We are in the midst of our study of the seven churches of Revelation. Today we will examine what Jesus has to say to the sixth of these, the Church at Philadelphia. Listen for God’s word to you from Revelation 3:7-13…
“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.
Context
Philadelphia was the youngest of all seven cities mentioned in Revelation. It was founded by colonists from Pergamum under the reign of Attalus the Second, who ruled in Pergamum from 159 to 138 BC. Philadelphia means “one who loves his brother”. I will leave you to decide whether our American Philadelphia deserves the name. But such was the love of King Attalus for his brother Eumenes that the king called his brother Philadelphos, and it was after the king’s brother that Philadelphia was named.
Philadelphia was founded as a missionary of Greek culture and language for the region. The city did such a good job that by AD 17 the Lydians had forgotten their own language and had largely adopted Greek culture.
Today, modern day Alashehir has 45 mosques, though it remained a strong center for Orthodox Christianity until the early twentieth century.
Philadelphia was a city of commercial importance in ancient times and was the gateway to the high central plateau of Asia Minor.
Central Turkey in the first century was known for earthquakes. Philadelphia had suffered one of the worst ones in AD 17. Sardis and ten other cities were destroyed. Much of Philadelphia was destroyed and had to be rebuilt with a grant from the emperor. The tremors went on for years, so much so that Strabo described Philadelphia as a “city full of earthquakes”.
I know from living in California that when one big earthquake comes, people often meet it with courage. But ever-recurring earthquakes can drive people to sheer panic, or at best, a constant state of unsettledness. In Philadelphia, after-shocks were an everyday occurrence. Gaping cracks appeared in the walls of houses. First one part of the city was in ruins, then another. Most of the population lived outside the city in huts and feared to go into the city because of falling masonry.
Chief Characteristic of Christ Applied
Just as Philadelphia was founded to be a missionary of Greek language and culture, so Jesus sets before the Church of Philadelphia the mission of sharing his love language and culture with their region.
Jesus calls himself holy. To be holy means to be set apart, different. Jesus is also the one who can make us holy, whole. I like to spell holiness with a “w” … “wholiness”.
Jesus calls himself true. There are two words for true in Greek. There is “alethes” which means true in the sense of distinguishing a true statement from a false one. Then there is “alethinos” which means real as opposed to unreal. It is the second word that is used here. Ultimate reality is found in Jesus. In him is truth itself. He is the truth.
Jesus says he is the one who holds the key of David. Behind this statement there is an Old Testament picture. King Hezekiah had a faithful steward named Eliakim who was responsible for admitting people to the presence of the king. Isaiah heard God say of Eliakim, “and I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open” (Isaiah 22:22). By describing himself in this way, Jesus is saying that he has the ultimate authority to admit us to the presence of God.
Commendation
Jesus is not only the one who can open the door for us to the presence of God, he is also the one who has given to the Church at Philadelphia, and to our church, an open door of opportunity. N. T. Wright explains…
Jesus is the one who, like the steward appointed over God’s house in Isaiah 22:22, has “the key of David”: the royal key that will open, or lock, any and every door. Equipped with this regal power, Jesus has opened a door right in front of the Philadelphia Christians, and he is urging them to go through it. As with Paul’s use of the same picture (1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 2:12; Colossians 4:3), the meaning is almost certainly that they have an opportunity not just to stand firm but to make advances, to take the good news of Jesus into places and hearts where it has not yet reached.
Jesus says to the Church at Philadelphia, “I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” This should be a wonderful encouragement to us. The important thing for us as a church is not how much strength we have, how much money we have in our bank account, how good a shape our building is in, how many people we have attending our services. None of these things are of ultimate importance because Jesus works best through our weakness. As the Lord said to Paul, so he says to us, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” What we need to do is simply keep Jesus’ word and not deny his name.
However, there is something standing in the way of the Philadelphia Church’s progress. It is the synagogue down the street. Sardis, not far away, was a major Jewish center at the time. Here it seems the synagogue community was using its civic status to block the advance of the message about Israel’s Messiah Jesus. Keep in mind, there was probably a Jewish community of several thousand in Philadelphia and the Church at Philadelphia probably had, at most, two or three dozen members. The phrase “synagogue of Satan” can sound very antisemitic, but we need to remember that both Jesus and the author of Revelation were Jewish. What we have here is really an inner-Jewish question. Which of these two groups can properly claim to be the true Jews, bearing the torch of God’s ancient people, the Philadelphia synagogue or the Philadelphia church? The perspective of the Early Church was that those who follow Jesus as the Davidic Messiah are the true Jews. Those who deny Jesus are forfeiting their right to that noble name. The synagogue in Philadelphia is criticized, not for being Jewish, but for opposing the Jesus-followers. The synagogue in Philadelphia doubtless would have excommunicated anyone who confessed Jesus as their Messiah.
But Jesus is here prophesying a dramatic reversal of roles. The unbelieving synagogue will realize that Jesus, their own Messiah, has loved this little group of Jesus-followers.
What is “the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth”?
Some have thought this to be a reference to the last great tribulation before Jesus’ return. But, obviously, that did not happen in the first or second century because Jesus has not come back to earth yet.
