The Seven Churches: Philadelphia
The battle for faith is ultimately a battle for love. God is love. Because of His love the Father sent Jesus into the world so that everyone can be saved who yields to Him in trusting obedience. Not forced obedience, but a willing submission to the truth. Love would have it no other way. The great tragedy is that so much hatred surrounds this effort to bring divine Love to the earth. And that so many try to force their religious beliefs on others. Religious zeal can be fired up red hot in the entire absence of love. This often makes religion an enemy of the true spiritual life. The believers in Philadelphia know it only too well.
Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. Revelation 3:10
All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.
Chief Characteristics
Whole books are written about most of these crucial components. These characteristics are summaries of what is grounded in scripture, not fabricated through speculation.[i] Speculation is trying to “see” more than we are being shown. What we see by Biblical revelation is real enough, but a fuller view will only come as these still distant components draw nearer.
Travellers, commerce and correspondence from Greece or Italy would arrive at Asia Minor's major seaport, Ephesus, then journey up the coast towards Pergamum, before turning east on the interior highway to Laodicea. The letter to the church at Philadelphia would have been the sixth letter delivered.
Irony hardly begins to describe the level of hatred that existed in this city of “brotherly love.” Things started well. The city was founded in the second century BC by one brother out of love for another. King Eumenes of Pergamum established the city out of the largess of his own, then passed it on to his brother Attalus II who succeeded him. Attalus’ loyalty to Eumenes was such that his nickname became “Philadelphos”— “one who loves his brother.”[ii] A good name and a good beginning are hard to keep unsullied.
By the late first century a group of religious extremists began hating others in the city for not believing the same things they did. If this sounds familiar, it should. It is the story of the two seeds. The good seed here are the faithful believers in the true Messiah. Jesus called the seeds sown by the enemy in Philadelphia “the synagogue of Satan.” Deceived Jewish believers attacked those they should have been learning from. Deceived zealots will also be springing up around us in the days to come. They won’t have the same religious beliefs as these, but they will have the same devil driving them from behind.
Pre-Figured in Scripture
Every crucial component of the Last Days has already “appeared” in the Biblical prophetic narrative in the past, somewhat like a dress rehearsal for the final drama. These foreshadows are called “types” because they precede their ultimate expression (the “antitype”).[iii] As shadows of the future reality, however, they cast a revealing light of their own.
Paul: The Conversion of a Zealot
The account of Paul’s conversion is so important that we are told it three times in the Book of Acts. It made a huge impression on the first believers and it still makes one on us. He went from being Saul, the foremost persecutor of Christians, to becoming Paul, the greatest apostle for Christ. Prior to Paul’s conversion, no one would have thought such a whole-life transformation possible. Good Jews and God-fearing Gentiles had become believers in Jesus, but they had already been taking a friendly stance towards the new thing God was doing. Saul wanted to destroy it!
Some images in our minds are indelibly etched. We can practically see Saul’s anger as he headed towards Damascus, “still breathing threats and murder.”[iv] Then came the blinging light that knocked him to the ground. Then came the words that pierced him to the heart: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”[v] Blinded physically by the revealing light as he had been blinded spiritually by deception, Paul awaited his fate for three days. His world had been completely turned upside down. Then came the miracle of grace. Jesus restored him to sight, gifted him and sent him out with a new assignment. The rest reads like a legend—he blazed such a path that it was said of him that he “turned the world upside down.”[vi]
What was the incubator for this scoundrel turn saint? Religion! The back story that we need to see are all the years of devotion that went into Saul’s formation. Born Jewish, of the tribe of Benjamin, he sought to be preeminent among the Pharisees, the “reforming” group within Judaism. He didn’t take his faith lightly. He fully believed in the God of the Bible. He was determined to live as devoted as he could, saying later that he was “blameless” at keeping the Law’s righteous demands.[vii] Yet, all this zeal for God was “not according to knowledge” for it lacked understanding of God’s way of making us righteous.[viii] He became on the inside a mini “synagogue of Satan” without ever once realizing it. That’s why he is the perfect precursor to the persecutors we will see in this letter.
For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. Galatians 1:13
The Book of Revelation Chapter 3:7-13
The Bible exposes the secret plans and deceptive operations of the dark kingdom, even as it unveils the glorious realities of what our God is doing. The truths of scripture are, therefore, our rock-solid building blocks for interpreting the times we are entering. Nevertheless, for biblical information to become true revelation both prayer and the Holy Spirit are needed.
