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. 8I 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. 9I 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. 10Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.
11I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him 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 him my new name. 13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 3:7-13 –NIV)
Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love. Philadelphia means brotherly love in Greek. From what I’ve read, Philadelphia was named Philadelphia long before the time of Christ, so it’s name, at least from a human viewpoint, had nothing to do with the church being there. Nevertheless, the name seems appropriate.
The church in Philadelphia is one of the two churches out of the seven for which Jesus had no rebuke. The other for which Jesus had no rebuke was the church in Smyrna.
Jesus says (in verse 7), “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.” As he had done with the other churches, Jesus identified himself not just by name, but in terms of his nature and his authority. First of all, he is holy and true.
Jesus is holy and true. What does it mean to be holy and true? What does it mean to be holy? Jesus’s disciples called him ‘the Holy One of God’. When many of the disciples were leaving Jesus, Jesus said to the twelve, “You don’t want to leave too, do you?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:67-69) The demons that Jesus was casting out also called him ‘the holy one of God’: “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are— the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24)
And Jesus is not the only one to be called holy. God’s Spirit is the Holy Spirit. And God is referred to as ‘the Holy One of Israel’ many times in the Old Testament.
The priests in the Old Testament were also holy to the Lord. (In fact, the entire nation of Israel was called holy to the Lord.)
The rituals and sacrifices the priests performed were also holy to the Lord. The temple where they performed the rituals and offered the sacrifices was referred to as God’s holy temple. It was God’s earthly residence.
There is a holy temple in the New Testament too. The church is the holy temple in which God lives by his Spirit. And we are that temple. Jesus is the cornerstone. We are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Eph. 2:19-22, 1 Cor. 3:16)
We—those of us who believe in Jesus and trust him for salvation—are also called holy—God’s holy people. (Eph. 5:3) We are God’s saints. (Saint means holy.) (If you haven’t entrusted yourself to Jesus for salvation, by the way, you are not one of God’s holy people! You are lost—dead in your transgressions and sins and headed for eternal judgment. So trust Jesus. There’s no time to lose!)
So, what does holy mean? We use the word quite a bit without thinking of the meaning. According to my Bible dictionary it comes from the Hebrew root meaning separated. Referring to God, it means that, fundamentally, he is different. He is not like us. In fact, he is far above us. He is the Creator. We and everything that we can see around us are his creations. He is holy.
Everything else (besides God) that is called holy is separated—set apart—for God’s use. That’s us. We are holy because we are set apart for God’s use.
Jesus is holy and true. What does it mean that Jesus is true? Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) (Jesus also said in that same verse by the way, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”) Jesus is the truth.
There is absolute truth. God defines what it is. God, in fact, is the absolute, ultimate reality. When the apostle Peter preached, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved,” he meant Jesus and he was speaking God’s absolute truth!
I hear a lot about something called relative truth. Honestly, I don’t really understand what it is. They say that it means that what’s true for me may or may not be true for someone else. I know that the statement, “I have grey hair,” is true for me and may or may not be true for someone else. But that’s not what they mean. Relative truth seems to mean interpreting things according to your understanding of reality which may or may not be the same as someone else’s understanding of reality, so what’s true for you may not be true for another person. People who subscribe to relative truth apparently believe there is no such thing as absolute truth. It seems pretty bizarre to me. How can you even interact with other people on that basis—their reality is different from yours? But there is absolute truth. It’s God’s truth! Jesus is true and he is the truth. He is the way and the truth and the life!
Jesus says that he holds the key of David and that what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. The key of David refers to authority over Israel. Back in 2 Samuel, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Nathan. The word of the Lord (do you suppose that might have been Jesus) told Nathan to tell David (among other things) what I’m going to read now. This is from 2 Samuel 7:11b-16:
11b “‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: 12When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. 15But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’“ (2 Samuel 7:11b-16 –NIV)
Jesus is the one who will reign on David’s throne forever. He is the one whose throne is established forever. He is also the one who is the cornerstone of the house (I will establish a house for you—remember that the church is the temple in which God lives by his Spirit—it’s God house).
Verse 14 says, “I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men.” Jesus is God’s son. Jesus did not sin. He did no wrong. But he was punished in our place for our sin. That is the reason that we will not be condemned.
And now let me read from Isaiah 9:6, 7:
6For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6, 7 –NIV)
That’s Jesus!
