Church at Philadelphia Rev, 3:7-13
Revelation 3:7-13 · Vern Peterman · Dec 2, 2001
Revelation (2001-03), No. 11
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262238254125

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

One of the things we've been doing in preparation for our study of Revelation is kind of looking at what are some of the trends, the prophetic trends, that have been kind of brought forth by the events of now coming up on the last almost three months. And that we've already discussed about the trend towards worldwide government, religion, and economy.

And last week we were looking at the biblical prophecy in Genesis 16. regarding the birth of the Arab people through Ishmael and that impact. And there are yet more trends, and one of those is simply the Lord has a long-time plan for and a long-term involvement for Israel. In fact, the very things that we've been going through in recent months now have been very much tied to Israel and Israel's future and the Lord's promises and the Lord's prophecies that he's given regarding Israel. And even though we've been focusing on Afghanistan, the Arabs themselves very much tying things back to Israel. And I think there's a few perspectives that would be good for us to take a look at here.

This is a map of modern Israel and the greater Denver area to scale. Compare that to the entire United States to give you an idea of this distance across Israel. is about the same as a drive from downtown Denver to Lima. That's the widest part of Israel. Not a big place. Within this small area of Israel, there is just short of about six million people. And it is because this land and the people, the Jews, that God intended to live there, These are God's chosen people with whom he has made a covenant that does not depend upon anything that they do or don't do.

But even in spite of that, remember last week we were talking about the Arabs and the spread of Islam. Everybody sitting down here? You better be sitting down because this is a shocker. Here's quotes from the Koran which acknowledge the right of Israel to the land. How about that? even the Koran admits that Israel belongs there, that it was given to them. But aside from the Koran, and that's obviously sort of a matter of interest, and by the way, it's possible that these passages will come up to some point of resolution during the Tribulation.

We don't know that, but that's possible. But what we want to bring up here is Deuteronomy 24, 25-31 makes eight key points. The bottom line is about the first half of those have already been fulfilled. This prophecy was made roughly 1400 BC and now roughly 3400 years later, we find the last of those is in the process of being fulfilled with Israel becoming a nation again. And there are specific things about Israel's future that are subsequently spelled out in Deuteronomy. Most people don't think of Deuteronomy as a book of prophecy, but it's got lots of prophecies with lots of details about what is to take place.

Now, what's the connection? Osama bin Laden, in his first video release after the U.S. started bombing Afghanistan, said the United States will see no peace until Things are resolved favorably for the Palestinians in Israel. The United States provides 8% of Israel's budget.

I don't mean by our spending, I mean by direct writing a check to their government. So we make a major support. New York, where the trade towers are located, is the largest concentration of Jews outside of Israel. This is not incidental. These are things that the Arabs are very well aware of and they're looking at. So we have an involvement with this prophetic focus upon Israel. And if you're interested in looking at more detail on that, there's a handout on the right side of the literature rack there. I won't go into it all right now. All right. We're going to look at Philadelphia. That's the sixth of the seven cities that are addressed in Revelation. And we'll start off by looking at Here, this is the modern side of Philadelphia. It's the city of Allah Shaheer, the city of God.

Now, one thing we know about historical records and current experience with Philadelphia is that they have constant earthquakes. Some are large and some are small, but they have constant earthquakes, almost a daily occurrence there. It's a place that's just shaking. The people just kind of get used to it and they build their houses accordingly and live with it, but constant earthquakes.

It's not unlike where Nancy and I have spent most of our lives. In California and Nevada, there are places there where things are shaking constantly as well. So if Nancy and I look a little shaky, you'll understand. But anyway, this is the reason why there are virtually no ruins to show you. I don't have any pictures of some ancient temple or anything.

It's because, first of all, there's the earthquakes. The second reason is once Christianity became legal in 312 AD, a lot of the people in Christendom went and built churches over all the sites and so they built churches over the top of things. The other reason is the military forces of Islam came through roughly the 7th and 8th centuries and tore things down. And then to final it now, the city of Al-Shahir, they've gone and covered everything with paving and houses and buildings where You can't see anything. But remember this thing about the earthquakes, because that's going to end up being important.

