“To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: “He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things:
“I know your works (behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut), that you have a little power, and kept my word, and didn’t deny my name. Behold, I give some of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie—behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. I am coming quickly! Hold firmly that which you have, so that no one takes your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. 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 out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 10, 12 The sixth place is unto the Pastors of Philadelphia.…
The sixth place is unto the Pastors of Philadelphia. The exordium is taken out of verse 18 of the first chapter.
All power of rule in commanding and forbidding, delivering and punishing. And the house of David is the Church, and the continual promise of David’s Kingdom belongeth to Christ.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv7–13 7 And to the angel of the church in…
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; 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; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
Ver. 7. That is holy] And therefore to be "sanctified in righteousness," Isa 5:16.
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True] And therefore to be trusted.
That hath the key of David] And is therefore to be sought unto for a door both of utterance and of entrance, Col 4:13; 2Co 2:12; Act 16:14.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv7–13 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia…
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
See Poole on "Rev 1:20", See Poole on "Rev 2:1". Of this Philadelphia we read no more in holy writ. We are told there were three cities of that name, one in Egypt, one in Syria, another in Phrygia, or in Mysia or Lydia, which is that here intended.
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These things saith he that is holy; that is, the Holy One, Act 3:14.
He that is true; true to his word of promise or threatening.
He that hath the key of David; that is, the key of the house of David, mentioned Isa 22:22; the key of the church, which answered the temple, the house David designed for God: the use of the key is to open and shut, or make fast.
He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; who admits into the kingdom of heaven whom he pleaseth, and none can hinder him, and shutteth out of heaven whom he pleaseth. The house of David typified the church, the church containeth the number of those that shall be saved; Christ is here described as he who hath the sole and absolute power of saving and condemning whom he pleaseth.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv7, 10, 11, 12, 13 Here we have the sixth epistle indited by Christ,…
Here we have the sixth epistle indited by Christ, written and sent by St. John to the church of Philadelphia, which name signifies brotherly love, and we may reasonably suppose that grace of love, unity, and concord, was eminently found with and amongst the members of this church, and had a mighty influence upon them in the practice of universal godliness, in as much as we find not this church blamed by Christ for any thing; not that she was wholly faultless, and altogether unblamable, but being free from those gross miscarriages which were in other Christians, and abounding with love to Christ, and one towards another. Christ graciously passes by and overlooks her failings and infirmities, and only proclaims her virtues and good works. Sincerity and love, though they do not blind Christ’s eye, that he cannot see sin in his people, yet it causes him to look upon their failings with a pitiful and compassionate eye. This Philadelphia is said to be a mean city, not far from Sardis; yet here Christ had a very eminent church, not faulted for any thing: it is not the grandeur, but graciousness, of a people, that renders a place renowned.
In this epistle to the Philadelphians, we have these particulars observable, 1. A lofty description of Christ, by whose authority it was written: He is holy and true, holy in himself essentially, holy in respect to us communicatively, the author, approver, dispenser of all holiness; and true, that is, a lover and approver of truth. This title assures the church of the truth of all his predictions, promises,and threatenings; these two titles, holy and true, are generally ascribed to God in the Old Testament; these Christ, in the New Testament, often attributes to himself, which he had never done had he not been truly and really God.
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The other part of the description of Christ follows, That hath the key of David, that is, of the church, of which David was a type: by the key power is denoted; Christ, as Mediator, has an absolute power over the church, being lord and head of it, and has committed a ministerial power of the keys to the governors and pastors of it; and having this key of the church in his own hand, by virtue of it he opens, and none can shut; and shutteth and none can open: that is, he can open, when he will, the door of success to his faithful ministers, by opening the hearts of his people through the power of converting grace, and no man can shut that door which Christ will thus open; and again, when he shuts the finally impenitent out of the church and out of heaven, no man can open and bring them in against his will: He openeth, and none can shut: he shutteth, and none can open.
Observe, 2. The special favour which Christ indulged to this church, namely, the favour of success in her gospel administrations: Behold, I have set before thee an open door. Under the metaphor of an open door, the success and progress of the gospel, in the preaching and dispensation of it, is shadowed forth; it is a special favour from God when he opens a door of advantage to us, to do good, the least good, either by convincing and converting sinners, or by edifying, strengthening, and comforting saints, and when God is pleased to open such door, none shall shut it.
Observe, 3. The commendation given by Christ of this church, Thou hast a little strength, a little spiritual inward strength, and but few external and outward helps and advantages; yet hast thou kept my word, my doctrine of faith, and my precepts for holy walking, these hast thou kept pure; and hast not denied my name, but adhered constantly to the profession of me and my gospel, notwithstanding all the temptations thou hast met with, by sufferings and reproaches.
Note here, How Christ took notice of that little measure of strength which this church had, and accepted it: weak grace, if sincere, shall always find acceptance with Christ; thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word.
Observe, 4. The gracious promise made by Christ unto this church, that her enemies should submit themselves unto her, and worship before her feet: Behold, says Christ, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which falsely call themselves Jews; I will make them, namely, by the power of my grace, to come and worship before thy feet; they shall reverence thee, and pay a civil respect to thee, and shall know that I have loved thee.
Learn hence, That the submission which the enemies of the church shall be forced to make unto her, by the power of Christ, is great and wonderful.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v7 We have now come to the sixth letter, sent…
We have now come to the sixth letter, sent to one of the Asian churches, where observe,
I. The inscription, showing,
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1. For whom it was more immediately designed: The angel of the church of Philadelphia; this also was a city in Asia Minor, seated upon the borders of Mysia and Lydia, and had its name from that brotherly love for which it was eminent. We can hardly suppose that this name was given to it after it received the Christian religion, and that it was so called from that Christian affection that all believers have, and should have, one for another, as the children of one Father and the brethren of Christ; but rather that it was its ancient name, on account of the love and kindness which the citizens had and showed to each other as a civil fraternity. This was an excellent spirit, and, when sanctified by the grace of the gospel, would render them an excellent church, as indeed they were, for here is no one fault found with this church, and yet, doubtless, there were faults in it of common infirmity; but love covers such faults.
2. By whom this letter was signed; even by the same Jesus who is alone the universal head of all the churches; and here observe by what title he chooses to represent himself to this church: He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, etc. You have his personal character: He that is holy and he that is true, holy in his nature, and therefore he cannot but be true to his word, for he hath spoken in his holiness; and you have also his political character: He hath the key of David, he openeth, and no man shutteth; he hath the key of the house of David, the key of government and authority in and over the church. Observe, (1.) The acts of his government. [1.] He opens. He opens a door of opportunity to his churches; he opens a door of utterance to his ministers; he opens a door of entrance, opens the heart; he opens a door of admission into the visible church, laying down the terms of communion; and he opens the door of admission into the church triumphant, according to the terms of salvation fixed by him. [2.] He shuts the door. When he pleases, he shuts the door of opportunity and the door of utterance, and leaves obstinate sinners shut up in the hardness of their hearts; he shuts the door of church-fellowship against unbelievers and profane persons; and he shuts the door of heaven against the foolish virgins who have slept away their day of grace, and against the workers of iniquity, how vain and confident soever they may be. (2.) The way and manner in which he performs these acts, and that is absolute sovereignty, independent upon the will of men, and irresistible by the power of men: He openeth, and no man shutteth; he shutteth, and no man openeth; he works to will and to do, and, when he works, none can hinder. These were proper characters for him, when speaking to a church that had endeavoured to be conformed to Christ in holiness and truth, and that had enjoyed a wide door of liberty and opportunity under his care and government.
II. The subject-matter of this epistle, where,
1. Christ puts them in mind of what he had done for them: I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it, Rev 3:8. I have set it open, and kept it open, though there be many adversaries. Learn here, (1.) Christ is to be acknowledged as the author of all the liberty and opportunity his churches enjoy. (2.) He takes notice and keeps account, how long he has preserved their spiritual liberties and privileges for them. (3.) Wicked men envy the people of God their door of liberty, and would be glad to shut it against them. (4.) If we do not provoke Christ to shut this door against us, men cannot do it.
2. This church is commended: Thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name, Rev 3:8. In this there seems to be couched a gentle reproof: "Thou hast a little strength, a little grace, which, though it be not proportionate to the wide door of opportunity which I have opened to thee, yet is true grace, and has kept thee faithful." True grace, though weak, has the divine approbation; but, though Christ accepts a little strength, yet believers should not rest satisfied in a little, but should strive to grow in grace, to be strong in faith, giving glory to God. True grace, though weak, will do more than the greatest gifts or highest degrees of common grace, for it will enable the Christian to keep the word of Christ, and not to deny his name. Obedience, fidelity, and a free confession of the name of Christ, are the fruits of true grace, and are pleasing to Christ as such.
3. Here is a promise of the great favour God would bestow on this church, Rev 3:9, Rev 3:10. This favour consists in two things: -
(1.) Christ would make this church's enemies subject to her. [1.] Those enemies are described to be such as said they were Jews, but lied in saying so - pretended to be the only and peculiar people of God, but were really the synagogue of Satan. Assemblies that worship God in spirit and in truth are the Israel of God; assemblies that either worship false gods, or the true God in a false manner, are the synagogues of Satan: though they may profess to be the only people of God, their profession is a lie. [2.] Their subjection to the church is described: They shall worship at thy feet; not pay a religious and divine honour to the church itself, nor to the ministry of it, but shall be convinced that they have been in the wrong, that this church is in the right and is beloved of Christ, and they shall desire to be taken into communion with her and that they may worship the same God after the same manner. How shall this great change be wrought? By the power of God upon the hearts of his enemies, and by signal discoveries of his peculiar favour to his church: They shall know that I have loved thee. Observe, First, The greatest honour and happiness any church can enjoy consist in the peculiar love and favour of Christ. Secondly, Christ can discover this his favour to his people in such a manner that their very enemies shall see it, and be forced to acknowledge it. Thirdly, This will, by the grace of Christ, soften the hearts of their enemies, and make them desirous to be admitted into communion with them.
(2.) Another instance of favour that Christ promises to this church is persevering grace in the most trying times (Rev 3:10), and this as the reward of their past fidelity. To him that hath shall be given. Here observe, [1.] The gospel of Christ is the word of his patience. It is the fruit of the patience of God to a sinful world; it sets before men the exemplary patience of Christ in all his sufferings for men; it calls those that receive it to the exercise of patience in conformity to Christ. [2.] This gospel should be carefully kept by all that enjoy it; they must keep up to the faith, and practice, and worship prescribed in the gospel. [3.] After a day of patience we must expect an hour of temptation; a day of gospel peace and liberty is a day of God's patience, and it is seldom so well improved as it should be and therefore it is often followed by an hour of trial and temptation. [4.] Sometimes the trial is more general and universal; it comes upon all the world, and, when it is so general, it is usually the shorter. [5.] Those who keep the gospel in a time of peace shall be kept by Christ in an hour of temptation. By keeping the gospel they are prepared for the trial; and the same divine grace that has made them fruitful in times of peace will make them faithful in times of persecution.
4. Christ calls the church to that duty which he before promised he would enable her to do, and that is, to persevere, to hold fast that which she had. (1.) The duty itself: "Hold fast that which thou hast, that faith, that truth, that strength of grace, that zeal, that love to the brethren; thou hast been possessed of this excellent treasure, hold it fast." (2.) The motives, taken from the speedy appearance of Christ: "Behold, I come quickly. See, I am just a coming to relieve them under the trial, to reward their fidelity, and to punish those who fall away; they shall lose that crown which they once seemed to have a right to, which they hoped for, and pleased themselves with the thoughts of. The persevering Christian shall win the prize from backsliding professors, who once stood fair for it."
III. The conclusion of this epistle, Rev 3:12, Rev 3:13. Here,
1. After his usual manner, our Saviour promises a glorious reward to the victorious believer, in two things: - (1.) He shall be a monumental pillar in the temple of God; not a pillar to support the temple (heaven needs no such props), but a monument of the free and powerful grace of God, a monument that shall never be defaced nor removed, as many stately pillars erected in honour to the Roman emperors and generals have been. (2.) On this monumental pillar there shall be an honourable inscription, as in those cases is usual. [1.] The name of God, in whose cause he engaged, whom he served, and for whom he suffered in this warfare; and the name of the city of God, the church of God, the new Jerusalem, which came down from heaven. On this pillar shall be recorded all the services the believer did to the church of God, how he asserted her rights, enlarged her borders, maintained her purity and honour; this will be a greater name than Asiaticus, or Africanus; a soldier under God in the wars of the church. And then another part of the inscription is, [2.] The new name of Christ, the Mediator, the Redeemer, the captain of our salvation; by this it will appear under whose banner this conquering believer had enlisted, under whose conduct he acted, by whose example he was encouraged, and under whose influence he fought the good fight, and came off victorious.
2. The epistle is closed up with the demand of attention: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, how Christ loves and values his faithful people, how he commends, and how he will crown their fidelity.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv7–13 I know thy works,.... Good works, of faith, love,…
I know thy works,.... Good works, of faith, love, and patience; and which lay much in preaching, professing, and maintaining the pure Gospel, and in acts of charity to one another; and which were done to some degree of perfection, and with great sincerity; since this church is not complained of, that her works were not perfect before God, as the former church is:
behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it; or "which no man can shut", as read the Alexandrian copy, and others, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions. This "open door" may design an uncommon opportunity of preaching the Gospel; and a very great freedom of mind in the preachers of it, and great attention in the hearers, whose hearts will be opened to observe, receive, and embrace it; and a very large gathering in of souls to Christ, and his churches; much and frequent preaching of the word with great success, which it will not be in the power of any creature to stop or hinder: now will the abundance of the sea, the forces of the Gentiles flow in, and the nation of the Jews shall be born at once,
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For thou hast a little strength; which is not to be understood of inward spiritual strength, for of this the church in this period will have a great deal, as well as of courage and fortitude of mind, but outward power and authority: some great men, and princes of the earth, will come into the churches of Christ, even kings will come to the brightness of her rising; for now will all those prophesies have their accomplishment, which respect the secular grandeur of the church, with regard to its numbers, power, and riches; see Isa 49:18.
And hast kept my word; both the commands and ordinances of Christ in practice, and that in their primitive purity, as they were delivered by Christ and his apostles, particularly baptism and the Lord's supper; which have been, one or other of them, or both, most sadly corrupted in all the periods of the churches hitherto, excepting the apostolical one, but will now be restored to their pristine purity and glory; and also the doctrines of the Gospel, which will be kept, not in memory only, but in the heart and life; they will be publicly and openly preached, professed, and defended:
and hast not denied my name: Christ himself, his doctrine respecting his person, office, and grace, neither in words, nor in works, but both ways confessed and owned it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv7–12 The holy one, the true one - Two great…
The holy one, the true one - Two great and glorious names He that hath the key of David - A master of a family, or a prince, has one or more keys, wherewith he can open and shut all the doors of his house or palace. So had David a key, a token of right and sovereignty, which was afterward adjudged to Eliakim, Isaiah xxii, 22. Much more has Christ, the Son of David, the key of the spiritual city of David, the New Jerusalem; the supreme right, power, and authority, as in his own house. He openeth this to all that overcome, and none shutteth: he shutteth it against all the fearful, and none openeth. Likewise when he openeth a door on earth for his works or his servants, none can shut; and when he shutteth against whatever would hurt or defile, none can open.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv7–12 Epistle to the Church at Philadelphia.
Epistle to the Church at Philadelphia.
Verse 7. He that is holy] In whom holiness essentially dwells, and from whom all holiness is derived.
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He that is true] He who is the fountain of truth; who cannot lie nor be imposed on; from whom all truth proceeds; and whose veracity in his Revelation is unimpeachable.
He that hath the key of David] See this metaphor explained, Mt 16:19. Key is the emblem of authority and knowledge; the key of David is the regal right or authority of David. David could shut or open the kingdom of Israel to whom he pleased. He was not bound to leave the kingdom even to his eldest son. He could choose whom he pleased to succeed him. The kingdom of the Gospel, and the kingdom of heaven, are at the disposal of Christ. He can shut against whom he will; he can open to whom he pleases. If he shuts, no man can open; if he opens, no man can shut. His determinations all stand fast, and none can reverse them. This expression is an allusion to Isa 22:22, where the prophet promises to Eliakim, under the symbol of the key of the house of David, the government of the whole nation; i.e., all the power of the king, to be executed by him as his deputy; but the words, as here applied to Christ, show that He is absolute.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 11 Rev 3:7-8. And to the angel of the church…
Rev 3:7-8. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write — “Philadelphia, so called from Attalus Philadelphus, its builder, is distant from Sardis about twenty-seven miles to the south-east. It is called by the Turks Alah Shahr, or the beautiful city, on account of its delightful situation, standing on the declivity of the mountain Tmolus, and having a most pleasant prospect on the plains beneath, well furnished with divers villages, and watered by the river Pactolus. It still retains the form of a city, with something of trade to invite the people to it, being the road of the Persian caravans. Here is little of antiquity remaining, besides the ruins of a church dedicated to St. John, which is now made a dunghill to receive the offals of dead beasts. However, God hath been pleased to preserve some of this place to make profession of the Christian faith, there being above two hundred houses of Christians, and four churches. Next to Smyrna, this city hath the greatest number of Christians, and Christ hath promised a more particular protection to it. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, &c., Rev 3:8.” So Bishop Newton. But Mr. Lindsay’s account given of this church two years ago, in consequence of a personal inspection, is still more favourable, thus: “Whatever may be lost of the spirit of Christianity, there is still the form of a Christian church; which, according to the promise, has been kept from the hour of temptation, &c., Rev 3:10. There are here about one thousand Christians, chiefly Greeks, who for the most part speak only Turkish. There are twenty-five places of public worship; five of which are large, regular churches: to these there is a resident bishop, with twenty inferior clergy. A copy of the modern Greek Testament was received by the bishop with great thankfulness.”
