(Revelation) the Church at Philadelphia — Willie Mullan

1, 6, 3, please. 1, 6, 3. It may be at morn, when the day is awaking, when sunlight through darkness and shadow is breaking, that Jesus will come in the fullness of glory to receive from the world to God.

The Church at Philadelphia in Revelation 3

1, 6, 3, please. Revelation, we're at the third chapter. Book of the Revelation, chapter three, going through from verse seven to the end of verse thirteen. Seven verses this evening. And I think we know now very well the setting of these wonderful letters to these churches.

In the first chapter we saw our Lord in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. In the midst of these seven literal, local churches in Asia. And while we have these messages to these local churches, we have found out that on every occasion the Lord has a word for the individual in the church.

Him that overcometh. In fact, next week, if the Lord will, when we're looking at the church of the Laodiceans, we'll find that the Lord speaks like this to the individual. Behold I stand at the door that knock.

If any man, and I believe that we are in that last period where the Lord is looking for men, wants individuals now. The whole thing is so chaotic that he's looking for any man. So that there's a message to the local, literal church, but there's always a message to the individual.

And I think we have gathered up that these also are pictures of periods in church history. And I think it's a wonderful picture when they're all pieced together. When we started with the first church, Ephesus, I think it pictured the first hundred years of church history.

Pentecost and the Loss of First Love

Church was formed at Pentecost when the Holy Ghost came and took all those individual followers of Christ and baptized them into one body. And the church was formed. And the church filled out at Pentecost with every member filled with the Holy Ghost.

And you can see in those first chapters that they loved the Lord with all their heart and all their soul. In fact they counted it worthy to suffer shame for his name. They just loved him. But in that first hundred years the church of Jesus Christ got so taken up with its doctrines, and its governments, and its elders, and its deacons, and many other things, and it lost its first love.

Got taken up with a party instead of the person. And it hasn't lost that yet. And then we looked at the second church which was Smyrna, and this picture follows the next two hundred years of church history.

This was a period of suffering. The first one might have been a period of slipping, but this one was definitely a period of suffering. Because for the next two hundred years the church of Jesus Christ went through times of real suffering at the hand of one Roman emperor after the other.

And that covers the first three hundred years. Hundred years with Ephesus, and two hundred years of suffering with Smyrna. And then we come to the third church, it was Pergamos, and the word gamos is the word marriage.

And this was the period when Constantine appeared, and the church and state joined together, and that was the saddest day for the church in this world's history. And the church and state travelled on together there, no more suffering, but she was being subtly overthrown continually by the state for the next three hundred years.

And that took six hundred years of church history past. Hundred under Ephesus, two hundred under Smyrna, and three hundred under Pergamos. And then there came that dark period under Cyrus Tyler. It was the period when the Roman people took over, and priests cast out of its way.

And the dogmas of Rome were preached and practiced. And we call these the dark ages. And there were nine hundred years there. And that takes us up to the fifteen hundreds. And then in the next years, we had the reformation under Sardis, and of course the Protestant church came out, and the group got its place again, and the absolute authority of the holy word of God was established once more.

And the atoning death of Christ, and justification by faith. Yes, these all came with the reformation. But again the church, like at the beginning, might have had an aim to live, but it became dead. And we have a lot of dead Protestantism today.

They don't even know what it means. They think it means the starshift of them. They don't know about the doctrines at all. And that takes us up to the eighteen hundreds. And that's not so far back, is it?

Now it was in the eighteen hundreds that the revival came. Yes, the 59 was in there, and the Welsh revival was in there, and the American, United States revival was in there. And there were times of great revivals back there.

You'll need to read through church history to find that. And that's the period that we're looking at tonight under the church at Philadelphia. Beginning at verse seven. To the angel, and by now you know it's not a shining angel, the Lord is asking John to write to the angel, to the messenger of the church in Philadelphia.

This was Philadelphia, Asia Minor of course. And John is being directed by the Lord of the church to write to the messenger that was in the local church of Philadelphia because he was responsible for the spiritual state of the church.

