Sardis

[Rev. 3:1] And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of G-d, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
[Sardis - the kingdom of wealthy Croesus, on the river Pactolus. Sardis was a busy commercial and industrial city at he junction of the five roads about thirty miles south of Thyatira, had been the capital of the ancient region called Lydia. Even though the citadel of Sardis was situated on an almost impregnable hill with sheer cliffs on three sides that dropped some fifteen hundred feet to the valley below, the city had twice suffered humiliating defeats. In the sixth century B.E., because of lack of vigilance, the city experienced a stealthy attack by the Persians, and though the negligence of its defenders, Sardis was captured by Antiochus the Great in 214 B.E. Still later in its history, in A.D. 17 a catastrophic earthquake devastated the city. Through the generosity of the Emperor Tiberius, who remitted the taxes for five years, the city was rebuilt, and began one again to flourish as a woolen center. Although the city had lost most of its former glory, it was still known for its wealth, and also for its luxurious and licentious living.
The address to this Church is full of rebuke. It does not seem to have been in vain; for MELITO, bishop of Sardis in the second century was eminent for piety and learning. He visited Palestine to assure himself and his flock as to the Old Testament canon and wrote an epistle on the subject [EUSEBIUS Ecclesiastical History, 4.26]; he also wrote a commentary on the Apocalypse.
He that hath the seven Spirits of G-d - that is, He who hath all the fullness of the Spirit (Revelation 1:4, 4:5, 5:6, with which compare Zechariah 3:9, 4:10, proving His G-d head). This attribute implies His infinite power by the Spirit to convict of sin and of a hollow profession. And the seven stars - (Revelation 1:16,20). His having the seven stars, or presiding ministers, flows, as a consequence, from His having the seven Spirits, or the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The human ministry is the fruit of Messiah's sending down the gifts of the Spirit. Stars imply brilliancy and glory; the fullness of the Spirit, and the fullness of brilliant light in Him, forms a designed contrast to the formality, which He reproves.
Name . . . livest . . . dead - (1 Timothy 5:6, 2 Timothy 3:5, Titus 1:16; compare Ephesians 2:1,5, 5:14). "A name," that is, a reputation. Sardis was famed among the churches for spiritual vitality; yet the Heart-searcher, who seeth not as man seeth, pronounces her dead; how great searching’s of heart should her case create among even the best of us! Laodicea deceived herself as to her true state (Revelation 3:17), but it is not written that she had a high name among the other churches, as Sardis had.
These words indicate His sovereign control over churches and the source of spiritual power. This congregation in Sardis needed just such a reminder for it had a name of being alive, was in fact dead. No condemnation could be sharper; the church was an example of merely nominal Christianity.]
[2] Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before G-d.
[Be - Greek. "Become," what thou art not, "watchful," or "wakeful," literally, "waking." the things which remain - Strengthen those thy remaining few graces, which, in thy spiritual deadly slumber, are not yet quite extinct. "The things that remain" can hardly mean "the persons that are not yet dead, but are ready to die"; for Revelation 3:4 implies that the "few" faithful ones at Sardis were not "ready to die," but were full of life. Are - The two oldest manuscripts read, "were ready," literally, "were about to die," namely, at the time when you "strengthen" them. This implies that "thou art dead," Revelation 3:1, is to be taken with limitation; for those must have some life who are told to strengthen the things that remain. Perfect - literally, "filled up in full balance"; Translate, "complete." Weighed in the balance of Him who requires living faith as the motive of works, and found wanting. Before G-d - Greek, "in the sight of G-d." The three oldest manuscripts, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic, read, "before (in the sight of) MY G-d"; Messiah's judgment is G-d the Father's judgment. In the sight of men, Sardis had "a name of living
Note: in Sardis and Laodicea alone of the seven we read of no conflict with foes within or without the Church. Not that either had renounced the appearance of opposition to the world; but neither had the faithfulness to witness for G-d by word and example, so as to "torment them that dwelt on the earth" (Revelation 11:10).]
[3] Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
[How thou hast received - (Colossians 2:6, 1 Thessalonians 4:1, 1 Timothy 6:20). What Sardis is to "remember" is, not how joyfully she had received originally the Gospel message, but how the precious deposit was committed to her originally, so that she could not say, she had not "received and heard" it. The Greek is not aorist (as in Revelation 2:4, as to Ephesus, "Thou didst leave thy first love"), but "thou hast received" (perfect), and still hast the permanent deposit of doctrine committed to thee.
