A Stern Rebuke

When Jesus speaks to the seven churches in Asia Minor, he usually commends these struggling churches before giving them a word of rebuke. Not so with the church in Sardis. This congregation receives only a stern rebuke. “Wake up,” Jesus warns them, or else he will suddenly come upon them in judgment. Although the church in Sardis thinks it is alive, in reality it is near death. This congregation has stopped preaching the gospel in order to make peace with paganism. It is no longer a faithful witness to God’s saving mercy in Jesus Christ. Therefore, this church must wake up and repent, or else face the wrath of Jesus Christ who is the Lord of his church.

Jesus Is and Remains the Lord of His Church

Beginning in Revelation 1:12, John records his vision of the resurrected Christ, along with the seven letters that Jesus addresses to seven historic churches in western Asia Minor. In each of these seven letters, Jesus relates a particular aspect of his post-resurrection glory to specific issues facing each of these congregations. Jesus commends several congregations for those things they are doing well. He points out the issues and struggles that each of these congregations was facing. He promises blessings to these churches when they are obedient to his word, while threatening curses if these congregations fail to repent. But even when there is a word of rebuke, each of these letters ends with a promise of blessing to all those who overcome and who remain faithful to Jesus Christ despite the suffering, persecution, and temptations that these Christians faced.

These letters tell us that Jesus is not an absentee Lord of his church. When John sees the resurrected Lord in his vision, Jesus is walking in the midst of his churches, represented by seven lampstands, which are symbolic of Christ’s presence among his churches. They are also symbolic of the Holy Spirit empowering these congregations to be faithful witnesses of God’s grace in Jesus Christ to those around them who are living in darkness. Jesus knows full well what each one of these seven churches is facing. He knows their struggles, their victories, and their failures. Indeed, these seven churches are also representative of Christ’s church throughout the entire period of time between Christ’s first advent and his second coming. The issues these churches faced in the first century, will mirror situations that Christians will face until Christ comes again with great power and glory at the end of the age. What Jesus says to these first century churches, he says to us in the 21st. Therefore, each of these seven letters ends with the now familiar exhortation: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

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