Sardis — the church with a name to live but dead

Full Rev 3:1–6. City history: twice-fallen acropolis (Croesus to Cyrus 547 BC; again to Antiochus III in 218 BC) — the city's history is a parable of complacency. Sparse commendation: a few names that have not defiled their garments. Rebuke: "thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." Promise: white raiment, name not blotted out of the book of life, Christ confessing the name before the Father.