Others have thought this to be a reference to some local persecution. But that doesn’t fit with this hour of trial coming “on the whole world”.
Still others have thought this to be a reference to the perennial trials we all face in the world. Perhaps this is the best way of viewing what Jesus says here.
Jesus’ promise can be construed in one of two ways. Either he is promising to keep the Philadelphia Christians from experiencing the coming trial altogether, or he is promising to keep them through the trial. I tend to think the latter is what Jesus is promising. He does not spare us from all trials in this life, but he does promise to keep us through the trials, and that is all that really matters in the end.
David says something similar in Psalm 23: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
God doesn’t dump anyone in the valley of the shadow. He always leads us through to the other side.
Critique
No critique is given by Jesus to this church. Along with Smyrna, Jesus finds no fault in this little congregation.
Counsel
Jesus says, “I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
In what sense is Jesus coming soon? Two thousand years have come and gone, and Jesus has not yet returned to the earth.
The early Christians were wondering the same thing. Many of them expected that Jesus would return in their lifetime, and they were disappointed when it didn’t happen. They asked, “Where is this coming?”
To this question, Peter responded,
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8-9)
We also must keep in mind that there is a sense in which Jesus is coming to us all the time. Jesus himself said that he is present in the naked person we clothe and the hungry person we feed. That sort of “coming of Jesus” is not only soon, it’s around us all the time, if we have the spiritual eyes to see him.
Thirdly, though Jesus may not come back to earth in our lifetime, he will, one day, come for each of us individually. In John 14, Jesus says…
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
We need to be ready to meet Jesus at all times and in all places. We need to hold on to what we have—the faith we have and the opportunities we have to serve Jesus—so that no one will take our crown.
What is the crown that Jesus speaks of?
Paul calls it a crown that will last forever (1 Corinthians 9:25) and “the victor’s crown”. (2 Timothy 2:5) He also calls the people he has won to Christ his crown. (Philippians 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:19)
James refers to something he calls “the crown of life”. (James 1:12) And Peter calls it the “crown of glory”. (1 Peter 5:4)
But Paul’s most complete description of our crown comes in 2 Timothy 4:8 where he says…
Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Do we long for Jesus’ appearing? Do we long, simply to be with him? If so, then there will be a crown for us. It is the crown of righteousness. Not the crown of our own righteousness, but the crown of Jesus’ righteousness which he offers to us in exchange for our sin. That is what happens when we put our trust in Jesus for salvation; he takes our sins and nails them to his cross, and he takes his righteousness and puts it in our hearts.
Confirming Word to Conquerors
Jesus says, “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.”
Philadelphia’s temples had been destroyed in the earthquakes. Imagine how encouraging it was to these citizens of Philadelphia to hear that Jesus would make them pillars in the temple of his God, pillars that would never crumble in any earthquake. These words would have been especially encouraging to the Philadelphia Christians: “Never again will they have to leave it.” They well remembered people leaving the city for fear of falling masonry.
The image of God’s people being his temple was a popular one from the early days of the Church. Paul used this image in his writings. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:19-22) In particular Paul calls the leaders of the Jerusalem Church “pillars”. (Galatians 2:9) Now that term is being applied to this little struggling band of Christians in Philadelphia.
Jesus promises he will write on them the name of his God, and the name of the city of his God, the new Jerusalem. And he will write on them his own new name. What is that new name? It is possibly, either “King” or “Lord” or both. When Jesus ascended into heaven, he was crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. And now he reigns from the right hand of the Father.
As mentioned earlier, when Philadelphia was devastated by the great earthquake of AD 17, it was rebuilt by Caesar. Out of gratitude, the city changed its name to Neocaesarea—the New City of Caesar. They did this again in the time of Vespasian. Out of gratitude they changed their name to Flavia, for Flavius was the emperor’s family name. The people of Philadelphia knew what it meant to receive a new name.
William Barclay explains that, “In the cities of Asia Minor, and in Philadelphia, when a priest died after a lifetime of faithfulness, men honoured him, by erecting a new pillar in the temple in which he had served and by inscribing his name and the name of his father upon it.”
Jesus takes this image and gives it new meaning. He tells the faithful Philadelphians that he will make them into pillars in the temple of his God. He will write on them, his pillars, the name of his heavenly Father, and his own new name.
It is interesting to note that there is still a Christian presence in Philadelphia to this day. Both the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches claim a ministry there. Five of the seven churches of Revelation no longer exist. But a church still exists in Smyrna and in Philadelphia to this day.
Billy Graham once said,
The Evangelistic Harvest is always urgent. The destiny of men and of nations is always being decided. Every generation is strategic. We are not responsible for the past generation, and we cannot bear the full responsibility for the next one; but we do have our generation. God will hold us responsible as to how well we fulfill our responsibilities to this age and take advantage of our opportunities.
I wonder: what will we do as a church to make sure the good news of Jesus Christ is passed to the next generation, so that there will be a church in Yarmouth and a witness to Jesus Christ in this place for years to come?
There is a door of missionary opportunity before every person. We need not go overseas to find it. Within the home, within the circles in which we move, within the neighborhood in which we reside, there are many people who need to know the love of God in Jesus Christ. To walk through the door of opportunity before us individually, and as a church, is at once our privilege and our responsibility.
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