SARDIS.
IT is important to observe, that while it is true that the principles set forth in the seven Churches may be found at any particular time, yet, as the coming of Christ is mentioned in one way or other in the last four, it is evident that these states go on concurrently till the end of the Church’s history on earth. We have already seen the gross corruption and evil of the Middle Ages rise to its height in Thyatira, but in Sardis we find quite a different state of things. There is a kind of new start; it is no longer gross evil, but formality without life — a name to live, but dead.
The Lord Jesus is before us here as “He that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.” It is not exactly the same as in Ephesus, “He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand,” where all was still in its order before Him: nevertheless, although disorder and gross evil had come into the Church, He has all power and the fullness of the Spirit; there is therefore a complete resource in Him. The dark ages had passed away, though the principles and the system of Romanism which characterized that period still remained, and will remain till the end; the light of the Reformation had dawned, and a new responsibility attached to the Church as having received from God fresh light and truth. This is a most important point to consider, because God always holds both the Church and the individual responsible up to the light He gives. The Reformation work was truly a work of God, though mixed up with human failure and worldly motives in some cases, yet a work for which we ought to be deeply and everlastingly thankful. The power of the sacramental system, which had conferred such immense authority on the clergy, interposing themselves more and more between God and the soul, was now to a great extent broken. Men were brought once more into direct dealing with God and His Word. Sacerdotal tyranny was shaken off. The value and efficacy of the work of Christ, justification by faith instead of by works, the authority of the Word of God instead of the Church — these and other blessed truths were once more brought to light But, as soon as the first energy of the Spirit which produced these great results, and enabled many witnesses to lay down their lives for Christ and the true gospel, had passed away, the Church relapsed into a worldly, formal state. Instead of turning to God and His Word, they fell back on the secular power as a resource in setting right the disorder which had come in.
As time went on Protestantism failed in separation from the world; indeed it never had been truly separate. It failed also in not going on in the energy of faith in dependence on God. They had got clear of a vast amount of Romish corruption, they had a name to live, but, alas! there was spiritual death.
We may find an analogy to this in the case of the restored remnant of the Jews brought back from Babylon. They had given up idolatry and much of the grosser forms of evil; but as soon as the first energy, which was manifested in the rebuilding of the temple and the city, had faded away, they relapsed into a dead, formal state, and remained so till the Lord came.
If we consider the perplexed state of the Churches in the present day in view of the advance of Ritualism, Higher Criticism, &c., is it not true that a great part of the efforts to combat these evils are in reality an attempt to meet a carnal system with carnal weapons? There is not the turning to God in a spirit of true and humble dependence on Him; hence the powerlessness to meet Satan’s artifices effectually. In Sardis even “the things which remain” were “ready to die”; such was the withering effect of want of spiritual energy and dependence on worldly resources for power. “Remember,” He says, “how thou hast received and heard; and hold fast and repent.” They had received much, and God always calls back to the original place of blessing, to the starting-point from which the Church has declined. Then again, “If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” What a solemn way His coming is here presented! It is not as the hope and privilege of the Church calling forth the ready response, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus”; but it is just the way He will come upon the unbelieving world in judgment, as we read in 1 Thessalonians 5, “But ye are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief.” A thief is an unwelcome visitor, and he does not give notice of his coming; he comes when least expected. How solemn this is, considering the light and truth they had received; but such is the result of failure to go on in the energy of faith, and of the Church finding its resources in the world and from the world.
Nevertheless there was a remnant — a few in Sardis who had not fallen into the general state of deadness and worldliness which marked the Church as a whole, and the Lord says, “They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.” To him that overcomes the reward is that he “shall be clothed in white raiment,” which typifies, as we are told elsewhere, the practical righteousness of saints — just the contrast to being defiled by worldly associations; also, “I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life.” The “Book of Life” here takes in all who profess to be Christians; it is taken from the idea of a general register of names: those who were real and who had witnessed for Him amidst the professing mass, would not be blotted out. This is more negative, but then there is the positive side, too, in the reward to the overcomer who confessed Him down here. Christ Himself would confess his name before His Father and before His Father’s angels.