It was a centre of the woollen trade; and it was claimed that the art of dyeing wool was actually discovered there. "He that denies me before men," Jesus said, "I will deny before my Father, but if you confess Me before men, I will confess you before my Father which is in heaven." tachy, soon; cf. They set up to be more righteous and holy than the rest, whom they denounced as Antinomian because they stood in the true grace of God. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock ( Revelation 3:20 ): Actually the church has put Christ on the outside. After the death of Alexander there were many claimants for the power. Behold, I will make of them the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee ( Revelation 3:9 ). It was founded for a special purpose. If even what belongs to the world be touched, they are in no small agitation about it. Still they become a witnessing body more or less in spirit, apart from that which set up the highest pretension but in profoundly wicked communion with Jezebel, as the Lord judged and stigmatized what man called "our mother, the holy Catholic, church." The Lord at the close gives a promise suited to the condition. It [ Rev 3:10] is a promise, not to all the church, but to a certain clearly-defined portion of itthose who keep the doctrine of Christ's second advent, and its hope of rapture. On that point he is a regular Puritan; there is no moving him." This is the Lord's way of delivering those who keep his word: thus he shuts them away from the temptation that comes upon others. and keeps to it with all its force. It is a serious thing where and how we dwell. You may never become more numerous, or more influential; but do let it be true of you, that you have kept God's word. If you will now begin to talk to others about that which you love so well, you will be astonished to find how gladly they will receive it from you. The state of the church in Ephesus has the same generality. Philadelphia is one of seven churches addressed with its own letter in Revelation 2 & 3. Surely love can go no further than that. The Jews who were the great merchants and bankers of the world and spread through out the Roman empire would soon be brought low, as well as the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. The process of becoming the slave of sin does not happen overnight. But if a man has a faith tried and refined in the crucible of experience, there is nothing which he cannot face; and he is rich indeed. The church in Ephesus tried these pretended apostles, specially the angel, as one that helped them much by grace from the Lord. The insistence on the Son's part in creation was due to the heretics who explained sin and disease by saying that the world had been created by a false and inferior god. A greater trial appears now. In the time of Vespasian Philadelphia was in gratitude to change its name again to Flavia, for Flavius was the Emperor's family name. "Behold, I come quickly!" The Risen Christ is telling the lethargic Sardians to remember the thrill with which they first heard the good news. Take equally little notice of what any man says, be he orator, thinker, bishop, or whatever he may be. That is what the Philadelphian Church would see, at least in its beginnings, if its members were faithful. I answer, because it is a holy thing to treasure up God's word. Second, it supplies us with an inspiration. If you only help to strengthen one solitary Christian woman, who knows what may come to pass by her means? Cambridge University Press, 10.1017/CBO9781139208758, pages 120-120, 2013. In A.D. 17 there came a great earthquake which destroyed Sardis and ten other cities. It was not that Croesus was not warned where Sardis was heading. Isaiah 45:14; Isaiah 49:23; Ezekiel 36:23; Ezekiel 37:28; Zechariah 8:20-23). Therefore they appear as golden lampstands. "And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.". I take it to be this: that the Lord had in view not necessarily an elder, nor a teacher, but one who might be either or both, and before His mind truly represented, and was in a special way bound up with the responsibility of the state of the assembly. But no man knows when eternity will invade his life and God will bid him rise and come; and that must warn the careless to prepare to meet his God and cheer the oppressed with the thought of the coming glory of the faithful soul. Here is something to make us think: (i) The one attitude which the Risen Christ unsparingly condemns is indifference. Blessed shall he be who only wanted to know the Lord's will that he might do it unquestioningly, caring nothing what the will of other people might be in the matter. Again Croesus was warned, but he failed to see the warning. A return to earth could not be characterized as soon by any stretch of the imagination. That does not matter; but it does matter that you be faithful to your Lord. "I became dead (records John), and, behold, I am alive unto the ages of the ages." Philadelphia, The Open Door ( Revelation 3:7-13 Continued). God is holy because he is different from men; he has that quality of being which belongs to him alone. To say that Jesus Christ is holy is to say that he shares the being of God. Possibly you have not much strength as to influence: your sphere may be very narrow, and your power in it very slight. Life in Christ, where there is spiritual intelligence, takes one out of the vanities of the world