An Open Door No One Can Shut - Revelation 3:7-13
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Good Morning Harmony!
Today, as most of you know, is Palm Sunday. It’s the day celebrates Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and it’s a day that begins an important week in the Gospel.
A lot can happen in seven days. A triumphant entry. An arrest. A crucifixion. But most important of all that happens that week is the resurrection that we will celebrate more next week.
As we are going through Revelation, as we go through this apocalyptic prophecy, we need to remember that there is another triumphant entry coming, and it’s going to be so much bigger than Palm Sunday. Jesus is coming back for His bride, and as we look forward today at Revelation, we look back at that first Palm Sunday and the week following to see our hope and our faith lie in Jesus alone.
So today as we get started, let’s just thank Him for that hope and promise that He gives -
prayer
Today we are going to look at the church in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.
The city was the youngest of the seven cities. It was established by one of the kings of Pergamum in 150 B.C. by Attalus Philadelphos, who was known for his love and devotion to his brother, Eumenes, thus the name of the city.
The city was relatively small in comparison to the others, and it’s greatest feature was that it was strategically placed on the road that ran from Rome to Troy, Pergamum, Sardis, and Philadelphia. Philadelphia was ultimately called the “gateway to the east” as it was originally intended by Attalus to serve as a distribution point for Greek language and culture to spread eastward.
The church in Philadelphia was therefore in a strategic location to spread the Gospel.
Compared to the church in Sardis, this was a small and financially poor church, but as we will see, size and finances don’t equal what matters in the end.
Let’s look at our Scripture for today, starting in Revelation 3:7 -
“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:
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.
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.
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.
I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one takes your crown.
“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.
“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
Charles Simeon was the pastor of Trinity Church in Cambridge England for 54 years. He preached his first sermon in November 1782. Now understand, this wasn’t a Baptist church. The congregation didn’t choose him as a pastor, he was placed there. That said, he could have quit and walked away at any time.
The congregation did not want him - in fact, they refused to allow him to teach on Sunday afternoons for five years, instead having the assistant pastor that the church wanted the governing body of the church to appoint as pastor give these lectures.
So Simeon starts a Sunday evening service, and people began to come. The church officials then decide to lock the doors. Simeon has a locksmith open the doors, and the officials locked them again, and Simeon dropped the evening Service - but he didn’t give up.
Eventually after 12 years the church allows him to be the teacher on Sunday afternoons. His troubles weren’t only tied to Sunday afternoons either.
Sunday mornings were a problem too - pews could have locks back then, and pew holders as they were called would lock their pews so that no visitors could sit in them. Simeon personally funded and set up additional seating, only for church officials to remove them.
Simeon would attempt to visit church members, but most wouldn’t even open the door to him. This continued for 10 years.
Now we all know it doesn’t work this way in a Baptist church, because in a Baptist Church we are congregationally led, But for Simeon, he had a rough pastorate for a significant amount of his time as pastor there. What gave Simeon that faithfulness to stay in the midst of all of that opposition?
John Piper writes of Simeon that “Simeon exerted his influence through sustained biblical preaching year after year.” In other words, Simeon leaned and stood on the Word of God despite his opposition - he was so convinced by the Word of God and by his faith that he had to do what God had given him to do.
And that is where we see our need - we need to be so rooted and so grounded in the Word of God that when opposition comes and rejection and persecution come we can stand on the truth and the promises of God. And so today’s main point is that we need to stand righteous, and to do so we must keep the Gospel of Jesus as our focus.
MAIN POINT:
TO STAND RIGHTEOUS WE MUST KEEP THE GOSPEL OF JESUS AS OUR FOCUS.
And that is what we are going to see as we get into breaking down the text today, beginning with
1. JESUS HAS THE KEY OF DAVID. v. 7
Faith is not a feeling. Faith is an active confidence that what we cannot see in the present is still a reality. Our faith does not increase simply because we think about faith, rather our faith increases because we are made more confident in Jesus. That is the purpose to the introduction of every letter, to build upon our confidence in Him - verse 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:
Jesus announces Himself as holy and true- He’s holy, so He’s completely set apart by God and He will not lead us to sin, and He’s true, He’s trustworthy - we can be sure that He is able. He is able to cleanse us from our sin, He is reliable in that He will do it for those that have called out to Him.