To the Church in Philadelphia
"And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. Revelation 3:7
As He has done previously, Jesus begins by honoring “the angel of the church” in Philadelphia.[ix] If we aren’t careful to think Biblically, rather than culturally, our minds might picture an angel standing in or hovering over a church building. After so many centuries of seeing Christians meet within sacred walls on Sundays, buildings are the primary association we have for the church. Not only that but the great cathedrals are far better known as edifices than for any facts or insights about the people who worshipped within them. Yet, people are the church, believing people gathered in the Name of the Lord, so that Jesus can dwell in their midst as He promised.[x] Apart from the believers there is not a church, only an empty shell. Perhaps the name of this church, Philadelphia, should tip us off for it means brotherly love. That’s the true church building—building one another up in love.[xi]
Jesus begins straight away by laying a foundational revelation for this Body of believers. He introduces Himself with words full of hope and promise. He is the “holy one” and the “true one.” Holiness speaks of the absolute purity of God’s Being. He is completely unlike us in the He is utterly, unapproachably holy, but we are also like Him in that He is love. Unlike ours, however, His love is holy and pure. It is only by His grace that our love is being raised and refined to become ever more like His. His love is not only pure, it is true. He is the faithful Lover of souls we can depend upon to be true to His Word and true to us. This is a promise that the One speaking loves His Bride with a pure, perfect and everlasting love.
He brings with Him not only a loving Heart, but the power and authority needed by His Bride for she certainly has a way of getting into trouble. Not all her problems are her own doing as we shall see, but she needs her Lord’s help often. It is just as easy (it seems) to be caught in the bondage of sin as it is to be barricaded by the enemy with no apparent way to go forward. Never fear—Jesus has the keys. Earlier He told John that He had “the keys of Death and Hades.” Those keys will set any fallen believer free from sin and guilt. Now, He reveals that he also holds “the key of David.” This asserts His authority as Messiah over the Davidic kingdom—nothing an enemy can do will now stops its advance or bring it down to lasting defeat. There will be more on this in the next section.
"'I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Revelation 3:8
Jesus condenses the sentence or two of affirmation He had given to the first four churches into this one little phrase: “I know your works.” In His previous message to the believers in Sardis, Jesus also told them that He knew their works—but those works were dead in His sight. That letter did not go well for them. It’s different here. In saying He knew their works without faulting them, He is affirming them. If that feels slender, it is, but that’s just the way it is walking with this divine Man. He knows only too well how quickly praise goes to our heads. So, it is that many times (in truth, nearly all the time) He will keep silent about how you’re doing. His silence usually means you’re doing well.
Next, He takes up the theme of David’s key. Jesus knows that they “have but little power.” That’s why it is so helpful for us that He does. With the key of David, Jesus “opens [doors] and no one will shut." He also “shuts and no one opens" (vs. 7). His power over access and entry, over path and plan, is absolute. If He wants us with Him forever (and He does) then there is no other power or person who can block the way. That door—the very gate to heaven—is open. In the same way, He has forever closed off hell from those who cling to Him in trusting obedience. No need to fear that a stumbling will cause us to fall there, if we keep calling on Him as we go along.[xii] That door is shut—even the devil himself can’t drag a believer through it.
This remarkable ability with doors comes to our rescue in countless other ways. The advance of the kingdom can happen through such mundane things as jobs, as well as opportunities for ministry. It is not always clear which way to go. At other times when we have a sense of direction, the doors can seem shut against us. One powerful prayer is for Jesus to close doors that we don’t need to walk through and to hold the one open that we do. Combined with asking Him to guide us to it, this prayer works wonders. We truly have but “little power” to open and close doors, less to discern the way—without His gracious interventions. Fortunately, our Davidic “doorkeeper” gladly intervenes if He can confess to the Father that we have “kept my word and have not denied my name.”
Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. Revelation 3:9
Now comes the showdown. This is the battle that necessitated a letter packed with so much encouragement. Spiritual warfare is arrayed against the believers. “The synagogue of Satan” has mounted an attack. That’s strong language but Jesus isn’t into name calling, only identity revealing. This is a Jewish synagogue which is arrayed against them, though it’s not clear in what way. Jesus did forewarn that a time was coming when “they will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God” (John 16:2). That time seems to have arrived in Philadelphia.
These spiritually mis-guided zealots “say that they are Jews and are not.” They are judging themselves by their human ancestry, but Jesus is judging by what’s in the heart. He would agree with Paul that “no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly.”[xiii] The true circumcision which marks a true Jew is “of the heart” and that is found in those who “worship by the Spirit of God and glory in the Lord Jesus Christ.”[xiv] That’s what these faithful believers are doing in Philadelphia and it is for this cause that they are being persecuted by the unconverted Jewish community. Jesus plans to convert them, or at least get them to confess the same truth that Saul of Tarsus heard when he was hounding Christians to death: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”[xv] So, Jesus comforts His believers with this promise, that one day their enemies will “learn that I have loved you.” He stands with (and in) His faithful followers.
Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. Revelation 3:10
The “patience endurance” of the Philadelphian believers will be rewarded. Patient endurance isn’t sitting on one’s hands waiting for the unwanted situation to change. It is going about one’s business in the Lord advancing in the kingdom in every other area that can be changed. Neither is it the weary resignation that trudges on, dragging a heavy heart and little hope. No, the flame of hope is kept bright with a lively faith that God is going to come through one way or the other. What endures is the bright hope that God will have His way and the surrendered heart that says that’s all that really matters. Otherwise, it’s just white-knuckled hanging on.
To those who keep faith alive in the trial, Jesus promises that He will “keep you from the hour of trial.” He doesn’t say keep you faithful “in” the hour of trial but keep you “from” it. That poses a problem. Why would the reward for learning how to survive in a trial be not having to be in a trial? That would be like saying to a child, “Now that you’ve learned how to swim, I’ll never take you to the pool again.” It just doesn’t make sense.
What makes more sense is that Jesus will bless this faith-ability to such a degree that future trials won’t seem like trials at all. Everyone who has walked under Jesus’ leadership for any length of time knows this by personal experience. Situations and people who used to try us down to our last nerve, no longer can get our goat. We’ve passed those tests so many times they no longer feel like trials at all. They did once, but the Spirit keeps us floating above them now.
If this interpretation is correct, then we have a template for the “trial that is coming on the whole world.” In their day, that would have been the “world-wide” persecution which covered the whole Roman Empire—the only world they knew. Few areas where the church had spread escaped the outward pressure of the trial. Perhaps, these Philadelphian believers passed through it without being torn apart on the inside by fear and doubt. Let’s hope we can pass through our future trial with the same grace-based enduring faith. We know it’s coming. Jesus said so: It’s coming “to try those who dwell on the earth" (Revelation 3:10). In the meantime, learn to make every trial count towards gaining “patient endurance.” It will keep you safe in the Savior’s grip of grace. ‘
I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. Revelation 3:11
It is very hard to read the first four words of this verse without a wry smile stealing across one’s face. Ok, sometimes it’s a smirk. Have you ever wished you could go back and revise an estimate? When Jesus said through Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts, He wasn’t kidding![xvi] I thought (as the Early Church did) that “soon” meant in a year or two, tops. Evidently, that was not the thought in Jesus’ mind. On the other hand, if the universe you created required 13.8 billion years (as scientists believe), and you had to wait that long to finally get to do what you popped the cork on the Big Bang to do—create man—then maybe for you, two thousand years goes by a bit too soon.
Or, it could be that we’ve taken a phrase like this out of context. Jesus says the same thing in Revelation 22:12 and there He is clearly talking about His Return. Here, He is telling the Philadelphian believers, “Hold on, I’m coming.” That could only mean that He would be showing up in their lifetime. Otherwise, why make the promise to them? But we have seen several times already how Jesus uses these letters to them to speak to us.
The rest of this word also applies to us as well as them: “Hold fast what you have.” He’s not referring to material goods. That would be entirely out of Character. What they are to keep secure (as He keeps them secure) are things like “faith, hope and love.”[xvii] If they can keep these well in hand as they pass through their trials, then their crown can’t be seized from them. Jesus doesn’t name the crown He has in mind, though previously He promised the “crown of life” to the believers in Smyrna, if they proved likewise faithful in their trial. We know only two things about it: Whatever it is, it’s worth having if Jesus wants to give it and we’ll love it when we see it in heaven. Oh, and a third thing would be that someone out there wants to “seize” it from us.
The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. Revelation 3:12
Jesus strikes a consistent chord in these messages. It is the blaring sound of a war trumpet. He sees His believers as embattled by dark powers spearheaded by Satan, even if they (we) don’t. As often as we hear the word repent, we hear conquer. Repent speaks of bowing before the Lord, so He can raise us up. Repentance, therefore, calls to mind one’s personal devotional and moral life—turn back to God and things will go better for you. That’s certainly true and is perhaps the primary way most believers nowadays see it. However, Jesus sees life as a battle which we are meant to actively engage. We are to stand and fight against the enemy, not just bow before God. Prayer is talking to God. Spiritual warfare is addressing the enemy. We need both.
Along these lines, Jesus promises “to the one who conquers” that he shall be made “a pillar in the temple of my God.” The one who bows before God in repentance and stands against the enemy’s onslaught is already a pillar to the church—the Body of believers he/she lives among. Jesus says that this reality on earth is matched by a corresponding reality in heaven. Just as the ones who conquer uphold the church, so they are seen in heaven as those who uphold true worship which the Temple represents. It is not enough to worship the Lord on Sundays, if we fail to stand firm during the trials of life the rest of the week. That’s the true test of devotion.
