A VERSE BY VERSE COMMENTARY ON REVELATION CHAPTER 3:1-6

1. REVELATIO 3 1-6 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
I TRODUCTIO
Sardis was a wealthy city. Cyrus estimated the wealth of Croesus, one-time king of
Sardis, at the equivalent of 600,000,000 dollars, and that was in 549 B.C. Sardis was
on an important trade route, and was at one time capital of the kingdom of Lydia.
Sardis was a center of paganism, and a bustling, successful metropolis.
You can have a reputation that is good, and appear to be a good
Christian, and yet be dead in reality.
It was in a strategic location, being at the junction of the royal highways linking
Ephesus, Pergamum, and Smyrna with central Asia Minor, about 30 miles
southwest of Thyatira.
It's patron gods were the goddess Cybile, known as Diana in Ephesus, and her son
was Midus ("midus touch").
The town was situated on a 1,500 foot spur of Mt. Tmolus (now Boz Dag) above the
Hermus Valley, and was easily defended from invading armies since it could only be
approached from one side. The other three sides had shear cliffs down to the valley
below.
The feeling in Sardis was that they were untouchable, they had a false hope.
They only had to guard one side of the city, and practically left the other
three sides undefended, since nobody could get up the cliffs.
History:
650 years before writing this letter, Sardis was one of the greatest cities of the
world.
The city probably dates back to 2000 B.C.
It was the ancient capitol of the Lydian Empire (1200 B.C.)
It was in Sardis that the first coins, Lydian staters, were made, somewhere around
600 BC.
The prophet Ezekiel mentions the Lydians around 580 BC as "men of war" ("Lud"
in Eze. 27:10), and as mercenaries who fought to defend Tyre (27:10)
At the height of it's strength, it was ruled by King Croesus (560-546 BC), a man
known for his great wealth, mostly gotten from the gold in the Pactolus (now Baguli
River), a river which flowed through the city.
In 549 b.c., Croesus began hearing about the great Persian army, and how
they were steadily growing stronger, and getting closer and closer.
He decided to consult the "oracle at Delphi" (no, it was not an online service) in
Greece, and the oracle replied: "If you cross the Halys (river) you will destroy a
great Empire." So he went to war, hoping he could keep the Persians from coming
any closer, and was promptly defeated. He quickly retreated back to his fortress at
Sardis, and was surrounded by the Persian army.

2. When Cyrus the Great was unable to get through the Sardian defenses, he offered a
reward to any soldier who could figure out how to get into Sardis.
One man, Hyroeades, had been watching the city from below, and had observed a
Lydian soldier accidently drop his helmet from the city wall, then climb down the
cliffs and retrieve it. Hyroeades watched the path he took, and that night climbed
the cliff himself, with his troops following him. That night Sardis fell.
Seven years later, Cyrus captured Babylon, and allowed the Jewish captives to
return home.
In 214 BC, those same cliffs were climbed and the city was conquered by
Antiochus.
In 133 BC, they allied themselves with Rome, and became a Roman administrative
center.
Then in AD 17, there was a big earthquake, destroying most of the city, and by
John's time, the city was only a fraction of what it was in it's glory days.
Historical church records show that there was a church in Sardis as late as the ninth
century AD, but few if any Christians remained in Sardis after that.
The town was destroyed by the Mongol conqueror Tamerlane in 1402.
Archaeological excavations were begun at the site in 1910, but the city itself was not
uncovered until 1958. Only Turkish herdsmen dwell there now.
Scripture warns that many will outwardly look saved until the last minute.
ILLUS. Wheat and tares (Matthew 13)
ILLUS. Ten virgins (Matthew 25) - only 5 were saved.
ILLUS. icodemus (John 3) outwardly spotless, but needed to be "born again."
ILLUS. Judas Iscariot (Looked great, even to those closest to him.)
ILLUS. Martin Luther - a monk, deeply religious, but LOST until understanding that
"the just shall live by faith."
ILLUS. John Wesley - came to America to preach to the Indians, but before he could get
started he determined that he, himself, had not been saved. He looked great outwardly,
but inwardly was lost!
Mat 7:13-14 (KJV) Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the
way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is
the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Mat 7:21-23 (KJV) ot every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful
works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye
that work iniquity
JAMES A. FOWLER, “ Five centuries before Christ Sardis had reigned as one
of the greatest cities in the world at that time. By the end of the first century
when Jesus addressed the Christian community at Sardis, the residents of the
city were living with a pride of their past history and glory. They were
arrogant, wealthy and immoral.

3. Sardis was located about 50 miles east of Smyrna in the valley formed by
the Pactolus River. Five roads converged in a junction in this valley. A
jagged rock outcropping with steep cliffs on three sides rose about 1500 feet
above the valley on the edge of Mt. Tmolus/Boz. This became the acropolis
of the city of Sardis. The site was nearly impregnable and inaccessible. So
the Sardisians thought, but twice in their history their city had been captured
because of their over-confidence when they had allowed enemies to
infiltrate. This happened in 549 B.C. when the Medes overcame the city, and
in 218 B.C. when the Cretans conquered them.
Toward the end of the first century Sardis still remained a wealthy city.
Gold had been discovered in the river valley, and Sardis may have been the
first city to ever have used gold coinage. Wealth often leads to the pretense
of self-sufficiency, and such seems to have been the case in Sardis.
The wide variety of religious offerings were present in Sardis as in the other
cities of the region. There was a temple of the fertility goddess, Cybele.
Archaeologists have uncovered an extremely large temple that was an
imitation of the great temple of Artemis at Ephesus, but it was apparently
never finished due to an earthquake in 17 A.D.
Jesus begins His address to the church in Sardis by identifying Himself as
"He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars" (3:1). What is
Jesus trying to say to the Christians of Sardis by thus identifying Himself?
Throughout the Revelation (1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6) reference to "the seven
Spirits" appears to be a symbolic allusion to the completeness of the work of
the Holy Spirit. The Sardisian Christians were apparently "resting on their
laurels" again, and their "deeds were not completed in the sight of God"
(3:2) because they were not allowing the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, to
complete His work in them. When the "seven Spirits" are identified with
"seven eyes" later in the Revelation, the implication is that the Holy Spirit is
omniscient and sees all that is going on in the church at Sardis.
By indicating that He is the One who "has the seven stars" (1:17; 1:20; 2:1;
10:5; 13:16; 20:1,4), Jesus is telling the Christians of Sardis that He is the
One who has the authority and is in control. Earlier Jesus had explained to
John that "the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches" (1:20).
Sometimes the human leadership of a local church concludes that they have
the authority and are in control of the church. Religion has this natural
tendency to establish hierarchical authority structures, complete with "flow
charts" of political authority and administrative responsibility. In so doing
they usually bypass the authority of Christ who is the "head of the

4. Church"(Eph. 5:23; Col. 1:18) and fail to submit to His leadership and
guidance of His church. Jesus identifies Himself to the Christians at Sardis
as the One who knows what is going on, the One who is in control, and the
One who intends to complete His work in them.
Jesus' observation of their condition there in Sardis is expressed when He
says, "I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, and you
are dead" (3:1). They had a reputation that they were spiritually "alive."
There was an alleged vitality, but it was "in name only." They were only
nominally vibrant Christians. There was some hypocritical play-acting going
on. The risen Lord Jesus charges the Sardisian Christians with an externality
that appears to be alive, but in essence they are "dead." Jesus had exposed
the hypocritical Pharisees similarly when He said, "You are like
whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they
are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. You outwardly appear
righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness"
(Matt. 23:27,28). Those in the church at Sardis were like zombies operating
in a lifeless church. It was "Tombstone Territory."
It has been said that "Few things are better organized that graveyards, but
there is little life there." So it is that few things are better organized than
religious programs and activities. A church may be very busy and very
active, and it will appear to undiscerning people that such a church is really
"alive," but despite the frenetic activity of performance and productivity that
church might be very "dead," because they are not deriving what they do
from the life of Jesus Christ.
Life is in Jesus Christ alone. Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life"
(John 11:25); "I am the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6). Paul
explained that "for me to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21); "Christ is our life" (Col.
3:4). Unless our activity, whether individually or collectively, is the
"manifestation of the life of Jesus" (II Cor. 4:10,11), then it is not the
expression of life. Activities that are not derived from the life of Jesus Christ
are but the expression of "dead works" (Heb. 9:14); they "bring forth death"
(James 1:15).
Religious activities may appear to be so "alive" with enthusiasm and
excitement, but if they are not activated by the life and character of Jesus
Christ Himself by His Spirit, they are a "dead loss." Religion propagates a
pseudo-life that appears to be "alive," but is actually dead because it is
devoid of the divine life of God in Christ. Lifeless religion is so deceiving
because the undiscerning think it is alive, when it is really dead.