This statement reminds me of C.S. Lewis’ statement on Christ as Lord:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. . . . Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”
Jesus is holy and true! Those of us that hear Jesus say these things at the beginning of each letter should be having our confidence in Him strengthened because we can trust His words!
And it’s not just words - it’s active, practical and specific. The next words, who has the key of David - it goes back to Isaiah 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.
Isaiah wrote these words to Shebna about being replaced by Eliakim taking his place as the Palace prefect, but the statement is used by Jesus first in Matthew 16 -
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.”
and then here in our text in Revelation, where the point of all of this imagery is that Jesus is unstoppable, He is holy, and He is true - He won’t lead us to moral or intellectual error. He opens and no one can shut, He closes and no one can open. He will not fail.
Eliakim was given free access to King Hezekiah’s palace, and Christ has free access to the palace of Heaven. Only He can take us to that palace, the Father’s house.
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Access to the Kingdom is through Jesus Christ alone.
Jesus is telling us that He is trustworthy. Do you trust Him? Maybe there’s someone here today who has chosen not to trust Jesus. If that’s you I need to ask you some questions.
Is what you trust holy? Are you sure?
Is what you trust true? Are you sure?
Will what you trust in prevail? Are you sure?
If you don’t trust in Jesus, are you confident enough in what you do trust in to bank your soul on it? Would you bet your life on it?
Money can’t save you. Personal strength or power won’t save you. Whatever you’re chasing in this world won’t save you.
Only Jesus saves. Only Jesus is holy and trustworthy. If you’ll truly give your life into His hands I promise you that He is faithful to do what He says He’ll do.
Next we see
2. AN OPEN DOOR AND ENEMIES. vv. 8-9
We see what happens when we keep Jesus’ Word, we see an open door for us and the outcome for our enemies. Revelation 3: 8 starts out with I know your works -
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.
I know your works, and because of your faithful works I give you an open door - an open door to what?
If we look at other places in the New Testament where this phrase is used, it leads us to believe that this open door is an open door to the ministry. It’s a successful ministry - Acts 14:27 is a prime example of this -
After they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported everything God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
and the context of verse 8 seems to point to this success in evangelism and disciple making being the open door referred to here.
And it’s an open door in response to the rest of verse 8 - they kept Jesus’ Word, and they did not deny His name. You have little power, but much faith.
Remember the location of Philadelphia - gateway to the east. Trading stop for the Roman empire. You’re small, everyone around you is treating you as insignificant.
But you have kept My Word and not denied My name, so I’m giving you the open door to spread the Gospel.
Now, don’t misunderstand what Jesus is saying here - it’s not payment. Jesus gives them His word, that active and living word that is powerful and life giving, and when they keep it Jesus opens doors for them to share His words.
And the Word of Jesus is powerful. How are you keeping it?
The Gospel is powerful in our personal lives. John 7:37 -
On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
If we go to Jesus to drink, our life will be transformed - He will change us from the inside out.
The Gospel of Christ is powerful in our relationships - Matthew 5:7 -
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
If we keep the Gospel, we show mercy, and we receive mercy from God.
The Gospel is powerful in evangelism even of our enemies - Luke 6:28-
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
The Gospel gives us the power to share Jesus with those that are nasty to us. The Gospel gives us the power to face those that persecute us and the Gospel is the power of Jesus in us revealing Himself to our enemies.
When we keep the Gospel in focus we see the power of Christ in us. Christ opens doors for us to share the Gospel with others. It not only keeps us from denying Jesus name, it honors Jesus name.
And the power we receive through the gospel is seen in verse 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.
As we saw previously in these letters to the churches, the Jewish community was causing issues for the church.
