Revelation 3:7-13 - The Church in Philadelphia
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
If you have your Bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of Revelation chapter 3.
Of the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation,
there are only two letters that include no word of rebuke.
No word of correction.
Only words of encouragement and hope.
How sweet it would be to receive a letter from Jesus and it only be words of encouragement and promise.
That is the case ofJesus’ letter to the church in Philadelphia.
It stands as a contrast with the letter that comes just before.
While the church in Philadelphia receives only encouragement and hope.
The church at Sardis we looked at in the previous passage received only rebuke.
The irony that I think we are meant to see as the two letters and the two churches sit side by side…,
Is that Sardis who received rebuke had a reputation for being an alive church,
a more powerful, and influential church.… yet they received a strong rebuke…,
While what we will find in the description of the Philadelphia church…,
is that they are a relatively weak, perhaps a small church…,
yet they receive strong encouragement and affirmation.
We are being told something even in the positioning of these two churches side by side…
We are being told…, things are not always as they seem.
Christ Jesus with his flaming eyes looks upon the reality of the world
and he assesses churches and individuals differently than perhaps we assess ourselves and others.
His ways are so often not our ways.
So what is Jesus’ criteria for a faithful church?
And what does the small but faithful church need to hear from Jesus so that they might continue to persevere through the many trials and tribulations?
Let’s read verses 7-13 and then pray for understanding.
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.
8 “ ‘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.
9 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.
10 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.
11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
12 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.
13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Lets Pray
“I know that you have but little power.”
It’s a unique phrase…, not used in the other letters to the other churches.
Its certainly true of every church that Jesus writes to.
We all have but little power.
But why acknowledge it here.
My best guess is that the Philadelphian church must have uniquely felt their smallness.
They must have uniquely felt their weakness.
Their incapability
when it came to the overwhelming obstacles in front of them.
Have you ever found yourself as a Christian feeling the wait of what seems to be an insurmountable spiritual battle.
Perhaps its a personal battle with your own temptations…,
your own ailments,
your own emotions.
Perhaps its a relational battle that seems irreconcilable.
Or maybe you have experienced a sudden awareness of the spiritual darkness around you.
I have had these moments in my life where God pointedly interrupts the mundane ordinary pattern of my thought life…,
and he presses upon me the spiritual reality of the people all around me.
This sometimes will happen to me at big gatherings like a Mardi gras parade or a big football game…, and there is a moment where I look around and just begin to notice individuals grasping for a good time any way that they can
and I begin to wonder just how many people around me have any kind of relationship with the God who created them…
I begin to wonder if they have any kind of hope beyond this life,
any kind of assurance of forgiveness and love and purpose in life and purpose in their suffering.
In those moments, the need around me presses in on me in an almost paralyzing way….
Because at the same time that the need around me becomes clear
so does my own weakness
My own helplessness
Today at 5:00 PM… many of us are going to go prayer walking through neighborhoods in St. Rose and Destrehan…,
and If we are doing it right…, it will produce in us a deeper awareness of our own weakness.
As we walk through neighborhoods, some of which include thousands of people, we should feel a bit inadequate for the task of sharing Jesus with them.
We should feel a bit of what the Philadelphian church felt…
we have little power…,
And if we do feel that…,
we might actually be in a place where Jesus is pleased to empower us For his glory.
Its the church that recognizes their own weakness that Jesus commends here.
So what is Jesus’ word to those believers who acknowledge their own incapability?
Well there are only two types of commands in this letter.
The command to Behold is given three times.
And the command to hold fast is given once.
So I’ll use that kind of language for our truths this morning.
So is Jesus’ word to this church who knows their own weakness?
Well first Jesus introduces himself in ways that speak to their situation.
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.
Though the Philadelphians are weak…,
Jesus introduces himself primarily as strong…, as sovereign over all that happens in the Kingdom of God.
#1 Behold Jesus’ Strength
#1 Behold Jesus’ Strength
While the Philadelphians may be feeling how they fall short in holiness…,
Jesus identifies himself as THE holy one.
He is identifying himself as divine, set apart, unlike any other being.
He is identifying himself with the description of God in Isaiah 6.
3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
Jesus is also the True one.
He does not lie.
He does not deceive or lead astray.
His promises do not fail because he has the strength to bring to pass all that he says.
When he speaks..., his words are always true.
He has the key of David...,
meaning he has the authority and the right to rule the kingdom of God.
The phrase “key of David” and the power to “open and shut” comes from Isaiah 22...,
Where God prophecies the removal of an Israelite ruler named Shebna and replaces him with a man of God’s choosing named Eliakim.