5. Jesus continues to charge the Christians in Sardis when He says, "I have
not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God" (3:2). We were
"created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10), and these Christians had some
unfinished works. They had disallowed Jesus to do what He wanted to do in
their lives and in their church. They had "quenched the Spirit" (I Thess.
5:19). To thus quench the manifestation of Christ's life and ministry can have
serious consequences. Jesus told the parable of the vineyard keeper who did
not find fruit on his fig tree, and ordered it to be "cut down" (Luke 13:6-9).
God's purpose is to have the fruit of His character to be expressed in the
behavior of His people unto His own glory, and the failure to allow for such
is a misuse of humanity.
To remedy the situation in the church at Sardis, Jesus issues several
commands. There are five imperative verbs in verses two and three which
command the Sardisians to respond: "be watching, strengthen, remember,
keep and repent."
First, Jesus tells them to "be watching." What are they to be watching?
They are not to "be watching" the statistics on the attendance board or their
place in the denominational polls. They are to "be watchful" of how Satan
can so subtly deceive them into religious practices, rather than living out the
life of Jesus Christ. Peter advised Christians to "be watching" because "your
adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to
devour" (I Peter 5:8). Jesus told His disciples, "Keep watching and praying,
that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is
weak" (Matt. 26:41). Paul encouraged us to "Be watching, stand firm in the
faith..." (I Cor. 16:13). We are to be "on watch" against ungodly forces, and
the religious methodologies that Satan inspires.
Jesus goes on to explain the consequences of not "standing watch." "If you
will not watch, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I
will come upon you" (3:3). This may have had a particularly pointed
implication for the people of Sardis, for twice previously in their history
their city had been captured because of their failure to "keep watch." They
thought they were physically strong and secure, and in their over-confidence
they were conquered. When Jesus warns that their failure to watch will result
in His coming upon them "like a thief," it means that He will come suddenly,
unexpectedly, unannounced and without forewarning. Although the same
imagery is used of Jesus' coming at His second advent (I Thess. 5:2; II Peter
3:10), it does not appear that this is the "coming" that Jesus is referring to in
His warning to the Christians in Sardis. The final Parousia is not dependent

6. on the watchfulness and repentance of the Sardisian Christians. Jesus is
simply indicating that their failure to respond in repentance will result in His
coming unexpectedly to bring some kind of physical consequence of
judgment or discipline.
Secondly, Jesus commands them to "strengthen the things that remain,
which were about to die" (3:2). Establish what you do have "in Christ," and
build stability on the foundation of Christ. Paul exhorted the Thessalonian
Christians to "comfort and strengthen their hearts in every good work and
word" (I Thess. 2:17), and then turned around and wrote, "The Lord is
faithful, and He will strengthen you" (I Thess. 3:3). So it is that Jesus is not
asking the Christians in Sardis to do anything that He is not willing to do in
them, if they are willing in faith. "The Lord of all grace...will establish you"
(I Peter 5:10; Rom. 16:25).
The third command of Jesus to the Sardisian Christians is to "remember
what you have received and heard" (3:3). What had they received and heard
which they are now to remember? Had they received an ideological belief-
system, or a morality code, or membership in an organization, or a ticket to
heaven? No, that is what religion offers. These Christians had received Jesus
Christ by faith (John 1:12; Col. 2:6), and heard His call upon their lives.
They were to "remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead" (II Tim. 2:8).
The fourth imperative imposed upon the Christians in Sardis was to "keep"
what they had received and heard. Having received Jesus Christ, they were
to "keep His word" (I John 2:5), "keep themselves in the love of God" (Jude
21), and "keep the faith" (II Tim. 4:7).
The fifth command was to "repent." If they were going to get out of their
lifeless spiritual graveyard there had to be repentance, a change of mind that
led to a change of action. Their complacent and self-sufficient thinking
would have to be exchanged for the recognition that only the activity of
Christ in them was pleasing to God. Whenever religion has permeated the
life of a church there must be repentance to reverse the direction of the
church and allow them to return to faith.
"But," Jesus observes, "you have a few people in Sardis who have not
soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white; for they are
worthy" (3:4). In almost every church situation there are the "faithful few,"
who have continued to walk in the purity of Christ, "hating the garment
polluted by the flesh" (Jude 23) and "keeping themselves unstained by the
world" (James 1:27). When we become Christians we "put on the new man"
(Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10) and are clothed in His righteousness, holiness, love,

7. joy, peace, etc. Whenever we revert to the practice of religion we are clothed
instead with self-effort, self-justification and self-adulation. Such behavioral
garments are soiled, stained and polluted by the satanic motivation of the
flesh in conjunction with his world-system.
Those who repudiate such soiled garments of religion are promised by the
Lord Jesus Christ that they "will walk with Him in white, for they are
worthy" (3:3). They will allow the purity of Christ's character of godliness
and holiness to be expressed in their behavior. It is not that they are "worthy"
because of any meritorious action on their own part, but they are "worthy"
because they are relying on the "Worthy One," Jesus Christ, to be operative
in them. Only thus can any Christian "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,
to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work" (Col. 1:10),
"walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls us into His kingdom and
glory" (I Thess. 2:12), "walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which
we have been called" (Eph. 4:1), and be "considered worthy of the kingdom
of God..." (II Thess. 1:5).
Religion often considers "worthiness" to be based on natural talents and
the performance of service and contribution. A person is then considered
"worthy" of being considered for a higher position in the church and
"worthy" of being honored before men. They know nothing of the
"worthiness" that is derived only from the "Worthy One" living in and acting
through the Christian.
The promise of Jesus to the church at Sardis is continued with a three-part
promise: "He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I
will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name
before My Father, and before His angels" (3:5).
Christians who overcome the temptation to revert to religion by
maintaining their association with the Overcomer (John 16:33) will be
clothed in "white garments," representing the purity of the character of
Christ. Religion, on the other hand, concerns itself with external activity and
clothing rather than the character of Christ. Pre-occupied with ecclesiastical
robes and garments and with people wearing "Sunday-go-to-meeting"
clothes, religion inevitably emphasizes the external rather than the internal.
Jesus is concerned that we be clothed internally with His character.
Jesus also promises that overcomers will not have their names "erased
from the book of life." The obvious implication is that it is possible to have
one's name erased from the book of life, or else the statement would have no
meaning whatsoever. The Psalmist had requested that the unrighteous "be

8. blotted out of the book of life, and not be recorded with the righteous" (Ps.
69:28). The "book of life" seems to represent the register of heavenly
citizenship. As Christians "our citizenship is in heaven" (Phil. 3:21); we are
part of "the church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven" (Heb.
12:23); and we "rejoice that our names are recorded in heaven" (Luke
10:19,20). We are "those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of
life" (Rev. 20:15; 21:27). But when we substitute religion for the Savior we
are liable to having our names erased and blotted out of the book of life. God
will not and cannot tolerate diabolic religion contrary to His character and
grace. The security of heavenly citizenship is not in religious doctrines of
"eternal security" and "once saved, always saved," but in dynamic
dependence upon the function of the Savior living out His life in us.
Religion offers a false-security, and religionists are in danger of having their
names erased from the book of life.
The third part of Jesus' promise is that those who overcome the temptation
to revert to religion will be privileged to have Jesus serve as their advocate
and "confess their name before His Father, and before His angels." Jesus had
previously said to His disciples, "Everyone who shall confess Me before
men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven" (Matt.
10:32), and "before the angels of God" (Luke 12:8). As our behavior
"confesses," "agrees with," "says the same thing" as the character of God
because He is energizing such by His grace, Jesus will in turn "confess" us
before God and the angels as being "in agreement" with Him.
All of what Jesus promises can only transpire by our listening carefully
with spiritual discernment to what Jesus is saying by His Spirit. "He who has
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (3:6). Such
"listening under" the Spirit of Christ will issue forth in obedience that
glorifies God as the life of Jesus Christ is lived out through us.
To the Church in Sardis
1 “To the angel[a] of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven
spirits[b] of God and the seven stars. I know your
deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but

9. you are dead.
1. BAR ES, "The Epistle to the Church at Sardis
The contents of the epistle to the church at Sardis Rev_3:1-6 are:
(1) The usual salutation to the angel of the church, Rev_3:1.
(2) The usual reference to the attributes of the Saviour - those referred to here being
that he had the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars, Rev_3:1.
(3) The assurance that he knew their works, Rev_3:1.
(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, Rev_3:1.
(5) A solemn direction to the members of the church, arising from their character and
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 fast
what had been communicated to them, and to repent of all their sins, Rev_3:2-3.
(6) A threat that if they did not do this, he would come suddenly upon them, at an
hour which they could not anticipate, Rev_3:3.
(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, Rev_3:4.
(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 acknowledged before the Father, and before the
angels, Rev_3:5.
(9) The usual call on all persons to hear what the Spirit said to the churches.
Sardis was the capital of 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 watered by the river
Pactolus, famous for its golden sands. It was the capital where the celebrated Croesus,
proverbial for 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 passed into the hands of the Romans, and under them sank rapidly in
wealth and importance. In the time of Tiberius it was destroyed by 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 hast a few
names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments.”
Successive earthquakes, and the ravages of the Saracens and the Turks, have reduced
this once-celebrated city 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
capital is Sart. It is a miserable village, comprising only a few wretched cottages,
occupied by Turks and Greeks. There are ruins of the theater, the stadium, and of some
ancient churches. The most remarkable of the ruins are two pillars supposed to 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

