Sub-section five

Sardis — the Reformed church (3:1-6)

Verse one

  Verse 1:"And to the messenger of the church in Sardis write: These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works, that you have a name that you are living, and yet you are dead."

  We have to remember that these last four churches are special. Although historically they come one after the other, all of them will remain until the Lord comes back again. They are not like the first three churches, which follow consecutively one after the other and replace one another, Smyrna replacing Ephesus and Pergamos replacing Smyrna. Here, Sardis does not replace Thyatira. It is only produced after Thyatira, and it will exist together with Thyatira until the Lord comes back again. We must remember this fact. If we know that Sardis comes after Thyatira and will exist simultaneously with Thyatira, it will not be difficult for us to discover which period of the church Sardis refers to.

  If Thyatira represents the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, Sardis must represent the Protestant church, or the Reformed church. Although the word "Sardis" in the original language has the meaning of "recovery," we have to be careful not to take Sardis as the church during the time of Luther's Reformation. Although we know that Sardis refers to the Protestant church, we must find out which part of the long history of Protestantism Sardis refers to. According to this letter, the situation of the church described here does not seem to be that at the time of the Reformation, but after the Reformation. The testimony Luther and his co-workers bore in their homeland and elsewhere was a direct work of the Holy Spirit. We can say that it was the Reformation of the Holy Spirit and not the Reformation of Luther. What the Lord described in this letter was not the condition of the Reformation. Reformation is God's own work. He is not judging the Reformation itself for He cannot judge His own work. Here, what the Lord held the church responsible for was its condition after the Reformation.

  At the time of Luther, the Jezebelian church was very prevailing. Other than a few who lamented for the sin of the day in private, almost no one rejected the teaching of Jezebel. God's children had completely joined themselves with the world. It became a strange thing not to eat the idol sacrifices. Other than God's remnant, no one seemed to know how to depart from sin. It was in this circumstance that God chose and prepared Luther to be His vessel. God honored Luther and gave him the privilege to call God's children back to the Bible, to realize that they were justified by faith and that they should listen to God's own words rather than man's words. Under such circumstances, a ray of light seemed to have pierced through the dark night. God was now pouring the living water out of the heavens on high and nourishing dried-up lives, providing them the strength to break away from the bondage of Rome. Thousands of people began to join the great movement of the Reformation. However, this situation did not last for long!

  Of course, no one can doubt the work of the Holy Spirit in the Reformation. But after the Reformation, we saw a gradual decline in the zeal for the Word and God's wonderful blessings. That which was once God's work had now become a cold façade. Protestantism had become a great force. When man tries to exploit this force, the power of the Holy Spirit is gone. In the end, Protestantism becomes nothing but a protest against Rome. The light and truth that it has received become nothing more than weapons against the Roman Catholic Church. This is Sardis. Sardis does not represent the Reformation that was full of the power of the Holy Spirit, but the Protestantism that is void of power and life. This is Sardis. It is gradually corrupted, all the way to the end.

  We have to realize that this letter of the Lord to the church in Sardis was a most solemn one. This letter was sent to a nominal church and covered the responsibility of this nominal church. According to the Lord's view, and in considering the name, nature, and responsibility of this nominal church, this letter should arouse every saint to a heart of solemnity. While it is true that we are presently dealing very much with the traditions of Thyatira, that is, Roman Catholicism, we do not have much of a direct relationship with the church in Thyatira. What our eyes see and our ears hear presently are mostly things related to Sardis, the reformed church. If we know the tremendous responsibility Sardis takes and the dangerous position Sardis has, we will be taught some lessons. Although the Lord's letter to Sardis was so solemn, the beginning of this letter gives us the greatest comfort. The greater the responsibility, the greater the comfort. Although everything can fail, the Lord Christ is rich. He can meet the need of His church. It was in this circumstance that the Lord unveiled His never-changing riches to show the church that His name is full of what we lack. He said that He is the One "who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars." Here the Lord mentions His own power and the fact that all those responsible for bearing the light belong to Him. Only He has the right to direct them and to demand submission from them.

  In this book, the Holy Spirit reveals to us the various aspects of His works. As such He is called the seven Spirits of God. He is related to the throne of God. This is unlike the oneness found in His relationship with the Body of Christ. In chapter one, we see a distinction between the seven Spirits and Christ; we see Him as being before the throne. In chapter four, we see Him as "seven lamps of fire burning before the throne" (v. 5). The throne signifies God's supreme authority. It also signifies the glory and honor that God is about to receive. The seven lamps before the throne speak of the power of the Holy Spirit in shedding forth light to judge sin and to accomplish what the throne decrees. The accomplishment of this matter is based on the Lord's redemption. This is given in chapter five. There we see the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb, and the seven Spirits are the "seven eyes" of the Lamb sent to all the earth. This is not talking about the work of the Holy Spirit in the church; rather, it is about the different ways the Holy Spirit works and His different attributes for the execution of God's administration. Here, the Holy Spirit is manifesting His own power for the fulfillment and accomplishment of God's purpose on earth.

  What is spoken of here is clearly a reference to the words in Zechariah 3:9 and 4:10. If we pay attention to the events at the time Zechariah prophesied these words, we will see the significance of quoting his words here. At the time the prophet prophesied this word, God had already stretched forth His hands and had delivered the Israelites out of the land of captivity in Babylon. This is God's intervention in grace in the affairs of the Israelites. How similar was the condition of Sardis to that of the Israelites then! Sardis was also under God's intervention in grace. In the church in Sardis, we do not see the many sins committed in Thyatira. This proves that Sardis had God's intervention and went through a deliverance. If we read the books of the prophets after the exile, such as Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, we can see what the remnant of Israel received and heard. We see that although Jehovah turned their attention to His temple, they should have been zealous for His temple only by abiding in the coming Christ, in the Holy Spirit which dwelt among them, and in the coming glory. God did not want them to pay attention to His outward works such as the deliverance of Cyrus, Darius, and Zerubbabel. Even the temple that they were building should have occupied only a secondary place. They should have paid attention to God's future building of His heart's desire through Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. He laid a stone with seven eyes before Joshua, and turned this high priest's attention to the Christ who is the foundation, who is the root and source of all things, and who is full of God's wisdom and power. The seven eyes refer particularly to Christ's being full of wisdom and prudence to win God's full pleasure with respect to the temple and worship. God told Zerubbabel: "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit" (Zech. 4:6). At that time, God wanted the Israelites to pay attention to the stone with the seven eyes. Now, God wants His church to pay attention to the Christ with the seven Spirits.

  God knew what the Israelites had passed through. He knew the danger they faced and the difficulties. They had returned to their homeland, and they had not committed the sins that their forefathers committed in the holy land. They had rejected the sin of idolatry and the traditions of the Canaanites which their forefathers had practiced and had washed their hands of them to declare their innocence. What they were doing then was the building up of the Lord's temple. Outwardly speaking, there was truly an atmosphere of revival. Of course, we cannot doubt that it was indeed a revival, but God detected the danger there. He wanted to remind His people of the power of the Holy Spirit. If the Israelites had not forgotten God's teaching in Zechariah, they would not have fallen and become Pharisaical. Because they forgot what they had received and heard, they only outwardly maintained what they had recovered at their return and had already lost its inward vitality. For this reason, they were not at all prepared to welcome the first coming of Christ. When the magi from the east came, not only was Herod troubled, but "all Jerusalem with him." With their mouth they all confessed that they were waiting for Christ, but in their heart they had no desire for Christ. When He came, he was like a thief to them. They did not receive the benefit of His coming. On the contrary, the temple became desolate, and they received the greatest punishment.

  This is the condition of Sardis. Although the Lord has released His children from "Babylon the Great" and has turned them back to the Bible to apprehend the gospel of grace at the time of the Reformation, and although they have left the corruption and idolatry of the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant church has not paid attention to the seven Spirits mentioned by the Lord here. As a result, they gradually became weak and lost many fundamental doctrines of God. In the end, although Protestantism does not hold in teaching and in work the many sins and heresies of the Roman Catholic Church, it has but an empty name; it has already lost its vitality in life. The inevitable result of this will be that when the Lord comes back again, they will not be able to face Him.

  Here, the Lord showed the church in Sardis that He is the One with the seven Spirits. This means that He Himself has the full power to bear much spiritual fruit. In the millennium the Holy Spirit of God will accomplish God's will on earth. In the same way, Christ is doing the same work for the church now. All the power for accomplishing works of wonder in the coming world are His now. He is now using this power to work for His saints. This power is, of course, hidden, and only the eyes of faith can detect it. Although the church can fail, Christ Himself will never fail. No matter what kind of circumstance the church is under, He still has with Him the power of the Holy Spirit. The Lord mentions this to comfort His believers. Everything around may be corrupt, desolate, and cold, but He remains the source of all power. He is the timely help to His people at all times.

  If we consider Pentecost, we will find out the way the Holy Spirit works. No one can utilize or frustrate the work of the Holy Spirit. This is why the apostles had such powerful testimonies, and this is why the believers could fellowship together in one accord. Without the knowledge that Christ today still possesses the same seven Spirits of God and the fact that the source of power for faith is the same now as it was then, we would surely be disappointed when comparing the present condition with that of the apostles' time.

  Here the Lord reveals Himself as the One with the seven Spirits of God. As such He has boundless power and unlimited wisdom to accomplish God's desire. If the Reformers of the day had remembered this, they would not have looked up to the patronage and support of the power of the world. By doing so, they could not have helped but allow the power of the world to occupy a place in the church. It is as equally wrong for the church to rule over the world as it is for the world to rule over the church.

  The Lord is also revealing Himself as the One with the "seven stars." The seven stars refer to all the authority and all the power of the church before the Lord. They refer to the works done by the churches as the seven lampstands in the name of the Lord. Unlike Ephesus, where the Lord held the seven stars in His right hand, here the Lord is referred to as only "having" the seven stars. He is not uplifting them with His power. However, they are still His. He wants them to acknowledge His authority and trust in His power of provision for the accomplishment of His work. They belong to Him, but they are not in His right hand. If the church would remember that the Lord is the One with the seven stars, it will know that He alone has the authority to rule and direct all the responsible and shining ones in the churches. If the church recognizes this, it will not recognize the power of the worldly kings and rulers over the ministry of the church, and it will not allow its various congregations to elect and to hire their preferred teachers and pastors.

