The Messianic congregation at Philadelphia was the second congregation to receive only a commendation. This devotional reading begins to look at what that commendation was.
Nuggets
- The city of Philadelphia had its challenges.
- Jesus is the key to our faith.
- he Messianic congregation at Philadelphia was known for its patience
- Every door is under the authority of Christ.
The Messianic congregation at Philadelphia was better off than they thought they were. They were waiting for the condemnation to drop.
But it didn’t.
This devotion broke in a strange place — in the middle of the verse. But we will deal with it.
Let’s get started.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the The Letters to the Congregations series
To the Church in Philadelphia
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write …” (Rev. 3: 7 ESV)
The city of Philadelphia had its challenges.
The king of Pergamum founded the city of Philadelphia as a part of Greece. It was an important city when John was writing his letter.
While Philadelphia was able to defend itself against invaders, it wasn’t able to defend itself against natural disasters — namely, earthquakes. This severely crippled their economy.
Alaşehir, which may mean city of Allah, currently stands where Philadelphia stood. One must look closely to find any remnant of the former city..
Vision Man’s Greeting
“… ‘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’” (Rev. 3: 7 ESV)
Jesus is the key to our faith.
The Messianic congregation at Philadelphia was the second of the two congregations that did not receive a condemnation. (Smyrna was the other one.)
Holy One
I am proficient with Google search. I figured I would type in Holy One, and I would get all these verses talking about God the Father.
Nope.
I did better when googling just holy.
- “And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’” (Isa. 6: 3 ESV).
- “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel” (Ps. 22: 3 ESV).
- “For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11: 45 ESV).
- “Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!” (Ps. (6: 9 ESV).
Okay, none of the verses actually give the title Holy One, but we can make the connections to see Who is being discussed. It is God the Father.
True One
There is one verse that jumps into memory at this title. Again, it doesn’t say the words, but we can put the connection together. The True One tells the truth.
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (Jn. 14: 6 ESV). It is God the Son.
There are some verses that talk about God.
- “The Rock — his work is perfect; all his ways are just. A faithful God, without bias, he is righteous and true” (Duet. 32: 4 CSB).
- “All who invoke a blessing or take an oath will do so by the God of truth. For I will put aside my anger and forget the evil of earlier days” (Isa. 65: 16 NLT).
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There are some other verses we should look at.
- “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn. 4: 24 ESV).
- “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (Jn. 16: 13 ESV).
- “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (I Jn. 1: 8 ESV).
The gospel is the truth, because it is about the True One, Who knows no sin. Even with John 14: 6, I think it is easy to understand that God is the True One.
Keys of David
The latter part of the verse ties back to Isaiah 22: 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” (Isa. 22: 22 ESV). It is a prophesy regarding Jerusalem, not the Messiah.
Bonar said this was referring to Eliakim, David’s chamberlain. (This is the same position Joseph had in Pharaoh’s palace.)
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This symbolizes Jesus in God’s kingdom. Jesus has the authority, but God is still the Sovereign Ruler.
Can we substitute kingdom for David? When we do, we get this verse. “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” (Mt. 16: 19 ESV).
To me, that sounds reasonable. Remember, God told David that one of his Descendants would rule forever. “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (II Sam. 2: 16 ESV).
We know the Descendant of David that would rule forever is Jesus, making the case that He is Audio Man. He is holy and true, but God is the holy, true One.
Open and Shut
Let’s think about “… who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens” (Rev. 3: 7 ESV) for a minute.
When we think about open and shut, we can think about a door. We also use it to describe an argument, such as an open and shut case.
Audio Man is the One Whose actions are not contradicted. If He says that we will be steadfast in our faith even though it is a small faith, we will be. If He says that some avenue is not open to us, it won’t ever be open to us.
In other words, what Jesus says, goes. Christ’s enemies will not prevail over Him.
What is all this saying? To me, it means that, even though we as humans are flawed in our worship, God and Jesus deserve every bit of it. They are triumphant over all.
It also tells me that Jesus understands our weaknesses, even our weakness of faith. He is the One Who brought up the concept of mustard seed faith.
“He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you’” (Mt. 17: 20 ESV).
Our lack or strength of faith is not the important part. Jesus’ strength is.
What is important? Truth and holiness.
Philadelphia’s Commendation
“I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut ...” (Rev. 3: 8 ESV)
The Messianic congregation at Philadelphia was known for its patience.
Set an Open Door
Every door is under the authority of Christ.
It may be confusing it first to realize what Audio Man was talking about when He was discussing doors. We think about Jesus opening the doors of chances in our lives.
