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THE PRIVILEGE OF THE “OPEN DOOR”
Revelation 3:7-13
Bob Bonner
October 23, 2005
What does it take for Christians in Grants Pass to find an open door or welcome mat before them when it comes to telling others about how much Jesus means to us? What does it take for me or you to be used effectively by God to reach out to others on behalf of Jesus Christ?
Jesus spells out the answer to that in His letter to the church at Philadelphia, a letter that He expects us to read over and over and to take to heart. In Revelation 3:7 we read these words of Jesus:
“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: 8I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9Behold, 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. 10Because 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. 11I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. 13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
The city of Philadelphia was 28 miles southeast of Sardis. It was located in a beautiful fertile valley, which led to it being an area noted for its agricultural products. However, this little valley was surrounded by volcanoes that would periodically erupt producing large quantities of black lava. Along with these eruptions came earthquakes which destroyed the city several times, most recently about a.d. 37. The great earthquake of A.D. 17 that destroyed Sardis also struck Philadelphia. The aftershocks of these earthquakes lasted for several years causing the people to live in a continual state of panic.
The city of Philadelphia was the youngest of the seven cities mentioned in these two chapters of Revelation. It was founded in 150 B.C. and named by the king who built it, King Attalus Philadelphus of Pergamum. King Attalus was noted for the great affection and admiration he had for his brother Eumenes, and thus named Philadelphia “the city of brotherly love” in honor of his love for his brother. The original purpose behind creating this key city was to make it a center for spreading Greek language and culture throughout the Asian provinces. Its success is seen in that the Lydian language which use to be the mother tongue of Asia Minor for centuries ceased to be used by A.D. 20.
The influence of Greek culture affected the religious life in Philadelphia. Its coins reveal the images of pagan gods such as Artemis and Asklepios, and many pagan temples were found in the city. Since grapes were one of its main crops, it’s not surprising to learn that the pagan god, Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry, was worshiped there. Yet, in the midst of the stronghold of Greek culture, the church in Philadelphia held fast.
Next to Smyrna, this is the only church against which the Lord registers no complaints. He delighted in this church, and why not. Historically, it was known to be a missionary-minded church dedicated to the spread of the Gospel. During Byzantine and Medieval times, this church seemed to grow in influence as did the city itself. It was known for its resistance to the Moslem influence in the Middle Ages. While most of the cities around it fell early to Moslem influence, Philadelphia remained strongly Christian until the 1400s. However, after WWI, all but nominal Christians left this city for Greece. The church at Philadelphia had the longest run in history of a city church that had been faithful to the Lord.
In Christ’s address in verse 7, he calls himself “holy” and “true.” In 6:10, these same two attributes of Christ are highlighted before those who had been martyred for Christ and were concerned about revenge or maybe wondering if those who had killed them and their friends were going to get away with their evil and escape God’s wrath.
When we read that Christ is “holy” it means that He is morally pure like no other. His character is without flaw. As a result, Christ’s holiness demands that those who are with flaws be corrected or rejected. His holiness demands that justice be done and that it will be done. Hence, reminding these believers of this, was an encouragement to them, that those who had wronged or persecuted them would be dealt with. The suffering and wrongdoing they were experiencing would not go unnoticed or be allowed to go unpunished.
Second, the fact that Jesus calls himself “true” or maybe better understood as “genuine” or “faithful” demonstrates that His character can be relied upon. In the face of possible doubts, these two stated attributes of Jesus declare that God’s justice will come in God’s perfect timing. You can depend upon it.
In pointing out that He possessed the “key of David, ”Jesus may have been using this expression in connection with a well-known fact about the city of Philadelphia’s geographic location. Its location made it possible for it to open or to close lines of communication between Rome and the central plateau of Asia Minor and the rest of its eastern empire. It was placed on the major trade route east. Being known as the key to open communication between Rome and its eastern empire may be the reason that Jesus refers to Himself as possessing the “key of David who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens.”
“The Key of David” is an expression referred to in Isaiah 22:20-25. In that passage, it is given to a man called Eliakim, a steward over King Hezekiah’s household (descendant of King David). He was able to open and shut the doors that led into the treasures of the king. Similarly, Jesus has ultimate authority and control as to who enters into the Messianic Kingdom. He opens and shuts the door.
When you put this together with Christ’s often stated words in each of these letters,“I know your works” and “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” these words about Jesus reemphasize that Jesus is indeed sovereign. He is indeed in control and the authority over which there is none higher. He is the one who opens and closes doors of evangelism. Hence, because Jesus knows all and because He is in control, His purpose in this letter is to encourage the believer to keep on holding tightly to His promises and to His calling upon their lives. He wants them to remain faithful to reaching out to the lost. He wants them to remember that He is the rewarder of those who remain faithful to Him and His purposes.
