Faith in The Storm

In the Turbulent Storms of Life, Have Faith in Jesus.

Introduction Why do “bad” things happen to “good” people if God rules the world? Questions about suffering and loss such as this one have perplexed humanity. Suffering and pain have indelibly marked the human experience east of Eden. In the beginning, there was no cancer, COVID-19, or financial pain, as everything was “very good,” according to Genesis. Everything changed when sin and death entered the world.

Two things I say on repeat, "You're either in a storm, you have just come out of a storm, or clouds are on the horizon," and secondly, "Life will make you bleed." The longer we live, the more qualified we become to speak on the topic of suffering.

We sing, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." Yet sometimes, when the world seems to be in a chaotic crisis, resting in the Lord seems nearly impossible. With multiple wars, civil unrest, and violence on every news headline today, how can you turn your focus to the Lord and find your hope in Him? The proclamation to the church at Philadelphia is unique among the seven messages because it is composed almost entirely of Christ's promises to this church. With each promise, Christ includes the reason for the promise. The fundamental message of this proclamation is that God is with those who keep their faith in the storms. Revelation 3:7-13

Revelation 3:7–13 ESV

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. “ ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Scriptural Analysis The city of Philadelphia had a relatively small population in John’s day due to the fear of earthquakes, which plagued the city. Historically, the inhabitants had frequently been forced to move out of the city due to its instability. Philadelphia had been destroyed by an earthquake in A.D. 17, and even though it had been rebuilt, many people still were fearful about living in town and remained instead in the surrounding countryside. For this reason, the church there was small, though it remained a significant church in the region at least until the 12th century, and a small congregation is said to be in that location to this day.

Verse 7 In the Bible, “holiness” is the very essence of God, the quality that makes God what he is, different and set apart from human beings. It carries a sense of separateness from sin, exclusiveness, and uniqueness. The holy one, the true one: these are divine titles referencing Jesus.

The reference to Jesus’ messianic status is important here, for the Jewish Messiah belongs to Christians (both Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus), not to the Jewish synagogue that rejects Jesus. The Jews had expelled Christians from the synagogue, but Jesus has given them access to his presence and has shut out unbelieving Jews, and no one can reverse his decision. To Jewish Christians excluded from the synagogue, this was Jesus’ encouragement that he who rightly ruled the house of David, meaning He has the keys, now acknowledged them as his own people.

Verse 7 clearly alludes to Isaiah 22:22, which speaks of one with David’s key to open and shut, indicating full authorization to rule the house. The figure used in Isaiah 22 of the king’s representative, Eliakim, had the authority to rule the palace in the king’s name and carried the keys as the sign of his authority. Eliakim had the power either to admit persons or to deny entry into the king’s house. Jesus is claiming to have a corresponding power concerning admitting people into heaven. As a matter of fact, He tells the church that He has chosen to admit them: I have set before you an open door (v. 8).

Verses 8-10 Because the congregation of Philadelphia was small, its members had little resources and strength to oppose the forces of evil. Yet they had kept God's word and not denied His name (v. 8), while also having kept His command to endure patiently (v. 10). What high praise from the Lord!

Christ’s compliment includes three specific pledges: first, he had placed before them an open door that no one can shut; second, he promised that hostile Jews would one day fall down at your feet; third, he promised to keep the Philadelphian believers from the hour of trial that is going to come. Each of these promises can be understood in a variety of ways.

In their city, members of the Jewish synagogue had played havoc with the Christians. Of course, such Jews refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. They claimed to be the true people of God, but they were not. Their claim to be Jews was based on biology rather than on having the faith that Abraham had demonstrated. Thus, they had actually become a synagogue of Satan (just like their counterparts in Smyrna, in Chapter 2). They were liars in their rejection of Christ and his followers. Although the text does not directly say so, history reveals that these synagogues had closed their doors to, excommunicated, Jewish converts to Jesus.

These Jewish believers had been excommunicated from the synagogue for their faith in Christ. While the door to the synagogue may have been closed to them, Christ had opened a door that no one could shut. The door to eternal life stood open to them, and Christ held the keys. No one could keep them out if they trusted in Christ. They had shut the Christians out of their synagogues, but Christ says that he will force these people to come and bow down at the feet of his faithful people. Then, they will acknowledge that the Christians are the ones Christ loves. At Christ’s return, true believers will be vindicated.