The next thing to bring up is, remember there are the three satanic strategies. There's emperor worship, there's the Greek mystery religion, and then there's the Jewish synagogue religion. Those are the three satanic strategies that keep coming up in these messages to the seven churches. And the first one we're going to take a look at here is this one about the throne of Satan. And this is the emperor worship.

Now, first of all, Philadelphia had a long and favorable relationship with Rome. They had a temple devoted to Augustus Caesar, and that was built more than two decades before Christ was born. After the emperor Tiberius, who's got his head shown here, helped the city rebuild after the earthquake of 17 AD. The city was extremely grateful.

And they made a change in their name. They called themselves Neo-Caesarea, which is roughly translated New Caesar. Then, during the reign of Vespasian, a subsequent emperor, he came from the Slavian family, and so they called Philadelphia Philadelphia Slavia. So it's like they were going to change the name for every new emperor came along that they felt indebted to. Well, in the same way that there was the Roman Emperor's worship, there was also pagan worship, pagan temples.

This is the seal of the city of Philadelphia, and it shows the sun god there under a temple. And notice the pillars, that's going to end up being important. And this also, by the way, shows up in the back of your handbook. a handout, rather. We found inscriptions at the site there in Philadelphia.

In the inscription they mentioned the chief god Zeus. They talked about special savior gods. They had certain gods to help them in different circumstances. They had a savior god for good fortune, virtue, and for health. Those were mentioned. There was also an altar to Hestia found. Hestia is the goddess of home. Also, like Thyatira, they had a number of trade guilds, and the trade guilds held their monthly meetings in the temples, where the people in the trade guilds all got involved in the temple rituals and sacrifices and orgies and the like.

Aside from that, we also know that there was Jewish synagogue religion, the Synagogue of Satan, as we've heard it called here, and you'll see it called in this message. We know that there was a synagogue there during this time. There was also a third century inscription, a couple centuries later, where it talks about a synagogue there. So we know the Jews had a long relationship there with the city of Philadelphia. And then as we'll read as we get into this passage, Apparently, these Jews were persecuting the Christians and were particularly onerous with the Christians.

Aside from that, because of the volcanic activity in the area that related to the earthquakes, there was fertile soil and so they had a lot of wine growing there and they also grew cattle and along with that had leather production and fabrics and things of that sort. Let's take a look, read with me in Revelation 3, 7-13.

And it says, And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write, 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 this, I know your deeds. Behold, I have put 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. But I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie, I will make them come and bow down at 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, that hour which is about to come upon the whole earth 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 temple of my God. and he will not 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, there are several outstanding aspects of this message of the church at Philadelphia. The first thing is that there are comparisons or contrasts with every other message to the churches. This is of the various messages. It's the one that seems to have a tie to all the others in some respect. Like Ephesus, he mentions my name. In Ephesus, it's my names with an apostrophe. Like Smyrna, the second church, no rebuke. Those are the two out of the seven for which there's no rebuke. Pergamum also had a synagogue of Satan. Thyatira also had trade guilds, as we mentioned here. Sardis, it mentions the saint's name. There's also mention of names in this passage. And then the last one, Laodicea, uses the picture of a door.

They use it for different reasons, as we'll see. But this one seems to tie with all the other messages in some regard. But the other thing that sets it apart from the rest is that it's focused almost entirely on a prophetic message. And we'll see more of that as we get into this. But it's looking ahead. far more than a lot of the messages that we've read so far, and even will read in the next one. So let's take a focused look at verse 7.

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 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 will open, says this. Now what Christ is doing is He's giving this self-description And it comes in basically these three parts. One is that he who is holy. And notice he puts that exclusively to himself. He who is holy. He doesn't say I'm just one of them. It's this is the one who is holy. He is holy by character.

Isaiah 30.15 says, Thus says the Lord God, the holy one of Israel, has said, In repentance and rest you will be saved. In quietness and trust is your strength. I should note that this, he who is holy, is similar to a title given to the Caesars. See, the Caesars used to get called the Holy One, and Christ is saying, no, I am the Holy One, not the Caesars.

