Revelation 3:7-13 "The Faithful Church"

Good evening Calvary Chapel Lake City!

Let’s open with a word of prayer.

Tonight… Revelation 3:7-13 “The Faithful Church”… close to wrapping up Jesus’ letters to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor.

I hoped to finish Rev 3 tonight… but there is too much good meat to chew on regarding this faithful church.

These were real churches in John’s day… some see these representing eras of church history…

In one way shape or form… every church… in every age mirrors one of these churches.

And in some semblance each individual Christian’s walk reflects one of these churches… hopefully for the good things said about them… and not the corrections.

And with that… as a reminder… in the letters of Chapters 2 & 3… Jesus’ provides some or all of the following notes to these churches:

Commendation

Correction / Rebuke

Exhortation/ Warning or Appeal

Invitation and Promise

And… this first church is only one of two churches that receives NO correction. So… picking up in V7 of Revelation 3… this Faithful Church…

Revelation 3:7–13 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,

Angel… Gk Aggelos… meaning “messenger.” As we don’t see heavenly angels leading churches, nor good angels being rebuked by God… and since the messenger of each church is the Pastor… it’s better to think of the Angel as the Pastor of this church.

And… feel free to start calling me Angel Marc… versus Pastor Marc.

Don’t feel compelled… it’s just an option. Feel free to drop all titles completely and just call me ‘Marc.’ I’m not proud.

This messenger is over the church of Philadelphia…

Philadelphia comes from Philadelphos a compound root from philos meaning “beloved, dear, friendly” and adelphos meaning “a brother.”

Thus philadelphos means “loving one’s brother.”

And if you visit the city of Philadelphia today… that is quite evident. You can leave your cars unlocked… trust your wallet with a stranger… take walks alone at night…

I hope you sense my sarcasm. It’s titled the “City of Brotherly Love”, but my how it has strayed.

Pray for Calvary Chapel Philadelphia… for decades they have been a light in the world in that city and have planted many churches…

They have a strong addictions and outreach ministry. They have been doing great work for the Kingdom form many years.

Historic Philadelphia… is in modern day Turkey… along with all the other churches in Rev 2-3…

The modern day city is Alasehir… it’s 28 miles southeast of Sardis… and was named after a king of Pergamos Attalus Philadelphus, who built the city around 140 B.C.

This was a city that sat inland from the coast… and suffered many earthquakes that even completely destroyed the city.

The soil was rich in this area… and grapes were the principal crop… and as such Dionysus (or Bacchus)… the false god of wine, ecstatic experience, and vegetation… was worshipped.

Pagan worship was a consistent opposition to the early church in about every city…

But, in contrast stood this church… and this letter is almost entirely a word of praise as the church of Philadelphia was faithful to Christ and the Word of God.

Continuing in V7… (picturing Christ the holy and sovereign God)

‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”:

As with the other letters… one of several descriptions of Jesus Christ from Revelation Chapter 1 is portrayed in each of these letters.

Jesus is described as holy… and true…

Holy meaning sacred or separate from common condition… dedicated…

True meaning truthful, sincere, real… one definition reads “sterling.”

For us, 1 Peter 1:15 exhorts, “… but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,”

And He holds the “key of David.”

In Rev 1:18 Jesus is portrayed as the keyholder… there having the keys of hades and death.

The one who holds the keys can unlock the door… therefore they symbolizes one with authority.

Here in V7… Jesus has the “key of David”… which alludes to Isaiah 22:22 “The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; So he shall open, and no one shall shut; And he shall shut, and no one shall open.”

Isaiah spoke about Eliakim the Son of Hilkiah… who was one of three managers of Hezekiah’s household… and was charged with the “key of David” which gave him power over Judah.

Jesus… the ultimate Holy and True One… will fulfill holding the key of David over all Israel… with all authority… as the KING of kings and LORD of lords.

vv8-9 (Commendation and promised victory) “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.”