Philadelphia and the Revival of Brotherly Love

And you know we have noticed that all these local churches, their names are very well chosen and they fit into a particular place. Because the word Philadelphia means brotherly love. It's an old Greek word for love, and it means brotherly love.

And you know this is very thrilling when you begin to study the periods in these churches, because in the revival period, when the 59 was in Ulster, when the great revival was in Wales, in every revival that there has ever been, the main march was brotherly love.

You know the rich began to love the poor, and the poor began to love the rich. And when the great revival came to Ulster, I can tell you this, that the Protestants began to love the Catholics, and the Catholics who were touched by the revival began to love the Protestants.

This is a thing that has been seen in every touch of revival. When revival spread through the states in the 1800s, why the whites loved the blacks, and the blacks loved the whites. And there's nothing will ever settle this again but revival from God.

Why even when they had a small revival in Palestine some years ago, why the Jordanians and the Israelis were sitting singing hymns together. Yes, it's a very well chosen, it's a wonderful book we're reading out of, that's the wonderful thing.

Everything's so wonderful. But I want you to notice this, that this church is not only in its right place in these letters, it's the sixth church, and it covers that particular period, and it has that particular name which means brotherly love, and it's taking us to that revival in the remnant among the dead Protestants.

But look at the name the Lord puts on the letter. Verse 7, And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, These things says he that is holy. You note the first thing that's marked here is the holiness of the Saviour.

And in every revival that there has ever been or ever will be, one of the great doctrines that comes out in the heart of any revival is holiness. That's what it is. Because the holiness of the Lord is displayed.

You can see how far we are from revival if you listen to the Methodist minister on the wireless last night or on the TV, he called Jesus a bloke. It's a pity they didn't set them on the spot, isn't it?

There's no holiness about that, you know. That's very far from it. I wonder why some of you stick it, need to rub it into you a bit, you know. Because if a Baptist minister talked like that and the Baptist Union didn't deal with him, I would be a Baptist no longer.

It doesn't worry me too much, you know. But it would either be settled by this church there and then or I'd get out. I swear that before God. Just let a Baptist minister come on the TV and call Jesus a bloke.

This church will have to pull up at Fox or I get out. I wouldn't stand out for a moment. I would walk the streets in rags first. And some of you Methodists, you're stuck in your gut. You can listen to it and you'll hang your head and you'll blurt, get out!

There won't be men and women for Christ, you know. I would let no man call Jesus a bloke. When the Revival came, you know, it was the holiness of the Lord that was not only displayed before the whole crowd, but it was demanded of all in summary.

If he's putting his name on this, watch how wonderful this name is. These things says he that is holy. He that is true. You know, in every Revival, two things have been discovered. That Jesus is true to his promises.

By the old Welsh, just released the word of God. True to his promise. And they believed his presence was true too. There's no Welsh man in the Revivals who would ever be late for the meeting. He wouldn't bother.

This was something that was noted. He believed the Lord was present. It's a mark of Revival, of course. The holiness of the Savior and the trueness of the cross. And notice how careful this is. These things says he that is holy.

He that is true. He that hath the key of David. I wonder what that can mean. He that hath the key of David. You know, in every Revival, if you take the 59, if you take the Welsh, if you take the United States, if you take any of the Revivals, and there's a book written on all the Revivals in the 1800s, you'll find that something came out of every Revival regarding Christ and David.

The world began to know that Christ was coming back to take the throne of his father David. That he had the right to it. What we call eschatology was discovered. That the throne that was removed the way in which he killed.

When God said, I will return, I will return until he come whose right it is. He's got that key. This was discovered, you know. Of course, the amillennialists never had a Revival in their life. They never discovered anything.

I'm telling you, the name's pretty well put in the book. And I didn't put an end to it. I just studied it, that's all. And in every Revival, the holiness of the treasure, and the trueness of the Christ, and the royalness of the King.

And watch this little bit. These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth. He that shutteth and no man openeth. You know, this shows you the powerfulness of the Lord.

