The Obedient Church (Revelation 3:7–13) | Coronation (Part 9)

Transcript

JRNT 508
04/13/2025
The Obedient Church
Revelation 3:7-13
Jesse Randolph

Well, I am actually a fan of the Bible conference, the theology conference. I enjoy getting the opportunity to sit under the preaching of other faithful men. To rub shoulders with other pastors and ministry leaders. To enjoy some good coffee. To be sent home with a bag of books. And to come home recharged and ready for whatever the next season of ministry locally, may be. Bible and theology conferences can play an important part in the shaping, and the development, and the growth of any local minister of the gospel.

I have to say though, that when I tend one of these Bible theology conferences, and they shall remain nameless, one thing that I can say irks me is that initial conversation that just always happens between pastors who are just meeting each other. Pastor A will say, “Nice to meet you.” And Pastor B will say, “It’s nice to meet you, as well.” Pastor A will then say, “Where are you from?” And Pastor B will say, “Lincoln, Nebraska.” I’m Pastor B in this scenario. Pastor A will say, “I don’t know where Nebraska is.” Pastor B will say, “I was with you a few years ago.” Pastor A will say, “What’s the name of your church?” Pastor B will say, “Indian Hills Community Church.” Pastor A now has this opportunity to ask a whole host of questions, like, “What is your church like?” “What are the people in your church like?” “What are some challenges your church is going through right now?” “What are some joys in ministry you are experiencing right now?” “What book or books are you preaching through right now?” But I have to say 9 times out of 10, the next question Pastor A asks Pastor B is this, “How big is your church?” How many people attend your church? What is the size of your church?
And I have to say that has always sat wrong with me. That when pastors get together, the first thing they seemingly want to talk about is how large their church is. Not only does it seem inherently competitive, it seems borderline rude. Right? Would you ask the guy behind you in line at Home Depot how many square feet his house has? Or at the bank would you ask the guy in front of you how much money is in the account he’s withdrawing from? I think fundamentally the question misses the mark.

It misses the mark in terms of what churches ought to be aiming for. I mean, it’s fine and dandy to have a large or larger church or a large auditorium like the one we’re sitting in here this evening. But let’s not mistake the size of a church’s sanctuary, or its staff, or its coffers, for that church being successful. It would be a tragic mistake to equate those two. No, a church is only successful to the extent it is pleasing the Lord of the church, Jesus Christ. And what Jesus is looking for as He evaluates His churches, not only of ancient times but today, is faithfulness. Faithfulness to Him. Faithfulness to His Word. The Lord wants obedience. The Lord wants holiness. The Lord wants diligence to pursue Him.

As we’re about to see, the church at Philadelphia, not that Philadelphia, was a church that modeled each of those characteristics. While it was this imperfect church, just as any church is, it was a faithful church, an obedient church, and diligent church. And in the letter that the Lord Jesus wrote this church by means of the Apostle John, we’re going to see He commends them for these traits. And He gives us much to learn from and to heed and to follow.

Let’s go ahead and read through the words of the letter, I’m in Revelation chapter 3 by the way. Let’s read through these words of this letter that the Lord Jesus Christ addressed to this faithful, obedient, holy, and diligent church at Philadelphia. I’m at Revelation 3:7. It says, “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: This is what He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says: ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have given before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Behold, I am giving up those of the synagogue of Satan, those who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God, and he will never go out from it anymore. And I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

This is the sixth now of the seven letters that the Lord Jesus wrote to these seven ancient churches in Asia Minor. And by way of review, in the first letter to Ephesus the Lord commended that church for its doctrinal fidelity. For its theological orthodoxy. But at the same time He called out that church for its drift, for its lack of love for Him. And then we got to Smyrna. That was the second letter where the Lord commended that church for their perseverance, their faithfulness to Him in the face of their great suffering. And then in the third letter to Pergamum the Lord criticized that church for compromising by allowing false teachers to come in, specifically the Balaamites and the Nicolaitans. And then in the fourth letter to Thyatira the Lord called out that church for tolerating false teachers. That is, letting them stay in their midst. And then in the fifth letter, to Sardis the one we looked at last Sunday night, that was a dead church of which the Lord had nothing good to say.

And that brings us tonight to our study of the letter to the church at Philadelphia, letter number six. And what does the Lord have to say to this church? Well, before we answer that question, I do think what’s important that we cover some of the background of what was happening in this city at this time where this church was located. Because studying the background gives significant color and texture and import to what the Lord wrote this church.

The city of Philadelphia was located about 30 miles southeast of the city that we looked at last time, Sardis. A major trade route ran through Philadelphia so that goods that came in through the port cities of Ephesus and Smyrna, they would make their way, by way of this main road in Philadelphia further inland, eastward into the region. In fact, Philadelphia was known as the “Gateway to the East.” And the city of Philadelphia was founded sometime around 189 B.C. which makes it the youngest of the cities that Christ addressed these letters to. It was founded by a king named Attalus Philadelphos. And he was given that name, Philadelphos, because of a deep love he had for his brother. He had brotherly love. At the time Christ sent this letter, there obviously was a church in Philadelphia. That’s why He sent this letter. His concern was not for Philadelphia as a city, but for the believers there. The church there. His flock there. And we know that this church would have been founded as Acts 19 notes, when the gospel spread throughout Asia Minor. That would include this city of Philadelphia.

