To understand how the Biblical example of the church of Sardis, in what is today Turkey, relates to the modern believer we must realize we are to look at it through eyes of Jesus Himself. Each letter to one of the seven churches of Revelation must be understood as representing a whole set of denominations of its ilk, as well as the general state of spirituality of its adherents. Each prototype church would run the course of this era’s history.

Historically, Sardis was the capital of the Turkish province of Lydia. Under the ancient opulent king, Croesus, the city was a great trading center made wealthy by textile manufacturing and the making of jewelry. It also boasted the distinction of being the first place where modem coins were minted. Deemed impregnable by many, it was, nevertheless, overcome by Cyrus the Great in 546 B.C. and then again in 218 B.C by Antiochus the Great. A hundred years after Christ it was annexed and made a province of the Roman Empire in 133 A.D.

In Christian history, Sardis represents what is known as the Reformation Period when its dogmas and doctrines of belief held its most powerful sway over the minds and hearts of Christian believers. During this period brave men Christians like John Huss and Martin Luther defied the woman, Jezebel (that extended a thousand-year reign of Orthodox and Catholic rule and doctrine). The most basic contention, expression of their revolution their belief that salvation comes through faith and not by works. Their willingness to withstand the force of the papacy and papal beliefs and to stand on the Bible alone brought about a great awareness in the church and split the Christian world into two factions Catholics and Protestants.

But as time proved their knowledge of truth was intellectual rather than spiritual, having never penetrated the heart or settled down into their spirits. In his salutation to the church at Sardis, the Lord greets them as “he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars”. He acknowledges their works, but announces a most alarming and serious indictment: “You have a reputation and a name that you live, but you are DEAD!!” It is hard to see how anything could be more alarming coming from the one who not only came to give us eternal life, but is the author of Life itself.

If life is missing, everything is! Not least of all is the Spirit – the sevenfold spirit of God? The Bible, the Word that the reformers claimed to believe, the thing they thought they respected, the thing they took pride in and demanded loyalty to was subject to their own understanding. They could not see that it is God’s province and His province alone to teach it to Man. The primary shaper of the Reform theology was John Calvin, a lawyer. We all know what lawyers do with the spirit of things. The Bible, however, speaks much of the third person of the Trinity – The Holy Spirit. The Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit’s sevenfold spirit. Seven being the number of perfect completion, it is not difficult to conclude that God is saying the Holy Spirit has all knowledge, understanding and wisdom concerning all things covered by the Holy Spirit. There is nothing left for us to do but to listen and learn. He does not need our help, especially when our chiming in can only cause confusion. He needs us to respond to His guidance, be tutored by him in respect to all things and become wise and knowing, schooled in reality and truth. The Reformation churches appear to have knowledge but it is faulty because it remains only their own take on things. They are dead to the things that must come alive in the Christian: knowledge of Christ, understanding of the Will of God to die to self, and wisdom for being freed from our own ideas and conceits so we can walk like a small child walking with their perfect and loving father.

Who and what are the seven spirits?

Isaiah 11:1-2 gives a pretty clear understanding:

“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the( 1) spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the(2) spirit of wisdom and(3) understanding, the (4)spirit of counsel and (5)might, the (6)spirit of knowledge and (7) of the fear of the LORD”

The Lord has given staff member/writer, Leroy Gardenier, great insight into what was possibly lacking and has noted on many occasions that the one, great sin of the Jews (From a Christian standpoint, that is. For I believe that the Jews are God’s chosen people and it was only through them that we Gentiles are grafted into the promises of God – someday to be as one) is that they have rejected Christ – the One whom God sent, and that the one, great sin of the church is that they have rejected the Holy Ghost – the one whom Jesus sent. That is what is meant by Christ, in his salutation, when he says they have a name that they are alive, but are dead.The reformists had resurrected some basic truths that had long been buried in tradition and ritual, but their truths lacked one most crucial truth – the Holy Ghost!

