Revelation 3:1 “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”

“And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write;”

God is speaking to John to write to the angel, aka representative of the church in Sardis. Remember that angels mean representatives or representations or appearances.

“These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars;”

In Revelation 1, Jesus is that person who holds the seven spirits of God within him and the seven stars.

“I know thy works, that thou hast a name”

Jesus knows the works of this church in Sardis, and they do have a name. San Jose Bible Baptist church. King James only. Dispensationalism.

“that thou livest,”

By that name, it’s alive. You put that name with the word of God.

“and art dead.”

But is dead, it’s only alive by name only.

You know what the bad thing would be? If people would know this ministry by name, Dr. Gene Kim, but he’s a dead person by spiritual life. When they walk inside this church, they see a dead church. Whenever a newcomer comes in and doesn’t come back again, sometimes you have to inspect yourself and see if I was the one at fault because I produced a dead church and they only knew us living by name only, not by our actual existence.

Dr. Ruckman puts Sardis at a timeline of 1000 to 1500, Larkin would put this from 1500-1700.

Notice how these both timelines could work for a spiritual application to the church.

If we’re going to include Protestant Reformation over the 1500-1700 timeline, that would make a lot of sense for Sardis because when Martin Luther nailed his thesis on the church doorstep, that was a name that became alive. There were other names that were alive at that time but if you look at their actions, they were a dead church. Calvinism was rooting up that same time and since they believe that God will get the people saved, it’s not by man’s free choice so there’s no need for actions on their part, no need for evangelism to do missions. During that timeline, the Jesuits were the ones doing missions because they want to have the whole world underneath the religion of the Vatican so they spread out their Jesuit missionaries all over the world while the Protestants, shamefully, were dead. They’re all just stuck at home, stuffing their nose with books. They had a name that was alive but it was dead by actions. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 1700s that you got more Moravian missions, the Great Awakening revival preaching, and then modern-day missions through William Carey.

The timeline of 1000-1500 is also accurate because if we include Wycliffe, Huss, and these people coming out, they had their names Hussites after John Huss, Lollars from John Wycliffe, and all the other people like Tyndale, but during that time there was not much evangelism work. It was completely dead that time. Everyone was just running for the hills, protecting their own life, stuffing their nose in books. They were trying to preserve the word of God but they weren’t thinking about getting lost souls saved out there. It’s a dead movement. 1500 would be accurate as of the ending date for Ruckman because if we’re going to put Philadelphia at 1500 to 1900, the Protestant Reformation was growing at that time. So that’s the fire. Even though they were dead Calvinists, but there were millions of Protestants who came out, so that’s a fire that’s growing.

So both timelines could work, depending on how you want to apply that spiritually. This is all a spiritual application to the spiritual church.

Revelation 3:2 “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”

“Be watchful,”

They’re not watching, they’re not keeping tags. That’s why there were a lot of doctrinal errors during that timeline. They were exposing the errors of the Catholic church system at that time but they had a lot of problems themselves that they weren’t watchful about.

Protestants even persecuted the Baptist (they were called Anabaptists at that time). They weren’t really good. Shamefully, Luther said one time that we got to burn all the synagogues of the Jews. It was anti-semite.

“and strengthen the things which remain,”

They have to strengthen what they had remaining. Like Thyatira, all they had was their last stand, their last works. That’s all they had. And God wanted them to strengthen what they had leftover.

“that are ready to die:”

It’s about to die out.

“for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”

Their works aren’t perfect. Only a name that’s alive, that’s the only good thing about them at verse 1. But their works are dead.

Both timelines were applicable because at that timeline they were so dead that it was doomed to go out. Protestant Reformation would be the exception, all the other followers were just getting scattered because the Catholic church was just rounding up people, killing them like flies. A lot of these people, Lollards, Hussites, etc, are extinct, they’re not here today. Only their last works were what kept them going but it was about to die out.

That’s why God’s Bible-believing truth had to move to different people because shamefully, one group of people could not continue it. And that’s something that you Christians better learn. One thing to learn from history is that no one group of people continue on forever. Why? Because of the next generation who messes it up. You don’t want to be the next generation.

Revelation 3:3 “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. 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.”

“Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard,”

They were supposed to remember the word of God that they received and heard from but they’re not applying it.

That’s why the Bible says be doers, not hearers only, deceiving your own self.

“and hold fast, and repent.”

God wants you to hold fast what you have and get right with God.

People don’t repent. You got to realize what’s going on in your life, if anything is dead in you, and get that right with God.

“If therefore thou shalt not watch,”

If you’re not looking out on Satan’s workings and Jesus’s coming and what’s going on around you…

“I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”

When Jesus Christ comes down for them, He’s going to do it like a thief. Because when a thief comes in, you don’t expect when someone breaks into your house, they have to do it sneakily without you expecting it. So when Jesus comes down and raptures, He’s going to do it like a thief and you’re not going to even know what hour He came.

This application is going to be applicable to the tribulation at verse 3. The doctrinal application is to tribulation here. Because the Bible says for Christians, whether we’re alive or dead (this church in Sardis was dead a lot spiritually), we will be raptured together with Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 4 told you if anyone believed in Jesus Christ, they will be raptured up to heaven. It doesn’t matter if your work is dead or alive. But Revelation 3 is a conditional rapture that you have to work or you’re going to miss out here.

In dispensationalism, there are 2 raptures. There’s one rapture for the Christians, and in the tribulation, they have their rapture too. How do you know the church is raptured before the tribulation? It’s explained at 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15.

Revelation 16:15 “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

Notice that this verse is already well underway at the tribulation, this is already deep into the tribulation at Revelation 16. God is telling them to watch, I’m coming like a thief. That’s His rapture.

Have you heard of the parable of the ten virgins? You’re going to find out that five were left behind at the rapture and five accompanied at the rapture. But this whole chapter is a tribulation timeline. Why? Because Jesus says tribulation all over Matthew 24 and He did not stop, He’s continuing talking at Matthew 25

Matthew 25:1-10 “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.”

Verse 3 – the Holy Spirit is represented as oil.
Verse 6 – the coming of Jesus, there’s His rapture.
Verse 8 – the foolish didn’t do it.
Verse 9 – the wise wouldn’t give the foolish their oil.
Verse 10 – the foolish went to buy oil for their lamp but it’s too late. So these saints went up to the marriage supper of the Lamb with Jesus Christ up in heaven while these other five were left behind.

Matthew 24:13 “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

That’s why He tells them to watch. They don’t know when He’s going to come at the tribulation. That’s why He told them to watch. It’s a conditional rapture where they have to work hard for Jesus because if they don’t work hard, then when they least expect it, suddenly He’ll come down and rapture those saints at the tribulation.