More in terms of church history, we know that the early church father Ignatius passed through this city in the second century on his way to Rome, where He was martyred. In fact, Ignatius wrote his own letter to the Philadelphians. It’s not a part of the Scriptures, of course, but it does provide some interesting insights into this church at this time. We know that Philadelphia was a small church. And it was a weakened church. We know there was an element of Jewish opposition and persecution happening in Philadelphia. And one thing, and one final thing I’ll mention in terms of what we know about this church before we get back to the text, is that this was a good church. This was a faithful church, an obedient church, a holy church, a disciplined, diligent church. This was a church that had a deep and profound sense of obligation to the God-Man who had died for them. And it was reflected in how they lived their holy lives, fully, devotedly, to Him.

With that as our background, we’ll dive back into the text. The text starts with this familiar language, in verse 7 where it says, Jesus says through John, “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write.” The Lord Jesus here is saying to this angelo, this messenger, this pastor, He’s saying, “Take this down.” This letter was dictated by the Son of God to the apostle John, to give to this pastor. And this pastor, as pastors are called to be, would have been a man who lived among his people. He didn’t come in from Sardis into Philadelphia on the weekends. He was a Philadelphian. And like the other saints in Philadelphia, the pastor of this church would have been tried and tested just like the people there. He would have been battered and bruised in various ways just like the people there. And He would have been faithful just like the people there. Like the people under his care, this pastor at Philadelphia surely would have been willing to walk away from whatever it was the world was offering him because he knew that what the Lord Jesus had offered, eternal life, and life abundant, was of infinitely greater value of whatever this world offers.

After addressing this messenger, this pastor, Jesus now identifies Himself. He says, “This is what He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says.” So right out of the gate, the Lord says here 4 things about Himself. First, we have “He who is holy.” Second, He “who is true.” Third, He who “has the key of David.” And then fourth, He who “opens” and “shuts” doors at His discretion. We’ll take some time working through each one of those.

First, Jesus refers to Himself as here as being holy. “He who is holy.” This, of course, is not the only time that we see the Lord referred to as holy in the New Testament. In Mark 1:24, He’s described, Jesus is described as “the Holy One of God.” We’ve seen in Luke 1:35, that Jesus is the “holy Child” in His infancy, in the womb. And Acts 3:14, He is called “the Holy and Righteous One.” And each of those titles indicates that it’s God the Father who is holy and it’s also God the Son who is holy. He shares complete and total divine attributes with God the Father. He is pure, He is set apart, He is transcendent, He is in a class all by Himself, He is God of very God.

And note that this holy God of the heavens and the earth, Jesus, is also the Lord of the church. As we’ve seen in our study of these letters so far, He’s in the midst of His churches. That is what we saw early on in the vision He gave to John in Revelation 1. He’s in the midst of these churches, these lampstands, and He’s pictured there as scanning them, as searching through them, ensuring that in those churches there is this ongoing desire for holding us. That there’s this ongoing desire to purge the sin that’s in their midst. And that makes total sense, see, because Christ is holy. Because He is of infinite purity. He cannot tolerate sin. As a holy God He cannot look with any sort of favor upon iniquity or sin. As holy God, He cannot put up in any way with evil. He can’t countenance wickedness.

Now, bringing it over to our day, to be reminded here of Christ’s holiness, His reign over the church, His concern for the church. It’s always a good thing for us as a church and for all churches of all time, to be reminded of these truths. And to be reminded that our lives are to be living up to His holy standards. We think of Peter’s words in 1 Peter 1:14, that we are to “not be conformed to the former lusts which were ours in ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you,” he says, “be holy yourselves also in all your conduct; because as it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” Meaning, if you are sitting here this evening and you have no hunger for holiness, no zeal for godliness -- if you’re not actively striving with the Spirit’s help, to purge the sin that remains in your life, you really need to do some heart-checking. You really need to do some soul-searching, some motivation-searching, right down to that fundamental level of evaluating whether the Spirit of God truly lives in you.

“Test yourselves,” Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” he says. And then the remainder of that passage says, “Or do you not recognize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you -- unless you indeed fail the test?” Or 1 John. 1 John is all about giving these tests of assurance of salvation. But the inverse idea there is that if you don’t pass the test, you’re not saved. 1 John 2:29, “Everyone who does righteousness has been born of Him.” 1 John 3:3. “Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” 1 John 3:10. “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifested: everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God.”

Are you catching those words as they leap off the page? Purity. Righteousness. Holiness. Do you pass the test? For the church at Philadelphia as we’re going to see, they passed the test. They were faithful and zealous in their pursuit of holiness. Meaning, Christ’s reminder here that He is holy came not as a rebuke to them, but rather as an encouraging reminder. That He was shaping them and forming them to be more and more like Him.

