DiggingforTruth

                                                    Modern  Protestantism
James Anthony Froude thus describes modern Protestantism: "Protestantism has made no converts to speak of in Europe since the sixteenth century. It shot up in two generations to its full stature, and became an established creed with defined boundaries; and the many millions who in Catholic countries proclaim their indifference to their religion, either by neglect or contempt, do not swell the congregations of the Protestant church or convent. Their objections to the Church of Rome are objections equally to all forms of dogmatic and doctrinal Christianity. And so it has come about that the old enemies are becoming friends in the presence of a common foe. Catholics speak tenderly of Protestants as keeping alive belief in the creeds, and look forward to their return to the sheepfold. While the old Antichrist, the Scarlet woman on the seven hills, drunk with the blood of the saints, is now treated by Protestantism as an old sister and a valiant ally in the great war against infidelity. The points of difference are forgotten. The points of union are passionately dwelt upon, and the remnants of idolatry which the more ardent Protestants once abhorred and denounced are now regarded as having been providentially preserved as a means of making up the quarrel and bringing back the churches into communion. The dread of popery is gone. The ceremonial system, once execrated as a service of Satan, is regarded as a thing at worst indifferent, perhaps in itself desirable. And even those who are conscious of no tendency to what they still Call corruption are practically forsaking the faith of their fathers, and re-establishing, so far as they can or dare, those very things which their fathers revolted against."

Sardis not only represents "those escaping" or "that which "remains" after the great apostasy and terrible persecutions of the Middle Ages, but some authorities believe that the word Sardis means "remnant" or "an escaped few," and therefore represents Protestantism after what was vital in it had evaporated so that there are only a few faithful ones remaining. There would be a "remnant" who would continue the work of reform even after the Reformation had waned and Protestantism in general was dead. There would be "a few names," or "a few souls" (Moffatt), in Sardis who had "not defiled their garments."

The promise is that during the decadence of Protestantism a few would maintain their loyalty and spiritual experience, even in a church that had more profession than vital godliness. In the beginning Protestantism was very much alive and acquired a name that has long outlived its spirituality. In Daniel 11:32-34 is described the days when men of God did "exploits" in breaking the papal power and ushering in the dawn of a new day for Christendom. This prophecy also indicates a later popularity of the movement that brought the Reformation to a standstill. Success brought feelings of pride and overconfidence, so that the church ceased to "be watchful." The various church factions hid behind man-made creeds and refused further light. They began to live on the names and reputations of their founding fathers and failed to watch, with fatal results.

"I have not found thy works perfect before God," is the divine indictment. Perfect as used here means "fulfilled," or "up to the mark or standard." "I have found no works of your perfected before my God" is the American Revised Version, and "fully performed" is the rendering in the Emphatic Diaglott. This indicates that the Reformation was started but not completed. It came to a standstill, and was not carried to its consummation. The good work of reform that was so nobly begun did not come to perfection, and Christ’s people were therefore not complete before God. The great truths which were "received and heard" were not appreciated and remembered.

The new spiritual life engendered by the message of the Reformers soon languished, and eventually ended in stagnation and death. With all the boasting and pretense of life there was little left except a hollow shell and a lifeless form. The great enemy had gained a victory on a new battlefield. He had entered the church in disguise and as a fifth columnist accomplished from within what he had never been able to do from without. Seiss declares that with this change Protestantism "was one step further in its process of ripening for ultimate rejection." (Page 184.)

The message to Sardis bears witness to a spiritual decline from a far better state. As in the Ephesian message, the Sardian letter applies chiefly to the close rather than the beginning of the period. It applies to the time when rationalism denied the faith of the early Reformers, and the church became deadened by cold formalism. Protestantism today is filled with members who are dead spiritually. There are still many works; in fact, they have largely supplanted faith, and have "become to the majority the all-important thing in religion. But dead faith can only produce dead works. Such works may reach the standard of man’s perfection, but they are not "perfect before God." They do not measure up to His requirements. The call to modern Protestantism is to wake up and become watchful before being overtaken by sudden and unexpected disaster.

                                               Further Reformation Demanded
The divine call is for a further or continuing reformation. Remembering the great truths of the Reformation of the sixteenth century and what they accomplished in liberating the world from the slavery of papal domination, the church today is asked to "hold fast" to the truths then revealed, and then "repent," or "reform." (Emphatic Diaglott.) The call is for a new or further reformation, for the finishing of the one that had been arrested by a second "falling away," or apostasy. There must be an awakening from spiritual death. "Wake up, rally what is still left to you, though it is on the very point of death." (Moffatt.)

A sleeping sentinel is considered a traitor. The same must be true of a sleeping minister or watchman of the church. No person can reach such a high pinnacle of Christian attainment that he is safe from the danger of falling and can with safety be off guard for a single moment. "Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" is the warning. Self-deception is perhaps the greatest of all sins. To boast of life when on the verge of death is a tragic state. The call of the Sardian message is to return to the spiritual experience and high standards of the reformers and founders of the church and then complete the work they had so well begun. The appeal is summed up in the statement, "Awake thou that sleeps, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Ephesians 5:14.

