“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 upon 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 will take your crown. 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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
My Understanding: Jesus Christ is the speaker. He is holy (pure; righteous) and true (not a liar like men/women). He holds the key of David, i.e. he is the one who decides who will enter his kingdom and who will be rejected. Man has no power within himself to earn his way into heaven. His good deeds will never outweigh his bad deeds. Only through genuine faith in Jesus Christ can we enter God’s eternal kingdom. And, no man on the earth, and no evil spirits in this world can shut the doors of heaven in anyone’s face, though many may try. Jesus Christ is the only one with the power and the authority to ultimately determine who goes to heaven and who does not, i.e. the one who opens and shuts heaven’s door.
An Open Door
Jesus Christ provided the way for all to be saved and to enter his eternal kingdom when he died on the cross for the sins of the entire world. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). So, what does it mean to have faith? Eph. 4:17-24 says:
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
The truth concerning how we come to know Christ Jesus is that, through faith, and in the power of the working of the Holy Spirit within us, as we cooperate with that work, we put off our old sinful selves, we are made new in the attitude of our minds with regard to sin and righteousness, and we put on the new self, which is created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. In other words, we must turn from our sin (repent) and we must turn to walk in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ and to his commands in order to have genuine faith. This faith will then be evidenced as true through our actions (love, service, obedience, character, attitudes, etc.), which James called works, and Jesus called fruit. What they both said is that genuine faith should produce (generate; yield) certain types of attitudes, actions and character traits that would reveal their faith as genuine.
Little Strength
The life of faith in Christ Jesus is not always an easy road, though. Jesus said we would be hated and persecuted just like he was hated and persecuted. And, he exhorted his church to be faithful, even to the point of death, and they would receive their eternal inheritance. We, as the church in the USA, don’t know much of what it really means to be hated and persecuted for our faith in Jesus Christ, though some of us do, yet still not to the degree, yet, that believers in Christ have had to suffer throughout the world. But, that kind of persecution is coming to America, too. It has to in order to fulfill scripture. And, the beginnings of it have already started. Through times of severe persecution, the saints of God will experience little physical and emotional strength. And, they may even be tempted to give up, because, in their natural selves, they just won’t have what it takes to keep going. I feel that way today, not due to persecution, but due to a bad head cold that has been weighing me down for days and seems relentless. So, I told the Lord at the onset of this today that I can’t do this. I have no strength. Yet, he can do what I can’t.
Even though the church had little strength, due to the severe persecution they faced, they had kept the Word of Christ. To keep something means: to retain it, to cling to it, to continue (endure; persist; persevere) in it, to honor it, and to obey it. The word of God was central to their lives, they feasted upon the Word, they held fast to it, loved it, embraced its teachings, and they obeyed what it said. The word of God is powerful and effective. It is our sword of the Spirit with which to fight off Satan’s evil attacks against us. In it we find much encouragement and hope, as well as we find instructions for holy living. Through obedience to the Word we are able to endure persecution and hatred from our enemies, because of our testimony for Christ, and yet keep going in the faith.
They, also, had not denied the name of Jesus. To deny someone means: to repudiate; refute; reject; contradict; negate; disallow; prevent; renounce; and to disown. We can deny Christ and his name in many ways. We may proclaim that we are his followers, and thus not audibly reject him in the sense of giving witness to the fact that we do not believe in him, and yet we can still deny and disown him. Jesus said, quoting from Isaiah, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” So, it is possible to give honor to Jesus with our lips and yet to deny him with our actions, attitudes, and our words, in a kind of backward way. John said that if we say we love God and yet we hate our brothers, we are liars. He said that if we claim to have fellowship with Jesus Christ and yet we continue (persist; persevere) in sin (walk in darkness), we are liars. He said that if we say we know God and yet we don’t obey his commands, we are liars. And, he said that if we love the world with all its sinful passions and desires, then the love of the Father is not in us. [Ref: 1 John] So, this goes back to what it means to truly believe in Jesus Christ. We must turn from our sins, we must be changed in our thinking and attitudes through a spiritual transformation of the Spirit of God, and we must turn to walk in faithful obedience to Jesus Christ and to his commands. His two main commands are to love God and to love others.
