| Chapter 3: 1-6 Sardis: The city
with a great past.
Sardis had once been one of the greatest
cities in the world. By the time of John, it was much smaller and less
important than it had been. Until the year 546BC, Sardis was the city
where the kings of Lydia lived. It had then been a great city for hundreds
of years. The Greeks thought of Sardis as the greatest city in the world.
But in 546BC. the Persians took the city from the king, Croesus, and the
kingdom of Lydia came to an end.
The city stood on a plain, with the
long hill of Tmolus on the south side. Tmolus is well over 2000 metres
high. Sardis had an upper city and a lower city. The upper city stood
on a rock, which rises straight up from the plain, and is about 500 metres
high. It is joined to Tmolus by a narrow neck, but the path along this
neck is steep and difficult. But the rock is not hard. It falls to pieces
when you touch it.
Sardis was in part of Asia Minor that
suffers badly from 'earthquakes', or violent shaking of the earth. It
seems that in AD. 17 there was an earthquake, and a great part of the
upper city fell down on top of part of the lower city. (See 11:13). Years
later a Roman writer said that this was the saddest event which anyone
could remember. [3.1].
The lower city at its greatest stretched
about four km. to the east, north and south west of the upper city. To
the north of the city, the River Hermus flowed from east to west, and
then beyond some low hills was a lake where the people buried the kings
of Lydia beneath man-made hills. To the west of the city, another river,
the Pactolus, flowed down from Tmolus and joined the Hermus. It was said
that in the bed of the River Pactolus, people found gold in the old times,
and it was this gold that made Sardis and the kings of Lydia so rich.
Sardis was also famous for coloured cloth and it was a great centre of
trade.
The Jews may have lived in Sardis
in large numbers for about two hundred years. The ruins of a large synagogue
can still be seen there. But they had lived there so long that they had
learned how to live with their heathen neighbours. They may have been
full citizens of the city. It seems likely that they used Greek names.
And the church was rather like this too. Most people in the church did
not find it difficult to live by the side of the heathen world. We do
not know how the church in Sardis began, or what happened to it later.
Lydia is probably the 'Lud' of the
Old Testament. [3.2] Obadiah verse 20 speaks of 'Sepharad'. This may well
be Sardis. And the Bible speaks about one of the Lydian kings, Gyges,
who ruled soon after 700 BC. He was also called 'Gugu'. He is thought
to be the 'Gog' of Ezekiel Chapters 38 and 39 and of Revelation 20: 8.
Like most of the other cities, Sardis
gives something to John for his vision of the New Jerusalem. The Upper
City of Sardis was probably at one time as long and wide as it was high.
(See 21:16.)
All that is left at Sardis today is
a Turkish village called Sartmustafa. And, of course, ruins.
We have said rather a lot about Sardis,
although the message is short. This is because all the way through Revelation
John uses pictures from Sardis.
The Message to Sardis
a) What Jesus says about Himself (verse
1 - first part)
The seven stars are the 'angels' of the seven
churches (1:16 and 20). The one Spirit of God is 'the seven spirits'
(1:4). The Lord Jesus grips in His hand the people who bring messages
to the churches. The Spirit of God is able to meet the needs of each
of the seven churches. So the church at Sardis cannot just go its own
way. The Spirit of God can meet its need.
b) The good things which Jesus sees in the
church
Most of the people in the church at Sardis wanted
an easy way of life. They did not want trouble with the Jews or the
Roman power. Jesus knows what they are doing. They had a name or 'reputation'
that they were alive. Jesus says that they are like a dead body. Jesus
does not find much that is good in this church. The word 'name' comes
four times in this message. In the start of verse 4 it means 'people
whose names are on the list of church members'. In verse 5, some of
those same names are on God's list in heaven; and the same names are
on the lips of Jesus too. The word 'name' comes four times in the next
message, too (verses 8 and 12). But there it is not the Christian's
name, but God's name (verse 2).
Jesus tells the Christians to 'wake up' from
this 'death'. This is much harder than waking up from sleep!
c) Jesus tells us what is wrong in the church
(verse 1 second part and verse 2)
The works of these Christians are like buildings
that have been damaged by an earthquake. They need strong pieces of
wood fixed to them or else they will fall down. Jesus has not found
any of their works filled, full up with the life of the Spirit of God.
Such things look very different when God looks at them. What a church
does may look fine to us, but God may think it is poor.
d) Jesus tells them what to do (verse
3 first part)
Jesus tells the Christians at Sardis (verse 3)
to 'remember' (See 2:5.)
e) Jesus gives a warning (verse 3 second
part and verse 4)
Twice in time of war the upper city of Sardis
had fallen to an enemy army. The soldiers in the upper city thought
that it was so strong that no enemy could come in. They did not stay
awake, and so the enemy did find a way to take the city. Jesus will
come like that to Sardis. A thief will not tell the man what time of
night he will come to break into the house and to rob him. (verse 4).
The heathen could not go to worship their 'gods'
in dirty clothes. It would not honour their 'gods'. They wore pure,
clean white clothes on all their special days. Many of the members of
the church at Sardis had 'made their clothes dirty'. There were a few
who had not. God’s Holy Spirit has made all Christians new, and this
is like having fine new clothes to wear when we worship God. These 'clothes'
were made 'dirty' when some of the Christians joined in the worship
in the temples of the false 'gods'. We think that more of them 'dirtied'
their clothes when they joined in the worship of the Jews. Those who
did not do these things would not be able to walk about the city with
the crowds who went to the heathen temples. But Jesus honours them.
He says that they will walk about with Him in white clothes. I think
that He means that they will do this in glory.
f) Jesus gives a promise (verses 5 and
6)
A Christian who was a Jew would not bring shame
to the name of Jesus .He would not join in the Jewish worship. Now at
this time the Jews had to pay a temple tax to the Romans. A Jew who
paid the tax did not have to join in the worship of the Roman Emperor.
So perhaps what happened was this. A Roman went
to collect the Temple Tax from the Jew who was in charge of the synagogue.
The Roman said: 'There is not as much Temple Tax money as there was
last year. Why is that'? And the Jew brought out the book with the list
of names of those who paid the tax. The Jew said: 'You can see that
we have had to cross some names off the list. That is why there is not
so much Temple Tax.' So the Romans said: 'And why have their names been
crossed off?' The Jew replied: 'Because they do not come to Jewish worship
any more.' I think the Roman went away with a list of the names that
had been crossed off. If these people would not join in Emperor worship,
they might be put to death. So for the Christians, that book with the
names of the Jews in Sardis became 'a Book of Death'. [3.3]
But Jesus says that God has written those very
same names in another Book. This is the Book of Life. It is God's list
of those who will live with Him in glory for ever. (See Luke 10:20;
Revelation 20:12; 21:27; Malachi 3:16; Philippians 4:3.) The Jews may
cross names off their list. But no one can cross names off God's list.
And Jesus will not feel ashamed of these Christians but will honour
them before God His Father and all God's angels.
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