10. Solomon. The Acropolis serves well to 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
asked what impresses the mind most strongly in beholding Sardis, I should say its
indescribable solitude, like the darkness of Egypt - 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 can never be forgotten.”
John Hartley, in regard to 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
wretched Turkish huts are scattered among the ruins. We saw the churches of John and
the Virgin, the theater, and the building styled the Palace of Croesus; 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 of the power and splendor of antiquity.”
The impression produced on the mind is vividly described in the following language of
a recent traveler, who lodged there for a night: “Every object was as distinct as in a
northern twilight; the snowy summit of the mountain (Tmolus), the long sweep of the
valley, and the flashing current of the river (Pactolus). I strolled along toward the banks
of the Pactolus, and seated myself by the side of the half-exhausted stream.
“There are few individuals who cannot trace on the map of their memory some
moments of overpowering emotion, and some scene, which, once dwelt upon, has
become its own painter, and left behind it a memorial that time could not efface. I can
readily sympathize with the feelings of him who wept at the base of the pyramids; nor
were my own less powerful, on that night when I sat beneath the sky of Asia to gaze upon
the ruins of Sardis, from the banks of the golden-sanded Pactolus. Beside me were the
cliffs of the Acropolis, which, centuries before, the hardy Median scaled, while leading on
the conquering Persians, whose tents had covered the very spot on which I was reclining.
Before me were the vestiges of what had been the palace of the gorgeous Croesus; within
its walls were once congregated the wisest of mankind, Thales, Cleobulus, and Solon. It
was here that the wretched father mourned alone the mangled corse of his beloved Atys;
it was here that the same humiliated monarch wept at the feet of the Persian boy who
wrung from him his kingdom. Far in the distance were the gigantic “tumuli” of the
Lydian monarchs, Candaules, Halyattys, and Gyges; and around them were spread those
very plains once trodden by the countless hosts of Xerxes, when hurrying on to find a
sepulchre at Marathon.
“There were more varied and more vivid remembrances associated with the sight of
Sardis than could possibly be attached to any other spot of earth; but all were mingled
with a feeling of disgust at the littleness of human glory. All - all had passed away! There
were before me the fanes of a dead religion, the tombs of forgotten monarchs, and the
palm-tree that waved in the banquet-hall of kings; while the feeling of desolation was
doubly heightened by the calm sweet sky above me, which, in its unfading brightness,
shone as purely now as when it beamed upon the golden dreams of Croesus” (Emerson’s
“Letters from the Aegean,” p. 113ff). The present appearance of the ruins is shown by the
engraving in this volume.
And unto the angel of the church in Sardis - notes on Rev_1:20.
These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God - See the notes on
Rev_1:4. If the phrase, “the seven Spirits of God,” as there supposed, refers to the Holy
Spirit, there is great propriety in saying of the Saviour, that he has that Spirit, inasmuch
as the Holy Spirit is represented as sent forth by him into the world, Joh_15:26-27;

11. Joh_16:7, Joh_16:13-14. It was one of the highest characteristics that could be given of
the Saviour to say, that the Holy Spirit was his to send forth into the world, and that that
great Agent, on whose gracious influences all were dependent for the possession of true
religion, could be given or withheld by him at his pleasure.
And the seven stars - See the notes on Rev_1:16. These represented the angels of
the seven churches (notes on Rev_1:20); and the idea which the Saviour would seem to
intend to convey here is, that he had entire control over the ministers of the churches,
and could keep or remove them at pleasure.
I know thy works - See the notes on Rev_2:2.
That thou hast a name that thou livest - Thou dost profess attachment to me and
my cause. The word “life” is a word that is commonly employed, in the New Testament,
to denote religion, in contradistinction from the natural state of man, which is described
as death in sin. By the profession of religion they expressed the purpose to live unto God,
and for another world; they professed to have true, spiritual life.
And art dead - That is, spiritually. This is equivalent to saying that their profession
was merely in name; and yet this must be understood comparatively, for there were
some even in Sardis who truly lived unto God, Rev_3:4. The meaning is, that in general,
the profession of religion among them was a mere name. The Saviour does not, as in the
case of the churches of Ephesus and Thyatira, specify any prevailing form of error or
false doctrine; but it would seem that here it was a simple waist of religion.
2. CLARKE, "The seven Spirits, of God - See the note on Rev_1:4, Rev_1:16 (note),
etc.
Thou hast a name that thou livest - Ye have the reputation of Christians, and
consequently of 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 walked
consistently and steadily before God, and his Spirit has been grieved with you, and he
has withdrawn much of his light and power.
3. GILL, "And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write,.... Of the city of
Sardis See Gill on Rev_1:11 when, and by whom this church was founded, and who was
the present angel or pastor of 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 angel here intended; this man wrote upon the book of the Revelation, and
an apology for 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 council of 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 assisted at the 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

12. Reformation by 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 Satan in it; but from its
being clear of 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 charged with; 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 seat of the rich King Croesus, though now a very poor and mean
village; and may denote the magnificence and splendour of this church state, at least in
name and figure, it has appeared in, 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 Rev_4:2. This stone, naturalists say (g), drives away fear,
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 appeared in their countenances, and which
they spread in others by preaching the doctrines of the Gospel; and of those excellent
gifts 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 of the whore of Rome: and perhaps some allusion may be in this name, as is
thought by Cocceius, to the Hebrew word ‫,שריד‬ "sarid", which signifies a "remnant", since in
this church state there was a remnant according to the election of grace, a few names, whose
garments were undefiled; or to the word ‫,שרד‬ "sered", which signifies 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 Godthese things saith he that hath the seven spirits of Godthese things saith he that hath the seven spirits of Godthese things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God; the fulness and perfection of the gifts and
graces of the Spirit of God, as in Rev_1:4, which Christ, as Mediator, has without measure, and
are at his dispose, and which he, having received for men, gives unto them; and at the time of the
Reformation bestowed them on many eminent servants of his in a very plenteous manner; for
which reason he assumes this character in writing to this church:
and the seven starsand the seven starsand the seven starsand the seven stars; the ministers of the Gospel; see Gill on Rev_1:16, Rev_2:1; these were filled
by Christ at this time with evangelical light 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 greatness of their 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

13. degree of likeness to that, and that it was a sort of renewing of it:
I know thy worksI know thy worksI know thy worksI know thy works; good works chiefly; the nature and imperfection of them; and also bad works:
that
thou hast a name that thou livestthou hast a name that thou livestthou hast a name that thou livestthou hast a name that thou livest: the reformed churches have had a name for spiritual living, by
faith on Christ's righteousness only for justification, that article being the great article of the
Reformation: there was in them an appearance of liveliness, by their zeal for Gospel doctrine and
worship, and a form of living according to godliness; they were esteemed, were celebrated, and
famous for these things, especially for living by faith on Christ's righteousness:
and art deadand art deadand art deadand art dead; or "but art dead"; for, the most part, or greater part of the members of these
churches, are dead in trespasses and sins; and as for the rest, they are very dead and lifeless in
their frames, in the exercise of grace, and in the discharge of duties; and under great spiritual
declensions and decays, just as it were ready to die; and but few really alive in a spiritual sense,
and especially lively, or in the lively exercise of grace, 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 of this period,
4. HE RY, "Here is, I. The preface, showing, 1. To whom this letter is directed: To the
angel of the church of Sardis, an ancient city of Lydia, on the banks of the mountain
Tmolus, said to have been the chief city of Asia the Less, and the first city in that part of
the world that was converted by the preaching of John; and, some say, the first that
revolted from Christianity, and one of the first that was laid in its ruins, in which it still
lies, without any church or ministry. 2. By whom this message was sent - the Lord Jesus,
who here assumes the character of him that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven
stars, taken out of Rev_1:4, where the seven spirits are said to be before the throne. (1.)
He hath the seven spirits, that is, the Holy Spirit with his various powers, graces, and
operations; for he is personally one, though efficaciously various, and may be said here
to be seven, which is the number of the churches, and of the angels of the churches, to
show that to every minister, and to every church, there is a dispensation and measure of
the Spirit given for them to profit withal - a stock of spiritual influence for that minister
and church to improve, both for enlargement and continuance, which measure of the
Spirit is not ordinarily withdrawn from them, till they forfeit it by misimprovement.
Churches have their spiritual stock and fund, as well as particular believers; and, this
epistle being sent to a languishing ministry and church, they are very fitly put in mind
that Christ has the seven spirits, the Spirit without measure and in perfection, to whom
they may apply themselves for the reviving of his work among them. (2.) He hath the
seven stars, the angels of the churches; they are disposed of by him, and accountable to
him, which should make them faithful and zealous. He has ministers to employ, and