Next, still in verse 7, the Lord says, after saying, “He who is holy,” He is “true.” Meaning, He is the One who is genuine. He is authentic. He is the real thing. There will be many who are false who would seek to infiltrate the church, false teachers, false prophets, even false Messiahs. But the Lord Jesus is the only One who can be rightly be described as holy and true. Back in the days of Isaiah, of Israel’s promised Messiah, it was said that there would not be any deceit found in His mouth, Isaiah 53:9. The Lord Jesus certainly fulfilled that prophecy. He is the way, He is the truth, John 14:6 and He is the life. Jesus Christ is truth and Jesus Christ is true. He’s a holy Savior who cannot and will not tolerate sin. And He is a true Savior. One who cannot and will not tolerate error or falsehood.

Next we see verse 7 that the One who addresses this church, the Lord Jesus Christ, “has the key of David” it says. Now keys in Scripture, typically represent power, and authority, and control. We know back from Revelation 1:18, that Christ has the “keys of death and of Hades,” it says. Meaning, He has power, and authority, and control over who will live and who will die. Who will go to heaven and who will go to hell.

And we know from this evening’s passage, that He also has the “key of David.” That is language drawn straight out of the Old Testament. And we’ve seen it over and over, have we not, in these letters to the churches? We’ve seen Jesus pulling in these references from the Old Testament. References to Balaam and Jezebel so far. And now in this letter to Philadelphia the Lord is pulling this reference a little bit more abstract, to Isaiah chapter 22.

Turn with me if you would over to Isaiah 22. And the scene here in Isaiah 22, we’re going to look right toward the middle of the chapter, Isaiah 22:15. The scene here is that God, “the Lord Yahweh of hosts” (Isaiah 22:15) is telling His prophet Isaiah to tell Shebna, “who is in charge of the royal household,” it says. That means he would have been really the prime minister to the king. That’s the idea. That he, Shebna, is being deposed. He’s being relieved of his duties. He’s been given the pink-slip. Now look at this colorful language in verses 16-19. It says, “What right do you have here, and whom do you have here, that you have hewn a tomb for yourself here, you who hew a tomb on the height, you who carve a dwelling place for yourself in the cliff? Behold, Yahweh is about to hurl you headlong, O man. And He is about to grasp you firmly and He will surely roll you tightly like a ball, to be cast into a vast country; there you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be, your disgrace of your master’s house. I will push you out of your office, and I will pull you down from your station.”

This was obviously before the days of free and fair, democratic elections. You can tell from that text. But note as we read on, that Shebna was now being replaced with Eliakim. Look at verses 20 and 21. “Then it will be in that day, that I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your tunic and tie your sash securely about him. I will give your authority into his hand, and he will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.” And now look verse 22. “Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder, when he opens no one will shut, when he shuts no one will open.” So in this original context here of Isaiah 22, Eliakim, the new prime minister to Israel’s king, was being given a key that provided access to Israel’s king.

And then we bring that over to our passage, Revelation 3:7, we have Jesus here, the promised Davidic heir, the Messiah of Israel, holding the key which provides access to the ultimate Ruler, God the Father. So what’s happening here is in Isaiah 22, the “key” being spoken of is given to those who went through its holder access to the king of Israel. So the key gave access to the king of Israel in the Isaiah 22 passage.

In Revelation 3 here though, the key that’s being spoken of gives access to the Maker and the Ruler of heaven and earth. Ultimately then, our passage here, this mention of the key, is referring to the Lord Christ Himself. God’s promised Messiah from the line of David, who’s holding the keys to eternal life. The Lord Jesus holds the authority, He holds the power, He holds the keys. And what John does here, actually Jesus does as John takes it down, we get some better understanding of what the keys do here in verse 7. Because He holds the keys, He is the One, it says, “who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens.”

Now we have to remember, I threw this into the background section, but this church is in this city that is known as the “Gateway to the East.” So that key language has significance and meaning in a city that was known by that reference, to being a gateway. So Jesus here by saying He is the one who has the key of David and who opens and no one will shut and who shuts and now one will open, He is saying to the city, to the church in this city, “I am the gatekeeper. I am the only one who has the authority to let people in or to keep people out. And I’m really the only door,” going back to John 6, ‘that you can go through. I am the way. I hold the keys.”

Remember what He says in His Great Commission in Matthew 28. “All authority has been granted to Me both in heaven and on earth.” Right? A lot of people in the world will say that they have authority. A lot of people in powers or positions of power and government and authority will say they’re powerful. But the reality is there is only One in this world who has true authority and it’s the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One who causes things to open and shut. He is the One who allows doors to shut and open.