These things saith he that is holy, he that is true — Or, the Holy One, the true One; two great and glorious titles; he that hath the key of David — A master of a family has one or more keys wherewith he can open and shut all the doors of his house or palace. So had David a key, (a token of right or sovereignty,) which was afterward adjudged to Eliakim, Isa 22:22. Much more has Christ, the Son of David, the key of the spiritual city of David, the New Jerusalem; the supreme right, power, and authority, as in his own house. He openeth this to all that overcome, and none shutteth: he shutteth it against all the fearful and unbelieving, and none openeth — He hath likewise all authority and power in his church on earth, so that none can exclude from the privileges of that kingdom those whom he thinks proper to admit to the enjoyment of them; and none can bestow them upon those from whom he shall be pleased to withhold them. Likewise, when he openeth a door for the progress of his work, or the usefulness of his servants, none can shut it; and when he shutteth against whatever would hurt or defile, none can open. I know thy works — How exemplary they are; behold, I have set before thee an open door, &c. — I have given thee power and opportunity of spreading my gospel, which none can hinder thee from doing; for thou hast a little strength — A little courage and power; and hast kept my word — Both in judgment and practice; and hast not denied my name — Though my enemies have made many efforts to compel thee to do it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv7–12 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia…
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia - See the notes on Rev 1:20.
These things saith he that is holy - This refers undoubtedly to the Lord Jesus. The appellation holy, or the holy one, is one that befits him, and is not infrequently given to him in the New Testament, Luk 1:35; Act 2:27; Act 3:14. It is not only an appellation appropriate to the Saviour, but well adapted to be employed when he is addressing the churches. Our impression of what is said to us will often depend much on our idea of the character of him who addresses us, and solemnity and thoughtfulness always become us when we are addressed by a holy Redeemer.
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He that is true - Another characteristic of the Saviour well suited to be referred to when he addresses people. It is a characteristic often ascribed to him in the New Testament (Joh 1:9, Joh 1:14, Joh 1:17; Joh 8:40, Joh 8:45; Joh 14:6; Joh 18:37; 1Jo 5:20), and one which is eminently adapted to impress the mind with solemn thought in view of the fact that he is to pronounce on our character, and to determine our destiny.
He that hath the key of David - This expression is manifestly taken from Isa 22:22, “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder.” See the passage explained in the notes on that place. As used by Isaiah, the phrase is applied to Eliakim; and it is not to be inferred, because the language here is applied to the Lord Jesus, that originally it had any such reference. “The application of the same terms,” says Prof. Alexander on Isa 22:22, “to Peter Mat 16:19, and to Christ himself Rev 3:7, does not prove that they here refer to either, or that Eliakim was a type of Christ, but merely that the same words admit of different applications.” The language is what properly denotes authority or control - as when one has the key of a house, and has unlimited access to it; and the meaning here is, that as David is represented as the king of Israel residing in a palace, so he who had the key to that palace had regal authority.
He that openeth, and no man shutteth, ... - He has free and unrestrained access to the house; the power of admitting anyone, or of excluding anyone. Applied here to the Saviour, as king in Zion, this means that in his kingdom he has the absolute control in regard to tire admission or exclusion of anyone. He can prescribe the terms; he can invite whom he chooses; he can exclude those whom he judges should not be admitted. A reference to this absolute control was every way proper when he was addressing a church, and is every way proper for us to reflect on when we think of the subject of our personal salvation.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv7–8 To the Angel of the church of Philadelphia. There…
To the Angel of the church of Philadelphia. There were several towns of this name; here is understood that which was near Sardis, in Lydia. Here is no more than an admonition to persevere, to hold that which thou hast. Christ takes the title of the Holy One, and True One, who hath the key of David; i.e. being the son of David, and the promised Messias, hath the supreme power in the Church: who opens the gate of salvation, and no one shuts it against his elect. (Witham) --- By the key in this place may be understood either the key of the Church, or of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus Christ has both, he opens and shuts the heavens by his infinite power. But in the Church on earth he has entrusted this key (his power) to his apostles and ministers; whatever is bound or loosened by them is ratified by him in the kingdom of his glory. (Calmet) --- I have set before thee a door open, by giving thee graces to save thee, which no one shall be able to hinder, because thou hast of thyself little power or strength,[2] and hast kept my word, and not denied the faith. (Witham) --- I have sent you to preach, and have given my blessing to your labours. You shall, notwithstanding all your adversaries, eventually succeed. St. Paul makes use of the same manner of expression (1 Corinthians xvi.) I see a great door is open to me, and at the same time many adversaries; and again, 2 Corinthians ii. and Colossians iv. On account of your little strength, your want of talents, eloquence, supernatural gifts, &c. I have not exposed you to great trial. Thus does the Almighty always proportion the trials he sends, and the temptations he permits in his servants, to the graces and strength he has given them. --- Those who were neither Jews nor Christians, shall come and abjure at your feet their former errors, and shall evidently perceive that you are strengthened by me. (Calmet) --- Christ also promises that he will make the false abandoned Jews subject to the bishop and his Church, and to won them to be the beloved and chosen people. God promises to preserve them in the hour or time of temptation and persecutions, which should happen to all the inhabitants of the earth. (Witham) --- He here advertises him of the persecution which was about to take place, and by which he would try the fidelity of his servants. In ver. 12. he relates the triumph and everlasting beatitude of the martyrs. --- He that overcomes, I will make him a pillar, &c. so as to stand firm against his enemies, and to be secure of his endless happiness. --- I will write upon him the name of my God, a subscribed citizen of the celestial Jerusalem, with the new name of Jesus, the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind. He alludes to the custom of writing names upon pillars, palaces, &c. --- From the words my God, the Socinians pretend that Christ is not the true God, as we may find in the disputes which Servetus had with Calvin. Calvin answered the Socinians, as all Catholics do, that Christ was both God and man: this and divers things were spoken of Christ as he was a man, but that many things in the Scriptures could not apply to him, unless he was also truly God. And by such places is clearly confuted the blasphemy and error of the Arians and Socinians. The argument concludes in the principles of the Catholics, who allow the authority of the Church in expounding the sense of the Scriptures; but the Calvinists, and all other pretended reformers, having shaken off that authority, and having allowed that the holy Scriptures are to be interpreted according to every man’s private judgment or spirit, this set Calvin and Servetus, every Calvinist and Socinians, upon the same level. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv7–13 Philadelphia--in Lydia, twenty-eight miles southeast of Sardis, built by…
Philadelphia--in Lydia, twenty-eight miles southeast of Sardis, built by Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamos, who died A.D. 138. It was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in the reign of Tiberius [TACITUS, Annals, 2.47]. The connection of this Church with Jews there causes the address to it to have an Old Testament coloring in the images employed. It and Smyrna alone of the seven receive unmixed praise.
he that is holy--as in the Old Testament, "the Holy One of Israel." Thus Jesus and the God of the Old Testament are one. None but God is absolutely holy (Greek, "hagios," separate from evil and perfectly hating it). In contrast to "the synagogue of Satan" (Rev 3:9).
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true--Greek, "alethinos": "VERY God," as distinguished from the false gods and from all those who say that they are what they are not (Rev 3:9): real, genuine. Furthermore, He perfectly realizes all that is involved in the names, GOD, Light (Joh 1:9; Jo1 2:8), Bread (Joh 6:32), the Vine (Joh 15:1); as distinguished from all typical, partial, and imperfect realizations of the idea. His nature answers to His name (Joh 17:3; Th1 1:9). The Greek, "alethes," on the other hand, is "truth-speaking," "truth-loving" (Joh 3:33; Tit 1:2).
he that hath the key of David--the antitype of Eliakim, to whom the "key," the emblem of authority "over the house of David," was transferred from Shebna, who was removed from the office of chamberlain or treasurer, as unworthy of it. Christ, the Heir of the throne of David, shall supplant all the less worthy stewards who have abused their trust in God's spiritual house, and "shall reign over the house of Jacob," literal and spiritual (Luk 1:32-33), "for ever," "as a Son over His own house" (Heb 3:2-6). It rests with Christ to open or shut the heavenly palace, deciding who is, and who is not, to be admitted: as He also opens, or shuts, the prison, having the keys of hell (the grave) and death (Rev 1:18). The power of the keys was given to Peter and the other apostles, only when, and in so far as, Christ made him and them infallible. Whatever degrees of this power may have been committed to ministers, the supreme power belongs to Christ alone. Thus Peter rightly opened the Gospel door to the Gentiles (Acts 10:1-48; Act 11:17-18; especially Act 14:27, end). But he wrongly tried to shut the door in part again (Gal 2:11-18). Eliakim had "the key of the house of David laid upon his shoulder": Christ, as the antitypical David, Himself has the key of the supreme "government upon His shoulder." His attribute here, as in the former addresses, accords with His promise. Though "the synagogue of Satan," false "Jews" (Rev 3:9) try to "shut" the "door" which I "set open before thee"; "no man can shut it" (Rev 3:8).
shutteth--So Vulgate and Syriac Versions read. But the four oldest manuscripts read, "shall shut"; so Coptic Version and ORIGEN.
and no man openeth--Two oldest manuscripts, B, Aleph, Coptic Version, and ORIGEN read, "shall open." Two oldest manuscripts, A, C, and Vulgate Version support English Version reading.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv7–12 VI. PHILADELPHIA—The faithful and blameless Church, Rev_3:7-13.
VI. PHILADELPHIA—The faithful and blameless Church, Rev_3:7-13.
7. Philadelphia—On his apostolic journey our St. John, Starting from Sardis, would travel a narrow strip—between the Cogamus river, a branch of the Hermus on his left, and the range of Tmolus mountains on the right—thirty miles in length. He would find the city ensconced like a nest in a narrow nook between river and mountain. See map.
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Though one of the smallest and most modern of the seven, Philadelphia has a vividly interesting history. Its name, signifying brotherly-love, was a memento of the fraternal affection which existed between its founder, Attalus II., King of Pergamos, and his brother. It was daringly built in the katakekaumene, or burnt district, and so liable to perpetual earthquakes. It was nevertheless persistently inhabited, on account, probably, of the profitableness of its grapes and wines, which its soil richly produced. The American missionary Brewer, (from whose volume several of our cuts are derived,) in our time found it, however, fertile in wheat, opium, madder, and cotton. When the Persian Xerxes marched with his army of millions into Western Asia, for the conquest of Greece, he came to Philadelphia on his route. As the city stood at the head of the two valleys of the Hermus and the Meander, he could take either route. He here found a “plane tree” of such beauty, that he presented it with golden ornaments, and passed on by the northern route, which led to Sardis. The plane tree is still a flourishing product of this soil, and Svoboda tells us that the natives still make the sort of confection of honey, tamarisk, and wheat, which charmed the palate of Xerxes. In the reign of Tiberius all of Asia Minor suffered from tremendous earthquakes, and Tacitus tells us that Philadelphia was very nearly destroyed. When, in 1390, the Ottoman conqueror Bajazet, surnamed the Thunderer, overran Western Asia, this people, who lived over the slumbering earthquake, bravely met the assaults of the Thunderer. They were the last to capitulate to his arms. The present population of Philadelphia is fifteen thousand, one third Greeks. How, in modern times, these Greeks celebrate Christ and the resurrection, Brewer thus informs us: “It being Easter Sunday with the Greeks, we were aroused soon after midnight to witness, in the principal church, the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Here, as in other places, persons pass about the town at the appointed hour of night, and knock loudly at the door of every Christian dwelling. The usual round of ceremonies was gone through with, such as chanting of prayers, reading portions of Scripture, burning incense, lighting tapers and candles—some of the size of small trees—and moving in procession about the church and churchyard until the day dawned. Then the assembly broke up exclaiming, “Christ has risen! Christ has risen!” Afterward, during the day—and the practice is continued more or less for forty days—friends and strangers, in place of the customary forms of salutation, use the set Bible phrases, “Christ has risen!” “He has risen indeed!”
He that is holy—Not the usual New Testament word for holy, ‘αγιος, but οσιος; and so not so much implying the sanctified life as the original absolute rightness of the divine Being.
He that is true—True in himself, that is, genuine, and true in all his declarations, that is, veracious. As the revealer of God, the source of all revelation, he is both genuine and true.
Hath the key of David—As David was the king—having both the sceptre and the key of old Jerusalem—so this Son of David has the sceptre and the key of the New Jerusalem. And as David’s son he is heir of the theocracy; of the kingdom of God expanding from the old theocracy into a heavenly theocracy, and stretching into eternity.
Openeth, and no man shutteth—A quotation and exaltation of Isa_22:22, “The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” And so this King of the New Jerusalem alone has original control of the keys of the New Jerusalem, to admit or exclude according to his divine will. And so much more has he the key of this earthly kingdom of grace; and all true exercise of the power of the keys by human beings is but an acting as his agents.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv7–12 The Church in Philadelphia. 7–13
The Church in Philadelphia. 7–13
7. he that is holy, he that is true] The same epithets are combined in Rev_6:10, where apparently they belong rather to the Father than the Son. In Mar_1:24, Joh_6:69 (according to the true reading), Christ is called “the Holy One of God,” and God’s “Holy Servant” (according to the probable rendering) in Act_4:27; Act_4:30 : also “the faithful and true” in this book, inf. Rev_3:14 and Rev_19:11. “The Holy One” is used absolutely as a name of God in Job_6:10; Isa_40:25; Hab_3:3, and perhaps Hos_11:9, besides the phrase so frequent in Isaiah, and used by several other prophets, “the Holy One of Israel:” and we have “the true God,” as opposed to idols, in 2Ch_15:3; Psa_31:5, (6); Jer_10:10; 1Th_1:9; 1Jn_5:20, and, without such opposition being specially marked, in Isa_65:16; Joh_17:3. Here the sense seems to be “He Who is the Holy One of God,” as opposed to those in Rev_3:9, who say that they are of the Holy people and are not.
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he that hath the key of David] From Isa_22:22. There the meaning is, that Eliakim shall be made ruler of the house of David, i.e. chief minister of the kingdom (2Ki_18:18 &c.), and that his will shall be final in all business of the kingdom. Here then in like manner Christ is described as Chief Minister in the Kingdom of God. But the promise in the next verse suggests that the image is not used in this general sense only: Christ says that He has the power of admitting to, or excluding from His Church, the power which He delegates (St Mat_16:19) to the rulers in His Church, but which none, not even they, can really exercise in opposition to His will.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv7–12 (7) Philadelphia.—The town of Philadelphia derived its name from…
(7) Philadelphia.—The town of Philadelphia derived its name from Attalus Philadelphus, the king of Pergamos, who died B.C. 138. It was situated on the slopes of Mount Tmolus, in the midst of a district the soil of which was favourable to the cultivation of the vine. On the coins of the town are to be found the head of Bacchus. The town was built on high ground—upwards of 900 feet above the sea-level. The whole region, however, was volcanic, and few cities suffered more from earthquakes; the frequent recurrence of these considerably reduced the population. But its favourable situation and fertile soil preserved it from entire desertion. And of all the seven churches, it had the longest life as a Christian city. “Philadelphia alone has been saved . . .; among the Greek colonies and churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect, a column in a scene of ruins.” Such is the language of Gibbon, referring to its later history. As a light in the world at the present day, we must look to no Eastern Philadelphia; the hand of William Penn kindled a light in its great namesake of the West.
These things saith he that is holy. . . .—Better, These things saith the Holy, the True, He that hath the key of David, that openeth, and no man shall shut, and He shutteth, and no one shall open.
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Holy.—The main idea of the word here used is that of consecration. It is used of what is set apart to God; it does not assert the possession of personal holiness, but it implies it as a duty. It becomes, therefore, pre-eminently appropriate to Him who was not only consecrate, but holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Prof. Plumptre thinks there may be a reference here to the confession made by St. Peter (Joh_6:69), where the right reading is, “Thou art the Christ, the holy One of God.”
True.—A favourite word with St. John, and expressing more than the opposite of “false.” It implies that which is perfect in contrast with the imperfect; the reality in contrast with the shadow; the antitype in contrast with the type; the ideal which is the only real in contrast with the real which is only ideal;—
“The flower upon the spiritual side,
Substantial, archetypal, all aglow
With blossoming causes”
in contrast with the flower that fadeth here. Christ, then, in calling Himself the True, declares that “all titles and names given to Him are realised in Him; the idea and the fact in Him are, what they can never be in any other, absolutely commensurate” (Trench). In some MSS. the order of these words, “the Holy,” “the True,” is inverted.
The key of David.—Some early commentators saw in this key the key of knowledge which the scribes had taken away (Luk_11:52), and understood this expression here as implying that Christ alone could unloose the seals of Scripture, and reveal its hidden truth to men. In support of this they referred to Rev_5:7-9. The fault of the interpretation is that it is too limited; it is only a corner of the full meaning. He who is “the True” alone can unlock the hidden treasures of truth. But the use of the word “David,” and the obvious derivation of the latter part of this verse from Isa_22:22, points to a wider meaning. Jesus Christ is the true Steward of the house of David. (Comp. Heb_3:2; Heb_3:5-6.) The faulty, self-seeking stewards, the Shebnas of Jerusalem and Philadelphia, vainly claimed a right of exclusion from synagogue or church, where Jesus, the God-fixed nail in the sure place, upon which the bundle of earth’s sorrows and sins might securely be suspended (Isa_22:23-25), the Eliakim of a greater Zion, had the key of the sacred and royal house. In this, the chamber of truth was one treasure, as the chamber of holiness, the chamber of rest, the chamber of spiritual privileges, were others. In other words, though in a sense the keys of spiritual advantages are in the hands of His servants, “He still retains the highest administration of them in His own hands.” The power of the keys entrusted to Apostles gave them no right to alter the “essentials of the gospel, or the fundamental principles of morality.” The absolution given by them can only be conditional, unless the giver of it possesses the infallible discerning of spirits. The reader of Dante will remember how the cases of Guido di Montefeltro (Inf. xxvii.) and of his son Buonconte (Purg. v.) illustrate the belief which sustained so many illustrious spirits (John Huss, Savanarola, Dante), and in times of unjust oppression, tyrannical ecclesiasticism, and which this passage sanctions, that
“Nought but repentance ever can absolve;
And that though sins be horrible; yet so wide arms
Hath goodness infinite, that it receives
All who turn to it.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv7–13 Vers. 7-13. The epistle to the Church at Philadelphia.…
Vers. 7-13. The epistle to the Church at Philadelphia. The circuit continues in the same direction. Philadelphia lies about thirty miles southeast of Sardis, on the road to Laodicea. It is said to owe its name to Attalus Philadelphus, King of Pergamum, B.C. 159-138. But it is by no means certain that he was the founder. A trustworthy tradition as to its Egyptian origin points to Ptolemy Philadelphus, who had estates in Asia Minor (Theocr., 17:88). Lying at the western edge of a district whose highly volcanic character earned it the name of Phrygia Catacecaumene, Philadelphia was constantly suffering from earthquakes (cf. ver. 12). It was destroyed along with Sardis in the catastrophe of A.D. 17 (Tac., "Ann.," 2:47). But the advantages of its position, commanding the way to the pass between the Hermus valley and the Maeander valley, and the richness of its vine produce (Virgil, "Georg.," 2:98), seem to have induced the inhabitants to cling to the site. The coins of Philadelphia often have the head either of Bacchus or a Bacchante on one side; and it is a known fact that volcanic soil is specially favourable to vine growing. Yet in Roman times it was not equal to Ephesus or even Laodicea; and for law courts its citizens had to go to Sardis. Nevertheless, it has outlived all these three, and still continues on the same site, and perhaps within the same walls, as of old. At the close of the fourteenth century it was the last Byzantine city to surrender to the Turks, and, when it did succumb, made better terms than any of the others. To this day it retains the privilege of free Christian worship, with the use of bells for service, and processions in public a thing allowed by the Turks in no other inland city of Asia Minor. It has a bishop and a dozen churches, and it is said that about a third of its fifteen thousand inhabitants are Christian. Its modern Turkish name is Allah Shehr, "the city of God," or, as others write and render it, Ala Shehr, "the striped city." In any case the coincidence with "the name of the city of my God" (ver. 12) is purely accidental. (For an eloquent account of Philadelphia, see Gibbon, "Decline and Fall," Revelation 64).
