“And to
the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is
holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one
shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open
door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My
word, and have not denied My name. “Indeed I will make those of the synagogue
of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them
come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. “Because
you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of
trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the
earth. “Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may
take your crown. “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of
My God, and he shall go out 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 I will write on him My new name. Revelation 3:7-12 NKJV
Approval,
positive reinforcement, and praise, are all words that describe what most of us
are looking for from parents, friends, and even the world. Generally speaking
humans have a need to feel as if they are "doing it right", whatever
that may be. It seems to be ingrained in us from the start when our parents
would either praise us or correct us when we made our choices as a means to
direct our behavior. In my own family, my father was the
"administrator" of "corrective discipline", and there are a
few incidents in my past where the expectations of my parents were made
painfully clear. To be truthful, I never really can remember a time when I
wasn't aware of just what my parents expected from me. Our Father in heaven has
a few expectations as well, and I believe we can look at this letter to the
church that got a "good" report card as a way to see just what God
expects from us.
In
this passage we find what Jesus has to say about the church at Philadelphia.
Now the name itself has a commendation in that the meaning of the word
Philadelphia is "Brotherly Love", and Jesus himself commanded that we
should "love one another; as I have loved you". (John 13:34 )
So the first indication of why Jesus is pleased in this church is that it is
apparently following His commandment. Another point that should be noted when
looking at these seven letters is found in the words Jesus uses to describe
Himself at the beginning of each letter. These descriptions relate not only to
what Jesus expects from them, but what they are doing or not doing as well.
Jesus uses the same word to describe Himself in both the letter to Philadelphia
and the following letter to Laodicea, which is our clue as to what Philadelphia
is doing right and what Laodicea is doing wrong.
The
word Jesus uses is translated into English as "true", but has a much
deeper meaning in the Greek. In Greek, it is pronounced "al-ay-thee-nos'", and actually means "real, true and genuine in every
respect, opposite to what is fictitious, counterfeit, imaginary, simulated or
pretended". It would appear what Jesus is trying to show us here is a
contrast between the Philadelphia church which is genuine and true, and the
church at Laodicea which is counterfeit and simply pretending to be true.
Although both may appear on the outside to be the same, Jesus says He can tell
the difference by simply doing one thing, and that is examining their "works".
What
are the works that Jesus has observed that earn this church a good report card?
Two things jump out at me in this passage. One, in verse 8 Jesus tells them
that He has seen them exhibit a "little strength", keep
His "word",
and they haven't "denied" His name. Now keeping His Word can be
accomplished by obedience to His commandments, something I think we can all
figure out for ourselves, but denying His name? Again, looking at the Greek, the word for deny
is "contradict", so it
appears Jesus is saying that the believers at Philadelphia are being careful
that their "works" do not contradict the standards laid out in
scripture. Unfortunately for all of us, Jesus also says that it only takes a "little
strength" to accomplish this. Personally, that hurts because it's
not like I have never thought something along the lines of how hard it is to
live life according to God's standards. Jesus, however, also mentions a second
way in which this church is "doing it right".
In
verse 10 Jesus makes a curious statement in which He commends the believers at
Philadelphia for keeping "the word of my patience". This
seems to be a strange phrase unless you look again at the Greek meaning of the
words, and examine them in the context of what Jesus is saying here. I
apologize if this is starting to look like a lesson in Greek, but there really
is no better way to understand what Jesus is saying here than to dig a little
deeper. The word for "kept" is "tay-reh'-o"
which means to "attend carefully;
keep in the state in which to observe", and the word for
"patience" is "hoop-om-on-ay'"
or "perseverance, enduring, not
swayed by trials". So the believers in this church are making sure
they are in a continual state of watching for something Jesus calls His
patience. But what is Jesus being patient for?
If
we step back and look at the context I believe we can see exactly what He means
here. Remember these letters are addressed to the church as a whole, and what
is the church? It is the bride of
Christ; and what is the current status of the bride and groom? Obviously they
are betrothed, but waiting for the wedding day when God will tell Jesus
"go get her" in something we know as the rapture. So I believe the
picture here is of Jesus watching His bride, the Church, for close to 2000 years.
Now that is being patient, especially if you consider what these seven letters
describe as the state of His bride to be! So what the believers in Philadelphia
were being commended for was being faithful to watch for the day of Jesus'
return, being steadfast even though they were being tried and tempted. The best
part of all of this is spelled out clearly in the latter part of verse 10 when
Jesus tells them that because of their faithfulness they would be delivered
from the "hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try
them that dwell upon the earth." This is a direct promise to His
church that they will be removed from this earth in what is called the rapture
before the tribulation period begins.
We
know what Jesus wants from us by reading this letter to Philadelphia. He wants
us to strive to keep an attitude of watchfulness for His return, and live in
such a way that the world will see our works and know we are obeying God's
Word. I’ve often heard it said that "It's
what we do that defines us". Jesus
knows our works and we know what He expects from us, so the question we should
all be asking ourselves as believers is, are we doing it right by watching?
Keep
watching.
