Philadelphia: The Faithful Church, Part 1
Revelation 3:7
Open your Bible to Revelation chapter 3 and we are looking at verses 7 to 13, the letter from the Lord Jesus to the church in the city of Philadelphia. In our study of this section of letters to the churches, these churches in cities in ancient Asia Minor, we have learned that each one of the churches was unique. Each of these churches had distinguishing marks. Because of that, each provides for us a sample of the kind of churches that exist throughout all the history of the church. As I have reminded you every time, these were real cities with real churches...but also they set for us seven samples of kinds of churches and thus our instructive for the church throughout all of its history.
For example, we've seen a church which fought valiantly against error, fought against heresy, hated evil, but was condemned for a lack of love. We've seen a church which exhibited love only to be condemned for a lack of sound doctrine and a tolerance of sin. We've seen a church spiritually alive in every way only to be killed physically, martyred for Christ. We've seen a church physically alive in every way only to be spiritually killed by sin. We've seen a church that thought it was poor but God says it is rich. In our next study we will see a church that thought it was rich but God says it's poor, destitute of holy things.
And so we've seen all different kinds of churches. And they can portray for us the way the church always is. There are those churches known for their stand on sound doctrine but without love. There are those churches known for their love without sound doctrine. There are those churches that fight against evil. There are those churches that tolerate evil. There are those churches that are spiritually alive and suffer for their testimony. There are those churches that are spiritually dead and suffer nothing because no one persecutes a dead church. There are those churches that think they have very little but they have a lot. And those who think they have a lot and have nothing.
Now in the study for tonight we come to a church that was faithful. Along with the letter to the church in Smyrna over in chapter 2 verse 8, this letter, chapter 3 verse 7, to Philadelphia is written to a church that needs no warning, that needs no chastening, that needs no threatening because here you have a true church. Two of the seven churches have nothing condemning them in the letter because they are the regenerate church. The church at Smyrna, the church at Philadelphia were faithful, godly, loyal, effective. And we see these two churches as the models throughout all of church history of good, solid, regenerate, faithful churches.
I don't want to make a point that really isn't here but it does strike me that the blood-bought, redeemed, saved church is in a chaotic mixture. Did you notice that? Only two out of seven, only two out of seven were completely faithful. Now if that's some kind of a typical percentage, then the weak, sinful church is the more common church. But this church is a blessing. Let's read the letter.
Verse 7, "To the angel, or the messenger, of the church in Philadelphia, write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut and who shuts and no one opens, says this, I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut because you have a little power and have kept My Word and have not denied My name. Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie, behold, I will make them come and bow down at your feet and know that I have loved you, because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell upon the earth. I'm coming quickly. Hold fast what you have in order that no one take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God and he will not go out from it anymore. And I will write upon 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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Letter number six carried by messenger number six, here designated by the term "angel," angelos, which means messenger. As I told you, this group of seven men left John on the isle of Patmos carrying these letters back to the seven churches along with the whole book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. And as they reached their cities, the group became smaller. Now there are only two left and after this letter is delivered there's only one left to deliver his letter to the final church at Laodicea.
As this letter is given, it is given to a faithful church. Always these letters identify the correspondent, first of all. Let's look at that in verse 7. "He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut and who shuts and no one opens, says this."
The Lord never introduces Himself by simply using His name. He never says, "I the Lord Jesus Christ say this." He always introduces Himself with a description of His character, a description of His person. Up until this point, every description has been drawn out of chapter 1. Every description in the initial note of each letter has come out of chapter 1, something that described in chapter 1 is pulled in to chapter 2 and 3 to describe Him again, until now. Here we have the letter that does not draw its description of the writer, who is the Lord Jesus, from chapter 1. This is a unique description. It fits this faithful church. It has four distinct elements. It is very Hebrew. It is very Old Testament in its nature.
First of all, verse 7 introduces the correspondent, the Lord Jesus, the one who writes, the author as "He who is holy." Now this refers to no other than God. Such absolute holiness belongs to God and God alone. If you go back into the Old Testament you see this. God repeatedly is identified as the One who is holy, thinking most of Isaiah chapter 6 because it's so familiar. We read these words, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." His attribute of holiness being repeated three times...perhaps to emphasize that attribute which is most inimitable to His character. He is called the holy One in many passages. Isaiah 40:25, Isaiah 43:15, Psalm 16:10, Habakkuk 3:3 He is called the holy One. This identifies Him as absolutely sinless, absolutely unstained, unblemished, flawless.