14. spiritual influences to communicate to his ministers for the good of his church. The Holy
Spirit usually works by the ministry, and the ministry will be of no efficacy without the
Spirit; the same divine hand holds them both.
II. The body of this epistle. There is this observable in it, that whereas in the other
epistles Christ begins with commending what is good in the churches, and then proceeds
to tell them what is amiss, in this (and in the epistle to Laodicea) he begins,
1. With a reproof, and a very severe one: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that
thou livest, and art dead. Hypocrisy, and a lamentable decay in religion, are the sins
charged upon this church, by one who knew her well, and all her works. (1.) This church
had gained a great reputation; it had a name, and a very honourable one, for a
flourishing church, a name for vital lively religion, for purity of doctrine, unity among
themselves, uniformity in worship, decency, and order. We read not of any unhappy
divisions among themselves. Every thing appeared well, as to what falls under the
observation of men. (2.) This church was not really what it was reputed to be. They had a
name to live, but they were dead; there was a form of godliness, but not the power, a
name to live, but not a principle of life. If there was not a total privation of life, yet there
was a great deadness in their souls and in their services, a great deadness in the spirits of
their ministers, and a great deadness in their ministrations, in their praying, in their
preaching, in their converse, and a great deadness in the people in hearing, in prayer,
and in conversation; what little life was yet left among them was, in a manner, expiring,
ready to die.
5. JAMISO , "Rev_3:1-22. The Epistles to Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
Sardis — the ancient capital of Lydia, the kingdom of wealthy Croesus, on the river
Pactolus. The address to this Church is full of rebuke. It does not seem to have been in
vain; for Melito, bishop of Sardis in the second century, was eminent for piety and
learning. He visited Palestine to assure himself and his flock as to the Old Testament
canon and wrote an epistle on the subject [Eusebius Ecclesiastical History, 4.26]; he also
wrote a commentary on the Apocalypse [Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 4.26; Jerome,
On Illustrious Men, 24].
he that hath the seven Spirits of God — that is, He who hath all the fullness of the
Spirit (Rev_1:4; Rev_4:5; Rev_5:6, with which compare Zec_3:9; Zec_4:10, proving His
Godhead). This attribute implies His infinite power by the Spirit to convict of sin and of a
hollow profession.
and the seven stars — (Rev_1:16, Rev_1:20). His having the seven stars, or
presiding ministers, flows, as a consequence, from His having the seven Spirits, or the
fullness 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 fullness of the Spirit, and the
fullness of brilliant light in Him, form a designed contrast to the formality which He
reproves.
name ... livest ... dead — (1Ti_5:6; 2Ti_3:5; Tit_1:16; compare Eph_2:1, Eph_2:5;
Eph_5:14). “A name,” that is, a reputation. Sardis was famed among the churches for
spiritual vitality; yet the Heart-searcher, who seeth not as man seeth, pronounces her
dead; how great searchings of heart should her case create among even the best of us!
Laodicea deceived herself as to her true state (Rev_3:17), but it is not written that she
had a high name among the other churches, as Sardis had.
5B. NISBET, “A FALSE REPUTATION
‘I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.’

15. Revelation 3:1
In God’s sight the Church of Sardis was like the corpse of the ancient Scythian—men reverenced
her, spoke of her, treated her as a Church full of life and health, and all the while she was dead!
I. ‘Thou hast a name’!—Yes. Sardis had not denied the faith. She had not gone over to the world,
she was teaching no false doctrine, she was eminently orthodox. But Sardis and the world
understood each other; openly she was to resist the world, secretly she was to be at friendship with
it. Her name for righteousness was what she cared for more than anything else—she cared nothing
for that union with the living God which alone can give life to the soul. Hers was a ‘heartless holding
of the truth’; her name for life remained, but that life was gone, or nearly gone—and Sardis was
dead! It is so easy for us by our words, our writings, our exhortations, to persuade people that we
are travelling along one road, when we have in reality wandered far upon another. ‘Solomon was
the wisest of men, yet he sank to be what his own writings say makes a fool.’
II. A day of surprises.—Amid all its terrors—all its soul-subduing sights and sounds—the Last
Great Day will be, perhaps, more than anything else, a day of many and great surprises! ‘If ever I
reach heaven,’ said one, ‘there will be three things which will, I know, surprise me. First, I shall be
surprised to find myself in heaven at all. Secondly, I shall be surprised to see some whom I should
never have dreamed of meeting there; and thirdly, I shall be surprised not to see many who I should
have thought would be perfectly certain to be there!’
III. How is it with us?—Are there any here who are content to stand well with the world, with a
name for goodness; who care nothing for real holiness, nothing for the spirit that giveth life? These
are dead! Are there any whose love is waning, with whom growth in grace has ceased—whose
communions have become mere perfunctory duties, mechanical acts? Is growth ceasing? Then
these are dying. It is the Spirit Who giveth life. Then turn to Him, for He is ready to receive the
fainting and to revive the dying soul.
Illustration
‘Among the Scythians of old a ghastly custom prevailed. When a man died, his nearest relatives,
having dressed up the corpse, placed it in a chariot and carried it round to the houses of his friends.
In each house feasting and merriment went on; the corpse was propped up at the board, the
banquet spread before the glazed eyes, and slaves offered the dead man meat and drink.
Honoured, feasted, driven from house to house, the dead among these ancient people were, by a
horrible mimicry, made to play the part of the living.’
5C. BENSON, “Revelation 3:1. To the angel of the church in Sardis write — This city, “once the
renowned capital 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 called by the
Turks, Sart, or Sard, with little variation from the original name. It is a most sad spectacle; nor can
one forbear weeping over the ruins of so great a city: for now it is no more than an ignoble village,
with low and wretched cottages of clay; nor hath it any other inhabitants besides shepherds and
herdsmen, who feed their flocks and cattle in the neighbouring plains. Yet the great extent 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, sustain a 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 deadeven 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 each other’s houses for the
exercise of religion, built a church within view of ancient Sardis; and that there they maintain a
priest. In consequence of this, the place has gradually risen into a little village, now called
Tartarkeury, and thither the few Christians of Sart, who amount to seven, and those in its immediate
vicinity, resort for public worship, and form together a congregation of about forty. There appears
then still a remnant, a few names even in Sardis, which have been preserved. “I cannot repeat,”

16. says he, “the expressions of gratitude with which they received a copy of the New Testament in a
language with which they were familiar. Several crowded about the priest to hear it on the spot; and
I left them thus engaged.”
These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits 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
of the Spirit, and produces thereby such wonderful effects; and the seven stars — Which represent
the ministers of the churches, all whose motions he continues to govern and 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 answer that character which thou generally maintainest in the neighbouring churches
for true religion and virtue; that thou hast a name that thou livest— A fair reputation; the character of
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 second death.
6. PULPIT, "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 almost due south of Thyatira, on the road to Philadelphia, between the river
Hermus and Mount Tmolus. It had been in turn Lydian, Persian, Greek, and Roman, and, like its last
Lydian king, Croesus, had been celebrated for its wealth. The auriferous stream Pactolus, in
summer almost dry, flowed through its marketplace; but its chief source of wealth was its trade. In
A.D. 17 "twelve famous cities of Asia fell by an earthquake in the night The calamity fell most
heavily on the people of Sardis, and it attracted to them the largest share 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, discovered at Sardis, 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
special features of the city can be traced in the epistle. In the second century, Melito, Bishop of
Sardis, held a very prominent place among Asiatic Christians, both in personal influence 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 represented by a few huts and a collection of ruins buried deep
in rubbish. It still retains its ancient name 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, scarcely out 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.
Rev_3:1
He that hath the seven Spirits of God (see notes on Rev_1:4, Rev_1:16, Rev_1:20; but
observe that this designation of Christ does not occur in the opening vision). In Rev_5:6 the Lamb is
seen "having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God." The seven Spirits
being the Holy Spirit in his sevenfold activity, it is manifest (as Trench observes) that this passage is
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 can impart it to men. As man he received it; as
God he gives it. And a Church sunk in spiritual deadness specially needs such a gift. Hence the
repetition about having the seven stars, which appears also in the address to the Church in
Ephesus (Rev_2:1). Note, however, that here we have ἔχων for κράτῶν , which would not have
been appropriate to express the Son's possession of the 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 restored to life by him. Thou hast