Nothing is by chance. Everything that happens to us has been worked into the plans for our lives.
We know, however, that while God is interested in our physical wellbeing, He is more interested in our spiritual wellbeing. It isn’t about this world and our creature comforts.
Audio Man was really talking about us. Thomas helped us understand this. He wrote, “All the doors to human usefulness, dignity, and happiness, are at the disposal of Christ.”
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All aspects of our character are under Jesus’ control. He can use us as He chooses to further God’s kingdom.
And Jesus flings the doors open wide!
Does it frighten us sometimes when God gives us an open door? Maybe He has answered our prayers and given us what we wanted.
Then, we just freeze. We begin to doubt our skills and preparation. We don’t think we can do what God asks.
What is important to remember? Jesus loves us. He is going to be with us every step of the way.
We know God equips us for all He calls us to do. “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Heb. 13: 20-21 ESV).
What is our part in this?
- We have to hear God when He is calling us to do something.
- We have to have the courage to step out and do it.
Pulsford had a great reminder. There is something beyond the open door. That is usually the resources we need.
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We don’t have the resources we need to do the job in which God calls us until we open the door and walk through.
God calls us to be faithful.
There are tasks that all disciples are called to perform. We are all to witness and make disciples.
But we each have our own tasks. Your’s may not be to write and put devotions out on the internet. Mine is.
Our door is individualized. It starts out where we are at conversion, and Jesus grows us from there.
Making the Connections #1
Morris had an interesting take on how the followers of Satan pay homage to the moral power of Christianity. How do they intersect?
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- Christianity appeals to the worldview’s encouragement of fairness and equity.
- Mankind was created to worship, a major component of Christianity.
- Christianity gives us a belief system, satisfying our search for the truth.
Is that why worldview people think what they do and believe is enough? The elements are there.
The problem is that the reverence isn’t directed in the right place. God is left out from worldview homage.
Audio Man told the congregation at Philadelphia in no uncertain terms that the followers of Satan/the worldview people are going to find out in the end just how wrong they were.
Making the Connections #2
Part of the problem the congregation at Philadelphia had was they thought they were useless. They weren’t large in number. They didn’t think they were large in faith.
Audio Man told them differently.
Rogers felt they were looking at the actual work they were doing. He wrote,
“Usefulness often depends upon a wise and prayerful observation of times and seasons, as much as upon actual [labor]. 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.”
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We look at the visible outcome as being the success or failure. That isn’t what God’s priority is.
God is looking for us to go through open doors and walk away from closed doors without a lot of commentary.
Making the Connections #3
God provides for all our needs, even when that need is comfort. He loves us enough to calm us down and set us straight.
We need to follow God’s lead and serve Him. His plans for us are best.
Making the Connections #4
I had to move the rest of Pulsford’s sermon down here. It was too many words for me to deal with up there, and I thought it was taking us off topic.
But I want to look at it, so here goes.
- Mankind starts with a closed door. Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God, He closed the door to the Garden of Eden and His presence. If truth be known, we are outside both the narrow and wide gates (Mt. 7: 13-14).
- We have to choose the door/gate through which we are going to travel. “Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors” (Prov. 8: 34 ESV).
- No one can change the path once we make the final choice.
- Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (Jn. 10: 9 ESV).
- Jesus will show us the way to walk through the door.
- He stands knocking so that we can be invited to the marriage feast He has prepared.
Pulsford did have a condemnation for us. He wrote,
“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.”
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Ouch. We don’t give Christ His due. We think of Him “way out there” and “a long time from now.”
We forget that He is our Christ now.
We want to remember exactly Who Christ is and worship Him as such.
How Do We Apply This?
What were the Philadelphians doing right that we should be doing? Mitchell hit the nail on the head. He wrote, “Faint, yet pursuing!”
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Isn’t that a great mantra for us? We think we are faint. We think we don’t know enough, aren’t obedient enough – a lot of not enough.
God knows we won’t be perfect. We need to be pursing maturity.
Mitchell cautioned we can be derailed when we let our pursuit get stagnant. We don’t want our relationship with God to get stale!
Yes, we are reading the same God’s Word over and over again. The difference is we are different people. We have had different experiences between now and the last time we read that passage. We’ve changed.
God’s Word will talk to us differently.
We could be dealing with the same old sins that we have for years. Satan is going to give us a variation of the same theme until he is sure we aren’t going to cave.
Mitchell gave us some suggestions to encourage us.
- Reread God’s promises.
- Meditate on His Word.
- Think about God’s grace.
- Pray to Him.
- Watch our impatience.
- Don’t expect perfect in this life – expect maturity.
What do you think?
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