Beyond that, John 6, 68 and 69, Simon Peter is speaking, and he says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that you are the holy one of God. The Lord is innately holy. We have holiness given to us because we've been identified with Christ and have His holiness. He is the one who is essentially and always has been and always will be innately holy. Then he says, He who is true.

This mirrors 1 John 5.20, the second to the last verse in the book of 1 John. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. And this is the true God in eternal life. Very clearly, Christ also told the disciples personally, face to face, I am the way. and the truth and the life. And the way he phrased that in the Greek was, I, in contradistinction to anyone else, am the way, the truth, and the life.

This is reinforced here, double-fold. The next part that he says is key to understanding the rest of this message. As we're finding out on these, it's who Christ is that's really the key to understanding everything else, which is also a lesson we ought to be learning in life, too. It's who Christ is. is the key to understanding everything else. And that's true of this message, no less.

But it says, He who has the key of David who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens. This is shown in Isaiah 22. It says, Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder when he opens and no one will shut, and he shuts and no one will open. This is quoted, and this is actually applying at the time to a man named Eliakim, But this is a type, and those who were in the class earlier this morning that we were talking about types and allegories and parables will recognize it.

This is being a type of Christ, looking centuries ahead and seeing Christ as the Messiah coming for the Jews. He is the one who has the key to the Messianic Kingdom. He previously has told them, he says, I have the key to death and Hades. What does it mean to have the key? It's the one single one who has access. He singularly has access.

Now, why this promise about David? Let's take a look here. This is a quick summary of God's covenant with David. It's also reflected on your handout, too. So you'll have a copy of it. In the handout it quotes the verse, 1 Samuel 8-17, especially 16, God promises to David a house, a kingdom, and a throne. Those three things are key elements in God's promise to David. In Isaiah 9, 6 and 7, which incidentally is, this is a verse that we frequently, verse 6 especially, we see quoted in a lot of the Christmas cards and various things of that sort this time of year. The promise is made for a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us.

And by the way, while we read that and we say, well that sounds like us, Incidentally, that was directly given to the house of Jacob, right? This was given to the house of Jacob, the Jews. But it says, a son will be given to us, and then verse 7, there will be no end to the increase of this government or peace on the throne of David or over his kingdom. You get the house, the throne, and the kingdom, again.

1, 32 and 33. Again, this is a passage that's quoted this time of year frequently. But look at what this is. This is the angel Gabriel giving the message to Mary. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. It's looking ahead to the millennium, to the millennium time. when Christ will reign from Jerusalem over Israel and over the entire earth. And we will be given to reign with Him.

Finally, here in Revelation 3.37, He who has the key of David.

David is mentioned twice more in Revelation 5.5 and 22.16.

In each case, this is intimately to do with who Christ is. Okay, now about the key in the door, something we need to take a look at. Now, Christ having the key means that he is uniquely the one who is able to open the door. Nobody else can do that. It's a fulfillment of this promise to David that has him reigning over the house of Judah on the throne of David in the Millennial Kingdom. The keys were mentioned once before in that Revelation 118 passage, remember, where Christ had the keys of death and Hades. The thing to look at here, because he says, I have the key, it means that he uniquely is the one who has access. He uniquely is the one who can open it.

He is the one who can open the door. In verse 8, let's take a look at that. I know your deed. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have little power, and have kept my word and have not denied my name. Now Christ here says, I know your deeds." And we've heard that before, haven't we?

He's told this to five of the seven churches, but this is the last time he's going to say it. He does not say it aloud to see it. We'll see why next week when we take a look at it. So this is the last time we're going to hear it. The next thing, he says, behold. Now it might be easier, just a little six-letter word like that, to just kind of read past it. But it's important that we not do that.

We need to stop and pause and take a look. Because that word behold means to stop and look intently. The word behold is used about 25 times in Revelation. The idea is stop, take a look, look at it intently. Kind of in our modern vernacular we might say something like take a picture in your mind's eye. So what he's asking us to do here is wind the film, set the flash on, take a mental picture. That's what he's saying when he says, Behold. Don't overlook this. Notice. Take a look. Carefully. Okay. Christ tells them that he puts before them an open door.

