The city of Sardis is currently named as Sart. The people of Asia minor were the first one to mint coins. The coins were later adopted by Persians, Greeks, and Romans. There was evidence of coin minting in Sardi using the gold dust. Sardis was heavily damaged by the earthquake in AD 17, which was few decades before John received the revelation around AD 90. The emperor Tiberius spent ten million roman coins for rebuilding the city and gave tax exemption for five years. There was a large Synagogue discovered during the excavation in Sardis. This shows Jews were able to live side by side along with local citizens peacefully.
The below map shows the current position of Sardis and all other churches mentioned in Revelation.
All the three churches mentioned (Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea) in Revelation chapter three were judged by their deeds and asked to repent. There are times, we get into the perception of being right though we are far away from God. The routine things we do might keep us convinced by checking the checkbox of the Christian life. God calls the church of Sardis as “dead” even though the church thought they were alive. We do not have the clarity on what the church of Sardis had missed. But they were told to return to the truth they have received & heard and hence it is clear that they were falling away from the basics.
The city of Sardis was overrun by two kings in the past due to lack of defensive walls and once the city was burnt completely. Hence, they were aware of the context of someone entering the city and taking over suddenly. The below words of Jesus make more sense to men of Sardis than any other city.
“if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you” - Rev 3:3.
The city of Sardis maintained a public register to list the citizen’s name. If anyone’s name is removed from the public register, he would lose the citizenship. Jesus commends those who stood fast and kept themselves pure and promised to keep their names in the book of life (Rev 3:5). The book of life indicates the heaven's citizens list very similar to the citizenship record the Sardis maintained.
God weighs our heart. It's not our perception and traditions, which will keep our life straight before God. Only our relationship and closeness to God's presence will reveal the dirt and wrong coatings we have in our lives.
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