3:1 John’s Christ again seems mindful of the city’s reputation while addressing its church. Sardis, once the leading city of the important Lydian Valley, is now a city of departed glory by the time John writes Revelation at the end of the first century. Following an earthquake that leveled much of the city in A.D. 17, Sardis struggled to regain its past stature with economic assistance from Rome. Because the city was well located at the western depot of the “King’s Highway” that began at Susa on the Persian Gulf, the success of its rebuilding campaign was tied to its well-known role as a trading center for the textile industry (cf. 3:4–5). Unfortunately, like its church, Sardis had a reputation of being alive, but it was really dead.

The promise of economic vitality is tied to the city’s …