Anyone who has ever been persecuted or opposed because of the gospel should be encouraged by what Jesus says here -
He’s not just giving them an open door, He’s giving them triumph over their enemies that oppose the Gospel.
It’s also interesting to note the contrast here between these Jews and the church in Philadelphia - Deuteronomy 7:8 tells us that the Jews were loved by God -
But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
He loved them, and it was because HE loved THEM that he redeemed them, yet they rejected the Gospel, and here at Philadelphia the church is told that these supposed Jews will lie down at their feet and know that He loved them too.
Next we see that we need to be
3. READY FOR HIS COMING. vv. 10-11
Jesus again commends them for keeping His word and then adds that they will be kept from testing and that He is coming soon -
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.
Ok, so here’s one of those challenging verses, right? Because it speaks of testing, or as some would say tribulation, and its language that seems to point towards the rapture.
That’s not really the point of the verse though - the point is that Jesus will protect those that are faithful from that tribulation. Here whether you believe the rapture comes before this tribulation or that the church will be preserved through that tribulation, those aren’t the important part of the verse.
What is important is that Jesus says that because they are keeping His word and they are enduring that Jesus will protect them - Jesus will keep us from tribulation either by rapture or by protecting us, and either way it will be miraculous.
A lot of people will get into an argument over the whole pre-tribulation rapture, mid tribulation rapture, and post tribulation rapture, but ultimately that isn’t the point of this piece of scripture before us today - the point is that Jesus will preserve His church. We’ll save the pre-trib/mid-trib/post-trib topic for another day.
What is important here is that Christ will preserve.
This is a similar promise to the one we saw for Smyrna a few weeks ago - it’s a promise that they will preserve through Christ.
Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will experience affliction for ten days. Be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.
The important thing that we all agree upon is that Jesus will preserve His people because they have remained faithful to His word.
In verse 11 Jesus announces -
I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one takes your crown.
And here’s the other thing when it comes to this rapture argument - it doesn’t really matter nearly as much when you think it is coming, but it absolutely matters that you’re ready for His next triumphant entry.
Its going to be soon, and we need to be keeping the Gospel in focus if we are to remain faithful.
Finally we come to
4. A PILLAR IN THE TEMPLE. vv. 12-13
There may be an intended contrast here between the synagogue of Satan and the promise of being a pillar -
“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.
The jews here are only a synagogue, and its a synagogue of Satan. We who are faithful to the end will be the new temple, where God dwells.
And Jesus promises that the one who conquers will never go out of it - we will never cease to enjoy being in the presence of God.
Jesus will write on each one of us the name of God, the name of the city of God, and His new name. And we aren’t talking Toy Story possession, we’re talking we will be fully possessed by God for all eternity. We will be delighted to be in the presence of our King.
“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
Hear the words of Christ - listen to them and let them seep in, allow them to work through you, so that you can remain faithful to see Him coming - don’t let anyone take away your crown.
TO STAND RIGHTEOUS WE MUST KEEP THE GOSPEL OF JESUS AS OUR FOCUS.
The church in Philadelphia was facing opposition from Rome and from the Jews. It would appear that the majority came from the Jews.
There’s a unique contrast between the Jewish synagogue and what the true believer in Christ has though.
The Jews have the synagogue, Jesus has the key of David.
The Jews have the synagogue, those who belong to Jesus have and keep His word.
The Jews have the synagogue, Jesus will make the overcomers pillars in the temple.
The Jews have the synagogue, those who belong to Jesus and keep His word will never be made to leave God’s temple where they are pillars.
The Jews have the synagogue, those who belong to Jesus will have His name written on them.
The Jews have the synagogue, those who belong to Jesus and keep His word will have the name of God’s city, the New Jerusalem written on them.
The Jews have the synagogue, those who belong to Jesus and keep His word will have Jesus’ new name written on them.
The point is, what Jesus offers is better than any other thing or place of shelter, security, confidence, or refuge. Keep His word, we must keep the gospel as our focus.
Jesus said
“Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.
“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.