With that, He launches right into these words of praise and commendation for this church which starts in verse 8. He says, “I know your deeds.” Now interestingly here, Jesus is expressing to this church what He’s expressed to the other churches, that He has this expansive comprehensive knowledge of this church, just like He did for them. But in the case of the church at Philadelphia, unlike the churches at Ephesus and Pergamum and Thyatira and Sardis, those words, “I know your deeds,” really wouldn’t have shot a chill down their spine. Rather those words would have brought them great joy and that’s because they were walking in faithfulness. They were pursuing holiness. They were pursuing righteousness.

And our Lord then goes on to say in verse 8, He says, “Behold, I have given before you an open door which no one can shut.” This is a parenthetical word of encouragement He gives right before the next line here where he says “because you have a little power.” Now that’s not the Lord necessarily saying that this was a feeble church or a weak church, but rather that this was a comparatively small church. They were few. They were limited in power compared to a larger body of believers or any larger composition of non-believers.

And when you really think about it, that’s how God has typically worked over the course of church history. The church at large today, the universal church, could rightly be described as an entity, as it says here in verse 8, with “a little power” from the world’s vantage point. Churches aren’t the largest corporate entity today. Right? The coffers are relatively thin compared to other organizations in the world. But that’s how Christ would have it. And that’s how Christ has always had it. Using relatively smaller means and smaller organizations, and smaller gatherings and smaller churches to accomplish His perfect and foreordained plans.

He's always allowed weak and imperfect men to lead His churches. We think of 1 Corinthians 1:26, “There were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may abolish the things that are, so that no flesh may boast before God.” Christ has used weak, feeble men to do His work. Christ has also used those who count it a privilege to suffer for Him, and go on to glory having done so. Philippians 1:29, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”

As we saw at the beginning of this message, the faithful church is not defined by its size. No, the faithful church is not to be defined positively by the world or its influences or its definitions. The faithful church isn’t looking for respect from outsiders or accolades or praise from outsiders or standards from outsiders. The faithful church seeks one thing: which is to be viewed positively by God. To please Christ, knowing that in our weaknesses, His strength is magnified. And in our total dependence upon Him, His name, not ours is greatly glorified.

The church at Philadelphia was a small church, and a small church that was in certain earthly ways, struggling. But it was committed to remaining faithful. And it needed encouragement. And Jesus gives them that encouragement in the remainder of verse 8 here where He says, “I have given before you an open door which no one can shut.” If I can paraphrase what the Lord is saying there, “Is no matter what happens, the door to eternal life has already been swung open to you. So you might face trials in this life and persecution in this life and certainly death in this life. You may struggle, you may battle, you may toil. But the war has already been won. And it doesn’t matter how little power relatively speaking you have in this world because it’s ultimately My power,” it’s Jesus’ power, “which determines who gets in and who is left out. He holds the keys. He opens the door. He allows it to open and He allows it to shut.

So unlike many of the other letters in this set of letters in Revelation 2 and 3, the Lord here is not criticizing this church. He’s not criticizing the Philadelphians. He’s giving them this unreserved encouragement. He’s blessing them. And He’s blessing them again because they were a church that pursued faithfulness, and obedience, and righteousness, and holiness. We see this picked up in the rest of verse 8 where it says, “[You] have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”

Let’s start with those first words where he says, “[you] have kept My word.” That is the true measuring stick of success in any church. That is the answer to what a good church actually is. That is how a good church is actually determined. It is not about size, it’s not about influence, it’s not about breadth of influence or reach. None of those things factor into whether a church is good. Rather, you can tell whether a church is good based on its consistent acceptance of the reality that Jesus Christ is our Master, and we are His slaves. Obedience to the Master of the church, Jesus, is the defining characteristic of being a good church.

And note, Jesus here does not say that the church at Philadelphia merely read His word or that they knew His word or that they studied His word, although all of those are highly, highly important. What Jesus highlights about this church is that they kept His word. This was a “church of the book.” And they weren’t a “church of the book” only in the sense that they had their doctrine all aligned perfectly. They were a “church of the book” in the sense that they were serious about their relationship with the God revealed in that book. They were serious about sin and they were serious about holiness. They were serious about righteousness. They were serious about rooting out sin in their lives. They were serious about obeying the whole counsel of God, whether that be in their home life or their business activities or in their church relationships.

And then Christ commends them further by noting, in verse 8, “[you] have not denied My name.” You have kept My word, and have not denied My Name. Denying Christ’s name would mean attempting to shake off the yoke that He’s placed on us as His children, as His slaves. This church in Philadelphia had not denied Christ’s name by the way they lived. That’s the idea here. And that’s often the easiest way to deny Christ’s name.

It’s very rare that we find an occasion where somebody just outwardly, verbally denies Christ who’s been in the church. It happens, I know, but it’s more common that they deny Christ by an unholy life. They deny Christ by a life that’s completely inconsistent with their profession of faith in Him. There are countless lost souls running all over Lincoln tonight, who claim the name of Christ, but are living like the world. And what they have done is exactly what’s described here in verse 8, they have denied the name of Christ. The believers here in Philadelphia did the opposite of what I’ve just described. They didn’t deny Christ through an inconsistent witness. No, they were consistently true to Him. They proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ, they obeyed His Word, they did not deny His name. And in response to their faithfulness, He’s saying here, I’m paraphrasing, “You are a faithful church. Well done.”