The word "keep" (so the Greek is for English Version, "hold fast") which follows, accords with this sense. "Keep" or observe the commandment that thou hast received and didst hear. Heard - Greek aorist, "didst hear," namely, when the Gospel doctrine was committed to thee. Repent - Demonstration of the Spirit and power from Messiah's ambassadors the truth came to you, and how heartily and zealously you at first received it. Regard to her former character (how it once stood) ought to guard Sardis against the future hour, whatsoever it shall be, proving fatal to her. It is not likely that the Spirit repeats the same exhortation virtually to Sardis as to Ephesus. If therefore - seeing thou art so warned, if, nevertheless.Come on thee as a thief - in special judgment on thee as a Church, with the same stealthiness and as unexpectedly as shall be His visible second coming. If they do not wake up, this is not a reference to the Second Coming, which will take place whether the Sardians are watchful or not. Y’Shua comes in many ways and at many times, and this is clearly a limited coming in judgment upon the unrepentant. As the thief gives no notice of His approach. Messiah applies the language which in its fullest sense describes His second coming, to describe His coming in special judgments on churches and states (as Jerusalem, Matthew 24:4-28) these special judgments being preventative earnests of that great last coming. "The last day is hidden from us, that every day may be observed by us". Twice Messiah in the days of His flesh spake the same words (Matthew 24:42,43, Luke 12:39,40); and so deeply had His words been engrave on the minds of the apostles that they are often repeated in their writings (Revelation 16:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:2,4,6, 2 Peter 3:10). The Greek proverb was that "the feet of the avenging deities are shod with wool," expressing the noiseless approach of the divine judgments, and their possible nearness at the moment when they were supposed the farthest off.
Notice the L-rd does not begin the letter with threats; He begins with a series of urgent warning; Wake up, and strengthen what remains…Remember that what you received and heard; obey it, and repent. Here are five staccato imperatives: Wake up! Strengthen what remains! Remember! Obey! Repent!]
[4] Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
[The three oldest manuscripts prefix "but," or "nevertheless" (notwithstanding thy spiritual deadness), and omit "even."
Names - persons named in the book of life (Revelation 3:5) known by name by the L-rd as His own. These had the reality corresponding to their name; not a mere name among men as living, while really dead (Revelation 3:1). The gracious L-rd does not overlook any exceptional cases of real saints in the midst of unreal professors. Not defiled their garments - The situation at Sardis was critical but not hopeless. There were still a few persons in Sardis who had not spoiled their clothes namely, the garments of their Messiahian profession, of which baptism is the initiatory seal, whence the candidates for baptism used in the ancient Church to be arrayed in white. Compare also Ephesians 5:27, as to the spotlessness of the Church when she shall be presented to Messiah; and Revelation 19:8, as to the "fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness of the saints," in which it shall be granted to her to be arrayed; and "the wedding garment." Meanwhile she is not to sully her Messiahian profession with any defilement of flesh or spirit, but to "keep her garments." For no defilement shall enter the heavenly city. Not that any keep themselves here wholly free from defilement; but, as compared with hollow professors, the G-dly keep themselves unspotted from the world; and when they do contract it, they wash it away, so as to have their "robes white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14). The Greek is not "to stain" (Greek, "miainein"), but to "defile," or besmear (Greek, "molunein"), Solomon 5:3.
Archaeologist have found inscriptions posted in pagan shrines in Asia Minor that indicate that those who wore dirty clothing were excluded from worship because they were an insult to the idols. But the meaning here is symbolic, with clothes symbolizing the purity of their life. (Zech.3: 3-5).They shall walk with me in white - The promised reward accords with the character of those to be rewarded: keeping their garments undefiled and white through the blood of the Lamb now, they shall walk with Him in while hereafter. On "with me," compare the very same words, Luke 23:43, John 17:24. "Walk" implies spiritual life, for only the living walk; also liberty, for it is only the free that walk at large. The grace and dignity of flowing long garments is seen to best advantage when the person "walks": so the graces of the saint's manifested character shall appear fully when he shall serve the L-rd perfectly hereafter (Revelation 22:3).
Members of the Jewish sect of the Essenes at Qumran wore white garments as a symbol of their inner purity. White was the color used by the Roman emperor in a triumphal procession. In the OT white garments signify heaven (Dan. 7:9) and festivity (Ecc. 9:8). They are worthy - with the worthiness (not their own, but that), which Messiah has put on them (Revelation 7:14). Ezekiel 16:14, "perfect through MY comeliness which I had put upon thee." Grace is glory in the bud. "The worthiness here denotes a congruity between the saint's state of grace on earth, and that of glory, which the L-rd has appointed for them, about to be estimated by the law itself of grace". Contrast Acts 13:46.]