Revelation 2: The Church at Philadelphia

Okay, so I don't know what part number this is, but we are coming to the close of this brief series.

Part five. Thank you, Shane. We are at part five. So this is five or six?

This is five. Really? I'm going to take your word for it. All right. So this is part five.

We have two churches left. We have the Church of Philadelphia, and I know it was one so close to home, and Laodicea.

So I'd like someone to read, as we've been doing, to read that letter to the church in Philadelphia.

So it's Revelation chapter three, verses seven to 13. It's right there. Can everyone read that okay?

Is the font good enough? Hopefully you have your Bibles, or your phone, what has your Bible. So I have a volunteer.

Dan. All right. I'll get, Ryan gets the next one, just remind me. Nice and loud.

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, and shuts, who shuts and no one opens.

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. 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.

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.

I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the

Spirit says to the churches. Amen. Okay. So, as we've been going through this series, we are normally looking for a couple things, right?

This whole idea kind of started, or at least I touched on the fact how people are looking to hear from God, and yet usually those who claim to hear from God and speak for God always have something that more or less tickles our ears, right?

It's always good, never bad, never brings some truth, some clarity.

But here, God has spoken, Christ has spoken, and because the Spirit that has brought this message is within us, the

Word, like the rest of the Bible, is able to be illuminated, able to be applied to us every day.

And so, there are things that we can be instructed on, things that we can be commended on, things that we can be convicted on, criticized, and we have to respond accordingly.

So in this letter, what are we seeing? What sort of letter is this? Encouraging, right?

It's a letter, there's a commendation, is there criticism here? These are the softball ones.

They get a little bit tougher. The synagogue of Satan, is that supposed to be like some of the people in the church, or is that just completely excluded?

No, that would be outside of the church. Anyone want to guess who the synagogue of Satan is? Pharisees?

Sadducees? Could be. Could be. Now keep in mind that the letters to the churches, these churches are located in Asia Minor, so they are outside of Israel.

But it's very possible that they do have... Well, the synagogue was what?

Do you remember? Yeah. Synagogue was their local meeting place, and they'd have them, like, obviously, the religion of Judaism, there was one place to go and to worship, right?

And they worshiped under the old covenant by way of sacrifice. And so first it was the tabernacle, and then it was the temple.

So at this point, the temple is still standing. But it's not convenient to go to the temple every day for people who are all over the country of Israel, and those who are far off.

But they would go out and they would make, you know, obviously we have the time of the dispersion where there's the exile that's never been fully recovered from, right?

You know, first northern Israel was taken away into Assyria, and they were mixed up, and some of them were mixed up with, you know, in Samaria, they have people who are mixed breed as far as they were concerned.

They called them dogs. They had no love for them. They were half Jewish, half pagan.

And they hailed to different versions of worship that weren't true.

But in addition to Assyria, then Babylon came, and again, the people of Israel are dispersed all over the place.

And yet they're gathering, they're still making proselytites. And so the synagogue would be the local meeting place for Jewish people to gather, that they would hear, you know, the law being read.

They would have someone to expound on it. So synagogues were everywhere. In fact, when the people were trying to figure out the early church, which was composed mostly of Jews, thinking about, well, how about all these

Gentile believers? They're arguing over circumcision and everything else. They said, well, let's just give them some of these bare minimums that they have to do without trying to add the whole law.

Obviously, we couldn't keep the law, and he saved them. The Holy Spirit came on them without them being circumcised and being part of the law.

But he goes, Moses being preached in far off places. And so here, even in Asia Minor, Moses being preached, there are synagogues where people can meet and hear the word of God.

But the synagogue was, I've given you the answer, it's the meeting place primarily of who? The Jews, right?

And who do the Jews consider themselves to be, especially in relation to the church, this early church?

What is their view of these Christians? Right. Right.

Exactly. And for those who were rejecting the Messiah, they were actually persecuting the church.

They considered themselves something separate. They considered this, you know, the outsiders consider the

Christianity Christians to be a sect, a cult, you know, something that's just another branch off of those crazy

Jewish people. But the Jews who rejected Christ, they were telling them that they weren't true believers, that they were apostate.

They had, you know, foregone. They were done with, you know, temple sacrifices and everything, recognizing that all the sacrifices were fulfilled in Christ.

So they're calling them apostates. They're calling them, you know, unbelievers, basically. You know, they're rejecting them.

They're persecuting them. And so here, Jesus is saying there's a synagogue of Satan.

And why do we know that he's referring to the Jews in addition to the fact that he calls that, he refers to it as a synagogue, which is we were always associating that with Jewish congregations,

Jewish people gathering. But where else? I mean, well, it's

Jesus saying it, but is there an earlier reference to them being associated with Satan?

