The sixth church addressed in the book of Revelation is the church of Philadelphia. This was a church that was probably not very highly thought of by the world and even by the other Christians in various communities, but the Lord thought very highly of this particular church.
We pick up this study in Revelation 3:7, “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 opens, says this…” Once again, the picture of Christ, drawing from other scriptures as well as Revelation 1, finds that Jesus Christ is holy, He is true, He has the key of David, and He is in absolute charge. He is absolutely sovereign. He opens and no one shuts, and He shuts and no one opens. That’s a wonderful picture. If He wants to open a door for ministry for a local church, He will open it. If He wants to shut it, He will shut it and the churches had better pay attention. There is so much here about this little church. We will run through it very quickly.
He says in Revelation 3:8, “I know your deeds.” He is saying, I’m not blind to those things. I have absolute omniscience. I know all things. He continues, “Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut,” once again, no one can shut it, “because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.” There is no condemnation for this church. It is all talking about either some commendation or some reward. He says here, “because you have a little power,” – so, they probably were not prominent like some of the other churches that are being addressed here, but they have kept His Word and they have not denied His name. “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.” Apparently, there was a very strong contingency of Satan worship in this town. They were great persecutors of the church, oppressing the church in powerful ways. He says, don’t worry about those folks because I’ll make them come and bow down ultimately before you and they will know that I have loved you. So, whatever they are doing, whatever discomfort they are trying to bring to the Christians at Philadelphia He essentially says to them; “You don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it and someday the truth will be borne out.”
Revelation 3:10, “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 world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” Because of perseverance He is going to protect them from a particularly nasty time of testing. Now, we don’t know exactly what this is for sure. Some believe this is a verse referencing the Tribulation period that is going to be found starting in Revelation 6. We don’t know for sure about that. Some see this as a very powerful verse of Scripture speaking of the Rapture. That the church will be removed from this hour of testing coming on the whole world, and because they have overcome, because they are followers of the Lord they will not go through that hour of testing. I’m not convinced that that’s the case, it might be, I could be wrong. It could also be talking about other hours of testing such as the great testing that was coming upon Christians – the great persecution – that would come at the latter part of the first century and some of these Christians would face that. That might be what He is talking about here that He would protect this particular church. Either way, we do know that He is going to protect them . . .
