We have been working through a series on the book of Revelation. This book of the Bible can be difficult to understand for a variety of reasons, so we are taking it slow and studying it bit by bit together.

Chapter 3 starts with Jesus’ letter to the church in Sardis, located about 35 miles southeast of Thyatira. This wealthy city had a significant Jewish community, featuring one of the largest synagogues ever discovered. Sardis was one of the older cities mentioned in the seven letters of Revelation. Artemis was the city’s patron goddess, and the people were fascinated by nature and immortality, worshipping hot springs and other natural elements.

In Chapter 3 verse 1, Jesus says, “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. ² Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. ³ 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.”

In prior posts, we analyzed the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. The title that Jesus uses for Himself is different with each letter. For Sardis, Jesus is reminding the church that He not only walks among the churches and knows everything about them, but He also holds the power to strengthen the churches that are dying inside. Sardis has a reputation for being alive, perhaps they put on a lot of events for the community, but they were struggling behind closed doors. Maybe only a few church members were volunteering for everything or maybe the church’s teaching had wandered from the Truth. It is hard to know exactly, but this is a great time to pause and reflect on your church. Is your church busy, but wandering from Jesus? Are there plenty of events, but only a few church members carrying the responsibilities?

Jesus says, “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. ³ 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.”

Jesus’ call to action is clear, what few church members Sardis has that are spiritually alive are about to die. Perhaps they are burning out or are tired of the church wandering away from Jesus. He uses the descriptions of being alive and dead since the city of Sardis was obsessed with immortality to the point of worshipping nature.

Jesus also says their deeds are unfinished in the sight of God. This may mean that all of the activities or their worship is hollow – they are not pointing people to Jesus. In the city of Sardis, there was a large, unfinished temple to the goddess, Artemis. This description would resonate with the believers in Sardis. To keep the church from dying, Jesus tells them to remember what you have received, the power of the Holy Spirit. And to remember what they have heard, the Truth of Jesus and to repent; otherwise the church of Sardis will not be prepared when Jesus returns, He will come when least expected (1 Thessalonians 5:2, 2 Peter 3:10). If Jesus were to return today, would your church be ready?

In verse 4, Jesus provides a promise, “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. ⁵ 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 angels.”

Those who have not stained their clothes with sin will walk with Jesus. White clothes are the symbol of holiness; in the New Testament, angels appeared in white and Jesus Himself wore white when He was transfigured (Matthew 17:2, Mark 9:3 and 16:5).  Here, Jesus is saying that the few people in Sardis who have remained faithful will walk with the victorious, those who are worthy.

Jesus also promises that the victorious, those who believe in Jesus and remain faithful to Him, will have their name written in the book of life or written in heaven (Psalm 69:8, Philippians 4:3 and Hebrews 12:23). Once you put your faith in Jesus as the Son of God, your name is written in heaven, your salvation cannot be taken away. Your name cannot be erased from the Lamb’s book of life.

Jesus’ final promise to those who are left faithful in Sardis is that He will acknowledge their name before His Father and the angels. This is the same promise Jesus gave to believers when He walked the earth in Matthew 10:32. “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.”

In verse 6, Jesus concludes His letter to Sardis by commanding the church to listen and obey what the Spirit is saying to the church.  “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank You for Jesus. Thank You for the wisdom that we have in the Bible. Lord, help us to apply Your Word in our everyday lives. Lord, help us to study Revelation and give us understanding. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

We have been working through a series on the book of Revelation. This book of the Bible can be difficult to understand for a variety of reasons, so we are taking it slow and studying it bit by bit together.

In Chapter 2, we encounter seven letters to seven churches. The fourth letter is to the church in Thyatira, the least influential of the seven cities in its time. Thyatira was about forty miles southeast of Pergamum on the road to Sardis. The order of the letters to the churches are the way a missionary would travel. Ephesus was the closest to John and the Isle of Patmos, then Smyrna and Pergamum and now, Thyatira.

There is less known about Thyatira because it is currently buried under the modern city of Akhisar. Nonetheless, shoemaking, dyed cloth, and bronze smithing were important trades there. Lydia, who was a seller of purple cloth, was from Thyatira (Acts 16:12-15). Craftspeople formed groups called guilds to meet, share ideas, and sell their products. Each guild had its own god or goddess they worshipped, which greatly influenced the religious environment at Thyatira.