  The gifts covered in Ephesians 4 are given by the ascended Head to His Body. The gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 are given to individual churches. The power for the edification of the church must be given by God. The duty and right of the church is to acknowledge and to receive these gifts. If believers are to understand God's ordained order for the church, they should differentiate between the gifts in Ephesians 4 and those in 1 Corinthians 12. The former are for the Body of Christ, that is, for the whole church, which encompasses all times and all places. The latter are for individual churches, which means that they are for single local churches. The shepherds, teachers, and evangelists established by God are for the building up of the Body of Christ, the universal church. Although individual churches can receive the benefit of these gifts, the purpose of God in giving these gifts is for the whole church and not for individual churches. For this reason, we do not see in the Bible the pastor, or shepherd, of a certain locality, or the evangelist or teacher of a certain locality. The gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 are limited to individual places. According to God's arrangement, the gifts given to individual churches, such as those mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12, should be directed by the Holy Spirit and put to use according to the will of the Head, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14.

  The seven stars belong to the Lord. They should be in the Lord's right hand. The direction of all the gifts in the church should be according to the Lord's command. It is a pity that the church has forgotten this and has set up many organizations and ordinances according to human thought. Whenever a place is found with manmade order, it becomes impossible for God's gifts to function. In the order of the denominational meetings, there is no place reserved for the gifts described in the Bible. In God's eyes, what man considers as order is but confusion. Man's order does not recognize the Lord's supreme authority and does not recognize the Holy Spirit's distribution of gifts "to each one respectively even as He purposes." It does not recognize the order of the church as depicted in the Bible.

  The church in Sardis and the Protestant churches signified by the church in Sardis have forgotten the fact that the seven stars belong to the Lord. This is why there are so many man-made ordinations, nominations, and elections in the Lord's work among the present denominations. The result of this manipulation of the Lord's work is obvious. When such an atmosphere is encouraged, it is inevitable to see an ebbing and dwindling condition. Even that which was of God is gradually weakened until the whole situation is brought to the point of death.

  Of course, as far as the truth and freedom are concerned, Protestantism is better than what went on before. However, God's goal is not that man would depart from the gross sins. Neither is it that man would be free from minor errors. Rather, God wants man's heart to be counted worthy of Him and to allow Him to work as He wills in the church. What He wants to see are His ordinances carried out and His glory manifested. If He gains what He wants, freedom is the sure result. This freedom does not come from self-will; it is the freedom in the Holy Spirit. It is a sin for believers to allow human power to assume an important place in the church. The Lord reveals Himself to the church in Sardis in this way in order to shatter all human freedom and authority. The Lord declares that all spiritual powers and outward authorities are His.

  Among many Protestant churches, such as the Anglican Church in England and the Lutheran Church in Germany, the authority over the stars is given to the rulers of the nations. On the other hand, those who are opposed to the mixing of state and religion, as most common denominations are today, have themselves fallen into similar sins of placing the stars in the hands of the church. Although the churches in China at present do not yet have the government "appoint" their officers, they have fallen into the sin of the churches in selecting, directing, and ordering their preachers. The Bible never teaches us that the world or the church should have such power in their hands. Everything is still in the Lord Jesus' hands. He has not yet given up anything. If the church would recognize this fact, the Lord will begin His work. If faith would look up to Him, He surely will know how to supply the church's needs. If there is no faith, and one does not acknowledge the Lord's position, there will, of course, be the need to replace the work of the Son of God, the Head, with man's method of maintaining orders.

  He is the Head of the church. He is also working as the Head of the church. He exercises His authority to rule over those who are working for Him on earth. In spite of the degradation of the church, the reason that there are still government and gifts in it is that the Lord is still the Head. The Lord knew that one day the organization which called itself the church would rebel against Him and would usurp all the powers. In the end, everything will be in confusion. For this reason, He is unveiling Himself here as the One who is greater than everything. No matter how circumstances turn, authority always belongs to Christ. If we look up to the condition of the church, we will never receive authority. Our only need is to look up to the Lord.

  During the Reformation, in order to escape the yoke of the Pope, men turned the authority of the church over to the worldly rulers. Although those outside the state religions did not commit the same sin, they considered the genuine church the holder of such authority. Actually, it is Christ Himself through the Holy Spirit who is the Lord of the church. This is clearly taught in this letter. For example, some have become teachers and pastors, but based upon what authority are they commissioned? Although the apostles and their representatives did appoint men to administrate the local affairs, from the beginning there was never such a thing as the appointing of a preacher of God's word. Even in selecting a person to replace Judas's lot, the apostles were afraid to make their own decisions and would instead do according to what the Lord had planned (Acts 1:24-25). Later when the Lord chose Paul, although there was Ananias to baptize him, this did not mean that this disciple was endowed with any authority to appoint apostles. Even when others were laying hands on Paul and Barnabas, that merely meant that these two brothers (apostles being no more than brothers!) were going out to preach the word and that other men were sympathizing with them and were committing them to the Lord. There was no ordination or sending out here. As far as their spiritual gifts and abilities were concerned, these men were much inferior to the apostles. The authority of the church is in the hands of the Lord. He has never relinquished a bit of this authority. It is true that when a man sets out to preach the word, he is eager to find out from whose hand he is authorized to do such work. But if he wants to be authorized, he should at least be commissioned by an effective authority! What can a man give to another man? Of course, before the world, if there is human ordination and acknowledgement, everything will look more proper. However, we have to ask if the Lord considers the preaching of the gospel to be something that requires authorization. We do admit that the apostles did "appoint" elders and deacons, but they were not necessarily the pastors and the teachers. Philip was an evangelist, not because he was one of "the seven," but because he received such a gift from the Head. Elders and deacons are only for the managing of local affairs. For these people, the Bible does record the "appointing," but for the teachers, the shepherds, and the evangelists, we do not see one incident of ordination or that any one was ordained. For one to have such a gift of preaching is adequate proof that the Lord has given such a one the authority to do such a work. Because ordination is the most fashionable tradition of the present denominations, men consider this to be the order of the church. Man has now become accustomed to departing from God's principles! How can those who have left the true principles expect to be right? The Lord reveals His own position in this way so that His children would obey Him. Man's conscience should be governed by the Lord's authority. If a man knows that his way is wrong, surely his conscience will not be at peace. Many times, believers do not know which way is proper, but if they would depart from sin, they would find the answer. This is an indispensable step.

  The two natures revealed here by the Lord are related. He has seven Spirits and also seven stars. He has seven stars and also seven Spirits. However, these things are rejected by Protestantism, which Sardis signifies. Of course, we are talking about the reality here. In all Protestant denominations, there are many spiritual men. They pay much attention to the matter of the spiritual life. This, of course, is most crucial. To them, the question of church administration is insignificant. Whether or not the Lord is able to execute His authority or to govern everything is a matter that they have neither the time nor the willingness to care about. To them, spirituality is everything — if believers can grow and be mature in their spiritual life, and if they can fellowship with the Lord and walk according to God's will for individual believers without failure, the many troublesome questions concerning the denominations can be ignored: "Even the best saints cannot be in one accord concerning the administration of the church. It is better that we give up this controversial question."

  Although these believers are somewhat wrong, I can excuse their attitudes. In doing this, they are acknowledging the Lord as the One with God's seven Spirits but are denying that He has the seven stars. They pay attention to the Lord's spiritual power, but ignore the Lord's authority. However, the Lord does not go along with them for one moment. The Lord does consider the spiritual life and authority to be something that Protestant churches should have. However, if the Lord considers church administration to be something insignificant, as they do, the Lord would not have the need to unveil Himself as the one with the seven stars. Our question is not which ecclesiastical system we should follow: congregationalism, episcopalianism, or presbyterianism. What we and the Lord are seeking is that the Lord Jesus be the practical Head in the church. No worldly person should usurp His position. It is unimportant which ecclesiastical system one follows. The question in any system is whether or not the opinions of the one or the many are set aside, and whether the Lord Jesus has the full authority to direct everything in administration and meeting; whether He can use His gifts at will; whether the Holy Spirit is the "chairman" of everything; and whether His words are being honored above all human ordinances and creeds. Of course, all Protestant denominations and sects cannot answer this question directly.

  Although those believers who emphasize spirituality consider that their spiritual life is the most important thing and that the church administration can be carried out at random, the Lord considers that the authority of the church, like the source of spiritual life, depends fully on Him. Of course, we have to admit that spirituality is the first thing. Without spirituality, even with the most perfect ecclesiastical order, we have nothing but a façade. Perhaps this is the reason the Lord mentions the seven Spirits of God first. However, after there is the spirituality, if one does not obey the Lord, keep His word, and allow Him to have the full right in everything, how can this spirituality be expressed? If the Lord is not given the proper sovereignty over the meeting, and if one is standing on unscriptural ground, how can one be mature in spirituality? We know that some saints are in the organizations, but they are not yet mature in life. However, this is not surprising at all. The nature of the spiritual life is such that if someone is hampered on one side, he can still have lopsided growth. Those believers who are not clear concerning the position of the church may grow spiritually, but their growth is lopsided! Such ones will suffer great loss as far as the Lord's mind, His will, His glory, and His word are concerned! Perhaps such ones may not realize it themselves! It is useless for believers to compare their own lives with Jezebel or Laodicea. To be higher than these cases is not a proof that one has obtained favor in the Lord's heart. If believers have not acknowledged the Lord as the One with God's seven Spirits in life and have not acknowledged the Lord as the One with the seven stars in church position, they must once again hear the Lord's questioning of the church in Sardis.

  The saints should remember that the seven stars belong to the Lord. It was not just one star, but seven stars. Only those who recognize Christ as Lord and who work for the Lord by acknowledging His authority and administration can bear responsibility according to the Lord. Only those who shine for the Lord can be in one accord to do a united work. "And there are distinctions of ministries, yet the same Lord" (1 Cor. 12:5). The fleshly man divides Paul and Apollos into two and chooses between the two the one he wants to follow. "Each of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos." Yet neither the planting Paul nor the watering Apollos was anything because "he who plants and he who waters are one" (1 Cor. 3:8). All works are done according to what the Lord has given and based upon His distribution. All those who shine for the Lord receive charge from the same Lord and are striving towards the same goal. Everyone has his own gift and works and his own responsibility for which he is directly responsible to the Lord. Yet everyone is called and is working harmoniously together, accomplishing harmoniously the work under the one Lord. Individual responsibility does not annul mutual dependence.

