Church in Philadelphia

Revelation 3:7-13 ““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 …”

Thematic Summary

Remain faithful, persevere. Although your lives are defined by instability from your brothers, from the government, from the economy, and even from the very Ground beneath you, remain faithful because Christ is your sovereign Judge and Savior and he is the only one who can make you stable.

Revelation Intro

Revelation 1:3 “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”

Historical Context

Description of Jesus

Revelation 3:7 ““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.”

Isaiah 22:20-25 “In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 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. And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house. And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.””

Eliakim is a type of Christ - a symbol, foreshadowing Christ, pointed out by Christ himself.

Eliakim means “‘my God will raise up’, ‘the resurrection of the Lord’, ‘my God, he shall arise’, or ‘raised up by God’,

Encouragement and Instruction

Revelation 3:8-10 ““ ‘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.”

Isaiah 60:14 “The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.”

Romans 11:11 “So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.”

“to test those who dwell on the earth”

Luke 18:8 “I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”” - at the end of the description for the great tribulation and the second coming, Jesus talks about remaining faithful and looking to find faith when he returns. this follows the testing of the faith through perseverance and endurance.

Command and Promise

Revelation 3:11-12 “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.”

Stefanos - victory crown, not diadema - king’s crown

Pillar that will not move contrasted with a city rocked by earthquakes. “he will not go out from it anymore” is a reference to the tendency of local citizens to reside in the plains outside of the city for fear of the earthquakes.

Dr. Herschel Hobbs - “If you were dragged into court and accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

(MZ) A thought that has haunted me recently is, how many days could I look back and say, I did nothing for Christ’s Kingdom today? How often does my life look no different than the world’s? and that doesn’t always have to be a totally immoral, Godless life. You can even live a good and moral life on worldly standards, without even mentioning the name of Jesus, without ever making a sacrifice for His kingdom. And how often do we do that? I know I have and do at times, and reading through the letter to the church in Philadelphia reminds me to strive to be like the Church of Philadelphia, and give the world a reason to persecute me because of my faith. Because there are many days, where I regrettably and not a Christ-follower worth persecuting.

(EH) For some of you, you have experienced what it is to stand before a judge and have been convicted of something. Many of you have experienced persecution, some of it justly and deserved, some of it perhaps undeserved. But how much of that persecution that we’ve experienced, great or small, is due to our witness for Christ? How much is it due to our own shortcomings, mistakes, pride, or selfishness? and when we’re persecuted for reasons other than Christ, how often have we tried to take matters into our own hands, come to our defense, take justice on our terms…and how often in doing so have we made things worse?

Universal Appeal

Revelation 3:13 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”