Now this has often been understood as an encouragement to missionary activity. And certainly I'd want to encourage missionary activities. One of the things that I have shared with some of you Growing up, a lot of people grow up where they have sports heroes or military heroes. I grew up with missionaries as heroes.

I grew up with stories of my grandmother being a missionary to the cannibals over in Fiji. I had one uncle who spent 40 years with a little tiny village, Santa Cruz de Guayape, down in Honduras. Another aunt and uncle were down in Bolivia with a leper colony. And my dad was involved with him flying and doing things. So I grew up kind of missionaries as my heroes.

So while I acknowledge that as it being important, here in this context, however, I don't believe that that's what it's talking about. Because of the fact that he's talked about an open door being specifically related to Christ in the Messianic Kingdom, fulfilling the promise to David. I have to look at it, this is an opening of the key into the messianic kingdom. That's what he's focusing on here, in context. Now, the next thing you look at there, he says Christ acknowledges that these believers in Philadelphia have little power.

Have you ever felt like that? Hey, I can't do much. We don't know why they have little power. Maybe they're just a few in number. Maybe they just don't have much political clout. There's maybe other issues too. Maybe they came from the lower economic classes. They just didn't have much influence. They couldn't buy their way into anything. Nobody would listen because money talks and they didn't have any.

Perhaps all three of those things are true. But that did not keep them, didn't stop them from keeping the word, it didn't stop them from refusing to deny his name. Because remember, just like the other places, you're supposed to, if you're a good Roman citizen, you're supposed to go and sacrifice to the altar to the Roman emperor and call him deity. And if you refuse to do that, you're in serious trouble. And they were in this situation where they didn't knuckle under to the pressure.

Now, we too might be in a real serious situation. I doubt any of us is quite in a situation that they're in where maybe your life is at stake by failing to acknowledge the deity of Rome. But we get under a lot of pressure here. You sense it? The pressure, however, is much more subtle, but the message is the same. Fifteen or some odd years ago when I was in business school, one of the classes that I took was advertising. And I was amazed how honest one of the professors was. He said, let's face it, advertising is designed to make you dissatisfied.

How about that? Advertising is designed to make you dissatisfied. They want to change your behavior. They do that by making you dissatisfied with where you're at. We're under this immense pressure. Billions of dollars are spent on this. You're under this immense pressure to conform to this world's values. To be dissatisfied when they tell you to be dissatisfied. To go ahead and get more stuff. To have things this month that you won't pay for until the year 2003.

You're under immense pressure. It may not be somebody coming to you and holding a sword to you and saying, okay, deny Christ. But the bottom line is we're still under huge amounts of pressure. And the opportunity to deny Christ in other regards is still there, isn't it?

Let's look at verse 9. Look at it with me. Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. I will make them come and bow down at your feet and make them know that I have loved you. Here we have the synagogue of Satan showing up again, right?

They showed up in Revelation 2.9 with the church at Smyrna.

These are the Jews who have now willfully, because remember some decades have gone on, they've been presented with the truth, they've now willfully rejected the Messiah. They insist that their Jewish genealogy and sticking by their list of rules is all it takes. It's sufficient. That's all you need.

The other thing is they claimed, right along with that, that since Abraham was their father, they're in. They're in the right group because of their genealogy. Jesus, however, replied to them, says, before Abraham was born, I am. You claim a genealogy that roots in Abraham. Before Abraham was born, I am. What is he saying? I'm greater than your lineage. I'm greater than your lineage. Abraham came way after me.

Christ is indicating here that he will bring about in the Jews a realization. Do you notice that? He's going to make them do something. He's going to bring about the realization that Christ is indeed the Messiah that was foretold in their own Old Testament. For them, it wasn't called the Old Testament, but it was their scriptures. He's going to make them realize that Christ has a special relationship with each believer. He's going to make them realize that Christ has loved his body. Do you see that? I have loved you. Christ loved his body, the church.

In Revelation 1.5, this is where we see that Christ says, and this is what the Greek is telling us there in Revelation 1.5, It refers to Christ as Him who constantly is loving us. Isn't that neat? Him who constantly is loving us. It means right now in each circumstance that we're in, Christ is constantly loving us. And that's the realization that He is going to bring about with the Jews. He is going to bring them to a point of recognizing that their Messiah loves all these people who have put their trust in Him.