Jesus knew the works of all these churches… He know our works… He is omnipotent… and when we stand before Him at the Bema Seat Judgment, He will evaluate our works of what sort they are… and we will either be rewarded or suffer loss of reward in that future time.

To Philadelphia… The Keeper of the Key… Jesus Christ… sovereignly declares He opened the door for them and no one can shut it.

But it would seem that Jesus has since shut the door about 100 years ago for this church… making it one of the most longstanding churches of these 7 churches.

This church remained active until 1923 when the remaining Greeks in the area were relocated to Greece under the Treaty of Lausanne (which ended the Greco-Turkey War)… so some 1800-1900 years after Revelation 3.

Today, if any congregation gathers… it is only house churches, and they meet very discreetly as the area is now 99% Muslim.

Open doors today for evangelism are all around us… once we see the open door… our role is to proceed.

If we don’t proceed… God’s will still be done… though at our loss.

As we looked at the call on Abram to go to Canaan… some wonder if that call fell on his father Terah… who stalled and halted in the city Teran.

And only after Terah died… did God reiterate to Abraham to proceed to Canaan. So… if the call fell upon Terah… with his disobedience… the door closed… and God moved on to Abram… and Terah dies apart from the promise.

Just a theory, but also a warning to walk through the door that God opens to be part of His blessing.

Jesus commended them for their “little strength”… which some see as a rebuke, but it’s better seen as a commendation…

Paul said, 2 Corinthians 12:10 “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

4x in Matthew Jesus spoke of those with “little faith”… not NO faith, but growing faith that He could work with and disciple.

Guzik: “The term a little strength does not imply weakness, but real strength. They were weak enough to be strong in the Lord. We can be “too strong” or “too big” or too sure of ourselves for God to really use us. The church in Philadelphia had the poverty of spirit to know they really needed God’s strength.”

The rest of V8 supports the idea that “little strength” is a commendation for two more commendations proceed “...for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”

They “kept My word”: Kept means “to watch over or to guard”… so this church did well in guarding and keeping the truth of God committed to them.

That same torch has been passed along to each of us in this day.

They “have not denied My name”: They have not denied or disowned the name of Christ Himself.

Denied means to “say no or refuse.”

Philadelphia did the opposite in that they were bold witnesses to Christ despite adversaries in their town described as the “synagogue of Satan” in the following verse.

Another time this same word for “denied” in Gk is used… also in the context of being a bold witness despite adversaries is when Jesus sent out the Twelve disciples on their first missions trip… Jesus said,

Matthew 10:27 “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.”

He told His disciples to be bold in preaching the Gospel and His name… to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

And reading through the context… Jesus warned them the audience will be hostile… but not to fear them who can persecute or kill them… they were to fear God who has eternal authority… not simply temporal authority.

And, Jesus said a few verses later… Matthew 10:32–33 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies [same word as Rev 3:8] Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”

Jesus, again, said this to His Twelve disciples…

And what He was telling them had nothing to do with justification… our position before God in Salvation… as many Christians today misinterpret this verse to say.

Jesus was instructing His disciples to be bold witnesses in confessing Jesus’ name to Israel… though many Jews would be hostile.

And in turn, Jesus would confess their name as a faithful witness before the Father… which reflects on the Bema Seat for rewards… and if one denies Jesus before man… it’s not a loss of salvation, but it will be a loss of reward.

Very important that you understand the difference and distinction there because people mix that up quite frequently.

Philadelphia was commended for NOT denying Jesus’ name… thus Jesus will confess them before His Father in Heaven… they will receive rewards at the Bema Seat.

And you and I will be there… and we will know why they are receiving rewards… because they had “little strength, kept His word, and did not deny His name.”

And then in the next verse… similar to the Twelve being sent… adversaries…

In V9… there was a synagogue… though of satan…

Not that they worshipped Satan, but it was full of those who were Jews by heritage, but they were unbelieving Jews… thus they were not of God, but of the devil.

As Jesus said to Jews who claimed “Abraham is our father”… “We are Abraham’s descendants”…

In Romans 9:6-7 Paul declared, “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham;...”