Getting personal with you all for a moment, I pray daily that our church would continue to be that kind of church. A church that is not only undaunted in our pursuit of truth, but uncompromising in our submission to the Word of God in all aspects of our lives. A church which has this uncommon preoccupation with holiness. This church that has this unflinching commitment to faithfully following Christ wherever we go, 7 days a week 24 hours a day, no matter where we are. That has to be our goal as a church. That has to be what we evaluate ourselves by regularly. To be this body of believers who are equally committed to seeking the truth of God’s Word, that’s what we do all over this place all week long, as we are to submitting to the truth of God’s word. Allowing it to filter through and funnel through every part of our lives. To be that church which is not only earnestly striving to be ever more understanding of God’s Word, but ever more faithful to the God of the Word. That has to be our goal. Looking more and more daily like the church at Philadelphia. A church which, as we’ve seen here, is receiving verbally, the smile of the Lord.

Moving on to verse 9, here we see that the Lord not only affirms this church, He vindicates them. He says, “Behold, I am giving up those of the synagogue of Satan, those who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and make them know that I have loved you.” See, apparently in Philadelphia at this time, there was this group that was actively trying to stamp out the advance of the gospel. And this group claimed to be the true children of God, but clearly they were not.

These individuals had been born into Jewish families. So they were ethnically Jewish, but they had rejected the Jewish Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, Yahweh in flesh. And because of that, they didn’t have a true relationship with the God that they believed they were worshiping. So in that sense, they were not true Jews. They did not have circumcised hearts. Theirs was this man-made religion rooted in tradition and form and custom. As Paul says in Romans 2:28, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.” The Jewish sect at Philadelphia at this time was not of God. They did not have the faith required to be of God. Rather they were, as Jesus calls them here a “synagogue of Satan.” They were of their father, the devil.

Now, in terms of timeless truth to extract from a text like that. Jesus here is shining a spotlight for all time, on any religious group in this world which claims to have a corner on truth. Jesus here is saying we are either of God and for God, or we are of Satan and for Satan. It’s one or the other. It is black and white. There’s nothing in between. You are either with Christ, trusting in His finished work on the cross, acknowledging His exclusivity as the world’s only Savior, and following Him faithfully as His slave. Or you’re against Christ. Whether you’re open in your opposition to Him, or you’re deceived about your commitment to Him. Whether you’re Jewish, or Muslim, or Buddhist, or Mormon, or Jehovah’s Witness, or an atheist, or whether you’re a dyed-in-wool lifetime church attender, who never got real about your actual lack of faith. You’re either, through faith in Christ, a part of the church of God, the “pillar and support of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15. Or, because of your lack of true faith, you’re a member of the synagogue of Satan, circling the drain, headed for hell.

Bringing it back to Philadelphia. What Jesus is saying here is that this was a town that was full of false religion. Specifically there were these Jewish individuals there who comprised what He is calling the “synagogue of Satan.” And about this synagogue of Satan, He says here in verse 9, “Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and make them know that I have loved you.” He’s saying here that He’s at work. Jesus is at work in this community of those who are opposing the believers there in Philadelphia. He’s saying that He is sovereign even over those who were promoting false religion in this city. He was sovereign even over their false teaching. Doesn’t approve of it but He’s sovereign over it. He’s sovereign over all things.

And He says here, He would make them act, those of the synagogue of Satan, He would make them act in a certain way. First He says, He will make them “come and bow down at your feet.” Apparently, this faithful little church would be rewarded one day for their faithfulness by seeing the salvation of the very Jews who had been persecuting them.

And second, He says I will “make them know that I have loved you.” See, there would be some in this city who would have been convicted as they watched the lifestyle of the Philadelphian church, as they heard the witnessing of the Philadelphian church, as the Philadelphian believers shared the gospel with the lost in this city. See, these seeds of truth were being planted by the believers at Philadelphia, they were landing in these unbelieving hearts. And eventually, some would come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. And guess where they would have gone when they ultimately repented and believed? Where did you go when you came to faith in Jesus Christ? I know where I went. I went to the guy that shared the gospel with me. And said, “You’ll never believe what you shared with me on such and such date at such and such location, I believe now. I’m a new creation in Christ.”

That’s what’s happening here. Those who are ultimately converted to Christ in Philadelphia from this Jewish community, they ran straight to the people who had shared Christ with them, and who had modeled Christ for them. There were many in this city who would ultimately come to know the love of God, most supremely and most fully through the gospel of grace. And all because someone in this church in this city shared the message of the gospel with them. And then, with new eyes of faith, these new converts, Jewish converts, would come to know, Jesus says, “that I have loved you.” And folks, what an amazing encouragement that is for us this evening. I mean, come on, this is like the lowest of hanging fruit. Easter Sunday is coming up in a week. And we have 5 days ‘til Good Friday, we have 7 days ‘til Easter Sunday, what an amazing opportunity. As we think of the faithful believers at Philadelphia in their time, sharing with Jewish opponents and their community.