in principle. If you have been vacillating and shifty and tricky, and have believed everything and nothing, nobody will take any particular notice of what you say, except it be to shut the door against your uncertain prattle. Philadelphia was the youngest of all the seven cities. Here is the picture of Christ searching for sinful men who did not want him. Do you not in this merely sink to the world's level? The man who will not submit to Christ has necessarily resisted him. It was thus that Hanum treated the servants of David ( 2 Samuel 10:4). It means that their message was not confined to the people in the seven Churches nineteen hundred years ago, but that through them the Spirit is speaking to every man in every generation. THE LETTER TO LAODICEA ( Revelation 3:14-22 ). (i) It is used as a warning to the heedless. "So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate." Why, there are great folk among us that never care to believe according to God's word at all. "And I will give him the morning star." He who overcomes will be thus clothed in white raiment and I will not wipe his name out of the Book of Life, but I will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels. (c) It is just possible that we have an Old Testament picture. This is a very significant circumstance, more particularly as in the epistles, which contemplate the Christian company or a family or a friend, the one aim and effort is to place the children of God in immediate communion through Christ with Himself: an inspired apostle writes it no doubt, and the various members of God's family, as well as the servants of the Lord, are owned in their place. Did they like to be near a throne, although it were the throne of Satan to dwell there? And I am persuaded there is no place which is more likely to generate neutrality than a sound and true position, if there be not self-judgment maintained and godly sincerity. It was literally astride the great road to the east which went straight through Laodicea, entering by the Ephesian Gate and leaving by the Syrian Gate. The answer is given by the last clause when "and" is taken away: the visions that he was going to behold and record in this book whatsoever things he saw. We can rely on his words for he is the Amen. It was in an area where there was a very large Jewish population. There is a divine link in the sense as there was in the Spirit's mind an undistinguished reference; but then the Apocalypse gives it an incomparably larger range, and a more profound character. Philadelphia, Many Promises ( Revelation 3:7-13 Continued). This is the Lord's complaint against them. Applying this to the present time, and our own circumstances, is it not most grave? (d) It has been suggested that the white robes stand for the resurrection bodies which the faithful will some day wear. 1:19 + ). Particular care is taken here to show it to us. If you feel, "I never can give up the Bible; I never can forsake the truths that I have learnt from it: they are stamped on my heart, they are cut into the very centre of my soul," then you are the man who may safely go forth to publish the truth. It became a Roman assize town. But the utmost promised in the word that closes the epistle goes not beyond reigning with Him. I could not be in communion with a church whose chief guide and authority is another book than God's word, and whose acknowledged Head is other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Tepid is chliaros ( G5513) . But the drift is plain enough where the conscience is not blunted. The address is to the overcomer, who is accordingly put before the call to hear. It was a greater proof of fidelity when all was out of course to stand faithful than to be faithful when all things were regular. On the other hand, to be clothed in fine raiment was the greatest honour. He must, therefore, be ever on the watch. His coming is their joy, and for this they watch more than watchman for the dawn. "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write." The connection of the Son with creation is frequently made in the New Testament. Philadelphia had a great characteristic which has left its mark upon this letter. 3:7-13 And to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia, write: These things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no man will shut, and shuts and no man opens. First, their Jewish antagonists would eventually have to acknowledge that the Christians were the true followers of God (cf. Thus, besides what the apostle had in his ordinary relation with Christians, and his already lengthened tenure in the service of Christ, he receives now a new character of word and testimony. ", It often happens that, when a great earthquake comes, people meet it with courage and self-possession, but ever. It is the only view that can honestly say that Christ could return at any moment, because it alone teaches that Christ will come to rapture the church before the 70th week of Daniel 9 or the Tribulation period begins and that nothing else must happen before His return." I do not believe it. The fire must be kept burning. Not the common text, but this is the true order. I will also keep thee from the hour of trial Norris' Commentary on the Book of Revelation, Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible. There was deipnon ( G1173) ; this was the evening meal; the main meal of the day; people lingered over it, for the day's