It is doubtful whether there are any local allusions in the epistle; but some have fancied that "thou hast a little power" (ver. 8) and "a pillar in the temple" (ver. 12) are such (see notes in each place). The name of "Little Athens," which Philadelphia sometimes bore, on account of its numerous temples and festivals, (Act_17:16, Act_17:22) shows that the little Christian community would have to contend with a specially vigorous form of heathenism. It had also to contend with a colony of hostile Jews, which was no doubt largely augmented after the destruction of Jerusalem, when fugitive Jews came to "worship before the feet" of the Philadelphian Church (ver. 9). Hence the epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians treats of Judaism as one of their chief dangers (ch. 6, 8, 9). There were men among them who questioned the authority of Gospels and Epistles, and admitted only the Old Testament Scriptures (ta arceia) as binding. Some had tried to lead even Ignatius himself astray (Re 7). Altogether his epistle gives a less happy picture of the Philadelphians than that which we have here, where (as in the epistle to the Church at Smyrna) the Philadelphian Church receives unmixed praise. Whether the large proportion of Old Testament language and imagery which is found in this epistle has any connexion with the Jewish colony in Philadelphia is uncertain. Perhaps most of the Christians had been originally Jews.
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He that is holy, he that is true. It is doubtful which of these two clauses should precede: authorities are somewhat evenly balanced. Christ, the Speaker, here claims to be "the Holy One" (a agiov), and therefore God. (Rev_6:10; comp. Rev_4:8 Joh_17:11) In the Old Testament "the Holy One" is a frequent name of God, especially in Isa_1:4 Isa_5:19, 24 10:7, 20 12:6, etc.; Job_6:10 Jer 1 Jer 29 51:5 Eze_39:7 Hos_11:9 Hab_3:3, etc. The word does not occur in Homer or Hesiod, nor in the Greek tragedians, but is very frequent in the LXX and the New Testament. Its radical meaning is separation. The two epithets "holy" and "true" must not be merged in one as "the truly holy." The "True One" has a very distinct meaning of its own. Note that the adjective used is alhyinov , not alhyhv . Alhyhv , verax, is "true" as opposed to "lying;" alhyinov , verus, is "true" as opposed to "spurious," "unreal," "imperfect." Christ is "the True One" as opposed to the false gods of the heathen; they are spurious gods. Both adjectives, and especially alhyinov , are characteristic of St. John. The latter serves to bind together Gospel, Epistle, and Apocalypse. It occurs nine times in the Gospel, four times in the First Epistle, and ten times in the Apocalypse; twenty-three times in all; in the rest of the New Testament only five times. It is the word used of the true Light"; (Joh_1:9 1Jn_2:8) the true Bread", (Joh_6:32) and "the true Vine". (Joh_15:1) Applied to God, we find it in Joh_7:29 Joh_17:3 1Jn_5:20. He that hath the key of David. Observe that none of these titles come from the opening vision in Revelation 1, although by no means all the material there found (Rev_1:13-16) has been already used. The source of the present appellation is obviously Isa_22:20-22; but it is worth noting that Isa_22:20 has much that is parallel to the unused material in Rev_1:18; so that the opening vision would seem to direct us, as this passage certainly does, to Eliakim as a type of Christ. As Trench observes, Isaiah foretells the promotion of Eliakim "with an emphasis and fulness" which would surprise us if we did not see in it not merely the description of "a revolution in the royal palace" of Judah, but "the type of something immeasurably greater." Shebna, whose name shows him to have been a foreigner, had misused his dignity and power as steward or controller of the royal house an office analogous to that held by Joseph under Pharaoh and by our prime minister. For this he was degraded to the inferior office of royal scribe or secretary, (Isa_36:3 Isa_37:2) while Eliakim was made "mayor of the palace" in his room. The pastoforion of the LXX and praepositus templi of the Vulgate would lead us to suppose that Eliakim"s office was sacerdotal; but this is certainly a mistake. Luther"s Hofmeister is much nearer the mark. A key would not be an appropriate symbol of a priestly office. In possessing "the key of the house of David," Eliakim had control over the house of David. Therefore in this passage Christ claims the control of that of which the house of David was a type. He is Regent in the kingdom of God. He that openeth, and none shall shut, and shutteth, and none openeth.
The various readings here are numerous, but not of much moment: "shall shut" is much better attested than "shutteth" in the first half "The keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Mat_16:19) are not to be confounded with "the key of knowledge". (Luk_11:52) They belong to Christ, but have been committed to his Church, but not unreservedly. "He still retains the highest administration in his own hands" (Trench): and if the Church errs in binding or loosing, he cancels the judgment. The Church may open where Christ will shut, and shut where Christ will open. He alone openeth so that none shall strut, and shutteth so that none can open.
Vers. 7-13. Philadelphias: the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus over the house of God.
Although we know less of the Church at Philadelphia than of that at Smyrna, yet we think of it with almost equal feelings or affectionate regard. It is one of the two out of seven for which our Lord has no rebuke. He has for it only words of spur and cheer. It is weak, with "little strength." It is trusty. It has kept the faith. It has boldness, for it has "not denied Christ"s Name." Demands had been made on its powers of endurance; but it had still kept the word of God"s patience. It was vexed by some who boasted that they were Jews, and yet were not. True Judaism involved an acceptance of the claims of Jesus. The Church at Philadelphia understood this, and swerved not from its loyalty to the Saviour. Hence there is for it a series of inspiring exhortations and promises, crowned by one of the noblest pledges to the victor over ill. The main stress of our present homily will lie in an answer to the inquiry In what aspect is such a Church invited to look at and think of the Lord Jesus Christ? The reply to this, with all that is involved thereby, will "open up" that part of this letter which seems chiefly to require elucidation (cf. ver. 7). Our topic is The sovereignty of the Lord Jesus over the house of God. We will inquire
I WHAT IS THE HOUSE OF DAVID? Our Lord declares himself as "he that hath the keys of David". (cf. 2Ki_18:18, 2Ki_18:26, 37Isa_22:15-22) Shebna had held the high office of being over the house of David, i.e. prefect of the palace. (for a similar expression and its meaning, see Gen_41:40) Shebna, for his pride, luxury, and tyranny, was deposed, and Eliakim was appointed in his place. Isaiah speaks (Isa_22:22) of the authority which would he entrusted to him. The words uttered respecting Eliakim are here quoted and applied to our Lord Jesus Christ, as being over the house of David, and being entrusted with authority there. So that, as that which was said of Eliakim is true in its highest sense of the Lord Jesus, we can see in Eliakim a type of Christ. Eliakim was over the house of David in the earthly sphere; Christ is over the house of David in the spiritual sphere. Still, all is not yet quite clear. For if Eliakim is a type of Christ, as being over the house of David, so also was David himself, over whose house Eliakim was set, a much more striking type of Christ. Are we not hereby involved in some confusion of thought? By no means. The words in Heb_3:6 make the whole matter clear: "Christ, as a Son over his own house." So that the Lord Jesus combines in his own Person the antitype of both Eliakim and David. He is the Eliakim who is over the house. He is the David whose is the house. Let us now compare Isa_9:6 Mat_28:18 Rev_22:16. We may now go a step further, and say By as much as Christ is greater than David, by so much is his house greater than the house of David. The administration of the entire kingdom of God is put into his hands the kingdom of nature, the kingdom of grace, and the kingdom of glory. The first is his as the everlasting Son of the Father; the second is his as the Priest upon his throne; the third will be his till he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all. Now, the house of David is that part of Christ"s kingdom over which, as Son and Lord of David, he now rules as the Head. This is Christ"s own house. He died that he might acquire it; he lives that he may rule it. It is composed of those on earth who are Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile, and of those gone from earth, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Let us now inquire
II WHAT IS THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST OVER THIS HOUSE? "He that hath the key of David," etc. The "key" is the symbol of authority, the token of possession. The authority of the Lord Jesus is absolute; he "openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth." Regarding the "house" as "the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ," observe:
1. It is only by Christ that any one is admitted to the house, i.e. to the Church. There is, indeed, an external, visible organization; there is also an inner and invisible realm of saved souls. The latter alone is the Church properly so called; in the former, "They are not all Israel that are of Israel." We cannot expect absolute purity in the most saintly group. There may be some Jonah in every ship, some Achan in every camp, some Judas in every Church. Church rules and regulations as to purity of fellowship are laid down clearly in the Word of God; yet, even at the best, it is but an approximation thereto that we are able to attain. Men may be received into a visible Church by human agency, but into the invisible by Christ alone. The law is not, "In such and such a Church, in Christ;" but, "Whosoever is in Christ is in the Church by a right which none may deny, and which none ought to dispute.
2. Christ furnishes his members with such gifts and graces as are needed for service in the Church. (Cf. Eph_4:7-13 Rom_12:6-8 1Co_12:4-11 1Pe_4:10, 1Pe_4:11) He provides workers for the Church. (1Co_3:10, 1Co_3:22)
3. Christ opens up the spheres in which his people may do service. "I have set before thee an open door". (see 2Co_2:12 1Co_16:9 Act_16:9, 10 18:9-11 23:11)
4. Christ regards his servants as responsible to him alone. (Mat_25:14-30 Rom_14:10-12 1Co_4:1-5) He expects them to be absolutely at his bidding. (Luk_14:33) He requires fidelity. (Luk_16:10 1Co_4:2 Rev_2:10)
5. He appoints the discipline which is to be administered in the Church on earth to its unworthy members. He has given to the Christian priesthood the power of binding and loosing in his name, and no Church can trifle with this power except at its peril. (see 1Co 5 Mat_16:19 Mat_18:17-20 1Ti_1:19, 1Ti_1:20)
6. He appoints their reward here and hereafter. There are four principles on which he will bestow them: they will be proportionate; there will be both grace and equity in their bestowal; they will be granted to every one; and will be love"s own recompense of love"s acts even in its slightest services. (cf. Mat_5:19 Mat 25:19:27-20:16)
7. When his servants depart hence he still has the sole charge of them. He never lets them slip out of his hands; (Rev_1:18 Mat_16:18 (Revised Version) Rom_14:8 1Th_5:10) After death the believer is still in Christo".
8. At his manifestation in glory he will manifest his saints too. (Col_3:4) Then the supreme concern of each will be to be well pleasing to him. (2Co_5:9) Thus from beginning to end the authority and control of the Lord Jesus over the house of God is entire and complete.
III WHAT ARE THE MORAL ATTRIBUTES HERE NAMED, THE POSSESSION OF WHICH FITS OUR LORD FOR AN OFFICE SO SUBLIME.
1. He that is holy. The Holy One, separate from evil, with perfect hatred of it. Then he is One who will be very jealous of the honour of his house. Holiness is the law of the house; if it be lacking, judgment will begin at the house of God. (cf. Isa_4:3)
2. He that is true (o alhyinov , not o alhyhv). Not "true" in distinction from being untrue; but the True One, in distinction from false assorters of supremacy;
a. the true, in distinction from the wrong ideal;
b. the true, as perfectly answering to the perfect ideal, as contrasted with all partial and imperfect realizations of it.
The perfect embodiment of the True and Living One is he. Where else could the key of David he so well entrusted? Only his hand can safely hold it. Well may we adopt the words of Doddridge"Worthy thy hand to hold the keys, Guided by wisdom and by love; Worthy to rule o"er mortal life, In worlds below and worlds above.
If the key of the house of David had been in less worthy hands, that house would long ago have fallen to pieces. Therefore
Note:
1. How should we glory in the sway over the house of God being in Christ"s hands, and nowhere but there!
2. Let every Church recognize this Headship of Christ alone, and wherever he "opens a door" of usefulness, go in at once.
3. Let every individual submit himself humbly to Christ"s disposal, to be in everything and at every step directed and controlled by him. Ever should our prayer be, "Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?" It is only thus that our life can have before it an intelligible and right end, in which we are sure to succeed. When "for us to live is Christ," then only may we be sure that "in nothing we shall be ashamed." Finally, let us ever remember the responsibility which attaches to us for observing when Christ sets before us an open door. It is quite true that no man can shut it, but it is also true that, if we fail to go in, the door may be closed again, and then no man can open it; but our opportunity, once missed, will have been missed for ever. Churches and men alike that fail to embrace opportunities of greater power and usefulness, have sunk back to a lower position than before; they do, they will, they must. Either to grow or to shrink is the alternative before us all. The law applies everywhere: "To him that hath shall more be given; to him that bath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath." He that is faithful in the few things is the one whom his Lord will make ruler over the many things, and who will enter into the joy of his Lord.
Vers. 7-13. Letter to the Church at Philadelphia.
If asked to sum up in a word the main lesson of this letter, I would quote the saying of our Lord recorded by St. Luke, "Fear not, little flock." Such is the effect of a right reading of this most precious epistle. It is a heart-cheering word to all such Churches, and to every one of like character. For Philadelphia was
I LITTLE. "Thou hast a little strength" (ver. 8), or rather, "Thou hast small power." It refers not to her spiritual strength, for that was not small, but perfected in her weakness. She was mighty through God who upheld and sustained her. Hence the expression is to be regarded as referring, probably, to her membership as but few in number, to her wealth as but very small, to her knowledge and gifts as being but slender, to great and distinguished men amongst her as being very rare, to her social position as being quite humble. Hence she was small in human esteem, one of those "weak things," which, however, God often chooses wherewith to accomplish his own purposes. And many a Church, beloved of the Lord, is like Philadelphia, having only "a little strength." But also she was
II MUCH TRIED. Looking at this letter, we can gather what some of these trials were. It seems that:
1. Their place amongst the people of God was denied. We gather this from what is said as to the assertion of the Jews, who, as at Galatia and everywhere else, affirmed that they only, the descendants of Abraham, were the Israel of God: none else had part or lot therein. In ver. 9 emphasis is to be laid on the word "they" in the sentence, "which say they are Jews." St. Paul was perpetually fighting against this exclusiveness, and was for ever teaching that in Christ Jesus there was "neither Jew nor Greek." But all the same, it caused considerable uneasiness amongst the early Gentile believers. There was much to be urged out of the Scriptures in favour of the real descendants of Abraham, especially if they were also "as touching the Law blameless." They seemed to many as a privileged order, a spiritual aristocracy, admission into whose circle was indeed to be desired. Hence so many Gentiles submitted to the rite of circumcision (cf. Epistle to the Galatians, passim). And the taunts of the Jews at Philadelphia against the Christians, as being not really God"s people at all, was one form of the trials they were called upon to bear. And still there is many a believer, excommunicated by man, but not at all so by God; denied his place in earthly Churches, though it be abundantly his in the Church of the Firstborn. Catholics have denounced Protestants, and Protestants one another, and both have retorted, and all have been wrong, and sinful in being wrong, whenever those whom they have denounced have shown that they did unfeignedly trust and love and obey Christ the Lord. The cry, "The Church of the Lord, the Church of the Lord are we!" is often raised by those who have no right to it, and against those who have. Thus was it at Sardis.
2. They had to encounter active opposition. Endeavours seem to have been made to shut the door of usefulness which the Lord had opened for them. His emphatic declaration that none should shut that door implies that there had been those who had tried to do so. And how often since then have dominant and cruel Churches made the same attempt in regard to communities they did not like! Witness the persecutions of Vaudois and Waldenses in Switzerland, of Hussites and others in Bohemia, of Lollards, Protestants, and Puritans in England, of Covenanters in Scotland, and of Catholics in Ireland, all has been, with more or less of difference, the repetition of what was done at Philadelphia in the days of St. John. And there appears to have been:
3. Attempts to make them apostatize. The meaning of the latter part of ver. 8 is, "Because though thou hast but little strength, nevertheless thou hast kept my word, and hast not denied my Name." Hence we gather and the tenses of the verbs used imply it also that there had been some definite attempt of the kind we have said. Like as Saul in his persecuting days forced the unhappy Christians who fell into his power "to blaspheme," so similar force had apparently been used, but, by virtue of Christ"s sustaining grace, with no effect. For, notwithstanding all, they were
III FAITHFUL. They kept Christ"s word, and did not deny his Name; and the first was the cause of the last. Their history illustrates the value of the word of Christ. They clung to it, they would not let it go, they had nothing but this, but this they had and clave to. Twice is it named: "Thou hast kept my word;" "Thou hast kept the word of my patience." And this latter and fuller form reveals a further aid to their faith which they found in Christ"s word. "For the word of Christ, as the Philadelphians knew it, was not a word calling them to easy and luxurious and applauded entrance into the kingdom, but to much tribulation first, and the kingdom with the glory of it afterwards." And not only as a word which told them at the beginning that patience would be needed, did it help them; but yet more as the word which revealed Christ their Lord as the great Example and Source and Rewarder of patience; so that, however hard to bear their trials might be, they could turn in thought to their Lord, and behold him meekly bearing his cross so much heavier than theirs; and they had seen him also sustaining his tried servants again and again, and they knew that he would do the same for them, and they believed that he would assuredly reward their patience. Yes, it was the word of his patience to which they clung, and in the strength of which, though tempted and tried sorely, they would not deny his Name. And their way must be our way, their strength ours, when we are tried. And they were
IV GREATLY BLEST. The Lord gave them large reward. To this day the suffering Smyrna and the much-tried Philadelphia alone remain of these seven Churches. Through all manner of vicissitudes the Christian faith has been upheld by them to this day. But see the recompenses spoken of here.
