Revelation Verse-by-Verse 3:7-13

7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

As we come to the epistles dictated to these final two assemblies, we encounter introductions by the Glorified Lord that divert from referring directly to a portion of the revelation of Himself in chapter one. His introduction to the church at Philadelphia contains four entirely new revelations of the Glorified Lord.[1]

He says that He is ‘holy.’ This calls to mind several passages from the Hebrew writings of the OT. First, there is the phrase ‘the Holy One of Israel,’ a title used thirty-one times in the OT referring only to God. Then there is Isaiah 57:15.

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place…

And Isaiah 6:3.

And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

He is claiming for Himself a designation that has been entirely reserved for references directly to God only.

He adds to that the fact that He is ‘true.’ This is a weighty statement. In saying this the Glorified Lord is claiming authenticity[2] for Himself, something that would stand opposed to the counterfeit ‘Christs’ already being declared all across the Roman Empire by the forces of evil aligned with the Enemy. In 1 John 2:18, this same apostle John that wrote The Revelation warned those that listened to his teaching of the very grave danger of false Christs.

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

A similar warning was given by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:4, where he emphatically forewarns of men coming among the assemblies and preaching ‘another Jesus.’ The Glorified Lord here in Revelation three is claiming to be the genuine Christ of God, a vital claim and an essential foundation for these early assemblies.

Combining together these two claims by the Glorified Lord, we see that He claims to be ‘holy’ and ‘true.’ Compare that with the following verse from Revelation 6:10.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

This leaves absolutely no uncertainty regarding the Glorified Lord’s claim here to be God.

He goes on to say that he has ‘the key of David.’ Whatever else this might suggest, it clearly connects this Glorified Lord with the OT writings and the lineage of the greater son of David promised in prophecy. He is saying that His connection to David’s line is irrefutable. Here, as in every portion of scripture, we must remain in context. The Glorified Lord has claimed to be God, by using the words ‘holy’ and ‘true’ referring to Himself, as we have seen. Having claimed these things to be the truth about Himself, He now closely associates Himself with Israel and the lineage of Messiah through David. Whatever else He is saying to the church at Philadelphia, it has to do with Him being the Messiah that Israel has awaited for so long.

He then says the following:

7…he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it:

Again, in order to rightly understand this epistle to the assembly at Philadelphia, we must remain in context. Consider these facts:

1. For centuries, the Jews have held a strong disregard for the

Gentiles.

2. There was even a very emphatic dividing line between Jews and

Gentiles in many early churches that needed to be put aside.

3. Philadelphia was a Gentile city, but it had a large, influential

Jewish synagogue in it.

All of this being true, why would the Glorified Lord speak now of opening a door that no man can shut? The Jews in Philadelphia [as well as elsewhere] continued to attempt to keep the way unto Jehovah closed to the Gentiles. Additionally, as we have suggested, in many early Christian assemblies the Gentile believers often looked down upon the Jewish believers because of the animosity that had developed between Jews and Gentiles over many generations. Each group was strongly inclined to ostracize the other group.

Furthermore, this was the very subject of the Lord’s commission to Peter on the housetop at Joppa in Acts ten. It was brought up at other times in the New Testament writings as well.[3] When the Glorified Lord speaks here of opening a door that no man could close, He is likely [in the context of this entire epistle] to be speaking of the fact that through Him the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile was entirely done away.

This interpretation seems even more likely to be the case as we continue with the epistle. Consider verse 9:

9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

At this point the Jews that had openly rejected Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah and were complicit in His crucifixion had become, in all practical terms, a ‘synagogue of Satan.’ If their own Messiah was not welcome in their synagogues, then Satan had the upper hand there among them.[4] This stark reality identifies the hypocrisy of the Jews at this point in their history. They claimed to be ‘the people of the true God,’ but casting out their own Messiah revealed them to be in league with Satan.

Further confirming the interpretation of this epistle that we have taken, we skip, for a moment, to verse 12.

12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

The Glorified Lord has not used the phrase ‘my God’ previously in these epistles, nor will He in the remaining one. In fact, the only other times He used the phrase was while being crucified, and afterwards, speaking to Mary Magdalene.[5] Furthermore, the Glorified Lord, only in this epistle brings in the name of the New Jerusalem, the city of His God.

From start to finish this epistle is abounding with direct references to the relationship between redeemed Jews and redeemed Gentiles. It is because it is Christ, and Christ alone that brings all fallen men [Jews and Gentiles] together in the hope of returning to His God, the one true and living God.

To reject Him is to reject His God. He is the link between God’s redemptive purposes through Israel and God’s redemptive purposes among the Gentiles.

We will return, for a moment, to a brief consideration of the Glorified Lord’s admonition and promise to the believing remnant there in Philadelphia in verses ten and eleven.

10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

Multitudes of commentators view this promise to the church there at Philadelphia as a reference to the Tribulation period that will eventually come upon the earth. Since each of these epistles have truth in them that is relevant to assemblies throughout the Church Age, this interpretation has credibility. Clearly, that way of looking at this promise could not be relevant to any specific assembly on the earth nearly two thousand years ago.[6]

Nevertheless, the Glorified Lord uses this staggering promise to further unite the Jewish and Gentile believers there at Philadelphia. The time of Tribulation being referenced has to do with the prophecy recorded in Jeremiah 30:7.

Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

The Glorified Lord is simply identifying that through the churches neither believing Jews nor believing Gentiles will have to face the Great Tribulation because they will have been raptured. Why would He say this to those at Philadelphia, knowing that their generation will pass from the earth long before that time? The answer has to do with all that we have been seeing in this epistle. Compare Ephesians 2:14.

For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

It is through the Lord’s assemblies [churches] that Jews and Gentiles have become one. It is through the rapture of the believers in the true churches that the middle wall of partition is unquestionably destroyed. All are washed in the blood of the Redeemer. It remains for the final ‘bringing in’ of Israel to come to fruition during the Tribulation period, when many Jews will see Him who they have pierced, exercise repentant faith in Him, and experience redemption and salvation.

Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.[7]

And:

And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.[8]

As we have abundantly seen, this assembly at Philadelphia is an apt frame for the Glorified Lord’s revelation concerning the fact that Jewish and Gentile believers would be spared at that time of great Tribulation upon the earth. The city had both a very strong Gentile presence and a very strong Jewish presence. Additionally, the very name of the city, Philadelphia, literally means ‘brotherly love.’ God’s revelation of His Truth is perfect, not only in its true meaning, but also in its arrangement and expression!

[1] At first, much of what we encounter in this epistle to the assembly at Philadelphia may seem unclear, but it will become far more clear as we proceed. [2] Thayer says this about this word- ‘that which has not only the name and resemblance, but the real nature corresponding to the name, in every respect corresponding to the idea signified by the name, real, true, genuine.’ He goes on to add- ‘opposite to what is fictitious, counterfeit, imaginary, simulated or pretended.’ [3] Romans 1:16, 10:12; and especially Galatians 3:28 and Colossians 3:11. [4] The Glorified Lord’s statement about these Jews coming and worshipping at the feet of the remnant believers, and knowing that He has loved them [Gentiles], does not mean that Jews would literally worship Gentiles. It means that Jews that Had always seen Gentiles as beneath their consideration would now be thrilled that through the Gospel being given to the Gentiles, it was now evident that Jehovah ahd always loved them as well. Delighting in God’s eternal redemptive purposes in Jesus Christ is the highest form of worship for fallen and redeemed men! [5] Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34, John 20:17. [6] Since, in the view we are taking, the Tribulation period has not yet come upon the earth. Preterists would see it differently. [7] Revelation 1:7. [8] Romans 11:23.