SARDIS
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1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 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. 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. 5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Rev 3:1-6 (KJV)
History And Culture
Sardis, capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, was 46 miles east of Smyrna, 28 miles west of Philadelphia and 31 miles south of Thyatira, in the valley of the Hermus River (modern Gediz) on the banks of its tributary, the Pactolus (modern Sart Cay). The wealth of Lydia and Sardis is legendary. The Pactolus was said to have become rich in gold when the fabled King Midas of Phrygia bathed in its headwaters to rid himself of the "golden touch." The legend of the "Golden Fleece" supposedly originated from the method of laying sheep skins in the shallows of the Pactolus to collect gold particles. The expression "rich as Croesus," the last Lydian king, is used to indicate an extremely wealthy person.
Worried about the growing power of the Persians, the Lydian ruler Croesus offered lavish gifts to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi where the Pythia (oracle) told him that if he made war on the Persian ruler, Cyrus the Great, "a great empire would be destroyed." Based on the oracle he attacked Cyrus but was forced to retreat to Sardis where he suffered a siege. In 547? BC, Cyrus conquered Sardis. Ancient historian Herodotus recorded the shock of the Lydian defeat, as the city was considered impregnable. It seems the oracle was correct, but the "destroyed" kingdom was that of Croesus, not Cyrus.
Cyrus spared Croesus' life and made him his advisor and Sardis became the headquarters for Persian administration in western Asia Minor. The Persians built the famed Royal Road, a 1,600-mile-long commercial highway from Sardis to Babylon. Near Babylon, it split into two routes, one through the future Persian capital of Susa (in present-day Iran) and then southeast to Persepolis. During Persian occupation Sardis prospered, with a lifestyle famous for its splendor and luxury.
Persian rule ended in 334 BC, when Sardis surrendered to Alexander the Great. Following Alexander's death, Sardis became a Seleucid capital, and acquired the status of a Greek city-state. In 189 BC it came under rule of the Kingdom of Pergamum and in 133 BC it passed into the hands of the Romans upon the death of Attallus II, the last King of Pergamum.
Under Roman rule the city again flourished until it was devastated by an earthquake in 17 AD, called by historians:
Emperor Tiberias assisted with rebuilding the city and some scholars feel that because of the indebtedness to him, the city gave itself to the cult of emperor worship. In 26 AD, Sardis lost a competition with Smyrna for the coveted permission to build a temple to the emperor.
By the end of the first century AD, Sardis had become an important Christian center and home to a significant Jewish community. First century AD Jewish historian Josephus notes that in 214 BC Antiochus III in 214BC moved many of the Jews from Mesopotamia and Babylon to important areas of his newly conquered realm including, probably, Sardis.
The acropolis of Sardis, a spur of Mount Tmolus, is still impressive.
Because of heavy weathering and earthquakes, little has survived on the acropolis apart from the remains of massive walls (below) on the south and east sides, also a 12,000-15,000 seat Hellenistic and Roman theater.
Remains of the Sardis theater carved into the side of the acropolis.
on a low hill within the later Greek city are the remains of the celebrated Temple of Artemis. It was built on the site of a former temple dedicated to the cult of the Anatolian goddess Cybele (burned down by the Athenians). Construction began about 334 BC, soon after Sardis was liberated from Alexander the Great. Artemis was the main goddess of the city and the Sardis temple was one of the seven largest Greek temples (more than double the size of the Parthenon in Athens). Artemis, known to the Romans as Diana, was the daughter of Zeus and twin of Apollo. She was the goddess of the hunt, the moon and fertility.
Today, only two of the temple's original 82 Ionic columns are intact, with parts of thirteen others. At the southeast corner of the temple is a small 4th century AD church.
, Segment of the Royal Road at Sardis
large gymnasium-bathhouse built during the reign of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211 AD) in the center of the lower city. The complex covered an area of over five acres. Its western part was characterized by large vaulted halls for bathing. The eastern part was a a large open courtyard (palaestra) for exercise.
At the southern end of the gymnasium a large synagogue (below) was discovered by chance in 1962 during excavations by Harvard and Cornell Universities. It measures over 300 feet in length --� the largest known ancient synagogue. It dates from the 3rd century AD when part of the bathhouse was given to the Jewish community and they remodeled it as a synagogue. Its size is a testimony to the prosperity and status of the Jews in Sardis during Roman period.
interior of synagogue with its intricate mosaic floor. The lack of any mention of persecution in Sardis reflects the secure position of the city's large Jewish community. Evidently Christians and Jews co-existed peacefully with each other and the city establishment.
The synagogue floors were paved with ornate mosaics and its walls were covered with panels made with multicolored marble.
Backed onto one wall of the synagogue is a row of Byzantine-era (4th century AD) shops along the main road of the city (below). The road once formed the westernmost stretch of the Royal Road. Some of the shops can still be identified from inscriptions: "shop of Jacob, elder of the synagogue," "hardware shop," "office," "Jacob's paint shop" and "restaurant."