Listen to how this removal and replacement reads.
17 Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you
18 and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master’s house.
19 I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station.
20 In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
21 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.
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.
The ruler who thought he was strong is hurled aside.
He is humbled.
and God replaces him with a chosen servant who will now have the keys to the kingdom - the authority to lead.
Eliakim therefore serves as a type, a foreshadow, of the true King who has now taken the thrown over the Cosmic kingdom of God..
As Eliakim was given authority to rule….
Jesus now has ultimate authority to open wide the doors of the kingdom of God and to shut them as he pleases.
And when Jesus opens the door to the kingdom..., no one can shut that door.
And when Jesus shuts the door to the kingdom..., no one can open that door in their own strength.
Jesus holds the keys to eternal life in the eternal kingdom of God.
Behold Jesus’ Strength to open and shut and rule.
In verse 8, Jesus then personalizes this to the Philadelphians.
8 “ ‘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....
What does that mean that he has set before them an open door?
What is the open door?
Jesus could be referring to their own personal salvation.
He has opened eternity to them and nothing can change that.
No one can take that from them.
Even if the culture slams the door in their face...,
There is an open one door for them into the presence of God.
Jesus had taught this in his own teaching ministry:
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Jesus is the door to eternity and only through faith in him will we be saved…, and if we have faith in him, the door is open in such a way that no one can shut it.
The emphasis could be personal assurance, but it also could be evangelistic.
The “open door” is sometimes used in Scripture to describe opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus with others.
For example, Paul reports the salvation of the Gentiles with this language:
27 And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
Similarly in Paul’s letters:
9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—
I’m not sure whether this reference is meant to encourage confidence in their own salvations or in their mission to share with others...,
but the principle is the same for both.
Jesus is the one who opens and closes the door of faith and salvation and entrance into the kingdom of God.
He is strong
he is sovereign.
No matter how weak or inadequate we may feel,
it is not our strength that matters,
it is our faith in his strength that matters.
The central claim of Christianity is that Jesus came to do what we could not do.
He lived a perfectly righteous life.
And he took on himself the fullness of the wrath of God.
And he overcame death by rising again on the third day.
You don’t become a Christian by your own strength,
nor do you fulfill the Christian mission by your own strength.
Behold Jesus’ Strength.
Thats what the Philadelphians needed and thats what they had been doing.
Jesus commends them in verse 8
8 “ ‘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.
Jesus commends the Philadelphians, but not for some great commission accomplishment.
There is a simplicity to what Jesus celebrates here.
#2 Behold Jesus’ Encouragement
#2 Behold Jesus’ Encouragement
This is why Jesus celebrates their faithfulness.
They have kept his word
They have heard the words of Jesus,
and they have kept the words of Jesus,
That means they haven’t sought to change God’s word,
they haven’t ignored God’s word,
they haven’t denied God’s word,
They have cherished and kept and held on to the word’s of God.
Sometimes we feel our weakness because of all the intangibles of our lives,
all the unknowns,
all the things we think we should be doing or accomplishing...,
when in reality our walk with Jesus is simple.
The question is whether we are hearing what Jesus has clearly said,
and whether we are responding to what he has clearly said in his word.
These Philadelphians are commended not for some grand gesture
or some great success, or accomplishment…, but for simple obedience.
for not denying Jesus’ name when put under the pressure from others.
For patiently enduring the hardships of this life and of following Jesus,
while trying to be obedient,
and testifying to their faith.
Jesus doesn’t call us to accomplish FOR him…,
He is the accomplisher.
He has simply called us to faithfulness.
To keep his word,
To profess his name,
to patiently endure.
Perhaps there is someone in the room who is greatly discouraged because in all of their labors, they feel like they have seen very little fruit.
Perhaps you have discipled someone
and poured your soul into them only to watch them rebel against God.
Perhaps you have prayed and prayed and evangelized a close relative or a friend or a spouse, and it feels like they are farther away from God now than they were when you started.
Hear the words of Jesus,
Hear the encouragement given to the Philadelphian church...,
It is Jesus who opens and shuts every door.
We are simply to obey, and profess, and endure patiently.
And one day, all wrongs will be made right
The church at Philadelphia needed to hear that…,
because not only did they feel small and weak….
They couldn’t help but feel that their persecutors seemed strong and powerful over them.
But Jesus wants to remind them that he will accomplish a great reversal of that reality.
9 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.
#3 Behold Jesus’ Justice
#3 Behold Jesus’ Justice
It appears that the primary persecutors of the Philadelphian church were the religious Jews.