Rev. Gordon Lindsey in his REVELATION SERIES offers us this:

“The church at Sardis sadly needed the ministry of the Holy Spirit in its fullness, and Christ was thus calling attention to the fact that He was able to restore this ministry. Seven is the number of completeness. The number seven mentioned (see Zech 4:1-10) as the “eyes of the Lord” is an obvious reference to the fullness of the Spirit, of God’s ministry. It is interesting to note that the number seven is associated with the Spirit of God in Zechariah 4:6, where the Lord says, “Not by might, nor by power but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”

Zerubbabel had laid the foundation of the house of the Lord, amidst extreme difficulties. It seemed to be a task beyond human power to accomplish. But the Lord told him not to depend upon his own strength, and that the work of restoration of the temple would be accomplished by relying on the Spirit of God. Likewise, the works of the Sardis Church were in an unfinished and imperfect state. The task that the reformers faced in restoring the apostolic church could only be accomplished by the power of the Spirit.

The Protestant movement managed to break away from the Catholic church but didn’t altogether lose some of the subtle trappings. They realized and vehemently denied that salvation was obtained through the practice of indulgences (paying money for being saved), which brought great wealth to the church, but the proclamation of “justification by faith” lost its purity in the tangled web that religion weaves. Man possesses an innate desire to have full control and in not allowing the Holy Ghost to have its due full control. Protestantism has, in general, gone their own way just as the Papal Church, though in different ways, had done.

The basic foundation of the truths of the Bible were established and adhered to but such things as the Rapture and the second coming of our Lord, and who the Jews really are, as well as the integral part they play in man’s salvation were totally neglected. This resulted in ignorance and apostasy that was only lifted in a completely different quarter of the Church at large, the rise of the Philadelphia church and faith over the last 150 years, especially with the amazing revival of the Holy Ghost and charismata of the Spirit.

An obvious example of this ignorance of Sardis is its orthodox retention of the doctrines of baptism, in particular, infant baptism. We, as born-again believers, know that baptism in and of itself does not save anyone. The blatant act of baptizing infants to bring them into life eternal in the Roman church is frowned upon and even abhorred by most Protestants, yet they embrace the practice of baptizing children at around the age of 13 or 14 justifying it by the fact that they are old enough to make a choice. Often these children are only partaking out of a sense of duty, at best, or peer pressure. But now, because they are baptized, by their own free will, they are suddenly saved. (That’s not to say that children of that age cannot be saved – indeed they can and are!).

The age-old problem that the foolish Galatians were reprimanded for by Paul had fallen upon the church at Sardis. The law was embraced, and the Spirit rejected. So it is with modern day Protestant churches, and in this group I would also include most non-denominational churches that basically preach the born-again message. Although they appear to be alive by believing in salvation through justification and adhering to the Scriptures, their lack of spiritual power has rendered them abysmally defeated and downtrodden. The victory of a walk with Jesus in the power of the Holy Ghost is not attainable under the burden of the Law. Even the “spirit-filled” churches of today, which have a reputation for being alive are bogged down in ritual and tradition. Christ tells the church at Sardis to “be watchful and strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die.” These “things” being, I believe, the basic truths of the gospel, which is salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and holiness through the power of the one whom He sent- the Holy Ghost are the very things that were lacking in the era of Sardis.

The works of those at Sardis were not perfect by any means and the Lord admonished them to remember what they had heard and had already received. They needed to repent and watch. If they did not watch he would come to them as a thief in the night.

In general, the numbers that are represented by this church are many, but the numbers that respond to His warnings are few for the Lord refers to the “few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments”. Those that change the Lord will deem worthy enough to walk with Him in ‘white’ garments. To the overcomer he also promises that he will not blot their names out of the book of life, but He will confess their names to the Father and to the angels. This scene from Revelation 19:7-9 will be a reality:

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
   And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.
   And he saith unto me, Write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God”. Rev. 19:7-9

Protestant churches unconverted to the Holy Ghost and unrepentant from the letter of the law will not be part of the marriage supper of the Lamb. They have soiled their holy ‘garments’ by legalism. They are not truly clothed in white, washed by the blood of the Lamb or headed into the hall if the great marriage supper? Regardless, some can still listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.