The Open Door of Revival

And you know, in those days of Revival, the Lord seemed to open a door for the church. That he went in, in unity, into the throne. You know, it's true that when he died and his blood was shed, there was a new and living way made for us, right into the holiest of all.

But somehow the church at times discovered the power of power. You know, by the end of Revival, it wasn't half a dozen came to the prayer meeting, you know. The whole town came. And there's a story told of the Welsh Revival.

A young girl had just left a little village in Wales a few years before that. She was sixteen. She sat in her father's place and walked out. She became a prostitute in London. And for two years she sold her body on the streets.

And then the Welsh Revival came. And an old grey-haired man stood up in the meeting one night and said, Folks, tonight I want you to pray for my wee girl. She's in London as a bad woman. But God can save her.

And the old man lifted his hands to heaven. And the whole meeting cried with him. Ah, but something was happening away before that. She was saved that day on London streets. She had taken the train home.

And as he held his hands up and cried, Lord, save my wee girl, the back door was opening. And she was slipping in. It was her dad that was praying. Oh, God gave the church an open door. It's still open, but a whole lot of you don't come.

And God gave them open doors for service that nobody can shut. I'll tell you this, when God begins to bless a man or a woman at a meeting, there's a whole lot of boys who would love to shut it. Oh, I haven't been here for 20 years without experiences, you know.

I've seen some of them buried beside the shepherd. I can tell you things that would scare you. Yes, you can see the powerfulness that's there. It's so that these two things stand out. There's the brotherly love and the glorification of the Lord.

Somebody said to me when I was in America, somebody said to me, can you tell us, in a simple phrase, the basis for revival? Oh, that's not easy. But I said this. I said I believe I can discover it in the second and third chapters of Revelation.

I believe, first and foremost, we need true love for the Saviour. Let's put Him above this race. Let's put Him above this party. We need true love for the Saviour. And that means obedience to Him. For if you love Him, you'll keep His commandments.

And that means you trust Him for everything. Because He loves to be trusted. I think we need, first, true love for the Saviour. And I think we need, secondly, true love for the sense. And mind you, if you're a preacher, that doesn't mean you're a prophet.

Because our Lord rebuked Peter on one occasion, he said, get him behind this thing. And I think sin needs to be rebuked. I don't think you need to hide it all the time. I think that man needs to be spoken to and rebuked sharply, is the word that's in the New Testament.

Sometimes when I do it, it's not so nice, is it? I think if you love the sense, you'll do it. I don't think you'll let them wander on into bypass. That is not if you're a shepherd at all. And I think we not only need true love for the Saviour and true love for the sense, but we need true love for sinners.

And we do, you know. And I believe that if we had true love for the Saviour and true love for the sense and true love for the sinners, we're back to revival. I'm sure that's the answer. And so you can see where this church is situated, number six.

You can see that Philadelphia means brotherly love. And you can see that the name that Christ stamps upon this particular letter all points to revival. And then the Lord begins talking to the church. I have put it this evening that he's the shepherd, the great shepherd of the sheep, of course.

The good shepherd gave his life for the sheep, but the great shepherd rose again through the blood of the everlasting covenant, and the chief shepherd will come again one of these days or one of these nights.

Faithfulness, Weakness, and the Lord's Open Door

And this is the great shepherd of the sheep, and you can see he's setting their inheritance before them. I have called it the, their inheritance of the open door. I have set before thee an open door. And you can see the shepherd not only setting the inheritance before them, but seeing their obedience and seeing their allegiance.

And then you can hear him speaking to them about their deliverance from the storm and their repentance to the coming. You notice in this text there's no word of condemnation this evening. All the other churches he had, nevertheless, I have somewhat, but on this occasion there's not that word of condemnation.

And you see, these are men who love the Lord and are true to the Lord, who recognize the holiness and recognize the trueness and recognize the loyalness and recognize the powerfulness. We're talking to this company, this remnant who had a breath of revival.

And you've got the shepherd set before them. He says, I know thy works. We've had that phrase again and again. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. And I believe, of course, that in every revival you have the open door not only of prayer, sometimes they prayed all day in some of the churches, but in some of the revivals they sang all night.

