This is a continuation of the study of the Seven Churches of Revelation that began prior to the holidays. Now that the holidays are past, this posting picks up that study again with a passage of scripture pertaining specifically to the church at Sardis. I have titled this posting "The Bride of Christ, Part 1" rather than "Church at Sardis, Part 4" because this is important and relevant to all the churches, for the church IS the Bride of Christ...at least part of what we call the church is, as we will see in this posting. Jesus recognizes those that make up the church, those of His own body, perhaps better than we do.
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. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Rev. 3:4-6)
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. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Rev. 3:4-6)
Please keep in mind that these words are spoken to the "church" - those who profess to know Christ. Jesus is not speaking about the lost ("lost" is the biblical term for those who have never yet come to know Christ.) This fact is critical to this study of the seven churches. We must not attempt to transfer guilt onto the lost that belongs to the church alone.
Keep in mind, also, that what applies to the church that existed in Sardis over 2,000 years ago, applies equally to the modern church today. The things that Jesus spoke to John were not only for John's time, but were spoken prophetically to those in the future. And the things Jesus spoke were not only for the church collectively, but also for the individual believer: "...let him hear..."
Keep in mind, also, that what applies to the church that existed in Sardis over 2,000 years ago, applies equally to the modern church today. The things that Jesus spoke to John were not only for John's time, but were spoken prophetically to those in the future. And the things Jesus spoke were not only for the church collectively, but also for the individual believer: "...let him hear..."
Thus, the garment referred to referred to in the passage above is none other than Jesus Christ Himself; the white refers to the righteousness of the saints who are clothed in Jesus, and whose garments are further woven into fine linen by their own righteous works after knowing Jesus:
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:6-27)
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. (Rev. 19:7-8)
Those who have not defiled their garments of white will walk with Christ down the aisle during the wedding of Jesus to His bride, the church, for He is selecting for Himself a bride with virginal qualities, faithful to Him, separate from the world, blameless in all that she does, holy as He is holy: "For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." (Lev. 11:45)
Note that the bride makes "herself ready" implying some work on her part.
Her raiment is white, the righteousness of Christ, and she has not allowed the world, the flesh, or the devil to soil her garment which then becomes her wedding gown. She is a believer in Christ who has utilized the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the temptations of sin.
But what about those who believed in Christ, but have been overtaken by sin and so have defiled their garments? Listen carefully to what Jesus is saying:
"...a few names...have not defiled their garments....they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy."
If only "a few names" (which speaks of a "remnant") will "walk" with Him, then what happens to the others - those who have defiled their garments, and how did their garments get defiled? This is an important passage of scripture that has been neglected or passed over by the church today because it does not speak in "positive" tones. It is a neglect that has caused, and will cause, thousands, if not millions, of believers to suffer great loss in the kingdom to come, simply because preachers and teachers have neglected their duty to preach the WHOLE word of God. They pick instead those passages that cause very little or no discomfort to anyone, and thus a large part of believers (the opposite of a "remnant") will suffer loss for their lack of knowledge. The blame is not on preachers alone, however, as each believer has a responsibility to study the word of God on his own to make sure his salvation:
Before we continue, we must first understand the meaning of the word defile:
Those who have not defiled their garments of white will walk with Christ down the aisle during the wedding of Jesus to His bride, the church, for He is selecting for Himself a bride with virginal qualities, faithful to Him, separate from the world, blameless in all that she does, holy as He is holy: "For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." (Lev. 11:45)
Note that the bride makes "herself ready" implying some work on her part.
Her raiment is white, the righteousness of Christ, and she has not allowed the world, the flesh, or the devil to soil her garment which then becomes her wedding gown. She is a believer in Christ who has utilized the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the temptations of sin.
But what about those who believed in Christ, but have been overtaken by sin and so have defiled their garments? Listen carefully to what Jesus is saying:
"...a few names...have not defiled their garments....they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy."
If only "a few names" (which speaks of a "remnant") will "walk" with Him, then what happens to the others - those who have defiled their garments, and how did their garments get defiled? This is an important passage of scripture that has been neglected or passed over by the church today because it does not speak in "positive" tones. It is a neglect that has caused, and will cause, thousands, if not millions, of believers to suffer great loss in the kingdom to come, simply because preachers and teachers have neglected their duty to preach the WHOLE word of God. They pick instead those passages that cause very little or no discomfort to anyone, and thus a large part of believers (the opposite of a "remnant") will suffer loss for their lack of knowledge. The blame is not on preachers alone, however, as each believer has a responsibility to study the word of God on his own to make sure his salvation:
Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.." (2 Peter 1:10). [This being said by Peter at the conclusion of a list of things we believers are to do to add to that which Christ has done for us, one of which includes adding "knowledge" to our faith and to our virtue. Peter is not telling us to go get "worldly" knowledge; he is telling us to get biblical or scriptural knowledge by reading and studying the Word of God.]