1. Christ confesses them, and denies their slanderers. He pronounces for them and against their foes. Such is the significance of the august and sublime title which the Lord here assumes. It tells of the names of the Lord God of Israel. He was the Holy, the True, the King of Israel, of whom David, with his great authority opening and shutting according to his will, was the Old Testament type and representative. "The key of David" means the power and authority of David, and Christ claims to be as he was, and far more, the Representative of God, and the Possessor of his authority and power. Now, it was by this great and glorious Jehovah that the Jews at Philadelphia affirmed that the Church there was disowned and denied. They said, "You have no part in this God, but we only." But in utter contradiction of this falsehood, he, the Holy One himself, comes forward, and declares that the persecuted Church had part in him, but that they, her slanderers, had not. "Ye Jews say ye are Jews, but in any real sense ye are not; ye do lie; but this my despised, yet faithful Church, I have loved her, and I, the Holy, the True, the King of Israel, do now confess her as she has confessed me." And often and often has the Lord done the like of this. "When wrong has been done to any of his servants here on earth, he will redress it in heaven, disallowing and reversing there the unrighteous decrees of earth. It was in faith of this that Huss, when the greatest council which Christendom had seen for one thousand years delivered his soul to Satan, did himself confidently commend it to the Lord Jesus Christ; and many a faithful confessor that at Rome or Madrid has walked to the stake, his yellow san benito all painted over with devils, in token of those with whom his portion should be, has never doubted that his lot should be with him who retains in his own hands the key of David, who thus could open for him, though all who visibly represented here the Church had shut him out, with extreme malediction, at once from the Church militant here and the Church triumphant in heaven." And the grim cells of Newgate, and the bare bleak hedgerows of our own land, have often been the scenes of similar revelations to God"s persecuted ones. God has taken their side, and pronounced for them as he did for the Church at Philadelphia.
2. Their Lord makes them abundantly useful. "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." His Name declared his power to do this, and here he affirms that he has exercised that power on their behalf. By the "open door," usefulness, opportunity of service and of doing much good, is meant. (cf. 1Co_16:9 2Co_2:12 Act_14:27 Col_4:3) Now, this Christ declared he had done for them. Perhaps it was by giving them favour in the sight of the people, or by breaking the hold of heathenism, arousing a spirit of inquiry, raising up able teachers, giving them entrance into fresh circles. Fidelity to Christ has given to it a key that will turn the most difficult lock, and open the most closely shut door.
3. Their enemies should submit themselves. As Saul the persecutor became Paul the apostle. And again and again out of the ranks of the Church"s fiercest foes have come those who have first surrendered their hearts to her cause and then their lives to her service (cf. the conversion of Constantine and of Rome generally). In that this word was literally fulfilled.
4. They should be delivered from the hour of temptation that dread hour which was drawing near so swiftly. (cf. Ps 91) Perhaps they would be taken home first, delivered so "from the evil to come." And if not that, raised in heart, as the martyrs perpetually were, above all fear; or some wondrous deliverance should be found for them. They knew that hour was coming, and no doubt they had often shuddered at the prospect. But oh, what joy to be told by their Lord that he would deliver them!
5. The eternal recompense the crown. Their Lord was quickly coming; let them hold on but a little longer, and then this crown should be theirs. In ver. 12 this crown of recompense is more fully described:
(1) As being made "a pillar in the temple of my God," i.e. they should perpetually abide there, dwelling in the house of the Lord for ever. Now we come and go, in fact and in spirit. Not so there. "He shall go no more out." It is a curious coincidence that amongst the ruins at Philadelphia there stands to this day a solitary tall pillar; it strikes the eye of the traveller, and suggests irresistibly this glorious promise made to the believers who lived there long ago. An ancient geographer says of the place, "It is full of earthquakes, and is daily shaken, now one part, and now another suffering, so that one wonders any should have been found to build or inhabit it." Now, to the Christians, who saw daily in their city the image of their own precarious position, Christ says, "I will make him who overcomes a pillar in the temple of my God," and he shall go no more out shall not totter and fall as these stone pillars do, but shall abide stable and sure for ever.
(2) As being identified with:
(a) God. "The Name of my God" Christ will write upon him. It shall be evident that he belongs to God. "Surely this was the Son of God so spake they who had crucified the Lord: they could not help seeing the Name of God written upon him.
(b) "The city of my God." Jews had cast them out, but the God of the true "holy city" had declared it theirs, and that their true home was his own city. There are many of whom we say, "We hope they are going to heaven;" there are some of whom we say, "We are sure they are," for their identification with heaven is so complete.
(c) Christ"s own Name that aspect of Christ"s love by which the believer realizes that he is Christ"s and Christ is his. "So, gracious Saviour, on my breast, May thy dear Name be worn, A sacred ornament and guard To endless ages borne. S.C.
Vers. 7-13. (6) The epistle to the Church in Philadelphia: he Church in her fidelity rewarded.
The "holy" and "true" One the Holy One who is Truth, who has supreme power, opening and shutting at his will, and whose work none can withstand, he speaks his word of commendation and blessing and promise to his steadfast Church. The symbolical word is fidelity. The reward comprises
I THE LORD"S DISTINCT RECOGNITION OF THE CHURCH"S FIDELITY. "I know thy works." To fight in view of the sovereign, and of the observing nation a stimulus to bravery, patience, and endurance. The eye of the multitude the stimulus to many great and worthy enterprises. But the watchful eye of the Lord that is holy, he that is true is the true encouragement and sustaining stimulus to the suffering and toilsome Church in all ages. This recognition descends to the details and particulars of service.
1. "Thou hast a little power." A true estimate of the Church"s ability.
2. Faithfulness to the truth. Thou "didst keep my word.
3. Steadfastness in the hour of trial. Thou "didst not deny my Name." The reward further comprises
II THE OPENING OF ENLARGED SPHERES OF USEFULNESS. "I have set before thee an open door." Useful employment in the Lord"s service is the highest honour. The token of approbation of past service found in the call to greater works.
III THE SUBJUGATION OF THE ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH. "I will make them to come and worship at thy feet." The true reward to the Church is not found in her elevation, but in the conversion of the enemies of the truth.
IV THE TESTIMONY BEFORE THE ENEMIES OF THE DIVINE LOVE FOR THE CHURCH. Weary may be the days of the Church"s endurance, but all will be forgotten in the Lord"s gracious recognition "in the last day," when he shall "confess" them before his Father and before the holy angels confess them as his; own and acknowledge them.
V DEFENCE IN THE HOUR OF SPECIAL TRIAL. They who according to their strength serve the Lord will, in the hour of their weakness, find him to be their strong Rock of defence. "I also will keep thee from the hour of trial.
VI BEYOND LIES THE EVER-ABIDING FULNESS OF BLESSING TO HIM WHO IN FAITHFULNESS CONQUERS. Here specified.
1. The permanent abode in the eternal temple of the Lord the everlasting fellowships of heaven.
2. Recognition as the Lord"s; his Name written upon him. This distinction the highest.
3. Special personal recognition as holding the closest relation to the Redeemer. "Mine own new Name. R.G.
Vers. 7-13. The words of Christ to the Church at Philadelphia.
"And to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia," etc. On a slope of Mount Tmolus stood Philadelphia, a city of Lydia, lying between Sardis and Laodicea. Attalus Philadelphus, after whose name it was called Philadelphia, founded it B.C. 140. It was a commercial city of commanding position and considerable importance, and well fortified withal. Through its adjoining valley the celebrated Xerxes led his forces on his way to Greece. On account of the volcanic nature of its soil it became celebrated for the cultivation and the excellence of its vines. It had been visited by numerous earthquakes, and in the reign of Tiberius most of its population forsook it and fled to the fields, apprehending destruction. It survives to the present day, and is called by the Turks, Allah Shehr, "the city of God." The ruins of a church wall are still visible, and about five thousand members of the Greek Church, with a bishop and about fifteen clergymen, reside in its midst. Nowhere else is it mentioned in sacred Scripture. This wonderful letter brings under our notice a character to be adored, an energy to be coveted, and a destiny to be sought.
I A CHARACTER TO BE ADORED. This character is here exhibited as:
1. Holy. "He that is holy." No man ever appeared on this earth so entirely and unquestionably pure as Christ was. He was "separate from sinners." None of his most malignant contemporaries could convince him of sin. Judas, after the betrayal, cried our, "I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." He was, indeed, "the holy, the harmless, the undefiled" Son of God. His spotless and undoubted holiness is a most incontrovertible argument for the Divinity of his gospel.
2. True. "He that is true." He is true in the highest sense.
(1) True in sentiment. All his sympathies were in accord with eternal reality.
(2) True in speech. All his language was in exact agreement with his sentiments.
(3) True in character. No shifting from eternal right. "To this end was I born, to this end came I into the world, to bear witness to the truth." He stands in the world"s history, amidst the world"s shams, like the sun amidst the ever-shifting clouds.
3. Supreme. "He that hath the key of David." What this means I know not. It cannot mean, however, that Christ in any moral sense resembled the moral character of David. One thing, however, is clear, that David obtained terrible authority over all the resources of Israel. He had a "key" to the resources of the kingdom, and Christ has a key to the moral empire of heaven. He has supremacy of the highest kind. "He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth." "He dispenses and he withholds God"s treasures; he gives or he denies this or that talent, this or that blessing. In a yet more solemn meaning of the words, it is his to admit into and his to exclude from the eternal kingdom of glory. In spiritual and eternal things, wherever there is a door, Christ has the key of it" (Dr. Vaughan). All the doors to human usefulness, dignity, and happiness are at his disposal.
II AN ENERGY TO BE COVETED. "Thou hast a little strength power." This Church had a little power. What was it? Not physical force, not intellectual capacity, not regal rule, but moral. Force to resist the wrong and pursue the right, force to serve the Almighty and to bless mankind. In relation to this moral strength notice:
1. It is the energy of true usefulness. "Behold, I have set before thee an open door a door opened, and no man can which none can shut it: for thou hast a little strength." It is implied that a little moral strength fits a man for usefulness to some extent. Hence the door of opportunity is thrown open to him. Every man has a mission in life, but he only is qualified to enter on it who has moral strength. Alas! the millions are morally impotent, and they live and die without entering on the prosecution of their great duty in life.
2. It is the energy of loyal obedience. "And hast kept didst keep my word." This moral strength enables a man to hold on to duty, to hold on to the right with all the tenacity of life, to feel with Job, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him;" like Paul to say, "I count not my life dear unto me," etc.
3. It is the energy of true courage. "And hast not denied didst not deny my Name." "The tenses used," says Bishop Carpenter," point back to some epoch in the history of this Church when some heavy trial or persecution arose which tested the sincerity, fidelity, or Christian love of the faithful." Who can estimate the temptation which every good man has in a world of infidels, often malignant, to deny his Lord and Master? Peter yielded to it. What invincible courage is required! Courage like that which Paul had when he said, "God forbid that I should glory," etc.; and again, "Who shall separate me from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation?" etc.
4. It is the energy of moral sovereignty. "Behold, I will make them of I give of the synagogue of Satan, of them 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." Who are those spoken of as "of the synagogue of Satan"? Were they the Judaizing Christians, or persecuting Jews? Why spend time with Trench, or other critics, to start such an inquiry? No one can determine, nor does it matter; they were moral antagonists to the congregation at Philadelphia. Concerning them we are here told that the men of moral strength will bring them to their feet; they will not only subdue them, but inspire them with love. High moral power is the highest sovereignty that one man can wield over another; it subdues the heart, Political rule is but a mere worthless shadow and pretence compared with moral.
5. It is the energy of Divine approval and protection. "Because thou hast kept didst keep the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation.
III A DESTINY TO BE SOUGHT. What a distinction awaits those who possess and rightly employ this true moral strength!
1. A crown lies within their reach. "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man one take thy crown." Christ is coming to every man, and coming with speed, coming in the events of man"s history and in his exit by death. When he comes there is a "crown" for him, if he holds faithfully on to the true and the right. The allusion here is to the public games of Greece, in which the winner obtained a garland of laurels. But what is that garland to the crown here referred to? The eternal weight of glory, a "crown" which shall outshine yon permanent sun. "Be faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
2. Divine security is assured. "Him he that overcometh will I make I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more out." "The promise," says an eminent critic, "is that of a secure and permanent position in God"s heavenly temple. Philadelphia is said to have been singularly liable to earthquakes; not a building, common or sacred, but it might suddenly fall in ruins. The promise here made is that no such risks shall await the heavenly temple or those who have been built into it.
3. Sublime distinction is promised. "I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my mine own new name." "On the sides of the four marble pillars which survive as ruins of Philadelphia, inscriptions are to be found. The writing would be the name of God, the name of the heavenly Jerusalem, the new, unknown name of Christ himself. The allusion is to the golden frontlet inscribed with the name of Jehovah. He will reflect the likeness of God; and not only so, he will bear the tokens now seen in all clearness of his heavenly citizenship. And a further promise implies that in the day of the last triumph, as there will be new revealings of Christ"s power, there will be unfolded to the faithful and victorious new and higher possibilities of purity. Thus does Scripture refuse to recognize any finality which is not a beginning as well as an end a landing stage in the great law of continuity.
CONCLUSION. "I cannot," says Trench, "leave this epistle, so full of precious promises to a Church which, having little strength, had yet held fast the word of Christ"s patience, without citing a remarkable passage about it from Gibbon, in which he writes like one who almost believed that the threatening promises of God did fulfil themselves in history. " In the loss of Ephesus the Christians deplored the fall of the first angel, the extinction of the first candlestick, of the Revelation; the desolation is complete; and the Temple of Diana or the Church of Mary will equally elude the search of the curious traveller. The circus and three stately theatres of Laodicea are now peopled with wolves and foxes; Sardis is reduced to a miserable village; the God of Mahomet, without a rival or a Son, is invoked in the mosques of Thyatira and Pergamos; and the populousness of Smyrna is supported by the foreign trade of the Franks and Armenians. Philadelphia alone has been saved by prophecy or courage. At a distance from the sea, forgotten by the emperors, encompassed on all sides by the Turk, her valiant citizens defended their religion and freedom above four score years, and at length capitulated with the proudest of the Ottomans. Among the Greek colonies and Churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect a column in a scene of ruins a pleasing example that the paths of honour and safety may sometimes be the same. D.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv7, 11, 12 Philadelphia--the patient Church
Rev_3:7-13
Philadelphia.
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Philadelphia--the patient Church
Philadelphia furnishes us with the exemplar of the patient church; the exercise and training of patience is its peculiar call, and the perfection of patience is its reward. This message is one of high commendation and encouragement; although in its own consciousness, and in the regard of others, the condition of the church might seem pitiful, even deserving of rebuke. Those who have a wide experience of Christian churches and a sympathetic spirit will know how Philadelphia felt. The consciousness of their feebleness was dominant. Their resources seemed insufficient for the demand made on them. Theirs was a great occasion, and a distressing inability to meet it; overtaxed energy, urgent necessity, and poor means; it was a burden which seemed more than life could bear. Even the Lords words of encouragement, Behold, I have set before thee an open door, appeared to bring with them a special aggravation. The prospects of service were unusually attractive; so much could be done if there were only the strength to do it. Former prayers were answered; the longed-for opportunity had come; men were eager for the gospel; the way to preach was lying open; Christ Himself was calling, and at this critical hour there was paralysing inability. This last feature of the description lends a peculiar pathos to the message. It must have been hard for the church to rid itself of the sense of sin in that it was doing, could do so little. The faculty of spiritual self-tormenting, so subtle, in many persons so deep-seated, thrives in sorrowful experiences like this. The Lords message supplies the comfort the church is in need of; corrects the error of its self-judgment. The whole meaning of the message is that to bear quietly may be as Divine a call as to hope largely, or to be enthusiastic in resolve. There is a discipline of disappointment, and that discipline must be borne. We are trained for future usefulness through pains and self-questionings, and the endurance of insufficiency. In all the clauses of this message we can read the endeavour to put heart into Philadelphia; the Lord gives Himself to awaken and sustain the self-respect of His troubled people. At first sight the images appear to lack tenderness; that is only because the tenderness is veiled in images of strength. A striking illustration of this feature of the message is in the title given to the Lord with which it opens, These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and none shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth. The peculiar affliction of Philadelphia was the occurrence of favourable opportunities for doing Christs work just when the church was at the far end of its possibilities. And the Lord says, I know all about that. It is one of the ironies of life that the occasion we have longed for, and in our enthusiasm ceaselessly but fruitlessly tried to make for ourselves, may come with no effort of ours at the very time we can do nothing. This, says the Lord of Truth, is no mockery of fate; it is of the Divine appointment. I have set before thee a door opened, and it shall continue open until you are able to enter in. You will enter in sooner than you think, and when your moment of invigoration comes, your strength will not be wasted in efforts to make the conditions favourable; you shall enter at once where I have prepared the way. Even in our times of waiting, we can often do a little; and all that little tells if the Lord has been beforehand with us. There is recognition, moreover, in the message, honourable recognition, of the actual achievement of the church. The faith had been kept; Christs name had not been denied. Philadelphia ranks with Pergamum, the martyr-church. And then there is promised to Philadelphia a public vindication of its fidelity, a vindication to which even its enemies shall bear hearty witness, Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of them which say they are Jews, and they 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. They who had mocked the patience of the church in its affliction will not be able to withhold their admiration; they are drawn out of reluctant into willing acknowledgment that God had loved His suffering people. Thus does Christ encourage the patient church. As there is no trial harder than that of prolonged inactivity and wasting strength, so none has consolations loftier and more direct. The way of access to God is intended to lie all open to those so sorely tried. The Divine approval is set over against accusations of self, the taunts of the ungodly, and the ironies of life. And out of this should come a steadfastness holding fast to the end. A twofold reward is promised to Philadelphia; there is a promise for time, there is also a promise for eternity; and each is set before us as the direct result of the sore discipline through which the church has had to pass, according to those far-reaching words of James, the Lords brother, Let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.
(1) There is the temporal promise. Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee, etc. This church shall emerge from the general tribulation, having lost nothing of her virtue, with her sense of the Divine protection confirmed and justified. When the shews of things are passing away, and the strong-seeming are as children, the tried shall prove the trusty.