They rejected that Jesus really was and is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures.
And just as the Israelites had done to the prophets, they now persecuted the Christians.
And because they rejected Jesus as Messiah and Savior… Jesus refers to them as a “synagogue of Satan.”
They claim to be the people of God because of their ethnicity…, but they are not…. they lie…, because they are rejecting the Savior God had been promising for thousands of years.
They were treading down the Christians just as they had done from the earliest days of the Church with the stoning of Stephen.
But Jesus makes a promise…
No matter how strong the persecution may be and no matter how much it may seem that they are conquering in this life…,
There will be a reversal.
….behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.
There will be a day of reckoning.
A day where your persecutors learn that Jesus is who is says he is, and that he loves his people.
False religion will be exposed.
The proud will be humbled.
And the one’s who put themselves in the seat of judgment…, will be judged.
While the true believers in Jesus will be spared.
10 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.
There is coming an hour of trial…, a cosmic testing…, a refiners fire…, that will expose those engaged in false religion.
The later chapters of Revelation will discuss this coming day in detail…, but here, the Philadelphian’s receive a promise.
The hour of judgment is not for them. They will be kept, protected, and preserved while justice will be executed on the rest.
Now how is this possible.
Let me pause and ask… how is it that these believers in Jesus are spared from the outpouring of God’s justice?
They couldn’t have possibly kept God’s word perfectly?
They couldn’t have possibly always and in every moment exuded spiritual strength?
They were after all of little power?
Why is it that God can overlook their shortcomings while executing justice on the rest of those who dwell on the earth?
Answer: they trusted Jesus who received in himself the just wrath of God for their sins.
They turned to Jesus,
while the rest rejected Jesus, and thus rejected the door to forgiveness that God has provided.
Justice will be served on every sin.
It was either served upon Jesus himself and you trust that.
Or it will be served upon each sinner for their rebellion in the end.
The Philadelphians may feel in the moment that they are on the losing side, but in the end, there will be a great reversal and everyone will know…, Jesus loves his people.
This is a promise..,
and at this point in the letter, Jesus makes his transition just as he does in each letter.
He now moves to a poetic picture of what every believer has been promised…,
what every believer is looking forward to.
What did these believers feeling weak need to behold?
#4 Behold Jesus’ Promises
#4 Behold Jesus’ Promises
11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
12 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.
13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Jesus holds out before this little, seemingly weak church, the promise of a glorious future.
They have been promised a crown that awaits the end of their race.
Though they may feel unstable and small…
Jesus has unlocked the door to the heavenly temple.
Though those of the synagogue of Satan have shut them out of the place of worship…,
Jesus has welcomed them in.
They will be made to be like a pillar in the house of God forever.
Strong, immovable, unchangeable, enjoying the presence of God.
Never will they go out of his presence.
God will claim them as his own.
When you send your kid to school you write his or her name on her book bag and on her notebook so that they can’t lose it in the shuffle.
With much more security and permanence than permanent marker… God will write his name on you, the name of your new address - the city of God which comes down out of heaven, and the name of Jesus… so that you will never be lost, you will never be displaced, you will never not have a home.
Behold Jesus’ Promises…
They are meant to be the fuel for our endurance.
We are meant to feel the weightiness and the difficulty of this world and we are meant to turn to the promises of Jesus…, the glorious future we have been guaranteed…,
and as we gaze upon what we have been promised, we are empowered, to persevere a little longer.
This is why this text commands the Philadelphian’s not just to behold…, but to hold fast…, to cling to what they have received.
11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
That word “hold fast” means to arrest something, to seize it, to take possession of it and cling to it.
But, What are we meant to hold on to?
What is it that we have that we are meant to hold on to?
Well what we have is Jesus.
What we have is this promise that Jesus will hold on to us.
What are you supposed to do Christian? …… when your weakness is real to you.
#5 Hold Fast to the Jesus Who Holds You
#5 Hold Fast to the Jesus Who Holds You
This is what we learn of Jesus in this text:
He is holy
He is true
He has the keys to the kindom
He opens doors and no one can shut
He closes doors and no one can open
He knows your works
He knows your little power
He will make his enemies bow.
He loves you.
He will keep you.
He is coming soon.
He will make you a pillar in the presence of God and you will never go out of it
He will write his name upon you.
What are you meant to do Christian person?
You hold fast to him who holds you.
The Christian life is an ongoing relationship with God through our active faith in Jesus who, lived, and died, and rose again,
and who now rules over all the world until we see him face to face.
13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Lets Pray
