Letters to the Church: Philadelphia (The Church part 9)

Revelation 3:7-13 Background Philadelphia is 25
miles SE of Sardis in the Hermes Valley. It is the youngest of
the churches in Revelation. Philadelphia means “brotherly love”.
When King Eumenes II of Pergamum founded the city of Philadelphia
he named it after his younger brother and successor Attalus
Philadelphus. Attalus got the nickname Philadelphus (The one who
loves his brother) because Attalus was deeply loyal to his
brother to the point when the Romans offered to help Attalus
overthrow his brother and give him the throne he refused.
Philadelphia sat on top of a fault line and was affected by
several major earthquakes in 17 AD. It was a city that was ruined
and rebuilt many times Description of Jesus
(3:7) Holy and True This is usually translated as “the
words of him who is holy and true” but in Greek “holy” and “true”
are each proceeded with the definite article. It should read “the
words of him who is THE holy and THE true”. By taking these
titles Jesus is reminding the church that he is one with God the
Father. It’s also important as we look at the interaction of the
Jews and Christians in Philadelphia. The claim of the church that
Jesus is Lord and God is what is bringing them persecution. Has
the Key of David Isaiah 22:15-24 The theme here in Isaiah 22 is
that the previous stewards will be removed, and a new “servant”
will be set up who will have the keys to the kingdom, the key of
David. There are a lot of Echoes of Christ in this passage: a
servant, given authority, connection to David, at the seat of
honor (right hand), over the father’s household. And the honor of
the family hangs on Him (Jesus is the head of the church).  
Praise for Philadelphia (3:8-11) Philadelphia,
like Smyrna, is a church that Jesus does not call to repent. Both
churches are churches that suffer for Jesus’ name. both churches
are facing persecution from the religious establishment (The
Jews). Synagogue of Satan In Revelation 3:9 Jesus describes this
synagogue as not real Jews but liars. Like in Smyrna “Those who
say they are Jews but are not”. The true Jew is the one who in
part of the family of the Messiah in Christ. Those who claim
Jesus as Lord.   NT Wright: “which of these two groups then,
Jews or Christians, can claim to be the true Jews, bearing the
torch of God’s ancient people? Here Jesus is quite clear; those
who follow him, the Davidic messiah, are the true Jews. Those who
deny him are forfeiting their right to this noble name.” Isaiah
45:14 The Expectation was that the nations would flow into the
Jewish nation, but Jesus reverses it and now at the end of
Revelation we see the nations flowing into the New Jerusalem, the
Kingdom. But Jesus puts the Jews in Philadelphia in the shoes of
the pagan nations. Flips the script! He compares the Jews in
Philadelphia to Shebna in Isaiah 22 who is removed from the
house, and the keys of David are given to God’s servant Eliakim,
a shadow of Jesus. It says the glory of his family will hang on
him, it’s offspring and offshoots… His body the church  Kept
in the Trial There are exact word parallels with the words “keep”
and “from” in Rev. 3:10 and John 17:15, which is the only other
NT occurrence of “to keep” with “from” together: there Christ
prays, “I ask not that you take them out of the world, but that
you keep them from the evil one.” Thus, Jesus denies a physical
removal from tribulation and affirms a spiritual protection from
the devil. Big idea of this section is there is judgement coming
on the kingdoms and systems that oppose God but God will keep his
family Conquer We conquer the way of the Lamb,
not the way of Rome! The conquers will be a pillar in the temple
of God and have God’s name, New Jerusalem, and Jesus’ name
written on them.