The Church in Philidelphia
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Revelation 3:7-13
Revelation 3:7-13
Recap series
Something to remember about this book and these letters is that they were not written to strike fear or cause churches to fight over its interpretation. It was written specifically to groups of people or churches in 96 AD to give them courage and hope. This was a book meant to bring them to a place that they would stay strong in the face a severe persecution. This more that anything was meant to be a book of hope from Jesus to His church. More on why that is important later.
Historical facts
Philadelphia located 28 miles southeast of Sardis.
Eumenes II, King of Pergamum, built this city and let his very loyal brother Atallus II, rule the city in 2nd century BC.
Hence the city came to be known as Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love
Area known for fertile group that was great for growing grapes and making wine.
The city was in an earthquake and volcano zone. Residents of Philadelphia had to stay quick on their feet and mobile because of the constant threat and reality of earthquakes.
In fact, in 17 AD, large areas of the city were destroyed by an earthquake. Two interesting things happened after that that Jesus references to.
The people became nervous about living in the city and it was common and normal for people to flee the city quickly and often at the slightest tremor or aftershock. Some people even went so far as to leave every night and sleep somewhere else out of fear.
The city was recently rebuilt after the 17 AD earthquake. Caesar had sent a lot of aid and money to help rebuilt the city. And in return for that, the city was given a new name, Neo-Caesarea, meaning city of Caesar.
Let’s go through the passage again, kind of slower. But first, I want to tell you about this message being a little different. There is a main point to this letter and we will talk about it but honestly, it wasn’t the main part that stuck out to me. Its been a challenge that has been on my heart all week and honestly, I haven’t worked it all out. Its something that the Lord is obviously working on my heart and I want to talk about it but this is going to be one of those instances that I will prove that I am a human and don’t have everything figured out. I know what the Lord is challenging me with in these passages but I don’t have it figured all the way out!
Let’s go through the passage a little slower and see what we can glean from the letter.
Vs 7 “the holy one, the true one,” Jesus is the only one who can make such bold and confident statement about Himself. What a powerful opening statement of fact that gives the one speaking undeniable authority.
Jesus also refers to Himself as “who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.” This is a reference back to a prophecy in Isaiah 22:22
And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
This also references back to 1:18 when Jesus tells John that He has the keys to Death and Hades.
There is little question that the keys of the house of David is a reference to the Kingdom of God.
Jesus is identifying Himself here as the one who has the keys to open the door to eternal life. He is the gate. He is the one who shuts the door. He is the way. He is the only way. He has been given that authority. He has the power to allow admittance and deny admittance. Jesus is saying that I have that authority and it is I that write this letter.
Like so many letters before, Jesus starts in verse 8 with “I know your works.” Again, this is Jesus’ expression of having personal and intimate knowledge of all that is happening to them and through them. This is not an “i’m aware”. It’s an “I KNOW....”
Next part about open door.
The reason that Jesus opened with His authority becomes clear with what many describe as the main point of the letter to the church. Jesus is saying to them, that He has opened a door before them. Its obviously a door that no one can shut and no one other than Jesus can open.
There are two ways that this door can be interrupted.
The first in the door of salvation. As we were talking about a few minutes ago. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Jesus. He hold the keys to heaven and eternal life. He gets to open and close the door.
And Jesus is encouraging these believers that He has opened that door for them. He is giving them hope that they are doing the right thing. They are staying the course.
Jesus goes on to say that through they maybe a small and not powerful church, they have kept His word and not denied His name.
They have obviously remembered their first love. They have obviously not allowed or tolerated false doctrines of compromise in their church. They have kept His word and not denied His name. They have stayed the course.
And Jesus is saying, that He has opened the door to eternal life for them.
The 2nd interpretation of the open door is that Jesus has opened a door of opportunity for their ministry in their town.
We see the open door of ministry referenced multiple times and multiple places throughout the NT. From Acts, both letters to the Corinthians, and Colossians.
This could be a place where both interpretations are correct. Though this church is small and not very powerful, there is still an open door for their ministry and them reaching the lost. Though they maybe persecuted by the Jews in the city, Jesus has given them an opportunity to do the work of the Kingdom of God there.
I think that interpretations have merit and are not wrong.