(2) There is also an eternal reward; and, as in some other of these messages, the eternal reward is not simply a personal blessedness, it is the high honour of being of service in the kingdom of God. He that overcometh, I will make him, etc. There is in this image a note of personal consideration, of that tenderness, veiled in strength, which marks the whole message. Just as the Lord draws from the enmity of the Jews occasion to assure Philadelphia that the most gracious promises made to Israel are hers, so He introduces a touch of local colour which reveals sympathy. The city of Philadelphia was exposed to earthquakes; its geological formation was of lava, with trap-dykes intervening, and earthquakes were common occurrences in the peoples experience. The walls were not to be trusted, but every day some mischance made them tremble and gape. The inhabitants were on the constant look-out for faults in the ground, and were always attending to their buildings. The image of an unshaken pillar would have a special meaning for men with such an experience; and the Church was to be such a pillar. Not only was there prepared for them a city of sure foundations; they were to be among the foundations. This was the destiny for which their discipline had fitted them; this was their reward. But the promise goes further; it is an inscribed pillar which is presented to our view. I will write upon him the name of my God, etc. Patience is the substruction of the godly character; on it may be reared all the graces of the heavenly life. It is a manly virtue, and needs but the touch of Christs finger to be transformed into a Divine grace. It is a social virtue, conspicuously commemorated in the city of God. It is an onward-looking virtue; our forward movements are founded on it; it has promise of the future, I will write on him My new name. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
The address to Philadelphia
I. The introduction. Philadelphia was a city not far from Sardis, founded by Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamos, a few centuries before the Christian era. Its situation was upon the side of a mountain, which had a commanding view of a fertile and extensive country. It was a place of considerable importance in the time of the apostles. It is still populous, but in a mean condition. The character which Christ assumes to this church is, He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth. It was needful that the church in Philadelphia should know that He was the Holy One, and consequently that a low degree of piety was not sufficient in His esteem. It was further needful to remember, that He was the True One, that is, the Truth, or the God of Truth, and consequently that sincerity of motive was required, as well as purity of conduct. Truth and holiness are inseparably allied. Every deviation from rectitude is a lie. The more specific aspect in which Christ appears before the church in Philadelphia is, He that hath the key of David, etc. This alludes to part of the representation of His person in the first chapter. The imagery, however, is more extended in its present application, and has a more extensive signification. He now represents Himself as having the key of the kingdom of heaven, upon the earth as well as in the invisible state.
II. The declaration. I know thy works. This is the usual commencement of these addresses. The declaration is, Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. The Christians in Philadelphia are comforted with the assurance that the design of their enemies would not be permitted to succeed; that their cause would survive; and that many from that city would continue to enter into the Redeemers fold. That there are certain places and seasons in which the way is open for the spread of gospel truth, and others in which it is closed, the history of the church and daily observation and experience abundantly prove. Nor is it less evident that this depends not upon any peculiarity of circumstances in relation either to the church or to the world, but to causes uncontrollable by human agency and design. As a general rule, indeed, where means are most used, and the prayers of the churches are most directed, the door is eventually thrown open; but occasionally all such efforts become ineffectual, and a door unexpectedly and unsolicited is opened in another direction. Sometimes a wide door is suddenly closed, and at other times a narrow door is opened wide. The prosperity which attends the preaching of the word in some places, and the discouragement in others, are not to be attributed to the different gifts and graces of men, so much as to the sovereign pleasure of Him who has the key of David, who openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth. Usefulness often depends upon a wise and prayerful observation of times and seasons, as much as upon actual labour. Many have succeeded by a readiness to discern and avail themselves of an opened door; and many, with greater energy and zeal, have failed, from striving to keep open a door which He has closed.
III. The commendation, For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name. The strength of this church was small, but it was strength of the right kind. The strength of a church does not consist in worldly wealth, or wisdom, or power, but in its fidelity to the word and profession of the name of Christ. This strength is termed little, not with an intention to censure, so much as to show what a little strength of this kind can effect against the united powers of earth and hell, and how greatly a little of such strength is prized by Him that is holy and true. Nevertheless, it may be designed by this epithet to teach us, that even such strength, under such circumstances, is small in comparison of that which from the full exercise of faith and prayer might and ought to be attained.
IV. The threatening. This is addressed, through the church, to a party which professed to be the true church, and the only objects of Divine favour. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, etc. The Jews, here referred to, opposed Judaism to Christianity. The name of Jew was far greater, in their esteem, than that of Christian.
V. The promise. This is to the whole church, Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, etc.
VI. The Admonition. Behold I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
VII. The application. A pillar is a needful as well as an ornamental part of a spacious building. It was so in the Jewish temple. It is the symbol therefore of a secure and prominent place in the temple of the new Jerusalem. It is not improbable that names were given to the pillars of the temple, and inscribed upon them. In 1Ki_7:1-51. we are told, that when Solomon set up the two main pillars of the porch, he called the name of one Jachin, and the other Boaz, both of which chiefly denoted stability. (G. Rogers.)
The words of Christ to the congregation at Philadelphia
I. A character to be adored.
1. Holy.
2. True.
3. Supreme. All the doors to human usefulness, dignity, and happiness, are at the disposal of Christ.
II. An energy to be coveted.
1. The energy of true usefulness.
2. The energy of loyal obedience.
3. The energy of true courage.
4. The energy of moral sovereignty.
5. The energy of Divine approval and protection.
III. A destiny to be sought.
1. A crown lies within their reach.
2. Divine security is assured.
3. Sublime distinction is promised. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The church small in its temporal resources, but great in its fidelity to the name of Christ
I. This church was small in size, and poor in its temporal resources.
1. Its numerical power was small.
2. Its social power was small.
3. Its financial power was small.
II. This church was faithful to the word and name of Christ.
III. This church had opened to it many opportunities of extended usefulness. These openings are:--
1. Providential.
2. Welcome.
3. Progressive and useful.
4. Largely dependent upon the moral condition of the church.
IV. This church would be honoured by the subjugation of its enemies, and by a true recognition of the Divine love concerning it.
V. This church was to be favoured with the kindly guardianship of Christ in the hour of trial.
1. Times of trial will come upon the church.
(1) The extent of the trial.
(2) The time of the trial.
(3) The design of the trial.
2. In times of trial to the church, faithful souls shall be favoured with the Divine guardianship.
(1) This safety is Divinely promised.
(2) This safety is a recompense.
(3) This safety is welcome.
3. That a church may be poor in its temporal circumstances, and yet faithful to Christ.
4. That a church may be poor in its temporal circumstances, and yet vigorous in Christian enterprise.
5. That a church, poor in its temporal circumstances, but rich in faith, will experience the guardian care of Heaven. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
True moral strength
I. Its connection with christ.
1. Christ recognises it.
2. Christ honours it.
3. Christ imparts it. Power over--
(1) Circumstances.
(2) Society.
(3) Temptation.
II. Its influence over error (verse 9). The general idea is, that false religion shall pay homage to the moral power of Christians. How is this done? The moral power of Christianity comes in contact with corrupt human nature in three forms:--
1. As a morality. It is a regulated system, and its laws commend themselves both to mans natural love of his own rights, and his natural love of his own interests.
2. As an institution. The mind must have worship, must have a dietary and a ritual of devotion. Christianity, as an institution, appeals to that.
3. As a theology. It is a system of belief, and thus appeals to mans craving after truth.
III. Its future reward.
1. Preservation.
2. Visitation.
3. Exaltation.
(1) Stability.
(2) Utility.
(3) Divinity. (Caleb Morris.)
He that hath the key of David.--
The key of David
The reference here is to Isa_22:22 : The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder. This was said of Eliakim, who was thus set up as a type of a greater than himself--a greater than David. Eliakim was royal chamberlain, keeper of the house, like Joseph in Pharaohs palace. So Christ is represented as not only being the royal possessor of the house, but He also to whom the keeping of its gate was entrusted.
I. The key of Davids house. The palace is His, and He keeps the key of it, as the Father has given it to Him. He opens and shuts according as He will.
II. The key of Davids castle. Besides his palace David had a fort on Zion, which he took from the Jebusites--a stronghold against the enemy. So has our David a strong tower and fortress, into which we run and are safe.
III. The key of davids city. Yes, the key of Jerusalem, both the earthly and the heavenly.
IV. The key of davids treasure-house. That storehouse contains all we need. The unsearchable riches are here.
V. The key of Davids banqueting-house. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
Opened doors
I. Christ is the providence of our lives. What we call chances are not chances. The opportunities that come to us are God-given opportunities. The doors that open before us He flings wide open. The doors that are shut He bars and bolts.
II. It is ours to see the open door and enter in thereat. There is a certain significance in the very word Philadelphia, lover of man. This is a true designation of those that are pre-eminently workers among their fellow men, the type represented in this Epistle. He is one who sees the door that God opens, takes the key which God hands to him, enters in at the door, and takes charge of that which God has put before him. Such an one must have two qualities: power to perceive the opportunity, and the courage to avail himself of it; and these two qualities make what we call in secular forces genius. They are the foundation of the great successes of life.
III. Our epistle adds a comforting word, a word of promise. He shall be a pillar, etc. Observe that this promise is a promise, not to the great prophets, not to the men of transcendent spiritual genius, but to the faithful Christian workers, to men who love their fellow men.
1. They that thus gave themselves to Gods service shall become pillars in Gods Church. The reward which God gives for service is more service. What Christ says here to every man is this: If you will watch for your opportunity of service, and if you will be faithful in that service, though you have but little strength and are yourself of small account, you shall be a pillar in the temple of my God, you shall be the stay and strength of men less strong than you, you shall support the Church of Christ by your faith, here and hereafter.
2. They shall go no more out. I think, for the most part, that in this life, we in the Church flow as the drops of water flow that are on the very edge of the Gulf Stream. They are brought in perpetual contact with the greater waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and by the waves and currents flowing back and forth. Now they are without, and now they are within. A few sainted souls flow, as it were, in the very centre of the Gulf Stream, and know not the cold of the battling waves without. But, for the most part, we are half in the world and half out of it, and count ourselves almost saints if we are out of the world half the time. Now, Christ says this: not to the man of prayers and visions and special experience and the monastic life, but to him who will seize the opportunity for work, and with fidelity pursue it; he shall more and more find himself taken out from all contamination and evil life, he shall find himself more and more following in a current pure and healthful, until, when the end shall come, he shall go no more out for ever.
3. And on him I will write a new name--the name of my God, the name of the New Jerusalem, my new name. How is it that God writes names in human lives? A child is plucked out of the street and taken into a Christian family, and the father adopts him as his own, and gives him his own name; and in the nursery, in the school, in the business, in the household, in all the relations of life, father and mother are writing their own name in the life of their adopted child. And so the city of the New Jerusalem writes in the heart of every man who comes into allegiance to the kingdom of Christ a new name--the name of the kingdom of Christ. (Lyman Abbott, D. D.)
God opens doors
As one who sails along the Atlantic coast, exploring, comes to an indentation in the coast, and sets his sails toward it, and finds there is no opening there, and then, pushing out to sea again, sails along a little further, and comes to a second and a third, and at last reaches the Narrows, and pushes in between Staten Island and Bay Ridge, and enters the great bay, and sees the majestic waters of the Hudson River pouring down--as such an one has entered the door which God opened for all future commerce to go back and forth upon, so we sail in life, seeking our opportunity looking here, looking there, and coming at last to an open door. We call it a good chance; but God has made it for us, and it is of His purpose that we have found it. He sets before us our open doors. (Lyman Abbott, D. D.)
An open door for little strength
Thou hast a little strength. The words do not mean that the persecution had been so oppressive as well nigh to exhaust the church, so that it had only a little strength remaining. Rather they describe the condition of the church before the terrible trial came upon it. From the very beginning its ability had been but small. Yet small as its strength was, its members had stood firm in the face of cruel threatenings and alluring promises. And lo! as the reward of their steadfastness, the Lord declares that He has set before them an open door which no man could shut. That is to say, through the gateway of their fidelity, feeble as they were, they went under the leadership of Christ to a sphere of usefulness, which was peculiarly their own, and which no mortal could prevent them from filling. Thou hast but little strength. How many in all our congregations may be truly thus addressed? Now, I know few passages of Scripture more encouraging than this. For one thing it suggests to us that the having of but little strength is not a matter of which we need to be ashamed. If one has brought it upon himself by his own iniquity, then it may be a matter of disgrace; but if it come in the allotment of Gods providence, there is no moral reproach to be associated with it. Christ did not overlook the Church of Philadelphia, weak though it was. Is it not written, A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench? He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. The having of but a little strength may even come to be, in some respects, an advantage. For it is not a little remarkable that the two churches which received unqualified condemnation are those of Smyrna and Philadelphia, neither of which was strong; while on the other hand the severest reproof is addressed to the church of Laodicea, which any outsider would have spoken of as at once prosperous and influential. Thus we are reminded that where there is much strength there is also a disposition to trust in that; while, on the other hand, where there is conscious feebleness there is felt also the necessity of making application for the might of the Most High. But pursuing this line of thought a little farther we may see from my text that the having of only a little strength does not utterly disqualify us from serving the Lord. Feeble as they were, the Philadelphians had kept Christs word, and had not denied His name. They kept their loyalty to Him even in their weakness. And,it is possible for every one of us to do the same. If my strength is small, God does not require of me that which only a larger measure of power could enable me to perform. Wherever I am, it is enough if there I keep His word; and however limited be my resources, He asks no more than that I use all these resources in advancing the honour of His name. Still further, if we proceed upon this principle, nay text affirms that a wider sphere will be ultimately opened up to us. Fidelity always rises. It is, in fact, irrepressible; for when Christ says to it, Come up higher, no one can hold it down.
I. We may learn that usefulness is not the primary object of the Christians attention. Not what we can do for others, but rather what we are in ourselves, demands our first attention, for to do good to others we must first be good ourselves. Usefulness is to character what fragrance is to the flower. But the gardener does not make the fragrance his first or greatest aim. -Nay, rather his grand design is to produce a perfect flower, for he knows if he succeed in that, the fragrance will come of itself. In the same way the Christians first concern should be with his own character. To be holy is our primary duty, and through that we pass to usefulness.
II. But if these things are so, we have, as another inference suggested from this text, an easy explanation of the great usefulness of many who are in no wise noteworthy for strength. Few things are more commonly spoken of among men than the fact that the most successful soul-winners in the ministry are not always those who are most conspicuous for intellectual ability or argumentative power. In the same way you will sometimes find a church whose members are poor in this worlds goods, and not remarkable for that culture which modern circles have so largely deified, yet famous for its good works among the masses; and when you look into the matter you find the explanation in the consecrated characters and lives of those who are associated in its fellowship. They have sought their usefulness through their holiness, and not their holiness through their usefulness; and therefore it is they have had such signal triumphs.
III. Finally, if the principles which I have tried to deduce from this text are true, we see at once how such apparently opposite things as christian contentment and Christian ambition are to be perfectly harmonized. The full discharge of duty on the lower level opens the passage up into the higher. We see that illustrated in secular departments every day. If the schoolboy wishes to gain a high position as a man, he must be content, as long as he is at school, to go through its daily round, and perform in the best possible manner its common duties. The better he is as a scholar, the more surely will the door into eminence open for him as a man. But if he trifle away his time, if he despise what he calls the drudgery of education, and so leave school without having learned those things which he was sent thither to acquire, then there will be nothing for him in after life but humiliation and failure. Doors may open to him, but he will never be ready to enter one of them. Fretting over our weakness will not make things better, but it will prevent us from bringing anything out of the little strength we have. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The open and shut door
Doors are of many kinds. Everything has its door leading into its own reserves, by which easy entrance is furnished, but, apart from which, they are inaccessible. Some ways of entrance are very narrow and restricted, others are relatively wide and open. We have each our door by which we are accessible, and also doors through which we have access to others. Human reason finds a wide door, but human sympathy and love a wider and deeper. What a door, then, Wisdom has, who is the maker and mother of us all.
I. But, though her children, we make our beginning outside the door of all things. We are born without the gate, laid very humbly at the door. We make our beginning in unconscious weakness. Behold, says the Father, I have set before thee an open door, which no man can shut. This is the birthright of our childhood. God with His universe stands at the gate of His child in the joy of expectation, waiting for the awaking of his intelligence to declare to him his blessedness of Being, and the greatness of his inheritance. Blessed is he that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my door. But, to descend to particulars, we may ask, to what is there not, at the first, an open door set before us? Only by ignorance, folly, and abuse, the door of our physical inheritance is closed against us. Gods creatures are commissioned to befriend His children. To more than a sufficiency of worldly goods there is at first an open door. The hand of the diligent maketh rich, but he that dealeth with slack hand becometh poor. No less is there a fellowship of mind which seeks to awaken our observation and inquiry, and minister to our knowledge. And the door of communication with the fountain-sources of all light and power of mind is ever widening. Earth draws nearer to and more partakes of heaven, and heaven has more of earth as generation after generation is taken up. But to what social inheritance is there not an open door? We are born into families. If as youths we go forth from our first homes, it is only that we may be prepared as men to enter upon our own homes. But other worlds than earth, and higher life than is possible under nature is open to us, through the door that is set before us. The earth is neither prison-house, palace, nor true home for man. It is not an end, only a way, a marvellous thoroughfare to the Spiritual, the Infinite, and the Eternal. God has not opened up to us the kingdom of nature for our culture by means of our senses, and the kingdom of mind for the culture of thought, affection, and will, by the exercise of our souls, and kept His own door closed against us as His children. He has not doomed us to perish in the earth, much less appointed us to wrath, but to inherit all things, and live together with Him.
II. He who made us and laid us at the open door has anticipated our prayer, and made Himself the way of access and the door of entrance. We are too accustomed to think of Christ merely as the door of mercy for our souls, but not of health for our bodies; as the door to heaven when we are dismissed from earth, but not the door to all earthly treasures; as the door of access to God, but not the door of access to men. We forget that His kingdom is an universal kingdom, and His dominion everlasting; that He exercises no divided sovereignty; that He made all things and gave them the laws of their several existence. He is also the light of all our seeing. If the eye be single, the whole body will be full of light. And if we follow the light, we shall be led into all the ways of that hidden wisdom by which all things have been constituted and are kept in being. Having His spirit we stand in kindred relation to all things and all being; our minds possess a fellowship of nature with all thought in its impersonal diffusion and in its personal centres; our hearts are moved by a sympathy with the attractions, affinities, instincts, and personal affections which proclaim the drawing together of all things; whilst in our deepest nature is awakened a sense of our Divine childhood, which seeks and finds access to God.