Exactly. He had the chapter and everything. I had it written down. You know the verse?

I know he says, he says, your father, your father isn't God. Your father is Satan, for he was a liar from the beginning and a murderer.

He's ready to kill me. John 8, 44, he says, you're of your father, the devil, a murderer from the beginning.

Right. And so he associates those who consider themselves Jews. We have

Abraham as our father. God is our father. And he goes, if that was true, you would do the acts that Abraham did, you know?

So Jews who reject Jesus are a synagogue of Satan.

Those, those who refuse to acknowledge the Messiah that God has sent, they're of their father, the devil.

They're refusing the truth that God has provided in his son. And so in John 8, 44,

Jesus refers to them as that. In Galatians 6, 16, Paul talks about circumcision being nothing.

Circumcision, uncircumcision, it's nothing but a new creation. Right. That's what matters. And so he goes, you know, peace on the

Israel of God, those who are inwardly Jews. Right. So the church in Philadelphia is being persecuted by the

Jews and also by the Gentiles. And again, do we see, so we seek commendation.

Do we see any criticism? Do we see any criticism?

I just want to hear someone say no. Just want to make sure you're all tracking with me.

All right. All right. So no, there's no criticism here. When he says, I know your works, what do we think he's referring to there?

What's been coming up at least in the last few parts, Ryan? Their evangelism.

As I mentioned, you know, reading the various commentaries,

G .K. Beale is convinced through and through that when he's talking about works, when he's talking about their first love, he's talking about their witness to the world, that they would be lights.

And here, this was something I was going to bring up, I don't think I did, talking about his arguments when

I was preaching on the letter to Ephesus. His arguments for it being a witness.

This, I felt, was one of his stronger arguments when he points to the church in Philadelphia and he says,

I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. Why would we think that that might be a confirmation that being a witness is associated with our works, works that Jesus was very concerned about?

I don't know if this is what you're referring to, but don't, sometimes people said like, oh, I have an open door to like share the gospel with someone.

And like, this could be literally because like people met in places. So, like, you know, they had this opportunity.

And then even like the next line, like kind of confirms it, like, you have kept my word and haven't denied my name. Like somebody asked them about it and they shared or something.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we see a number of times in Acts and Corinthians and Colossians, when it talks about an open door, it's talking about open door for ministry purposes, to be able to reach this people.

So he's, Paul's getting to work because God has opened a door for him. Right. And so he says, I know your works.

Behold, I have set before you an open door. God bless you. And what is, how does Jesus introduce himself again?

We say that the, the introduction of Christ, the description of Christ ties in with the letter, you know, that there's something pertinent to the people.

God bless you. The words of the Holy one, the true one, the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

Right. And of course the church has the keys to the kingdom, right. Binding and loosing and all that.

So there's authority there, but there's also that witness there. Calista and then

Alex. Maybe, maybe.

I have a different view of why that's going to be, but possibly. I had a question more or less, but what's the significance of the phrase the key of David?

That's a good question. I don't know. It's obviously David is kingship, but I don't know what the key is about David.

I think it has to do with his authority. There were so many things to focus in on here.

And they were talking about, oh, I forget his name.

There was someone else who had the key of David, who was basically given the authority at the time.

Keys are associated with authority in the word in the Old Testament. And we still have that today.

Well, we're giving them the keys to the city. It's an honor. It's a description of their relevance and their relation to that.

So it has to do, I believe, with the authority. But I don't have a better answer for you now.

But once again, as we can see. Oh, thank you. I was going to ask. I was hoping Pastor would volunteer. Yeah, it's, you know, the scripture uses different terms for a concept.

In Matthew, Jesus calls it the keys to the kingdom. David represents the kingdom. Christ was set to sit on the throne of David.

So it's just the same concept, just put in different words. So it's the keys to the kingdom.

You could substitute that and not lose anything. My thoughts exactly.

I don't want to be dogmatic about it. Because I was like, again, with Revelation, it's interesting.

There are so many things. But it is a good reminder that Revelation is constantly pointing back to the rest of Scripture.

You know, we live in a day and age where the vast majority of believers, at least in our society, are dispensational.

And so Revelation becomes a real mystery as to how do these things apply and what should we be looking for for these symbols to represent.

But it's always pointing back. It's always pointing back to other Scripture that has already been shared. Was there a hand up or no?

Okay. Okay. So he says, as I said, the open door seems to be a reference to the opportunity to evangelize.

Oh, there we go. He goes, you have but little power. What do we think that might refer to?

She's trying, though. She's like, I don't want to leave my head up there hanging. I think what it's referring to, again, some of these things are speculation as far as what their power is.