So, for this church to keep his word and to not deny his name means they spent much time in the word, they obeyed it, and their lifestyles gave evidence that their faith was genuine.
The Liars
As was true with the Church in Smyrna, these followers of Christ Jesus had faced severe persecution at the hands of Jews who were not really Jews, but were liars, and were of the “synagogue of Satan.” In a nutshell, this is speaking of those who proclaimed to be children of God and inheritors of the divine promise, but had not had a heart transformation of the Spirit of God through faith in Jesus Christ. They were “Jews” outwardly, but not inwardly (see Rom. 2:28-29). Only those who have come to true faith in Jesus Christ are children of God and heirs of the promised eternal inheritance (see Rom. 9). So, this is speaking of those who proclaim some special relationship with God due to physical heritage, or whatever other reason, such as praying a sinner’s prayer, and yet God is saying they do not have a relationship with him, because they have not truly accepted his Son, Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior by genuine faith, as is defined in 1 John, James and other NT books.
The Church in Philadelphia apparently was suffering at the hands of these who call themselves Jews and yet were a synagogue of Satan. A synagogue was a place of worship for the Jews where they worshiped God. So, to be called a synagogue of Satan was basically saying that they were not worshipers of God, but truly were worshipers of Satan. Satan is the one who stands in the strongest opposition to Christ Jesus and to his followers, so Satan’s followers will also oppose those who are truly following Jesus Christ. The followers of Satan, thus, will do his dirty work in persecuting, imprisoning and even killing the saints of Almighty God. Many who call themselves God’s children, whether calling themselves Jews or Christians, are not really his children, but are followers of Satan and of his ways, though they may think they are following God. Jesus said he would make these liars one day bow down at the feet of his true followers and acknowledge that Jesus loved them.
Hour of Trial
Jesus promised to keep these faithful followers of his from the hour of trial, which we know to be the time of the Great Tribulation, at which time Satan will rule the earth. This word “from” can also be translated “through.” So, this is either a promise to keep the Lord’s faithful, committed and obedient followers from the time of the Great Tribulation, or it is a promise that he will keep them through it, i.e. he will sustain them and give them strength through their time of great persecution that will result in death for many. Either way, the promise is for those who have kept the word (obeyed it; held to it), who have not denied the name of Jesus in word or in deed, and who have kept the Lord’s command to endure patiently, as a matter of lifestyle, though certainly not with absolute perfection. Yet, this is not a promise for all who merely profess the name of Jesus Christ as Savior and as Lord.
Jesus said he was coming soon. That was about 2,000 years ago he said that, though the Bible teaches that God does not keep time like we do, for a day is like a thousand years to him. He is not slow like some understand slowness. He has not yet brought this hour of trial upon the earth because he is patient, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (faith). “Soon” often means “imminent,” i.e. we should behave as though he could come at any moment. We should live with a watchful attitude, holding on to what we have, “so that no one will take your crown.” There are varied interpretations of what this means. It appears that this fits with the idea of overcoming, i.e. of faithful endurance in the face of great persecution as a precursor to receiving eternal life. This is a continual theme throughout the New Testament. True faith is faith that endures to the end. And, it is this kind of abiding, enduring faith which will be richly rewarded in eternity.
Your Word / An Original Work / December 27, 2011
Based off Psalm 119
Praise You with an upright heart as
I learn of Your righteousness.
I seek You with all my heart;
Do not let me stray from Your law.
I have hidd’n Your word in my heart
That I might not sin against You.
Open my eyes that I may see
Wonderful things in Your word.
I am a stranger on earth.
I have chosen the way of truth;
My heart is set on Your word.
I will walk about in freedom,
For I have sought out Your truth.
Teach me knowledge and good judgment,
For I believe in Your law.
Your hands made me, and they formed me;
Give me understanding, Lord.
I put my hope in Your word.
Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light unto my path.
You are my shield and my refuge;
In Your word I put my hope.
My heart trembles at Your word, Lord.
May my lips o’erflow with praise.
May my tongue sing of Your truth, Lord.
Your salvation, Lord, long I.
Your word, Lord, is my delight.
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