III. But He who is the door to all things, and also the way to Himself, does not leave us to ourselves to find the door, but offers Himself as our guide, to lead us not only into His house, but also to conduct us to the feast His wisdom and love have prepared. He stands at the door and knocks for admission. He offers Himself for our acceptance.
IV. He who so graciously offers to be our guide that He may lead us into our inheritance, also warns us, lest slighting the opportunity of our day we should come to reject His aid, despise our birthright, and not knowing the time of our visitation, the things which belong to our peace should be for ever hidden from our eyes, and the door set open before us should be for ever closed against us. (W. Pulsford, D. D.)
Thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name.--
Commendation for the steadfast
The Philadelphian church was not great, but it was good; not powerful, but faithful. The Philadelphian saints, like the limpet, which has but little strength, stuck firmly to the rock, and they are commended for it. They had little strength, but they kept Gods word, and they did not deny His name.
I. A word of praise. I do not think that we should be Be slow in praising one another. There is a general theory abroad that it is quite right to point out to a brother all his imperfections, for it will be a salutary medicine to him, and prevent his being too happy in this vale of tears. Is it supposed that we shall cheer him on to do better by always finding fault with him? What had these Philadelphian believers done that they should be praised? Thou hast kept My word, and thou hast not denied My name. What does this mean?
1. Does it not mean, first, that they had received the word of God; for ii they had not heard it and held it they could not have kept it. It was theirs; they read it and searched it and made it their own. It is no small privilege so to be taught o! the Holy Ghost as to have a taste for the gospel, a deep attachment to the truths of the covenant.
2. Next, we may be sure that they loved the word of God. They had an intense delight in it. They appreciated it. They stored it up as bees store away honey, and they were as ready to defend it as bees are to guard their stores. They meditated upon it; they sought to understand it. More, however, is meant than simply loving the word, though that is no small thing.
3. It means that they believed it, believed it most thoroughly, and so kept it. I am afraid that there are great truths in Gods word which we do not intelligently believe, but take for granted.
4. Furthermore, in addition to the inner possession and the hearty belief of the truth, we must be ready to adhere to it at all times. That, perhaps, is the central thought here--Thou hast kept My word.
5. No doubt, also, it was intended in this sense--that they had obeyed the word of God.
II. A word of prospect. You have been faithful, therefore I will use you. You have been steadfast, therefore I will employ you. For a considerable period of human life, it may be, God does not give to all of us a field of usefulness. There are some to whom He early opens the gate of usefulness, because He sees in them A spirit that will bear the temptation of success; but in many other eases it is questionable whether they could bear promotion, and therefore the Lord permits them to be tried in different ways until He sees that they are found faithful, and then He puts them into His service, and gives them an opportunity of bearing witness for Him. You have been a receiver yourself until now, and that is well and good; but, now that you have become filled, overflow to others, and let them receive of your joy. How do I know that they will accept it? say you. I know it from this fact--that, as a general rule, the man that keeps Gods word has an open door before him. Gird up your loins and enter it. Rush to the front. Victory lies before you. God means to use you. The hour needs its man quite as much as the man needs the hour. The Lord help you to keep His word, and then to go in for public testimony.
III. A word of promise. Those who keep Gods word shall themselves be kept from temptation. The Lord returns into His servants bosoms that which they render to Him: He gives keeping for keeping. This is the Lords way of delivering those who keep His word: He shuts them away from the temptation that comes upon others. He seems to say, Dear child, since you will not go beyond my written word, you shall not be tempted to go beyond it. I will cause the enemies of truth to leave you alone. You shall be offensive to them, or they to you, and you shall soon part company. Or perhaps the text may mean that ii the temptation shall come you shall be preserved from it. The deliberately formed conviction that the word of God is the standard of our faith, and the unwavering habit of referring everything to it, may not deliver us from every error, but they will save us from that which is the nurse of every error--that is, the habit of trusting to our own understanding, or relying upon the understandings of our fellow-men. I value more a solid confidence in the word of God than even the knowledge that comes out o! it; for that faith is a saving habit, a sanctifying habit, in every way a strengthening and confirming and preserving habit. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Gods Word in safe custody
I. They kept his word. Gods word, and not the traditions or commandments of men, is the only strength of the Church, and the only source of all true religion. By us, too, this word must be kept.
1. Intellectually. It is not a cunningly-devised fable, but the living word of the everlasting God, who cannot lie.
2. Affectionately. In religion we want not only glass windows that let in the light, but human hearts that are filled with love.
3. Practically. It has been well said that the life of a Christian is the best picture of the life of Christ.
II. They had not denied his name.
1. Infidelity denies Christs name.
2. Worldly-mindedness is a denial of Christs name.
3. Religious formality is a denial of Christs name.
4. Neglect of religious ordinances is also a practical denial of Christ. (W. G. Barrett.)
Perseverance in weakness
I. There are many things which render us faint and weary, sadly conscious of our little strength.
1. The power and force of temptation, the thought that I, the creature of a day, with a nature prone to sin, and pitted, before God and His angels, against Satan and the legions of evil. Oh, Christian, if at any moment the spirit of evil tempts thee, and thou art about to give way, bethink thee of the church of Philadelphia, having a little strength, yet keeping the word of her Lords patience, and not denying His name. Faint, yet pursuing! Let this be thy watchword in the fight. Rest not until the enemy has fled.
2. The Philadelphian church had kept the word of Her Lords patience. Affliction is very apt to exhaust the Christians little strength, so that he should lose patience and begin to doubt.
3. Another cause of discouragement is the coldness and unbelief of other Christians.
4. And then comes that which is so trying to all, to those who have escaped the above-mentioned temptations, to those even who have made great progress in the spiritual life--the sameness of religion. Over and over again the same work has to be done. We wanted to be quit of some, at least, of these old and troublesome tenants; but there they are still. We hoped to go on unto perfection, higher yet; and here we are still in the valleys, doing most undignified work, quite unworthy of our long experience and knowledge. It is very humiliating. But it is also uninteresting, and the want of interest discourages.
II. What are the remedies for this discouragement?
1. First, we may search out the promises of God made to His people in Holy Scripture, and therefore made to us. With this we may combine attentive meditation upon the person and character of the Lord Jesus. Most especially remarkable is His tenderness for the weak.
2. Then we must speak of the means of grace, prayer, reading Gods holy word, etc.
3. There is one thing which we must especially guard against, that is, impatience. We must not expect an immediate and perfect cure of all our spiritual weakness. We cannot, by any process, make one step between earth and heaven. Is it nothing to hold fast that we have? By and by He will come and relieve us. (W. Mitchell, M. A.)
I will make them of the synagogue of Satan … come and worship before thy feet.--
Subjugation of the enemies of the gospel
I. The debasement of the enemies of Christ and of His people foretold. Haughty, presuming, and persecuting characters must be brought down. They shall one day be compelled to do honour to those whom they have ignorantly despised and cruelly tormented. They shall be irresistibly convinced that the objects of their cruel hatred were the objects of the infinite love of the Almighty Redeemer. Jesus can easily conquer His most potent adversaries and protect His weakest friends.
II. The distinguished privilege of real Christians shall be perceived by the agents of Satan. They shall know that I have loved thee. This is to know, that they are the most highly honoured, that they are inviolably secure, and that they shall be eternally blessed. To be loved by the adorable Immanuel is to be raised to the summit of honour, and to be interested in a source of never-failing felicity. The love of Jesus Christ to His people is the source of all their consolation in time, and the basis of all their hopes for immortality.
III. The redeemers approbation of the Philadelphian Church. Thou hast kept the word of my patience.
1. The doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ is fitly called the word of His patience, because it describes His persevering patience under the cruel persecutions of ungodly men--the fiery temptations of Satan. The patience of our blessed Lord in bearing, and in forbearing, is most amazing.
2. The commendation expressed in the text may refer to the patience which the Philadelphians had exercised in keeping the word of Christ whilst they had been enduring reproaches, and temptations, and afflictions. It requires more than an ordinary degree of patience to keep the word of the Redeemer when we are called to suffer for its sake. The stronger is our faith, the more lively is our hope, and the more lively is our hope, the more steady is our patience in waiting for promised blessings. Patience is the grace that preserves the tried and tempted Christian from yielding to despondency: it keeps his mind peaceful in the storms of adversity by counteracting the baneful influence of pride and unbelief in the heart, which tend to produce discontent and impatience under trying and distressing circumstances. Nothing more recommends the religion d Jesus Christ than the exercise of the grace of patience under severe trials and cruel reproaches.
IV. The promise by which our Lord encouraged the Philadelphians. I also will keep thee, etc. The Lord foresees all the seasons of persecution which His servants will experience upon earth. ( J. Hyatt.)
Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, therefore will I keep thee from the hour of temptation.
The happiness of being kept from the hour of temptation
As deliverance out of temptation is undoubtedly one of the greatest mercies that God vouchsafes His people in this world, so there is nothing that more enhances the greatness of the mercy than the critical time of Gods vouchsafing it. As in the vicissitudes of night and day, the darkness of one recommends the returns of the other, adding a kind of lustre even to light itself, so it is the hour of danger which sets a price and value upon the hour of deliverance, and makes it more properly in season.
I. There is a certain proper season, or hour, which gives a peculiar force, strength, and efficacy to temptation. Every fit of a burning fever is not equally dangerous to the sick person; nor are all hours during the distemper equally fatal. There is a proper time, sometimes called in scripture the day of temptation (Psa_95:8); sometimes the evil day (Eph_6:13); and sometimes the hour of temptation. A time in which temptation is infinitely more fierce and daring, more urgent and impetuous, than at other times.
II. By what means, helps, and advantages, a temptation attains its proper season or hour.
1. For that which is most remote, but yet the very source of all the mischief which the devil either does or can do to the souls of men; namely, that original, universal corruption of mans nature, containing in it the seeds and first principles of all sins whatsoever, and more or less disposing a man to the commission of them. For it is this which administers the first materials for the tempter to work upon, and without which it is certain that he could do nothing.
2. The next advantage is from that particular corruption, or sort of sin, which a man is most peculiarly prone and inclined to.
3. A third advantage towards the prevailing hour of a temptation, is the continual offer of alluring objects and occasions extremely agreeable to a mans particular corruption.
4. The fourth advantage, or furtherance towards the maturity or prevalent season of a temptation: which is the unspeakable malice and activity, together with the incredible skill and boldness of the tempter.
5. Over and above all this, God sometimes, in his wise providence and just judgment, commissions this implacable spirit to tempt at a rate more than ordinary. And this must needs be a further advantage towards the ripening of a temptation than any of the former.
6. A sixth advantage, by which a temptation approaches to its crisis or proper hour, is a previous, growing familiarity of the mind with the sin which a man is tempted to; whereby he comes to think of it with still lesser and lesser abhorrences, than formerly he was wont to do.
7. There is yet another way by which a temptation arrives to its highest pitch or proper hour; and that is by a long train of gradual, imperceivable encroaches of the flesh upon the spirit.
III. Some signs, marks, and diagnostics, whereby we may discern when a temptation has attained its proper season or hour.
1. When there is a strange, peculiar, and more than usual juncture and concurrence of all circumstances and opportunities for the commission of any sin, that especially which a man is most inclined to; then, no doubt, is the hour of temptation.
2. A second sign of a temptations drawing near its hour is a strange averseness to duty, and a backwardness to, if not a neglect of, the spiritual exercises of prayer, reading, and meditation. Now as every principle of life has some suitable aliment or provision, by which both its being is continued and its strength supported: so the forementioned duties are the real proper nutriment by which the spiritual life is kept up and maintained in the vigorous exercise of its vital powers.
3. The third sign that I shall mention of a temptations attaining its full hour or maturity, is a more than usual restlessness and importunity in its enticings or instigations. For it is the tempters last assault, and therefore will certainly be furious; the last pass which he makes at the soul, and therefore will be sure to be driven home.
Inferences:
1. That every time in which a man is tempted is not properly the hour of temptation.
2. That every man living, some time or other, sooner or later, shall assuredly meet with an hour of temptation; a certain critical hour, which shall more especially try what mettle his heart is made of, and in which the eternal concerns of his soul shall more particularly lie at stake.
3. That the surest way to carry us safe and successful through this great and searching hour of probation, is a strict, steady, conscientious living up to the rules of our religion, which the text here calls a keeping the word of Christs patience; a denomination given to the gospel, from that peculiar distinguishing grace which the great author of the gospel was pleased to signalise it for, above all other religions and institutions in the world, and that both by his precept and example. (R. South, D. D.)
Keeping and kept
We are not to suppose that these good souls in Philadelphia lived angelic lives of unbroken holiness because Jesus Christ has nothing but praise for them. Rather we are to learn the great thought that, in all our poor, stained service, He recognises the central motive and main drift, and, accepting these, is glad when He can commend.
I. The thing kept. This expression, the word of My patience, refers, not to individual commandments to patience, but to the entire gospel message to men. What does the New Testament mean by patience? Not merely endurance, although, of course, that is included, but endurance of such a sort as will secure persistence in work, in spite of all the opposition and sufferings which may come in the way. The man who will reach his hand through the smoke of hell to lay hold of plain duty is the patient man of the New Testament.
II. The keepers of this word. The metaphor represents to us the action of one who, possessing some valuable thing, puts it into some safe place, takes great care of it, and watches tenderly and jealously over it So thou hast kept the word of My patience. There are two ways by which Christians are to do that; the one is by inwardly cherishing the word, and the other by outwardly obeying it. Let me say a word about each of these two things. I am afraid that the plain practical duty of reading their Bibles is getting to be a much neglected duty amongst professing Christian people. I do not know how you are to keep the word of Christs patience in your hearts and minds if you do not read them. There never was, and there never will be, vigorous Christian life unless there be an honest and habitual study of Gods word. The trees whose roots are laved and branches freshened by that river have leaves that never wither, and all their blossoms set. But the word is kept by continual obedience in action as well as by inward treasuring. Obviously the inward must precede the outward. Unless we can say with the Psalmist, Thy word have I hid in my heart, we shall not be able to say with him, I have not laid thy righteousness within my heart.
III. Christ keeping the keepers of His word. There is a beautiful reciprocity. Christ will do for us as we have done with His word. Christ still does in heaven what lie did upon earth. Christ in heaven is as near each trembling heart and feeble foot, to defend and to uphold, as was Christ upon earth. He does not promise to keep us at a distance from temptation, so as that we shall not have to face it, but from means, as any that can look at the original will see, that He will save us out of it, we having previously been in it, so as that the hour of temptation shall not be the hour of failing. The lustre of earthly brightnesses will have no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth, and, when set by the side of heavenly gifts, will show black against their radiance, as would electric light between the eye and the sun. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Temptation consolidates character
When a hard winter sets in, and the earth is covered with a mantle of snow, and each little knot and spray in the hedgerow is encrusted with icicles, vegetation seems to be killed, and every green thing blighted. But it is not so. The genial forces of the earth are driven inward and work deep in her bosom. The snow mantle is doing for her what the fur mantle does for the human frame--concentrating and preserving the vital heat within. So it is in temptation: the time of temptation is a cheerless and dreary hour, when everything seems at a standstill, and the spiritual pulse can no longer be felt, it beats so faintly to the outward touch; but if the will is faithful and true, and the soul patient, the life is really concentrating itself, and rallying its forces within There have been moderate Christians, there have been shallow Christians, without very much temptation; but there never yet was a saintly Christian, never yet one who pressed so the higher summits of the spiritual life, never one whose banner bore the strange device Excelsior, who was not made the victim of manifold temptations. (Dean Goulburn.)
Times of trial
Times of general calamity and confusion have ever been productive of the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace, and the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storm. (C. Colton.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv7–12 7–13. The church in Philadelphia. This city was in…
7–13. The church in Philadelphia. This city was in the interior, southeast of Sardis, and had never attained the eminence of most of the other seats of the Seven Churches. That the church itself was poor and wanting in worldly endowments seems to be indicated by verse 8. Yet this church and that of Smyrna alone escape censure. Philadelphia is yet a city of 18,000 inhabitants, though bearing a Turkish name, has five churches and a Christian population of about 3,000. He that hath the key of David. See notes on 1:18. The key of the kingdom of God as the Son of David. Hence he only opens and shuts, or determines who shall enter in, or be shut out.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v7 Rev_3:7. Philadelphia.—Situated at the foot of Mount Tmolus, and…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Rev_3:7. Philadelphia.—Situated at the foot of Mount Tmolus, and named after Attalus Philadelphus, King of Pergamos. It was a centre of the wine trade. Holy and true.—ἅγιος, not ὅσιος. It represents the holiness of consecration rather than that which is ethical and indwelling. The word “true” implies that He will be sure to keep His word. Key of David.—See Isa_22:22, Access to, and control over, the house of David, i.e. the regal house or palace, is plainly designated by the key; in other words, regal dominion is its meaning. Christ’s actual management and control in His Church are implied. Openeth, etc.—With reference to occasions and opportunities of service. An opportunity of Christian service should be thought of as a Christ-opened door. In at such doors His Church must be ready to enter.
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Rev_3:8. Open door.—For the figure compare Act_14:27; 1Co_16:9; 2Co_2:12; Col_4:3. An opening for some form of missionary work is clearly suggested. The safety of a Church lies more truly in enterprising service than in self-culture. The healthiest Church is the most active one. No man can shut it.—So they need not fear the opposition indicated in Rev_3:9. Little strength.—This is praise, not covert blame. “The point is that his strength is not great, not that he has a little left in spite of the strain upon it” (Simcox). Thou hast some energy. Plumptre thinks “the words point to something in the past history of the Church of Philadelphia and its ruler, the nature of which we can only infer from them and from their context. Some storm of persecution had burst upon him, probably, as at Smyrna, instigated by the Jews, or the Judaising section of the Church. They sought to shut the door which he had found open, and would have kept so. They were strong, and he was weak; numbers were against him, and one whose faith was less real and living might have yielded to the pressure. He had kept the Word unmoved by fear of man.”
Rev_3:9. Synagogue of Satan.—The antagonistic Jewish section; but the term suggests that they were doing their evil and hindering work in a secret and underhand way, as if they were serving Satan, the deceiver. Worship before thy feet.—As suppliants in a time of grievous distress. The idea is that troubles were at hand which would ruinously affect both Jews and Christians, but rest so heavily on the Jews that they would be glad to gain the help and defence of the Christians.