  Of course every church has its own star. This speaks of the responsibility of the seven stars in their respective localities. However, this does not mean that they are independent, because He who has the seven stars is the same Lord. If a principle cannot be carried out in all places, it cannot be carried out in one place. The principle of responsibility that one locality bears is the principle of responsibility that all localities should bear together. Wherever they are scattered, the churches of God should take the same path. Although God's children everywhere cannot be united together now, we must nevertheless recognize such a thing as the church in God's will and thought. What the church of God in Corinth keeps is what "those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place" (1 Cor. 1:2) ought to keep. We have to realize that the universal church of God is only a magnification of a local church, and a local church is only a miniature of God's universal church. If God's children have an accurate view concerning the church of God, they will not be concerned only for their localities but will also have a world view.

  If believers acknowledge the fact that the Lord is the One with the seven stars, this will put the responsible ones in the church in a proper relationship with the Lord and a proper submission to the Lord and will preserve them from human manipulations and orders. In this way, no work will come into conflict with another work of the Lord in another place, and believers will not be confined to the care of one locality, one nation, or one sect alone.

  In spite of the condition of the church, the Lord Jesus is the One with the full power of God's Holy Spirit. At the same time, He has the full spiritual authority. The Lord reveals Himself here as such a One with power and authority because these are the things that are lacking in the church in Sardis. At the time of the Reformation, no two things were farther apart than the power of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual authority. At that time, there was an organization which called itself the church and the bride of Christ, which considered itself well able to solve all problems and confessed the church as being eternally infallible, which considered one person to be the representative of Christ, who had unimaginable authority to deal with the affairs of the church and the disputes in doctrines of faith. Although this organization has weathered many ages, in the end, it will be exposed as the greatest worldly organization in opposition to God and to His Son. Although it may contain the most pious saints, these saints were there to support the Roman Pope to secure his authority. When we study history, we will discover the way they helped the Roman Church.

  Surely these serve as our lessons. If we think that we can remain in a wrong place just because genuine saints of God are there, we are grossly wrong. The goal of Satan is for good men to participate in evil works so that he can reap the benefit!

  At the time of the Reformation, God raised up men everywhere to oppose this kind of evil. It was then that man separated the authority of the church from the spiritual power and would no longer consider the church as having both these things. Everything Romish began to fall into confusion. At the same time, man began to seek help from the powers of the world to release them from the reign of the Pope. From this we can see that Protestantism was wrong in its government from the start. It took the rulers of the world as the authority of the church. In the Roman Catholic Church, the church became the ruler of the world. In the Protestant churches, the world became the ruler of the church. Because of the many human ordinances and traditions, Protestantism has forgotten that the Lord is the One with God's seven Spirits. Because it has allowed the rulers of the nations to direct the offices of the church, it has forgotten the fact that Christ is the One with the seven stars. Although to a certain extent the church recognizes the Lord as having the power of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual authority, what is revealed here is not a Lord who has only some power of the Holy Spirit and who only has a few stars. Rather, He is the One with the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. Needless to say, the number seven signifies completion. No matter how much the church has failed and how much it has gone along with the world, according to the intention of the Head of the church, all the powers and virtues of the Holy Spirit are still reserved for the church. He cares for the church, visits the church, and cherishes the church. On the one hand, the church has no excuse for its unfaithfulness. On the other hand, there is the source of supply for the faithful saints. The church is indeed in a position of failure already. Not only are the believers deceived by the heresy of Balaam, and not only has Jezebel raised up a family and begotten children in the church, but the church is at the point of death. In spite of this, Christ still has the spiritual power and the authority. This fact can never be changed. The fact that the Lord still has the power and the authority is itself a condemnation of the sin of the nominal church. However, the Lord spoke this word as a comfort and blessing to His faithful people. Although the nominal church is showing the signs of death, the Lord says that He is the One with the seven Spirits of God and that nothing can hurt His people. Although everything has fallen into corruption, all the channels of blessings for the church are still there. Although Satan is evil, and although the church is weak, the riches of the Lord are not at all diminished. Everything that can produce and preserve goodness is still in the Lord's hand. Those saints who are under the same circumstances as Sardis should receive comfort at this word.

  The Lord taught the church in Thyatira to look to His coming and to consider Him as the unique hiding place in the midst of sins. The Lord reminded them of the morning star so that they would have the light shining in their soul in a dark environment. To the church in Sardis, which was alive in name and dead in reality, the Lord comforted the faithful ones and assured them that the source of all power was not yet dried up. Although the outward sources might have been stopped, He remained the same. He wanted His church to know this. He desired to uphold and to preserve His faithful people, yet He did not deliver them with miracles. Even in the Old Testament, the Lord was the same. When the Israelites worshipped the golden calf, God did not perform a miracle to deliver them from this failure. However, when Moses moved the tabernacle outside the camp, the spiritual power was with Moses. God's principle of work is not to avert man's failure by works of miracles. Rather, it is the transmission of spiritual power that preserves His children in faithfulness and undefilement in the midst of uninterrupted failures.

  Except for one case, all the prophets of Judah only prophesied; they did not perform any miracles. The one case was the sun returning ten degrees. These prophets testified, only to the degree that the people had left God's ordinances, that they should receive God's ordained truths, and that He was comforting the faithful remnant. It was only when the whole nation of Israel had openly and brazenly forsaken God under Jeroboam's leadership and had worshipped Baal that God performed miracles through Elijah and Elisha. Although in His grace and mercy God often sent His prophets to testify to Judah, before Judah's manifested failure, there were no miracles. However, God's power had to be manifested to prove that He was Jehovah and that He was far greater than Baal. If a sinner who is outwardly supporting the truth receives power, he will be strengthened in his sin. It is both beneficial as well as being in accordance with the principle of God's work to testify with power against those who have forsaken the truth. Before a man's failure is manifested, God is not willing to release His power. It is only when man has failed utterly that God stretches out His arms. When man is still hiding his failures, and when his degradation is still buried like bones in the grave, God's power will only help him to disguise and camouflage his failures. When man fails, God's love will uphold and comfort him with power. This is the principle of God's work. It is perhaps the greatest principle of all. If this principle is adopted by the believers, no matter how much they have failed, they will be able to count their days and will wait on God for His work. Of course, we cannot be insensitive to the depth of our failures; it is right for us to be touched by it. Nevertheless, the sense of failure should not blind the eyes of faith from seeing the power of Christ. On the contrary, one should know that this is just the time for God to work. This will cause us to cast an objective eye (although not an objective heart) towards the church and will cause us to believe in the Lord's work and to believe that He will direct everything.

  If we consider the example of Paul, we will see how he ignored all present failures to look single-heartedly to the Lord. When we read 1 and 2 Corinthians and Galatians, we find how his views transcended the defeated Corinthians and the fallen Galatians. The sin committed among the Corinthians was shocking; one committed fornication which was not even heard of among the Gentiles. Paul had to warn them, but before he mentioned the sin, he first said, "Who [the Lord] will also confirm you until the end unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:8-9). Paul discerned their source. That was why he could see light amidst darkness.

  The Galatians were no different. When Paul wrote to them, he rebuked them because they had begun by the Spirit but were trying to be perfected by the flesh (Gal. 3:3). They had forsaken the position of grace and were once again bound by the yoke of slavery (Gal. 5:1). The apostle could not help but warn them severely. But when the apostle considered the source of faith, his words were again full of hope: "I am confident in the Lord concerning you that you will be of no other mind" (5:10). He did not have confidence in them; he had confidence in the condition that they could be in.

  Our hearts must treasure and long after everything of Christ and everything the church should be to Christ. This will deepen our sense of the failure of the church and will cause us to realize Christ's preserving power in the midst of all failures. In this way, although the sense of failure has not diminished, our faith in Christ will be increased. How steady our Christian life will then be! What we believe in is not how much the church is for Christ, but how much Christ is for the church. How kind is the Lord! What a wonderful opening word the Lord had for the messenger in Sardis! Before He mentioned their terrible condition, He first revealed Himself as the One who holds all the power of the Holy Spirit. This serves as the source for the believers' faith. No matter how much failure and sins advance, the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit is still the same, for they are not determined by the work of the believers on earth but by the worth of the Lord's work in heaven. In the old days, the Lord spoke to the defeated Israelites through the mouth of the prophet Haggai: "According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not" (2:5). In the same way now, the Lord is speaking to the defeated church, "These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars."

  Now the Lord begins to speak of the condition of this church: "I know your works, that you have a name that you are living, and yet you are dead." Here the Lord is not saying that the messenger in Sardis was not regenerated or that he did not have life. We know that Sardis is also a lampstand in heaven. The Lord was not saying that it did not have life. Rather, He was saying that it was short of life. The Lord did not say that it had become totally lifeless. Rather, He said that in works it was living in name but dead in reality. When we consider the various uses of the word "dead" in the New Testament, we will realize that here it does not mean to be altogether void of spiritual life; it merely means that there was the lack of vitality. First Timothy 5:6 says, "But she who gives herself to pleasure is dead while living." The context here shows us that this widow was not void of life or unsaved. In the same principle, the Lord rebuked Peter and called him "Satan." The apostle also called a saved Christian "the evil man" (1 Cor. 5:13). Hence, the Lord was not referring to whether or not this messenger and this church had life. Rather, He was speaking of their works being dead. A Christian receives life at the time he is regenerated, but it is possible for him to be without any vitality in his work. If we consider the following warning and exhortation of the Lord, we will realize that what they lacked was not salvation but watchfulness in serving the Lord.

  Of course, we believe that this word of the Lord refers also to many unsaved nominal Christians. In the Protestant churches, nominally speaking, everyone belongs to the Lord, but actually, there are many who are the Lord's in name only. They are not the Lord's in reality. But the Lord's word here refers directly to the messenger of the church in Sardis. They were saved, yet they lacked the vitality.

  They have been separated from the Roman Church. The Word of God has been reinstated in its proper place. Some of the truths are also recovered. However, in their organizations they lack the most important element, the power of the Holy Spirit. In their churches, or denominations, there are still many so-called, nominal members who are saved. God's saints are scattered among many unsaved ones. They themselves are living, yet they have no strength to enliven the majority. This is the condition of the Protestant church after the Reformation. It is living in name and dead in reality.

  A part of Protestantism is living. This causes its fraudulence to become more extensive than that found in the Roman Catholic Church. Now it has received a name that it is living, yet in reality, it is dead. The Reformation gave us two things: an open Bible and a gospel of grace. These two things are the greatest treasures for the believers. We thank the Lord that He has bestowed such grace upon us. We cannot honor enough those whom the Lord used to bring about the Reformation and who conveyed the truth to us. God honored them and entrusted to them the greatest work in the history of the church.

