Raymond K. Campbell · The Prophetic History of Christendom

"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" (v.9). We were last considering verse 10 where we have one of the commendable features of Philadelphia and the Lord's promise of keeping them from the hour of trial. In this verse 9 we have another of the Lord's promises to this faithful Assembly. The intimation here is that there were those who opposed these faithful believers who sought to honour the Lord and obey His Word. These opposers claimed to be Jews and were not; they took Jewish ground in their sacerdotal orders, robes, rites, ceremonies and sacred buildings, and made an ecclesiastical pretension to a successional God-established religion. 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. He would make them come and worship before their feet and to know that those whom they despised and maligned were the objects of the Lord's love and affections.