Philadelphia- The Faithful Church
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To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.
Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise!
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.” Selah
Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him,
who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations— let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah
Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.
I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to you,
that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah
Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!
INTRO:
INTRO:
AG:
TS: This letter is to the church in Philadelphia
Location: on a hillside about 30 mi SE of Sardis
Founded by Attalus II King of Pergamum. He was unusually devoted to his brother and the city earned its name, “brother love”
Unlike the others, this church is only mentioned here. Many believe it was a product of either Paul’s efforts or that a church he planted had in turn planted the church at Philadelphia.
RS:
“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.
“ ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.
Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Christ Revealed
Christ Revealed
“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.
Uniqueness: This description doesn’t come from like the others did.
Holy one-
One of the key traits of God.
HE is holy!
Father, Son and Holy Spirit are holy
What did the seraphim shout in
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
True one
God is truth
He doesn’t lie nor does He deceive
What He has declared, He will bring about.
What does the Bible say about God being truth in , , Jn 1:17?
the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Keys of David
In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
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.
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.
And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house.
Eliakim had the key to all the wealth of David.
Open/shut irreversibly
He controls entrance to the Kingdom and all opportunities of service.
He holds the keys to death and hell/salvation and blessing.
I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God.
Isaiah
Words of Praise
Words of Praise
Rev. 3:
“ ‘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.
Jesus knows their works
He knows it all
There is no hiding anything from Him
He saw their works and they were good.
He had set before them an open door
They had little power, but kept his word and not denied Him
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
It doesn’t take huge strength in ourselves
It doesn’t take huge strength in ourselves
in fact, it isn’t about our strength.
It takes keeping His word and not denying Him.
Powerful Promise
Powerful Promise
Rev. 3:9-
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.
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.
Judiazers, false Jews.
They had missed the Messiah and were thus false.
They will bow before the believers in Philadelphia
Christ promises to keep them out of the coming hour of trial.
John MacArthur, and other scholars, see this as a possible reference to the Tribulation, a 7 year period immediately prior to the Battle of Armageddon and Christ’s return to establish His millennial Kingdom.
6-19 spell out in detail the coming wrath of God on earth.
Keep is followed by a preposition, from.
lit. means “keep out of”
This view is known as pretribulational rapture and premelinial return.
We will examine options in interpreting this in more detail in a latter lesson.
Words of Advice
Words of Advice
Rev. 3:
I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
I am coming soon
The church was to watch for Him.
He is our hope and the focus of our longings.
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,
not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,
not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,
not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
2 Th 2:1-
2 Th 2:1-
Nobody take your crown
not speaking of salvation… rewards
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
1 Cor.
Hold fast
Hold on.
Be strong in the Lord
Persevere in serving Him
Final Words
Final Words
The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Conquerors will be made a pillar
God’s name written on them
the name of the city of my God, the new Jersusalem
His own new name.