In verses 8, 9, as Jesus has done in His other letters, He points to the outstanding works of this church. I see four traits of the Christians at Philadelphia that make them a special group of believers.
First, they appear to be determined to reach the lost, and Jesus wants them to remain that way. Hence, He states,“See, I have set before you an open door.”
This image of “an open door” has been used elsewhere in the New Testament to point to missionary efforts. The Apostle Paul, on his second missionary journey wanted to enter into this province of Asia Minor to preach the gospel, but was prohibited by the Holy Spirit. The door was closed to him. He tried another door into the same area, but that was closed to him as well. But then, while in Troas, God gave him a vision of a man from Macedonia beckoning him to enter Europe because the Lord had opened the door to him. Paul’s commitment to enter that open door changed the course of the entire Western world, as it concerns the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Hence, these words of Christ, in verse 8 appear to be a challenge to the church at Philadelphia to continue to the spread the gospel and to expand their missionary efforts to the rest of the world, which history proves out they did more than any other early church.
Because Jesus holds the key of David, or the key to the door for those who will enter the kingdom, Jesus is telling them that He desires that many who come to their city come to know Him. In addition, He wants them to look to any door that may be around them to reach others for Christ, and He will open that door to them. They had been faithful to preach the gospel in the past and He wants them to continue with their outreach ministry, for He will bless it.
Being on a strategic highway, the church of Philadelphia stood at the doorway to the ancient world. These Christians could touch the lives of internationals without ever leaving their city. Very much like Christians in major universities today, who share Christ with their fellow foreign students, can be involved in missions work without ever leaving their campus. Historically, the city had been dedicated to spread the Greek language and culture to the known world and did. But now, this city was to spread the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the world.
In verse 11, Christ’s charge to “hold fast” could very much refer to holding fast to that outreach ministry they had begun early on as a church. That they would remain faithful to spreading the Word of God.
What led Jesus to open the doors of evangelism to them? Others have been just as determined to reach the lost for Christ, but God has not opened the doors for them. Why? The next three traits mentioned in verses 8, 9 explain what caused Jesus to honor their desire to reach the lost.
Unfortunately, the NIV wrongly breaks the continuous thought of verse 8 into two separate thoughts, when it is really only one sentence. This sentence has an effect-cause relationship. In other words, the effect is the open door for evangelism, and the rest of verse 8 and verse 9 reveal what was true about the Christians in Philadelphia that led God to open up the doors of evangelism to them.
The first is that they realized that they had little power, meaning, that they realized that apart from Christ they could do nothing. They lived their lives in humility and in total dependence upon the Lord’s strength to fulfill His calling upon their lives. They didn’t rely on their knowledge or their past evangelistic training to reach the lost, as important as that is. Instead, they prayed and sought His power, His enablement to get the job done.
From what I have read, the truth about these believers in Philadelphia is that they were not the richest Christians or most influential Christians in the empire. They did not have great numbers or any outstanding leaders or uniquely talented people. They were just ordinary believers who remained faithful to do whatever Jesus had called them to do.
They remind me of Christians who truly understood, believed and by faith acted upon the truth of Ephesians 2:10, which states, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” These “good works” which is an expression for those things that make a difference in eternity, the knowledge that God has prepared for each of them to do these things, moved them to believe God expected to use them, if by faith they depended upon Him to do so. By faith they starting praying for the lost and looking for opportunities to lead others to Christ, believing that since this is what God wanted them to do, He would, at the right time, open the door for them to share Christ with their neighbors, friends and strangers. Eventually, God gave them a ministry that reached far beyond their city, one that touched the world.
Hearing these words coming from the Savior’s lips brought encouragement and reassurance to all that they attempted on behalf of Christ.
The next reason that Jesus chose to open the doors of evangelism to them was that they “kept My word.” They were dedicated to God’s Word. They guarded the truth about the gospel and they were committed to obey the directives of their Lord. Like Christ, according to verse 10, who when He came to minister here on earth persevered through difficult times and temptations and remained true to God, so did they. They “kept the word of My perseverance.” Like Jesus, they persevered through rejection, temptation and suffering. were dedicated to not just teaching the truth, but to obeying the truth.
The third reason that caused Christ to open the doors of effective evangelism to these believers was that they had not “denied My name” meaning they were absolutely devoted to Jesus and His purposes. The first evidence of that was their ongoing committed obedience to all that He had commanded and to making His purposes the priority of their lives.
