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2022-06-26

Revelation:  A Note to the Church in Philadelphia

(Revelation 3:7a, NIV)

“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write…”

I.  Introduction

     Jesus instructed John to send the Revelation to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia—western Turkey.  He said, “…Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.” (Revelation 1:11b, NIV).

     Jesus then dictated to John a personal note for the ‘angels’ [messengers] to deliver to and read to each of the seven churches.  In this sermon we will examine His ‘note’ to the Church in Philadelphia.  Jesus said, “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write…” (Revelation 3:7a, NIV).

     No two of the churches were the same, so they each received a different note.  No two churches have the same set of strengths and weaknesses.  They are made up of radically different people. So, they are radically different churches with different needs—and Jesus dealt with them accordingly.  By the way, He still does the same thing today!

II.  The ‘Note’ to the Church in Philadelphia

     Philadelphia was the youngest of the seven cities in which the seven churches addressed in the Revelation were located.  It was built to spread the Greek culture, language, and civilization to the wild and untamed regions to the east in Phrygia.  It was perfectly located for such a purpose lying on one of the most heavily traveled highways in the world in 96 A.D.—the highway that led from Europe in the west to Asia in the east.  Philadelphia was the ‘gateway city’ from one continent to the other!

     Philadelphia was also known for its lavish temples dedicated to the various gods of Greek mythology and its frequent earthquakes due to being located on a major fault line.  The citizens of the city frequently fled the city when earthquakes struck to avoid the possibility of being injured or killed by falling debris from collapsing buildings.  It was to the church in this magnificent Greek city that John wrote, “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write…” (Revelation 3:7a, NIV).

     Jesus introduced Himself to this church by saying, “…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.” (Revelation 3:7b, NIV).  Jesus is ‘holy’ [pure, clean] in contrast to the Greek gods, many of whom demanded that their followers engage in sexual immorality with their temple prostitutes.  Jesus is ‘true’ [from the Greek word meaning authentic rather than fake], implying that Jesus is the real God as opposed to the Greek gods who were fake.

     Jesus, as the One ‘who holds the key of David,’ implies that in His role as the King [Christ], He alone gives access to God’s kingdom, and He alone can bar people from His kingdom!  After all, He had said to His disciples, “…I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, NIV).

     Jesus’ statement, “I know your deeds…” (Revelation 3:8a, NIV), declares that He knew the personal behavior of everyone in the Church in Philadelphia—particularly regarding how well they were utilizing the grand opportunity He had given them to spread the Gospel from the continent of Europe onto the continent of Asia.  He emphasized this unique opportunity when He said, “…I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut…” (Revelation 3:8b, NIV).  The Greeks planned to spread Greek culture from Philadelphia into Asia.  However, Jesus planned to spread the Gospel from Philadelphia into Asia!

     The Church in Philadelphia was evidently a small, weak church.  Jesus said, “…I know you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” (Revelation 3:8b, NIV).  Even though their own ‘strength’ was ‘little,’ Jesus could utilize that ‘little strength’ to do incredible things.  As a result, He said they had ‘kept my word and…not denied my name’ in the face of serious spiritual opposition to their ministry.

     The most fierce opposition to the ministry of the Church in Philadelphia came from the renegade Jewish community in their city.  Jesus promised to vindicate the believers in the Church at Philadelphia in the eyes of their Jewish opponents when He said, “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.” (Revelation 3:9, NIV).

     God would ultimately make it clear to these renegade Jews that rather than loving them, Jesus loved His followers in the Church at Philadelphia!  Jesus said, “…I will make them [the renegade Jews] come and fall down at your feet [the feet of the followers of Jesus] and acknowledge that I have loved you.” (Revelation 3:9b, NIV).

     Because the believers at the Church in Philadelphia had ‘patiently endured’ the persecution of the hostile Jewish community in their city, God promised ‘I will keep you from the hour of tribulation.’  He said, “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.” (Revelation 3:10, NIV).

