REVELATION 3 - SARDIS
REVELATION 3 - SARDIS
In presenting Himself to Sardis as “he that has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars”, the Lord asserts the power which He possesses — a power adequate to bring to pass all that is pleasurable to God — and also that every responsible and light-giving element in the assemblies is His, and therefore that He alone is entitled to order and dispose of it as directly subject and responsible to Him.
“The seven Spirits” are seen in chapter 1 as “before his throne”, and in chapter 4 they are seen as “seven lamps of fire, burning before the throne”. The throne represents God’s sovereign power, the glory and honour of which He must eventually receive, for all things subsist and have been created for His pleasure. And the “seven lamps of fire, burning before the throne”, speak of a power that is adequate to secure a perfect response in light, and in holy judgment of evil, to all that the throne required.
[p. 41] But this will be brought about, as chapter 5 tells us, on the ground of redemption, and when the Lamb is introduced “the seven Spirits of God” are seen as His seven eyes “sent into all the earth”.
This is an evident allusion to Zechariah 3: 9; Zechariah 4: 10. When Zechariah prophesied there had been an intervention of God providentially to deliver His people from Babylonish captivity, and the assembly in Sardis had been the subject of a similar intervention. The gross corruptions and idolatries permitted in Thyatira are not found in Sardis. This in itself suggests some divine intervention, and at least a measure of divine deliverance. But if we read the post-captivity prophets — Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi — who give us what the returned people “received and heard”, we find that while Jehovah called them to devotedness to His house it was to be taken up in the light of Christ, and of His Spirit remaining among them, and of the latter glory which would fill that house. He would have had them to pass beyond what was outward and providential whether Cyrus, Darius, Zerubbabel, or even the temple they were re-building — to be engaged with all that He would establish in a coming day by Christ and in the power of the Spirit. He laid before Joshua the high priest a Stone upon which were seven eyes. He would, in figure, engage him with Christ as the Foundation upon which all His pleasure could rest, and the One marked by perfection of intelligence with regard to it. Perfect discernment with a view to the ordering of all things according to God’s pleasure, and particularly the temple and the holy service, are suggested by the seven eyes. And His word to Zerubbabel was, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts”.
How enlarging would all this have proved to them, and how it would have preserved them from the lifeless formality and Pharisaism into which all soon fell! Through lack of remembering how they had “received and heard” and keeping it and repenting, they lost everything vital, and fell into such a state of unwatchfulness as to be quite unprepared for the coming of Christ. So that when His birth was spoken of by the magi it not only troubled Herod, but “all Jerusalem with him”. He truly came upon them as a thief, and they did not know the hour of His coming. And this resulted in their house being left to them desolate, and eventually in the wrath coming on them to the uttermost.
It is solemn to see how history repeated itself in the assemblies. Even though a great deliverance was effected at the Reformation, and escape given from many idolatries and corruptions, and a certain “name that thou livest” attaches to the reformed churches, they are really characterized by lifeless forms, and by the progressive decay — even to the point of death of such things as were of God. The assembly in Sardis is marked by the failure to do works that are complete before God, by forgetfulness of what has been received and heard, and by unwatchfulness as to the coming of the Lord. Such is Protestantism, as to its general state, under the eye of the Lord. And who cannot see how true is the indictment? An open Bible, and much truth from God — for He speaks of what had been “received and heard” — does not ensure spiritual vitality. It is a wholesome warning for us all, It is not what I am in profession, or even the “name” I have with others, that has value, but what I am in spiritual vitality. If this is lacking there is no completion of one’s works before God, and even what remains of that which was originally of God tends to die.
