Study of End Times week 12

Praise and Prayer

We have studied the first five letters to the first five churches in the Book of Revelation, Ephesus was considered the careless church they had lost their passion for Jesus, Smyrna was then considered the crowned church as they did not receive any rebuke, Pergamum was then the compromising church as many in the church were following the pagan teachings, Thyatira was the corrupt church as they tolerated Jezebel as this was pagan teachings, and last week we seen the church at Sardis the feeble church as they looked alive from the outside but as God examined their hearts, the inside, the reality is they were dead.

Tonight we will be looking at the sixth letter of the seven, the letter to the church at Philadelphia which is referred to as the faithful church, we find it in Revelation 3:7-13.

Church at Philadelphia - Week 12

Just as in the other letters we are given some different points, Philadelphia has an exception that is only seen in one other letter, which is the letter to the church at Smyrna, neither of these churches recieved any rebuke.

I. Destination. V. 7

Revelation 3:7 CSB

7 “Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia: Thus says the Holy One, the true one, the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one opens:

The city of Philadelphia was 28 miles southeast of Sardis.

It was located in an area noted for its agricultural products but afflicted with earthquakes which destroyed the city several times.

Only here is it used of the city itself. Christian testimony continues in the city in this present century.

The city was situated in a strategic place on the main route of the Imperial post from Rome to the East, and thus was called the gateway to the East.

The city still exist under the Turkish name of Allah Shehr, a living monument of the faithfulness of Divine promises in the midst of ruins.

The city was named for a king of Pergamum, Attalus Philadelphus, who had built it. Philadelphus is similar to the Greek word philadelphia, meaning brotherly love, which occurs seven times in the Bible (Romans 12:10; 1 Thess 4:9; Heb 13:1; 1 Peter 1:22; 2 Peter 1:7 [twice]; Rev 3:7)

Certainly brotherly love is an important mark of the Christian. We are taught of God to love one another. But it is not enough to love God and our fellow believers; we must also love a lost world and seek to reach unbelievers with the Good News of the Cross. The church at Philadelphia had a vision to reach a lost world, and God set before them an open door.

Verse seven, tells us after we are told which church, Thus says the Holy One, The True one, Here Jesus is describing himself as holy that is sinless, pure, that is he is separate from sin, he is pure, perfect. He is true, being that he speaks the truth, and is genuine and authentic.

Verse seven continues with - the one who holds the key of David, Isaiah 22:22

Isaiah 22:22 CSB

22 I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.

Verse seven continues with: who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one closes.

The key of David originally, was kept by the steward of his house, it was this official that granted and denied access to the king.

But this key of David, here in verse seven, is referring to the key that Jesus holds, the key to the Kingdom of heaven, and therefore, Jesus has sovereign authority to control entrance into the kingdom.

Jesus tells us in chapter one that he holds keys to death and hades or hell, Revelation 1:18

Revelation 1:18 CSB

18 and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.

These keys represent access to death and hades, and by extension, access to heaven.

Now here we see that Jesus also holds the key of David, or the key to Heaven, one can only gain access to heaven through Jesus, with permission of Jesus.

II. Commendation Vs. 8-9

Revelation 3:8–9 CSB

8 I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 Note this: I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you.

Like the other letters, Jesus states I know your works, most the time it comes with the rebuke, but here it comes in the commendation section.

Jesus tells the church I have placed an open door that no one can close, there is some difference of opinion of what the meaning here is.

One way to look at this open door is that it is an entrance to heaven, and the other is an opportunity for service in the form of missionary work, witnessing to the pagan religions there in the city.

Either one can work, and in reality it could be both of them combined, as Christians, true followers of Jesus Christ, he has opened the door to heaven for us and no one can shut that door, that is a door that only he can open, and it is a door that only he can shut to someone that rejects him.

But there is also the case of service, Jesus can open those doors and when he does no one can shut them, and when he opens the doors people will get saved.

Verse eight continues with because you have but little power; Jesus has open the door because the the church has little power, that is the church was small in stature or in physical size, but we must not take that in spiritual weakness.

Because as we continue to look in verse eight, Jesus says, you have kept my word and have not denied my name; therefore, we can see they were spiritually strong.

It is not the size or strength of a church that determines its ministry, but its faith in the call and command of the Lord.

The church has faced opposition, and even though they were small in numbers, they were large in spiritual strength, they had stood in the face of opposition, they did not back down when the pagan religions came against them, when the opposition arose, but they stood firm.

Jesus continues in verse nine, Note this: I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are not, that is there was a Jewish community in the city of Philadelphia but they were not following Jesus so he says they are a synagogue of Satan.

See we must remember if we are not on Jesus side then we are on Satan’s side. I read something the other day and cannot remember where it was, but it said this atheist had not made up his mind on what he believed and he came to a place it was two fields separated by a fence, one side of the fence was those who followed Jesus, and then the other side was those who followed Satan.

The atheist says, well I really do not know what I believe so I am going to just climb up on the fence and sit down, well all of a sudden the followers of Jesus disappeared and then Satan came and said you come with me.

The atheist said, hold up I did not join your people I am sitting on the fence, Satan said, I own the fence, so you are coming with me.

