But thou hast a few names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, because they are worthy.
Sardis had a name for being alive, but the Lord saw death there. Even so, He points to a few people who had kept their garments clean — so what stains a garment, and how can anyone be "worthy" to walk with Him?
Numbers and influence were on the popular side at Sardis. The few had no public standing at all — so what did they have?
In Sardis the "few names" undefiled formed a company in whom the Lord could delight. In principle and in practice they were separate from the evil they grieved over. They walked apart from it. The weight of influence and numbers was with the popular side. The mass had a name in the world. The "few" were unknown, and had no official standing. But the Lord knew each one of them personally — He "calls His own sheep by name."
The Lord is counting persons here, not a crowd. Their stain is not gross corruption but something quieter: the world taken into the heart, and a life shaped to keep its company.
These "names" here mean people whom the Lord had counted up and knew each one by name. These are the ones "who have not soiled their garments." They had not gone on with the world, now that the professing church had defiled their garments. Sardis may not be charged with the seductions of Balaam or the corruptions of Jezebel. But her mind is set on earthly things, and she glories in her shame. ... What He speaks of here is the spirit of the world filling the heart as an accepted object, and the conformity to the world that follows, so that a person can walk with it.
The world outside is one source of stain. It is not the only one.
Not defiling their garments means that they had been kept untainted by the evils around them. James speaks of keeping oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27). Here it would not only be from the world. It would also be from the corruption inside the circle of God's professing people.
Notice what the Lord does not promise here. He does not speak of two or three gathered to His name; He speaks of a person walking with Him.
The Lord says of such, "They will walk with Me in white." Separation from the world has its blessed outcome in a walk with Christ. Still, the walk is a personal one. The Lord does not say they will know the blessing of that word, "Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them." He says, "they will walk with Me." Whatever their church connections, their practical ways suit the Lord.
All believers will wear white. So what marks these people out? One writer finds the answer not in the robe but in the walk that goes with it.
The promise is of white robes. Everyone else around me may be spotted, but I have a clean one. I have one on, because I have put on Christ. But what is this distinctive mark? Will not all be white? He says, "They will walk with Me in white." This is His perfect approval of them in the glory. It recognises them as keeping themselves unspotted now in the wilderness.
Where does this walk end, and what makes them worthy? One writer answers both, and traces the worthiness back to grace alone.
They had kept their integrity here; they would walk with Him there, in robes made white in the blood of the Lamb. That coming day will be a day of full reward, and of holy companionship with our ever blessed Lord. No thought of personal unworthiness, such as we feel now, will ever cast a shadow across the soul. For the Lord adds in His wonderful grace, "They are worthy." It is grace that reckons it so. Each one of this distinguished and honoured company is in himself worth no more than a "brand plucked out of the fire" — someone rescued from a judgment he deserved.
- Few — the crowd had the reputation. These few had no office and no fame, yet the Lord knew each one by name.
- Undefiled — the stain of Sardis was not scandal. It was the world welcomed into the heart, and a life shaped to keep its company.
- Untainted twice over — clean of the world outside, and clean of the evil inside the circle of God's professing people.
- Walking — the promise is personal, not made to a group. Separation from the world now leads to walking with Christ Himself.
- Worthy — all the redeemed wear white. Walking with Him in it is His open approval of a life kept unspotted. The worthiness itself is grace's reckoning over a brand plucked from the fire.
He that overcomes, *he* shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life, and will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
Sardis had a name for life, but the Lord judged it dead, and only a few there had kept their garments clean. To them, and to anyone who overcomes in such a place, He makes three promises: white clothing, a kept name, and a name confessed before His Father.
The three rewards match, point by point, what had gone wrong in the assembly.
The overcomer stands in contrast to the assembly at each point. The assembly had become a worldly mass; he had kept himself unstained by the world. So the promise is that he will be clothed in white garments. The assembly had a name to live but was dead; the overcomer really was entitled to a place in "the book of life." So the promise is that his name will not be blotted out. Again, those at Sardis who merely professed faith had a form of godliness but denied its power. The overcomer had truly confessed Christ in the middle of the general apathy.
The white clothing answers to the walk that came before it.
A few in Sardis had not defiled their garments. They had walked in practical separation from the evils around them. The Lord encourages them with the promise that their walk will have its fitting reward in a day to come. They will be clothed in white in the day of glory. The robes they wear in glory are woven in the path that leads to glory.
Revelation uses white robes more than once, and one of those places explains the picture.
In Revelation 4 and Revelation 19 the elders and the Lamb's wife appear clothed in white garments. In Revelation 19 the Holy Spirit gives His own interpretation: "the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints." That gives the clue to the white garments of our passage, since the promise points to a future heavenly condition. So the Lord promises that the fruit of overcoming will be shown and enjoyed in heaven.
Commentators read the book of life here in different ways. Some take it as the record of profession, listing real and unreal names alike.
"The book of life" here is not the same as that of Revelation 13:8. In Revelation 3:5 it is profession, which may or may not be real. The end would show. Some names would stand, others be erased. In chapter 13:8 every name recorded was that of a true believer, because those names were written from the foundation of the world, before human responsibility began. So chapter 3:5 gives the record of Christian profession; chapter 13:8 gives the record of reality.
Others hold that no name in the book of life is ever removed, and read the promise as pure reassurance.
Under law a name could be blotted out of God's book (Exodus 32:33). Sometimes a person has his name struck off a church register because of his faithfulness to God. But the book of life is a different matter. No name in this book will ever be blotted out, for only the elect are written there. Overcoming, by faith alone, would prove one to be elect of God. This promise is meant for the comfort and encouragement of faith.
Both readings meet at the same practical point: human registers and God's record are not the same list.
How many names held in high honour by Sardis, and written in its registers, would turn out to be mere lifeless professors, while the few names of those who had not defiled their garments were thought little of by Sardis, and even struck off its lists. Even so — whatever men might do — the Lord says, "I will not blot out his name out of the book of life."
The Lord's honour points back to how little the man's name counted among people.
Does not this high honour imply that before men the overcomer's name had been of little account, if not laughed at? And does it not show how great the Lord's approval is of one who boldly confesses His name in the middle of a lifeless profession?
- Name — Sardis had a name to live and was dead. Every promise here is about a name that is real.
- Garments — a real name shows in a clean walk now. That walk becomes the white clothing worn later: "the robes they wear in glory are woven in the path that leads to glory."
- Register — men can erase a name from their own lists. Commentators differ on whether this book records profession or only the elect, but God's record stands.
- Confession — a name of little account among men is the name Christ announces before His Father and His angels.
- Reach — the promise is for "the one who conquers". It is open to any believer surrounded by dead religion, however few and unnoticed.