The Lord presents Himself to this assembly as having the seven Spirits of God. He has every power that can bring about a spiritual result. All that will be accomplished in the earth when righteousness covers it, and the will of God is done on earth as in heaven, will be accomplished by Christ in the power of the seven Spirits of God. But all the power which He will exercise in a coming day to bring about such public and universal results is His today, and He is exercising it on behalf of His saints, though in a hidden way, so that only faith can recognize it. In presenting Himself to Sardis as having the seven Spirits of God the Lord indicated that He had plenitude of power and intelligence to bring about the setting up of that which would really be for the pleasure of God. If the reformers of the sixteenth century had taken due account of this they would have been preserved from looking to the world-powers for patronage and support, which only had the effect of putting the world-powers in a place of authority over the church. This is nearly as lamentable as for the church to assume to exercise authority over the world-powers.
Then the assertion that the Lord has “the seven stars” is a reminder that He alone is entitled to order and control every responsible and light-giving element in the assemblies. If this had been seen clearly it could never have been admitted that kings and rulers should appoint to office in the church, or that congregations even of believers should choose their own [p. 44] pastors and teachers. The gifts in Ephesians 4 are given by the ascended Head for the body universally. In 1 Corinthians 12 gifts are set by God in the assembly. Ability to edify the assembly must be God-given, and when it is given it becomes the assembly’s privilege to recognize it and profit by it. But where a human order prevails there may be much divine gift that is not available because the established order gives no room for its exercise. What men call order is often really confusion in a divine sense, because it does not recognize the sovereignty of the Lord, or the operations of “the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each in particular as he pleases”, nor is it the order of the assembly of God as we see it in Scripture.
The effects of the human appointment and ordering of that which can only be rightly appointed and ordered by the Lord are manifest on all sides. Where such conditions obtain, the inevitable tendency is to drop into lifeless forms, and even that which remains of what was originally of God gets weaker and weaker so that it is “about to die”. In presence of such conditions can we wonder that there is but a name to live? Or that unwatchfulness as to the coming of the Lord is everywhere found?
Only under the direct authority and control of Christ as Lord will responsibility be carried out according to His mind, and His service go on in true co-operation and co-ordination as one whole. “There are distinctions of services, and the same Lord” (1 Corinthians 12: 5). The carnal mind would regard Paul and Apollos as two, and would make choice between them; one saying, “I am of Paul, and another, I of Apollos”, but the Apostle insists that “the planter and the waterer are one”. Each is serving “as the Lord has given to each”, and under His administration each (in the measure which divine sovereignty allots to him) contributes to one whole. Each has his own gift and service from the Lord, and his direct responsibility to the Lord, but he is called to serve in harmony with all other service which is being carried on under the same Lord. So that in the Lord’s service there is individual responsibility without anything like independency.
There is also local responsibility, for each “star” has its local place, but there can be no local independency if “the same Lord” has the seven stars. No principle can be rightly applied locally that it would not be right to apply everywhere; so that local responsibility must be carried out in view of what is universal. Everything enjoined on “the assembly of God which is in Corinth” was also obligatory on “all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. What a wide outlook this gives us, even while dealing with what seems to be merely local! True assembly thoughts and exercises can never be limited to what is local. They always take account of what is universal.
The due recognition of the Lord as having “the seven stars” would put every responsible element in right relation and subjection to Him, and would preserve it from any merely human arrangements or ordering. And each service taken up, whether by individuals or by saints viewed as in local responsibility of assembly character, would be carried out in harmony with all other service under the same Lord universally. How this would deliver from all personal and ecclesiastical independency! And it would also exclude all narrowing influences such as are connected with what is merely local, national, or sectarian.
[p. 46] However favoured we may be spiritually we have to take heed that things do not become formal or decadent with us. There is always that tendency, and it has to be watched against. He says, “I have not found thy works complete before my God”. Nothing but completeness will satisfy Him, nor will it really satisfy those who love Him and care for His interests. Hence Epaphras prayed for the Colossians that they might stand perfect and complete in everything that was God’s will. And Paul prayed for the Philippians that they might be “complete as regards the fruit of righteousness, which is by Jesus Christ, to God’s glory and praise”. There can be no relaxing of purpose, vigilance, or prayer, or our works may be found incomplete before God. There has been a beginning with many of us, but not a sufficient following up of spiritual exercises to bring them to completion. There is great danger in this, for if things are not pursued to completion they ever tend to decline.