17. 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, and in immediate sequence gives the very
opposite of what might have been expected to 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. Joh_1:5, Joh_1:10, Joh_1:11; Joh_3:11, Joh_3:19,Joh_3:32; Joh_5:39, Joh_5:40; Joh_6:36,
Joh_6:43, etc.). In all these cases the contrast is introduced by a simple καί , which may be
rendered "and yet;" but the simple "and" is more forcible. Beware of the unworthy literalism which
suggests that the Bishop of Sardis bore a name which implied life, e.g. Zosimus, or Vitalis. As
already stated (notes on Rev_1:20), it is improbable that "the angel" means the bishop. And in any
case "name" is here used in the common sense of character or reputation. Comp. Herod., 7.138,
where the historian says that Xerxes' expedition had the name ( οὔνοµα εἷχε ) of being directed
against Athens, but was really a menace to the whole of Greece. We have very similar uses
of ὄνοµα in Mar_9:41 and 1Pe_4:16. The Church in Sardis had a name for Christianity, but there
was no Christianity in it.
7. BARCLAY, “SARDIS, PAST SPLENDOUR AND PRESENT DECAY
Sir W. M. Ramsay said of Sardis that nowhere was there a greater example of the melancholy
contrast between past splendour and present decay. Sardis was a city of degeneration.
Seven hundred years before this letter was written Sardis had been one of the greatest cities in
the world. There the king of Lydia ruled over his empire in oriental splendour. At that time Sardis
was a city of the east and was hostile to the Greek world, Aeschylus wrote of it: "They that dwelt
by Tmolous pledged themselves to cast the yoke on Hellas."
Sardis stood in the midst of the plain of the valley of the River Hermus. To the north of that plain
rose the long ridge of Mount Tmolus; from that ridge a series of hills went out like spurs, each
forming a narrow plateau. On one of these spurs, fifteen hundred feet up, stood the original
Sardis. Clearly such a position made it almost impregnable. The sides of the ridge were smoothly
precipitous; and only where the spur met the ridge of Mount Tmolus was there any possible
approach into Sardis and even that was hard and steep. It has been said that Sardis stood like
some gigantic watch-tower, guarding the Hermus valley. The time came when the narrow space
on the top of the plateau was too small for the expanding city; and Sardis grew round the foot of
the spur on which the citadel stood. The name Sardis (Sardeis, GSN4454, in Greek) is really a
plural noun, for there were two towns, one on the plateau and one in the valley beneath.
The wealth of Sardis was legendary. Through the lower town flowed the River Pactolus, which
was said in the old days to have had gold-bearing waters from which much of the wealth of Sardis
came. Greatest of the Sardian kings was Croesus, whose name is still commemorated in the
proverb, "As rich as Croesus." It was with him that Sardis reached its zenith and it was with him
that it plunged to disaster.
It was not that Croesus was not warned where Sardis was heading. Solon, the wisest of the
Greeks, came on a visit and was shown the magnificence and the luxury. He saw the blind
confidence of Croesus and his people that nothing could end this splendour; but he also saw that
the seeds of softness and of degeneration were being sown. And it was then that he uttered his
famous saying to Croesus: "Call no man happy until he is dead." Solon knew only too well the
chances and changes of life which Croesus had forgotten.
Croesus embarked upon a war with Cyrus of Persia which was the end of the greatness of
Sardis. Again Croesus was warned, but he failed to see the warning. To get at the armies of
Cyrus he had to cross the River Halys. He took counsel of the famous oracle at Delphi and was
told: "If you cross the River Halys, you will destroy a great empire. Croesus took it as a promise
that he would annihilate the Persians; it never crossed his mind that it was a prophecy that the

18. campaign on which he had embarked would be the end of his own power.
He crossed the Halys, engaged in battle and was routed. He was not in the least worried, for he
thought that all he had to do was to retire to the impregnable citadel of Sardis, recuperate and
fight again. Cyrus initiated the siege of Sardis, waited for fourteen days, then offered a special
reward to anyone who would find an entry into the city.
The rock on which Sardis was built was friable, more like close packed dried mud than rock. The
nature of the rock meant that it developed cracks. A certain Mardian soldier called Hyeroeades
had seen a Sardian soldier accidentally drop his helmet over the battlements, and then make his
way down the precipice to retrieve it. Hyeroeades knew that there must be a crack in the rock
there by means of which an agile man could climb up. That night he led a party of Persian troops
up by the fault in the rock. When they reached the top they found the battlements completely
unguarded.
The Sardians had thought themselves too safe to need a guard; and so Sardis fell. A city with a
history like that knew what the Risen Christ was talking about when he said: "Watch!"
There were a few futile attempts at rebellion; but Cyrus followed a deliberate policy. He forbade
any Sardian to possess a weapon of war. He ordered them to wear tunics and buskins, that is,
actor's boots, instead of sandals. He ordered them to teach their sons lyre-playing, the song and
the dance, and retail trading. Sardis had been flabby already but the last vestige of spirit was
banished from its people and it became a city of degeneration.
It vanished from history under Persian rule for two centuries. In due time it surrendered to
Alexander the Great and through him it became a city of Greek culture. Then history repeated
itself. After the death of Alexander there were many claimants for the power. Antiochus, who
became the ruler of the area in which Sardis stood, was at war with a rival called Achaeus who
sought refuge in Sardis. For a year Antiochus besieged him; then a soldier called Lagoras
repeated the exploit of Hyeroeades. At night with a band of brave men he climbed the steep cliffs.
The Sardians had forgotten their lesson. There was no guard and once again Sardis fell because
it was not upon the watch.
In due time the Romans came. Sardis was still a wealthy city. It was a centre of the woollen trade;
and it was claimed that the art of dyeing wool was actually discovered there. It became a Roman
assize town. In A.D. 17 it was destroyed by an earthquake which devasted the area. Tiberius, the
Roman Emperor, in his kindness remitted all tribute for five years and gave a donation of
10,000,000 sesterces, that is, L400,000. towards rebuilding and Sardis recovered itself by the
easy way.
When John wrote his letter to Sardis, it was wealthy but degenerate. Even the once great citadel
was now only an ancient monument on the hill top. There was no life or spirit there. The once
great Sardians were soft, and twice they had lost their city because they were too lazy to watch.
In that enervating atmosphere the Christian Church too had lost its vitality and was a corpse
instead of a living Church.
SARDIS, DEATH IN LIFE
Rev. 3: 1-6 (continued)
In the introduction to this letter the Risen Christ is described in two phrases.
(i) He is he who has the seven Spirits of God. We have already come upon this strange phrase in
Rev. 1:4. It has two aspects of meaning. (a) It denotes the Holy Spirit with his sevenfold gifts, an
idea founded on the description of the Spirit in Isa.11:2. (b) It denotes the Spirit in his sevenfold
operation. There are seven Churches, yet in each of them the Spirit operates with all his

19. presence and power. The seven spirits signifies the completeness of the gifts of the Spirit and the
universality of his presence.
(ii) He is he who has the seven stars. The stars stand for the Churches and their angels. The
Church is the possession of Jesus 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 decision regarding the
Church, the decisive factor must be not what any man wishes the Church to do but what Jesus
Christ wishes to be done.
The terrible accusation against the Church at Sardis is that, although it has a reputation for life, it
is, in fact, spiritually dead. The New Testament frequently likens sin to death. In the Pastoral
Epistles we read: "She who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives" (1Tim.5:6), The
Prodigal Son is he who was dead and is alive again (Lk.15:24). The Roman Christians are men
who have been brought from death to life (Rom.6:13). Paul says that his converts in their pre-
Christian days were dead through trespasses and sins (Eph.2:1,5).
(i) Sin is the death of the will. If a man accepts the invitations of sin for long enough, the time
comes when he cannot accept anything else. Habits grow upon him until he can no longer break
them. A man comes, as Seneca had it, to hate his sins and to love them at the same rime. There
can be few of us who have not experienced the power of some habit into which we have fallen.
(ii) Sin is the death of the feelings. The process of becoming the slave of sin does not happen
overnight. The first time a man sins he does so with many a qualm. But the day comes, if he goes
on taking what is forbidden, when he does without a qualm that which once he would have been
horrified to do. Sin, as Burns had it, "petrifies the feeling."
(iii) Sin is the death of all loveliness. The terrible thing about sin is that it can take the loveliest
things and turn them into ugliness. Through sin the yearning for the highest can become the
craving for power; the wish to serve can become the intoxication of ambition; the desire of love
can become the passion of lust. Sin is the killer of life's loveliness.
It is only by the grace of God that we can escape the death of sin.
SARDIS, A LIFELESS CHURCH
Rev. 3:1-6 (continued)
The lifelessness of the Church at Sardis had a strange effect.
(i) The Church at Sardis was untroubled by any heresy. Heresy is always the product of the
searching mind; it is, in fact, the sign of a Church that is alive. There is nothing worse than a state
in which a man is orthodox because he is too lazy to think for himself He is actually better with a
heresy which he holds intensely than with an orthodoxy about which in his heart of hearts he
does not care.
(ii) The Church at Sardis was untroubled by any attack from the outside, neither by the heathen or
by the Jews. The truth was that it was so lifeless that it was not worth attacking. The Pastoral
Epistles describe those who had drifted away from the true faith by saying that they had a form of
godliness but denied its power (2Tim.3:5). Moffatt translates it: "Though they keep up a form of
religion, they will have nothing to do with it as a force." Phillips puts it: "They will maintain a
facade of `religion,' but their conduct will deny its validity."
A truly vital Church will always be under attack. "Woe to you," said Jesus, "when all men speak
well of you!" (Lk.6:26). A Church with a positive message is bound to be one to which there will be
opposition.