I will keep you from the hour of trial: this is a promise that the believers in Philadelphia will not be defeated by the suffering that will soon come. This hour of trial is a time of distress and suffering. The great interpretive challenge here is whether Christ is promising to remove the believers physically out of the world before the time of testing favored by those who expect a “pre-tribulation rapture” for Christians. The more obvious meaning is that he promises to protect (“keep”) these believers from the experience of his final judgment and wrath. In John 17:15, Jesus prayed, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them.” Here, in verse 10, this uses the same Greek verb from John 17. Nowhere has Jesus promised his people removal from temporal distress and suffering of this world. A great illustration was God’s protection of the Israelites from the devastation of the plagues on the Egyptians without removing them from Egypt.

The promise is that God will keep them firm during hardships and calamity. Jesus' promise and prayer have always been He will keep you safe (protect you) in times of distress.

Verses 11-13 For the churches in Ephesus, Pergamum, and Sardis, Christ’s coming would be a time for them to fear if they did not repent, for he would come as their judge. To the church in Philadelphia, however, Christ’s words “I am coming quickly” would not be threatening. Rather, they would be a promise to the believers of his imminent return. The word “quickly” should be taken as “soon” or “without warning.” In the meantime, they should hold on to what have, referring to obedience and refusal to deny Christ.

This threefold promise pictures believers belonging to God, having citizenship in heaven, and having a special relationship with Christ. They will be citizens in God’s future kingdom. Everything will be new, pure, and secure. The language of being a pillar in the temple means believers are secure; they will never be dislodged from the coming new creation. No enemy will ever be able to harm them or remove them from God’s presence. Members of the Jewish synagogue in Philadelphia believed the true temple was in Jerusalem, but Jesus reminded the church that the true temple is the coming new world, the new Jerusalem descending from heaven, the place where God and the Lamb dwell. The “overcoming” is a present continuous process, but will have a termination, and then he who has faithfully fought the daily battle will be made a pillar, steadfast, immovable. Those who do overcome will not only be welcome in Jesus’ household, God’s temple, literally, but also figuratively, they will constitute the strongest part of it.

TODAY'S  KEY  TRUTH "In the Turbulent Storms of Life, Have Faith in Jesus."

Application In these letters, the Christian church faced opposition from Rome and the Jewish synagogues. We know the book of Revelation came to the Christian churches just before or at the beginning of a major persecution. We know by the time of the emperor Trajan, who was the emperor of the Roman Empire from AD 98 to AD 117, it was illegal to be a Christian. If anyone was accused of being a Christian, he was brought before the imperial governor. They were asked if they were Christians. If they said they were, they were asked to curse Christ and to worship the Roman gods or the emperor. If they did, they could be spared, but if they did not, they were tortured and executed. The book of Revelation was written to prepare the Christians for that situation. The simple fact of history is that things predicted in this book occurred and that this book actually prepared these churches. Revelation did prepare them to face it by calling each of the churches to faith in Jesus.

Looking back at what these believers faced, we learn some stark realities. Faithfulness to God cannot remain hidden in secret and naturally leads to actions that defy the oppressive systems of the world. Over time, our allegiance will not only stand out from the mainstream but also serve as a glaring critique of their godless ideologies. The world then looks at us with disdain and anger. The core of persecution and ridicule from the world toward believers is that we are unwelcome light in dark places.

This impacts how we face trials and storms. We cannot be completely at home in this world because, like the perpetual foreigner, we find ourselves negotiating trials and tribulations oriented to a different hope and guided by a different light than our fellow man. The promises of God provide believers with a different perspective on life's difficulties. That different perspective comes through faith.

Faith is not a vague spiritual sixth sense. Faith is an active confidence that what one does not presently see nevertheless corresponds to reality. Our faith in Jesus does not increase because we think about faith. Our faith in Jesus increases because we are more confident in Jesus. There is a real sense, in which Jesus intends every one of these introductions to these seven letters to build faith in him.

We see in these verses it says, “I have placed before you an open door because you have kept my command to endure patiently.” In the New Testament, an open door almost always means an opportunity for the success of the Christian message. Also, in the New Testament, the phrase "endure patiently" means "you have kept your faith in Christ."

Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and Colossians. An open door is an opportunity for the Christian message to spread and succeed in a community, a neighborhood, or a city. How’s that going to happen? He says, “The reason I’m going to open that door is because you patiently endure. You have kept the faith.” This is the irony. Jesus says the way you handle closed doors will open others. He says, “The reason I’m going to open that door, the reason people are going to see greatness in you, the reason you’re going to overcome, the reason you’re going to be able to win people over is because of how you handled the closed doors of your life.” In verse 10, he says, “You have patiently endured.” You have kept your faith.

"Do you know what suffering is, what many of the storms in life are? Closed doors. Maybe it's a closed door of career, closed doors of health, closed doors of relationship. You expected to be farther by this time in your career. You expected to be making more money. You expected to have more friends. You expected your family would be a Rockwell painting. You expected something more. Closed doors are the things that make you suffer, that hurt you. To the church in Philadelphia, Jesus says, “Because you have been so patient in handling your closed doors, I will open others.”

That’s a remarkable statement. Jesus is saying, “Suffering, storms are never for nothing. If you handle suffering properly, it will turn you into a great person, and other doors will be opened. If you handle closed doors right, I will use those closed doors in your life to open others.” Do you follow that? The failure in front of you, if you handle it properly, will turn you into somebody who will succeed in some other way. Without that failure, you could never have succeeded. How you handle the closed doors will turn you into the kind of people God can use in other ways. Greatness comes from handling suffering and enduring the storms of life.

This is an extremely important truth, something the Bible teaches and, frankly, something we can see in our experience. Even the pagan Greeks had a proverb, “pathemata, mathemata,” which means, “Suffering is education.” The fact is suffering will either make you a much better or a much worse person than you were before, but it will not leave you where you were. It will either push you into a far greater humanity or a far greater hardness, far greater wholeness, or far greater brokenness. It won’t leave you where you were. Suffering will make you better, or suffering will make you bitter. The difference is what you have your faith in.

"In the Turbulent Storms of Life, Have Faith in Jesus."

Conclusion Revelation repeatedly promises that a great reward will be given to those who are faithful to Jesus Christ. Even if our power is small, like the church of Philadelphia, even if our church seems insignificant, a door is opened for us that will never be closed. When suffering is unleashed, God will be with us. Those promises are not just meant for a time in the distant future. Those promises are meant for today. We must be so rooted and grounded that when fierce winds of opposition, rejection, and suffering howl into our lives, we stand like oaks of righteousness. We can have faith in Jesus during the storms of life and suffering because of the suffering Jesus experienced. Jesus was God Himself in human flesh, fully God, but fully man. In Jesus, God suffered. That was why He became one of us, to suffer for us and suffer with us. Even though He had no sin of His own, Jesus identified with us so completely that He took the burden of our inward brokenness. Jesus bore real agony, bled real blood, and died a real death. On the Cross, even He felt alone, when He cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” This is not a fable; it actually happened, and it is really true. That means no suffering is meaningless, because it is lifted up into His own suffering and redeemed. He paid the price that we cannot pay, He bore the burden that we cannot bear. He is deserving and has earned our faith.

"In the Turbulent Storms of Life, Have Faith in Jesus."

We live in a world that is challenging. Sometimes, it can feel like we are simply waiting for the next crisis. When we do go through hardships, whether they be financial troubles, painful relationships, damaged health, or questioning our self-worth, it is hard for us to realize that God is still always working in us. This is because, as humans, we form our beliefs based on what we see and not by faith. Having faith means we have confidence in Jesus, especially when we can't see.

"In the Turbulent Storms of Life, Have Faith in Jesus."

When we are burdened beyond our strength, we must not become bitter but instead allow our faith to make us better. For the Christian, we must see suffering as a trifold call to long for a better world, to seek to become a better person, and to live out a better witness.

We need to recognize that only in the new Heaven and the new Earth will these storms of life finally be stilled. Until then, it is a matter of having faith in Jesus and trusting He is wise and loving. When He doesn’t give us something, it’s because He knows it’s better for us not to have it. When He entrusts us with something that is hard to accept, it remains part of our lives because He looks upon us and gives us the privilege of bearing testimony in that circumstance to the reality of His goodness and grace. It is also an opportunity for us to be reminded just like it was with David, so it is with us: ”God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

"In the Turbulent Storms of Life, Have Faith in Jesus."