In Revelation 4:8 if you take the trip in chapter 4 into heaven you'll hear the four living creatures and they say this, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty." Clearly then it is the character of God that is described as holy. He is holy. What does it mean? Separate. From what? Sin. The word holy means separate and He is utterly separate from sin, thus He is utterly unlike us.
To take that a step further, this is also a common title for the Messiah. In Mark, for example, chapter 1 we read that Jesus in verse 21 went in to Capernaum and He began to teach and He entered into the synagogue. They were amazed at His teaching. He was teaching as one having authority, not like the scribes. Verse 23 of Mark 1, "Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit." Here's a demon-possessed guy and he screams, and this is what he says, "What do we have to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us?" And he's speaking on behalf of other demons. And then he says this, "I know who You are, the holy One of God." Even the demons know His messianic title. He is the holy One of God.
In Luke 1, quite another testimony, this One not from a demon but from Mary. Mary talking to the angel and asking, "How can this be because I'm a virgin? How can I have a child?" And Mary came to believe and affirm what the angel said, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God." The demons call Him the holy One. The fallen angels call Him the holy One. The holy angels called Him the holy One and Mary, of course, affirmed it.
In John's gospel, chapter 6, toward the end of that long chapter in verse 69, Simon Peter says, "We have believed and come to know that You are the holy One of God." We find this repeated as well in the book of Acts where Jesus the Messiah is designated as the holy One. Peter says in Acts 3:14 to the Jews, condemning them, "You disowned the holy and righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. You chose Barabbas over the holy One. And so it goes.
Jesus identifying Himself as the holy One then is saying I am God. The Lord Jesus shares the holy, sinless, pure nature of God. He is God. He is God the holy One. Because He is holy, listen carefully, He can't tolerate sin. First Peter 1:15, "But the holy One who called you says be holy yourselves in all your behavior." The holy One demands holiness. He can't tolerate sin. That's fascinating to me. Why? Because He introduces Himself as the holy One and obviously He is separate from sin, cannot tolerate sin, and yet looks at this church with His penetrating eyes and His omniscience indicated when he says, "I know your deeds," and as holy as He is, and as omniscient as He is, He gives no rebuke, He gives no threat, no warning, no judgment, no condemnation on this church. This speaks well of them. If the holy One commends this church, indeed they are to be commended.
Secondly in verse 7 He introduces Himself as He who is holy and then says, "Who is true." He who is holy who is true. You find that combination in chapter 6 verse 10, "How long, O Lord, holy and true?" Holy and true. The combination of those two attributes is repeated many places in Scripture to identify God. God is often described in the magnificent attributes of absolute holiness and absolute truth. In fact we find that description all through the book of Revelation. You can see it in chapter 15 verse 3, "Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty righteous and true are Thy ways." You see it in chapter 16 verse 7, you see it in chapter 19 verse 2, verse 11.
What is the point? Here is the Lord Jesus Christ who is holy and even though He's absolutely holy and cannot tolerate sin, looking at this church there's nothing to rebuke which tells you what a wonderful church this was. Not that they were perfect, but that they were faithful and they were dealing with their sin. Not only that, He is true, He is true in Himself. He is the author of truth. He is the revealer of truth. And He looks at this church and He has the highest premium in the universe on truth and He has nothing to condemn them about. Here is a holy church. Here is a church committed to the truth. In fact, in John 14:6 John calls Jesus by His own words, "The way, the truth and the life." In the midst of so much that is false, in the midst of so much that is perverted, in the midst of so much error, the Lord Jesus is truth.
And there's something even more there. The word that is used, alethinos, can also have the idea of genuine, authentic as opposed to that which is fake or unreal. So you have the true One, the genuine One, the real One, the true Messiah, the true Son of God, the genuine God, the One who is truth in all He says, truth in all He does. The One who has placed the ultimate premium on truth, the One who says, "I have exalted My Word above My name," Psalm 138:2. And this One looks at the church and finds them only to be commended. What an encouragement. The reason, I think, that Jesus selected these descriptive terms for John to write is because this would be an immense encouragement to this church. The earlier church in Smyrna, they were encouraged to find out that the first and the last, who was dead and has come to life says this. In other words, they were going through some terrible persecution and Christ encourages them by introducing Himself as the One who gives resurrection life. Here He encourages the Philadelphia folks by saying, "I am absolutely holy and I put a premium on truth, and My holiness and My truth have scrutinized you and there is nothing to condemn." And that poses the reality for me and for all of us that it is possible for a church, a human church, a church with people like us to be looked at by the Holy One and the true One and to be commended.
