of the city was the Cybele cult.
An earthquake in A.D. 17 destroyed the Hellenistic city. Tiberius and
Claudius rebuilt the city.
These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the sevenstars:
Jesus describes Himselfas the one who holds the “sevenSpirits of God and
the sevenstars” (note 1:4, 20). It is possible to translate “the seven Spirits of
God” as “the sevenfold Spirit.” If this is accurate, then “sevenSpirits” may
refer to manifestations of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2-5). The “sevenstars”
refer to the sevenpastors of the sevenchurches. No church can have an
effective ministry without dependency on the Holy Spirit.
I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive,
Note that Jesus does not begin with a word of commendation as He does in
other letters.
Jesus againassesses this church. Evidently, other churches regardedthem as a
lively church. The church at Sardis gaineda reputation (name) for being an
outstanding church but lost much of its spiritual punch. We can hide nothing
from an omniscient Lord.
Many churches have a greatdeal of declarationbut little authenticity.
Churches love to be fashionable. They fearto take a stand that would cast
them in the light of oddity. They want respectabilityabove all. That is their
core value. Is this a true picture of what churches should be?
but you are dead
The church at Sardis had a reputation for orthodoxy and of sterling past
ministry. This church had a reputation for being alive but they were, in
reality, a dead church (cf. Matthew 23:27-28). A minority of Christians
“soiledtheir garments” (3:4). Although they appear alive they are dead
spiritually.
Principle:

There is a difference betweena reputation of a church and the reality of its
spiritual dynamic.
Application:
Churches can be spiritually dead. Churches can be full of ministries and
activity having a reputation as spiritual giants but at the same time be
spiritually dead.
Churches need to take stock oftheir spiritual condition. Both individual
Christians and individual churches flag in their spirituality from time to time.
Churches that have gained greatreputations for winning people to Christ and
building believers within the church can lose their spiritual animation. Their
reputation is still there but their power is gone. Deadnessofspirituality is the
norm.
If you attend a dead church and do not realize the church is dead, that may be
because you are dead yourself. People freezing to death are so numb that all
they want to do is sleep. If they go to sleep, they will die. Many churches are
putting people to spiritual sleep, to their spiritual ruin.
Mostchurches do not die in one fell swoop. They die gradually. Almost all
liberal churches today started as evangelicalchurches. Churches die by
degree. Is your church [and you as an individual member] dying gradually?
WALTER SCOTT
THE SEVEN SPIRITS AND THE SEVEN STARS.
1. — "He that has the sevenSpirits of God and the sevenstars." "The seven
Spirits of God" is a perplexing expressionto some. In the epistles of Paul the
unity of the Spirit, "one Spirit," is a cardinal truth. But in the apocalyptic

phrase "sevenSpirits" are taught the fulness, completeness, anddiversified
attributes and actions of the one Holy Spirit. The Spirit in diversified
governmental actionas distinct, yet in conjunction with Jehovahand Jesus
Christ, seems the thought intended in Revelation1:4; while in Revelation5:6
the perfectionof power and fulness of spiritual intelligence, exercised
governmentally by the Lamb, is the force of the expressionthere used. The
fulness of the Spirit is in Christ. He exercisesthe powerof the Spirit whether
towards the Church (Revelation3:1) or towards the world (Revelation5:6).
Whatever, then, the state of the Church may be — fallen, ruined, corrupt,
dead — there is in Him Who is in the midst of the golden lamps adequate
spiritual power.
1. — "He that has……the sevenstars." The stars are the light bearers of the
churches, responsible to shine for Christ and reflect the light of Heaven on the
surrounding darkness. Christ has both the "sevenSpirits" and the "seven
stars," only the latter are not said to be in His right hand, as in Revelation
1:16. It is simply said He has them. The ecclesiasticalorder of the Church was
maintained in Ephesus, whereas in Sardis the ministry in generaland the
organisationof the Church were by no means according to the due order of
the Spirit. A scripturally constituted ministry where all was in place, and
every endowment of the Spirit was exercisedunder the Lordship of Christ
might well be spokenofas "in His right hand." But after the Reformation
churches were rapidly formed according to the will, caprice, orintelligence of
certain leaders. Certaintruths, not THE TRUTH, became a rallying point or
centre round which congenialminds gathered, forming for themselves a
Church polity, and establishing a ministry, paid for and duly ordered
according to ability, talent, and the power to increase and consolidate their
numbers. Hence it is here simply said "He has the stars." After all, ministry of
every characterproceeds from Christ. "He has the stars." The entire ministry
of the Church is with Christ, but be it remembered that "the Spirits" and
"the stars" must not be separated;distinguished they may be, but severed
they cannot be without serious loss. A cold, carnal, intellectual, humanly-
ordained ministry is a ministry divorced from the Spirit. The stars shine by
the light of the Spirit. The union of the two is the point here. The Church's