See when we are not following Jesus, we are by default following Jesus. Because if we do not accept Jesus and have a personal relationship with Jesus, then weather we outright reject him or just reject him by not accepting him, we still have rejected him and belong to Satan.

Therefore, these Jews because they were not following Jesus were followers of Satan and Jesus says they are of the synagogue of Satan.

I do not know about you but I do not want to be called a follower of Satan by Jesus and that I belong to the church or synagogue of Satan by Jesus.

Jesus then tells the believers at Philadelphia that He will make these Jews come and bow down at your feet, that is the Jews would one day acknowledge that these Christians were right.

As verse nine continues, the Jews would bow, and they will know that I have loved you, the fact that all people will bow and confess Jesus has been prophesied since the Old Testament somewhere around 600 to 700 years before Jesus we see it in Isaiah 45:23

Isaiah 45:23 CSB

23 By myself I have sworn; truth has gone from my mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow to me, every tongue will swear allegiance.

We also see it in the New Testament in Romans 14:11

Romans 14:11 CSB

11 For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.

and also Philippians 2:10-11

Philippians 2:10–11 CSB

10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

No matter what people believer here on earth, they will find out the truth, but if they do not believe and follow Jesus on this side of eternity it will be to late, when they find out when all bow and confess.

III. Promise Vs. 10-11

Revelation 3:10–11 CSB

10 Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth. 11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one takes your crown.

We now come to the promise, Jesus points out more of what the believers are doing right but adds promises because they are being obedient.

He begins with you have kept my command to endure, that is they have stood in the face of persecution and opposition, and Jesus says, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world.

This hour that Jesus is speaking of here is the great tribulation period, the seven years of tribulation, of persecution that will happen, this is the time described in Revelation chapters 6 - 19.

Jesus says I will keep you from that is you will not go through the severe persecution, the tribulation period that will come upon the whole word to test those who live on the earth.

If Christ had meant to say that they would be preserved through a time of trouble, or would be taken out within the Tribulation, a different verb and a different preposition would have been required here.

But here the expression I will also keep you from the hour of testing, or I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation - makes it clear that they would be kept out of the tribulation period.

Some might say well that was written to the church at Philadelphia but we must remember the Word of God is relevant today just as it was 2,000 years ago. Yes the letter was written to the church at Philadelphia, but it was also intended for all the churches from the time of the writing until the time of Jesus’ return.

The promise continues in verse 11, I am coming soon, Hold onto what you have, so that no one takes your crown.

Jesus says, I am coming soon, when we hear this, if I told you I was coming soon, you would think in a few days, but this phrase coming soon is repeated often in the Book of Revelations but the phrase is better understood for us as coming suddenly or quickly.

That is when Jesus returns it will be quickly or suddenly, it won’t be a slow process but will happen in the twinkling of an eye.

The verse continues with: hold on to what you have, that is to the faith that they have, to the works that they have been doing for Jesus.

Do not let up, do not slack up, but continue keeping the faith, continue doing what God has called you too, until Jesus returns.

The verse then ends with: so that no one takes your crown: this is not to be misunderstood as we can lose our salvation, but when thinking of life in a sense of an athletic event, do not let temptation, and false teachings trip you up to lose the race, and therefore lose the crown.

When we win the race, just as the athlete that wins the race wins the crown, when we win in life, we win a crown, again this is not meaning, Salvation.

Jesus tells the church at Philadelphia that because they have been obedient, that He will keep them from the tribulation period, and that he will come quickly, just hold on to what they have.

They were doing the right things, they just needed to continue doing the right things because Jesus was going to keep them from the tribulation, and when he comes for them it will be like a blink of an eye and because of their obedience they will win a crown.

IV. Exhortation Vs. 12-13

Revelation 3:12–13 CSB

12 “The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never go out again. 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 my new name. 13 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

Here in these two verse we have our three normal statements to close the letter out, The conquer, anyone who has ears to listen, to what the Spirit has to say to the churches.

The one who conquers - that is the one who remains faithful, that does not fall to temptation, or the false teachings.

Jesus says, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God: that is they would be honored by God, and this symbolism here would be especially meaningful to people who lived in constant danger of earthquakes.

The pillar shows stability and no need to go out or to flee, the heavenly city cannot be destroyed. These would not be made of stone, but God’s pillars are the faithful people who bear His name for His glory.

Which we are told there in verse twelve, that the conquer would have the name of God written on them, and the name of the city of God, the new Jerusalem.

When Jesus walked on earth he always used parables that related to the people he was talking to, he made the story fit the crowd.

Now here in these letter when he is describing things, and making promises, he uses words that fit the people the surroundings.

Then Jesus closes with Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

God opens doors for us, doors of opportunity to reach the lost, to serve the community, to do mission work.

If he opens the doors, we must work; if he shuts the doors, we must wait. Above all, we must be faithful to Him and see the opportunity, not the obstacles.

We must keep our eyes on Jesus, in order that we may see the doors that open, and when doors are closed.

I believe God is opening doors here at Red Level that we must not miss, we need to go through and work and serve in.