And to the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write These things saith the holy, the true; he that has the key of David, he who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one shall open
The letter to Philadelphia opens with a Person — holy, true, and holding a key. Why does the Lord describe Himself so differently here? And why does a royal official's title become His own?
The other letters open with something the Lord holds or walks among. Here that changes.
The Lord presents Himself to this assembly in a way that is quite different from His approach to all the other churches of Asia. To Ephesus He comes as the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. To Smyrna He speaks as "the first and the last, who died and came to life"... In these presentations what the Lord has stands out most. But in His presentation to Philadelphia what stands out is what He is in His own blessed Person — "the holy one, the true one." What He is in Himself is always greater and more precious than what He has.
The article in the Greek text points to something more than a good quality held in measure.
Here, then, we have Christ in personal character — what He is in Himself. He is the holy, He is the true. Others may be holy and true in a limited degree, so saying that much hardly gives the force of the words "the holy, the true." He is both in His own Person, and always the embodiment of holiness and truth. In themselves these are divine attributes... People and things are called holy and true, but no created being has the essential moral glory of being The Holy One and The True One. As used in our text they are really divine titles.
The word behind "true" here is not the one that means "not lying." It contrasts the genuine with the shadowy and the merely professed.
This word is not always the true as opposed to the false. Very often it means the substantial as opposed to the shadowy outline. So in Hebrews 8:2 we have the "true tabernacle," which our great High Priest entered. That implies that the tabernacle in the wilderness was only an earthly copy of what had a most real existence in heaven. So too Christ is called "the true light" (John 1:9), though John the Baptist was also "a burning and shining lamp" (John 5:35).
The title searches anyone content with a reputation.
Here is His own Person judging according to the truth. He reveals Himself in a way that works in practice. He insists on what is genuine. He no longer allows a mere acknowledgment of truth that is not carried out. He will have moral reality.
The Lord takes these words from an older prophecy about a royal official.
In these words and in those that follow the reference is to Isaiah 22:22. Shebna is removed from office and disgraced. Then the prophet announced the appointment of Eliakim to the administration of the royal authority. In depth and fullness the terms of the prophecy are Messianic. They go far beyond what happened in the days of Hezekiah. Isaiah's announcement and the words here are almost the same, and both imply administrative authority: Isaiah's in connection with royalty in Judah, and this one in connection with grace to the Church. The "key" as a symbol means undisputed right to enter and exercise all needful authority.
The key is not only a title. It settles what can and cannot be stopped.
We also find Him arranging things in favour of the church. If He opens a door, no one can shut it. If He shuts a door, no one can open it. So there are two things. He is the holy and the true to those who trust in Him. And He also has, not the display of power here, but the key of power... Let all the power of man or Satan do their worst. If I am resting in Christ, who is perfectly true, and He has opened a door, neither man nor devil can shut it.
Because the Lord names both qualities, neither can be traded for the other.
Holiness will not do without the truth, nor the truth without holiness. The absence of either is not of the Spirit of God.
- Person — This letter leads with what Christ is, not with what He holds. What He is in Himself is the greater thing.
- Holy — Creatures may be holy and true in a limited degree. These words are divine titles, and they belong to Him alone.
- Real — "True" here means genuine and substantial, not just honest. It exposes truth that is admitted but never carried out.
- Key — From Isaiah 22:22, the key of David means undisputed right to act with full authority. Eliakim held it in figure; Christ holds it in fact.
- Door — He opens and shuts, and no one can reverse it. Whoever rests in Him is secure against man and devil alike.
I know thy works behold, I have set before thee an opened door, which no one can shut, because thou hast a little power, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
The Lord who holds the key of David sets an open door before this church. The reason lies not in size or success, but in little power, a kept word, and a name never denied.
They were too weak to open the door themselves. One writer shows why the key in Christ's hand was what they needed:
The Lord presents Himself as having the key of David. So they ought not to look to the power of the world, nor to man; for if He had the key, that was the very thing they wanted. Human energy might be at work all around — Jezebel, false prophets, and the rest. But there was this blessed One, the Holy and the True. They were weak, so they needed Him all the more. They had so little strength that perhaps they could not even open the door; but He says He had opened it for them. He had brought them into a large place where there was no bondage or constraint... They valued Christ. They wanted to know more of Him, and He knew their heart.
The Lord opens this door for testimony and service, and no opposition can close it:
We gather from this that wherever the condition described here is found, the Lord opens a door for His servants. It is a door for His testimony and service. He will keep it open, whatever hostile efforts men make to close it. It is not a door standing open, but one that the Lord has opened. It was so in the Lord's own service among Israel. To the outward eye He had only a little strength. He was crucified in weakness. He lived by every word that came out of the mouth of God. He did not deny His Father's name. Men were full of cunning, malice, and hostility, yet there was always an open door before Him. To Him the doorkeeper opened, and so it is now for all who have the moral marks given here. So we never need to be anxious about open doors for service. Our only concern should be to be in a fit state for His use. Then a door will always open, even though there are many adversaries.
