It Starts Small

While Jesus did not have anything good to say about the church, not all was lost in the church at Sardis. In verse 4 Jesus explains that a few faithful believers in Sardis had kept themselves pure. These few had avoided the corruption that permeated the culture. No stain of immorality and idolatry soiled their lives. Unlike their slumbering fellow Christians, this faithful minority had kept a watchful eye for anything and anyone that might cause them to stumble and fall into sin.

History before this, the original city had failed to maintain active sentry guards and paid a very heavy price for neglecting to protect the city. Because of the people’s arrogance and complacency, they assumed the city was an impenetrable fortress Thankfully, the faithful Christ followers among the church of Sardis had not fallen into the same error.

We need to be faithful and watchful. The apostle Peter urged believers to be:

⁸ Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.

1 Peter 5:8

Jesus promised the faithful believers and us that they would walk with Him in white garments because they were worthy. The while garments are symbolic of righteousness.

In verse 5, Jesus gave three promises to faithful believers who stay alert and awake:

He will grant Him white garments. Roman officials often wore white garments at festivals. It was a symbol of high honor. White clothing is given to the faithful believer to represent not only high honor but also purity and righteousness.

¹⁰ I rejoice greatly in the Lord,
I exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation
and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness,
as a groom wears a turban
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Isaiah 61:10

Jesus’ second promise to faithful believers who stay awake is that He will not blot the faithful believer’s name out of the book of life. This means the conqueror can be secure in knowing their name will never be erased.

²⁴ “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.

John 5:24

²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

John 5:28-29

Finally, Jesus then assures His faithful believers that He will confess His name before His Father and the angels. In a “public” ceremony in heaven, Jesus will acknowledge that these overcoming, enduring, faithful “conquerors” belong to Him.