work was done. Here observe it is not now a trial by false apostles. This is an echo of an expectation of the Jews which finds frequent expression in the Old Testament. If God is the God of Amen, he is utterly to be relied upon. This seems taken up here, and applied in a far larger way for purposes suitable to the Apocalyptic prophecy. Men who deserve praise can bear it, and some of them even need it. The beginning of the third chapter introduces the protestant state of things. If anything is to be rescued from the impending ruin of the Church in Sardis the Christians there must wake from their deadly lethargy and watch. In the ancient world columns often bore the names of conquerors. And are you not to walk as He? When the Turks and Mohammedanism flooded across Asia Minor and every other town had fallen, Philadelphia stood erect. God has put us in trust with the gospel, and we will sooner part with all that we have than be false to our trust. Satan's synagogue. He is seen as the true God in the outpouring of His wrath upon a Christ-rejecting world. Thus whether it be the depraving of souls or the forming sects after an earthly mould among those who were heavenly according to Paul, or whether it be the taking them away from the life of Christ, and from walking as He walked and simply putting them under Jewish ordinances, the Fathers, I fear, as a class, fully earned the awful distinction here assigned by the Lord. CHRISTS MESSAGE TO THE CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA 3:7-13 (The church using her opportunities). I do not in the least doubt that God proves Himself faithful in the worst of times. "The last day is a secret," says Augustine, "that every day may be watched." As it is said here, "Because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess." When the children of Israel had hopelessly betrayed the Lord when their departure was complete before His eyes not only in the first rent-off portion, the ten tribes of Israel, but even the remaining two, when there was a stay and a lengthening of the tranquillity, when not only Judah, but even the house of David, the anointed king, the last regular link between God and His people, failed, then we find that God addressed not His people, but an only chosen faithful servant as His witness. This wicked Jezebel not only persecuted the true saints of the Lord, but sought universal supremacy a world-wide dominion over souls. Observe, (1.) At the Persian court the king's most trusted favourites were given the privilege of walking in the royal gardens with the king and were called "The Companions of the Garden." There was no life or spirit there. [Note: Thomas, Revelation 1-7, p. We have seen how it was a border town, standing where the boundaries of Lydia, Mysia and Phrygia met, and founded to be a missionary of Greek language and culture to the barbarous peoples beyond. It is "he that openeth, and no man shall shut." Jezebel was a mother indeed a holy mother, said the deceivers and deceived. It is interesting to note that the third century work The Apostolic Constitutions (8: 46) says that Archippus was the first Bishop of the Church in Laodicea. The exact meaning of the words is to be noted. Philadelphia, City Of Praise ( Revelation 3:7-13 Continued). It was theirs, they heard it and had no wish to hear anything else. (ii) He is he who is true. Even that which connects Him with the Christian, as the One that intercedes for him in the presence of God, is here left out, though I doubt not we may see Him as the angel high priest for others in Revelation 8:1-13. That in itself would have been enough to make Laodicea one of the great commercial and strategic centres of the ancient world. (iii) It has been suggested that the door is the door to the Messianic community. Elegchos ( G1650) is the corresponding noun, and Aristotle defines it: "Elegchos ( G1650) is the proof that a thing cannot be otherwise than we say." (ii) We cannot say that that meaning is impossible and yet it does not seem to fit the context, for the atmosphere of the passage is not so much warning as love. There can have been few areas where the Jews were wealthier and more influential. What is there to praise about keeping God's word? (a) We see the pleading of Christ. "The things which are" present the prolonged condition set forth in the addresses to the seven churches. We must remember that holy (hagios, G40) means different, separate from. Take time by the forelock and honour your God. And the way to "maintain the spiritual glow" ( Romans 12:11, Moffatt) is to live close to Christ. Let us bear our protest: the gold is good enough for us. Thus the Lord was no longer fighting in defence of His own people, nor was He employing the enemy's hatred and persecution to nip in the bud or prune evil excrescences. He asks the Colossians to pray that a door of utterance may be opened for him ( Colossians 4:3). Behold, I am standing at the decor and knocking. Joab and Abiathar lost their places to Benaiah and Zadok ( 1 Kings 2:25). The word of my patience Of several interpretations advocated regarding this, that of Trench as quoted by Earle seems the best: "It is much better to take the whole Gospel as the word of Christ's patience, everywhere teaching, as it does, the need of a patient waiting for Christ. To try them That is, such persecutions will be the means of trying and proving those who profess Christianity, and showing who were