href="#ulink_75275ab6-231b-5189-9d9e-7d6b7c215a33">130. See also Matthew 10:32 and Luke 12:8.
Revelation 3:7–13
Jesus’ Message to the Church in Philadelphia
Introduction
One summer, in June, my son, Rick, and I got to go to our first Chicago Cubs game. We had a great time. Our tickets cost $18.50 a piece, and we were in the windy section. An icy wind kept blowing right in our faces, but we did not mind, because we had a hot dog to share, a Pepsi to share, a popcorn to share, a cotton candy to share, peanuts to share, and candy to share. And a stomach-ache to share. Before the game started, I took Rick down to the foul line seats, the seats closest to the field. We got to the park two hours earlier than the start of the game, so we got to see all the batting practice. It would have been great to sit there for the game. The wind wasn’t blowing, and the sun was shining right on the seats. We still had a great time, and a very enjoyable day together, but I had an inward covetousness for those seats.
Would it not be great to have the place of honor every so often? The place of honor at the company banquet or the place of honor at the school program, or the place of honor at the family gathering, or at the Premier League Championship game? There is a place of honor reserved for the faithful follower of Jesus, a place in Heaven with Jesus. When my Step-Father was in the hospital the last few years of his life I got to see him on December 24th. There were a few things I wanted to say to him alone, before we left the hospital that day. After the family was gone, I kneeled down by his bedside, and told him that he had been a great father. I wouldn’t have wanted any other than him. I then told him to save me a place at the Lamb’s table, because I wanted to sit next to him when I got there.
Now, the more I think of that, the more I realized that my father doesn’t have a say where I sit. I don’t have a say where I sit. But God does. And he will give each of us a place of honor according to his own choosing. In fact, through our lives God is sustaining us for a place of honor. This is what the church in Philadelphia needed to know.
Exposition
The city of Philadelphia was located about thirty miles north/northwest from Sardis. It was known as the gateway to the East, and this made it a commercially important city, with the imperial road passing through it. Because of the many fertile lands for grape growing, Dionysius became an important deity for the city. Philadelphia suffered much after a major earthquake in 17 A.D. that also impacted Sardis. Philadelphia was nearer the fault line. The name of the city comes from the love of the ruler of the 2nd century B.C. for his brother, who remained faithful to him.131 Osborne writes that in 92 A.D. Emperor Domitian issued a decree that half of the grape vines be cut down. This was to encourage the growing of grain for the Roman Empire because of the famine. This caused a severe crisis in Philadelphia as well as some loosening of ties with the Roman Empire cult.132
Jesus is described here as the holy and faithful one who holds the key of David. This may be a parallel to the keys to death and Hades in chapter 1. Just as Jesus remained faithful and set apart for the task God gave him, bearing witness even unto death, so this church is called upon to stay faithful in the midst of persecution and trial.133 Ultimate judgment is in the hands of Jesus. They need not fear or give up. In Isaiah 22:22 God says concerning Eliakim and Hilkiah, “And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” Eliakim was the palace administrator. As palace administrator, he would have had the keys to the King’s palace. Here in Revelation, the application is made to Jesus, who has keys to the palace of his Heavenly Father’s home. These “keys of David” refer the Messianic leadership over Israel, a leadership that is in Jesus’ hands and that he has the right to give to the faithful. The doors of the true synagogue were open to the faithful ones, whereas the doors remained closed to those who rejected Christ, the keeper of the keys.134
Jesus keeps the door open when others want to shut it. While the people of the church may have been shut out of the synagogue, they are not shut out of the kingdom of heaven.135 It seems that the Jews had kicked the small Christian congregation out of the privilege of synagogue worship. They were not welcome to worship with the Jews because the Jews did not believe that God loved the followers of Jesus. They had been told that God had rejected them, and that they were not of the chosen ones. Jesus had previously already rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew 23:13, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.”
Jesus promised the Philadelphian congregation an open door into the palace of Heaven, and no one was going to be able to shut this door on them. In the history of religion, there occasionally have arisen groups that limited salvation to a select number of people. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, a large cult today, used to claim that only 144,000 were going to heaven. When their group got bigger, they had to change their beliefs. Some groups of the 1830s and 1840s limited their number to only celibate people—obviously, their groups did not last for more than one generation. Still today, there are some that suppose they have the authority to decide who can get into Heaven.
But Jesus holds the keys in his hands and no one else. And as the key holder, he determines the entrance requirements. And as Savior, he has already paid the entrance fee with his blood and invites everyone to come to the Father through him. Jesus said of himself in John 10, “I am the gate for the sheep; whoever enters through Me will be saved. He will come in and go out and will find pasture.” As members of the body of Christ, we do not have the key to the door, but we know the One who has the key. Our task is to lead people to the Key-holder, so that he can let them in.
But more than just holding the keys, Jesus also promises a restored honor to those who had it taken away by others. Jesus used harsh language to describe those who had prevented the church from participating in their religious activities, calling them a synagogue for Satan. The synagogue of Satan is probably similar to what was encountered in Smyrna. Those who are Jews were trying to oppress or persecute the followers of Jesus. The “real” Jews spiritually are those who hold the teachings of Jesus and stay faithful. These false Jews will one day acknowledge not only the rightness of the church members in Philadelphia, but by doing so they will also acknowledge the truth claims of Jesus and his love for the church. Whether this means they repent or not is not clear.136
Because of the faithfulness to the command to endure patiently, Jesus promised that he would keep the Philadelphia church from the hour of trial that would come upon the whole world. What is the hour of trial to come upon the earth? Is this the final suffering and judgment upon the earth? Or is this a reference to a more severe level of persecution that the church will escape, while other congregations and followers of Jesus may have to endure?
I think the context, as well as the general teaching of Revelation and the rest of the New Testament, lead to the conclusion that the tribulation is the punishment of the ungodly. The church of Philadelphia will be spared from the wrath of God just as the Jews were spared from the plagues of Egypt. The phrase, “hour of trial,” is the technical phrase for judgment (see 6:10; 8:13; 11:10; 12:12; 13:8, 12, 14; 14:6; 17:2, 8). This is an intensification of the end-times tribulation on the earth which has already been set in motion.137 The phrase “keep you from,” κἀγώ σε τηρήσω (kago se tereso), is also used by Jesus in John 17:15. There, Jesus prays that the disciples would be kept from the evil one, but not taken out of the world. Thus, in Revelation