We have a whole community here. We have 300,000 people or so, give or take, in Lincoln, that need to hear about Jesus Christ. Who need to hear about His death, who need to hear about His resurrection. This is the easiest thing to do. To go talk to somebody in the gas station, at the grocery store, at the post office, at the pickup line, at school, wherever you are this week. To think about who you’re going to share this with. I would encourage you to get the Word out. Souls are at stake. Why wouldn’t we who have been entrusted with such a treasured gem of the hope of the gospel. Why would we keep it to ourselves? Why would we hang onto it? Why would we let these things [invitations] just stack up in the lobby, in either lobby, and then just throw them away at the end of the week when we had the opportunity to share with somebody who needs to hear about Jesus Christ. Share with somebody this week. Whatever it looks like. Drop it somewhere. Throw them around parking lots. Don’t commit crimes. Just do it the right way. Okay?

Bringing it back to Philadelphia. A really interesting thing is happening here in this city. The prophets of old in the Old Testament had promised God’s people, the Israelites, that the Gentiles would one day in the future bow down to them. I’ll give you a couple of references. I won’t go there right now. Isaiah 45:14, Isaiah 49:23, Isaiah 60:14. Every one of those has a reference to some Gentile at some day in the future bowing down to the people of Israel, the Jews. But here, in Revelation 3:9, we have the Jews being portrayed, along with other unbelieving Gentiles, as bowing down before Christians. So the roles have been completely reversed. So the faithful church was faithful in preaching the gospel, and God by His grace, saved the persecutors of these early Philadelphian Christians, the very Jews that persecuted them.

Now there’s this futuristic sense in which we could take this passage, Revelation 3:9, and what it says about Jews bowing down. We could do so by noting that, at the end of the age, once “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in… all Israel,” it says, “will be saved” as we’re told in Romans 11:25-26. And of course, it is true that at the end of the age, those Jews who come to know the Lord, will come to know that He has loved the Gentiles in His church. But I do believe that a clearer referent into what’s happening here in Revelation 3:9, where He says I’ll make them come and bow down before your feet, is to the Jews in first-century Philadelphia who came to be saved. Who came to be these beloved saints. Who came to know that God had loved the Gentiles who had been sharing the gospel with them, the Jews.

But there still is an aspect of this letter that is very much futuristic as we move into verse 10. And that takes us beyond the immediate context of Philadelphia at the end of the first century. And that futuristic reference is here in verse 10. It says, “Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

I’ll get to the heart of this passage in just a moment here, but first I want us all to note those opening words where He says “But you have kept the word of My perseverance.” Christ is saying to this church, “You haven’t given in. You have shown that same perseverance that I, the Lord, modeled during my earthly ministry.”

We remember the words of Hebrews 12:2 that for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, and despised the shame. He’s commending the church here with those words in verse 10, “you have kept the Word of My perseverance.” He’s saying, “You’re not compromising like Pergamum.” “You’re not tolerating like Thyatira.” “You’re not on the verge of dying like Sardis.” “You haven’t lost your first love like Ephesus.” No, this is a steadfast church. They’re living out what 2 Thessalonians 3:5 says, “may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, into the steadfastness of Christ.” This was a church that endured. And of course, endurance is a hallmark of true, saving faith. Matthew 10:22, it is the one who endures to the end who will be saved.

And because they had persevered, look what He promises them in verse 10. I, Jesus, “will keep you from the hour of testing, which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” Now, you may recall from the letter to Smyrna, letter number two, that Christ encouraged that church not to fear that period of being tested and the tribulation they were about to undergo. And in that letter, Christ was clear that the tribulation happening in Smyrna, the tribulation that was going to come to Smyrna, would be an intense, but localized period of persecution and pressure. Ten days to be exact.

Something very different is happening here in His letter to the church at Philadelphia. Here in verse 10, Christ is making this statement about an event that is not limited to Philadelphia in the first century. Rather, He is referring to a much broader event, a far more wide and cataclysmic event. The event He’s describing here is yet future. Look at the language there. The Lord is speaking of this “hour which is about to come.” So He’s speaking of a future day. And this event will be for a limited time. It’s an “hour of testing.” Not an eternity of testing. The event will be global. He says, it will “come upon the whole world.” And the impact of this event will be felt greatest by those who reject Jesus Christ. “Those,” it says, “who dwell on the earth.” That’s a term that’s used throughout the book of Revelation to describe unbelievers.

So then what is the Lord describing here? He’s describing the period that the Bible describes in other places as that time of Jacob’s trouble. The time of great distress. Daniel’s seventieth week. The Great Tribulation. The Lord here is making this promise to keep the church, whether in Philadelphia in 95 A.D., or anywhere else in the world throughout the centuries, from the future time of testing that will come on unbelievers during the period of the tribulation.