One of the shops appears to have served as a Christian baptistery, with a rectangular basin (below) made of reused marble slabs with crosses superimposed over pagan inscriptions and decorations.
In the lower city are the ruins of two churches, designated "E" and "EA," built one over the top of the other. Church "EA" was larger and older (middle of 4th century), the oldest in Asia Minor. The round brickwork in the center is the dome of church "E." (Note the Sardis acropolis in the background.
Large artificial hills at Bin Tepeler or Bin Tepe (Turkish "Thousand Hills") consisting of 210 burial mounds dating back to the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Buried in these mounds were the leaders of Lydia. The largest tumulus is associated with Alyattes, who ruled in the 6th century BC and it is the same size range as the pyramids of Egypt.
The Church At Sardis
And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
A Morgue With A Steeple
Sardis is the fifth of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation. It does not begin with a word of encouragement or praise. John bluntly pronounces the Sardis community "dead."
At the time John wrote these words, Sardis had seen its best days and was in decline. Yet it was a wealthy city, being situated at the junction of several important roads and trade routes. The connection between Sardis and money -- easy money -- was well-known in the ancient world. Sardis was also known for its luxury and loose morality, a combination that made the people notoriously pleasure seeking.
Life in such an environment caused the Sardis believers to slip backward, forgetting what they had learned about living a Christian life. They went through the motions of worship and activity, but in reality the church was a corpse.
The church in Sardis was berated for its facade of strength when, in fact, it was dead, a morgue with a steeple. The Lord says, "Wake up!" You can't live on the basis of what you once were. One of the most difficult things for churches to do is to face the truth. If there are signs of death, deal with them!
"The appearance of the Sardis church is that of a beautifully adorned corpse in a funeral parlor, and the Lord is not deceived"
The sad truth is that the "Church in America" today also lives in an environment of "Loose Morality" And just as Sardis we too have slipped backwards, we have forgotten what we learned about living a Christian life.
What was dead about the church and what needed reviving? First, there was no indication of persecution or trouble from outside forces. Neither was there any heresy within, in contrast to some of the other churches. Things seemed to be peaceful and religiously correct. Perhaps it was a church that was too good to be true. Its religiously proper appearance may have only meant that it had fully and silently compromised with the truth and the pagan society around it. "The perfect model of inoffensive Christianity"
That might explain its calm and sedated outward appearance. George Eldon Ladd defined the Sardis church as, "A picture of nominal Christianity, outwardly prosperous, busy with the externals of religious activity, but devoid of spiritual life and power"
The Apostle Paul wrote of a future time, which I believe we have come to see now. A time similar to the times in Sardis
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2 Tim 3:1-5 (KJV)
This church community of living dead needed the power of God to bring them back to life. Christ therefore gave Sardis a jolting command to "Wake up!" (3:2). The rousing call was meant to encourage the church to take action. The members were to strengthen what little remained, to obey, to repent (3:2-3). Jesus told the church at Sardis to wake up or he would come like a thief does. "You will not know at what time I will come to you," he said (2:3).
The Promise To Sardis
While most in the church at Sardis were in a dead spiritual state, "a few people" were faithful to Christ, and had "not soiled their clothes" (3:4). They were promised that they would be taken on a walk in Christ, and to be dressed in white (3:4-5).
White garments are mentioned on five other occasions in Revelation. The church at Laodicea needs them to hide their spiritual shame (3:18). The 24 elders wear white garments (4:4). The martyrs waiting for God’s judgment are given white robes to wear (6:11). The armies appearing with the Messiah also wear white and clean linen (19:14). The great multitude of the saved in Revelation 7 wear robes made white in the red blood of the Lamb (verse 14). The color paradox makes the point. It implies that the color white stands for the God’s people made spiritually pure and justified by Jesus’ blood.
That means the few in Sardis who were given white robes had been made right and just before God. We should not lose sight of the fact that the robes are given to the Sardians as a gift. The meaning is that we do not justify ourselves by good works; we are made spiritually right by the blood of Christ.
The righteous saints in Sardis were also promised that their names would appear in the book of life (3:5). Only those names entered in the Lamb’s book of life will be allowed into the New Jerusalem (21:27). The idea of a divine ledger is an Old Testament metaphor for the Lord’s salvation (Exodus 32:32; Psalm 69:28). Daniel was told that at the end-time "everyone whose name is found written in the book – will be delivered" (12:1).
It was also a common New Testament way to speak of salvation, of having a part in the kingdom of God. Jesus used the term (Luke 10:20). Paul did as well (Philippians 4:3). Hebrews speaks of "the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven" (12:23).
Finally, Jesus promised to acknowledge the name of the overcomer in Sardis before his Father (3:6). This clearly recalls Jesus’ promise as the incarnate Son of God: "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven" (Matthew 10:32).
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