And while we want to admit that we are human and that we fail, and we struggle and we sin, we must see in this the graciousness of our God and of our Lord, to see in us something to be commended.
There's a third descriptive phrase used of Christ. "He who is holy, who is true...I love this...who has the key of David." Who has the key of David. Now David symbolizes the messianic office. In chapter 5 verse 5 and over in chapter 22 verse 16 of Revelation we read about the root of David. This is the key of David. But it also has messianic significance.
A key is a very simple symbol in the Scripture. Whenever you see a key, you can equate it with authority. And if the word "authority" gives you problems, try the word "control." Whoever has the key has control. Whoever has the key has authority.
And here Jesus says I'm the one who has the key of David. I'm the one who can open the treasure house and pour out on you royal riches. You see how congratulatory the whole spirit of this is? I think again sometimes we assume that the Lord is never happy with any of His churches. Not so. There's no such thing as a perfect church because there's no such thing as a perfect person. And if there's not even one perfect person, then every church is an assembly of a whole lot of imperfect people.
So the problem is significantly compounded. But it is possible, it is within the realm of reason and biblical revelation to assume that the Lord can look at a church and feel like it is worth celebrating. How encouraging.
He introduces Himself as the one who can unlock the treasure house and by His sovereign authority and His sovereign power open up its riches to those He chooses. He has the key to all the riches. And He will dispense them at His own discretion.
There's a note of sovereignty in this, by the way. There goes along with that authority a certain amount of sovereignty. He can determine who gets into the treasure house to experience the blessings.
This phrase also seems to put another feature before us and that is this, that the Lord Jesus also has complete control of the entrance to David's house. And this, I think, may be a secondary implication here, but I wouldn't be faithful to my own understanding of Scripture if I didn't give it as much latitude as I can. I think if we take it back to Isaiah 22:22 it has to do with opening the treasure house which means pouring out blessing and pouring out blessing to those who are deserving.
But I see also in this the possible implication that this key unlocks David's house. What is that? The kingdom. That Jesus Christ not only is able to bless His own who are faithful, but He alone can open the door to let anybody into the Kingdom. No one comes unto the Father, He said...what?...but by Me. If you're going to come, you've got to come by Me. Jesus said it another way, you remember in John's gospel He said, "I am the way," John 14. In John 10 He said, "I am the door." Here He says I have the key, I have the sovereign authority to let you in the Kingdom. And there He's talking about salvation, coming into the Kingdom of Heaven. He's also talking perhaps eschatologically about letting you in the great future messianic kingdom. In both cases He has the key.
Obviously there was some hostile Jews attacking this church, verse 9 calls them a synagogue of Satan. And they would have denied that Jesus had the key of David. They would have denied that He could open the treasure house of God's blessing. They would have denied that He only could give entrance to the Kingdom. But they were wrong. Jesus, it says in chapter 1 verse 18, had the keys to hell and death. And here He has the keys to salvation and blessing. He could send people to hell. Or He could open the door and send them to heaven. He can shut the treasure house or He can open it.
Believe me, He came with the purpose of opening the door and letting people in the Kingdom, opening the treasure house and pouring out riches. That's why He said, "I am come that you might have life," that's salvation, "and have it more abundantly," that's the treasure house. I want to let you in, that's life. I want to pour out the treasure on you, that's abundant life. So, the Lord Jesus, the holy One, the true One, God a very God is the source of salvation and the source of
blessing.
And then a fourth element is given, and this one, too, is very rich. Again it describes the author back in verse 7 as the One who opens and no one will shut and who shuts and no one opens. I just love that. What that simply means is that whatever He does, that's it. If He opens the door to the Kingdom to somebody, nobody can shut it. If He shuts it, nobody can open it. If He opens the door of blessing and pours it out, no one can shut it. If He decides to leave it shut, no one can open it. Only He has the power. And here you see His omnipotence, His power. Without Christ, no salvation. With Christ, no one can stand against His saving purpose. Without Christ, no blessing. In Him we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies and no one can gainsay it, no one can stand against Him.