The phrase describes a church with nothing impressive to show the world. These writers quote it as "a little strength":
First, the Lord says, "You have but little power." This church is not marked by any display of power that would attract the notice of the world. ... The world delights in a strong man; God delights to carry out His work through weak vessels... Their wisdom, then, is not to claim power they do not have, nor to covet gifts that have passed away. Instead they own their true condition — they have only a little strength. So they find the support of the Lord, the One who has all power, who holds the key, and whom no one can resist.
Little strength is still strength. One writer sets it beside Sardis and Laodicea:
Yet the very expression "a little strength" assumes they had some strength. That is more than could be said of Sardis or Laodicea... Philadelphia has only a little strength. But it is enough to rise above the deadness of Sardis and the self-sufficiency of Laodicea. In doing so it had the Lord's approval.
Two questions arise here: whose word, and what does keeping it involve?
Not simply the Word as a whole, however true that may be of the Philadelphians, but Christ's word... His word covers the whole circle of Christian truth... Further, "keeping" the word implies that it is treasured in the heart and obeyed in the life. The Lord does not say you have expounded or taught the word, though that may be true. He puts the emphasis on the great fact that His word is kept. Those with little strength may have little gift. But something far more valuable in the Lord's eyes can mark them — obedience to His word.
One writer links the two commendations and names the target of Satan's attack:
The Word and the Name go together... All the heresies that have come into the world have always had their root in the abuse of the name of Christ... The great assault of Satan is against the Person of Christ, and your safeguard is holding fast that name.
One writer warns against turning these marks into a label:
No one need look for great attainments, in themselves or in others, for Philadelphia is marked by "little strength." But there is the keeping of Christ's word and not denying His name. May these features mark each one of us. To be governed by these marks is to be Philadelphian in character. But to claim the name of Philadelphia is the sure road to the state of Laodicea. Any assumption on our part is fatal to true spiritual progress.
- His key — the One who holds all authority opens the door, so weakness is no barrier and opposition no threat.
- His door — it opens for testimony and service; the concern is not to find an opening but to be fit for His use.
- His strength — "a little" makes no display that impresses the world. Yet it lifts Philadelphia above the deadness of Sardis and the self-satisfaction of Laodicea.
- His word — to keep it is to treasure it and obey it, which He values above gift or teaching.
- His name — word and name stand or fall together. Refusing to deny His Person is the safeguard — a character to live, never a label to claim.
Behold, I make them of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews, and are not, but lie; behold, I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that *I* have loved thee.
The Lord's message to the assembly in Philadelphia turns to a group of opponents. They claimed to be God's earthly people, and He promises to expose the claim and to make them bow one day before the very believers they despised.
Commentators identify these opponents by their principle, not their race. They stand for a religious system that drags Christians back onto ground God had set aside.
The synagogue of Satan, as already said, is the return to Jewish principles. It puts people under law. It restores the priestly ranks and ceremonies that suited an earthly religion like Judaism, but are out of place in a heavenly religion like Christianity. Paul condemns this pouring of new wine into old wineskins as destructive to the truth entrusted to him.
The claim is a "lie" because they take a title that is no longer theirs, and the promises that go with it.
In their ignorance, these teachers give up the true Christian position. They claim to be the spiritual Israel. They take Jewish promises and Jewish hopes for themselves, and they would put the consciences of Christians under the bondage of Jewish law-keeping. So they are really doing Satan's work.
The same phrase appeared once before, in the message to Smyrna.
We noted before that Smyrna and Philadelphia are the only two of the seven churches the Lord does not rebuke. Now we notice that both had to face the same religious opposition. Those who are the synagogue of Satan, falsely claiming to be Jews, reappear. In Paul's day Satan was already dressing up as an angel of light. It is nothing new for him to wear religious clothes.
The next writer traces where this counterfeit leads.
Judaism, set aside by God, is now one of Satan's best weapons and most subtle snares. Great Babylon has built her whole structure on this foundation. With the rituals, the priestly caste and the law-keeping of an earlier time, she has pushed out what belongs to Christianity: its simplicity and open speech, its equal priesthood and completed sacrifice, its free grace and full salvation.
Twice over, the Lord makes Himself the one who acts. Both the exposing and the bowing are His work.
The Lord can subdue such as far as He sees fit. He can expose their true character, for He says, "I will make them of the synagogue of Satan." Despite their religious display, He will show them up as nothing but a Satanic imitation of the Jewish system. On the other hand, the Lord will make them acknowledge what is according to Himself.
The Greek word behind "bow down" covers a wide range, and the reader is meant to weigh who is bowing and to whom.
We have translated the Greek word proskuneo as "do homage." In Greek it covers every act of reverence, from a simple bow to someone higher up to the worship of God Himself. The reader can decide what kind of homage is meant by asking who receives it and who gives it.
Commentators differ on the object of that homage. Some read it as respect paid to the despised believers themselves. One writer holds that the Lord will make them worship Him, not Philadelphia, at Philadelphia's feet (L. M. Grant). Both agree on the reversal itself:
In their religious pride and pretensions, they scorned and despised the Lord's devoted Assembly, but Christ here promises that He would display to their adversaries how much He loved them.