Before we continue, we must first understand the meaning of the word defile:
To defile means to: make filthy or dirty or to pollute; to debase the pureness or excellence of; corrupt; to profane or sully (a reputation, for example); to make unclean or unfit for ceremonial use; desecrate: as to defile a temple; to violate the chastity of.
Please note that defilement must begin with something clean or white or unpolluted, something excellent, something unsullied. THEN, put in simplest terms, when defilement happens, the thing that was clean becomes dirty, or, as with a temple: desecrated, made unholy rather than holy.
If righteousness by faith in Christ produces white garments that we are clothed in, both individually and collectively as the church, then something must be done that is the opposite of that "righteousness by faith in Christ" - something which can defile that same white garment and make it dirty. There must be a lack of faith and surely that lack of faith involves not utilizing the Holy Spirit to overcome sin. These with defiled garments must be those believers who walk by the flesh (carnal Christians) and not by the Spirit; without the power of the Holy Spirit, they fall prey to sin, and grievous sin it is to the Spirit of God.
Many today will not believe this because to them grace covers all sin. But perhaps the whole word of God has something different to say about that if we would but search it in its entirety and believe that God has not changed from the Old Testament to the New. Perhaps, as I have said elsewhere, grace is that which brings us to the cross, and grace is that which helps us to overcome sin. Grace is also that which brought King David to his senses in his terrible sins against God concerning Bathsheba, yet David suffered great loss even after his repentance. What would have happened if David had not repented?
Because God never changes and the Old Testament is prophetic and fulfilled by (confirmed by) the New Testament, we must look for a moment at the Old Testament to understand that God has made a distinction about sin, and then we will find the confirmation of that fact in the New Testament.
If righteousness by faith in Christ produces white garments that we are clothed in, both individually and collectively as the church, then something must be done that is the opposite of that "righteousness by faith in Christ" - something which can defile that same white garment and make it dirty. There must be a lack of faith and surely that lack of faith involves not utilizing the Holy Spirit to overcome sin. These with defiled garments must be those believers who walk by the flesh (carnal Christians) and not by the Spirit; without the power of the Holy Spirit, they fall prey to sin, and grievous sin it is to the Spirit of God.
Many today will not believe this because to them grace covers all sin. But perhaps the whole word of God has something different to say about that if we would but search it in its entirety and believe that God has not changed from the Old Testament to the New. Perhaps, as I have said elsewhere, grace is that which brings us to the cross, and grace is that which helps us to overcome sin. Grace is also that which brought King David to his senses in his terrible sins against God concerning Bathsheba, yet David suffered great loss even after his repentance. What would have happened if David had not repented?
Because God never changes and the Old Testament is prophetic and fulfilled by (confirmed by) the New Testament, we must look for a moment at the Old Testament to understand that God has made a distinction about sin, and then we will find the confirmation of that fact in the New Testament.
Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. (Lev. 20:2) This is comparable to abortion today.
And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. (Lev. 20:10) This is clearly adultery.
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. (Lev. 20:13) This is the sin of sexual acts between partners of same kind, such as man with man, or woman with woman.
A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them. (Lev. 20:37) This is the sin of being a psychic or a witch, mentioned elsewhere in the bible is the sin of consulting a psychic or using witchcraft.
Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death.. (Exodus 31:14). This is the sin of not keeping holy - meaning separate from the world's ways -the Sabbath (Friday evening to Saturday evening).
Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death.. (Exodus 31:14). This is the sin of not keeping holy - meaning separate from the world's ways -the Sabbath (Friday evening to Saturday evening).
These are only a few of the sins that brought death in Old Testament times, and because no sacrifice was provided by God to cover them, the participants of these sins were simply destroyed physically. to remove the unholy from the holy. They were put to death because these sins were worthy of capital punishment.
But there were sins that were lesser sins in the eyes of God Himself that He allowed to be covered (or cleansed) by a sacrifice. These included sins of ignorance. But willful sins of the first magnitude (those in the partial list provided above) were not covered by sacrifice. They were not sins of ignorance because God made sure they knew the Law, which clearly stated what was sin. God made sure man knew which sins brought capital punishment, and which did not; similar to the laws of our land today. In fact, the laws of our land were first established upon biblical precepts.
The Roman Catholic church identifies this distinction in sin as mortal sin and venial sin. According to the Catholic church, a mortal sin is an unpardonable sin entailing a total loss of grace; "theologians list seven mortal sins;" while the term venial denotes a sin that is not regarded as depriving the soul of divine grace. According to the Catholic faith, those sins that brought about a "total loss of grace" required the deceased soul to be "purged" or "cleansed" through the fires of purgatory, a place of making holy once more before being allowed to enter heaven and reside in the presence of God. Venial sins could be done away with by the "penance" of prayers, i.e., so many Our Fathers and so many Hail Marys. And, of course, there were many who self-determined that they specifically were worthy of worse penance and these became known as the "Penitentes" doing things such as crawling for miles on their knees towards a church or shrine of some sort; these were "self-punishers."
I am not at all suggesting that the bible speaks of such a thing as "Penitentes" or "purgatory;" this is Catholic "dogma" (dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted). But I do believe that the Catholic church had some understanding that might have come from the earliest church, but that they went too far with resolution of this issue in their dogma.