Twice during the first century the city of Philadelphia was renamed, once in the honor of Emperor Tiberius and once in honor of Emperor Vespasian. But as far as the true believers in this church were concerned, there was only one name they cared about, the name and the purposes of Jesus.
But this was not so with many Jews who had claimed to be converts to Christianity and who were a part of the Jewish/Christian synagogue, from which this church began. Some of these hostile Jews, who had rejected Jesus, tried to make life difficult for the believers. Hence, Jesus calls these Jews, ones who come from the “synagogue of Satan.” They were not true Jews, in the sense of believers like Abraham. If they had been, they would have sought after their Messiah and lived as the other faithful believers. Instead, they ridiculed, judged and made life difficult for the true believers.
Yet, because of the true believers’ devotion to Christ, Jesus promises that one day He will cause these other unbelieving Jews, who made the Christian’s lives miserable, to humble themselves before the true believers, while raising up to a position of honor those who have remained faithful to Jesus Christ. Jesus will one day in the future force these unbelieving Jews to bow down before the true believers and admit that not only is Jesus the only way, but that He loved these Christians because they loved Him and rejected the Jews because they rejected Him.
This statement of bowing down, reminds me of several passages in Isaiah, where God promises the faithful to be the object of admiration by their enemies. In Isaiah 49:23, we read similar words about kings and queens who shall bow down to the people of Israel and know that the Lord is their God. Isaiah 60:14 says, “...the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.” Like the true believers in the Old Testament, these Christians at Philadelphia will one day have the world recognize that indeed, they were deeply loved by the Lord, and that they were indeed correct in worshiping Jesus Christ and remaining faithful to Him.
Because Jesus does truly love these faithful believers, He warns them, in verse 10, of tough days that will lay ahead but not to worry...He will provide them with protection. Many understand that this testing was only to be for a few days, but somehow, Jesus was going to protect the church at Philadelphia as they lived through these difficult times. However, a closer look at the words that Jesus uses here reveals that is not what He is promising.
First, Jesus doesn’t refer to just a few days of difficulty. Rather, he uses a unique expression that describes a specific extended period of time. He refers to it as being “an hour of testing.” Literally, Jesus says “from an hour of the testing.” In other words, it would not be just the normal pressures of living for Christ amidst persecution that many were experiencing that day, but that it would be something specific that had not yet occurred.
In addition, Jesus tells them, “I will keep you from the hour of the testing.” More literally, the Greek reads, “I will keep you out of or away from the hour of testing.” In other words, “Church at Philadelphia, you won’t even be there when this specific hour of testing comes. You won’t have to live through this awful time. You will be kept out of or removed from the situation.”
For instance: In the case of Noah, he was not kept away from the flood, but was preserved through it. But that is not the case with the church of Philadelphia. They, like Enoch, and like the raptured church to come, the church at Philadelphia was removed from this specific hour of testing, because they all died before it hit.
So what is the specific hour of testing that Jesus speaks of here? I believe this period or the “hour of the testing” is the future period of time, written about by Daniel, called by some, “Daniels 70th week” or the Tribulation. The Tribulation is that short period of time, the last 7 years of the history of this planet as we know it. It is a period of time during which Jesus brings judgment upon the earth. I believe that this is “the hour of the testing” because more than three quarters of this book is devoted to laying out in detail parts of that hour of testing. Contextually, this interpretation best fits with what’s coming up in the rest of Christ’s revelation.
Some argue that, based on verse 11, and Jesus statement that “I come quickly” His words must refer to something in the immediate future and could not refer to something a long time away, like the Tribulation. However, that misunderstanding comes from not knowing what the word “quickly” means. It does not refer to something happening immediately or soon, but rather something that happens suddenly, unexpectedly or without warning.
In support of this understanding of the meaning of “quickly,” one should take note that Christ’s promise “I will come quickly” is repeated only three other times in the book of Revelation. All three of those are mentioned in the last chapter of the book, chapter 22, which follows those 14 chapters of Christ’s prophetic plan of judgment coming to this globe. Each time He says that, He is warning the reader that His appearance and judgment is going to be shockingly sudden in light of the past 12,000 years of human history. People are going to be living in what they think is the best of times, peace throughout the world, and then all hell will break loose on earth within a 7-year period of testing on earth.
In addition, Jesus tells us that this hour of testing was to be experienced not just locally in Philadelphia, but according to verse 10 it was to “come upon the whole world to test those who dwell upon the earth.” This would be a globally felt test, as that described in chapters 6-19. So far, there has never been such a historical global testing of our earth.
Many do not agree with me. There are too many arguments pro and con by too many great scholars for us to cover them this morning. But for now, this is my best sense as to what Jesus is telling the Philadelphians and us.