Rev_3:10. Hour of temptation.—Trial which severely tests faithfulness. Terrible persecutions burst on the Churches, arising from heathen panic and suspicion.
Rev_3:11. Take thy crown.—That which is reserved for the faithful combatant. “Perseverance is essential to the final reward of the Christian.”
Rev_3:12. A pillar.—A figure from the use of pillars in supporting ancient temples. The classical architecture involves the use of pillars. See Gal_2:9. “What pillars are to a temple, literally considered, the like will such Christians as those in Philadelphia be in the spiritual temple built by the Saviour.” The idea of established, permanent goodness is suggested. And the man who proves strong under strain is made a strengthener and supporter of others. My new name.—Inscriptions were often made on pillars, and they have been actually found on the sides of the four marble pillars which survive as ruins at Philadelphia. The allusion is to the golden frontlet inscribed with the name of Jehovah (Rev_22:4; see also Rev_9:4; illustrate by Exo_28:36). Stuart says: “The name of God, inscribed on one’s forehead, designates the generic idea of one devoted to objects and purposes spiritual and heavenly; the name of the New Jerusalem marks the peculiar city to which the conqueror belongs; the new name is that which is peculiar to the Christian as such—to a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. With such a distinction impressed upon him, or at least borne upon the frontlet of his mitre, the conqueror would be recognised and acknowledged by all as entitled to his place in the New Jerusalem.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rev_3:7-13
A Church Above Censure.—Godet says: “No church receives richer praise than Philadelphia, the sixth; it seems as if she had but one step to make in advance to obtain her admittance into the church triumphant.” Three facts connected with Philadelphia may be noted, as having some historical interest:
1. Like Sardis, it had severely suffered from the great Asiatic earthquake in the reign of Tiberius.
2. That of all the Seven Churches it had the longest duration of prosperity as a Christian city, and is still a spacious town, with the remains of not less than twenty-four churches.
3. That of all the seven its name alone appears in the catalogue of modern cities. We may assume that the address was sent directly to, and in precise adaptation to, a particular person, the “angel of the Church”; but he is to be regarded as the embodiment of, and representation of, the whole Church.
I. A Church with an ability.—“Thou hast a little strength.” And He recognises the “little” who never “breaks the bruised reed nor quenches the smoking flax.” The little strength suggests that the Church had been subjected to severe strain, but had not lost its vitality. It had been weakened, but it had not lost hold. The difference between this and other Churches lay in this: the Living One saw them weakening and losing vitality; He saw this one keeping its life and trying to get its full strength. Their light was going out; its light was trying hard to keep in. It is precisely that “little strength” which Christ still looks for. It is the sign of ability; it is a basis of possibilities—a sphere in which Divine grace can hopefully work. Churches cannot but feel the strain of circumstances and persecutions, they cannot but be weakened thereby. But they need not wholly fail. Evan under the extremest pressure they can keep a “little strength.”
II. A Church with an opportunity.—“I have set before thee an open door.” That figure distinctly indicated special opportunities for engaging in the missionary work of the Church. It is a special honour for a Church to have such opportunities; but it is also true that in the generous missionary activities of a Church are to be found the best security for its continued vitality. The Church alive enough to do earnest Christian work is alive enough to resist the influence of evil. Recalling the texts in which the figure of the open door is used, Plumptre says: “In all these cases the open door refers to the admission of the Gentile converts into the great house of God, the widening opportunities for the mission work of the Church which the providence of God placed in the preacher’s way. That phrase must, in the nature of things, have become current in the Churches which owed their very existence to the labours of St. Paul; and when it came to the ear and was recorded by the pen of St. John, it could not fail to recall the same thought and to signify the same thing.” No greater sign of Divine approval can come to a Church than the opening before it of larger and wider possibilities of usefulness.
III. A Church with a security.—“I also will keep thee.” God always is to His people as they are to Him. He meets them, responds to them; is always as they are, but always better to them than they are to Him. “With the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful.” Keep the faith, then; God will keep the promise. The keepers will be kept ones. “He who had ‘kept the word of the endurance of Christ,’ the message which bade him endure, should in his turn be ‘kept’ from (or in) that hour of trial or temptation, the ‘fiery trial’ of 1Pe_4:12, which was about to spread over the ‘whole world’ of the Roman Empire.”
IV. A Church with a fixity.—“Will I make a pillar.” The main idea of a pillar is of a thing put to an important and responsible service, and permanently kept to the doing of its work. Goodness is sure to get permanency. And good work, missionary service, shall gain continuity. Nothing shall hinder the work of the Church, and it shall be its joy to keep at work. Of this we may always be sure: more work comes as our reward for faithfulness in using opportunities given.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Rev_3:7. Key of David.—Some early commentators saw in this key the key of knowledge which the scribes had taken away (Luk_11:52), and understood this expression here as implying that Christ alone could unloose the seals of Scripture and reveal its hidden truth to men. In support of this they refer to Rev_5:7-9. The fault of the interpretation is that it is too limited; it is only a corner of the full meaning. He who is “the True” alone can unlock the hidden treasures of truth. But the use of the word “David,” and the obvious derivation of the latter part of this verse from Isa_22:22, points to a wider meaning: Jesus Christ is the true Steward of the House of David (compare Heb_3:2; Heb_3:5-6). The faulty, self-seeking stewards, the Shebnas of Jerusalem and Philadelphia, vainly claimed a right of exclusion from synagogue or church, where Jesus, the God-fixed nail in the sure place, upon which the bundle of earth’s sorrows and sins might securely be suspended (Isa_22:23-25), the Eliakim of a greater Zion, had the key of the sacred and royal house. In this the chamber of truth was one treasure, as the chamber of holiness, the chamber of rest, the chamber of spiritual privileges, were others. In other words, though in a sense, the keys of spiritual advantages are in the hands of His servants, “He still retains the highest administration of them in His own hands.” The power of the keys entrusted to apostles gave them no right to alter “the essentials of the gospel, or the fundamental principles of morality.”—Bishop Boyd Carpenter.
True Mora Strength.
I. Its connection with Christ.—
1. He recognises it (Rev_3:7). A glorious and faithful description of Christ is this. He is holy, true, supreme.
2. He honours it (Rev_3:8). He is the key of all spheres, and opens a sphere of usefulness for the morally strong.
3. He imparts it. He is the moral power. All true moral strength is derived from Him. What power He had over circumstances, Society, temptation!
II. Its influence over error (Rev_3:9).—These Jews were of the “synagogue of Satan.” He had synagogues then; he has churches and chapels now. The general idea is that false religion shall pay homage to Christian moral power, which comes in contact with it as
(1) a morality;
(2) an institution;
(3) a theology. It appeals to man’s craving after self-interests, worship, truth.
III. Its future reward.—
1. Preservation (Rev_3:10). The strong in truth and Christ have ever been, and ever will be, supported in trial.
2. Visitation (Rev_3:11). Death comes to usher us into everlasting blessedness.
3. Exaltation (Rev_3:12). Three ideas here:
1. Stability—pillar. Utility—a pillar is a support.
3. Divinity—“write upon him the name of My God.”—Caleb Morris.
Rev_3:11. “Behold, I come quickly.” Possibly the bishop of the Church at Philadelphia was Demetrius (John 3). If this is the case, we have before us a holy man, who, probably, was not a very resolute one, and was placed in a position of much difficulty. Such a bishop had, as a rule, two kinds of difficulties to contend with. There was a fermentation of thought on the frontiers of the apostolic Church in which Jewish and heathen ingredients were constantly producing one or another form of so-called Agnostic error—one phase of which is described in the epistle to the Colossians, and another phase in the epistles to Timothy and Titus; and this was a constant subject of anxiety to the primitive rulers of the Churches of the Lesser Asia. Besides those dangers from within, there was the constant danger of popular violence, or of official persecution, from without. Each Jewish synagogue, and, still more, each heathen temple, was the centre of a strong anti-Christian fanaticism which might at any moment arouse the passions too violently to be appeased with anything short of bloodshed. Demetrius—if he was the bishop—had hitherto made head against the anxieties around him. Hitherto he had kept the Word, he had not denied the name of Christ, he had the promise which past faithfulness always commands, while, at the same time—since no such promise can suspend man’s freedom to rebel or to obey—he is warned of the urgent duty of perseverance. If our Lord’s words are understood of His Second Coming, it is obvious that we must assume the good bishop of Philadelphia died without witnessing their fulfilment—nay, he has been in his grave for something like eighteen centuries, and our Lord has not yet come to judgment. The event has shown that the predictions uttered by our Lord at the close of His ministry referred only remotely to His Second Coming, and immediately to the destruction of Jerusalem. But this saying of our Lord, “Behold, I come quickly,” cannot have referred to the destruction of Jerusalem; and yet, if it meant the Second Advent, the bishop of Philadelphia did not witness the fulfilment of it, and it is still unfulfilled. St. Peter warned Christians that this delay would be used in after times as an argument against Christianity. The scoffers would probably rest rather on the indefinite postponement of Christ’s coming, than on any supposed intrinsic impossibility attaching to it. St. Peter meets this by reminding us that God necessarily looks at time in a very different way from that in which man looks at it. To man it seems that an event will never arrive which has been delayed for some centuries, and so that judgment, long apprehended, but long delayed, will not really take place at all, but may well at once be classed among the phantoms of a morbid and disordered brain. With God it is otherwise. Long and short periods of time do not mean to Him what they mean to us. “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years.” To us “long” and “short” are only comparative epithets; they mean a comparison of some given period of time with some other which we have before our minds. To God a period may be little enough by comparison with the standard of eternity. “Quickly” is a relative term, which may mean one thing when man uses it, and another when it is uttered by the Eternal Being. In death our Lord comes to each of us. There are two things about death which are full of meaning, and which do not admit of any sort of contradiction. The first is the certainty that it will come to each of us some day; and the second is the utter uncertainty of the day on which it will come. When the end before us is so certain, and the date of its approach so utterly uncertain, man’s true wisdom cannot be doubtful. It is a matter on which the most clear-sighted philosophy and the most fervid religious faith are entirely agreed: it is to sit easily to the things of time; it is to keep the eye fixed on that which will follow after time; it is, day by day, to untwine the bands and cords which scenes and persons among whom we live here are constantly winding around our hearts, that we may be ready at a short notice to quit them for the world in which all is lasting and all is real. Duty will not be done less thoroughly because done while conscious that this is a passing scene, since, if it is done rightly, it will be with an eye to that higher existence for which it is a preparation. The expected coming of Christ throws a flood of light upon various aspects of human existence. We are struck with the insignificance of life. If Christ’s coming means anything, it means the introduction of a life which has no end. The coming of the Lord means that all the wrong-doing and the passions on men, which create so much misery, will have had their day. It means the exercise of man’s highest powers to the fullest extent of their capacity, the beginning of an existence in which thought and heart and Will will rest in perfectly ecstatic satisfaction on their one true Object, and an existence which will last for ever. If a large number of human beings are disposed to look almost exclusively upon the darker side of life here, there are others who regard it chiefly as an opportunity for enjoyment, and often of lawful enjoyment. The pleasures of sense, kept within limits, do promote happiness. But the devotion to the pleasures of sense is an illusion which will vanish at the coming of the Lord Jesus. Many value wealth as a means of gratifying ambition. They value the consideration and respect which are paid to high position. The coming of Christ is the coming of One who has taken the measure of human life, and Who, by His incarnation and His death, has put His own mark and certificate on real greatness. Many devote themselves to knowledge of polite letters. That pleasures of intellect are higher than those of sense, and even higher than those of public life, is sufficiently indisputable. But the seat of true enjoyment or happiness is not in the intellect; it is in the heart. There are those to whom the service of God, manifested in His blessed Son, incarnate, crucified, and risen for man, is the main object of human life—men who, living in this world and doing their duty in it to the best of their power, yet are not of it; men who set their affections on things above and not on earth, and look forward to the day “when He who is their life shall appear,” in the humble hope that they too will appear with Him in glory. For them Christ’s message is sent: “Behold, I come quickly; hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”—Canon Liddon.
Rev_3:12. Monuments in. Heaven.—In every one of the seven epistles to the Churches our Lord describes his correspondents as so many warriors. Nothing is promised but to “him that overcometh.” What is the promise announced by the Captain of our salvation to him who has bought a sword, and finally achieved a victory?
I. Some great change must be wrought in men before they could suitably be likened to pillars in a temple.—More is made in Scripture of the vanity of the soul by nature than of the body by nature. We shall do wrong unless we take the benefit of the contrast between what sin makes us, and what Jesus Christ makes us. If the Christian is a pillar, we must not imagine he is a pillar of support, as being necessary to the temple. The pillars are to be thought of as pillars of commemoration. Monumental pillars were reared in the Grecian cities of Europe and of Asia, within the temples of their gods, to celebrate a battle and announce a victory. The monument was sanctified by the temple, and the temple was adorned by the monument. The simple, bold doctrine of the similitude amounts to this, that a good man, in glory, will preserve the fame of his victories fresh in the memories of eternity; he himself will be the monument of past battles, past conquests. The Christian will live on, to tell his own tale among the ranks of the redeemed. The Christian warrior, in truth, never dies, for, the moment when he drops his sword on the bloodred plains of the Militant Church, without a moment of inaction he passes to chronicle his prowess in the Church Triumphant.
II. The assertion that the good man in glory will be his own monument must nevertheless, be qualified.—How far have we got? Only to the point that a warrior in Christ’s army shall be, in heaven, a memorial of the battles he fought on earth, just as the pillars in the temple preserved the exploits of the ancients; only with this great difference, that the pillars of antiquity have long since been removed, but the pillars of the Church will remain for ever. But what, after all, is a pillar? Has the marble monument done anything? If you think of the marble is it not wholly and entirely as the workmanship of the artist who chiselled and fashioned it? You really look at the characters on the sculpture; you look at the names of the men to whom the marbles are inscribed. When it is said that the Christian will be a monument to himself, what is “himself”? Who is he? Is it to the honour of the man that the pillar will be set up in the temple? What of the inscription on the pillar? If the monument is not for itself, for whom is it? God’s name is first on the monument. “I will write upon him the name of My God.” Then comes the name of the city of God, the new Jerusalem. And then the new name—“Immanuel, God with us.” The source of your victory, the motive of your victory, and, last and best, the Author of your victory. I am to fight the good fight of faith only because upon me, if I conquer, three other names will be inscribed above—God; Heaven; Immanuel. My only, or chief, reward is to be, that I shall display to the myriads of God’s creatures the exceeding riches of His grace. This would be no promise to others, but to the child of God it is the sweetest and richest of all.—Henry Christopherson.
Gibbon says: “Among the Greek colonies and Churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect—a column in a scene of ruins—a pleasing example that the paths of honour and safety may sometimes be the same.”
The Pillar a Monument.—
1. He shall be a monumental pillar in the temple of God; not a pillar to support the temple (heaven needs no such props), but a monument of the free and powerful grace of God—a monument that shall never be defaced nor removed, as many stately pillars erected in honour to the Roman emperors and generals have been.
2. On this monumental pillar there shall be an honourable inscription, as in those cases is usual. (Illustrate by the names inscribed on the Arc d’Etoile in Paris). On this pillar shall be recorded all the services the believer did to the Church of God, and there shall also be put the new name of Christ, the Captain of His salvation.—Matthew Henry.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Rev_3:7. Philadelphia.—“We arrived at Allah-Shehr, the ancient Philadelphia.… entering the town through chasms in the old wall, but which, being built of small stones, did not appear to be particularly ancient: the passage through the streets was filthy in the extreme, though the view of the place, as we approached it, was extremely beautiful, and well entitled to the appellation of the ‘fair city.’ … We walked through the town, and up to the hill on which formerly stood the acropolis. The houses were mean in the extreme, and we saw nothing on the hill but some walls of comparatively modern date. On an adjoining hill, separated from the first by a deep fosse, or a narrow ravine, were similar fragments of walls; but we observed a few rows of large square stones just appearing above the surface of the ground. The view from these elevated situations was magnificent in the extreme; highly cultivated gardens and vineyards lay at the back and sides of the town, and before it one of the most extensive and richest plains in Asia. The Turkish name, ‘Allah-Shehr’—‘the city of God’—reminded me of the Psalmist: ‘Beautiful for situation is Mount Zion,’ etc. We returned through a different part of the town, and, though objects of much curiosity, were treated with civility; confirming Chandler’s observation that the Philadelphians are a ‘civil people.’ It was extremely pleasing to see a number of turtle-doves on the roofs of the houses; they were well associated with the name of Philadelphia. The storks retain possession still of the walls of the city, as well as of the roofs of many of the houses. We called upon the bishop at three o’clock, who received us with much kind attention.… At five o’clock we accompanied him to his church; it was Palm Sunday, and the service extremely long. I could not help shedding tears at contrasting this unmeaning mummery with the pure worship of primitive times, which probably had been offered on the very site of the present church. A single pillar, evidently belonging to a much earlier structure, reminded me of the reward of victory promised to the faithful member of the church of Philadelphia—‘Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God.’ ”—Arundell.
Rev_3:12. Pillars in Temples.—Turner, in his “Nineteen Years in Polynesia,” records the views entertained by the Samoans in reference to a future state. In that state the chiefs were supposed to have a separate place allotted them, called Pulotu. The house, or temple, of the great king of these subterranean regions was supported, not by pillars of wood or stone, but by columns of living men—men who on earth had been chiefs of the highest rank. Chiefs, in anticipation of death, were often pleased with the thought of the high honour which awaited them, of being at once the ornament and support of the mansion of the great chief of their Pulotu paradise. What a striking coincidence have we here with the language of Scripture, and one which throws an additional interest around our instructions, as we read the words of Him who exhorted His people to perseverance by the cheering declaration, applicable to all, high and low, rich and poor, “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God”!
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv10–12
Revelation
KEEPING AND KEPT
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Rev 3:10.
There are only two of the seven churches which receive no censure or rebuke from Jesus Christ; and of these two - viz., the churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia - the former receives but little praise though much sympathy. This church at Philadelphia stands alone in the abundance and unalloyed character of the eulogium which Christ passes upon it. He doles out His praise with a liberal hand, and nothing delights Him more than when He can commend even our imperfect work. He does not wait for our performances to reach the point of absolute sinlessness before He approves them. Do you think that a father or a mother, when its child was trying to please him or her, would be at all likely to say, ‘Your gift is worth very little. I could buy a far better one in a shop’? And do you think that Jesus Christ’s love and delight in the service of His children are less generous than ours? Surely not.