Now, about verses 9 and 10. Within the last couple of years, there's a fellow by the name of John Niemola who's been doing some studies on this text. And he's published it twice, and last year he presented it before a group called the Pre-Trib Study Group, and it was well-received by the scholars there. And what he's proposed is a slight change in punctuation, and to me it makes a lot of sense. And where you see these red letters, punctuation marks.

That would be a change from the way it's typically translated. And what that does is it connects this, because you have kept the word of my perseverance, connects it here and makes this an independent promise. Not dependent upon their behavior. You see the difference there? Very minor change in punctuation. but a huge change in meaning. This is consistent with grace.

So that would mean when Christ says, I will also keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole earth to test those who dwell on the earth. He is keeping them from the hour of testing, and this has been very carefully examined. You've got a chart on the back of your handout, and that chart then reflects what this is telling us.

Scripture gives a full description in 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18 where he says the church, those who have placed their trust in Christ as Savior in this age, the church will be kept out from this hour of testing that is coming upon the earth. We'll be getting into it more later, but you've heard of various people who talk about mid-tribulation, post-tribulation, partial tribulation, pre-rapture, the idea that the church will be taken out at some later point. My point in putting this forth to you here is just that if that was intended, if the intent was to tell us He's going to take us kind of somewhere partway through the tribulation, He would have had to have chosen a different set of Greek words. That this is telling us specifically that the church will be taken out before the tribulation.

Now, we have to look at this though and recognize one thing. And that is that to take this verse by itself would not be sufficient because this promise is given to the Church of Philadelphia, right? That particular group of believers. The reason why this is significant is that it really fits with what's already been promised to the Church in general in these other two passages. And we'll get into the rapture question in more detail in a few weeks here. But suffice it to say for now, he's giving them a promise, you Philadelphian believers will not be going through this hour of testing. that's coming upon the whole earth.

Now, that word hour is used two more times in Revelation, in chapter 14. And, for example, 14.7 calls the tribulation period the hour of his judgment, that is, of Christ's judgment. One other thing to notice, this is not a local trouble. Do you notice the wording there? This is the hour of testing that's going to come upon the whole world. The phrase, upon the earth or on the earth, is going to show up 19 more times in the book of Revelation, and it will only apply to and only show up in the middle of the tribulation. So it's a tribulation-specific phrase that he's talking about.

And that's important to realize, because he's not talking about something else. This seven-year period of tribulation that's coming up, and we will be looking at it, in the months ahead. This time that is coming up will be a time that will be horrible beyond anything this world has ever seen. It will be an expression of the wrath of God that church will not be there present during that time, not be subject to the wrath of God.

Now, let's take a look at verse 11. And I am coming quickly. Hold fast to what you have so that no one will take your crown. Notice that when Christ says he's coming quickly, it doesn't mean that it was telling them it would be soon in their estimation. 2 Peter 3, 3-9 tells us that though the Lord may come at any time, it may seem long by human estimation. See the difference? It's the Lord's counting, not our counting.

That word that he uses there is intended to communicate this. When he does come, he will come rapidly. He will come by surprise, by this world's counting. It will be suddenly, and once things begin, they will happen quickly. As we mentioned some weeks back, this is a word that's used elsewhere in the book of Revelation. It's the word that talks about things happening in a rapid sequence. Quick sequence. The other thing he's wanting to communicate, it will happen with certainty. This isn't God's best guess. It's going to absolutely and certainly happen.

Now something else that pops up in here, this is now the third and the last time that Christ has told the Church to hold fast. He also said this to the Churches at Pergamon and Thyatira. What's different here, he says, hold fast so that no one will take your reward. See the difference? The other times he had said other things, but now he's saying, hold fast for this reason. I don't want anybody to take your reward. Well, you need to ask me, why would he say that? First of all, let me suggest this. Christ is giving the warning because he desires to reward them. You see that? Christ is giving the warning because He desires to reward them.