This door of praise seemed to be opened up again. And, of course, in every part of the land where revival touched, there was preaching night and day. I believe these doors were opened. And I believe that in revival the Lord opens them and no man can shut them.

You know, it was said that when the revival came to Cornwall, the pubs were shut. There wasn't a pub open for weeks. On Saturday afternoon the football pitch was closed and there wasn't a match for months.

It was taken up with praying and praising and preaching. You can't work this up, you know. It was not done by organization. This was God coming in revival. In one of the schools, and I was taken into the school room and I sat on the very seat where one morning the class was just met and the teacher had just come into the room.

And the little girl sitting on the seat that they placed me on began to cry. She was only nine. So she said, Mildred, what is wrong with you? She said, Mildred, I'm a sinner and I'm not saved and the Lord can come.

And in no time than it takes to tell you the whole class was on its knees under teacher with them. And then the whole thing, what you call revival, is the Lord opening the door and no man can shut it.

And he does this in revivals. Once again he says, verse eight, in the middle of the verse, for thou hast a little strength. This wasn't the fashionable church, no. It had great numbers and very possibly it had much money.

For thou hast a little strength. Kept my word and hast not denied my name. You know, he noticed their littleness. He could see their littleness, but he could also see their faithfulness. Hast kept my word.

And he could also mark their steadfastness. And hast not denied my name. You know, that always works in revival. It doesn't make a matter who you are. Maybe if he looked at me tonight, he says, I can see the littleness of your education.

I went to school now and again. I wouldn't like to tell you all what happened in my school days. I look back and I wonder what it was all about. It doesn't matter, you see, if God comes into your life.

I think you know we've got fooled about this academic standard with spirituality. It doesn't work that way. There are men who get degrees with honors that Queens bless them, they work for it. But they go back to China and go back to India, go back to bow down to stones.

It didn't help them spiritually, you know. They're as dark as hell can make them with all their degrees. You know, if we could only get the hold of this, that the Lord is taking up the things which are not.

Taking up the best things, taking up the foolish things. To tell that nobody will get any glory. I remember a very well-saved man who was a millionaire. Come in to me and said, well, I will put up all the money that's needed to send you to great Bible schools.

From there on to the university. He said, you know, I couldn't do that. I'm very sorry, but I couldn't do that. He said, you know, I'll pay you while you're there. He couldn't do it. He'd be afraid to do that.

I said, you know, the Lord just took me up from where I was. Picked me out of the gutter and he made me. I'm not letting you or anybody else spoil it. Because if I did that, you know, you'd get some of the glory out of it.

And a lot of other boys through this day to meet them. I can't do that. Now, I've got the Lord. I'll go on the way I'm going. For you feel that the Lord wants you to do something else. I'll help you. I've never hindered the boys yet.

If they felt they wanted to go to school, I'll gather the money in front. As far as I'm concerned. I can't go. I'm not allowed. My dear friends, he can take up the little things. The Lord has a little strength.

And it's a very little as far as I'm concerned. He could see their littleness. He could see their faithfulness. He could see their steadfastness. And then he said this to them, and I think this is thrilling.

Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee. That always happens at revival.

And I believe that Philadelphia, this is the very local thing that he is. There was a synagogue there. There were Jews there. Some of them had got saved and come into this meeting. And God was going to honor them now.

And before long, the boys up the street that were criticizing them would have to come and bow down and own that the Lord loved them. If you have to look out for the local bits. And then he said this to them.

He said, because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Now this is the verse that we'll need to take time with this evening because it's a wonderful word this.

It's our Lord's word. And we need to watch every phrase of it. He's saying to these revived people, these people that have kept his word, these people that have not denied his name, these people that he has honored, before the Jews, he says, because thou hast kept the word of my patience.

Now what does that mean? If he had said to them, because thou hast kept the word of the gospel, you would know what it means, wouldn't you? He didn't say that. He said, thou hast kept the word of my patience.