competencyfor inward and spiritual power and for an outward organisation
of authority and ministry are ever with Christ. Herein consists the strength
and weaknessofProtestantprofessionof Christianity. Dependence upon and
guidance by the Holy Spirit is true power;ministry and order which ignore
the Spirit, practicallyor theoretically, are effete, and moral death is the sure
result.
RAY STEDMAN
The way the Lord presents himself to eachof these churches is a clue as to
what the church needs. Here he calls himself "him who holds the seven spirits
of God and the seven stars." These symbols were identified for us in the first
chapter of Revelation. The "sevenspirits" are a symbol of the Holy Spirit in
his fullness. What this church at Sardis desperatelyneededwas the Spirit --
life by the Spirit. They neededalso to remember that Jesus is Lord of his
church. It is not left to the members to run the church, to setup its form of
government or to determine the nature of its ministry, but it is the prerogative
of the Lord in their midst. These were truths they had forsakenorforgottenin
Sardis.
Steve Zeisler
Jesus raises different issues and employs various symbols in his letter to these
sevenchurches in Revelation.
In the letter to the church at Pergamum, his language portrayed him as a
military commander. At one point he
even threatened to make war on his own followers if they failed to face up to
their failures. In the letter to the

church at Thyatira, Jesus took onthe role of a prophet to score the false
prophetess who was teaching in that
church. In this letter to the church at Sardis, Jesus speaks as a judge,
accompaniedby 'the sevenSpirits of
God, and the sevenstars.'The sevenSpirits of God refer to the one Holy
Spirit, whose completenessis
manifested in the number seven, while the seven stars portray the human
leadership of the seven churches.
Jesus, in effect, has calledtogethera jury before whom he will pronounce his
findings as judge on the church
in Sardis. Or we can picture our Lord here as a doctorwho has just
completed his examination of an
almost-deadperson. He presents his diagnosis to the examining board and
declares that the disease afflicting
this person(the same disease whichthe church at Sardis is suffering from, as
we will see), is a form of
sleeping sickness.
A dangerous series
END OF PRECEPT AUSTIN
What do the sevenstars representin Revelation?
sevenstars Revelationaudio

Question:"What do the sevenstars represent in Revelation?"
Answer: In Revelationchapters 1—3, “sevenstars” are referencedfour times.
There are other “sevens,”as well:seven lampstands, sevenspirits, and seven
churches. Also, the first few chapters of Revelationcontain letters from Jesus
to sevenhistorical churches in Asia Minor.
In Revelation1, John is “in the Spirit” and hears “a loud voice like a
trumpet” behind him (verse 10). He turns around and sees a vision of the
Lord Jesus in His glory. The Lord is standing in the midst of sevengolden
lampstands, and “in his right hand he held sevenstars” (verse 16). John falls
down at Jesus’feet “as though dead” (verse 17). Jesus then revives John and
strengthens him for the task of writing the coming revelation.
The fact that the stars are in Jesus’right hand indicates that they are
important and under His authority. The right hand is a sign of strength and
control. Jesus explains to John that the “stars are the angels of the seven
churches” (Revelation1:20). An “angel” is literally a “messenger.”But that
leads us to the question—are these human messengersorheavenly beings?
It could be that every localchurch has a “guardian angel” who oversees and
protects that congregation. Evenif that is the case,a better interpretation of
the “messengers”ofRevelation1 is that they are the pastors or bishops of the
sevenchurches, symbolized by the lampstands. A pastoris God’s “messenger”
to the church in that he is responsible to faithfully preachGod’s Word to
them. John’s vision shows that eachpastoris being held in the Lord’s right
hand. And, as we learn in John 10:28, no one cansnatch them out of Jesus’
hand.
https://www.gotquestions.org/seven-stars-Revelation.html

