79. THE CHURCH IN SARDIS

79. THE CHURCH IN SARDIS

Revelation 3:1. “The church in Sardis”

The inspired writer may have again used a play on the Greek word by using Hebrew meanings for the name Sardis as he also does with the other names of the seven churches. The Greek word Sardis sounded much the same as the Hebrew word sərâd with the Greek suffix. By using the Hebrew meaning he drove home the message he had for them. The meaning of the word sərâd is: "A kind of cloth or stuff, like a coat of mail, made of threads by means of needles ... of this the curtains of the tabernacle were made ... (Exodus 31:10)."*

Brown-Driver-Briggs defines sərâd as "plaited or braided work (... textile stuff, curtains).”

So there is an emphasis here in the message to the Church in Sardis on textiles, cloth, garments, curtains, raiment. Textiles are referred to in 3:4-5: “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”

Revelation 19:8, speaking of the Bride: “And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.” Only a few of the Church in Sardis were fit to wear the garments of the Bride.

Revelation 3:4-5 also reflects the concern for the sacred priestly garments which were ordained to be worn only by the High Priest, Exodus chapter 28. These sacred garments had become a burning issue in the first century for when Herod became king he took the sacred garments into his own custody. He locked them up under his own seal instead of allowing the priests to have charge of them. This passage in Revelation 3:4-5 shows that the true priestly garments, the robe of righteousness, is in the custody of Jesus and worn only by His saints.

The rule of Herod, the Idumean, was a critical juncture in the history of Israel for it marked the first foreigner to be king of the Jewish nation, as such, fulfilling Genesis 49:10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” For the saints, Herod’s rule meant that it was time for their Messiah to come.

­­Eusebius says: “With him [Herod] the succession from Moses of Jewish rulers and governors came to an end.” The kingship of the Davidic line had ceased and the last of the legal High Priests had also been deposed many years earlier, so that selection of the priesthood and kingship had both ceased to follow the Biblical prescription. From that time until the destruction in 70 AD the kingship and priesthood were both political appointments by the ruling empire, Rome.  It was no longer a nation under God.

*Gesinius Lexicon. 
 This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book, Revelation In Context, available at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma and also available online at www.amazon.com or www.xulonpress.com. Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net.