Read revelation 3.1-6. In 3.1-6: The letter from the spirit possessor to Sardis: Awake. Sardis was an island city, prosperous in John's time but famous for its wealth. Its original mountaintop location was thought to be impregnable, but it was twice conquered in surprise nighttime attacks. In verse 3: The coming like a thief is a standard apocalyptic warning (Mt 25.42-43; 1 Thess 5.2), but here it is used in an individual and present sense rather than to refer to the end of the age. In verse 5: The white robes may have a sense of purity here, in contrast to the soiled clothes, but the basic meaning of white in this story is conquest, and it is in this sense that they are worthy. The book of life image is used repeatedly in Revelation (13.8; 17.8; 20.12, 15). The expression was also used by Paul (Phil4.3) and occurs in the late first century Jewish synagogue prayer: "May the Nazarenes .. be blotted out of the book of life." (Twelfth Benediction). The basic metaphor of God's keeping track of things in a book occurs in the Exodus story (Ex 32.32). Comments or Questions..
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