The Faithful Church
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
8 “ ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.
10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Pray.
Background on the City:
Once part of the powerful Lydian Kingdom
Named after
Philadelphia means “brotherly love”
There was a Jewish presence in the city, but they were anything but lovely towards the Christians
Strong presence of emperor worship
1. Jesus Has the Keys to the Kingdom (v. 7)
1. Jesus Has the Keys to the Kingdom (v. 7)
7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
Jesus is holy and true
Jesus has the key of David
Referenced in Isaiah 22:22
20 In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
21 and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
22 And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
Occurred when the Assyrians surrounded and seiged Jerusalem during King Hezekiah’s reign
They mocked God to the people on the wall and God caused Sennacherib, their king, to return to his own land where his own sons ended up killing him. This was all after the angel of the Lord had killed 185,000 of their troops in the camp that night
Eliakim was the household manager for King Hezekiah during this time. He would have had a key to open doors in the household
The Key of David is symbolic to having authority and it is the Key of David, so it is referring to Jesus rule over the household of David
When Jesus refers to opening and shutting the doors, He is talking about admission into the kingdom of God
Jesus refers to this in Matthew 16:19
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
The point is that while the Jews may have put out the members of the Philadelphian Church from their synagogues and kept them from being able to worship there, Jesus would give them admission into the very Kingdom of Heaven
Application
How many people today would even care if they could not go to the Lord’s house to worship? So many today don’t care and would just go find another church or stop going altogether.
We should long to worship together in God’s house as a foreshadowing of gathering in His kingdom and worshiping Him before His throne.
2. Jesus Opens the Door for Us (v. 8-9)
2. Jesus Opens the Door for Us (v. 8-9)
8 “ ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.
Paul often referred to open doors as opportunities for ministry
9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—
God has to open up opportunities for us to effectively minister
Today, so many fall to one extreme or the other. They either don’t do anything and are hyper-reliant on God to just magically add members to their church, or they are so dependent on man’s efforts that they leave the Holy Spirit out of it and can actually be unbiblical in how they go about doing things.
Jesus acknowledges that the church had little power. They didn’t have the ability to fight those in the synagogues and they couldn’t go up against the Romans, but all of this was temporary
The oppression of the church is a temporary phenomenon. One day the saints will rule and reign with Christ
The promise God had given the Jews in the Old Testament was that the Gentile nations would one day come and fall down before them in honor and reverence that they were God’s chosen people.
23 Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”
14 The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
True of the faithful who keep the name of Jesus and do not deny Him
Those Jews who were putting out the Christians thought they were the true church, but they were really acting on behalf of Satan
Application:
Is it possible that a church can be more an agent of Satan than of the Lord?
It isn’t always easy to identify as a Christian. It can be hard to follow Christ. It requires sacrifice and denial of yourself. Jesus promises great reward for those who obey and remain faithful.
3. Jesus Keeps Us from God's Wrath (vv. 10-11)
3. Jesus Keeps Us from God's Wrath (vv. 10-11)
10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
Hour = short period of time
Purpose of the hour is testing on “those who dwell on the earth”
Always a referent to the lost throughout Revelation
Save “out of” same word used .....
Some believe God will miraculously preserve the church through this time of Great Tribulation, but it seems more logical that God is promising to spare the church from this time by rapturing the Church out of the world before it begins
Is coming could mean is and is coming
4. Jesus Rewards Us with His Presence (vv. 12-13)
4. Jesus Rewards Us with His Presence (vv. 12-13)
12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
In ancient temples, often the names of the builder was inscribed on the base of columns.
Speaks of Jesus as our builder and placing His name in us
The city of Philadelphia had temporarily changed its name to “NeoCesaerea” in honor of the help that the emperor had given the city in rebuilding after a great earthquake
Jesus speaks of a city that is named after Himself, the City of My God, New Jerusalem
It is an unmovable city that cannot be destroyed
New name speaks of a new identity we have in Christ
Conclusion
Do you have a new identity in Christ this morning?
Have you entered into the Kingdom of God? You can this morning by trusting in the work of Jesus to save you from your sins.
Are you holding faithful to His name?
Not only in confession
In living and exemplifying Christ
In loving others and seeking to help them enter the Kingdom