As Christians, we are going to be spared from that suffering that is going to fall all over the rest of the world. No bowls, no seals, no trumpets for us. Praise the Lord. By the time that terrifying series of events occurs, which we will get into when we get to Revelation 6 and following, we’ll already been raptured. We’ll be gone. We’ll have been snatched away, taken out of the world.

Our hope is found in this familiar passage, you’re welcome to turn there with me to 1 Thessalonians 4. This is our next event for the church on the eschatological timeline, the rapture. 1 Thessalonians 4:13. “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

Now surely, as believers, we will face tribulations (as in trials) in this world. But we will not face the ultimate day of Tribulation as followers of Jesus Christ. That’s what He’s saying here in verse 10. Because the Philadelphian church had pursued Christ’s truth, because they had submitted to His authority. Because they had not denied His name. Because they had kept His Word. Because they recognized that they were weak but needed His strength, He’s making them here a promise, that they would be spared from the Tribulation that will one day come upon this world. And if we’re following Christ here this evening, that’s the promise that’s being made to us, too. An incredible promise. An incredible hope. An incredible source of motivation to preservere.

Now could it get any better for this church at Philadelphia? Actually, it does. Look at verses 11-13, where the Lord gives this church this final challenge and encouragement. He says, “I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God, and he will never go out from it anymore. And I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Now Jesus begins with these words in verse 11, “I am coming quickly.” He’s coming for the church. He’s coming quickly. For the other churches we’ve looked at, there have been similar references to Jesus coming for those churches, or coming to those churches. Revelation 2:5, Ephesus, “remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first. But if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place.” Revelation 2:16, “Therefore repent. But if not, I am coming to you quickly.” Revelation 2:25, “Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.” Revelation 3:3, “if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.”

Now in the context of each of those letters, those statements of Jesus coming, it’s threatening. He’s threatening judgment, temporal judgment in the context of those church bodies. The way that we see judgment brought in the days of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Or the one who ate bread and drank of the cup in an unworthy manner in 1 Corinthians 11. Not in judgment like being sent to hell, but judgment like being purged, being cleansed by the Lord of the church.

But here in this letter to the church at Philadelphia, when the Lord says, “I am coming quickly,” He is referring to that hour of testing. Again that period of Tribulation that culminates in our Lord’s second coming. And He’s saying to the Philadelphian church, this faithful church, this persevering church, “I’m coming not to judge you, I’m coming not to condemn you. Rather, I’m coming to deliver you. I’m coming quickly.”

And then look at the next part of verse 11. He says, “hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.” So they had been faithful. And now Christ here is encouraging them to remain faithful. To hold fast. And that’s really such an important reminder for all of us this evening. Because not one of us has, or will, reach peak faithfulness in these bodies of flesh. It just won’t happen. Not one of us has been promoted from needing to be reminded to stay faithful. We all need that reminder.

Next at the end of verse 11, He says, “so that no one will take your crown.” Now to be clear, He’s not bringing up this idea of taking the crown to put the Philadelphians in this fear of possibly losing their salvation. No one is going to lose their salvation if they’ve put their faith in Jesus Christ. John 10:29, the Lord says, “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” That is about as clear a statement as eternal security as you can find.

But what Jesus is saying here, “Is hold on to the truth that you have received. Commit to living out the truth that you’ve received.” And He’s saying to this church, “Just because you have been obedient to me for this last week or day or month, does not mean you will be tomorrow.” So He’s encouraging them to persevere, to pursue Him, to obey Him, daily, weekly, regularly, in everything.

Then in verses 12 and 13, He puts some rewards out in front of the church. He says, “He who overcomes.” We’ve seen over and over now that that means He who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, 1 John 5:5. To such an overcomer the Lord makes these promises. First, verse 12, He says, “I will make Him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God.” That could also be, as you might have in your NASB, “I will make Him a pillar in the temple of My God.” That temple or sanctuary language is referring to the eternal abode of all true followers of Jesus Christ, which isn’t going to be heaven. Heaven is just a stopping-off point before we get to where we’re really going to be, the New Jerusalem. That’s our future eternal home.

And the word “pillar” here is speaking of security and stability and permanence. So what He’s saying here, what the Lord is saying, is that we have security and permanence of our inheritance of being in God’s presence for all eternity. True believers will never be evicted from the city of God. They will never for any reason be forced from or removed from God’s presence. Rather, we are going to be these permanently-placed pillars in the sanctuary of our God, in the temple of our God.

Second, He says that “he will never go out from it anymore.” I’m still in verse 12. I will make him a pillar and a sanctuary of my God and “he will never go out from it anymore.” For that person, for the overcomer, they can know that they will forever be in the presence of God, in the most blessed sense. They’ll be able to say with the Psalmist in Psalm 27:4, “One thing I have asked from Yahweh, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life.” It will be fulfilled.

But it’s not just believers, I should be clear here. It’s not just believers who are going to be forever in God’s presence. Unbelievers will be forever in God’s presence as well. Just in a much different way.