What Jesus opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. If Jesus wants to enable something to happen, nothing can prevent it it. If he wants to prevent something from happening, it won’t happen.
When the apostles were warned in Acts chapter 5 by the Sanhedrin not to teach or preach in Jesus’s name, here’s how they replied:
29bWe must obey God rather than men! 30The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead— whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. (Acts 5:28b-32 –NIV)
The Jewish leaders were furious and wanted to put the apostles to death. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel stood up and spoke. This is what he said:
35bMen of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God. (Acts 5:35b-39 –NIV)
You will only find yourself fighting against God. What Jesus opens no one can close! How often do we find ourselves fighting against God?
What Jesus closes, no one can open. Listen to this. This is Jesus speaking in Luke 13:24-28:
24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’
“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’
28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.” (Luke 13:24-28 –NIV)
There is a limited time for us to accept Jesus’s salvation. When the ‘owner of the house’ gets up and closes the door it will be too late. If you have not accepted Jesus’s salvation, you will be one of the ‘evildoers’. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Well, these are two examples of Jesus’s opening and closing of doors. There are many others (which I’m not going to go into).
In verse 8 in today’s passage Jesus says, “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 don’t know what the open door that Jesus placed before them was, but they probably knew. I presume that it must have been an opportunity to serve Jesus and to bring glory to God. (When you do that, serve Jesus and bring glory to God, it brings glory to you too, but maybe not in this life, lest you become proud.)
Sometimes Jesus opens doors for us, but we have to make the decision to go through them. He provides opportunities, but we have to take them. If we take them, success is guaranteed (but it may not look that way to us immediately).
Jesus was giving the church in Philadelphia an opportunity, even though they had little strength. Actually, without faith, we all have little strength when it comes to doing God’s work. But Jesus may have meant that there was nothing spectacular about them to attract any attention. (We always like it when some sports hero or someone super star of some kind repents and give his testimony about Jesus. They probably had nothing like that—maybe just a small church of ordinary people.) In any case, Jesus noted that they had the faith to keep his word and to not deny his name. Do we have the faith to keep Jesus’s word and to not deny Jesus’s name—to not deny who he is? (In other parts of the world people are imprisoned and put to death when they refuse to deny Jesus’s name. And, by the way, in order to keep Jesus’s word, you have to know what it is, so study your Bible.)
Now let’s look at verse 9. Verse 9 says, “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.”
I’ll have to admit that I don’t really know how to interpret this verse. In Philippians chapter 2 it says that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord. But I don’t really think that’s what Jesus is talking about here. Here’s what I think after reading some commentaries: These are the Jews who initially rejected Jesus and continued to follow Judaism. But the focus of Judaism was the coming of Jesus. By rejecting Jesus, they had made Judaism a false religion—a synagogue of Satan. What Jesus was telling them was that these people would see his love for them—maybe see his love through them. Jesus said (in John 13:35), “By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.” These people would see Jesus’s love and would come and would want the same thing for themselves and be saved.
Now let’s look at verse 10. Jesus says, “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.” Since you have kept my command to endure patiently as the NIV renders it is probably a bad translation. That’s not what it says literally. The other translations I looked at say something like, “Since you have kept the word of my patience...” rather than my command to endure patiently. The word of my patience is pretty much the literal translation. When Jesus says this, he is talking about his patience rather than the patience of the Philadelphian church. Remember from last week that “the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Pet. 3:9) I think the people in the church in Philadelphia were living their lives in the expectation that Jesus might come back at any time and other could see it. We should do that too. We should live our lives in the expectation that Jesus might come back at any time.
Now let’s look at verse 11. Jesus says, “I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.” (See, Jesus says that he is coming soon, so hold on!) The crown is the crown of life. Jesus promised it to the church in Smyrna too: “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Jesus has promised it to us too. James, the Lord’s brother had this to say: “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” (Notice that James says, “When he has stood the test,” not “If he has stood the test!”)
Now let’s look at verse 12. Jesus says, “Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him 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 him my new name.”
These are promises to all who believe in Jesus—to us too. A pillar is like a monument. This will happen when we rise from the dead! (Remember that I said you might not receive glory in this life lest you become proud? Well this is when you receive it.) We will be in God’s presence forever. The names that are written on us will confirm us as members of God’s family and citizens of the New Jerusalem. We will also be confirmed as brothers of Jesus and sons of God. We will be with the Lord forever.
“He who has an ear (that’s us!), let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Amen!
[prayer]