He Will Hold Me Fast—Revelation 3:7-13
Notes
Transcript
Five years ago, Keith and Kristyn Getty wrote a new song. They were the ones who wrote In Christ Alone and have written many other solid new hymns.
The hymn they wrote 5 years ago, during 2020, was He will hold me fast:
When I fear my faith will fail
Christ will hold me fast
When the tempter would prevail
He will hold me fast
I could never keep my hold
Through life's fearful path
For my love is often cold
He must hold me fast
He will hold me fast
He will hold me fast
For my Saviour loves me so
He will hold me fast
The tune is beautiful. And the words are equally good.
Through all of life’s ups and downs, Christ will hold his people fast. Nothing will take them out of his hand.
As Paul wrote:
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And with him holding us fast, we are able to hold him fast.
We introduced our kids to National Treasure 1 and 2. Great movies. In #2, they in this physically impossible situation: a platform balanced perfectly on the center and they have to try to get off it without it tipping them all into the abyss. One by one, they help each other get up the cliff. One of them isn’t able to jump, her hand is grasped by the man on the ledge, and they are holding each other fast, until finally the guy is able to pull her up.
Sometimes life feel like we are danglingly from a ledge, about the slip, and the only thing that is holding us up is Jesus. And we have to hold fast to him. We have to endure patiently through the chaos, through the uncertainty, until he pulls us up.
This is the message that Jesus gives to the angel of the church in Philadelphia:
“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Through this passage, we will see that we need to hold fast to Jesus, when we don’t feel strong, when we are misconstrued, and when the world approaches the end.
Before we dive in, will you pray with me?
1. When We Are Not Strong
1. When We Are Not Strong
We hold fast to Jesus, when we don’t feel strong.
Jesus told this church:
I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
In the city of brotherly love, being a Christian was hard, just like it was hard in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, and Sardis. And the church in Philadelphia didn’t think that they had the strength to keep going.
They felt like a city whose very structure had been destroyed by an earthquake.
Which actually happened. 17 years after Jesus’ birth, Philadelphia and 11 other cities were destroyed by an earthquake. Historian Pliny called this earthquake as the greatest in human history. Philadelphia, because of how it is situated on a seismic and volcanic zone, suffered decades of tremors after the fact. While the city was rebuilt, many refused to move back into it, staying in the countryside, living in tents, because they were so traumatized by the destruction.
Spiritually, the people of Philadelphia did not feel strong. They felt like the walls around them spiritually were about to crumble. And yet, in spite of that feeling, they held fast to Jesus. They kept his word. They did not deny his name. As tremors came, they held fast. Yes, they felt like their fingers were about to slip, but they held fast.
We all have tremors in our lives.
We have doubts about our faith. Is our salvation real? Is the Word of God actually true? Did Jesus actually rise from the dead? Do I really not have to work to earn God’s forgiveness?
Few people do not have some doubts which come through our minds. But, in those doubts, even when we think we have the weakest faith in the world: we hold fast: we don’t deny his name.
We all have tremors in our lives.
We have situations when we are tempted to live contrary to the Bible. To worship the gods around us: the gods of our culture, the gods of our desires, the gods of other religions. To actively follow them, or to give worth to them, through our time, our wallet, our conversations.
In those times, no matter the idol that is calling us, we hold fast: we keep His Word.
And sometimes we want to slip. Sometimes, we loosen our grip on his hand for just a little bit, because we are pressured to change our priority, or we are tempted to give in to a desire, or we entertain that doubt, we loosen our grip.
And Jesus says:
I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
He is coming soon. He will help us through our difficulties. He will give us strength. He will pull us on to the ledge. We just need to hold on now. Knowing that he will never leave us or forsake us.
Hold on!
And he promised the people in Philadelphia, who thought that they were so weak:
The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it.
A pillar is something of strength. It holds up buildings.
As Warren Wiersbe writes:
The symbolism in this verse would be especially meaningful to people who lived in constant danger of earthquakes: the stability of the pillar, no need to go out or to flee, a heavenly city that nothing could destroy. Ancient cities often honored great leaders by erecting pillars with their names inscribed on them. God’s pillars are not made of stone, because there is no temple in the heavenly city. His pillars are faithful people who bear his name for his glory.
When we don’t feel strong, we hold fast to Jesus. And we can take heart, even in our perceived weakness.
2. When We Are Misconstrued
2. When We Are Misconstrued
We hold fast to Jesus, when we are misconstrued.
Jesus tells the Philadelphians:
I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.
Just like many of the other churches at this time, the chosen people of God are turning from the followers of the Messiah and persecuting them. By this, they are denying their faith and Jesus is disowning them. In very stern language. No Jew, who stood against false idols, would want to be known as a worshiper of Satan. But, by their actions they were declaring that.