Those same Jews argued to Jesus, “we have one Father - God”

Jesus replied to them because of their unbelief… John 8:42 “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God...”

And then in John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning...”

So… those Jews in Jesus’ day were also of the figurative “synagogue of satan.”

Satan is the “father of lies” and these Jews were false believers.

V9 describes these Jews as those “who say they are Jews and are not, but lie...”

In the Church of Smyrna (The persecuted church… the only other church to only be commended and not rebuked)… Jesus said, Revelation 2:9 “I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”

In the history of the church the greatest persecution has come from religionists… Jews in the first century like Saul of Tarsus who had zeal for God but not knowledge…

The Synagogue of Satan… where unbelieving Jews would persecute the faithful church…

One scholar wrote: “The Philadelphia letter reminds that any true church at any time, and especially during the last days, meets Satanic opposition…through imitation, religious ritualism, and hypocrisy—opposition strengthened by mixture of worldliness and religiousness.”

Jesus promises the Philadelphia church vindication at the end of V9 “… indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.”

God would humble the unbelieving Jews who opposed the witness of the church and persecuted the Philadelphia church.

They would be forced to acknowledge this church was full of true servants of God.

Any former enemy of God and His people who humbles themselves to worship God and accept His love through faith in Jesus… are no longer an enemy…

They were formerly Saul… and are transformed into Paul.

Paul himself wrote 1 Timothy 1:15 “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”

God vindicates His people… sometimes by transforming the hearts of His enemies and bringing them into the fold…

And sometimes He vindicates through judgment… like He did upon Pharoah who would not let “His people go.”

Or like God will during the tribulation… where the martyrs cry out with a loud voice Revelation 6:10 “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?””

Jesus gave the a white robe (which faithful saints wore) and told them Revelation 6:11 “that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.”

God has a plan… which is mysterious to us… but it perfect… and it will make sense to us in glory…

For now… it is our role to trust His Sovereign plan… and His good and perfect character… which is a balance of love and justice.

moving on to vv10-11 (promise of deliverance from the hour of trial) “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.”

In God’s justice… and prophetic fulfillment of Daniel’s 70th week (referenced in Dan 9)… a Seven Year Tribulation is coming (yet future)… which is this same “hour of trial” referred to in V10.

Note… to the faithful church Jesus writes he will keep them “from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world” (as a divine judgment)…

A time to “test those who dwell on the earth”… unbelievers who are not citizens of heaven… who are left behind.

V10 is one of the strongest supports for the pre-tribulation rapture of the church position.

John Walvoord writes (long quote): “This is an explicit promise that the Philadelphia church will not endure the hour of trial which is unfolded, beginning in Revelation 6. Christ was saying that the Philadelphia church would not enter the future time of trouble; He could not have stated it more explicitly. If Christ had meant to say that they would be preserved through a time of trouble, or would be taken out from within the Tribulation, a different verb and a different preposition would have been required. Though scholars have attempted to avoid this conclusion in order to affirm posttribulationism, the combination of the verb “keep” (tērein) with the preposition “from” (ek) is in sharp contrast to the meaning of keeping the church “through” (dia), a preposition which is not used here.”

Walvoord continues “The expression “the hour of trial” (a time period) makes it clear that they would be kept out of that period. It is difficult to see how Christ could have made this promise to this local church if it were God’s intention for the entire church to go through the Tribulation that will come on the entire world. Even though the church at Philadelphia would go to glory via death long before the time of trouble would come, if the church here is taken to be typical of the body of Christ standing true to the faith, the promise seems to go beyond the Philadelphia church to all those who are believers in Christ (cf. Walvoord, Revelation, pp. 86–8).”

In discussing the “day of the Lord” Paul in 1 Thessalonians… wrote that we will be “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”

Caught up… Gk harpazo… Latin rapturo… English rapture.

Paul writes twice we can “comfort one another with these words.” It’s not comforting to think that we would go through the tribulation.