The assembly in Sardis is marked by incompleteness; A measure of light, and a measure of divine deliverance, but nothing in regard to Christ, or the Spirit, or the assembly worked out to its proper result before God. How easily may any of us fail in like manner! The Lord gave much that was precious to Sardis. Much light was given at the time of the Reformation and afterwards, but it was lost in great measure by the attempt to adapt it to the world and by settling down in worldly associations. “A name that thou livest, and art dead”, is a reputation without spiritual vitality. To each assembly the Lord says, “I know thy works”. He knows our words, and what doctrines we hold, but He takes account chiefly of what holds us; He looks [p. 47] to see how things work out practically with us. The result in light-giving is what He is concerned about.
Satan is always trying to catch the people of God and draw them into worldly associations. If saints mix with the world they do not sanctify the world, but they defile their own garments. The result of worldly associations is that the confession of Christ has to be given up, for it will not be tolerated in the world. A confessor of Christ must be a separate man. He believes on the One whom the world has rejected; he watches for His coming again; and in the meantime confesses Him. His works, his watchfulness, and his confession all flow from affection for Christ. Such a one will be confessed by Him before His Father and before His Father’s angels. He may have to suffer and bear reproach now, content to walk under the eye of the Lord and have His approval in secret. But by-and-by he will have public acknowledgment. You need never fear that anything in your public or private history that has been pleasing to God will be overlooked. Nothing that is of God can ever be lost; it is eternal in its very nature. So “he that does the will of God abides for eternity”.
“But thou hast a few names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, because they are worthy”. “A few names”; that is, the Lord takes account of them personally by name. Amid general decline and unwatchfulness they have preserved purity in their associations — practical separation in heart and life from the world. They will walk with Him in white, as worthy. How blessed to walk even now in suitability to Christ, so that to walk with Him in white is [p. 48] but to continue in scenes of unsullied purity a similar character of movement!
The reward of the overcomer in Sardis is threefold. The “white garments” are the appropriate recognition of the character of his walk here. As marked by unworldliness and the moral features of Christ, he would know reproach here, for his walk and deportment would condemn the lifeless and unwatchful professors around him, and awaken their enmity. But his reward is to be “clothed in white garments”. The “white stone” of chapter 2: 17 is private and personal, but the “white garments” are public recognition — the Lord putting forth as approved by Himself those who “have not defiled their garments”.
Then “I will not blot his name out of the book of life”. The book of life is an ancient book, for names were written in it “from the founding of the world” (Revelation 13: 8); that is clearly connected with God’s purpose and counsel. But the working out of that purpose must be through suited moral conditions, and it is in reference to this that from of old the thought of blotting out has been connected with God’s book. Moses, in a wonderful moment, said, “And now, if thou wilt forgive their sin ... but if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book that thou hast written. And Jehovah said to Moses, Whoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book” (Exodus 32: 32, 33). And we also read, “Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous” (Psalm 69: 28). It is the record of those who are “written among the living”, but there is the solemn possibility that names which were once enrolled there may be blotted out. If it turns out that there is no vitality in a man his name may be [p. 49] removed from the register. Indeed, the very fact that it is the book of life suggests that a living character must attach to those whose names are in it. If it becomes manifest that persons are not characterized by life their names may be blotted out as no longer entitled to remain on the register.
Finally, the overcomer’s name will be confessed “before my Father and before his angels”. It is to be noted that He does not speak of confessing him before the world, who might not have known much about him, but before His Father, who had seen everything in secret (Matthew 6: 6), and before His Father’s angels, who had been observant of all his ways, and had noticed even such details as whether a woman was sufficiently in the truth of headship to cover her head when she prayed (1 Corinthians 11: 10). How strikingly does this speak of the spiritual vitality and intense reality which mark the overcomer!
May none of us miss the solemn lessons connected with the Lord’s words to Sardis, or be found lacking in the characteristics which mark the overcomer there!