  At the same time, we should not make the truth received through the Reformation the standard of all truth, as some have done. If we do this, we fall into error. God honored those who carried out the Reformation, and God honors His own work in the Reformation. In this letter to the people in Sardis, God did not judge the ones who brought about the Reformation. Perhaps God has purposely hidden the matter of the Reformation in these seven letters so that saints would not take the Reformation as the standard. Actually, those who were faithful in the Reformation would never take what the Bible had not said. If anyone comes to know the significance of the Reformation, he will never trust in the Reformation more than the Bible honored by the Reformation. The purpose of the Reformation was to turn man back to the Bible. If saints realize that the Reformation is to turn man back to the Bible, and that to turn to the Reformation is to turn to the Bible, they will be saved from errors. The greatest goal of the Reformation was to show that nothing is trustworthy except the Bible. It seems to me that the Reformers would probably have been the last ones to consider the Reformation as the authority and the standard or to agree with such a teaching. We know that the church at the time of the Reformation did receive some light, some deliverance, and some freedom, but there was no recovery concerning Christ, concerning the Holy Spirit, and concerning the truth of the church.

  Since the Reformation, the disputes that we have heard among the Protestant churches are not of different views concerning the gospel. Rather, they are on the church and the government of the church. If in this aspect we would allow the Bible to speak instead of allowing the Protestant churches to speak, the question of church government will be as clear as the gospel is. Whether or not we are willing to do it, we should allow the Bible to solve all problems. If we do this, we will see that neither the teachings of Luther, the teachings of Calvin, the Anglican Church, nor the Genevan Church, has brought us back to the initial position of the church. The Body of Christ and the spiritual house built with living stones are the truths that they are ignorant of. We know that the churches then were all "national churches." This means that the churches had as their boundaries the national boundaries and were thus national churches. At the time of the Roman Catholic Church, all the nations had become Christianized already. Those who had left Jezebel were now taking Christianity as the state religion. All that the Reformation gave them was a new creed. It did not give them a new organization. Almost all the Protestant churches were national churches. This is, of course, an imitation of the work of the Roman Church. We cannot find such a method of church organization in the Bible. If believers take the Reformation as the standard of truth, they are fully wrong at least in the matter of church organization. When Luther stood up personally to oppose the Pope, we see him fearless in power and bold to contend with the strong forces. We have to admit that this is God's work manifested in a weak human being. The Reformation is truly a work of faith. On the other hand, however, we have to admit that there were elements of politics in the Reformation. Those who rose up to support the Reformation probably did so more for the reason of opposing the domination of Rome than with a zeal for the Word of God. In the end, soldiers, politicians, nations, and believers were standing on the same ground and were engaging in the same struggle. After this period of history, there was, of course, no hope for the post-reformation Protestant churches to be the same as the churches in the first century.

  With such mixed elements involved, the power of God's Holy Spirit was surely not willing to join in. Under such conditions, organization becomes crucial. But how is the church to be organized? If the true church is to be preached, all the soldiers, politicians, and nations must be dissociated from it. However, to do so would invite greater persecution and shame; it would allow Rome to prevail and would take away all possibility for Rome to be removed. This was a difficult problem facing the Reformers of the day. If they excommunicated their supporters, how could they stand up to the enormous military and financial power of Rome? However, if they wanted to establish a genuine church, they had to relinquish these politically oriented helpers. I dare not say that they had never thought about what a genuine church should be, but I dare say that their joining hands with the arms of flesh had at least prevented them from seeing the genuine church. We rejoice because there was the Reformation, but we are sorrowful because the Reformation was not thorough. This inevitably brought in the national churches, the necessary creeds, and the power of politics as the backbone of the church.

  This is very obvious. If creeds were necessary, God's wisdom surely would have prepared an infallible one. God's love would surely not have forgotten such a thing and would not have held it back from the church. The fact that God did not give us such a creed shows that such a creed is useless. On the contrary, God has given man a Bible. From this we should know the mind of God. Even if man's creeds are infallible, they cannot be complete. If the Protestant churches would not act according to the man-made creeds but would take the whole Bible as their guide in faith and conduct, they would not be so wrong. They would, on the contrary, have more perfect works and conduct. Why do men want creeds? It is because they want a simpler and clearer outline of the doctrines than what the Bible provides! The Bible is unlimited, but the creeds are specific. With the Bible, different people may have different views concerning it, but with the creeds, the meaning is unified. Whether to the church or to the world, the creeds provide no variable interpretations. However, we consider the words of the Bible to be more obvious and easier to understand than human words. The content of the Bible is most comprehensive; it meets the need of all ages. All the creeds of Protestantism, with all their bylaws, constitutions, and charters of organization, written or verbal, tend to lead men away from the Bible. Even if these things are scriptural, they still tend to present man's word as the standard of truth. All the creeds and constitutions of the church were drafted from the beliefs of those who established these constitutions and creeds. To do this causes many scriptural truths to become hidden. In many cases, man is even able to keep the creeds while opposing the Bible. However, the apostle said, "All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16-17). The condition for understanding the Bible is not great knowledge, great wisdom, or profound study, but a single-hearted desire to be a man of God. Even the poorest and the most foolish man can do this. As a result, it is possible even for him to understand the Word of God. If believers would be men of God in position and in conduct, it would not be difficult for them to understand the Bible.

  What man wants now is not the Bible but the creeds. The creeds are there to verbalize the doctrines believed. But the Bible cannot be crystalized into a few or a dozen articles of faith. Rather, it has to be expressed as a real living in those with the spiritual life. The words of 1 Corinthians 2:14 are real. No wonder man replaces the Bible with the creeds, and no wonder the Bible is not adhered to as much as the creeds are among the national churches. Since the Bible and the creeds are basically different, it is impossible for God to have a mind for the creeds. It is not God's will to have churches with nations as units. The Lord considers spirituality as the foremost thing in the understanding of His will, but man wants to replace His wonderful Word with the shallower creeds, with the hope that those without any spiritual life would also understand the truth and would become nominal members. This is the difference between God's mind and man's mind.

  All these speak of the Protestant church being like Sardis, living in name, but dead in reality. The Lord's description of their being living in name and dead in reality is a moral description of their condition. At the same time, it is a condemnation of their sin of nationalism. It is possible that there is more to the Lord's rebuke, but at least it encompasses these things. In the eyes of these persons, what is there is not the church of God, but a Christianized world in which Christ is scattered. They have received some truths. This is, of course, better than the Roman Catholic Church. However, their method of organization has put shame to the truth they preach. Their goal is not to be separated from the world, but to join the world to the saints. They do these things only to create a more proper atmosphere for the end time to come. Men can put on a cloak of Christianity, but they are "lovers of self, lovers of money,...unthankful, unholy,...having an outward form of godliness, though denying its power." God's commandment concerning these people is "from these also turn away" (2 Tim. 3:1-5), but not many people practice this command.

  There is not much difference between the Protestant organization and the worldly social organizations. At this time the former is slightly more improved than the latter, but in the end both will be the same. This, of course, is something that the world welcomes. As long as there are some political machineries behind it, it is good enough. God's word becomes useless, other than to serve as a text for fables. The creeds and the constitutions of the church have become the standard of faith and conduct in the Protestant denominations. What is authoritative are the creeds and the regulations rather than the Bible. Even if someone is able to prove the unscripturalness of some church constitutions or creeds, these predetermined creeds and constitutions cannot be changed. When such things happen, the only result will be a twisting of the Bible to justify the record of the creeds and the regulations. To be an officer or a nominal member of a denomination, one has to abide by the creeds and ordinances established by the founder of that denomination. Man's establishment is to be respected, and the Bible suffers loss. This is the principle of work in the many Protestant denominations.

  The Holy Spirit has also become useless. The universities and the seminaries are now able to produce the preachers and the pastors. The overseers and the senior pastors are now able to ordain preachers and pastors. The nominal members are now able to hire preachers and pastors. There is no need for the gift of the Holy Spirit anymore. As long as a man has the desire, he can be sent to school to learn to do the work of preaching, and if he lacks the money, he can sometimes be subsidized to do so. As long as one passes the vote, or passes the examination by a committee, he can be ordained a pastor, even though he may not have any calling of the Holy Spirit. As long as the members of a church have enough money, they can hire a capable and eloquent man to be the teacher. No one cares about the commission of the Holy Spirit. Some may say, "For human beings to manage the church enterprise is bound to error. However, we have to do our best!" But my friends, the suffering is self-inflicted! Where does it say in the Bible that we should take care of the church enterprise? It is Christ the Head of the church who ordains, commissions, and supplies through the Holy Spirit. These works are within His jurisdiction; others cannot substitute for Him. If you try to overrun Christ's position and take over His work, you will surely fail.

  Even Christians have become useless in such an organization! Every citizen born in the country where this church is becomes a Christian at birth. Once they have registered their names and have learned the lessons and partaken of the Holy Communion, they become Christians. Other than these things, there is no standard as to who is a Christian and who is not. Other than a procedural admittance into the religion, there is no taste to have any other tests, for to do so is not only troublesome procedurally, but it demands a proper spiritual insight.

  Yet many times, we still come to beseech this beleaguered and grieved Holy Spirit, asking Him to breathe the breath of life into the dead congregation. However, if the Holy Spirit is to work, He is only allowed to work within the confine of the committees, the executive meetings, the constitutions, regulations, and ceremonies. Otherwise, man will consider the Holy Spirit contentious and divisive! The strange thing is that in the history of all Protestant denominations, all divisions occur right after a great revival. If the soul is close to God, it will treasure His word, and one can no longer be a faithful servant of a denomination. How can the new wine be put into the old wineskin? Although man tries to expand his own denomination by means of revivals, more revivals result in divisions than in unions. Of course, the Holy Spirit is not for confusion but for peace and oneness. Nowadays, man considers the leaving of the denominations as a division, but those who say this should know the meaning of the word "division." The Bible speaks of "division in the body" (1 Cor. 12:25). How can this body be a certain denomination? When man replaces the Bible with the creeds, joins the living to the dead, and comes under great church leaders instead of coming under God's name, the Holy Spirit will draw a clear line between what is of man and what is of God, between the dead and the living, and between man's authority and God's authority. Often He would take out many fresh and forgotten truths from the treasure house of His word and would test to see if His people are still honoring His word and acknowledging His place. The old and familiar truths will, of course, not be able to stir up the conscience. The test of godliness is in the fresh truths. Fresh truths demand fresh recognition. The fresh price may be great. This is to make the giver and the receiver withstand the tide of the age so that they would be separated from the drifters in the world.

