Preserved

The church in Philadelphia

The city of Philadelphia was the youngest of the seven cities written to . The city of Philadelphia was established by colonists from Pergamum around 150BC during the reign of Attalus II, King of Pergamum. The city was named after Attalus, who was also known as Philadelphos because of his great love for his brother, Eumenes. Philadelphia in Greek means brotherly love.

The city was founded for a special purpose. It was situated where the borders of Lydia, Phrygia, and Mysia converge. It was founded with deliberate purpose, not to be a garrison for there was no threat of attack from these city states, but rather, the city was placed there to influence and spread Greek culture to Lydia and Phrygia. It was so successful that by 19 AD, Lydians had forgotten their own language and were all but Greek. According to archeologist Sir William Ramsay, Philadelphia was the center for the diffusion of Greek language and Greek letters in a peaceful land and by peaceful means.

Philadelphia knew heartache, pain and suffering. Philadelphia lies on a fault line. Just outside the city, the plains were fertile growing land because they were former lava fields from volcanoes that were now extinct. While the threat of eruption had subsided, earthquakes became a regular calamity. In 17 AD, this area experienced a massive earthquake that destroyed 10 surrounding cities. While Philadelphia stood through this earthquake, the city was hit with wave after wave of aftershocks. It got so bad that most people moved out of the city and lived in huts in fear of falling masonry.

It was only through the generosity and support of Tiberius, caesar of Rome, that Philadelphia was able to continue to rebuild and survive as a city. In fact, Philadelphia renamed itself Neocaesarea and Flavia for short periods of time in honor of their savior.

Preserved

Revelation 3:7–13 (NIV)

“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 oooone 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.

The Lord Jesus opens with this picture of Himself as the One who is in control, sovereign over all things. He is the one who opens and closes doors and no one can close what He has opened and vise versa. At the center of Christian promise is this understanding that the Lord is sovereign and what He has deemed shall come to pass can not be undone.

Jesus has opened the door to subversive takeover. Just as Philadelphia was established to subversively overtake the Lydians and the Phrygians with Greek culture through peaceful assimilation, Jesus has opened the door to the same thing. To so influence, pervade and take over another’s heart to the point that they forget their sinful past and their bondage to sin and take up the walk of Christ. This is the mission of the church.

This is a long and exhausting mission that we have engaged in. It will be wearing from not only the task at hand, but the onslaught of the world to distract us from the mission and beat us down with obstacles to make our journey more difficult, but there is hope. Our mission success does not rest on our strength, but in His.