sound and thorough Christians and who were not. (iii) As the Revised Standard Version has it, he is the beginning of God's creation. To use that door of opportunity is at once our privilege and our responsibility. ], Furthermore, it is not just the testing God promised to deliver them from but the "hour" of testing, the time in history during which these trials will come (cf. What the application of this may be depends on the context where it is used. I open and no man can shut. Whether it be Christ that is represented or the description of the state of the church, whether it be the fault that is charged home, or the remedy that is proposed, whether it be the judgment that is threatened or the promise that is held out, all is of the most general description. Does it not then stand in the place of Jezebel? I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou were cold or hot. In Jesus is reality. Would that you were cold or hot! A straggling few may reckon themselves to be the majority when they stand alone with God, for HE counts for more than all the myriads of the earth put together. Hence, evidently, there is a comprehensive term employed with divine wisdom, "to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass." Abraham, said the Jewish Rabbis, was the pillar of the world. We will take you to heaven next Sunday night.Oh God, give us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. (1a) The character of the city of Sardis. "[50] A secondary meaning applies the text to the final judgment. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, [and here it is, because you've kept His Word], I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the eaRuth ( Revelation 3:10 ). More, however, is meant than simply loving the word, though that is no small thing. But here we have visions visions of God's judicial ways visions of what would call for judgment in the ever growing iniquity of man. The reason for the word is that this famous tephra Phrygia, Phrygian powder, was exported all over the world in solidified tablet form in the shape of little rolls. John says, "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. "This is the judge that ends the strife, When wit and reason fail. But this is here restricted: it does not mean the truth in general, nor the gospel in particular, though we cannot doubt that John did preach the gospel, and did nourish the church of God in all His revealed truth; but this is not the subject of the Apocalypse, nor the meaning of our text. Oh, dear child of God, you may be very little in Israel; but if you love the word of God there is a something about you in which God takes delight. Laodicea, The Wealth That Is Poverty ( Revelation 3:14-22 Continued). We have a little strength. [1.] I am sure Luther is one from whom we may all learn much; whose courage, faithfulness, self-renunciation, and endurance are edifying and instructive. For whom it was more immediately designed: The angel of the church of Philadelphia; this also was a city in Asia Minor, seated upon the borders of Mysia and Lydia, and had its name from that brotherly love for which it was eminent. I shut and no man can open. If there is a secret entrance to heaven he prefers it; he means to go round about and climb over the wall somewhere, or sneak in at the back gate. which is about to come . Help us purchase electrical generators for churches. Good men have many conflicts, let us minister to their comfort. (b) In the way of Christ the reward of work well done is more work to do. In the gospel we bear of eternal life in the Son and this in the grace of God given to the believer. One of these days we are going to go into the phone booth and change our clothes and we are going to come out with super power and we are going to just point at the Russians and they will just shrivel and die. The ropes hang down in our belfry, but the glorious chime is aloft. "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. There might not be energy of faith for this, but at any rate fidelity to Christ was not lacking, and where this was "To him that overcometh," says the Lord, "I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which none knoweth save he that receiveth it." Sin, as Burns had it, "petrifies the feeling.". It is a sweeping intimation of the very same way in which the Lord threatens to come on the world. He is man; but the man seen then and thus is a divine person, the eternal God Himself. That amount of gold would be equal to 15,000 silver drachmae. 159.] On this monumental pillar there shall be an honourable inscription, as in those cases is usual. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. A Definitive Study of the Rapture of the Church, pp. The salutation is from God in His own being, the ever-existing One, He who is, and who was, and who is to come. "And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him" ( Genesis 5:24). Sardis, The Threefold Promise ( Revelation 3:1-6 Continued). Have we not heard of it? You must not think it is merely a question of England; it holds equally abroad, as in Germany and elsewhere in fact, wherever Protestantism is found, and, above all, wherever this is provoked, either by scepticism on the one hand, or on the other by truth that condemns both with the brightness of heavenly light. God does not leave those who have shown that they will not leave him. 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