20. A Church which is so lethargic as to fail to produce a heresy is mentally dead; and a Church
which is so negative as to fail to produce opposition is dead in its witness to Christ.
SARDIS, WATCH!
Rev. 3:1-6 (continued)
If anything is to be rescued from the impending ruin of the Church in Sardis the Christians there
must wake from their deadly lethargy and watch. No commandment appears more frequently in
the New Testament than that to watch.
(i) Watchfulness should be the constant attitude of the Christian life. "It is full time," says Paul, "to
wake from sleep" (Rom.13:11). "Be watchful, stand firm in your faith," he urges (1Cor.16:13). It
has been said that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" and eternal watchfulness is the price of
salvation.
(ii) The Christian must be on the watch against the wiles of the devil (1Pet.5:8). The history of
Sardis had its vivid examples of what happens to the garrison whose watch is slack. The
Christian is under continual attack by the powers which seek to seduce him from his loyalty to
Christ. Often these attacks are subtle. He must, therefore, be ever on the watch.
8. but you are dead.
A reputation does not impress Christ. Success only matters when He is impressed.
Otherwise, it is just meaningless praise from men that will be of no value in the
bank of heaven. The good news is the dead can be brought back to life. The Prodigal
Son was dead, but was alive again, for he made the right choice and came home to
the father.So the church can come home again too.
This is the worst thing Jesus could say about a churh. A funeral home can have a
great reputation for making people look so natural in their caskets, but they are still
dead. The church can help people live in many good ways and still be a dead church
for it does not give people eternal life by faith in Christ. Youth being scolded and
told he should respect the church. He said that is right, for my mother always told
me to respect the dead. A church seldom dies from outside oposition. It is usually
from within that it dies.
Mary and Joseph went a days journey before they discovered Jesus was not with
them. The church can go a lot longer than that before they realize Jesus is not with
them. They were too dead to cause persecution or to develop any heresy. Barclay
says, "Heresy is always the product of the searching and the seeking mind. Heresy
is, in fact, the sign of a church that is vitally alive. Heresy is the sign that a man has
at least tried the think things out for himself."
It's common to hear people talking about this church or that church,
and call them "dead" churches.
We need to be careful about our criteria for "deadness".

21. It can become a very subjective thing.
Some people think that a dead church is where people aren't
running around wild in the aisles, or laying on the floor barking
like dogs.
Some people think that a dead church is where people don't raise their hands
during worship and sway from side to side.
Some people think that a dead church is where they don't sing the latest
Christian worship songs, or where they don't have a rockin' worship band.
Deadness is when the Spirit of God isn't working.
It's the Spirit that gives life.
(2 Cor 3:6 KJV) Who also hath made us able ministers of the new
testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but
the spirit giveth life.
How do we know if the Spirit of God is working?
1. There will be spiritual births.
New life will be given to people as they're born again, born of the
Spirit (John 3)
2. There will be the fruit of the Spirit.
(Gal 5:22-23 KJV) But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, {23} Meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law.
Rev. 3:1 "...you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead."
Think about it. They had a name that they were alive. That was their
reputation. Today, we would see them as the church whose parking lot is
full every Sunday,with a big youth group, and a food bank. Their worship
team is the hottest one around, the pastor can really preach, and they're
working on a brand new building project! When Christians come to town
and ask, "Where is the Lord really moving in this city?" the common
response would be - "Oh, you've got to got to the church in Sardis - they're
really alive!"
But man's sight and God's sight are often very different. You see, He's
looking at their hearts, and He knows that they're dead. They have fooled
everybody, including themselves, but not the Lord of the church.
Sardis a church that was a living corpse. (3:1-6) The church at Sardis had a name for
being alive, but Christ told them they were dead. Christ told them that they needed to
resurrected. They needed to repent and remember what they had received and heard. You
have heard of people sleeping through church, they were dead. Preaching to this church
would be like a fellow holding a sunrise service in a graveyard and no one shows up. He
goes ahead and preaches to the dead. There were a few in this dead church that had not
soiled their garments and to them he promised victory.

22. There was a lot of activity in the Church at Sardis. The organization was oiled and
running smoothly. This would be the place you would want to go if you were looking for
a church. But there was no real life. Have you ever noticed how well organized a
graveyard is. Maybe it is like that because there is no one there with enough life to
disorganize it. Maybe it was one of those churches that had no problems, because there
was no one there that cared enough to cause a problem.
Richard Ganz and William Edgar in their book Sold Out! wrote, "Churches want to hear
nice, optimistic messages, free of mention of sin or a call for repentance. Churches want
nice, lean programs, directed at nice, clean families, leading to growth without sacrifice.
They want their organization to become bigger and bigger, even as their God becomes
smaller and smaller."
Spurgeon writes, "." Religion has become fashionable. The shopkeeper could scarcely
succeed in a respectable business if he were not united with a church. It is reckoned to
be reputable and honorable to attend a place of worship; and hence men are made
religious in shoals. And especially now that parliament itself doth in some measure
sanction religion, we may expect that hypocrisy will abound yet more and more, and
formality everywhere take the place of true religion. You can scarcely meet with a man
who does not call himself a Christian, and yet it is equally hard to meet with one who is
in the very marrow of his bones thoroughly sanctified to the good work of the kingdom
of heaven. We meet with professors by hundreds; but me must expect still to meet with
possessors by units. The whole nation appears to have been Christianized in an hour.
But is this real? Is this sincere? Ah! we fear not. How is it that professors can live like
other men? How is it that there is so little distinction between the church and the
world? Or, that if there is any difference, you are frequently safer in dealing with an
ungodly man than with one who is professedly righteous?"
9. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, “Sardis—The fickle Church
Among all the messages to the Churches there is no other which is appalling like this to
the Church of Sardis. The condemnation and the denunciation are emphatic; the details,
however, are obscure, and as we meditate on what is said, it strikes us that this obscurity
is due to intentional reserve. This appears, first, in the title given to Christ: “These things
saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars.” Here we are bidden
think, not of the historic Christ, but of the inhabiter of eternity. It is as if, instead of
coming forth to reveal Himself, Christ were withdrawing into the recesses of Deity; He
seems to be receding from our approaches, not advancing to kindle His people’s
adoration and reward their love. The same reserve appears in the description of the
Church’s sinfulness: “I know thy works, that thou hast a name,” etc. That is all, but it is
such an all as produces an impression of utter condemnation. The call to repentance, too,
lacks something which we are accustomed to find in God’s appeals to His people:
“Become watchful, and stablish the things,” etc. There is no hint that what has perished
may be restored. More than once I have seen a tree laden with fruit, its broad green
leaves betokening vigorous life, while a formless lump in the stock revealed that once the
tree was so cankered that it was not expected to recover; and I have read a parable of the
revival of dead graces in man’s life. No such alleviating hint is dropped concerning
Sardis. The time has not come for it; the need of the hour is for warning, only warning.
There is a shortness in the threat: “If therefore thou shalt not watch,” etc. The Lord does