Paul wrote, “God did not appoint us to wrath”… and that’s what all the Tribulation is about… from the moment Jesus begins to loose the seals of the scroll in Rev 6… and all the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments… all the way through Rev 16… where the church is not on display throughout those chapters.

Martyred Saints… yes… those who were unbelievers… missed the rapture… and believed… yes, but not the church.

The church is seen in Rev 2-5… and then not again until she returns following Christ on white horses in Rev 19:14.

And as we read in V11… when Jesus comes… these events will unfold quickly… meaning sudden and unexpected, not necessarily immediate.

There is nothing more prophetically that needs to occur for Jesus’ imminent return, but the idea of V11 speaks about the quick unfolding of events…

After the rapture… soon after the Anti-Christ will be revealed… the tribulation will begin…

And like a woman in labor… her birth pangs will become more frequent and intense… just as God’s judgments through the seals, trumpets and bowls will become more frequent and intense… especially during the final 3.5 years of the tribulation which is titled “The Great Tribulation.”

And, in V11, Jesus encourages this church in Philadelphia to “Hold fast” or “hold onto” what they have…

They were commended already for “little strength, keeping Jesus’ word, and not denying Jesus’ name.”

They were to cling to these and trust that God alone would open and close doors…

Pressing into evangelistic opportunities… despite the opposition of unbelieving Jews in their town.

They were to continue to rely on God and be faithful to Jesus Christ.

And in this they would receive a crown… Jesus would confess their name before His Father in heaven…

Yet, if they were unfaithful… their crown would be given to another… which is not a loss of salvation, but a loss of reward at the Bema Seat.

As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:13–15 “… each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

Not a loss of salvation, but a loss of reward if unfaithful.

So hold fast… hold the line… be strong.

Crown in this verse is the stephanos crown… a victor’s wreath… a crown of victory NOT a crown of royalty (as Jesus wears in glory)…

The stephanos is repeated promised to believers in the epistles (1 Cor 9:25; 2 Tim 4:8; Jam 1:12: 1 Pet 5:4… also Rev 2:10… and here in V11)…

And… it’s these same crowns that the Twenty Four elders wear in Rev 4 which is strong support for the Twenty Four elders being representative for the church… in a heavenly scene… already raptured… prior to the Tribulation… and they will cast their crowns before the throne… for Jesus alone is worthy.

That’s going to be an amazing experience! So, be faithful… get your crown… don’t suffer loss of rewards… and you’ll participate in this scene.

There will be those who make it into heaven… they will not lose their salvation, but they will have no rewards…

Blessed are they to inherit eternal life, but as Paul encourages… we should “compete for the prize… an imperishable crown.”

closing out… vv12-13 (Invitation and promised reward) “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. 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 out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. 13 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’

For the faithful… for overcomers… symbolically they will be like a permanent pillar in the temple.

You will not literally become a pillar in the temple, but you will be like a permanent fixture… which is strong support for Eternal Security.

You will stand permanently like a pillar in the temple of God’s eternal city when all else falls.

Which was an especially meaningful promise to the Philadelphian church… a city that had suffered many earthquakes and had seen many buildings fall.

Yet they would eternally stand.

So, the promise is Salvation, blessing and eternity will be your portion… you will “go out no more.”

Your salvation is secure because of faith in Jesus Christ… which is step one in how you overcome the world.

Psalm 23:6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”

Further… they would be identified with God… written on them would be God’s name, the name of His eternal city (the New Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven in Rev 21), and “My new name”…

Which some scholars take as the believer’s new name as referenced in Revelation 2:17 “I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” ’”

Other scholars take this as Jesus’ new name citing Revelation 19:12 “His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.”

Either way… the inscription signifies our identity with the One True God and His identification with us. It speaks of intimacy with God and belonginess to Christ.

And closing… that familiar saying V13 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’

Contemplate on the words of Christ…

For this church… remain faithful… trust in future deliverance… and you will receive all the future promises and privileges of eternity with Jesus Christ… only through faith in Him.

Let’s pray!