Here are letters five and six. One church has nothing to commend it and the other has no problem.
Sardis, the Dead Church
Jesus introduced himself to Sardis in the same way that he did at Ephesus; as He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. It means having authority over the seven congregations.
Sardis has nothing to be commended for.
The problem: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent.” Rev 3:1-2
Have you ever been inside a dead church? I have, it had statues on the walls and it was deadly dull. I considered it to be an hour or two I’d never get back.
The church of Sardis is like a lamp that’s going out. They’re in danger of being caught by surprise at Christ’s second coming; “Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.” Revelation 3:3.
They’ve stopped working for the master, that’s what Jesus means by “not finding their works perfect before God.“
They’ve got a new master – Mammon. Have you heard the saying; “As rich as Croesus?” It goes all the way back to a king called Croesus who reigned at Sardis before the time of Christ. The gold and silver in the region made him very rich. Sardis is recorded in history as the place where modern currency was invented.
Jesus said you cannot serve God and riches, he added; “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon.” Matthew 6:24
We’ve all heard the saying, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” It’s not the money that’s the problem per se – it’s the love of money, and Sardis had lots of it.
There’s a proverb in Proverbs 10:15 that says; “The wealth of the rich is their fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor.” Sardis must come out of its fortified city in order to enter the Kingdom of God.
That does not mean becoming poor so that everyone is equal. Not everyone is equal! The strong should use their wealth to build the Kingdom of God, to build things that last and lift people up. For instance, they could build ethical businesses where the wealth benefits all in terms of the skills learned, the goods and services produced and the money multiplier effect.
Jesus said, “You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 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.” Revelation 3:4-5
The Book of Life
It’s scary to think that Jesus could blot out a name from the Book of Life. The names in the Book of Life have been written before the foundation of the world. You will find that in Revelation 13:8, where John says that those who worship the Beast have not been written in the Book of Life.
But it’s up to people to accept their citizenship. When Jesus sent out the twelve in Matthew 10, he said, “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 10:32
God loves His city, Zion. In Psalm 87:1-6, The Lord will record when He registers the peoples: “This one was born there.”
New Jerusalem is described at the end of the Book of Revelation. “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Rev 21:27
To get our passports if you will, we need to make that all-important confession that Jesus spoke of when he asked Peter “Who do you say I AM?”
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Romans 10:9-10
All men need to do it – confess Jesus’ name before the ink fades from the Book of Life.
In fact, we know that the person who refuses to acknowledge this truth is refusing to be saved! Jesus said, “If you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” John 8:24.
I hope you have made this confession. They are the most important words you will ever speak.
Philadelphia, the Faithful Church

“These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.” Revelation 3:7
The key of David is the key of a trusted servant, as portrayed by Eliakim in Isaiah 20:21-22. Twice an ancestor of Jesus, Eliakim is descended from King David through Zerubbabel, who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, and he is descended from Nathan the prophet. Eliakim as a holder of the Key of the house of David is a forerunner of Jesus.
A trusted servant to the king wore the key to the king’s house on a hook on his shoulder. Therefore, he had the authority to open or close the king’s house, and usher people before the King.
So Jesus is the trusted servant, the intermediary between God and mankind, and He has placed before Philadelphia an open door that no one can shut.
The commendation: “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.” Rev 3:8-10
This congregation kept His command to endure all the way through. Their love has not grown cold, they’ve not given in to the allure of money, and they’ve not been compromised by false teachers. They’ve kept the faith, even through persecution.
Despite being surrounded by the Ottoman Empire, the congregations of Philadelphia and Smyrna lasted until they were destroyed in the Greco-Turkish War in 1922, the year the Jewish homeland was to be re-established in the land of Israel.
The Hour of Trial
‘Since you have kept My command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have so that no one will take your crown.’ Revelation 3:7-11
The hour of trial is the time of the Antichrist and it relates to religious persecution. Jesus said; “A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” John 15:18-20
The Synagogue of Satan
Philadelphia and the persecuted church of Smyrna both had to deal with the Synagogue of Satan.
In the Jewish Talmud those who believed the Gospels were heretics. Followers of Jesus were slandered and had blasphemous labels applied to them. They were called heretics, idol worshippers, servers of idols, worshippers of stars and planets, amongst other things.
Jesus said, “They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.” John 16:1-4
When Jesus returns, those in the Synagogue of Satan will fall down at the feet of this congregation, acknowledging he has loved them.
Jesus has no problem with the Church of Philadelphia.
The reward
“Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.” Rev 3:11-12
‘Being made a pillar’ relates to belonging to the city of New Jerusalem.
Would you ever want to leave your home? We loved our house by the sea that God provided and considered ourselves fortunate to live so well in a country that has the most expensive housing market in the world.
Other people have been forced from their homes because of a greedy neo-liberal economic regime that allowed foreign speculation in our housing market, which in turn led to sky-high mortgages and rents. We’ve been turned into a nation of renters. Morally it’s wrong but there’s no law or political will to protect us from exploitation.
But people in war zones are far worse off than us. Many in the congregation of Philadelphia had to leave their homes because of war and religious persecution.
In 2014 the elders of the Assyrian Church in New Zealand came to our community, accompanied by an Aramaic speaking priest – an exile from Saint Matthews monastery near Mosul in ancient Nineveh.
He came dressed in the clothes from his monastery, a black cassock with a black and silver cloth cap called a skufia. Their ancient church, established by Jesus’ apostles Thomas and Bartholomew, had been torn out of the land by Isis.
Speaking the language of Jesus, he wanted us to know there was a church in Iraq and he told us through an interpreter how Isis soldiers marked the Christians’ doors with a spray can and told them to leave. To stay meant making the stark choice to convert to Islam or die.
The dispossessed Iraqi Christians ended up homeless, wandering in the desert, sheltering under bridges and highway overpasses. There were 100,000 of them, a scattered flock with nowhere to go.
In New Jerusalem, never again will they have to leave their homes. The city will be Philadelphia’s place of belonging and they will have a new name for themselves.
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The Keys of the Kingdom – true confessions at the Gates of Hell