Because Protestants have lost much of what the pioneers had, they are admonished to remember the past glorious history and experience, and to return to "the faith once delivered unto the saints," but forgotten by their children. What marvelous doctrines the saints had restored to them by the Reformation, and what wonderful spiritual revivals have swept through the church from time to time since those days of spiritual heroes with their mighty exploits. It would be profitable for modern Christians to contemplate not only the work of Luther and his fellow Reformers, but also of the Wesleys, Whitefield, Knox, Finney, Spurgeon, and Moody. We need more of the faith and works of our fathers.

The similarity between the Ephesian and Sardis periods is striking. Both had a glorious beginning, with a corresponding spiritual decline to a condition of half warmness in affection and deadness in spiritual life. The Christians of both periods are therefore urged to remember the past and to repent and return to the love and faith and practice of their fathers. Because of the wonderful opportunities for advancement in knowledge and spiritual experience, the modern Sardians have no excuse for their back sliding state, and for them Christ has no praise or commendation.

As an incentive to watchfulness Christ said to the Sardians, "You will certainly not know the hour at which I will come to judge you." (Weymouth.) The Sardian period reaches to the time of the judgment and the coming of Christ. The secret coming of judgment "in such an hour as you think not" and as the visit of a thief in the night is referred to in Matthew 24:40-44; Luke 21:34-36. (See also 1 Thessalonians 5:3-5.) Just as the overconfident and self-satisfied citizens of Sardis were suddenly surprised and overtaken by judgments, so the religious world in general will be caught in an overwhelming surprise because of the failure to watch.

But there is to be a faithful remnant. Jesus declared that there are "a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments." The promise is "And they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy." Names here has the meaning of "persons" – "a few souls." (Moffatt.) They are the persons whose names are in the book of life. Christ knows His people by name. The reference may indicate a registry in the Sardis church typical of the registry in heaven in which the names of the saints are enrolled.

There will be a remnant in decadent Protestantism who will repent and carry the Reformation to completion. They will be watching and waiting when Jesus returns. Their character garments will not be defiled by sin. While Christendom as a whole will be unready for the crisis, a remnant will be prepared and saved. (Joel 2:32; Revelation 12:17.) There can be living souls even in the midst of a dead church. Garments soiled by sin can be cleansed by the blood of Christ and made "as white as snow." This remnant will walk with Christ in white in Paradise restored, "for they are worthy." They are worthy on the basis of grace and God’s acceptance rather than actual perfection as measured according to strict justice. The worthiness is relative rather than absolute.

                                                   The Promised Reward
The promise to the faithful remnant in Sardis is threefold. They are to be clothed in the symbolic white robes of victory, their names - will not be blotted out of the book of life, and Christ will confess their names before His Father and the angels. The Hebrews regarded holiness as a beautiful white robe that could be soiled by sin. When a white-robed priest committed a sin that disqualified him for the duties of his sacred office, his white garment was taken from him and he was given a black robe in its place. His name was also stricken from the sacerdotal register. In the Scriptures white is used as the symbol of both purity and triumph. (Zechariah 3:3-5; Revelation 7:13, 14; 19:7, 8, 11-14.)

It was the custom of the early Christians who were candidates for baptism to put on white robes and march in a procession to the place where the sacrament was ministered. This was the evidence to all that they had become Christians. This custom still prevails to some extent in the South among the colored Baptists. The white robe of our text is the robe of righteousness and glory worn by the redeemed and furnished by the Divine Host. We are told that the Lord is "clothed with honor and majesty," and covers Himself "with light as with a garment." (Psalm 104:1, 2.) The symbol is doubtless that of the glittering and dazzling linen garments worn by the high priest on important occasions. Of the transfiguration of Jesus we read: "His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them." Mark 9:3. The glorified saints are promised such a covering as they march in triumph through the gates of pearl into the celestial city and kingdom of glory.

In ancient Rome the white toga was symbolic of joy and victory, and black garments were symbolic of mourning and defeat. Black was worn by captives and slaves. Successful candidates for office were clothed in white robes by their friends and marched in a triumphal procession to their new official headquarters. On days of a Roman triumph all citizens were dressed in white and Rome was called "The White City." The victorious general and his staff wore white togas and rode on white horses or in chariots drawn by white horses. The poet Juvenal wrote:  "And now the imperial eagle, raised on high, With golden beak, the march of majesty; Trumpets before, and on the left and right, A cavalcade of nobles, all in white."

In Greek and Roman cities the names of the citizens were registered as in modern times. It was a special privilege to be a registered citizen and a terrible disgrace to have the name expunged, or blotted out, because of unworthy conduct. The blotting out of the name from the citizenship registry was the preliminary step to the execution of the sentence of death or banishment for life. The names of the spiritually dead members of the Sardis church could not be retained in the book of life. When the investigative judgment is over, only the names of the spiritually alive will be found recorded in the family record in heaven. The book of life is for the names of the victors in the warfare against evil. (Revelation 20:12, 15; 21:27.)

On the other hand the names of hypocrites and backsliders, together with their recorded good deeds, will be erased. (Exodus 32:32, 33; Nehemiah 13:14.) Either the name is blotted out of the book of life or the sins are erased from the books of record. Peter said, "Repent you therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." Acts 3:19. Only the sins of those who openly confess Christ as their Advocate will be blotted out. (Matthew 10:32, 33.)