Each guild had its own religious feasts in honor of its god or goddess. The Christians in Thyatira were pressured to join a guild, worship the respective god and partake in the religious feasts. Refusal to do so meant that the Christians were ostracized and suffered the loss of business. Thyatira itself also worshipped Apollo, the sun god and son of Zeus. In the city, there were temples to Apollo, Artemis, lesser known gods and the gods of the guilds.

In Chapter 2 of Revelation, starting in verse 18, Jesus tells John, “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. ¹⁹ I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.”

This is the only instance in the book of Revelation where the title “Son of God” appears. This might be because the Christians in Thyatira were surrounded by the worship of Zeus’s son, Apollo. Jesus, the one true Son of God, is making His position clear. Previously, we analyzed Jesus’ eyes like fire and feet like bronze. As the Judge of all humanity, He sees the intentions of every human and His feet represent formidable strength of One Who cannot be knocked over. Jesus again reminds the church that He is among them; He knows their deeds. Much like today, Jesus is aware of what is occurring in His church down to the level of deeds. The church at Thyatira is doing more than they did before, they are growing in love, faith and service, would Jesus be able to say that about your church?

In verse 20, Jesus continues. “Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. ²¹ I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. ²² So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. ²³ I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.²⁴ Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, ²⁵ except to hold on to what you have until I come’.”

Jesus informs the church in Thyatira that they have an issue; they accept a woman who claims to be a prophet and has the mindset of Jezebel, the wife of Ahab (1 Kings 16:31-34, 21-25). Jezebel led Israel into many sins to include idolatry, adultery, murder and much more. It is critical to note that Jesus is saying that believers (my servants) are misled by this leader. Verse 20 is the only one in the book of Revelation where believers are deceived by evil, verses about nonbelievers being deceived are plentiful. The food sacrificed to idols is most likely associated with the feasts held by the guilds that were in honor of the gods of the guilds. Despite all that this woman has done, Jesus has given her time to repent. All who are sinners are given time to repent, until time runs out. In verse 22, Jesus will judge her by allowing her to reap what she has sown, suffering. He also provides a warning to the church that whoever commits adultery against God with her will suffer unless they repent.

In verse 23, Jesus says He will strike her children dead, these are the people that have fully committed themselves to her teachings against God and they refuse to repent. The group of people in verse 22 are warned, but there is still the chance they will repent. Why would Jesus cause suffering? To protect His people and warn other churches. Jesus wants “. . . all the churches to know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.” It is important for the church to refuse to tolerate sin and if the leader of a church is leading the church into sin, it is even more critical to address that evil. No person can earn their way to heaven; we can only enter by placing faith in Jesus as the Son of God. He is reminding believers that while we will be with Him in heaven, Jesus will look at our deeds and judge us (Revelation 20:11-13). There is much more to this topic, we will study it when we analyze Chapter 20.

In verse 24, Jesus continues, “Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, ²⁵ except to hold on to what you have until I come’.” When Jesus refers to the teachings of this sinful woman, he calls them “Satan’s so-called deep secrets”. This is the one place in the book of Revelation where a human is directly wielding the power of Satan and some believers are deceived. To those believers who have not followed the evil teachings and have not participated in idolatry, sexual immorality or other acts that are committing adultery against God, Jesus is telling them keep holding on as you have. Keep holding on to your beliefs that have kept you from participating in the evil until He returns.

Then Jesus issues a promise in verse 26. “To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— ²⁷ that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father. ²⁸ I will also give that one the morning star. ²⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Jesus quotes Psalm 2:7-9 in His promise. ^“I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. ⁸ Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. ⁹ You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

Notice the difference between the Psalm, which speaks of Jesus inheriting the nations, and the verse in Revelation stating He will grant authority over the nations. Since Jesus inherits the nations, He can give obedient believers authority over them. Believers will reign with Jesus and judge the nations, which includes the rebellious nations that will be shattered like pottery (2 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 6:2-3). Jesus received the authority from His Father, which Jesus will then share with believers who remain faithful to the end. Jesus also promises to give the victorious believers the morning star. Jesus refers to Himself as the bright morning star (Revelation 22:16), meaning much like He will share the authority over the nations, He will allow overcomers to rule alongside of Him as the morning star.

Jesus concludes His letter to the believers in Thyatira with a command in verse 29 for “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” May we hear and obey! May we refuse to tolerate evil in the church and may we grow in love, faith, service and perseverance!

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank You for Jesus. Thank You for the wisdom that we have in the Bible. Lord, help us to apply Your Word in our everyday lives. Lord, help us to study Revelation and give us understanding. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.