HE REIGNS FOREVER AND FOREVERMORE
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Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bare him after Absalom. And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest: and they following Adonijah helped him. But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men which belonged to David, were not with Adonijah. And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by En-rogel, and called all his brethren the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah the king’s servants: But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not.
Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Hast thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith doth reign, and David our lord knoweth it not? Now therefore come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon.
And the king sware, and said, As the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, Even as I sware unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day. Then Bath-sheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever.
HE REIGNS FOREVER AND FOREVERMORE
HE REIGNS FOREVER AND FOREVERMORE
Introduction:
Adonijah thought that he was the king.
Absalom thought that he was the king.
The devil thought that he was the king.
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
This city was a little less than thirty miles southeast from Sardis.
It was named after its founder, Attalus II (Philadelphus), who reigned 159-138 b.C.
A Literal door “A door which has been opened and remains open.”
The figure of an open door was a familiar one to the Christians of the first century.
Paul and Barnabas, reported at Antioch that God had “opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles”.
And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.
Concerning his work at Ephesus, Paul wrote: “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me”
For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.
A little later he says: “When I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel … a door was opened unto me of the Lord”
Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,
He asked the Colossians to pray “that God would open unto us a door of utterance” at Rome.
Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:
These passages from Paul's Epistles seem to indicate what is meant here by an open door.
It signifies a God given opportunity for the supernatural to work.
Of this open door Jesus said: No man can shut it.
The “key of David” (7) had unlocked the door, and no human or demonic force could close it.
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder;
So he shall open, and none shall shut;
And he shall shut, and none shall open.
The key is the symbol of authority.
The words teach that to Christ belongs complete authority in respect to admission to or exclusion from the city of David, the new Jerusalem.”
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Jesus had declared that He had the keys of death and of Hades.
So He exercises authority in heaven, on earth, and even in the realm of death.
For thou hast a little strength
Evidently the church at Philadelphia was rather small, and perhaps its members were drawn largely from the poorer classes.
The statement, And hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name, should be translated, “And yet you kept My word and did not deny My name.”
Apparently the congregation had passed through a time of trial but had held true.
The phrase the synagogue of Satan (9)
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Has already appeared in 2:9, in the letter to Smyrna.
I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
In these two cities the opposition to the church came mainly from the Jews.
But they are not real Jews, because they do not follow in the footsteps of Father Abraham nor keep the spirit of the law of Moses.
And king David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon: And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon. Then ye shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen: the Lord God of my lord the king say so too.