Jesus Christ Revealed: "To the Church in Sardis"

Revelation 3:1 (NASB):
“To the angel of the church in Sardis, write: The One who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says":

In the seven individual letters, we see the careful logic involved in deciding why each church received the section of the description that it did. Jesus Christ purposefully presented Himself to each of the churches in a way that would be historically and culturally relevant to them. The “self-descriptions” of Jesus Christ are not just general facts about His nature; they are specific pieces of revelation intended to deeply connect with the hearts and situations of these churches.

This is also how the Holy Spirit speaks to us through prophecy. In these letters, Jesus Christ delivers His prophecies in a very personal manner. He gives each church a piece of revelation regarding what He is like and who He is that is especially applicable to them in their situation.

Sardis: "The One who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars."

What does it mean for Jesus Christ to identify Himself first to the church in Sardis as “the one who has the seven spirits of God”? Based on the earlier use of this phrase in Revelation 1:4, it means that Jesus Christ has the fulness of the Holy Spirit. Remember, during His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ is noted to have the Holy Spirit "without measure - without limit {John 3:34}. He has the Spirit of God continuously. This is why He is said to have the Spirit without measure, or without limit. This permanent presence of the Holy Spirit, and the fact that Jesus Christ came from heaven, are important proofs that He is in fact God incarnate {John 1:1; Colossians 2:9}; He is God! 

In contemporary thought, the Holy Spirit manifests Himself in two ways continually: He inspires prophecy, and He gives life to what is dead. The “dying or dead” church in Sardis needs to hear and heed the prophetic warning in this letter (the running refrain in this and every letter: “Let the one who has ears, hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to the church”) and seek from Him the life-giving power.

We can also deduce, that “the seven spirits of God” involves a reference to Isaiah 11:2–3. Jesus Christ in the letter to the church in Sardis, is also asserting His status as the promised messianic king, who has seven spirits or qualities that are divine in origin and a source of blessing to God’s people. For the church in Sardis, this means that Jesus Christ as the messianic king offers to this dying or dead congregation the reviving presence of the Holy Spirit, which it desperately needs to live and thrive again.

We examined the meaning of “the seven stars” in detail in the letter to the church in Ephesus, so here we can simply review our earlier conclusion. The “seven stars” are “the pastors – leaders of the seven churches.” By asserting His control over the pastor of the church of Sardis, Jesus Christ asserts His sovereignty over the Sardis church itself. Jesus Christ’s controlling the seven stars (pastors – leaders) suggests that through them Jesus Christ controls the church, and he or she must answer to Him alone.