I think we can take that same thing home into heart in our lives too, can't we? The Lord is saying these things because He desires to reward us. It is in His heart and desire or He would not express it. That is exactly what He would like to do. Another reason I think that The Lord wrote that here. The Lord desires that that be our perspective. That we look for his reward. The Lord desires that, but how do we go about getting that perspective? We can read his word, but let me suggest one other thing.

It is the life of Christ that brings about that perspective within us. It is only the life of Christ that brings about that perspective within us. The flesh wants to find reward here and now, doesn't it? The life of Christ will, within the believer, stimulate and encourage this perspective. That we seek reward with Him because He desires to reward us.

Now, there's this warning about taking the crown. It's not that somebody else is going to take it and they're going to have it and not us. The idea is that we would be deprived of reward that was otherwise due us. You see the difference? That's what he's warning them about. It's not that somebody else is going to get what's yours. This isn't, you know, give it to me, give it to me, give it to me.

It's the Lord desires to give each believer reward. And he's just saying, he's saying, I want you to seek to keep the rewards that I desire so much to give you. You remember some weeks back we looked at this. Scripture explicitly lists five crowns and talks about three rewards for believers. And my suspicion is this is the tip of the iceberg.

There may be quite a few more based on Ephesians 2.7. But nonetheless, Scripture makes it real clear that these crowns and rewards are things that the Lord is going to give us.

It's not a selfish thing that we'll be pulling back and forth with. Instead, it will be a means of glorifying the Lord. Now, one other thing for us to take a look at here is it's not a matter of, you know, you had something and now somebody's going to take it and, you know, isn't that too bad? It's a question of looking at it this way.

The Lord desires to reward us That reward will have eternal consequences. They phrase it this way, and this may not be a way you've heard it before. If you're a believer, you know where you're going to spend eternity. The rewards have to do with the quality of our eternity.

You see the difference? That may be a shocking thing to say. The Lord desires to reward us. giving us a warning about that would be useless if it didn't make any difference. I have to assume, based on this warning and the similar statement to the church at Smyrna, that it matters.

We are right now, based on whose life we depend upon, we are right now determining the quality of our eternity. He's exhorting them based on that. He wants them to be rewardable. He wants them to live lives of rewardability by living from his life and not their own. Okay. Verse 12, let's take a look.

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will not go out from it anymore. 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. As with all the other messages to the seven churches, a promise is made to the overcomer. This is the one who has placed his faith in Christ for salvation.

Now, one question we've just got to ask. Why does Christ say, My God, four times in this verse? Sounds like a bit much. He said it to the church of Sardis just once, but here in one verse says it four times. In saying so, Christ is not denying that he himself is God. But there's actually a good reason for Him doing this. Christ calls the Father, His Father, My God.

And that's a pattern you'll see in Scripture. Mark 15, 34, Christ is on the cross, right? And what does He cry from the cross? My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? But then He really kind of lifts the curtain on this expression, My God, in John 20, 17.

Here is Martha. Martha is with Christ in the garden. Excuse me, Mary is with Christ in the garden on the day of his resurrection. And he says, Stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God. See that? So his expression here, he was talking about my God. This is Christ who is indeed deity, referring to his relationship with the Father. Now, he makes this statement.

Christ says he will make the overcomer, so this is a promise that applies to all of us, right? He will make the overcomer a pillar in the temple of my God. Now, what does he mean by a pillar in the temple of my God? Well, it turns out, if you look ahead in Revelation, In the New Jerusalem, there is no physical temple. Why? Because the Lord is the temple. The Lord and the Lamb are the temple.

Philadelphia, remember, was subject to frequent earthquakes. Remember that? Lots of earthquakes. And when they were larger, they even toppled pillars. So to even have pillars was a little bit of a difficult thing. The pillars in Philadelphia were tough to make permanent. Even the Jews there lost their temple about a quarter of a century before this was written, when the Romans attacked the city of Jerusalem.

In contrast to both of these, the Lord is promising to make these believers a permanent part of the temple with the Lord. They would be dwelling forever with the Lord. He's using a figure of speech, right? you will be a permanent part of the temple with the Lord, residing with the Lord. No earthquake or army will ever touch it. Moreover, their dwelling would be forever with the Lord.