Allow me just to take a minute to take this opportunity to say that if you’re here this evening and you don’t know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. If you haven’t trusted fully and exclusively in what He did on the cross for you, you really ought to be terrified. See, it’s not as though the believers in this room are going to go to heaven, and you who don’t believe, you’ll just stop existing when you die.

No, what’s going to happen is the believers will go to eternal glory, and you as an unbeliever, will go to an eternal hell. And your only solution -- if I’m describing you as you grapple with that truth that I’ve just shared with you -- is to throw yourself on the mercy of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. To accept that free gift of salvation that He is offering you right now in this moment. To turn from your sins and to turn to Him in saving faith. To believe that He died for you, that He rose for you, and that from this day forward, you’re committed to live your life for Him. That is what it means to have eternal life. That is what I mean to make sure that wherever you go to live on forever will be with Him, rather than in the flames of hell.

Back to the text, verse 12, Jesus promises to “write on him,” He’s talking about the overcomer here still, to the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, He promises to “write on him the name of My God.” To write His name on them is to say that God owns them. The one who is the overcomer, who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, can know that His identity is secure. Because when God puts His name on you, it means just that, that you are His. And what a great thought that is. To know that we are going to be branded in some sense, with God’s name for all of eternity, as God’s own possession, purchased with the blood of His Son, with all rights and privileges that go along with being a part of His family.

Next one. Christ says, He will write on the overcomer, I’m in verse 12 still, “the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God.” So we’ll have stamped on us the name of God, meaning His ownership over us. But we’re also going have stamped on us the name of the city of our God, the New Jerusalem. That eternal place of residence that we’ll all dwell in. This is speaking of our eternal citizenship. You know, here we’re sojourners and exiles. But we were really made for a glorious existence in the New Jerusalem. I mean, I like Nebraska and all, but the New Jerusalem is home. That’s where we’re going to be. That’s what we look forward to. That’s what we are striving toward.

Last that the Lord promises the overcomer, “My new name.” The new name of Christ is the one that He takes in his glorious resurrection form. We remember what Paul says in Philippians 2:8, how Jesus became “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” And it says in Philippians 2:9, “God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which as above every name.” A name which encompasses the fullness of His eternal majesty. And what we’re told here is that Jesus is going to write that name on us. As His purchased possession, He’s going to write His name on us.

Last, verse 13, we come to this familiar statement. It says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” And that’s a reminder again, that we are called. This is an address principally to Philadelphia, but there is certainly with the way this is phrased here, this is addressed to all churches of all time. Meaning we at Indian Hills Community Church in Lincoln Nebraska in the year 2025, are called to heed what Christ is saying, not only to Philadelphia, but to us. And not only in this letter, but in the other 6 letters. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Now what’s interesting to note is, as we close here, is that of the six churches that we’ve looked at, the two churches we’ve looked at, that received nothing but positive marks from the Lord, were churches which were traveling some bumpy roads you could say.

We think of Smyrna, Revelation 2:9 where the Lord says of them, “I know your tribulation and your poverty.” That was a poor church. That was a persecuted church. But they received high marks. The other church that received high marks is this one, Philadelphia. And we’ve seen all these statements about them, but the one that stands out to me right now is that “you have a little power.” They have little power but in the eyes of the Lord they’re doing great. They’re faithful. I mean, neither of those churches would have been all that impressive to the watching world at that time. I’m guessing that neither of those churches had a prime piece of real estate on some major thoroughfare. I’m guessing that these churches didn’t have a pastor who wore a suit. I’m guessing they did not have an orchestra pit. Or a nice auditorium like this. But to the Lord, their work and their witness was exemplary. The Lord found this church, as He did Smyrna, to be faithful, obedient, holy, diligent. And in the end, it is really only His assessment that matters. Amen? Let’s pray.

Father, thank You for this time in the Word this evening. Thank You for the reminders that we get from these letters to the churches of Asia Minor from all those years ago. It’s so amazing to open them up and know they had an initial set of addressees, churches and individuals and pastors and members who received this letter fresh at that time. But it’s amazing to see how You’ve preserved these letters and You have caused these letters to fall into the hands of people like us all these years later, thousands of miles away, speaking different languages, and know that these are for us as well, and that we have a model here of what You want for us as we seek to pursue faithfulness for Your glory. So God, I do pray that is my prayer for this church all the time. That we would be found faithful. That we wouldn’t rest on the laurels of a Christian legacy in our families, that we wouldn’t rest on where this church has been historically, but we would look to the day in front of us and the days ahead of us, and seek earnestly to be faithful to You, the Lord of the church. God, may You be glorified this week as we prepare for Easter, as we prepare for the remembrance of the death of our Lord on Good Friday. May what He did for us on that cross, may what He accomplished for us by rising from the dead, be at the forefront of our minds as we prepare to worship next weekend. May You infiltrate our thoughts all week long of the thoughts of the death, the resurrection of our Lord and may that give us hope all week long. And may You be honored in our lives. In Christ’s name, amen.