The verse ends with the sentence that gives the whole promise its weight.
We see how readily He speaks as the One who loves when He finds devotion to Himself in the Philadelphian church (Rev. 3:9). The one sentence that stands out in His words to them is "I have loved you." Others are to know that soon. Philadelphia knew it when He spoke, and it was their choicest treasure.
Writers are careful here. The Lord guarantees the vindication, but does not say when or how it comes.
But the Lord will compel the recognition of His own testimony. I do not say when, where, or how; but as surely as He lives, will the Lord vindicate the truth He has given, and the testimony He has raised up for His name.
- Counterfeit. The opponents claim a place God has set aside. Their religion is law, ritual and rank pressed onto Christians.
- Exposed. The first "I will make them" strips the disguise: the Lord shows their claim to be an imitation, not the real thing.
- Subdued. The second "I will make them" bends the proud to the ground before the weak — the Lord's work, not Philadelphia's.
- Loved. In the end the enemy learns not that Philadelphia was right, but that Christ loved her.
- Certain. The vindication is sure because He lives. He keeps the when and how to Himself, so faith holds on meanwhile.
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, *I* also will keep thee out of the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
The letter to Philadelphia ends with a promise built on a condition: they kept His word about patient endurance, so He will keep them. But what does it mean to be kept from an hour?
Older translations read "the word of my patience." The phrase points back to how the book opens, where John calls this age a time of endurance shared with Christ.
Revelation 1:9 shows what "the word of My patience" means. John calls himself "your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." The whole present time is the time of Christ's patience. He waits at the right hand of God until His enemies are made His footstool. He has taught His people this, and given the word that directs the path, spirit and conduct of the one who waits. They wait with Christ according to the word of His patience.
That waiting has a practical shape. If Christ is not yet taking His rights, His people do not grasp at theirs.
The Lord can say, "You have kept the word of My patience." His patience is the patient waiting for the moment when He will assert His rights and come out as King of kings and Lord of lords. In the meantime it involves the refusal to interfere in the course of this world. If we keep the word of His patience, we shall accept the place of a stranger with a rejected Christ, and refuse to claim our rights in this world.
The promise names an hour, not just a danger.
The wording of the promise disposes of the theory some hold that the Church, or part of it, must pass through the coming Tribulation to purge itself of its unfaithfulness. No, the guarantee is, "I also will keep you out of the hour of trial" — not brought through it, or kept in it, but complete exemption from it. Lot and Noah were preserved through the tribulations of their own day. Abraham and Enoch were kept out of those same seasons of trial. It is these last two who picture the Church.
Much depends on the small word behind "from." Older translations read "hour of temptation" where the ESV reads "hour of trial."
The language could not be stronger. It reads, "I will keep you out of the hour of temptation" — the Greek word ek means "out of." The trial is worldwide, so no one can escape by fleeing from one part of the earth to another. The only way to be kept out of the hour of trial is to be taken out of time altogether.
Kelly held that God works in two ways at once: some people are kept out of the hour, and others are kept through it.
The question is whether Scripture is clear that both of these methods hold good. Some are to be exempted from the hour of trial coming on the whole world. Others are to be kept not out of it, but through it. I have no doubt that both are true, and that God's word teaches both plainly.
The verse names who is tried: not everyone alive, but a certain kind of person.
This expression appears often in the book of Revelation. It does not simply mean those who live in the world. Read the various passages where this unusual term appears, and it becomes clear that "the earth-dwellers" stand in contrast to those whose citizenship is in heaven. They claim to be Christians, yet they refuse the heavenly calling. Their earthly-mindedness and worldly ways prove that they really belong to this world.
Philadelphia was a real congregation, yet the promise outruns it.
These words clearly reach much farther than the church at Philadelphia as it then existed, or any other single church. The hour of temptation has not yet come, and Philadelphia and its church were forgotten ages ago. I do not deny that there was a partial fulfilment at Philadelphia. But I am sure there is a promise here for the last days, for those who have kept the word of the patience of Jesus.
Christ aimed this promise at hearts under pressure, and gave them comfort in the present.
He reminded them that a time was coming when evil would be on display everywhere, almost unchecked. But they would be kept out of it, because they were keeping the word of His patience. In this way He supported and comforted their hearts then and there. When that season of fiery trial came, they would already have found their eternal joy in His own presence.
- He waits — Christ waits at God's right hand until His enemies are made His footstool. The whole present age is that waiting time.
- They keep — His people wait with Him. They live as strangers instead of claiming their rights in a world that refused Him.
- He keeps — The promise is exemption from the hour itself, not shelter inside it. The trial covers the whole world, so no place on earth is a hiding place.
- Who is tried — "Those who dwell on the earth" are marked by settled earthly-mindedness, not by where they happen to live.
- Why it matters — Commentators differ over whether some believers are carried through the trial instead of kept out of it. All agree Christ gave the promise to steady hearts under pressure.