  Sometimes this separation occurs among the most genuine Christians. This is, of course, a sin, for believers ought not to be separated. Yet those who are not willing to bear the cross, who are afraid of paying a high price, who have not heard God's calling, and whose hearts are not single enough to know the Lord's way of leading His people will have to bear the responsibility for this separation. We are responsible to tell others that the Lord never leads His own children to take opposite paths. It is possible to be diversified in our ways, but if our ways are opposite one to another, it means that some are not of the Lord. We should never believe that because the believers are simple and foolish, they therefore have no more need of God's light to shine on their path. If a man commits an error and falls, it is not because God is unwilling to give Him the light. The light of the whole body is the eyes, for they are the entrance of light. Most of man's problems come in at this point. Hence, if there is division among genuine Christians, the responsibility is not on those who leave behind the things shown by God as sin. Rather, the responsibility is on those who join and communicate with sinful things and who ostracize those who are truly for the Lord. Otherwise, if everyone leaves behind the unscriptural things, where can there again be distinctions? If one sincerely departs from evil, it is not a cause for division. On the contrary, it is an excellent help to join and unite believers together. In such a position, when the Holy Spirit is not grieved or infringed upon, He will properly join together His people and will strengthen them. The Holy Spirit cannot be united to evil. If one wants to be united to evil, that is, to everything that is contrary to the Bible, naturally the result will be division.

  We do not agree with, nor do we underestimate the sin of division. The many divisions in Protestantism are a shame to Protestantism. If a man considers this as a glory, he lacks a sense of shame. Many think that the variety of denominations nowadays is good in that it provides different people with different religious flavors. This is surely a fact, but this same fact tells us the naturalness and unspiritualness of such denominationalism! Of course, errors are multifarious, contradictory, and divisive. Although truth is also multi-faceted, there is only one truth. Of course, the church of God can encompass all those who are of God, whether they be old, young, or infants. Although intelligence can vary and understanding can be different, it is still possible to preserve the oneness. To the extent that the name of Christ is not put to shame, the church of God requires that we receive those who have views different from ours. Not only should we receive them, but we should love them. This is vastly different from the creeds. If a man adheres strictly to the content of the creeds, he will not tolerate anything that deviates in the slightest. A man has to acknowledge a creed in its most crucial points as well as in its minutest details. He must believe that a baby is regenerated when he is sprinkled, in the same way that he believes in the Son of God. Of course, we know that sometimes man does not adhere to the creeds that strictly, but a righteous Christian will not do this. If he does not believe in the creed, he should leave the organization that subscribes to the creed. If he does not leave it, then his minimum duty is to adhere strictly to the creeds, even those he does not agree with. However, for those who know God and whose eyes are open, how can they follow the direction of man's creeds, charters, and constitutions in the things of God? Surely they cannot and dare not do this.

  Hence, no matter which way one looks at it, "division in the body" is a sin. Whatever price one pays to separate himself from sin is good and necessary. For this reason, whenever we see God's children awakened, they are no longer able to cooperate with their former denominations. Initially, there is self-examination and zeal; eventually, one sees the sin of the denominations or other organizations and will suffer at heart. If he takes grace from God, he will forsake this sin. However, after this revival, failure comes when man does not realize God's special way which He has ordained for His children in the midst of the church's failure. Many are trying to organize an apostolic church at the present time when there are no more apostles. Surely they are bound to fail. Scarcely can we find one person who has a genuine desire to return to the primitive church. This is not surprising at all, because it is impossible to return to it anyway! Hence, the common thing that we see is the removal of an old organization only to be replaced by a new organization. When the truths received in the great revivals turn organizational, they lose their initial power. The decline of power is directly proportional to the increase in organization. If we consider the people used by God in church history to revive the life of His children, we will realize that they were all men of faith, power, love, and endurance. Those who followed them were mostly pure, simple, and clear people, but when the number of followers increased, organization came in. Then, the freshness of power was gradually lost. After the founder leaves, in three to four generations, the organization becomes the same as the old organizations that they had abandoned before! Then, there is the need of another new denomination or sect to replace it! This is the reason that there are now over fifteen hundred denominations of various sizes in the world today. To boast of the past glorious history of persons in a denomination is a proof that the denomination is sick, because it has lost its former power!

  Many think that organizations and creeds are there to preserve the truth. However, have the organizations and creeds ever preserved the truths that man desires to preserve? This is the question we wish to ask. The honest ones must concede that they never preserve. What God gives to man can never be preserved by man. If man can believe in God's giving of grace, he should believe in God's preserving of such grace. God gave truth to man through His own words. Yet man turns around and creates a creed out of God's word under the excuse of the preservation of God's truth! What their posterity follows is not God's own word but the creeds of their forefathers. The Spirit and life are gone. God is kept outside of them, and He has to work again to raise up another group of people.

  These are the conditions of Protestantism. They demonstrate to us the Lord's verdict: "You have a name that you are living, and yet you are dead." We should pay attention to the fact that the Lord is talking about the condition in the Protestant organization as a whole. It does not refer to any one particular denomination. Even if we are most undiscerning, we have to admit that the condition in Protestantism is indeed as described here. The situation everywhere testifies to the Lord's word. At present, almost all the real works of gospel preaching and edification of the saints are done by believers outside the Protestant-recognized denominations. They are all done outside the recognized denominations. Protestantism has become an empty name only. It is full of man-made ceremonies. This is indeed pitiful. The corruption of Jezebel is not as lamentable as this. The prevalence of sin stirs up our indignation. It is most sad that what begins as the work of God ends up in death and coldness.

Verse two

  Now the Lord can say, "Become watchful and establish the things which remain, which were about to die; for I have found none of your works completed before My God."

  This shows that they originally belonged to God. Although they were "about to die," they have things "which remain." However, their works were not found to be completed. The church in Sardis has not left the first love like the church in Ephesus did. Neither has it been persecuted under Satan's hand like Smyrna was. It does not live in the world and does not hold to the teaching of Balaam and the Nicolaitans like Pergamos did. Unlike Thyatira, it has not tolerated Jezebel to tempt the servants of God to commit fornication and to eat idol sacrifices. It has not degraded into the condition of Laodicea, where God would spew it out of His mouth. Here grace is still able to do something, which is why grace is still doing something. We have seen how the church in Sardis has forsaken the corrupt works and teachings. The failure of Sardis is a negative one, the absence of completed works. Its works are not evil; they are only short. Its goal is complete, but its works have not attained to its goal.

  Here it is not a question of Jezebel, the eating of idol sacrifices, or the spewing out of the Lord's mouth. Those here have received the outward truths. They are merely lacking in the power of life. They already have the façade, the name, and the teachings of Christianity. However, Christ is not in their organizations. I am not saying that the Lord is not in their hearts. They have been delivered from Jezebel. However, they have fallen into the dead formalities. God is not judging the work of the Holy Spirit here. Rather, He is judging the way man applies the grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

  We have seen that God lit the lamp at the time of the Reformation. His goal was not to put the lamp under the bushel but to have it shine on the lampstand and to enlighten the whole household. God is not judging His own work. He is watching to see if the lamp is shedding the light He has provided. In these seven churches we observe that the Lord considers some of their conditions good and some of their conditions bad. He judges the churches according to their own condition. Even if the condition of a church is very good, the Lord does not reckon that as the result of the work of the Holy Spirit.

  What the Lord has built is complete. His work is just like Himself. The Lord expects the church in Sardis to be complete in its works so that it would match His original design. The Lord has His standard. According to this standard, He is judging His church. The church is judged according to what it has and according to what it can have. The Lord will never judge the church in a way that is below this standard. This is a lesson to us all. Have we demonstrated righteousness and holiness before the Lord? The One who justifies us is God. The One who expects us to be righteous practically is also God. The One who separated us is the Lord, and the One who expects us to be practically sanctified is also the Lord. There are, of course, those who confess Christ, but how few there are who would live out Christ! What the Lord is reproaching now has nothing to do with Balaam or Jezebel. What He is requiring now is completion. The extent that He has entrusted Himself to the church is the extent that He expects His church to fulfill its works. The question here is not whether or not one has borne fruit, but whether or not one has borne fruit that is meet for the Lord's use and satisfying to the Lord's heart. The question here is whether or not our fruit is up to the standard that will match the price that He has paid, so that He may feel His former labor to have been worthwhile. This is, of course, not a question of salvation. It is about a saved person's judgment which he will receive from the Lord.

  Of course, we know that when Christ receives the authority and when eternity is about to begin, God will cause His grace to be fully manifested in the saints. However, before this time God entrusts this responsibility to man. Although in the future God will write the law upon the hearts of the Israelites, at Sinai He had already given the law to them. We can see this not only with Israel, but also with the Gentiles. God entrusted the world government to the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, but Babylon and all the nations which were raised up after Babylon failed. However, when the nations of the world become the nations of the Lord Christ, world government will become perfect. The same is true with the church. God has perfected the church in Christ and has granted it power to express the glory of the heavenly Head on earth. However, the church has also failed. Although it has received grace, it has not borne the fruit of grace as a proof of its receiving grace. But in the future God will have "the glory in the church...unto all the generations forever and ever" (Eph. 3:21). However, now is the time of responsibility. If the whole church has failed, then individual saints must bear the responsibility. Of course, in the future the same will be true, because at that time the nominal church will be spewed out of the mouth of the Lord. This is not a question of salvation but a matter of responsibility.

  At the time of Pentecost, God gave the Holy Spirit so that His church would bear fruit, and indeed there was the fruit. But today the situation is greatly different. Corporately speaking, the church has not borne the fruit it is responsible to bear. As a result, the responsibility now falls on the individuals. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." This word causes us to ask ourselves what we have done individually as a witness to God's grace. Of course, our testimony before the world can never match the power manifested by the first church, but we should fulfill the measure that we have received individually. We should walk worthily of our calling according to the power that Christ has now given us. If we consider this matter before God, we will see that we have not attained individually to the measure of grace that we have obtained. What we are struggling for, striving towards, and longing after is a "name." However, the question here is how much fruit we have borne according to the grace that we have received. If a believer has not reached this state, his work is not complete before God. In this case, an outward spiritual name will only serve as the cradle for his shortcomings. May the Lord preserve us from being satisfied with a mere spiritual name. It is most dangerous for believers to trust in a spiritual name. Those who are preaching for the Lord should be all the more careful about this matter!