     Many scholars interpret ‘the hour of trial’ to be ‘The Tribulation Period’ which will immediately follow the church age.  However, I differ with that interpretation because the promise, ‘I will keep you from the hour of trial’ was made specifically to believers in 96 A.D. at the Church in Philadelphia, none of whom are yet alive, let alone will be alive during ‘The Tribulation Period’ which is yet future to us today.

     I, therefore, interpret ‘the hour of trial’ in this promise to refer to the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Trajan, which was greater and more extensive than the preceding seasons of persecution under the emperors Nero and Domitian.  The promise was that Jesus would protect the faithful believers in Philadelphia from the bloody persecution of Emperor and his Roman army ‘that is going to come on the whole world [the known world of that day—the Roman Empire] to test the inhabitants of the earth [again the known world of that day].”

     Next, Jesus draws the attention of the believers in the Church in Philadelphia to His second coming.  He said, “I am coming soon…” (Revelation 3:11a, NIV).  The Greek word literally means ‘quickly’ or ‘suddenly’—not ‘soon’ in the sense of the immediate future.  What an encouraging statement to those first-century believers in Philadelphia—Jesus will come and there will be no more persecution of Christians!

     In light of His ultimate return, Jesus commanded the believers at Philadelphia, “…Hold on to what you have [that ‘little strength’ that enabled them to remain faithful to Him], so that no one will take your crown.” (Revelation 3:11b, NIV).  The Greek word for ‘crown’ in this verse is not a ‘royal crown,’ but a ‘crown’ given as a reward to honor a winning athlete in the ancient Olympic games.

     Obviously, it is possible to lose or forfeit rewards already won by failing to ‘hold on to what you have.’  In an earlier letter John warned, “Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.” (II John 1:8, NKJV).

     Jesus then made an incredible promise to the faithful believers in Philadelphia.  He said, “The one who is victorious [those believers who ‘hold on’ to their ‘little strength’] I will make a pillar in the temple of my God [God’s eternal Temple in heaven, in contrast to the crumbling temples of the Greek gods of Philadelphia]. Never again will they leave it… [unlike the worshippers of the Greek gods who were continually forced to flee from their temples when earthquakes struck]” (Revelation 3:12a, NIV).

     In ancient Philadelphia the priests of the pagan temples honored prominent local citizens by inscribing their names on the pillars of their temples.  After promising to make His faithful followers ‘pillars in the temple of my God,’ Jesus promised to honor them by inscribing on them ‘the name of my God,’ ‘the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem,’ and His own ‘new name.’  John wrote, “…I will write on them 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 them my new name.” (Revelation 3:12b, NIV).  Wow! What a promise to faithful believers—permanent residence in God’s eternal Temple in heaven while being honored by God Himself!

III. Conclusion

     Jesus closed His ‘note’ to the Church in Philadelphia with the same statement He made to all seven churches, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 3:13, NIV).  It is clear that in order to hear what the “Spirit says,” one must have ears capable of hearing spiritual information.  Those are the ears of a person who has the Holy Spirit living within them, giving them the capability of comprehending spiritual information.  Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (I Corinthians 2:14, NIV).

     The information in this ‘note’ was for the ‘angel’ [messenger] to deliver to “the church in Philadelphia.”  He said, “To the angel [messenger] of the church in Philadelphia write…” (Revelation 3:7a, NIV).  However, in this verse He referred to the material in this ‘note’ as “…what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 3:13b, NIV).  So, the material in this ‘note,’ it is intended for and beneficial to the church in Philadelphia and all the churches throughout the church age!

     However, nothing I have said today truly matters unless you acknowledge Jesus as the One He says He is—“…him who is holy and true…” (Revelation 3:7b, NIV).  He is clean and pure. He is not a fake.  He is the authentic Son of God who came into the world to save mankind from the eternal consequences of their sin by offering them eternal life!  He said, “…God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NIV).  You must ‘believe in him’ which means to believe ‘His Story’—‘The Jesus Story!’  So, I want to tell the story one more time…



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