There's another component here that I feel I need to share with you. I believe there may be an implication here, and again I can't be dogmatic because it's hard to know every detail since it doesn't explain it all. But it also could say here that He opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens in terms of doors of opportunity, for service, for evangelism. In fact, in verse 8 He even makes that application and that's why I think you've got to see it in verse 7, He says, "I've put before you an open door which no one can shut." In other words, I've given you an opportunity. You say, "Well maybe He means the open door of salvation and that's what He's talking about. Or maybe He means the open door of blessing and rich treasure." That may be. But it's very possible also that He means the open door of spiritual opportunity for service and evangelism because in verse 9 He describes a marvelous evangelistic enterprise that's going to take place.
But in any case, whether it is His saving work, whether it is His blessing work, or whether it is His opening and closing doors of opportunity of service and evangelism, the point of this statement is that He opens and nobody else can shut it. He shuts it and nobody else can open it. He is sovereign, El Shaddai, the Almighty God. And as we noted in our previous studies, He is the one who is absolutely sovereign. We saw it in chapter 1 in His moving through the church, sovereignly controlling the church.
If you go back to the Old Testament you will read throughout the Old Testament of the sovereignty of God. You hear those very familiar and majestic words of Isaiah the prophet in chapter 46 as he speaks about God's almighty and sovereign power. Remember the former things long past, I am God and there is no other. I am God there is none like Me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying My purpose will be established and I will accomplish all My good pleasure. In other words, God is saying...Look, I'll do exactly what I want and no one can stand against Me.
So the correspondent or the author is the Lord Jesus Christ. He identifies Himself as God, holy God, true God, sovereign God, powerful God. What a commendation. God who is all of these. That God sees them, knows them and looking at them closely through His holy eyes, through the eyes of His truth, through His sovereignty, through His power, He finds nothing to rebuke and nothing to correct and nothing to condemn and nothing to chasten and nothing to warn them about. What an unbelievable encouragement this is to faithfulness. What a happy day it must have been in the little church, and it was a little one, we'll note that in a moment, in the little church in Philadelphia when the guy got up and read that. You can imagine that as he read the first few words...He who is holy, and true and has the key of David and opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens, says this...that they were beginning to cringe, figuring holy, true, sovereign, powerful God is going to nail us for something. And they flow through waiting for the one paragraph that never comes.
God looked and they were not perfect. But God looked and they were not wanting. The key had opened salvation. The key opened blessing. The key opened opportunities for service and evangelism. And they were faithful.
So we meet the correspondent. And His identification is encouraging. It encourages my heart. Secondly, let's look at the city. What do we know about this city of Philadelphia, not to be confused with one in our own country? Philadelphia was located about thirty miles southeast of Sardis, the church described in the prior letter. It was founded about 189, 190 B.C. by a man named Attalus who was king of Pergamos and he came over and founded this city. He had a very unusual love for his brother. Because of the unusual love that he had for his brother, he was nicknamed Philadelphia. And since he was the founder of the city his nickname stuck.
This land was rich in agriculture, had noticeable elements of volcanic ash because it was on a very, very active volcanic line. The city actually stood on a hill, on the slope of a hill looking over a long valley. It, like our own area, had experienced numerous earthquakes. The people who lived there were devastated on many occasions by massive earthquakes that literally destroyed their city and it was rebuilt on a number of occasions. They were used to aftershocks, they were used to not knowing what to expect in the movement of the earth.
The city moving fairly well east from the hub of Greco-Roman culture and pushing its way into the Orient, really, was kind of an outpost for Greek missionary activity...and I don't mean the spiritual kind, I mean selling the Greek culture to the Orient. It was kind of the Far East Outpost. And what they wanted to do was spread the Greek language. And they did. By 19 A.D. the native language, Lydian, was gone and the people spoke Greek. They pushed Greek culture to the Orient.
The city was located on a trade route, not only a trade route running to the east but what was called the Imperial Post Road where the mail went, where all the messages went. It was an Imperial Post Road stop throughout the first century, even now when this letter is being written. At one time during the Byzantine era historians tell us it was the single greatest trade route in Asia Minor.
Just to give you a pinpoint of history. In A.D. 17 a powerful earthquake destroyed twelve cities in the area, including both Sardis and Philadelphia. So it would have to been rebuilt by the time John is writing in about 96 A.D. The people lived in a fear of earthquakes.
Around A.D. 60 Laodicea was totally destroyed by an earthquake. Emperor Tiberius had helped to rebuild Philadelphia and so they erected a monument to him. We might say the place shook a lot but the church stood firm.
And that leads me to the third point, the church. What about the church? What do we know about the church? Basically nothing except what's in this letter. There's no mention of it anywhere in Scripture. People always want to know how it was founded. There is no answer to that. P