23. not condescend to say more than is needed. The Church of Sardis knows, after what has
been declared, that this coming can only be for judgment, and is left to meditate on the
nearness and suddenness of the doom. Even in the acknowledgment that there are
faithful persons in Sardis, “a few names which did not defile their garments,” and the
promise made to “him that overcometh,” the reserve is maintained. So deep is the sin of
the Church that it is blessedness only to have been free from it. So dire is the doom that,
for them who have escaped it, to have their names not blotted out of the book of life is
enough. The Lord will confess their names in heaven, because it is a wonder to find souls
from Sardis there. How may we apprehend the condition of Sardis? Perhaps we say,
Sardis was a worldly Church; and this is undoubtedly true. “She that giveth herself to
pleasure is dead while she liveth.” Addictedness to things that “perish with the using” is
both the sign of a languid inner life, and certain destruction of the little life which
remains. Or we may say that Sardis was an impure Church. Discipline was unknown in
it; even the pretence of discipline must have been wanting, when of only a few could it be
said that “they did not defile their garments.” But there is one touch in the description
which is full of significance. “I have not found any of thy works perfect [that is, finished]
before My God.” The image suggested is that of a fickle Church, rushing from one thing
to another, beginning works and growing weary, taking up and dropping down,
impossible to be relied on by God or man. Fickleness is a very common fault; therefore
the Lord’s words to Sardis need to be dwelt on. There is no graver symptom of our time
than its prevailing restlessness. So many men and women follow the ever-changing
fashion—in dress, or books, or household decoration, or art, in science, in philosophy, in
philanthrophy, in scepticism, or in faith. Theirs is not the versatility of a catholic temper,
but of a shallow soul; such persons proclaim that they have no taste, that is, no original
perceptions, no standard of excellence. There is the same instability among the
Churches; the popular religious catch-words are for ever changing. Yesterday the parrot-
cry was “Orthodoxy”; to-day it is “Liberality, freedom of thought.” There is to them no
“word of the Lord”; they have no profound sense of duty, no consecrating purpose,
nothing about which they can say, “This one thing I do; this is what I believe with all my
heart; of this I am sure; to this I cleave, I can no other, God help me.” And if fickleness be
thus the sign and symptom that underneath all shews of religious activity there is death,
so fickleness works death. The notion such people have that their great need is some new
thing, a new impulse, a new call, is part of their soul-sickness. Their real want is the
heart to stick to what they are about. Nearly the whole discipline of piety is in the fact
that persistency brings lessons which we can learn in no other way. If we try to perfect
what we are doing, we learn our defects and how to supply them; we learn what we can
do and how to do it; we strengthen the sense of duty, and catch the meaning of hardness;
sources of comfort will open to us when” sore weary with our work well done”; God
Himself comes to teach us, and lead us, and be our God. In Sardis, as in Laodicea, there
is a special word of comfort to the faithful, because they have found fidelity so hard.
“Thou hast a few names in Sardis,” etc. The promise is itself an implied charge against
the many; they are defiled as well as heartless. So it must ever be; the pollutions of the
world, the flesh, and the devil are sure to overtake those who are not steadfast in their
piety. All the more impressive is Christ’s assurance that He has not overlooked the few.
He who has the seven Spirits is quick to discern fidelity in unlikely places; He watches to
discern and to acknowledge them. Fidelity is acknowledged by Christ as of eternal virtue,
however it may reveal itself; and the company of those who overcome is one company,
whether the victory have been won on a conspicuous or an ignoble field. It seems so
reserved an utterance: “I will not blot out his name”; but the book in which the name is
written is “the book of life.” It is no small honour which is conferred on the clean souls in
Sardis when they are declared “worthy” to walk with Christ in white. There is a touch of

24. exquisite consideration, of appreciation of what their life had been, in the promise with
which the message ends: “He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments.”
Heaven shall be to them the consummation of what they had worked for and striven after
on earth. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
Christ’s message to the formalist; or, feeble because incomplete
I. Delusive appearances; or, the death that simulates life. There is nothing so
unmistakable as natural death; in tree, animal, or man, it makes itself fearfully plain. Life
may exist in a sluggish or imperfect form, but between the feeblest life and death there is
an immeasurable distance. But with spiritual death it is often otherwise. The advances
are so stealthy, and so swift, that sometimes every grace and gift has perished before the
symptoms of the plague are discerned. Wendell Holmes tells us that in the introduction
to “Gil Blas” it is said, “Here lies buried the soul of the licentiate.” Where do not souls lie
buried? One beneath the self-consciousness of pride, and another beneath ceremonies
which are good in themselves, but which may produce evil, if unduly relied upon. Under
what sin is thy soul buried. And let us look at the gracious aspect which is presented here
of our Lord. When the king of Ethiopia of old heard that the Persian monarch was dead,
he remarked, “It is no wonder that he died, when he lived on dirt.” The allusion, of
course, is to corn, which at that period was unknown in Ethiopia. Of Darracott, on the
contrary, it was finely said, “that he looked as if he lived upon live things,” for he
possessed such abundant vitality. So is it that a man is like that which he mentally feeds
upon; so that if he communes regularly and constantly with Christ, he wilt become
Christ-like, and will live by the life of Christ.
II. Decaying graces; or, bad which may become worse. “The decay was not as yet
thorough in the Church at Sardis; there was still a chance of regaining the lost time, and
living by Christ. But unless the Church became vigilant, and took the needful measures,
the decay would eventually become complete.” The graces of the Spirit are granted only
to certain conditions, and they are removed when these essentials depart from us.
Incompleteness is decay. “I have found no works of thine fulfilled before my God.” Their
acts of charity and faith had been marred; they were introductions without any
succeeding chapters, indeed, but a series of failures. And may not the words imply that
one grace cannot live without the other, that they are mutually dependent, that if one be
absent, or be wilfully left out, the others will languish and perhaps die? In grace as in
nature the balance of life must be preserved. So in grace, every virtue sustains some
other, and they rise and fall together.
III. The surprises of judgment: the gracious or the just one. “I will come as a thief,”
Christ threatens, by which I understand that in reference to His judgment He thus
describes its stealthiness. And with the unexpected nature of this visitation, is there not
also combined the idea of its being unwelcome?
IV. The true citizen of the world is a native of heaven. The true question which we should
ask ourselves and each other is not, Are you prepared to die? but, Are you fit to live?
Hence, Baine concentrates the meaning of the passage into the phrase, “Singular piety in
degenerate times is dear to God.” (J. J. Ellis.)
The address to Sardis
I. The form of address. Sardis was a city of considerable eminence, nearly equidistant

25. from Smyrna and Thyatira. It was formerly the capital of the kingdom of Lydia, and is
celebrated in profane history as the residence of Croesus, proverbial for his great riches,
which were seized by Cyrus in aid of his expedition against Babylon. In the usual course
of all these cities, it fell, first into the hands of the Persians, then of the Macedonians,
and then of the Roman empire. A village only now remains, near which are some ruins of
the ancient city. The character in which Christ appears to this Church is taken partly
from the dedication in the 4th verse, and partly from the vision in Rev_1:16. This is proof
that the whole book, from the commencement, is supposed to be sent with the addresses
to the Churches.
II. The rebuke. Hero is no commendation to the Church generally. It is given afterwards,
as an exception to a few. This Church had formerly been in a flourishing state. It was
composed, at first, of simple-hearted and pious believers. There was life in their
ministry, life in their ordinances, life in their social meetings, life in their retirements,
and life in their souls. This state of things, however, did not long continue. There was a
gradual and imperceptible falling away from the grace of the gospel. The Spirit’s
influences were less desired, and consequently less enjoyed. Zeal was not deficient, nor
even fortitude to brave persecution for the sake of their religion. Their works were
considerable, and, in some respects, worthy of imitation by those who are actuated by
better principles. These are observed by the Saviour, but as serving only to sustain a
profession of the vitality of which they were destitute. “I know thy works, that thou hast a
name,” etc. This is displeasing to Christ, because of its gross inconsistency, because of
the false aspect which it gives to His kingdom before the world, and because of the
dishonour which it casts upon the office of the Spirit of God. A further complaint
preferred against this Church is, “I have not found thy works perfect before God.” The
literal meaning is finished, or complete. Their works were imperfect in the principles
from which they emanated, and in the ends to which they were directed. They were
forms without life, professions without fruit. Another feature of their declension is
indirectly asserted in these words, “Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have
not defiled their garments.” This sentence to a Church, which probably boasted most of
the Christian name, and aspired most to ecclesiastical distinction, was peculiarly
humiliating. Where the life of godliness fails, it were vain to look for its fruits. The name
of Christianity presents a feeble barrier to the corruptions of our fallen nature. What
safeguard is there in nominal Christianity against moral defilement?
III. The admonitions. The Saviour exhorts the offenders at Sardis first of all to
watchfulness. “Be watchful.” Let them reflect upon their condition, rouse themselves to
vigilant inquiry. They are exhorted “to strengthen the things which remain, that are
ready to die.” Here is an acknowledgment that some genuine piety continued amongst
them. This Church is reminded, “how it had received and heard,” and is exhorted to hold
fast its first instructions, and repent of its deviations from them.
IV. The threatening: “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come,” etc.
V. The exception: “Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their
garments.” There were some, even in Sardis, who had escaped the general defilement. In
the worse ages of the Church a remnant has been preserved that have kept their
garments pure. The Waldenses, Moravians, and others, will be found to authenticate the
truth of this observation.
VI. The promise. The threatening is to the many that have fallen, the promise to the few
that have not defiled their garments. “They shall walk with me in white, for they are
worthy.” VII. The application: “He that overcometh, the marne shall be clothed in white
raiment,” etc. (G. Rogers.)

