“He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars”
told John write to the church in Sardis, “I know your deeds,
that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead”
(Revelation 3:1). He who has the seven Spirits of God and
the seven stars give us the key to both the problem of this
church and its solution.
“The seven Spirits of God” is a reference to the Holy Spirit
who proceeds from the Father and the Son to the believer
(John 7:37-39; 15:16, 26). He is the Son’s gift to enable
believers to experience genuine spirituality through the
multiple ministries and work of the Spirit symbolized here
in the number seven that is a clear allusion to the
seven-fold ministries of the Spirit mentioned in Isaiah
11:2-5. However, believers have a responsibility to walk by
the Spirit who indwells them. The responsibility is to walk
by faith in His enabling power and to deal with the sin in
their lives through honest confession or they will grieve
and quench the work of the Spirit. So part of the problem
was the believers in the church at Sardis were grieving and
quenching the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
The seven stars here appear to refer to the spiritual
leadership that is primarily responsible for the spiritual
welfare of the congregations. Here, it appears, was another
key area of weakness; the failure to communicate the Word of
God in a consistent and an in-depth way with personal
application and response of the mind, heart and will.
Therefore, the two life-giving provisions of God for man,
the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, were being neglected.
The result was spiritual deadness.
As with all the churches, the Lord declares, “I know your
deeds.” That which men cannot see is perfectly clear to the
Lord who reveals our true condition regardless of how
spiritual we may think we are. He uses His Word, the
convicting work of the Spirit, trials and members of the
body of Christ as means of reproof to show us our need and
draw us to Himself. The question is, as He will challenge us
in verse 6, do we have eyes to see and ears to hear?
The church in Sardis had a reputation, they were known far
and wide, and they were active, filled with activity,
action, and programs, just like a great deal of the church
today all across America. By the world’s standards, they
were successful and they were probably proud of their
church, but our Lord says not so, “you are dead,” what does
He mean by “dead?”
In Scripture, death stands for the concept of separation as
well as the absence of life. For the unbeliever, death means
without spiritual life, unregenerate, and without God,
separated from relationship with God. For the believer,
death, like sleep, is sometimes used as a symbol for
carnality, for being out of fellowship with God, separated
from Christ as the source of the abundant life, only a
professing believer.
A church is in danger of death when it becomes so involved
in its history it loses sight of the true purpose of the
church. A church is in danger of death when it is more
concerned with rituals and numbers than with the spiritual
quality of life it is producing in its people, when it is
more involved with management than with ministry or with the
physical over the spiritual.
This is the problem of institutionalism in the church, but
today, we also have a new situation that can be a part of
this picture, the mega church. In our nation, the trend
toward the building of mega malls is increasing. The mega
malls have been referred to as “cathedrals of consumption”
because they are designed to feed the consumer appetites of
our lifestyle today. If we are not careful, churches can
become “cathedrals of consumption” as well.
He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars
tells the church in Sardis, “Wake up, and strengthen the
things that remain” and “remember what you have received and
heard, and keep it and repent” (Revelation 3:2-3). This is a
command for believers to get back into fellowship, to repent
or confess their sin and start walking in the Spirit and in
the light of the Word of God. For the unbeliever or the
merely professing believer, this becomes a call to put their
faith in the Savior, Lord Jesus Christ.
The command to “strengthen the things that remain” is
basically a command to get with God’s plan for spiritual
stabilization and strength. Paul told the Roman believers,
“I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift
to you, that you may be established (Romans 1:11). Jesus
told the disciples, “I have prayed for you, that your faith
may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again,
strengthen your brothers (Luke 22:32. He told Peter, “Tend
My sheep” (John 21:18). Here is the duty of pastors and
teachers strengthening believers by feeding the lambs and
the sheep with the Word of God.
In Romans 16:25-26 we have the principle of believers
receiving the Word of God in the assembly as well as from
personal study.
When spiritual decline begins in a church, there is at first
some semblance of good deeds. Remember, the church of
Ephesus had good works (Revelation 2:2), even though it
appears they lacked the right spiritual source, but
eventually this was lost because Ephesus failed to go back
to do the first works.
