The Church in Sardis

Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead.” ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭3:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The angel here is the messenger of the church.  Jesus is the One sending the message by the messenger.  
The sevenfold Spirit of God is none other than the Holy Spirit!  The very Spirit of God rests upon and indwells the person of Jesus Christ! In Isaiah 11, we read this:  “And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭11:2‬ ‭NLT‬‬ There we see six characteristics of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Might (or Strength), Knowledge, and Fear. The seventh is The Holy Spirit Himself. Jesus is the One Isaiah was prophesying about.  “After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭3:16-17‬ ‭NLT‬‬ God is always represented by the number seven. Seven is the number of perfection and completion. An example of this is Genesis 1 and 2 - creation (six days - chapter 1) rest (seventh day - chapter 2). Jesus, God the creator (see John 1:3, 10; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:2) ceased His labor on the seventh day. This day represents His perfection and completion.  Jesus is all knowing! This is called Omniscient. He sees and knows all things. He knew the condition of this church -Sardis. He knew that they professed life in Jesus, but were really dead.  Sardis was about thirty miles southeast of Thyatira. The city was an old one that was located atop an Acropolis (a fortified part of an Ancient Greek city, typically built on a hill). It stood 1500 feet above the land around it, like a giant granite stone that towered into the sky. This city was thought to be invincible and undefeatable. The city was rich and sinful. The original name of the city was Hyde. It later became known as Sardis. Sardis was the ancient capital of the Lydian kingdom.  The city was, in most cases, victorious when it was attacked, specifically because of its advantageous location. However, it was defeated by an unlikely foe. Croesus, king of  the Lydian empire, attacked Cyrus, king of Persia and was soundly defeated by Cyrus army. Retreating to Sardis for regrouping and recouping, Croesus felt safe. There he expected to be unreachable. However, he left out one minor, yet fatal detail. He didn't place a guard on the wall at the spot that could be scaled by a courageous climber. Feeling confident that no one could scale the 1,500 foot mountain side, He went to bed only to awaken to the city being held by the opposing forces.  This is much like the church of our time. We feel comfortable and confident, in our ways, to the point that we are slumbering in our own demise. The enemy has found his way into our churches and has taken over. Without even realizing it, we are dead in our sins and we are incapable of seeing them. We go through the religious motions, but we are spiritually dry and dead. What we need is repentance of our religiosity and a reformation from the Holy Spirit of God to flood our churches.  John MacArthur has said this about Sardis:   "It was basically populated by unredeemed, unregenerate people playing church. You have a name that you're alive, you have a superficial reputation, but spiritually you're dead." What is the state of your life and church?  Pray this prayer with me today:  Holy Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, blow the wind of Your Holy Spirit through the church and purge us from our religiosity and bring a reformation and revolution to Your church. Without Your Lordship we are nothing more than a dead community club that aspires itself as Your church. Please grant, to us, a biblical revival and spare us from judgment.  In Jesus name!!! Amen!!!