26. The words of Christ to the congregation at Sardis
I. The general character of the many.
1. They had a reputation for being what they were not.
2. They were in a state of spiritual consumption.
3. They were in a state requiring prompt and urgent attention.
4. They were in a state of alarming danger.
II. The exceptional character of the few.
1. True goodness can exist under external circumstances the most corrupt.
2. True goodness, wherever it exists, engages the specific attention of Christ.
(1) Because it is the highest manifestation of God upon earth.
(2) Because it is the result of His mediatorial mission.
(3) Because on it depends the progress of humanity.
3. True goodness will ultimately be distinguished by a glorious reward.
(1) Triumph.
(2) Fellowship.
(3) Progress.
III. The absolute judge of all.
1. In connection with the highest influence.
2. In connection with the highest ministry.
3. In connection with the highest Being. “My Father.”
This implies—
(1) Causation.
(2) Resemblance.
(3) Reciprocal love. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Sardis
I. Notice the title which Jesus Christ assumes. “He that hath the seven spirits of God.”
1. The Holy Ghost is a Spirit of quickening, of conversion, of prayer, of holiness, and
of comfort; for all these purposes the Lord Jesus communicates the Holy Spirit, and
hence, He describes Himself as having the “seven Spirits of God.”
2. The expression, doubtless, signifies something transcendently above the claim of
the most exalted creature.
II. Observe the deplorable state in which the text describes the church in Sardis to have
been.

27. 1. In the visible Church of Christ there are many who have nothing of religion but its
lifeless and worthless form. They bear the Christian name, but are totally destitute of
Christian principles, and Christian tempers. They are externally clean, and internally
impure. They employ language expressive of Christian experience, without
possessing correspondent feelings.
2. Genuine Christians are subject to declension in religion.
III. Notice some of the symptoms of the affecting state described in the text.
1. Backsliding usually begins in remissness relative to the most secret exercises of
religion. The first steps of a backslider are visible only to God and the individual
himself.
2. The effect of spiritual declension soon makes its appearance in the domestic circle.
3. Another symptom of this affecting state is worldly-mindedness.
4. A censorious spirit is a certain symptom of lamentable declension in the things of
God in the soul.
5. A love of novelty is another symptom of declension in religion.
6. It is evinced by irritability and unsubmissiveness of temper under trials and
afflictions.
IV. The seasonable exhortation which our Lord addressed to the Church in Sardis.
V. This subject addresses itself to three descriptions of character.
1. To those whose souls are prosperous, and who enjoy the inestimable privileges of
religion. “Be not high-minded, but fear.”
2. To those whose case is described in the text. Your experience teaches you that “it is
an evil thing, and bitter, to sin against God.”
3. To those who are totally destitute of genuine religion. Your state is inexpressibly
awful, and infinitely dangerous. (J. Hyatt.)
Nominal religion
I. The rebuke given in the text to the Church of Sardis. Beware lest the too partial
judgment of men mislead thee as to the judgment of God. Bring thyself to a Scriptural
test. Judge as thou wilt be judged at the great day of account.
II. The commendation bestowed, in this address, on a few of the members of the Church
of Sardis.
1. There are no circumstances so bad as to render goodness impossible.
2. Even the smallest company of true worshippers is not forgotten before God.
III. The counsel given to the Church of Sardis in this address. There are means of revival
which may in every ease be employed with success. The page of history presents to us
some splendid examples, in which a body of troops, checked and dispirited for a time,
have suddenly beheld the banner, or caught the voice of their leader; and at once,
throwing away their doubts and fears, have returned to the fight, scaled the rampart, and
crowned themselves with fresh triumphs and glory.
IV. The threat connected with these counsels to the Church of Sardis. All the movements

28. of God, especially in the works of creation, are so precisely in order—the sun and the
moon knowing their place, and each season following in the train of the other—that it is
difficult to persuade ourselves God will in any case interrupt this regular succession of
events, and astonish the sinner by any sudden or unexpected explosion of His wrath. But
how often do His visitations thus unexpectedly arrest the ungodly!
V. The promises with which the text closes. (J. W. Cunningham.)
He that hath the seven Spirits.—
The seven Spirits of God
By these seven Spirits of God is meant apparently that One Divine Person, the Holy
Spirit, to whom, with the Father and the Son, we render homage and praise. And the
reason for the peculiarity of the sevenfold Spirit is because in this book that Spirit is
contemplated, not so much in the unity of His person as in the manifoldness of His
operations. And, further, that the number seven, being a sacred number, expresses
completeness. And so, “He that hath the seven Spirits of God” represents Jesus Christ as
possessing, and as possessing that He may impart, the whole fulness of that quick and
Divine Spirit. Thus the first thought to be presented to the moribund Church is of the
fulness of Divine life gathered into that Spirit who is not enclosed in inaccessible
mysteries of deity, but going forth like the flame of the torch, like the glance of the eye,
everywhere where men are. This great Life giver is waiting for all feeble and half-dead
Christian hearts to come surging into it if they will, and to fill them with its own vitality.
Notice still further that the second of the predicates applied to our Lord here suggests for
us one very frequent way in which He cleanses out Churches. He hath the seven Spirits
and the seven stars. The stars are the symbols of the angels, and the angels are the
representatives of the teachers of the Churches; taking that for granted, is it not beautiful
that our Lord should be represented, if I may so say, as holding in one hand the seven
Spirits of life and in the other hand the seven stars, or to put away the emblem, and to
take another figure in Scripture, in the right hand He held the golden vase full of the
anointing oil, in the other hand an empty chalice into which it was poured. Jesus Christ
wakes up a dead Church by bringing the seven Spirits of God into the hearts of selected
men: for the way in which great revivals of religion in little communities and in big ones
is usually brought about is that some man or men are filled with the fulness of God and
become weary of forbearing and feel the Word like a fire lit up in their bones, and are so
fitted to be God’s instruments for communicating the magnetism of life to the dead
Church. And now let me ask you to think of one or two very simple lessons from this
vision.
1. First of all, should not this vision shame us all into penitent consciousness of our
own deadness? So much life waiting to be bestowed, and so little actually
appropriated and possessed by us. The whole flood of ChriSt’s grace running by our
doors, and we, like improvident settlers in some new country, having no provision for
storing or for distributing it, but letting it all run to waste.
2. And then, should not this vision set us upon questioning ourselves as to what it is
that keeps the life of Jesus Christ out of our hearts? In the winter time in our towns,
when the water stops in the houses, why doesn’t it come? Because there is a plug of
ice in the service pipe; and there is a plug of ice in a great many Christian hearts in
connection with their Master. Life is sustained by food, by air, and by exercise. Do
you feed the life of Christ in you? Do you read your Bible? You will never be vigorous

29. Christians unless you can say, “I have desired the words of Thy mouth more than my
necessary food.” Life is sustained by air breathed. Do you take that Divine Spirit into
yourselves, expanding that capacity by desire, and so oxygenating all your life and
cleansing out the corruptions of sin? And life is sustained by exercise. Do you do
anything for Jesus Christ? Absolute idleness is a sure way, and it is a very popular
way amongst many Christian people to kill the life of Christ within us.
3. And so, let this vision draw us to our Master that we may get the life He can give
from His own hands. Your Christianity can only be sustained by the repetition
continually of that which kindled it at first. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
I know thy works.—
God knows the works of men
I. The Lord knows every man’s ill courses. He knows what men are, and what they have
been, and what they will be, as He knows all their thoughts, words, and works. He knows
all their dispositions, their persons, their natures, their qualities, their affections, and
ends and aims and motives, and estates; He knows how many are rotten though they
profess never so much, how many are unsound though they be never so well esteemed in
the Church; He knows in what estate every man stands (Job_11:11). The use of this is,
first—Is it so that God knows all men’s sinful courses? If men be dead-hearted, He knows
it; if they be heartless in good duties, He knows it; though they would be loth that men
should know what they are, and do keep it from them, yet they cannot daub it before
God; He knows it. Then this may serve to confute them that say, God does not know sin.
True, sin is an evil, yea the greatest evil of all evils; yet the knowledge of it is good. God
knows who do abuse Him, and how people carry themselves towards all His
commandments and worship; it is a part of His perfection to know it. Secondly, another
use is to condemn the most sorts of men that do net consider of this truth; they little
think that God sees all their doings. I fear there is hardly any among us that will seem to
deny but that God can see all his ways; and yet we see it is too apparent by men’s lives,
that few men do believe this indeed. If we did charge this upon our souls, we could not
live so loosely as we do. Thirdly, Is it so that God sees all men’s sins? Then this is a terror
to all that go on with a self-condemning heart (1Jn_3:20). If we have self-condemning
heart, how much more shall we find a condemning God? Fourthly, this is comfort to
good people; for if God see all men’s sins, then He sees all men’s goodness much rather.
Again, what a comfort is this? If we desire to know our sins, God is able to show them
unto us. Fifthly, Does God know all men’s sins? Then this should make us afraid to do
evil at any time, or in any place, yea in the secretest.
II. The knowledge that God knows all our works is the powerful means to all God’s elect,
to do them good, and to quicken them and to make them take heed of all manner of sin.
1. Because the Lord’s knowing of our works is not only a mere knowing of them, but
also a marking and a pondering them too.
2. Because when God sees all our sins, it is with a most holy and pure eye, and such
an eye as cannot abide such an object before Him.
3. Because when God sees all our sins, He records them, He notes them in a book
that He may never forget them.
4. Because when God sees our sins, it is even all one as if all the world should see
them too; for let our sins be never so secret, yet, it God know it, it is worse than if all