A Deeper Dive Into the Book of Revelation - Part 68
When Jesus dictated His message to the church in Sardis, the church was dead, as many churches are today. To the Sardis church, and to all churches in similar conditions, Jesus sends a wake-up call.
“I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.”—Revelation 3:1-3 (NLT)
This message was particularly directed at the Church coming out of the Dark Ages. Satan had stolen the True Gospel message from the Church and had deceived the people into believing a false gospel.
The Church had been made up of Wheat and Tares for many generations, but during the Dark Ages, the Tares (children of the devil) had taken over leadership of the Church from the Wheat (children of God) and had replaced the true church and the true Gospel with a false church preaching a false gospel.
Paul warned the elders in Ephesus of these Tares among the Wheat:
“For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.”—Acts 20:29-31 (NKJV)
Jesus warns the slumbering Church to “Wake up!”
When we look back through Scripture, we see that bad things happen to the Church when the disciples slumber and sleep.
It was while men slept that tares were sown among the wheat by the enemy in Jesus’ parable in Matthew 13:25.
Jesus implored his most trusted disciples to watch and pray with him in the garden of Gethsemane.
“Keep awake and watch and pray [constantly], that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”—Mark 14:38 (AMPC)
But these disciples slept at a time when it was crucial for them to be awake, watching and praying. Only a few hours later, every one of these disciples abandoned Jesus, and Peter betrayed his Lord.
In the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25, the foolish virgins slumbered even though they had not yet prepared themselves to meet the bridegroom. When the bridegroom came, they were not ready to meet him, and they were shut out of the wedding celebration. Everything they had been waiting for was lost.
“I passed by a lazy person’s field. I went by the vineyard of a man who had no sense. Thorns had grown up everywhere. The ground was covered with weeds. And the stone walls had fallen down. I thought about what I had seen. I learned this lesson from what I saw. You sleep a little; you take a nap. You fold your hands and rest. Soon you will be poor, as if you had been robbed. You will have as little as if you had been held up.” —Proverbs 24:30-34 (ICB)
Today, even as in the days of the Sardis church, many of us slumber lazily, not realizing the lateness of this hour in which every moment counts!
“All you beasts of the field, come to devour, All you beasts in the forest. His watchmen are blind, They are all ignorant; They are all dumb dogs, They cannot bark; Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, they are greedy dogs Which never have enough. And they are shepherds Who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, Every one for his own gain, From his own territory. “Come,” one says, “I will bring wine, And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink; Tomorrow will be as today, And much more abundant.” —Isaiah 56:9-12 (NKJV)
