Revelation 3:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

All men have a bodily ear, but only the spiritual man acquires the spiritual ear. Such an ear was possessed, for example, by the prophet Isaiah (Isa 8:5).

Only a few are able, in the hour of temptations, to confess the name of the Lord before men, because this is bound up with the shedding of one's own blood. But only blood that has been shed makes the garments of the soul white (cf. Rev 6:9-11).

What does the Lord command to be written to the angel of the Church of Sardis? Rev 3:1-6. More of rebuke than of consolation. The works of the Sardian Church are incomplete before God. What the Sardians received and heard when they were instructed by the Gospel preaching has been forgotten, or is not being fulfilled in their life. Therefore, if they do not repent, they may be subjected to sudden judgment and condemnation from God. Still, among them there are a few who have not defiled their garments. The victors over passions and temptations will be clothed in white garments. They will be written in the book of life, and their names will be confessed before the heavenly Father and before the angels. "Yet you have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments" (Rev 3:4).

Yet even in this Church there are people who did not yield to the common disposition. Therefore here on earth they preserve those virtues, or white garments, that adorned the Lord during His earthly life. They are fully worthy to be followers of Christ. In heaven these people will also be counted worthy of special distinction, and their names will never be blotted out from the book of citizens of the heavenly city. The Lord will always acknowledge them as His own.