  Many times, due to our single-hearted work and our untiring diligence, we lead many to Christ and receive a great following of men. The "self" then creeps in! As a result, we receive a name that is living. We may become satisfied with the people we have gathered around us and may rest in this fruit and forget the Lord of life and power. Naturally, this makes the Lord unable to use us anymore, and we will end up with many shortcomings. How different the Lord was when He was on earth. In every step of His way, He tried to make men ignore Him. He could do this because He was walking with the Father. The more He went on, the brighter it became, until eventually, those following Him could not bear the light. Even those following Him were not able to bear the light. "Behold, an hour is coming, and has come, that you will be scattered each to his own place and will leave Me alone; yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me" (John 16:32). Our Lord did not try once throughout His life to use the slightest means to attract people to Himself. He was satisfied with His Father, and He believed that all that the Father gave Him would come to Him (John 6:37). In this way He went step by step until He reached His death at the cross.

  Paul was the same. He was full of faith and power. He himself walked with God, but those who walked with him could not match his standard. Therefore, when he went on, the others had to be left behind. As a result, his way became more and more lonely. Towards the end he said, "All who are in Asia turned away from me" (2 Tim. 1:15). "No one was with me to support me, but all abandoned me" (4:16). Although the Lord used Paul to gain a lot of people, when he was suffering in prison, only one person went to visit him!

  The more we fellowship with God, the lonelier we will become. Our responsibility is to have our works complete before God. All our works should be done in the light of God's countenance. To take this attitude will inevitably make us lonely. The result of faithfulness is to be oblivious to man's criticism. Those works that are not complete are mostly the works that have a name they are living but are dead. This is because these works are done for men and not for God.

  Although the more faithful we are, the lonelier we will become, we should nevertheless walk with other saints and should seek to please them. The closer we are to Christ, the more we should have a love for all the believers, for those who have seen the meekness of Christ cannot possibly be hard towards others. When we draw near to God, surely we experience God's pleasure. Yet the more we seek for God's pleasure, the lonelier we will become. As the pathway of Christ is forever lonely, ours is the same. Although He is full of kindness and humility, and although He is so willing to listen to us and to wash our feet, in the end He was still left alone.

  "Become watchful." The believers in Sardis had forgotten the coming of the Lord. This is not right, for they were not like this at the beginning. They should have renewed their faith and aspiration. This calling to watchfulness proves to us that the church in Sardis consisted of saved Christians. The Lord cannot ask the unbelievers to be watchful. Only those who have life can be watchful. If the Lord were speaking to the unbelievers, He should have asked them to repent and to believe in Him to receive eternal life. The calling for watchfulness can only be heard by the saved ones. The Lord wants them to be watchful concerning His coming. They had chosen the way of the world and were living in the world as if everything was going to be the same forever. Although there was no corruption or superstition, coldness and sleepiness were their true condition. Watchfulness, therefore, is the unique solution.

  "Establish the things which remain." They have indeed received much from the Lord; however, they have not kept what they have received. Although there were things that remained, that which remained was about to die. Because the situation was bleak, stagnation and desertion became a temptation. The Lord held them responsible for recovering the original condition, for establishing those things which were about to die, and for keeping them from dying, because those things which remained were God's own works.

  The word "dead" in verse one is explained here by the words "about to die." The Lord does not consider the church in Sardis a church filled with perishing ones. The Lord's word here is to a saved church. Although in Protestantism, represented by Sardis, there were many perishing ones mixed in with the others, we have to remember that Sardis was an actual church at that time. This actual church had received salvation already. We should view all seven letters in this way; there was an actual church and there is the period represented by that church. These seven churches show us how they will be judged according to what they are responsible for. This is the precursor of the judgment seat. This is not a question of grace but a principle of judgment. What is spoken of here is not the position of salvation but the condition of responsibility. Naturally, there were many nominal and unsaved ones in the churches throughout the various ages represented. However, in those seven actual churches, although there were many sins, the people there were saved ones. Even if the church was as corrupted as Thyatira, as weak as Sardis, and as cold as Laodicea, the people there were still saved. If we realize that what is covered here is not a matter of salvation but a matter of responsibility, we will see that the death mentioned in verse one does not refer to the fact that they have no spiritual life, but to the fact that their works were cold and that those who remained were dying. Under such circumstance, there is no way to strengthen them except by diligent revival.

  "For I have found none of your works completed before My God." There is one pair of eyes constantly searching His churches. What the Lord is rebuking here is not what they have done but what they have not done. It is not what the Lord has seen but what the Lord has not seen. The Lord told them to establish that which is about to die. This proves that they were saved already because no dead person can strengthen one who is about to die. If the church in Sardis were dead, how could God accept their work, the work of a dead person? Since the Lord is only rebuking the believers in Sardis for what they have not done, it proves that their works were not dead works (Heb. 6:1).

  From man's point of view, their works were living and were outstanding, but in God's view, they were not complete. If the standard of the believers' work is based on man's praise, approval, or disapproval, how low is this standard? According to man's view, the standard of the believers' work is diligence, zeal, labor, and advancement, but God's view is completely different. If the One who judges us is God rather than the world, what does it matter if the world loves or hates us! If our work is like that of Sardis, being incomplete in motive, power, self-denial, diligence, and purity, what use is it even if the world considers us living? On the contrary, even if the whole world considers our work dead, useless, and worthless, as long as we are complete before God, His smile will be a sun that dispels all dark clouds. All those who are satisfied with the world's praise are performing dead works before God. Our hearts should stay far away from the world's approval or disapproval. They should be concerned with God's valuation. The good pleasure of the Father is our goal. What does it matter what the world says?

  In the eyes of the world, Protestantism succeeded in the work of the Reformation and is great and glorious. Even Protestantism itself considers its achievements great beyond comparison! However, what God cares for is not how it has rejected Jezebel and her teaching, but how it treats the authority and power of Christ. It is right to leave Rome, but why does one not fully listen to Christ? It is a joke and not a moral achievement to boast that one is not like Jezebel. If Jezebel is the yardstick of the believers' work, and if one thinks that as long as he is different from Jezebel he can boast of himself, then the children of Jezebel can also justify themselves (Rev. 2:23). Although today the denominations have not overstepped as much as the Roman Catholic Church has, God's question now is, "Is My Son the Head of the church?"

  "I have found none of your works completed before My God." This is the excuse of Protestantism. By this one word, we see the Protestant denominations tolerating sin on the one hand and not fully following the Bible on the other hand. They think that it is impossible to be "complete." Therefore, they give up seeking to be "complete." To them, a church or an individual can never be complete. Why then should one bother to be free from all sins and to follow all the Scriptures? Because of this excuse, many sins that God condemns are settling in the denominations. This is actually the life of the denominations. It is a lowering of the standard of God. However, God never says that a church does not need to be complete just because He has not found its works completed. He cares for completion, and He judges His children according to this completion. He is willing to grant grace to the defeated ones. However, He hates those who lower His standard and sit in contentment. We would rather lift God's standard high and find ourselves unable to match it, than to lower His standard and presume that we have succeeded in it.

  The Reformation was a great revival. Sardis is the condition after a great revival. If there is a revival, yet no willingness to submit to God's will and to yield to Him the proper place, the revival will not continue. No matter how much grace we have received at one time, if we are not careful, what we have will become the letter and will gradually be weakened. Self-contentment is the cause of lack. Unwatchfulness is the reason for weakening. Nothing will satisfy the Lord except completion, and nothing will satisfy the lovers of the Lord except completion. Many times we have a good beginning, but we do not have a continuation in bearing spiritual responsibility. As a result we fall short of completion. This is the danger of the church and of individuals. All those who do not advance to completion will regress to weakness.

Verse three

  Verse 3:"Remember therefore how you have received and heard, and keep it and repent. If therefore you will not watch, I will come as a thief, and you shall by no means know at what hour I will come upon you."

  How vain it would be if believers would forget what Christ remembers. Here we have two things: the receiving and the hearing. First, we have the grace that they received and the position that stands in grace. Second, we have the word of God which they hear, which is the rule and guidance of their faith and work. They have received grace and have heard God's word. What God is causing us to remember is not anything that we have not received, but that which we have received. The Lord is holding His church responsible for the grace it has received and the word it has heard. God gave us this word for us to follow, and God gave us this grace to enable us to follow.

  This is very relevant to Protestantism and to its many denominations. The Reformation was a great revival and a return to the original ground. Of course, it was only a partial recovery. What they have heard and received at the beginning was an open Bible as the yardstick of all faith and work. Because Protestantism has forgotten what it has heard and received, the Lord called it to draw near to the work of the Holy Spirit once more and to stir up this work which was lost from among them. The Reformation has released the Bible already and has recovered many lost truths. Although these are not complete, Protestantism is slowly forgetting even these things. For this reason the Lord calls them to remember what they have received and heard. They boasted about themselves and allowed the truth that they acquired to slowly drift into death. They did not struggle to recover what the Reformation had not recovered. Although they have not filled themselves up with sin in the way that Rome had, they were more lacking than the corrupted Roman Church in good works. They had the Bible already, yet this benefit only increased their responsibility. What the apostles commanded and what the Bible recorded are things that the church should always keep. However, they have not been the authority and the tradition of the church.

  During the past few centuries, the Protestant denominations have received many revivals from the hand of the Holy Spirit. Power, freshness, zeal, fellowship, communion with the Lord, obedience to the Bible — these are the works done by the Holy Spirit during the revivals, but it is a pity that they do not last. The Lord's calling here is to remind those who were once revived and who have since gone back, of the grace and teachings they had received from the Holy Spirit. The reason the effect of the revivals did not last was not the inadequacy of the power of the Holy Spirit but the absence of an absolute heart towards the Lord and His word. If there were more absolute submission, there will surely be better results.