Although many Godly scholars are not in agreement as to the exact timing or interpretation of these details, there is one thing that all agree upon as we look at these verses predicting hard times. And that is that Jesus promises that when those days of testing come, He will provide His supernatural protection. Jesus has always been our divine protector. If He wants us to live and remain on earth, instead of taking us home, no one can break down His defenses of protection for those whom He loves—those whom Jesus labels overcomers will always stand protected.
Finally, in verse 12, Jesus makes several promises to those who are like these faithful Philadelphian, these overcomers.
First, he says that He will “make him a pillar.” This is a figurative statement, promising the overcomer not just a permanent place with the Lord forever and ever, something all believers possess; but those who remain faithful to the end, those who make God’s priorities their priorities regardless of the cost, they will have something more. They will be literally made into something special. They will be figuratively made into beings of pillars in the temple of God, which according to Rev. 21:22 is the same as the eternal New Jerusalem. In the eternal rule of the New Jerusalem, there is no temple. The people are the temple. Hence, these overcomers will be “pillars” or unique persons of responsibility and stability for eternity. These faithful believers will be the ones upon whom God will be granting special responsibilities in His eternal rule. When Jesus adds, “and he shall go out no more” He means we shall never be separated from Him...we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Overcomers, by their lifestyle, prove that they are the real deal.
Specifically, what do each of these names mean? Honestly, I don’t have a clue. I’ve read a lot of what others have said, and I find little confidence in their knowing what they are talking about. The best I can discern is that this three-fold promise involving three names points to us having a special identity before God. This verse appears to be one giant summary – we belong to the Lord! Nothing will ever change that fact.
In the end, the weight of Jesus’ words of encouragement to these faithful believers who have hung in there during tough times is a reminder that one day, when this world has come to an end, they will look back and then look forward, declaring, “It really was worth it, to remain faithful to the end.”
Once again, Jesus closes with His familiar exhortation: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear...”
There are several points of personal application for today that we can take from this passage, but I want us to focus on just one. As I have read this letter over and over, I believe it is the primary point that Jesus wants us to personally take to heart. We know that the only reason we have been left here to live out the rest of our lives in this cruel world is to reach others for Christ. But if we really want to reach others for Christ, what does it take for Him to give us an “open door?”
Not all are given the privilege to impact their neighbors and families and strangers for Christ. Not because Jesus wants to withhold from us that privilege, but because we have not earned the right to be given an open door. So, the point of application I choose to consider is, “What does it take to be offered an ‘open door’?”
Besides accepting the fact that Jesus has left us here on earth to reach the lost, and that He expects us to do so, I see three ingredients necessary on the believers’ part, before God is going to grant us an open door to effectively sharing Christ with others.
First, it takes a genuine understanding that no matter how much knowledge we possess about Christ and how to lead others to Christ, we still do not have the supernatural power to lead someone to Christ. We have to humbly accept the fact that we have “little power” and we must, moment by moment, live in dependence upon Christ and His power working in and through us if we expect to be used of God in leading others to Christ.
Second, we learn from these Philadelphians that only as they remained true to God’s Word, meaning that they didn’t water it down or misuse it in any way, and as they remained obedient to the Word, did God choose to use them to reach the lost. The same is true for us. If we want an open door to share Christ with those who come across our path, whether friend, family, foe or foreigner, we must be true and obedient to the Word.
Finally, if we want Christ to make an open door to reachng people in our community, we must make Jesus and His purposes the priority of our lives.We often think that denying Jesus’ name means that we speak against or denounce Jesus and His purposes. But there is another way in which we can deny Jesus’ name: live as though His purposes are not important to us; live as though they have never been outlined to us; live as though we ignore the major fact that the sole purpose for us remaining on this earth is ultimately to reach the lost for Christ. True, as a church we need to continue to equip and strengthen people in their ability to share their faith. True, we are to draw close to one another and love one another and strengthen one another being knit together in love. But for what ultimate purpose? To come together in a holy huddle and talk about our great future with Jesus and our home in heaven? No! We can do that in eternity. Ultimately, we do those things so that, individually, we can become more effective in reaching others for Christ. That’s what is meant by making Jesus and His purposes the priority of our lives.
So, where are we...you in this process? Do you want to have an open door to share Christ? Is it even on your mind? Are you concerned at all that those on your sports team, a fellow office worker, fellow employee, neighbor, fishing buddy or family member, as nice as they may be, but without Christ, have a dark and hopeless destiny? If you are not concerned, then I suggest that we pray together that God so move in our hearts to wake us up that we would be concerned. Only if we invite Him to change our hearts will we become effective for Him.
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