Because if they're operating in the power of God, well, then that's not little power. But in light of the evangelism and what's going on, it could be they don't have a big presence yet in the city.

They don't have a big impact yet in the city. He says, I know you have but little power, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

And so, again, all this is getting tied because now he goes, I will make 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 before your feet. And they will learn that I have loved you. And I think part of that is it could be part of the witness.

It could be that, you know, him changing their hearts. Right. Where once they were opposing the gospel and then

God opens their eyes and now they see the truth. And now they're coming and saying you were right. But keep in mind, this is from our perspective, or at least many of us perspective, believing that revelation was written prior to 70

A .D. The Jews, I mean, you look at the letter to the Hebrews, you know, the believers are being called apostate.

They're being encouraged to return to the law, return to the temple worship. And the author of the

Hebrews is telling them, though, how Christ is superior in every way to Moses, to the law, to the priesthood, everything, the angels and all that.

And he goes, you know, they're looking at their finished temple and they're saying, look at the favor God has shown us.

The temple is complete. Obviously, God's on our side. And where's your Messiah? He's somewhere in the clouds.

Yes. And he's coming. Right. And 70 A .D. was going to be the proof that God had meant what he said, that Christ would be vindicated when he says your house is left to you desolate, not one stone to be left upon another.

And when he's being put on that trial and he says, you know, are you the son of God? He goes,

I am. And you will see the son of man coming in the clouds. Right. Talking about the judgment that's going to come, the vindication that's going to come.

So the synagogue of Satan, the Jews who are rejecting Christ as their Messiah and they are they are blaspheming, they're persecuting those who are holding to the way they're going to find out in a short time that the

Christians were right, because the Christians are speaking of the judgment to come as well. You know, when they pull

Stephen, you know, before the Sanhedrin, they say this man said that the temple is going to be torn down and God's going to judge his place because Stephen already knew what was prophesied by Christ.

And he is pointing that out to people that there is a time of reckoning coming. So that was part of their evangelism was was talking about the judgment to come.

And so when the temple is destroyed, when Jerusalem is is thrown down, it's going to be the vindication of Christ and all those who followed him.

And so these people, the Jewish people who are persecuting them might come to find out they've been wrong and the

Christians are right. And so they're going back to them and on their on their knees, right, recognizing they were wrong.

He says, because you've 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.

So what does that mean? No persecution. They're going to escape the tribulation.

What do you think? What do you think that phrase might mean? Is that referring to the judgment to come in 80 -70?

That they're going to be protected from that? I mean, in a way they will be protected from that because they're not in Jerusalem.

They're they're a distance away. Right. You know, in Revelation, you know, here they're getting these introductory letters and then they're going to find out about all this, all this tribulation that's about to come.

And the focus primarily is Jerusalem. Right. But it talks about things on the whole world and it talks, it involves, if you hold to a what we have to call now a partial preterist view.

It involves Rome. It involves the people of the world.

Right. There's going to be an impact on the rest of the world, on society.

So are they saying is is Jesus promising them you're not going to have to go through trials and tribulation?

I'm going to keep you from that. No, and I'm like, especially when we think of like the historical context, like the next few centuries, they're going to be invaded by the barbarians.

Yeah, I think he's talking about something a little bit closer, but that's indeed true.

Again, this is something where I mentioned on the first part when we talk about, you know, he said the time is near and I said, you know, we hold to a or at least a lot of us hold to a partial preterist view.

There's there's those who hold to like an idealist view where they think, well, these things are just pictures of stuff that happens all through society.

Sorry, just all through the ages. There's always something going on like this. And there's a there's a truth to that because there's nothing new under the sun, you know, and the enemies of God act in a similar way throughout throughout time.

So the believers in God have to deal with all sorts of things throughout time.

And it's very similar. But when he says, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the world to try those who dwell on the earth.

I think we have to consider how Jesus uses that word. Keep them right.

Who remembers what it says in John 17? It's like a whole chapter.

Do I have to say the whole thing? In John 17, five, it says, John, Jesus says,

I ask not that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

Right. And so this is one of those things where it's interesting.

There's a lot of Christians looking for a rapture. Right. To take us out of the world, to help us to escape the tribulation that's going to come on the earth.

But that's not what Jesus prays for. Doesn't that seem like a direct contradiction?

Would you say also that, you know, what Peter says in the second epistle has any correlation when he says in the first line that the

Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment on the day of judgment?

Right. And when it says he keeps them from temptation, like Jesus says, keep them from the evil one.

What sort of keeping is actually going on there? What sort of keeping is in mind?

It's salvific. Salvific? Yeah. All righty.

Yeah, it's salvific. I would say also just elaborating on that a little bit is is able to hold them fast.