Next, Jesus echos what He said about the congregation of Jews to the church in Smyrna. He says that they belong to the synagogue of satan. Like Smyrna, the Jews were the main source of persecution of the church. In fact, one of the things that they would do is lock them out of the synagogue and not allow them to worship there. Once again, Jesus’ use of the open door metaphor is very appropriate for this church.
Jesus reinforces the truth in Philippians 2:9-11
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
One day, when the book are open and Jesus separates the sheep from the goats, these Jews will see that this church was faithful and that the love of God is on them.
I think it important for us to know and understand that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, still today. He has the authority to open the doors of eternity for you and for me.
You may say that that is very narrow minded of us. In a world today that is preaching so many different versions of the gospel, it is vital to go back to the words of Jesus. I didn’t say they He is the way, Jesus is the one who said that He is the way. And at least there is a way.
He didn’t have to make a way but His love for us, drove Him to make a way for you and for me to walk through the open door of eternal life.
Discuss the earthly plane and God plane.
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
You just have to believe that Jesus took that step and provided that path and make Him the Lord of your life, and you will be saved. that door to eternal life will be opened for you.
My prayer is that if you have not acknowledged Him as Lord and Savior of your life then I pray that this would be the day you would know, that you have eternal life.
If that is you today, after the service, I would love to talk to you about how you can know where you are going to spend eternity.
Now, to the second part of this message that I have been battling with in my heart and head all week.
The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
Now, remember, these letters were meant to be words of hope and encouragement to these churches. These were the perfect words of Jesus that spoke specifically to these people at this time.
Reread verse.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star.
The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
i must confess, that I hear these verses that are the perfect words of hope and encouragement to these churches and I don’t know that these would be the words of hope and encouragement to me if I was going through these situations. I would even go so far as to say that even the situations that I face today, these words offer little hope and encouragement to me.
My heart and mind has been warring with these verses all week and I am struck by my own ability to not value the eternal things over the temporal things in life.
I’m struck and convicted that I would much rather have Jesus say, “I will take care of your financially. You will be successful at your career. Your family will stay healthy. Your car won’t break down. Your family will stay safe.” I am convicted that I would much rather Jesus give me hope and encouragement about the things on this side of eternity.
But Jesus words are perfect.
This has revealed to me two things.
One, is that my heart treasures the wrong things.
Matthew 6:19–24 (ESV)
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Money there, is the word Mammon or earthy wealth or possessions.
I must confess that my heart treasures the things of this world more. My heart finds more value in the things of this world that are temporal over the things of the Lord which are eternal.
This passage talks about the things that we set our eyes on are either going to fill us with light or darkness. The things of this world are going to fill us with stress, worry, anxiety and darkness. But if we fix our eyes on the things that are eternal, that can not be stolen or destroyed, we will open our hearts and minds to perfect hope and encouragement.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
When we look at the eternal and trust Him with the temporal, we will see that the weight of the eternal is so glorious in comparison.
Listen again to these perfect promises of eternal glory through this lens of looking towards eternity.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star.
The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
To the church in Philadelphia, Jesus says I will make you pillars in the temple of God. These people who had heard about the destruction of the temple in 70 ad (a mere 16 years prior). These people who had been cast out of the local synagogue are receiving the promise that they will be moments, staples in the temple of God. They will never have to leave. They wont be cast out. Discarded. They have a secure place in God’s temple, forever in the presence of the Almighty God. Jesus opened the door and nobody will close it. They will receive a new name, they will live in a new city with a name that doesn’t honor Caesar but honors God.
He is saying that all the pain you feel here, will be relieved in eternity. All the ways that you have been cast out, in eternity, you will never been cast out. All of the ways that you suffer here, will be satisfied in eternity. Have hope! This world is temporary. Set your eyes on eternity! Its not perishing. It is eternal.
I believe that it is the Lord’s will that His church should be full of people like this. Full of people whose hearts treasure things not of this world. But who put their hearts on things of heaven.
When we’ve been there, 10,000 years, the bright shining as the sun, when we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise then when we first begun. We aren’t going to be thinking about the things of this earth. We aren’t going to be wishing that we were more successful in business. We are going to be wishing that we had acquired more earthly wealth. I do think that we will wish that we had valued the eternal things, the eternal promises, the eternal hope more that we had.
Honestly, I don’t have this thought fully formed or understood in my heart. I don’t have this lesson fully applied to my mind and eyes. But i feel like that is where the Lord has had me all week. and I pray that it means something to you too.