LIKE A THIEF
Revelation 3:1-6
The Church That Was Dead – 1500AD to 1700AD

The other parts of this series are in The Bride folder.  

We left off last time where the Lord tells us that there are some that have not soiled their garments and they are the ones that will walk with Him in white (Rev 32:4). Let’s take a little deeper look at just what that means. 

Rev 3:5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

For those who overcome (repent) there are some critical promises. First, those who have a name that they live and are dead (verse 1) are blotted out of God’s roll of heavenly citizens but those who are faithful are not, and they will receive white garments from Christ as will those who overcome the stains of pagan society. Second, their relationship to Christ is guaranteed.  

It was a message that made perfect sense to the Sardians. A register of citizens was kept in ancient states and all names were entered at birth, only to be erased upon death. It was also a common understanding in the Old Testament: 

Ex 32:30-34 Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. 31 Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! 32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin — but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written. 33 And the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.

Ps 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, And not be written with the righteous.

 Isa 4:3-4 And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy — everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.

Dan 12:1-3 “At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Everyone who is found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.

For Jesus to make this statement is the strongest confirmation that death cannot separate us from Him. Look how firm His hold on us was expressed by Paul: 

Rom 8:38-39 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus further told us that: 

John 17:12-13 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

 John 10:28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  

Jesus promises that He will acknowledge the overcomer (nikoon; one who prevails, gets the victory) before the Father and His angels. He will acknowledge (homologeesoo; as in a confession before the courts) or confess that our relationship with Him is genuine and therefore insure our place in His coming kingdom.

But there are also some very stern warnings to ponder. 

Heb 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

First we are to let our conduct be without covetousness and be content with what we have. How hard does the world try and convince us that if we “only” had this or that we would be happy? How often are we tempted to covet “things” that others have and how often are we content to not only live “in” this world but to be a “part” of it?

Yes, Jesus said He would never leave us nor forsake us, but that does not mean we can go through life and not leave or forsake Him. This is a box that has many sides and one of those sides says that our security in Him is by faithfulness and can only be erased by disloyalty. This gets us into the issue of free will; something our creator has given us and never takes away. To the Christians in Sardis Jesus made a comparison to the fact that a person’s name could be removed from the city register before death if he were convicted of a crime.  

I have pondered Rev 3:5 and Heb 13:5 (along with a number of other challenging verses) long into the night. It was not until studying for this series that the Lord shed some light on the subject. It all began with His asking me a question: “I said I will never leave you nor forsake you. Will you leave or forsake me?“

That began putting it in perspective for me and when I turned to one of my favorite commentaries — Revelation by Earl Palmer — his summary followed what the Lord was revealing to me. Is this the definitive answer? How do we balance eternal salvation and the erasure of names from the book of life? I don’t have the answer and for that matter you will find in your study that no one does. On the other hand what Palmer has put into words rings true in my spirit because I have always had trouble with the concept of “greasy grace”… I said the prayer and I’m home free.

I have never seen the issue more clearly put in perspective: 

What is clear in this text is that God’s gift of salvation is received and heard, and it is kept by the faith of repentance (verse 3). It is, therefore, theologically irresponsible to theorize about a doctrine of grace that keeps our names in the great Book of Life against our will. The text is a freedom text. The letter to Sardis in no way diminishes the authority and saving power of Jesus Christ on one side, nor on the other side will this text allow the self-serving “easy-street” doctrines of general grace to reduce redemption into a general truth like the physical law of gravity. We simply must keep in biblical tension the all-sufficiency of Christ’s forgiveness and the vital importance of our repentance. That repentance must be a present reality. It is not a transaction that we are able to occasionally acknowledge as we would the illustrious victories and achievements of our ancestors. Our salvation is a daily, living, dynamic relationship.  

I have gone into this subject in more detail and will do so in my next book Wake Up and Rest. The whole subject of the solidness of our salvation is one the bride must fully grasp and understand. The Lord will not allow her to be lost and in some cases that entails some extreme measures. For us, it’s like Paul said; we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12). Not “works” but “work.” There is a big difference. 

Those who believe we need to “earn our salvation” by works miss the message completely. Our salvation is by faith in Christ and nothing else; no works on our part are involved. God left no room for our hands to be involved and taint what He perfectly completed in Christ. On the other hand “working out” implies that our salvation is truly a daily, living, dynamic relationship. Each and every day we “walk” out that relationship, allowing the Holy Spirit to chip away all that is in our life that keeps us from becoming “just as He is.” And one day we will achieve that goal as we see Him as He is. This Walk With God is a wonderful and marvelous adventure as we discover just what it means to have been “sanctified” (fully set apart for service) by His sacrifice. 

Rev 3:6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  

Once again we are admonished to not only hear but to understand what His Spirit is saying to His churches. As individuals we are challenged to hear what the Spirit within is saying and respond accordingly. He is the one who has come alongside to assist us down the sanctification road. It is a path that has many along the way and only the Holy Spirit knows which ones to take. There is no self-serving easy street.

Nowhere is there a better example of the melancholy contrast between past splendor and present decay than the church at Sardis. This letter is a searching message to the churches and Christians today that are full of activity and housed in beautiful buildings but are so often lacking in any real evidence of the life of Christ; eternal life. Christ’s word today is to “remember” “repent” and “obey” just as it was to the church in Sardis. When we take a position that is counter to the Word of God and choose to go our own way in opposition to the Word, continue down that road and fail to repent day after day, month after month and year after year, there will be a price to pay; rewards to be lost.

In closing take a moment and consider these words to Christians in Corinth, Galatia and Ephesus. There are things in this world that are to be watched out for and shunned: 

1Cor 6:9-11 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 

Gal 5:19-21Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

Eph 5:3-7 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them. 

 Strong challenges? Consequences? Yes, and we would be well advised to heed them and “remember” that we have not been left without the answer.   

Rom 8:37-39 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

2 Tim 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.  

Jesus will never blot out the names of those He has chosen that are faithful. But those who have made a profession in name only will wind up being blotted out should they not repent. A name without spiritual life attached to it will be blotted out by its own self-fulfilled, self-confident and self-absorbed life. To continue to rebel in the face of the love of Christ is to tread on shaky ground.

Have you noticed in these letters that the common theme is the one issue that is most important to Jesus? It is repentance and only His love for us is keeping the door open… but it will not remain open forever. None of us have the answer but Jesus’ words to the church at Sardis should be a wake up call. There is responsibility and accountability attached to our personal relationship with Him and they are not to be taken lightly. Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us… will we never leave nor forsake Him? Will we choose to live the life of a carnal Christian or will we stay in the Holiest Place; in the throne room at the feet of Jesus? To do otherwise carries a heavy cost…

Men cut themselves off from the root of their being, from God, and then life turns empty, inane, meaningless, without purpose.