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Lesson No.7. PHILADELPHIA CHURCH
Revelation Chap.3.v.7 to v.13
1.POSITION OF THE CHURCH
REV 3:7 NIV "To the angel of the church in Philadelphia
This city was 38 miles SE of Sardis. Although rich and powerful, it suffered much from earthquakes, being sited right over an earth fault. The A.D.17 earthquake almost ruined it. Against this background, the Lord promises them :
(a) PERMANENT PILLAR in the Temple of God which they would not have to flee out of.REV 3:12 NIV Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it.
(b) NAME OF MY GOD is a reference to the new name given to the city of "Neocaesarea" in gratitude to Tiberius Caesar for his generous financial help in earthquake relief (Tacitus Annals.II:47ff)REV 3:12 NIV Him who overcomes,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.
(c) PERSECUTION from the Jews there, seems to be implied in the reference to the "synagogue of Satan.." REV 3:9 NIV I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.
THIS CHURCH AND THE ONE AT SARDIS ARE THE ONLY TWO CHURCHES WHOLLY PRAISED.
2.PROMISES OF THE LORD
(a) CHARACTER OF THE LORD IS SEEN IN THE CHURCH and in the O.T. light
REV 3:7 NIV " words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. (i) JESUS IS HERE EQUATED WITH GOD IN THE O.T.as "the Holy One of Israel"
ISA 5:19 NIV to those who say, "Let God ..Let it approach, let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come, so we may know it."
ISA 5:24 NIV they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
JESUS CHALLENGED the rich young ruler not to use the name "Good"loosely,unless the rich young man believed Him to be God
MAT 19:17 NIV "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good.
LUK 1:35 NIV The angel answered, " So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
THIS SAME TITLE IS APPLIED TO THE CHURCH AS THE BODY OF CHRIST
1CO 3:17 NIV If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
God's plan is for EVERY BELIEVER TO BE HOLY
EPH 1:4 NIV For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
(ii) Jesus is referred to as "he that is TRUE"
REV 3:7 NIV : These are the words of him who is holy and true, Jesus TESTIFIED TO THE TRUTH BEFORE PILATE (John 18 v 37 and 38)
He came to bear witness to the TRUTH
JOH 14:6 NIV Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.
JOH 1:14 NIV The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us... full of grace and truth.
(iii) Jesus is here shown as "having the key of David"
(1) ELIAKIM was given the key of David from the house of Shebna, after another was removed from the office of chamberlain because of his unworthiness.
ISA 22:20 NIV "In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
ISA 36:3 NIV Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him.
(2) CHRIST as heir, will supplant less worthy stewards, who have forfeited God's trust.
Christ will REIGN OVER THE HOUSE OF DAVID according to the angel's message to Mary.
LUK 1:32 NIV He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
CHRIST WOULD REIGN as SON over His own house. (Hebrews 3 v 2 to v 6)
(3) IT RESTS WITH CHRIST to OPEN OR SHUT HEAVEN to men and He has the keys of HELL AND THE GRAVE
REV 1:18 NIV I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
(4) THE FALSE JEWS in the Synagogue had been trying to SHUT THE DOOR OF THE KINGDOM to the Gentiles, but God promises that nobody can shut this door in v.7...although even Peter had wavered in this revelation and Paul told him off publicly
GAL 2:14 NIV When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
(iv) The door Jesus opens has other implications
The Greek here seems to be based on ONE OCCASION (Aorist tense) when the Church "did not deny the name of Christ"
REV 3:8 NIV 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.
This may refer to :
(a) CHRISTIAN SERVICE which God can open by men, cicum
stances or a great need set before us, such as :
1CO 16:9 NIV because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.(Paul at Ephesus)
2CO 2:12 NIV Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me,
COL 4:3 NIV And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.
ACT 14:27 NIV On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
GOD CAN ALSO CLOSE DOORS TO SERVICE, as when they went to Troas, because God closed other doors. ACT 16:6 NIV Paul and his companions travelled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.
(b) REVELATION OF GOD
REV 4:1 NIV After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."
Often we have to GET THROUGH IN THE SPIRIT to glimpse these revelations and see something of the powers of the age to come, which can be passed on to others for their encouragement.
HEB 6:5 NIV who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,
This is particularly true of visions of :
1.THE THRONE OF GOD found in Daniel 7.v.9 to 14, Ezekiel chap 1, Isaiah 6 v./1 to 8 The OUTWORKING of these visions brings also a period of delay
1TI 6:15 NIV which God will bring about in his own time God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
2.Sorrow of God over the rebellion of man
ROM 8:22 NIV We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
ROM 8:23 NIV Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. THIS CAN ONLY COME BY SPIRIT REVELATION IN DEEP PRAYER
ACT 9:5 NIV "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. THIS HAD TO BE BY REVELATION TO PAUL, who thought he was persecuting Christians not the Lord
3.Joy in heaven over the blood of Jesus.