Further promises are given. It should be abundantly clear by now that although the Lord loves everyone equally and His love is unconditional, His promises have specific conditions attached. Those who reach into this book to pull promises out like candy from a box would be wise not to pull those promises out of context. The context for these promises is “the one who conquers.” Only conquerors—also called overcomers—will receive the two names mentioned next: “the name of my God” and “the name of the city of my God.”
While it is true that every biological son or daughter is a child of their father, there is a sense by which the child who most perfectly reflects all that is in the father, is a “true child” of the man. We see this even with Jesus when the writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 2:7 which has the Father saying to the Messiah: “You are my son; today I have begotten you.” He tells us that this is in the context of Jesus’ faithfulness to God at the cross. As God Jesus is always God’s Son. However, as the carpenter from Nazareth, Jesus was raised after the cross to a higher rank than “angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”[xviii] Incredibly, as fully Man, Jesus had been made “for a little while lower than the angels.”[xix] Just as Jesus received a new name due to His faithfulness, so will the overcomers.
A second name to be inscribed (a heavenly tattoo?) upon overcomers will be the name of God’s holy city Jerusalem. This is the first time in the book that this astounding future event is revealed. The Jerusalem “that is above” one day “comes down from my God out of heaven.”[xx] There will be more on this later in the book. For now, let’s recall that the location of a person’s birth is recorded by the Lord: “And of Zion it shall be said, 'This one and that one were born in her'; for the Most High himself will establish her.” By the new birth and by their faithfulness in living the new life that it makes possible, overcovers will be “named” as being born of Jerusalem no matter where their biological birth took place. In addition, Jesus says that He will also give them His “own new name”—the one we just reviewed with the help of the author of Hebrews.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' Revelation 3:13
This is an urgent message to believers everywhere— “the churches.” Once again, we are reading these letters incorrectly, if we think that they were only directed to seven churches in Asia Minor and have no bearing on us or our times. It is entirely possible that we will need the wisdom, rebukes, encouragement and insights they contain more than any generation before us, including the originally addressees. Ears, listening ears, are what’s called for, not just the biological ones. Without a sincere desire to hear and a willingness to truly listen, who will “hear what the Spirit says”? It certainly won't be the complacent whose tragic condition will be addressed in the next and final letter.
Next Piece of the Puzzle
Letter 7: Laodicea The church of Laodicea is easily the most famous of the seven churches in the Book of Revelation. That’s not because Jesus saved the best for last. They were indeed last—last in line on the mail route and lagging way behind at running faith’s race. In fact, they weren’t running, or even walking with Jesus or towards Him. They weren’t running away either, or even running to the devil. He said He could have worked with any of that. What were they doing? They were “living the dream”—using His blessings to feather their own nest. They thought they had it made, but they couldn’t have been more wrong. Many have said that the church in America fits this picture too close for comfort.
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Endnotes
[i] Cambridge Dictionary defines speculation as “the act of guessing possible answers to a question without having enough information to be certain.” It derives from the Latin word “speculari” which means “to look at, view, observe” and originally indicated “close observation and intelligent contemplation.” By the late 1500s it gained the disparaging sense it carries today of “mere conjecture.” See etymonline.com.
[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ala%C5%9Fehir
[iii] Adam is the type; Jesus, the “second Adam” is the antitype: Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. Romans 5:14
[iv] But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Acts 9:1-2
[v] “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Acts 9:4-5
[vi] And when they could not find them [Paul and his companions], they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. Acts 17:6
[vii] Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Philippians 3:5-6
[viii] For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Romans 10:2-3
[ix] This greeting cannot mean that only an angelic dignitary from the invisible realms is the intended recipient, since the rest of the letter makes it clear that Jesus is sending both encouragement and correction to the church’s Christian believers. It does, however, reveal to us that this church has an angel who is over it in some ordained role: as a watchman, a helper or guardian, or a ministering spirit. In fact, according to Jesus’ previous greeting to John, we know that all seven of the churches has its own angel. Does this mean that every Christian church everywhere also has its own angel? Due to silence on this point, it is impossible to say from scripture one way or the other, although the likely supposition would be that this is indeed the case, since God shows no partiality. What then is our protocol for addressing them? What are their proper responsibilities over us and what are ours to them? More silence! (from “Letter 1: Ephesus”)
[x] For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Matthew 18:20
[xi] Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
[xii] For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13
[xiii] For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. Romans 2:28-29
[xiv] For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Philippians 3:3
[xv] And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Acts 9:4-5
[xvi] For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8
[xvii] So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
[xviii] After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Hebrews 1:3-4
[xix] You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Hebrews 2:7-8
[xx] But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. Galatians 4:26