6th week of the study of the 7 churches in Revelation. This week is the Letter to Sardis

2. Patmos

3. Sardis:
•Geography of the city
✴Acropolis is 1,500 ft above the valley floor
✴It was situated at the junction of 5 main roads
✴It was a natural trading post and military center
✴The acropolis formed an impenetrable fortress that
is currenlty believed to be 1/3 the size that it was
under Roman Rule
✴Former capital of Lydia; during the writing of this
letter the city was only a shadow of it’s former self

6. Sardis:
•Geography of the city
•History of the City
✴Large Jewish population
✴At least twice the acropolis was taken by invading
armies because the guards were asleep or not paying
attention due to the overconfidence.

7. Sardis:
• Address - “To the angel of the church in Sardis
write:”
•Identification - “These are the words of him who holds
the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.”
✴ Seven Spirits - (Ref. 1:16)
✴ Holds (has) the seven spirits - echo (has)
✴ The seven spirits - The Holy Spirit
✴ Stars - interpreted by 1:20 - Angels of the seven
churches (pastors)

8. Sardis:
• Account: “I know your deeds; you have a reputation
of being alive, but you are dead.”
✴ No Commendation
✴ Reputation - Living on past glory - Our pastor
calls this the institutional phase of a churches
lifespan. When people desire sentiment rather than
the spirit of God.
✴ “But you are dead” - Hyperbole
✴ Parallel to the city’s current state

9. Sardis:
• Assessment: “Wake up! Strengthen what remains
and is about to die, for I have found your deeds
unfinished in the sight of my God”
✴Wake Up
✴ Drawn form city’s history
✴ First step to renewal is honest awareness that
something is wrong
✴Strengthen what remains -
✴Unfinished - (Pleroo - full or filled) not fulfilled the
standard set by the Lord - God sees all!

10. Sardis:
•Exhortation: “Remember, therefore, what you have received
and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I
will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will
come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have
not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white,
for they are worthy.”
✴ Remember...Received and heard- Sounds like Ephesus
“first love”
✴ Come like a thief - Cities history, overthrown
✴ Soiled their clothes - committed sins of compromise.

11. Sardis:
•Promise: “The one who is victorious will, like them, be
dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person
from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my
father and his angles.”
✴ Blot out their name - Promise not a threat
✴ Book of Life - Book referenced from Ex. 32:32-33, Ps
69:28 - also mentioned in Rev. 13:8, 17:8, 20:12
✴Curse of the Minim - 12 of 18 benedictions used
after the fall of temple in Jerusalem.
✴Modus Vivendi - an arrangement or agreement
allowing conflicting parties to coexist peacefully, either
indefinitely or until a final settlement is reached.

12. Sardis:
✴ Curse of the Minim -"For the apostates let there be
no hope. And let the arrogant government be speedily
uprooted in our days. Let the noẓerim and the minim be
destroyed in a moment. And let them be blotted out of
the Book of Life and not be inscribed together with the
righteous. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who humblest the
arrogant."

13. Sardis:
•Promise: “The one who is victorious will, like them, be
dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person
from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my
father and his angles.”
✴ Blot out their name - Promise not a threat
✴ Book of Life - Book referenced from Ex. 32:32-33, Ps
69:28 - also mentioned in Rev. 13:8, 17:8, 20:12
✴Curse of the Minim - 12 of 18 benedictions used
after the fall of temple in Jerusalem.
✴Modus Vivendi - an arrangement or agreement
allowing conflicting parties to coexist peacefully, either
indefinitely or until a final settlement is reached.

14. Sardis:
•Call: “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit
says to the churches.”