Well, I'll tell you what it is. You know, our Lord Jesus rose again the third day and then you remember that he eventually ascended to heaven. He was taken up to heaven. He ascended to heaven. And you know the day that he went through the clouds and into heaven itself, God commanded all the angels to worship him.

And millions of millions of angels all bowed down in heaven. And he went up through this great crowd of angels. What an entrance it was. And he went through this long crowd of bowing, worshipping angels until he came to the throne of God.

And the voice came out from the absolute glory. And the voice said, sit thou here. And the Lord Jesus sat down on the throne above. But the voice said this, sit thou here until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

And he's patiently waiting for it to happen. You see, when you talk about the message of his patience, the word of his patience, you see it joined to his coming again. This church had discovered this great truth that he had indeed the King of David, that he would come from heaven one day and he would take the throne of his father David and he would rule where 'er the sun did its successive journeys run and eventually every knee would bow and every tongue confess.

And this church believed that. Thou hast kept the word of my patience. That's what I believe tonight. I believe God will bring this about and I believe we are about to see it happen. Jesus will come to the air and take us home.

Then will come the day of his wrath. Then he'll come to the earth and he'll take the throne of his father David. He'll set up his great millennial kingdom. Then he'll eventually overthrow for eternity Satan and all his hosts.

And the kingdoms of this world will be the kingdoms of God and his Christ. That's what I believe. I hope you're keeping it too. And so he says to this revived remnant, He said because thou hast kept the word of my patience I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation.

The Great Tribulation and Deliverance from Wrath

Now let's get that word proper. One of the translators translates it I also will keep thee from the hour of trial. And you can see that fits very well because it says which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.

There's another old-fashioned translator that translates it like this. I also will keep thee from the hour of tribulation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the face of the earth.

Now I want you to get that. Because there is an hour of tribulation coming for this world. I want you to get the word world in. Which shall come upon all the world. It doesn't say it will come upon the church.

It just says it will come upon the world. And you look at the phrases, very particular, to try them. Not to try you. Try them. That dwell upon the earth. Who do you think then that dwell upon the earth is?

The church? Now you must be daft. I hope you're not as silly as all that. I hope you can read. Now I want you to get the hold of this. Because this is very important. I want you to get that this is tribulation.

And it's for the world. And it's to try them that dwell upon the earth. This is not our dwelling place, you know. We're looking for the city that has foundations. We're marching to glory. This is not our home.

They don't dwell here. We're just strangers and pilgrims down here. We're not dwelling here. We're merely a passing proof. But look at the text again. It says, because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from.

Did you get the from? Because he didn't say, I will keep thee in the great tribulation. Nor he didn't say, I will keep thee throughout the great tribulation. Nor he didn't. He said, I will keep thee from.

He's taking us out of, from, away from. They're not going to be here. If you're true to his name. If you are steadfast and unmovable for the glory of the Lord. If you love the Lord. If you acknowledge his holiness.

If you're prepared to obey him. Friend is going to take us away from. I also will take thee from. I will keep thee from. What's this now? I also will keep thee from. And look at it, the hour of tribulation.

Just a short period, you know. And it's coming on all the world. You know, when we get to the sixth chapter of the book of the Revelation. We're going to be right in to that tribulation period. Now let's go over, I'm not going to expand chapter six tonight because that would spoil it for us.

I'll say a few things about it and you'll know the truth. And then we'll do them properly when we come to them. In the sixth chapter you have of course the four horsemen. And the four horsemen of the book of the Revelation is quite a subject.

You see the 12th horse there in verse 2, a white horse. And he that sat on him had a bull and a clone was given unto him. And he went forth conquering and to conquer. At first glance you would think it was Christ.

Well I shall prove to you conclusively that it is not Christ. When I come to it. You know it's somebody pretending to be Christ. It's the Antichrist. And of course a lot of people on earth at that time will believe that he's the Christ.

Because God shall send them strong delusion that they will believe the lie. And almost you would believe it by looking at him. Some of the commentators have done so. But you'll find when you put this horse with the other three.

You'll find that this couldn't be Christ. Because the second horse, do you see it, verse 4. There went out another horse that was red. And power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth.

