Letters to the seven churches: Philadelphia

Revelation 3:7-13
The sixth church we come to in Rev. 2-3 is that of Philadelphia. Its name means ‘brotherly love’, and along with the church of Smyrna is one of the two churches which receives no rebuke from Jesus.
The title Jesus uses of Himself is “Him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David; what He opens no-one can shut, and what He shuts no-one can open” (Rev. 3:7). We don’t see this exact description in ch. 1, instead there Jesus says He holds the keys of death and Hades (Rev. 1:18). Keys are things that open doors. We will see this theme repeated throughout this book, beginning with the commendation, that Jesus has placed before them an open door that no-one can shut. This terminology was used earlier by Paul (Acts 14:27, 1 Cor. 16:9, 2 Cor. 2:12, Col. 4:3) to refer to witnessing opportunities. In the historical context, the church of Philadelphia relates to the missionary church.
Jesus goes on to say that they have little strength, but they have kept His word and not denied His name. This reminds me of what Paul wrote: “Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (Eph. 6:13). Of ourselves, we don’t have any strength. We need to stand on the word of God, and He will enable us to still be standing when the dust of battle settles.
The exhortation to the church of Philadelphia is to hold on to what they have (Rev. 3:11). It doesn’t sound very hard to do, but Christians today are increasingly letting go of the basic, funadmental truths of the gospel and God’s Word. We don’t need to invent new doctrines; we just need to hold on to what we already have.
This church also has an express promise to be removed prior to the Tribulation: “Since you have kept My command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth” (Rev. 3:10). This is not a promise to preserve them through the Tribulation, but to remove them from the situation altogether.
Finally we have the promise to the overcomer, followed by the ‘He who has an ear’ phrase common to all the letters. The overcomer is promised to be made a pillar in the temple of God, never again to leave it. Jesus will write on them the name of God, the name of God’s city, and His own new name. We write our names on things that belong to us. So too with God. Do you belong to Him? Has He made you an overcomer?