To the Church in Philadelphia
7 “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. 8 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. 9 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. 10 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.
11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 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. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
My Understanding: Jesus Christ is the author of this letter. He describes himself as him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. He is God, the One and Only true and holy God, creator of all things, and through whom all things hold together. He holds the key to eternal life with God in heaven, because it is only through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that we have access to the Father and to eternity with God. He determines who can enter into his heaven, i.e. it is by grace we are saved through faith, it is not of ourselves, but it is a gift of God, and he determines who he will turn away from heaven for lack of faith.
So, what he opens is the opportunity to receive him as Lord and Savior and thus to have eternal life beginning right now and culminating in Jesus’ return when our salvation will be complete. What he shuts is that door to heaven to all who refuse him and who do not believe in him as Lord and Savior. No man or woman can open his own way into heaven. We can only come to faith in Jesus Christ as the Father draws us to his Son, and that he gives us the faith to believe and to live for him now and forever. As well, we do not have the ability to shut the doors of heaven off to people from believing, though we might certainly hinder their ability to believe and to have true faith if we are teaching them a false gospel. Only God has the keys to heaven and can determine who gets inside and who does not, and the key into heaven’s door is true faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus said he had placed before this church an open door that no man could shut. This was important for them to hear, because from reading the rest of the letter, it is clear that the church in Philadelphia was suffering much persecution for the name of Jesus Christ, which is why they had little strength. Jesus was assuring them that he held them in the palm of his hand and that nothing could separate them, his true followers, from his love. He had opened the door to salvation to them and no amount of suffering or persecution, mocking, criticism, rejection, or false accusations from those who claimed to be believers, but were not, could keep them from God’s holy presence.
They were to be assured of God’s promises to them, and they were to hold fast in their faith in the face of enormous persecution. And, one day, Jesus was going to make their persecutors fall at the feet of these true believers, and to acknowledge how much God loved them, because their oppressors had obviously been lying and trying to convince them to the contrary, so it would appear from the context of this letter.
The affirmation to these believers in Philadelphia was that, even though they were beaten down by the lies of the enemy of their souls - Satan, via his human instruments - still they had kept God’s word and they did not deny his name (his character; his divine attributes). They kept his command to endure patiently even in the face of great opposition to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The liars were obviously trying to convince them that they did not have true faith or that something else was required for entrance into heaven, such as Old Testament regulations and religious practices, and this must have been putting confusion into the minds of these believers, which is why Jesus felt it necessary to strengthen them in their faith by letting them know they had the hope of eternal life, i.e. the door was open for them and that no false teachers or false gospel coming against them could hinder them from God’s promises to them and their hope of eternal life.
We, as well, may face this kind of opposition to our faith in Jesus Christ from those who claim to be in Christ Jesus, but who are not. They might try to add to our faith man-made regulations, religious rituals, or religious rites and practices, yet the only requirement for salvation is true faith. Now, we must understand what “faith” really means. It is not a mere intellectual acknowledgement of Christ, nor is it solely an emotional experience that took place at an altar, though those may be aspects of faith or of our decision to believe in Jesus Christ. New Testament scripture is clear throughout that true faith involves repentance and obedience to Jesus Christ, i.e. to God, and that it is evidenced by our fruit (works), i.e. we are not saved by works, but true faith will show itself by what we do. This is evident in all of these letters to the churches in Revelation, because Jesus repeatedly tells them he knows their deeds, because their deeds show (reveal) whether or not they truly have faith. Yet, it is the working of the Holy Spirit to draw us to Christ, to give us the faith to believe, and then to work out our salvation within us, producing fruit in keeping with repentance, as we cooperate with God in allowing him to transform us into His image.
As far as this verse that states, because they had kept his command to endure patiently, that Jesus Christ was going to keep them from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth, there are many varied interpretations of what this means. For one thing, the people from this specific church have long gone and are with Jesus through faith in him, and we have not yet had the time of great tribulation on this earth, so they have literally been kept from it, yet they were not kept entirely from persecution and oppression of the enemy. I believe, though, that these letters, in principle and doctrine, are to be applied to all time, so I believe there is a promise in here for us today that if we endure patiently, that God is going to keep us, as well, from the time of great tribulation and God’s wrath, yet that word “from” can also be interpreted “through”, so either way, this is a promise that, no matter what comes our way, we are in God’s hands and he will hold us and keep us in his love and care and will bring us through even the greatest trials if we endure patiently and we keep his commands.
Jesus said that he was coming soon. “Soon” was a term that meant “imminent,” i.e. he could come at any time. We should always be watching and waiting for his return by how we live our daily lives. We are to hold on to our faith, not just as a belief system, doctrine, theology, etc., but we are to hold on to our faith in life and in practice. All throughout the New Testament, it is clear, and these letters just reaffirm it, that true faith is faith that lasts and that endures to the end, so that no one will take away our crown. As well, all of these letters reaffirm that only those who overcome sin by faith in Jesus Christ and who conquer the flesh via belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the working of the Holy Spirit within to transform us into Christ’s likeness, through our cooperation with God and his working within us, will be those who inherit eternal life. We don’t “get saved” just so we can go to heaven one day. Salvation is a life altering and life changing transformation of the human heart away from living in sin, and for ourselves, to walking in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ on a day-to-day basis. And, only God knows our hearts.
The promise for those who overcome and who are genuinely believers in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and who have turned from their lives of sin and are walking in faith and obedience to God, is that we will have a permanent place with God in heaven, that God will identify himself with us by writing on us his name and the name of the New Jerusalem, i.e. a spiritual city of God, i.e. Christ’s bride, his true church. We will be permanently situated with God in heaven forever and ever, amen!
He who has an ear… If God has spoken to your heart through this passage of scripture concerning your relationship with Jesus Christ and you realize that true faith in Jesus Christ is faith that endures, that holds on, that overcomes, and if you have been relying on a false hope and a false gospel that has fed you a lie and that has told you that nothing is required of you other than some mental or audible acknowledgment of Jesus Christ and his salvation, then my prayer for you is that you would hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches. There is a reason this book of Revelation, which is mainly about the judgments of Almighty God on the earth, begins with these letters to churches and that calls them to repentance and to endurance. The Bible says that even the demons believe and they shudder and that there will be people that God is going to shut out of his heaven who thought they were Christians because they did such and such for God. So, make sure you have a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ that is evidenced by true repentance and obedience and by fruit that reveals a true heart transformation. I’d like to see you in heaven one day. So, repent while there is still time if you are not in true faith in Jesus Christ.
Awestruck Grief / An Original Work / April 21, 2011
When in awestruck grief o’er my sins, Lord, I bow,
Will You hear me, Lord, and forgive me just now?
I am so amazed that You could love me so.
Yet, Your love and kindness ever fill my soul.
Lord, You are amazing, and gracious and kind
To have offered Yourself for us when we’re blind.
You were crucified on that hill, Calvary,
When they hung Your body to die on a tree.
Now that You’ve redeemed us and, thus, set us free,
I pray, Lord, for all on this earth to believe
In Your sacrifice, Lord, cleansing all our sin,
So that we can live for You, and die within.
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