So here we are not to suppose that these good souls in Philadelphia lived angelic lives of unbroken holiness because Jesus Christ has nothing but praise for them. Rather we are to learn the great thought that, in all our poor, stained service, He recognizes the central motive and main drift, and, accepting these, is glad when He can commend. ‘Thou hast kept the word of My patience,’ and, with a beautiful reciprocity, ‘I will keep those that keep My word from’ and ‘in the hour of temptation.’
I. Now notice, in the first place, the thing kept.
That is a remarkable phrase ‘the word of My patience.’ A verse or two before, our Lord had said to the same church, evidently speaking about the same thing in them, ‘Thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word.’ This expression, ‘the word of My patience,’ seems to be best understood in the same general way as that other which precedes it, and upon which it is a commentary and an explanation. It refers, not to individual commandments to patience, but to the entire gospel message, the general whole of ‘the Word of Jesus Christ’ communicated therein to men. That is a profound and beautiful way of characterizing the sum of the revelation of God in Christ as ‘the word of His patience,’ and is one which yields ample reward to meditative thought.
The whole gospel, then, is so named, inasmuch as it all records the patience which Christ exercised.
What does the New Testament mean by ‘patience’? Not merely endurance, although, of course, that is included, but endurance of such a sort as will secure persistence in work, in spite of all the opposition and sufferings which may come in the way. The world’s patience simply means, ‘Pour on, I will endure.’ The New Testament patience has in it the idea of perseverance as well as of endurance, and means, not only that we bow to the pain or the sorrow, but that nothing in sorrow, nothing in trial, nothing in temptation, nothing in antagonism, has the smallest power to divert us from doing what we know to be right. The man who will reach his hand through the smoke of hell to lay hold of plain duty is the patient man of the New Testament. ‘Though there were as many devils in Worms as there are tiles on the housetops, I will go in.’ That speech of Luther’s, though uttered with a little too much energy, expressed the true idea of Christian patience. High above the stormy and somewhat rough determination of the servant towers, calm and gentle, and therefore stronger, the ‘patience’ of the Lord, and the whole story of His life on earth may well be regarded, from this point of view, as the record of His unfaltering and meek continuance in obedience to the Father’s will, in the face of opposition and suffering. His life, to use a secular word, was the most ‘heroic’ ever lived. Before Him was the thing to be done, and between Him and it were massed such battalions of antagonism and evil as never were mustered in opposition to any other saintly soul upon earth. And through all He went persistently, with ‘His face like a flint,’ of set purpose to do the work for which He came into the world.
But there was no fierce antagonism about Jesus Christ’s patience. His persistence, in spite of all obstacles and opposition, was the persistence of meekness, the heroism of gentleness. Patience in the lower sense of quiet endurance, as well as in the higher, of heroic scorn of all that opposition could do to hinder the realization of the Father’s will, is deeply stamped upon His life. We think of His gentleness, of His meekness, of His humility, of all the softer, and, as men insolently call them, the more feminine virtues in Christ’s character. But I do not know that we often enough think of what men, with equal insolence and shortsightedness, call the masculine virtues of which, too, He is the great Exemplar, that magnificent, unparalleled, and perfectly quiet and unostentatious invincibility of will and heroism of settled resolve with which He pressed towards the mark, though the mark was a cross.
This is the theme of the gospel story, and this Apocalypse of a gentle Christ, whose gentleness was the gentleness of inflexible strength, this story, or word ‘of My patience,’ is that which we are to lay upon our hearts. For that name is fitly applied to the gospel, inasmuch as it enjoins upon every one of us in our degree, and in regard of the far easier tasks and slighter antagonisms with which we have to do and \ which we have to meet, to make Christ’s persistence the model for our lives. So the whole morality of Christianity may almost be gathered up into this one expression, which sets forth at once the law and the supreme motive for fulfilling it. Unwelcome and hard tasks are made easy and delightsome when we hear Jesus say, ‘The record of My patience is thy pattern and thy power. Be like Me, and thou shalt be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.’
II. Notice, next, the keepers of this word.
The metaphor represents to us the action of one who, possessing some valuable thing, puts it into some safe place, takes great care of it, carries it very near to the heart, perhaps within the robe, and watches tenderly and jealously over it. So ‘thou hast kept the word of My patience.’
There are two ways by which Christians are to do that; the one is by inwardly cherishing the word and the other by outwardly obeying it. There should be both the inward counting it dear and precious, and treasuring it in mind and heart, as the Psalmist says,
‘Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I should not offend against Thee,’ and also the regulation of conduct which we more usually regard as keeping the commandment.
Let me say a word, and it shall only be a word, about each of these two things. I am afraid that the plain practical duty of reading their Bibles is getting to be a much neglected duty amongst professing Christian people. I do not know how you are to keep the words of Christ’s patience in your hearts and minds if you do not read them. I am afraid that most Christian congregations nowadays do their systematic and prayerful study of the New Testament by proxy, and expect their ministers to read the Bible for them and to tell them what is there. A mother will sometimes take a morsel of her child’s food into her mouth, and half masticate it first before she passes it to the little gums. I am afraid that newspapers, and circulating libraries, and magazines, and little religious books - very good in their way, but secondary and subordinate - have taken the place that our fathers used to have filled by honest reading of God’s Word. And that is one of the reasons, and I believe it is a very large part of the reason, why so many professing Christians do not come up to this standard; and instead of ‘running with patience the race that is set before them,’ walk in an extraordinarily leisurely fashion, by fits and starts, and sometimes with long intervals, in which they sit still on the road, and are not a mile farther at a year’s end than they were when it began. There never was, and there never will be, vigorous Christian life unless there be an honest and habitual study of God’s Word. There is no short-cut by which Christians can reach the end of the race. Foremost among the methods by which their eyes are enlightened and their hearts rejoiced are application to the eyes of their understanding of that eye-salve, and the hiding in their hearts of that sweet solace and fountain of gladness, the Word of Christ’s patience, the revelation of God’s will. The trees whose roots are laved and branches freshened by that river have leaves that never wither, and all their blossoms set.
But the word is kept by continual obedience in action as well as by inward treasuring. Obviously the inward must precede the outward. Unless we can say with the Psalmist, ‘Thy word have I hid in my heart,’ we shall not be able to say with him, ‘I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart.’ If the Word of the Lord is to sound like a rousing trumpet-blast from our lives, it must first be heard in secret by us, and its music linger in our listening hearts.
We need this brave persistence in daily life if we are not to fail wholly. Very instructive in this aspect are many of the Scripture allusions to ‘patience’ as essential to the various virtues and blessednesses of Christian life.
For example, In your patience ye shall win your souls.’ Only he who presses right on, in spite of all that externals can do to hinder him from realizing his conviction of duty, is the lord of his own spirit. All others are slaves to something or some one. By persistence in the paths of Christian service, no matter what around or within us may rise up to hinder us, and by such persistence only, do we become masters of ourselves. Many a man has to walk, as in the old days of ordeal by fire, over a road strewn with hot ploughshares, to get to the place where God will have him to be. And if he does not flinch, though he may reach the goal with scorched feet, he will reach it with a quiet heart, and possess himself, whatever he may lose.
Again, the Lord Himself says to us, ‘These are those which bring forth fruit with patience.’ There is no growth of Christian character, no flowering of Christian conduct, no setting of incipient virtues into the mature fruit of settled habit, without this persistent adherence in the face of all antagonism, to the dictates of conscience and the commandment of Christ. It is the condition of bringing forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold.
Again the Scripture says, demanding this same persistence, gentle abstinence, and sanctified stiffneckedness, ‘Run with perseverance the race that is set before you.’ There is no progress in the Christian course, no accomplishing the stadia through which we have to pass, except there be this dogged keeping at what we know to be duty, in spite of all the reluctance of trembling limbs, and the cowardice of our poor hearts.
III. We have here Christ keeping the keepers of His word.
‘Because thou hast kept the word of My patience I will keep thee from,’ and in, ‘the hour of temptation.’ There is a beautiful reciprocity, as I said. Christ will do for us as we have done with His word. Christ still does in heaven what He did upon earth. In the great high priest’s prayer recorded by the evangelist who was also the amanuensis of these letters from heaven, Jesus said, ‘I kept them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me, and I guarded them, and not one of them perished.’ And now, speaking from heaven, He continues His earthly guardianship, and bids us trust that, just as when with His followers here, He sheltered them as a parent bird does its young, fluttering round them, bearing them up on its wings, and drew them within the sacred circle of His sweet, warm, strong, impregnable protection, so, if we keep the word of His patience, cherishing the story of His life in our hearts, and humbly seeking to mould our lives after its sweet and strong beauty, He will keep us in the midst of, and also from, the hour of temptation. The Christ in heaven is as near each trembling heart and feeble foot, to defend and to uphold, as was the Christ upon earth.
He does not promise to keep us at a distance from temptation, so as that we shall not have to face it, but from means, as any that can look at the original will see, that He will save us out of it, we having previously been in it, so as that ‘the hour of temptation’ shall not be the hour of falling. Yes! the man whose heart is filled with the story of Christ’s patience, and who is seeking to keep that word, will walk in the midst of the fire-damp of this mine that we live in, as with a safety lamp in his hand, and there will be no explosion. If we keep our hearts in the love of God, and in that great word of Christ’s patience, the gunpowder in our nature will be wetted, and when a spark falls upon it there will be no flash. Outward circumstances will not be emptied of their power to tempt, but our susceptibility will be deadened in proportion as we keep the word of the patience of the patient Christ. The lustre of earthly brightnesses will have no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth, and when set by the side of heavenly gifts will show black against their radiance, as would electric light between the eye and the sun.
It is great to wrestle with temptation and fling it, but it is greater to be so strong that it never grasps us.
It is great to be victor over passions and lusts, and to put our heel upon them and suppress them, but it is better to be so near the Master that they have crouched before Him, and ‘the lion eats straw like the ox.’
To such blessed state we attain if, and only if, we draw near to Him and in daily communion with Him secure that the secret of His patient continuance in well-doing is repeated in us. So we shall be lifted above temptation. That great word of His patience, and the spirit which goes with the word, will be for us like the cotton wool that chemists put into the flask which they wish to seal hermetically from the approach of microscopic germs of corruption. It will let all the air through, but it will keep all the infinitesimal animated points of poison out. It will filter the most polluted atmosphere, and bring it to our lungs clean and clear. ‘If thou keep the word of My patience I will keep thee from the hour of temptation.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv7, 10, 12 (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
angel
(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v7 The letter to the congregation at Philadelphia:
The letter to the congregation at Philadelphia:
v. 7. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 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, and shutteth and no man openeth:
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v. 8. I know thy works; behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My Word, and hast not denied My name.
v. 9. 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.
v. 10. 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.
v. 11. Behold, I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
v. 12. Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God; and I will write upon him My new name.
v. 13. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches.
With even greater solemnity and impressiveness than in the case of the preceding letters, the Lord here addresses the Christians at Philadelphia: And to the angel of the congregation at Philadelphia write: These things says the Holy One, the True One, He that has the key of David. He that opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one shall open. he pastor of this congregation was to transmit to his charge a message with a very serious import. This is shown even by the name which the Lord applies to Himself. He calls Himself the Holy, the True One, or the truly Holy One. Christ is the Holy One of God, free from all weakness and imperfection of the creatures, true God with the Father from eternity, perfect in His essential holiness. He has the key of David; as a true descendant of David according to the flesh, as the Son of Man, He has established His kingdom, His Church, here on earth. To this mansion of His grace He has the key, in. it He rules and governs: He opens and He shuts its doors, He unlocks and He locks the treasures of His mercy to whom He will. This description prepares for the wonderful promises which the Lord now makes to this congregation.
The first word of the Lord is one of cordial commendation: I know thy works; behold, I have given before thee a door opened, which no one can close, because thou hast a little strength, and thou hast kept My Word, and not hast thou denied My name. The omniscient Lord is fully acquainted with all the circumstances of the congregation; He knows in just what manner His people have been doing the work which was entrusted to them, the work which consisted in bringing others to the blessed knowledge of their Savior. In this work they were being aided by the fact that the Son of David had opened a door before them, a door through which many might still enter into the kingdom of Christ. The Lord had given to this congregation unusual opportunities and facilities for preaching and advancing the faith among outsiders, the best chance for extending the Gospel-message. The entrance of unbelievers of every class, the conversion of the heathen, is the work of the Lord, and of Him alone. The reason why the Lord chose this congregation for this work is indicated by Him when He says that they had a little strength. Without riches, power, and influence before men, these Christians still possessed sources of might such as no man may have by his own reason, learning, and ability, namely, the Word of Christ, to which they had clung in spite of all enmity; the Lord Himself, whom they had not denied, in spite of all attempts of their enemies, renewed their strength day after day. It is He who gives power to the proclamation of His Word and causes it to bring forth much fruit.
An encouraging promise regarding the enemies: Behold, I give out of the synagogue of Satan, of those that claim for themselves that they are Jews, and are not, but lie,—behold, I shall make them come and fall down at thy feet and know that I loved thee. There were men among the enemies of the church of Philadelphia who were full of hatred and full of deceit, men who belonged to the synagogue of Satan, who had been apt pupils of the devil himself, especially in the art of malignant persecution, men who styled themselves Jews, but did not belong to the true Israelites in whom there is no guile, to the men that accepted the Messiah in simple faith. From the midst of these very bitter enemies of Christ and His Church the Lord intended, by His grace, to gain some souls for eternal salvation. This the Lord would give, this the Lord would bring to pass, for it is He that converts the hearts and fills them with the joy of their redemption. They would come, overcome by the power of the Word, and they would do homage before the Church which they formerly persecuted, fully convinced at last that the love of God was with His Church, and that only he that accepts this love in faith could be truly happy.
To this promise the Lord adds a second: Because thou hast kept the Word of My patience, I also shall keep thee from the hour of temptation which is bound to come upon the whole world, to test those that live upon the earth. The Word of Christ’s patience is the Word of the Gospel, since it teaches us how patiently Christ suffered for us, how readily He showed all forbearance toward His enemies, 1Ti 1:16; 2Pe 3:15. This Word the congregation at Philadelphia had kept; to this message, by the grace of God, it had clung; through its power the members had borne all tribulations patiently. In return the Lord, out of His great mercy, promises to keep them that are His from the great temptations of the last days of the world, when false Christs and false prophets, not to speak of Anti-Christ himself, would arise and fight against the army of Christ, Mat 24:23-26. That last hour would be a fierce and evil period, a time of proving, of testing out the true believers in the fires of many tribulations and distresses. But in the midst of these trials the Lord promises to keep them that are His; no man can pluck them out of His hand, Joh 10:26-29.
Incidentally, however, He calls out: I am coming very soon; hold firmly what thou hast, lest someone take thy crown. Through His Word the Lord gains and keeps the souls. Therefore the congregation, in view of the fact that His return to Judgment is at hand, is urged to cling to the Gospel and its blessings. Their crown, the message of their salvation, in which the individual spiritual gifts are like costly jewels, must be held with all the power at their command. Through unfaithfulness this crown, which includes the blessing of everlasting life, is lost. If Christians listen to the voice of the deceivers, if they permit themselves to be seduced into misbelief, despair, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, then the enemies will triumph, then they will capture the crown of life which is held out before the faithful. These words are not to be taken as a condition under which the Christians merit everlasting life, but as an admonition through which the Lord strengthens them in faithfulness. Thus we are kept, by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation.
To the faithful, moreover, the Lord holds out a wonderful final blessing: He that conquers, I shall make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall nevermore go forth, and I shall write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, of the New Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My own new name. Here the reward of steadfastness in the Kingdom of Glory is described, as it is given to those who overcome all the attacks of the enemies and all the weakness of their own flesh. There will be no outwardly visible temple in the new Jerusalem, chap. 21:22, but the building of that wonderful spiritual edifice of the Church will there be completed, the faithful Christians themselves being the pillars, adorned with glory and majesty. "My God" Christ calls His heavenly Father, Eph 1:17, to indicate that He who was His Judge in the great Passion has now become in truth His God and our God, our true Father, reconciled to us through His bloody atonement, Joh 20:17. A threefold name the faithful believer will then bear, that of God the heavenly Father, of the heavenly Jerusalem, and of Christ the Redeemer Himself. Every Christian is the child of God by faith in Christ Jesus; having put on Christ in Baptism, He is in God’s hands throughout eternity. The name of the New Jerusalem, of the city above, he bears, to indicate that he has his citizenship above, where there will be joy at His right hand forevermore. Even in the new name of Jesus Christ we shall share, in that name above every name which has been given Him by virtue of His entering into the glory of heaven through His vicarious redemption. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. All those, therefore, that confessed the name of Jesus Christ unto the end will govern and triumph with Christ world without end. Truly, the prize is worth the most constant effort, and we shall do well to heed the call of the Lord: He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the congregations.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 9, 12 General Information:
General Information:
This is the beginning of the Son of Man's message to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.
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Philadelphia
This is the name of a city in the western part of Asia that today is modern Turkey. See how you translated this in Revelation 1:11. (See: How to Translate Names)
key of David
Jesus speaks of his authority to decide who may go into his kingdom as if it were King David's key. (See: Symbolic Language)
he opens and no one shuts
"he opens the door to the kingdom and no one can close it"
he shuts and no one can open
"he closes the door and no one can open it"
I have put before you an open door
"I have opened a door for you"
you have obeyed my word
Possible meanings are 1) "you have followed by teachings" or 2) "you have obeyed my commands"
my name
The word "name" here is is a metonym for the person who has that name. AT: "me" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
holy
true
David
strength
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7–12 3:7-13 The letter to the church in Philadelphia encourages…
3:7-13 The letter to the church in Philadelphia encourages Christians who seem to be weak and powerless to realize that their true strength is in Christ. This comforting message includes no words of disapproval. The Kingdom of God does not depend on human strength or wisdom but on God’s power and authority.
3:7 Philadelphia was situated in the foothills of the Timolus Mountains, open to fertile plains in the east. The city repeatedly experienced severe earthquakes that left it weak and impoverished. • This verse quotes phrases from Isa 22:22. • key of David: Jesus the Messiah is successor to David’s royal line. As the gatekeeper of heaven, Jesus has authority to open and close the way to heaven (cp. Matt 16:19).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.