  We should consider the first part of this verse with the last part of the previous verse. "For I have found none of your works completed before My God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard." The Lord is calling them to come back to what they have received from God before. The Lord does not consider the present church to be more modern, and that therefore every church can freely set up its own ordinances. The Lord has not called them to reform themselves. He is reminding the church of their fall from God's former, unique standard. Here the Lord has not given the church the liberty. The Lord's word, like the Lord Himself, lasts forever and is always powerful. The church can act contrary to the Bible, but the Bible will not thereby lose its authority. Those who depart from God's law will surely be judged. The principles of judgment are in the Bible. All those who want to follow the Lord must come back to the Lord's ordinances. One cannot assume that since circumstances have changed, the apostles have passed away, and the church has been corrupted, one can therefore ignore the word of Christ and can walk according to his own will. The Bible tells us that as sinners we were washed, sanctified, and justified by the Holy Spirit. The Bible also tells us that the Holy Spirit operates according to His own will in the church. Although we do not see the manifestation of tongues, miracles, and healings in some places, it does not mean that the Holy Spirit is not there. Although the manifestation of the Holy Spirit may be different at times, the fact that He is Lord in the church is immutable. God has not called us to invent some institutions better than what the Bible has revealed. His command is that we walk according to the truth once delivered to us (Jude 3).

  What is mentioned here is the first step in the recovery. We should remind ourselves of the special grace that we have received before and the truth that we have heard. These two things are justification and the Bible respectively, which we received at the time of the Reformation. The persons here are judged according to the light that they have received (cf. Matt. 11:21-24). Protestantism will be judged by what it has received in the Reformation, but is it not true that justification by faith and the Bible are now overlooked by Protestantism in faith and conduct? How can it stand before the judgment seat? The Lord wants it to remember. In other words, He wants it to compare the former condition with the present situation so that it will know its lack and will keep God's commandment.

  "And repent." The fact that the Lord put the calling for repentance here proves that these ones are saved. The calling to repentance does not come at the beginning of the letter. If the Lord is speaking to a sinner, he should loudly proclaim the word for repentance first, and then say something else, as He did in the old days when He preached the gospel to people. The repentance here refers to the Lord's calling for repentance of the believers. They have backslidden. As such, they have to repent. If they compare their former condition with their present situation, they should realize that they have to repent. They should change their conduct and should be more alive in their response to the things of God.

  "If therefore you will not watch." Watchfulness is the most tiring and burdensome thing. To be watchful means that one has to preserve himself from sleep. Man's heart is prone to weariness and is most unwilling to be on the alert for the things happening in the world. Unless we are drawing near to Christ, and unless we feel His searching and supervising, it is difficult for us to be watchful. Even in our works, we need to be watchful. If we draw near to Christ, we will have a clear view concerning everything. However, a tendency toward generality will rob us of this view. If we consider our trials in the presence of Christ, we will see that the way of deliverance is very easy, but many times when we are in the midst of the trials, we lose this view. In trying circumstances, it is very easy for us to lose the clear view before Christ on account of sorrow and weariness. Our eyes must be single to do the will of God. The more humble we are, the simpler we will become. If we are simple enough, God will guide us through His Spirit and His word. The wise ones cannot know God through searching and studying, yet a babe can receive the wisdom of God by faith. We must be watchful and must remain in God's light so that we know where we stand. Foolishness is not God's will. It is neither God's pleasure to work in a dream. Every time we put our foot forward to take a step, we have to know if the One sitting in heaven approves of it or not.

  "If therefore you will not watch, I will come as a thief, and you shall by no means know at what hour I will come upon you." If believers are not watchful, their end will indeed be solemn! "I will come as a thief." This is the way the Lord deals with the world. To the world, "like a thief in the night, so the day of the Lord comes" (1 Thes. 5:2). But to the believers, the Lord's word was "you, brothers, are not in darkness that the day should overtake you like a thief" (v. 4).

  If believers are not watchful, they will be treated like the worldly people! Positionally speaking, they are God's children, but in conduct, they are like those in the world. For this reason, they will be treated the same way as those in the world are treated when Christ comes back. Their works are not completed before God because none of them matches the grace God has bestowed. What God is saying here is that if one does not walk according to what the Lord has given him, and if he is not watchful but slumbers like the world does, he will suffer what the world will suffer. Have these ones not followed the ways of the world already? They must now be careful, lest they suffer the punishment that the world will suffer. If one enjoys the pleasure of the world, he should suffer the judgment of the world.

  The Holy Spirit gives a comparison between the true believers and the worldly people in 1 Thessalonians 5. He is comparing the prepared believers with the unprepared ones. The Lord tells us how a saved believer, like the believers in Sardis, if unwatchful, will suffer loss. The unwatchful Christian will suffer what the world suffers. The Lord did not rebuke them as He rebuked Jezebel. But since they are not much different spiritually than those in the world, except for the fact that they are saved, they will suffer the judgment reserved for the world. This has nothing to do with the matter of salvation. It has to do with being delivered from the great coming world tribulation (Rev. 3:10).

  What a solemn matter this is! Many believers around us today have been saved, but positionally speaking, they have joined themselves to organizations that put the Lord to shame. In works, they have forgotten what they have received and heard. In life, they sleep like the worldly people do! Now we are constantly in touch with this kind of people. When we consider the judgment in the house of God in the future, do not our hearts tremble? The day is coming fast, but we do not know how fast it will be. We cannot find anything else more solemn than this in the Bible — saved believers will suffer the same treatment as those in the world.

  "I will come as a thief, and you shall by no means know at what hour I will come upon you." The word "come" here is a special word. This word means that the Lord has come; He has stopped His action, because He has arrived at the destination. This means that the Lord has already come and is already in the air. His move has come to a stop there. Those who are watchful and prepared have already been raptured, but those believers who are spiritually like the ones in Sardis will not know of such a "coming" of the Lord. They will not know when the Lord will come. They may know about it later after some saints are raptured. According to the original language, there should be the word "have" before the word "come." The Lord's coming and His receiving of the watchful believers is a thing that will be known to the unprepared believers only when the event has already come to pass. The Lord has come already, yet they have missed it.

  We have said that these believers in Sardis are saved ones. We must constantly be reminded of this fact because it shows us that it is possible for saved believers to be left on the earth. The Bible never mentions "the rapture of the church." A wrong kind of expression will result in a wrong kind of teaching. The Bible never tells us that every saved sinner, irrespective of his degree in life, will be raptured at the same time. According to 2 Corinthians 5:10, every believer will be raptured, irrespective of his spiritual condition. However, the Bible never tells us that their rapture will happen at the same time. On the contrary, the Bible shows us that there is at least more than one rapture. In the book of Revelation alone, the matter of rapture is mentioned seven times.

  Rapture is typified by the gathering of the wheat into the barn. Before the wheat is gathered into the heavenly barn, there is the unique requirement of maturity. Because there are differences in the timing of maturity, there is the distinction between the firstfruit, the harvest, and the gleanings (Lev. 23). Of course, the unwatchful and unprepared believers cannot be harvested while they are still green. The degree of maturity determines the timing of their harvest. That wheat is left in the field longer does not mean that it is unwilling to become mature. It only means that it has to wait to become mature. Every believer will be raptured, but it will not happen at the same time.

  In the prophecy the Lord gave at the Mount of Olives, He warned the believers, "If the householder had known in which watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be broken into" (Matt. 24:43). The Lord compared Himself to a thief and the believers to a householder. What He meant is that the householder should be watchful so that a thief cannot break into his house and steal his goods undetected. The believers must be watchful in the same way if they do not want to miss the Lord Jesus' coming, in which the watchful saints in the church will be raptured undetected. As a thief comes undetected by the householder, in the same way, the Lord will come undetected by the Christians. This kind of teaching shows the Christians that they should not be content just because they consider themselves Christians and have already received eternal life. Instead, they should be watchful and prepared so that they can be raptured. The condition for being raptured is not merely to be a Christian. The condition for being raptured is to be a watchful Christian. The basis of one's rapture is not his life but his living.

  If believers miss the Lord's coming, they will be left on earth to go through the great tribulation. The great tribulation was originally prepared for the world (Rev. 3:10), but if a believer lives like those in the world, he will suffer like those in the world. This is the same as with hell, which is prepared for the devil, but which a sinner who follows the devil will suffer as the devil suffers (Matt. 25:41). These believers will learn obedience through suffering. In the end, the Lord will also come to take them. This is the teaching that is most urgently needed today. Many Christians are already clear about the proof of salvation, but they think that to receive eternal life is the final thing that a person needs to do. They fail to realize that salvation is only the first step in the way of life! They think that while the world will be suffering the tribulation on earth, they will be raptured to the heavens which they have not loved very much anyway! How can this be possible? A spirit of ascension foretells a body of ascension. If the believers' heart and spirit are not in heaven, even if they are raptured, they will not enjoy the preciousness and joy of the rapture.

  Now let us consider the difference between the saints and the world concerning the Lord's coming. The day that will come upon the world will be "the day of the Lord." That is another name for the great tribulation. What will come upon the believers will be the coming of the Lord. At the time God pays vengeance on the sinners remaining on earth, "the day of the Lord" will be a "sudden destruction" upon them, "and they shall by no means escape" (1 Thes. 5:2-3). But the hope of the believers is for the Savior to appear before "the day of the Lord." This "day" is recorded after the end of chapter six of this book (Rev. 6:17; 16:14). The hope of the believers is the coming of the Lord (2 Thes. 2:1) and not the day of the Lord (v. 2). However, if they are not watchful, they will lose the joy of the coming of the Lord and will suffer the tribulations of the day of the Lord.

Verse four

  Verse 4:"But you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white because they are worthy."

  "A few names" means a few persons. The Lord knows every one of their names; He pays attention to every one of them. "A few names" also indicates the smallness in number. In the vast Protestant church, there were only a few persons who had not defiled their garments. In the previous churches, the errors were with a minority, but in Sardis, only a few are not in error. The Lord has many praises for Sardis. Amidst so many sins, the Lord detects all the bits of goodnesses. If there are only so few who are pure in the Protestant church, is it not ignorance for one to take the teachings of the Protestant churches as the standard of truth?

  The glory of these few lies in their not having "defiled their garments." They have kept themselves "unspotted from the world" (James 1:27). The principle of Christian living is to hate "even the inner garment spotted from the flesh" (Jude 23). Although others have lost their chastity, these have not walked with the world. The church in Sardis has fallen below the level of the world. For this reason, she will be judged with the world. To keep themselves pure, they have to depart from the world. However, the world here is no longer the simple world, but a world adopted by Christians. These are the ones who have overcome the "ecclesiastical world." Of course, this is more difficult to overcome than the world itself. However, believers cannot shrink back just because it is difficult. Satan often induces the believers to mix themselves with the worldly ones. Those saints who mingle themselves with the world will not make the world holy. On the contrary, they will defile their garments. The result of being mingled with the world is to forsake the confession of the testimony of Christ, which the world can never tolerate. One who confesses Christ must be a separated one. Since he has believed in One who was rejected by the world and has looked to and testified for the One who will come to judge the world, how can he be spared from man's opposition? Separation is most crucial.