HEB 12:24 NIV to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
4.Longsuffering love of God, when he appears to be doing nothing despite His anger. Romans 2 v 2 5.DO NOT PRESUME ON HIS GOODNESS and continue in sin.
(3) POWER OF THE LORD JESUS SEEN IN VICTORY OF THEIR OPPONENTS
Some of the Jews will be saved and join them
REV 3:9 NIV 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.THE CHURCH WILL WIN ! At SMYRNA Christ promised the "Synagogue of Satan" would not prevail, but here the Church would see some of the Jews actually fall on their faces and declare God was in the midst of them. PERSECUTION from so called "Godly people" is often the work of Satan, but GOD PROMISES VICTORY HERE TO THOSE WHO RELY ON HIM AND NOT ON THEIR OWN STRENGTH.
Until Christ comes, there is only a remnant of the Jews to be saved (Romans 9) but this shows that God can bring even our greatest opponents to the point of recognising the Truth. The fact that the Jews fell at their feet, would seem to indicate servile honour to those whom they once persecuted, just as the Phillipian jailor gave in Acts 16 to Paul.DO WE BELIEVE THIS FOR OUR CURRENT OPPONENTS ? Those who LOVE THE LORD WILL BE HONOURED and it is vital that we show our love to Him by obedience to His commands.
(4) PATIENCE OF GOD SEEN
REV 3:10 NIV 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.
THE GOSPEL WORD SEEMS TO TEACH CONVERTS TO ENDURE PATIENTLY in expectation of the return of Christ.REV 1:9 NIV I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus,
CHRIST HIMSELF NOW ENDURES PATIENTLY, waiting for the usurper, Satan, to be thrust out from his power on earth and His enemies to be made his footstool.
PSA 110:1 NIV The Lord says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."
HIS CHURCH ALSO, MUST LEARN TO ENDURE PATIENTLY although He promises (v 9) to come quickly.
(i) Based on their patience, God will take them through and out of this hour of trial.
This shows the Church going through a great TRIBULATION, just as the Children of Israel went through the "Trial of Egypt" while God dealt with the Egyptians.
MAT 24:22 NIV If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
(ii) THOSE WHO ARE EARTHY IN THEIR AIMS will be tested
REV 8:13 NIV As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"
Those who remain faithful to Christ will be rescued through the trials, which will HARDEN THE UNBELIEVERS.
REV 9:20 NIV The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshipping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood, idols that cannot see or hear or walk.21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts , their sexual immorality or their thefts.
THE PERSECUTIONS WHICH HAPPENED TO THE CHURCH THERE SOON AFTER THIS, WOULD PROVE A FORETASTE OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION which will come on all the Body of Christ in the last days. (iii) INCENTIVE TO PATIENCE IS THE SOON COMING OF THE LORD JESUS
REV 3:11 NIV I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. The implication is that we can LOSE OUT by yielding to Temptation to sacrifice Gospel Truth for COMPROMISE AND EASY LIVING. The Tempter is envisaged as being able to take away crowns from Christians
COL 2:18 NIV Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
(5) PROMISES TO OVERCOMERS
REV 3:12 NIV 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.
(i) PERMANENT PLACE IN THE HOLY CITY
This is in contrast with the shattering effects of earthquake in Philadelphia
(ii) PROHIBITION OF GOING OUT
Strong gives Greek as" never leave" the City, so that it will be IMPOSSIBLE TO BE LOST and wandering
(iii) PERSONAL SECURITY in NAME OF GOD BEING WRITTEN ON YOU
EXO 28:36 NIV "Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: holy to the Lord. HIGH PRIEST HAS THIS PERSONAL PLATE PUT ON HIM and so Christians who OVERCOME will have similar personal NAME OF GOD.
(iv) POTENTIAL CITIZENSHIP OF NEW CITY for Overcomers
The Name of the new City will also be stamped on Overcomers. The full description of this City is left to the end of the Book; but the permanent right to enter through the gates is vital for salvation.
REV 22:14 NIV "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
This was the City for which Abraham sought
HEB 11:10 NIV For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
THE NEW JERUSALEM is different from the Old Jerusalem in that the Greek "Kaine" is used, which denotes essentially a DIFFERENT NATURE and a HEAVENLY PRODUCTION.
(v) PRIVATE NEW NAME
Christ will later reveal our new names and the Name of Christ to be written on Believers.
This new Name will show the Believer belongs TOTALLY TO THE LORD, who will also assume a new Character as CONQUEROR (where He came in suffering and poverty before) The Church at Philadelphia, too, will survive because of its
faithfulness in poverty and suffering. This prophecy was fulfilled in fact, when other churches were ruined. ARE WE PREPARED TO GO THE WAY OF POVERTY AND SUFFERING TO ENTER OUR NEW CHARACTER AND REWARD IN JESUS ?