Even human good is better than evil and God uses such
morality to benefit society and even His own church. This is
one of the purposes of good government, to restrain evil and
promote good. Morality in parents helps to produce the same
in their children. However, without the proper spiritual
base and the absolute guide of Bible doctrine even this will
be finally lost. So, He quickly warns, “which were about to
die.” They were about to die because their deeds were not
completed in the sight of God (Revelation 3:2). Does this
mean they need more works, or that there was something
incomplete about the works accomplished, or both? The
context suggests a missing element in their deeds. Their
works were incomplete in that they lacked the proper source
and motive. They had not measured up to God’s standards.
They were not Spirit produced and could not stand the test
of His examination. At the judgment seat of Christ they
would fall under the category of wood, hay and stubble (1
Corinthians 3:12-15). Either they were imperfect in quality,
works of the flesh or they were imperfect in content.
The command “Remember what you have received and heard”
(Revelation 3:3). This represents faith and the truth they
had received as a trust, and received calls attention to the
abiding responsibility incumbent upon the receiver. They
were to remember the early days of their life in the Word of
God, when the Word of God was received by faith and was
their source of strength and wisdom for all of life. This
former life of faith they were to keep, to hold fast to
continually, but it was also vital that they repent because
a true change of mind and heart is necessary for a genuine
and consistent walk with the Lord.
He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars
tells the church in Sardis, told the angel of the truth,
“Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief,
and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. But
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” (Revelation 3:3-4).
The “Soiled garments” refers to the contamination of the
life and witness by accommodation to the standards of the
world prevalent in any society. More precisely, it refers to
the unrighteousness of men in immorality, apostasy,
idolatry, or of their own religious works of righteousness
in mere external religion and legalism (John 6:63).
The phrase, “Walking with Christ in white” is a reward for
faithfulness. Note that the reason given in 3:4 is stated in
the words, “for they are worthy.” The worthiness here is
linked to the fact that these were believers “who have not
defiled their garments.” Note also, how this fits with
Revelation 19:8. Walking in white must refer to the white
garment of fine linen mentioned in Revelation 19:8. There we
are told the bride of Christ, the church is “to clothe
herself in fine linen, bright and clean.” This is then
declared to be the righteous acts of the saints, a reference
to deeds or acts of righteousness produced in the life of
the believer by the Holy Spirit because only these deeds
will stand the test of the Judgment Seat of Christ (1
Corinthians 3:13).
No person is ever worthy of salvation and justification,
they are a gift given through faith in the finished work of
Christ. It is based on His worthiness and not ours
(Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:4-7), but the white garment
mentioned in 3:5 is given as a reward for a worthy walk.
In verse 5, the overcomers are promised they can never have
their names erased from the Book of life. Could this suggest
the possibility of the loss of salvation? If we understand
the promise of verse 5 in its contextual context, it is not
dealing with the issue of losing or proving salvation at
all. What we have is a declaration that stresses the
certainty of the promise.
This promise is related to the previous promise and may
really be a part of that promise. It is likewise not dealing
with salvation, but with reward by way of an acknowledgment
for faithfulness. Though the overcomers may experience blame
and ridicule because he or she refuses to follow the ways of
the world or bow to its threats, the overcomers will
experience special reward in the form of public recognition,
“well done, you good and faithful servant.”
The sign of a successful church, one truly in touch with God
is not names, and numbers on the church register, but
Christlikeness. How much do the people of the church
demonstrate the Savior in their personal lives, in their
families, in their values, priorities, ministry, etc.? It is
never just activity, works, size, or reputation. Activities
and reputations by themselves are never a proof of true
spirituality. True godliness is the foundation of moral
goodness. Moral goodness is always incomplete and on the
verge of degeneration without godliness through the Spirit
and the Word of God with its absolute truth.
The good news in troubled times, God is always faithful to
reward His people for their faithfulness to Him, but rewards
are the product of overcoming faith in the life of Christ
appropriated in the Christian’s life.