You know, obviously salvation is it's it's once in justification, but salvation is played out every day of our lives.

Right. We are we're working out our salvation with fear and trembling. We are being kept in the faith, guarded by faith.

Right. By what? By the power of God. And so the tribulation that's going to come in and is going to test the world.

And yet the believers are going to be able to hold fast. Right. They're going to be able to hold on to Christ and they're not going to be led astray.

They're not going to go. He's going to hold on to them. He's going to keep them from going apostate, from leaving.

They have been true. They have been obedient to Christ. And at the cost of persecution.

Right. They don't have a lot of power. They're getting persecuted. He says, but you haven't denied my name.

You've kept my word. Now, in contrast to the other churches and some of the critiques that they're getting that a hand or.

OK. What are some of the other churches guilty of doing? Engaging in idolatry.

Joining in with, you know, the sacrifice to idols, eating food, sacrifice idols, taking part in those festivals, possibly even taking part in the sexual morality that attends with that.

So they're not keeping his word at that point, are they? They're they're denying his word. They're denying

Christ by their actions. You can't be attached to both Christ and Satan.

Right. It's one or the other. And so because they have been obedient, he is going to continue to keep them persevered, persevering.

And then the one who conquers will be forever united to the Lord. When he says, hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown.

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. What's the significance there? The great expectation that we have in Christ.

You know, Paul reminds Timothy that, you know, if we died with him, he says we'll also live with him.

If we endure, we'll also reign with him. Another great promise of what that means.

Right. I mean, when we talked about we've talked about conquering. Right. But conquering looks like what for the church at times?

I hear whispers. Sacrifice. What else does it look like? I mean, specifically conquering unto death.

Yes. You have to speak up because I can see lips moving, but my hearing is just not that good. Right. I mean, he's talking about some who are going on to their death and he's saying that they're overcoming.

Right. Well, how did Christ overcome? He overcome. He overcame by dying.

Right. Laying down his life. And yet he emerged victorious from that. And so the same can be true for any believer that there is overcoming.

There is conquering even in our church. And we can even say, like, on a day to day basis to dying, just dying yourself and taking your cross.

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, sometimes conquering, we think of it in the sense where most people would agree like, oh, here we are, look at the impact we're having.

Look, look at how things are changing. We're seeing Christ conquering. We're seeing his kingdom come. And that is a true aspect of it.

But another aspect of it that we should never diminish is the fact that sometimes we're laying down our lives.

You know, and they said the blood of the martyrs is the seedbed of the church. Right. Because people are going to wonder, like, what's worth dying for?

Where everyone is, everyone's trying to hold on to their life. Everyone's trying to hold on to their comfort and their wealth and their status, everything.

Who's willing to give all that up for what? And so all of a sudden, that can be a way to make

Christ known, to really show how glorious he is, is that we're willing to lay down everything for him.

The last thing I want to mention when he says I will write on him the name of my God, the name of the city of my

God, the new Jerusalem. What's that a reference to? Well, I think also we need to go back to the pillars.

That definitely, I think, is invoking the pillars of Solomon's temple that specifically had names to them.

Boaz and the other one. But they were named after people. And in the new temple, the people actually are the pillars.

Right. As opposed to just the pillar named after a man. Yeah, the church is what?

Yeah, the church is the new temple. Right. And it's the pillar. It's what upholds the truth, right?

We're pointing people to Christ. We're pointing people to his word. And so writing on them the name of my

God. Right. What does God say about his temple? There will my name be. Right.

On the name of the city of my God. Right. The new Jerusalem. So what's the new Jerusalem? I hear whispering.

I'm pretty sure you have, but I just can't hear. The church? Is that what I heard? Okay, good. I will write on him the name of my

God, the name of the church, and my own new name. What I pointed out before, and particularly when

I was preaching on that letter to Ephesus, is our identity. Not just with Christ, but with the body of Christ.

The bride of Christ. The church. We have to get to the point where we identify the church as us.

That we're part of it. We are united with it. We are many members of one body.

And in America, with all the rugged individualism, you know, where everyone's got their own, you know, iPhone, and, you know, their own earbuds in, their own personal soundtrack to their life, living their own thing, doing.

We are an atomized society. We're just little pieces all over the place.

And we're not united. Right. But as the church, we are.

That's our identity. And so that brings great benefit and great obligations.

And too many of us are just willing to not see that. And the church suffers for it.

Right. The church is weaker for it. Christ's glory is diminished because of it.

And so we need to make sure that we are remembering to identify us ourselves as Christ identifies us.

And so it's something we need to make sure that we're holding on to. Okay.

Any questions or comments about the church in Philadelphia? Because I know there's no way

I can finish Laodicea. So we might as well just leave it for one last part next week.