The SevenStars of Revelation
"The mystery of the sevenstars which thou sawestin my right hand, and the
sevengolden candlesticks. The sevenstars are the angels of the seven
churches:and the sevencandlesticks whichthou sawestare the seven
churches." (Rev1:20)
What or who are these stars described as being in Jesus'hand? Revelation1
identifies them as angels.Theyare clearlyidentified with the angels of the
sevenchurches but are those angels actuallyangelic beings? An examination
of the original words translated as "angels" showsthatthey can have the
more generalmeaning of "messenger" andbe used in reference to beings
other than angels. Here is the verse following the one quoted above:
"Unto the angelof the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that
holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walkethin the midst of the
sevengolden candlesticks;" (Rev 2:1)
John is here being told to write a messageto "the angel." It seems very
unlikely that God would send messagesto angels via a human (Can you
imagine: "John, please write a memo for me to this angel.")No, it is the other
way around; in Revelation1:1 an angelgives the messageto John. Also, the
"angels" ofthe churches are included in the rebukes given to many of the
churches.
"NeverthelessI have somewhatagainstthee, because thouhast left thy first
love." (Rev 1:4)

The stars cannotbe literal angelic beings - the messageto Ephesus is not
directed to a literal angel. A carefulexamination of Revelation1:1-3 shows the
order of communication of the revelation:
Revelationchapter 1
The stars of the sevenchurches are not symbols of angels as in angelic beings
but angels as in the other common use of the word - messengers. We could
think of "stars" here as representing the leaders or elders of the churches.
Such are mentioned for various churches including Ephesus:
"And from Miletus he sentto Ephesus, and called the elders of the church."
(Acts 20:17)
It is not too much to believe that John would be askedto write letters to the
elders of the churches of Asia Minor of which he was actually the pastor to
give them counsel.
"Unto the angelof the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that
holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walkethin the midst of the
sevengolden candlesticks;" (Rev 2:1)
Stars and angels and many other symbols in the Bible need to be rightly
identified to help our understanding.
https://www.jesus-resurrection.info/seven-stars.html
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES

Adam Clarke Commentary
The sevenSpirits, of God - See the note on Revelation1:4, Revelation1:16;
(note), etc.
Thou hast a name that thou livest - Ye have the reputation of Christians, and
consequentlyof being alive to God, through the quickening influence of the
Divine Spirit; but ye are dead - ye have not the life of God in your souls, ye
have not walkedconsistentlyand steadily before God, and his Spirit has been
grieved with you, and he has withdrawn much of his light and power.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Revelation3:1". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/revelation-3.html. 1832.
Return to Jump List return to 'Jump List'
Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
The Epistle to the Church at Sardis
The contents of the epistle to the church at Sardis Revelation3:1-6 are:
(1)The usual salutationto the angelof the church, Revelation 3:1.

(2)the usual reference to the attributes of the Saviour - those referred to here
being that he had the sevenSpirits of God, and the sevenstars, Revelation3:1.
(3)the assurance that he knew their works, Revelation3:1.
(4)the statement of the uniqueness of the church, or what he saw in it - that it
had a name to live and was dead, Revelation3:1.
(5)asolemndirection to the members of the church, arising from their
characterand circumstances, to be watchful, and to strengthen the things
which remained, but which were ready to die; to remember what they had
received, and to hold fastwhat had been communicated to them, and to repent
of all their sins, Revelation3:2-3.
(6)athreat that if they did not do this, he would come suddenly upon them, at
an hour which they could not anticipate, Revelation3:3.
(7)acommendationof the church as far as it could be done, for there were still
a few among them who had not defiled their garments, and a promise that
they should walk before him in white, Revelation3:4.
(8)apromise, as usual, to him that should be victorious. The promise here is,
that he should walk before him in white; that his name should not be blotted
out of the book of life; that he should be acknowledgedbefore the Father, and
before the angels, Revelation3:5.

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