For there does seem to be something important in the words of Jesus concerning this church at Sardis that we Protestants are not quite getting, something we have passed over rather than search out, something that shows a distinction between those saved who have not sullied their garments, and those saved who have sullied their garments.
And I believe it might be about a distinction in sin AFTER we have been saved, not BEFORE we have been saved, because BEFORE we were saved we did not know the law, but AFTER we are saved, we do know, because we have the Holy Spirit to tell us and He speaks to us of the very things contained in the Law. He does so because He is God and God created the very Law by which He holds us accountable once we have attained knowledge.
No, we are not stoned for those sins today, but God has not changed in His attitude toward those sins...and His justice requires some sacrifice for ALL sin, even those willfully committed once we know better. In David's case, he not only lost his newborn son, but violence remained in his own household, bringing David much sorrow.
The work of Jesus on the cross covers all of our sins before we came to know Him, before we came to understand the law of God, and I believe that His grace covers those sins that we commit unknowingly or in ignorance. But sins that are committed willfully once we know better, specifically sins having to do with the body, as Paul denotes, (the body being the very temple of God in saved believers), take the grace of God through the work of Jesus on the cross and count it as nothing of much importance.
And for those sins, the bible states, those believers (those with sullied garments) are treated differently than those with unsullied garments who walk down the aisle with Christ at the Marriage of the Lamb. For the others, a loss will be suffered, if only the loss of not walking down the aisle with Christ. That much, at least, is perfectly clear from the scripture passage at the beginning of this posting. But how is it possible for the whole church not to be the bride? And what happens to those other believers who are not part of the "few"?
As this posting is quite long already, I must continue in the next posting at which time we will look for confirmation in the New Testament of things mentioned here.
But there were sins that were lesser sins in the eyes of God Himself that He allowed to be covered (or cleansed) by a sacrifice. These included sins of ignorance. But willful sins of the first magnitude (those in the partial list provided above) were not covered by sacrifice. They were not sins of ignorance because God made sure they knew the Law, which clearly stated what was sin. God made sure man knew which sins brought capital punishment, and which did not; similar to the laws of our land today. In fact, the laws of our land were first established upon biblical precepts.
The Roman Catholic church identifies this distinction in sin as mortal sin and venial sin. According to the Catholic church, a mortal sin is an unpardonable sin entailing a total loss of grace; "theologians list seven mortal sins;" while the term venial denotes a sin that is not regarded as depriving the soul of divine grace. According to the Catholic faith, those sins that brought about a "total loss of grace" required the deceased soul to be "purged" or "cleansed" through the fires of purgatory, a place of making holy once more before being allowed to enter heaven and reside in the presence of God. Venial sins could be done away with by the "penance" of prayers, i.e., so many Our Fathers and so many Hail Marys. And, of course, there were many who self-determined that they specifically were worthy of worse penance and these became known as the "Penitentes" doing things such as crawling for miles on their knees towards a church or shrine of some sort; these were "self-punishers."
I am not at all suggesting that the bible speaks of such a thing as "Penitentes" or "purgatory;" this is Catholic "dogma" (dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted). But I do believe that the Catholic church had some understanding that might have come from the earliest church, but that they went too far with resolution of this issue in their dogma.
For there does seem to be something important in the words of Jesus concerning this church at Sardis that we Protestants are not quite getting, something we have passed over rather than search out, something that shows a distinction between those saved who have not sullied their garments, and those saved who have sullied their garments.
And I believe it might be about a distinction in sin AFTER we have been saved, not BEFORE we have been saved, because BEFORE we were saved we did not know the law, but AFTER we are saved, we do know, because we have the Holy Spirit to tell us and He speaks to us of the very things contained in the Law. He does so because He is God and God created the very Law by which He holds us accountable once we have attained knowledge.
No, we are not stoned for those sins today, but God has not changed in His attitude toward those sins...and His justice requires some sacrifice for ALL sin, even those willfully committed once we know better. In David's case, he not only lost his newborn son, but violence remained in his own household, bringing David much sorrow.
The work of Jesus on the cross covers all of our sins before we came to know Him, before we came to understand the law of God, and I believe that His grace covers those sins that we commit unknowingly or in ignorance. But sins that are committed willfully once we know better, specifically sins having to do with the body, as Paul denotes, (the body being the very temple of God in saved believers), take the grace of God through the work of Jesus on the cross and count it as nothing of much importance.
And for those sins, the bible states, those believers (those with sullied garments) are treated differently than those with unsullied garments who walk down the aisle with Christ at the Marriage of the Lamb. For the others, a loss will be suffered, if only the loss of not walking down the aisle with Christ. That much, at least, is perfectly clear from the scripture passage at the beginning of this posting. But how is it possible for the whole church not to be the bride? And what happens to those other believers who are not part of the "few"?
As this posting is quite long already, I must continue in the next posting at which time we will look for confirmation in the New Testament of things mentioned here.
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