The fact that the Jews are denying their faith does not help the Philadelphians in the days of trial. When they are lied about, when their household income is stolen from them, when their children are taken away from them, when their husbands, wives, and children are killed because they are followers of Jesus, it doesn’t help to know that this is happening because my enemies are pagan worshipers.
But what does help is that Jesus is going to step in. And he is going to do it full of irony.
Isaiah had prophesied:
The children of your oppressors will come bowing before you;
all who despise you will bow down at your feet
and will call you the City of the Lord,
Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
He was speaking to the people of Israel, their oppressors were going to bow before them. But, in Revelation, he tells the church that the Jews were going to bow before them. A reversal.
Again, Isaiah prophesied:
Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
Israel has the statement that God loves them. Which is true, but in Revelation, the people of Israel will acknowledge that God loves the followers of Jesus.
Not because the christians proved their character or that they were great at apologetics. The Philadelphian Christians would probably say they weren’t. It is because Jesus stepped in.
When we are misconstrued, we hold fast to Jesus.
Has someone done something against you because you are a Christian? Have they taken your beliefs or your actions and twisted them?
I am pretty close with a Nebraska pastor who befriended a new liberal pastor in his community. The conservative pastor wanted to create a bridge for the gospel. So he had her to his home to have dinner with his family. When he saw her around the community, he would talk with her, ask how she was acclimating to the culture. Give her some tips. Hoping that sometime he would be able to influence her.
After a few years, she left their town. One of the reasons she gave was that the conservative pastor had told her she didn’t belong in the community and that she should leave.
He never did that. But, she knew what he stood for and tried to undermine his witness to others.
This was more of a drastic story. But, we all have situations like it. Perhaps you haven’t seen it, or it has been so minor you disregarded it.
In those moments, we hold fast to Jesus. We don’t lose our grip to be defensive or to take revenge, we hold fast to him.
And Jesus promised, not only to fight for us, but he said:
I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.
We who are his followers will have his name. We have shown his character by holding fast to him and no one else. He will give us his name, so that we will be defined by him. Despite what people say, despite what they accuse, despite how they misconstrue, we will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are his and he will make that fact blatantly clear.
When we are misconstrued, we hold fast to Jesus and he will come to our defense.
3. When the End Comes
3. When the End Comes
We hold fast to Jesus when the end comes.
Jesus told the church:
Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
It is said that the only thing certain in this world is death and taxes.
Well, we can add trials to that. Paul said to the churches that he planted, in the verse that our churches uses for our mission statement:
They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.
That word hardship is the same word that is used in Rev 3, that Jesus will keep the Philadelphian church from the hour of trial.
He will preserve them through it.
Ever since Jesus died, rose again, and ascended into heaven, we have been living in the church age, where God has been giving proofs of himself as his people go throughout the world and preach the Gospel. He has also been bringing judgment on those who have refused to believe him and are standing in the way of Christ’s servants.
In the midst of those trials, God says: I will keep you from them. Just as he kept the people of Israel from experiencing many of the plagues. Just as he kept Noah from dying in the flood, so he has promised to keep the Philadelphian church, in the face of certain opposition and oppression from Satan and unbelievers.
He just asked them to hold fast to Him. As it seemed like the world was crumbling around them, possibly the end of time coming, hold fast to him.
As one author said: “And he promised to come. He promised to provide an intensified presence to protect these believers when they pass through tribulation and suffering, a drawing near to their hearts to energize them in their commitment.
If he can come to the churches of Ephesus, Pergamum, and Sardis to discipline, he can certainly come to the church at Philadelphia to strengthen and bless. And if he can come to the church at Philadelphia in the first century, he can come to Calvary Bible Church.”
Through suffering, trials, tribulations, we get to know Christ deeper than any other time. We get to experience him. Does this mean that we should seek out suffering? No we are not like the old monks who used to beat themselves. But, we shouldn’t run from suffering either, because we want to know Christ.
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Many of you have gone through hardships and you know the depth of relationship that comes through those times. And that relationship is good.
When it feels like the world is ending, we hold fast to Christ. We don’t let go.
And one day, the world will end. One day, an hour of trial will come upon the whole world, a great tribulation. Is Jesus talking about this in this letter? Well, he is specifically writing to a church in the first century. He is providing comfort and strength to them in their situation. But, he can do that and refer to a larger principle at the same time. He has been known to do that, especially as it refers to other things in the same letter.
The larger principle is that an hour of trial is going to come. And as we experience the beginnings of the birth pangs. And we start getting worried, or anxious, when our resolve starts to slip, or the sufferings that we experience or are worried that our kids or grandkids are going to experience, start distracting our minds.
We hold fast to Jesus. Because one day, he is going to come. Not spiritually to provide strength. But physically, to call us home and to bring judgment on his enemies.
Even so, Come Lord Jesus. Hold fast to him. And if you are not, grip his hand before it is too late. And he will hold you fast.