Watch the wording, take peace from the earth. That they should kill one another. Mind you that's not war. When you talk about nations going to war you don't talk about it in that frame at all. When you talk about killing one another that is civil war.

And this whole country has been on the edge of civil war for these last two years. I've always believed it wouldn't come. And I think we're beginning to see there's a gap in the clouds just now. But one day it will come.

God will allow it to come. But the day it comes will not be. It's because I've promised. You'll notice the third horse, did you see that, verse 5. I had, and behold, I beheld in law a black horse. And he that sat on him had a pair of balances.

You know this is starvation. The first one is detection. The second one is destruction. Because civil war destroys everything. And this is starvation. And as you go down the chapter, and we'll do it properly when we come to it, if God will.

You'll see the whole picture of the great tribulation. Now look at the end of the chapter. See verse 14, just to do us just now. And the heaven departed as a straw when it is rolled together. And every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

You know 200 years ago the men who expounded this book were afraid to say that the mountains could be moved or the islands removed. I gave a lecture at Queen's one day. And a gentleman who was a professor was there and he came to me afterwards.

He said, something he said, I want you to write it down for me. And I wrote it down for the man. I said, who are you? He told me his name. I said, what do you teach? He said, well I'm mixed up in atomic energy.

He said, you're the boy I'm looking for. I want to know something about it. I have to ask boys like you. If you're not allowed to tell me then just say I'm not allowed. Sometimes these things are secret.

I said, I want to know this. Just in plain English. Can you bring a plane over Belfast? Can you drop out a bomb and 600 ,000 people in a split second are dead like that? Tell me that. He said, it's a million times beyond that you know.

I said, Mr. Mullen we could bring a plane over, drop a bomb on the island and from Donegal to Cork you wouldn't see it again. We can put this island off the map tonight. You know we argue about the border.

And you would think we were great folk. We have about two green fields on this side and two on that side. And we fight about them. That's about the size of us you know. Then they can put this little island off the map just like that.

And there may be a day that they will. They'll come to that. And the day that they're tumbling down mountains and blotting out islands. I'll tell you what will happen on the earth. Have a look at it. See verse 15.

And the kings of the earth. Well that's all the kings. Not many of them left. I suppose the emperors and dictators are all there too. And the great men. And the rich men. And the chief captains. And the mighty men.

And every bond man. And every free man. Hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains. And said to the mountains and rocks. Fall on us. Hide us from the face of him that sits upon the throne.

And from the wrath of the Lamb. And if you go down the names again. The kings of the earth. The great men. The rich men. The chief captains. I'll tell you this. The church is not there. They're gone. Gone.

The kings of the earth doing all the moaning. Church is not there. You won't find them. He says I'll take you. I'll keep you strong. Strong. Not keep you any. The tribulation. You know they come round to argue with me about the church going through the tribulation.

This is their great cry. It amuses me I may as well tell you. As usual. I said to one of them the other day. Are you telling me that the church is going through the tribulation? Yes I am. They said no I'm asking you a question.

When did the church begin? At Pentecost. So that the church is in this world at this moment almost two thousand years. Yes. And we're expecting the last few stones to be put on or the last few stones to be saved and then the Lord will come and take her away.

Yes. Now up to this moment in the last two thousand years how many members of the church have gone to heaven? Would you say three quarters of the church? Or would you say ninety percent of the church has gone home?

How can you talk about the church going through the tribulation? There's three quarters of the church home you know. What they're talking about is the last battalion of the church going through the tribulation.

Why would the Lord put the last battalion through the tribulation now? I asked them honestly. I want you to see that the great tribulation is the wrath of God. The great tribulation. Ah well we are saved from wrath.

Sunday night I'll let you see where the wrath fell as far as I'm concerned. You're not telling me that my Saviour bore the wrath of God for me and then God put me through it after that. Is that what you're teaching me?

Because that's God demanding payment twice. No my friend. He's going to keep us strong. Not any. Not two. Keep us strong. That's all. That shall come upon all the earth. Now watch this little bitch. We're back in chapter three again.