  Once a believer realizes that the ground he is standing on is contrary to the Scripture, he should realize the seriousness of this fact and the immense measure to which he has fallen short of the Lord's grace. It is a pity that many who clearly know the error of the standing of their denominations have been considered leaders by others. They have not left the sins they are aware of, but on the contrary, have sought refuge in the fact that Asa and Jehoshaphat did not remove the high places. What a pity it is that God's word is twisted to accomplish Satan's goal. God's warning has been disguised to justify man's sin. Although they may be enlightened in their mind, the Lord still requires that the believers' conduct be counted worthy of His command. Of course, Satan considers the Lord's way to be a way of darkness, and the way of the world to be more of love, humility, conciliation, and order. However, the word of God has already denied this. Soon, the power of God will also deny this before the world.

  "They will walk with Me in white." Since these persons have kept themselves pure on earth, they will obtain God's full pleasure before Him. They have maintained their purity in walk at the time of their responsibility. As a result, in the future at the time of reward, they will receive purity in the same nature as their present separation. Perhaps they are now being misunderstood and shamed, but they have contented themselves with the Lord's praise in private. Soon, their garments of white will be manifested before all men. Everything that pleases God, whether or not it is known to men, will not be overlooked eventually. Everything that is of God will not be lost, for everything that is of God will remain forever. "He who does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:17).

  "Because they are worthy." This is not talking about eternal life, because eternal life is God's gift (Rom. 6:23). Everyone who will receive it will have it. There is no question of worthiness there. It is those who are already standing on the ground of grace and who have been justified by God who can receive the reward here. From the time a believer is regenerated until the end of his journey, his own conduct will determine if he is worthy for the first resurrection (Luke 20:35) or the kingdom of God (2 Thes. 1:5). Grace is the basis of everything. Without grace, there is no possibility for man to be accepted before God. But when God rewards man based on His righteousness and according to man's work, the question of "worthiness" will be determined by the believer's own work after salvation. In the future judgment of the believers' work, reward will be given fully according to the worthiness of the believers' work. A sinner cannot perish merely because he is unworthy, but a believer cannot receive the reward if he is unworthy.

  Since these persons have good works, the Lord will reward them according to what they deserve. Since they have preserved their spiritual garments undefiled, when Christ reigns, they will walk with the Lord in white, a sign of their holiness.

Verses five to six

  Verses 5-6:"He who overcomes will be clothed thus, in white garments, and I shall by no means erase his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

  Although such was the condition of the church, and although there were only a few who had not defiled themselves, the Lord still has the promise for the overcomers. This promise causes our hearts to rejoice. If we have ears to hear, we will be joined to the overcomers in all the churches. To overcome at the present time may involve moving to a newer ground. It may involve separating from brothers who share the same general faith, or it may mean rejecting a great name in the record of faith and separation to Christ alone. Only the overcomers are the overcoming ones. Those who build the graves of the prophets (Matt. 23:29) are not the overcomers. Only those who are sent by the Lord to be despised, misunderstood, and persecuted by the admirers of ancient ones can be the true overcomers. God has to teach us to be independent. This independence comes from a practical and humble trust in the Lord. Even the greatest disciple of the Lord is nothing in the face of the Lord Himself. If we hope to have companionship in the matter of obedience to the Lord, I am afraid that it will be very difficult to find such companions. This way is never crowded. It is difficult to find anyone on this way who loves to be called "master." If it is sufficient to trust in the Lord alone, why should we not depart from defilement and walk with the Lord instead? If you ask for companions, your companions may later lead you to another way. Overcoming requires independence. This way of separation is not division, for we are not led by our own will but by the Spirit and the Word of God. If Christ is more lovable to us than everything, our love to the brothers will surely be full.

  The overcoming in faith is not obtained in the applause of the crowd but in following the true Joseph who has left His brothers. Although God has not created the present confusion, He does allow these sins to exist so that we can be more conformed to the life of Christ when we walk in His path. He is not telling us to submit to sin but is charging us to overcome. In these few letters, the defeated believers seem to have retreated to the rear, and all the exhortations, promises, and rewards are for the encouragement of the overcomers. The Lord is now choosing those who would reign with Him. Only the overcomers are able to meet this call. Sins and trials are there only to prove who are the overcomers and who are the defeated ones, although both are saved. If there is nothing to overcome, there will be no need for overcoming, and subsequently there will be no overcomers. Overcomers are created by the circumstances. Those who desire to be overcomers, yet who want to take the common way, do not understand the meaning of warfare and the value of victory. The time is short now; the end is near. God's grace is sufficient for all the believers' needs. All those who are not willing to use this grace are destined for failure.

  The Lord's promise to the overcomers in Sardis is divided into three parts: (1) "Clothed thus, in white garments." White garments are mentioned four times in this book. In chapter seven it mentions a great multitude which no one could number, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. This speaks of their purity. In chapter six the Lord gives a white robe to those underneath the altar. This speaks of the Lord's approval. In chapter four, we see the elders clothed in white garments. This speaks of their sinlessness. In chapter nineteen we see the bride of the Lamb clothed in white linen. The Holy Spirit gives us an interpretation there: "For the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints" (v. 8). This last passage shows us that the promise of the white garment refers to the condition in heaven in the future. The Lord promises that the result of overcoming will be manifested in heaven and will be enjoyed in heaven. All those who have faithfully separated themselves from defilements on earth will be rewarded before the Lord.

  White is the color of cleanliness. The garments of the angels are white (Matt. 28:3; Mark 16:5; John 20:12; Acts 1:10). The Lord's garment on the mount of transfiguration was also white (Mark 9:3). The garment of the Ancient of Days is also white (Dan. 7:9). White robes are the garments of heaven. If believers have heavenly works on earth, they will receive this garment. They will not only be adorned by it, but will walk with Christ. This speaks of their position in the kingdom. How different is this from the condition of the unwatchful ones! These latter will be naked and will have their shame exposed to the world. The white stone in 2:17 is personal and private. The white garment here is public and seen by everyone. May we receive the private approval and the public glory.

  (2) "I shall by no means erase his name out of the book of life." The book of life is an ancient book, for the names of many people since the foundation of the world are recorded in the book of life of the Lamb (13:8). Exodus 32:32-33 says: "Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin — ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book." Psalm 69:28 also says: "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous." From these, we can see that it is possible for one's name to be erased from the book of life. Before we go on, let us remember three things: first, in the book of Revelation, there is only one book of life. According to 13:8, this book of life is in the hand of God and in His plan; no one can put his name in it. Second, if a name is to be blotted out, that name must first be recorded there. Since this book of life is "the book of life of the Lamb," no one can write his name there except the Lamb Himself. Third, since the name of this book is called "the book of life," all those whose names are there must have life. For now we will not worry if their names will be blotted out later. Suffice it to say that every name that can go into the book of life must have at least once received life.

  According to the two passages we just quoted, it is possible for one's name to be removed from the book of life. Even the Scripture which we are considering now contains this meaning. Only the overcoming saints will not have their names erased from the book of life. This means that the defeated Christians will surely have their names erased. However, Revelation 20 tells us that at the judgment of the great white throne, all those whose names are not in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. Does this therefore mean that a saved person can still perish? This is a hard point to understand. Those who believe in the possibility of perdition for believers will hold on to this verse. Those who do not believe in the believers' perdition will try to explain this verse with many concepts. But according to the teaching of the Bible, the problem here is the same as the one in 2:11. We believe that our explanation in 2:11 is fully scriptural. Every careful reader of the Bible has to agree that on the one hand, the Lord's sheep can never perish, but on the other hand, he cannot say that a sinning believer will never be punished. Hence, this, like other passages, refers to the temporary removal of the defeated believers' names from the book of life, particularly at the time when God rewards the overcomers in the millennium. At the end of the millennium, their names will be reinstated. Hence, by the time the last judgment comes (20:15), they will still be saved. When God first put the names there, it was out of grace. Although His calling and reward are without repentance, how can God tolerate the believers' sins and act contrary to His own nature? Those who believe in the Lord Jesus will be saved forever, but when God comes to reign over the world in righteousness, some will suffer punishment for the sins they commit after they are saved.

  How precious is this promise! At the present time, when believers follow the Lord, the church erases their names and considers them as evil (Luke 6:22). Although their names can be removed from man's register, the Lord promises this little flock that their names will by no means be erased from the book of life. Man can reject them, but the Lord will receive them. What a comfort this is!

  (3) "And I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." The Lord did not say that He will confess the overcomer's name before the world. Perhaps the world will not know them, yet before the Father, He will confess their names, because the Father sees everything in secret (Matt. 6:6). He will also confess their names before the Father's angels. The angels are paying attention to their conduct. They even notice when a female believer covers her head (1 Cor. 11:10). Although it seems a small thing to be separated from the sin of the Protestant church, and perhaps men would despise this, in that day, the Lord will extol the names of these believers before the Father and before the heavenly hosts. What a promise this is! The Lord will confess our names! If we are faithful, one day our Lord will call forth our humble names before the myriads of angels and before the Father! Our neglected and despised names will be in the mouth of the Lord and in the ear of the Father and His angels, as well as in the book of life. How wonderful this is! May everyone of us have an ear to hear the Lord's word to Sardis, and may none of us be lacking in the characteristics of the overcomers in Sardis.

Appendix — fulfillment in history

  The church in this period is the Protestant church after Luther's Reformation. The Lord's rebuke, warning, expressions, and promise have much to do with us. What we contact every day and what we live with all the time are the Protestant denominations. If we understand the Lord's intention towards the Protestant denominations as revealed in this letter, we will know how to act.

  The characteristic of the various Protestant denominations is that they are living in name and dead in reality. They are prosperous in all kinds of institutions, charitable works, social aids, and educational and medical enterprises. Man easily admires their achievements, but their spiritual condition before the Lord is dead. Even their work of preaching is no exception. There are two kinds of Protestant churches: one is the state churches, like the Anglican Church in England; the other is set up freely by the people, such as the Methodists. Among both kinds of churches, life and death are mixed together.