Sardis was a city of former glory. About seven hundred years previously, it had been the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, and one of the greatest cities in the ancient world. Since then, it had fallen to the Persian King, Cyrus, who liberated the Jews from Babylon. Sardis fell to the Greeks under Alexander and was eventually passed to the rule Rome.

Its main claim to fame was the rich gold and silver deposits in the area. It was the first place in the world where silver and gold coins were printed. During the days of the Lydian kingdom, they discovered a way to separate gold and silver from one another. This ushered in an economic revolution, because previously it was difficult to trade with an allow of gold and silver, not knowing how much of each there was in any coin. Once Lydia could make coins of pure gold and pure silver, it made them reliable as a source of currency throughout the ancient world. It made Sardis and the kingdom of Lydia rich.

By the time of Jesus’ letter to the church in Sardis, the city’s wealth and glory was long faded. It was a place degeneration. It was a place which traded on its past reputation, but the present reality was a disappointment to the visitor. Since its glory days it had been conquered, first by the Persians and then by the Greeks. They were caught unaware on both occasions, thinking they were impregnable in their mountainside citadel.

The church seemed to mirror the city in this respect, with a lack of spiritual vigilance, hence Jesus’ command to ‘wake up!’ It appeared relaxed about heresy and so it was free from outside opposition in the city. The church seemed to fit so well into the pagan environment around it, that although it looked like it was full of life from the outside, in reality it was spiritually dead. Jesus’ letter came at the eleventh hour, urging them before it was too late. And perhaps the warning was heeded, because by the second century the city was home to the most prominent bishop in Asia, Melito of Sardis.