Now here's the other thing. Because of the constant earthquakes in Philadelphia, the people would run, even flee out of the temples the first time things would start to shake. Because Frequently, if the shake got very severe, the stonework would start falling down. So everybody, whenever the earthquake hit, would just run out of the temple. They would get out from underneath anything that was held up by a pillar. Now here the Lord promised them a part of the temple from whom they would never have to run again. So he tells them, and you will never go out from it anymore. You see that? Now it makes sense. What do you mean you'll never go out from it anymore?

Well, you've been running from these temples every day, every time the earthquakes hit, but this is a temple you won't have to go out from anymore. It may seem a little bit strange to us, too, to hear them talk about writing on a pillar, until you notice one thing. Now, there are no pillars left in Philadelphia, so I can't show you one from there. But here's one from Capernaum. You've heard of that. And here at this pillar in Capernaum, You see at the bottom, what they have is writing on the pillars.

And what they used to do in those days is they would say, hey, we want to build a public building and we want people to contribute. It was rare for one individual to be able to cough up the money and pay for the whole thing. So typically it was a number of people paying for different parts of the building. And when they would pay for different parts of the building, they would write the person's name on the pillars to say, what they had contributed.

Do you see that? So the name on the pillar meant that you were a contributor. And that this pillar was there because of what you contributed. There's something else happening here though. God was the one, if he's talking about spiritual pillars, right? God was the one who made the entire contribution.

So our names would be put on there, but also his name. Because he is ultimately the one that made the contribution. He paid the entire price. He paid it all, didn't he? It's by God's grace. See, what he's telling them here, this is an awesome expression of God's grace. This is an awesome expression of God's grace because God is the one who paid the entire price. He made the entire donation. And yet he would put our name and his name on there.

The name of the New Jerusalem will be written on the pillars. That's the place where the believers will be, the New Jerusalem. And it will be permanent. He's telling them, the temples you've got right now, they fall down. We know that. But you'll be in the New Jerusalem where nothing will fall down. And the name where you'll be will be on there. And it's permanent. We're not going to move it. We're not going to change it. Something else. Remember, he talks about a new name.

Why would he write that to this church and nobody else? Well, there's a reason why he'd write a new name on here. Remember, twice during the history of Philadelphia, in recent memory, memory of the people who were alive there, twice, Philadelphia had taken on a new name in order to honor a king. And so the people in Philadelphia were very accustomed to having new names.

Only this new name would not be changed. See the difference there? He's saying, I'm going to write my new name, but it will be there for eternity. You've been changing the names of your city every couple of decades. This is a name that will not change, but it will be a new name.

Even Neo-Caesarea was one of the new names. He was saying, OK, you want a name with new in it? Here's a new name, only it's my name, not the name of the Caesar. Now the folks at Philadelphia were well accustomed to their city having a new name every couple decades. Christ says that he will have a new name and it will be written on the believers and it will not be changing all the time.

As we look at this passage here, we can see how the history and culture of the city of Philadelphia fits with what the Lord has told him. As we look at each one of these verses, the thing to just look at The Lord is in control. The Lord is in charge.

Everything that we need eternally, he has provided. All that we require, every sufficiency that we need, he has provided. You notice that all the things that he told them here in this message, it's all his. It's all his doing. It's his life. It's his name. It's His provision. And that's what the Lord is calling us to even here and now. Look to My provision. I will take care of your future. That's a certainty. He says, I will deal with it because I am the Lord and I'm sovereign. And you can trust Me. And as He told them, He says, and I love you.

Let's pray. Lord, we look to You. We look to You for life. when this world indeed tries to sell us so many things, and tries to bring great pressure upon us, and when this world tries to make us find security in the things that are here, in the things that we have, in the things that we want, Lord, in the midst of that, we turn to you, we behold you, and we look at what you are going to do and what you are going to accomplish. And Lord, we thank you that we can look forward to you sharing your glory with us. You will make us indeed a pillar in the temple, ever present with you, ever sharing your glory. We thank you for that and the awesome promises that you've made to us and that we can depend upon because of your faithfulness. In Jesus' name, Amen.