Philadelphia: The Faithful Church

The Age of Brotherly Love

Today we are looking at the church of Philadelphia, the church of “brotherly love.” This is one of only two churches among the seven in Revelation that receives no rebuke. In fact, it receives commendation upon commendation upon commendation. Before we get into the text, I want to take a little bit of extra time and walk through the history behind what is going on.

As we have talked about these epistles, you’ll remember that each church parallels a specific age of church history far too coincidentally to be an accident. Philadelphia is no exception. This church represents the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, commonly called the “Missionary Age,” or what some historians call the late modern church. It was an incredible time of the movement of God in our history—a time known for revivals, key players, and significant conflicts.

Revelation 3:7-13 (NASB)

’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: ’I 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. ’Behold, 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. ’Because 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. ’I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. ’He 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. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

As with most history, the more years that pass by, the quicker events seem to come. In the seventeen and eighteen hundreds, it was as if the movement of God’s church was in hyperdrive. Things were happening left and right. There were some negative influences during this age, and if you have taken philosophy courses, you have probably been exposed to these guys.

The Philosophic Opponents

The first was a man named Descartes, often called the first modern man. Up until this point, the Bible was generally accepted as the status quo—the authoritative source of truth. Descartes came along and rejected biblical inerrancy, embracing “Enlightenment thought.” This was the idea that you could find truth through clear ideas and didn’t need the Scripture; you just needed a good “melon.” If you could think clearly enough, you didn’t need God’s word.

He was followed by John Locke, the father of empiricism. Empiricism argued that truth was only accepted based on the opportunity to evaluate data. It rejected everything supernatural because it couldn’t be recreated or observed. It stripped away the uniqueness of Christ and His miracles. Then came Immanuel Kant, who created an entire philosophic system that acted like a dividing wall in history.

Two other names follow who were perhaps the most profound. The first is a guy I love just because his name is so fun to say: Friedrich Schleiermacher. He is the father of modern liberalism. He didn’t want to throw the Bible away; he just wanted to rip the guts out of it. He stripped away anything divine and turned the church into a society of “good works” people. To him, the cross wasn’t a symbol of execution and shame, but just a cute little act of compassion.

Schleiermacher’s writings gained massive popularity, but he couldn’t answer one massive question: Where did the world begin? Up until that point, the world had a theistic worldview. You had to go back to a Creator. Then, in 1859, Charles Darwin wrote The Origin of Species. For the first time, he provided a system of thinking without God. If you can reject God at the beginning of creation, you can live however you want. It’s just survival of the fittest.

The Fire of Reform

Christianity faced the most significant philosophic opponents in its history during this time. But in the midst of these men with “bowed up” heads, there were others who brought glory to God and created movements that put these philosophers in their shadows.

A pietistic movement began among believers searching for reform in England. They saw that faith needed to be more than just external; it had to be from the inside out. They believed that a converted heart warmed to the gospel was not just a religious do-gooder, but someone changed at their very core.

Two powerful men rose up: George Whitefield and John Wesley. These guys were so passionate about heart reform that they were rejected by the established churches because their messages were inflammatory. People don’t usually enjoy being told they need to change. So, Whitefield and Wesley said, “Fine, we don’t need a building. We just need a field.” They would stand on hay bales and teach the Word of God to thousands. They were passionate, they were relentless, and they were a little bit nuts for the cause of Christ.

The sparks of that movement burst into flames in the American colonies during the First Great Awakening. One of the greatest theologians ever born in North America was Jonathan Edwards. He was brilliant, and he is most well-known for a message called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. I was reading it before I came over here, and let me tell you, he was bowed up.

Listen to this excerpt from his application and tell me if we haven’t changed a little bit in how we speak from the podiums today:

“The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you and is dreadfully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like fire. He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire… you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours… and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment.”

That is powerful. You have to be a double-tough son of a gun to stand up and teach that. History records that when he taught this, people literally fell down weeping and crying out, “What must I do to be saved?”

The Power of Prayer: The Layman’s Revival

This missionary age also saw the church finally grasp the idea of being missional. You had William Carey go to India, Adoniram Judson to Burma, and David Livingstone to Africa. There was C.T. Studd and Hudson Taylor in China. Hudson Taylor did something unheard of: he lived among the people, dressed like them, and learned their language so he could bring them an indigenous Christ rather than a Westernized one.

Then there was the preaching of Charles Finney, who coined the “altar call,” and the brilliant Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers.” Spurgeon used to tell his students that if God called them to ministry, He also gave them the chest cavity to project their voice in a large room without a microphone. He had a lot of big, strong guys in his seminary!

But one of my favorites from this time was a man named Jeremiah Lanphear. He led the greatest revival in the history of the Americas, and almost nobody knows his name. Sensing the spiritual temperature of the church dropping, he decided to start a prayer meeting in New York at noon every day.

On the first day, he was the only one there. Fifteen minutes in, he heard the footsteps of two or three people. He said, “Great, let’s do it again tomorrow.” That group of three grew until it filled the room, then the church, then another church down the street. Eventually, over 40,000 people were gathering daily to pray from noon to one.

There were rules: you didn’t talk; you just showed up to pray. A reporter at the time noted that when businesses dismissed people for lunch, men were literally running like roaches down the street to get to the buildings to pray. It is recorded that more than a million people placed their faith in Christ during that “Layman’s Prayer Revival.”

The Character of Christ

Now, you didn’t come here just for a history lesson. Let’s look at the words Jesus has for this faithful church. Philadelphia and Smyrna are the only two churches that receive no rebuke.

Revelation 3:7 (NASB)

’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:

When Jesus speaks of Himself as “He who is holy,” He is affirming His deity. “He who is true” points to His authenticity and genuineness. The “Key of David” is a Messianic title; it is the key to eternal life and the kingdom of God. He is the one with the authority to open what no one can shut and shut what no one can open.

This echoes what Jesus said in the Gospels when He claimed to be the only way to the Father.

John 14:6 (NASB)

Jesus said to him, ’I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

The Open Door of Opportunity

Jesus, the gatekeeper of the kingdom, says this to the people in Philadelphia:

Revelation 3:8 (NASB)

’I 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.

He says, “I know your deeds.” Depending on who you are, that might make you smile or make you weep. He tells them He has placed an “open door” before them. In Scripture, this refers to a great opportunity for ministry. Paul used this phrase when talking to the Corinthians about a wide door for effective service.

When God opens a door, we can walk through it. If He doesn’t open it, you can’t kick it down. Why did He open this door for Philadelphia? He gives three reasons.

First, they have “little power.” In our culture, that sounds like an insult. But remember, Christ’s strength is perfected in our weakness. These weren’t flamboyant or exceedingly gifted people. They were small, but they were influential because they got out of the way and let Christ work. They approached their gatherings with the expectation that if they gathered humbly, God would move.

Second, they “kept His word.” These were biblically measured people. They followed the pattern found in the book of Ezra.

Ezra 7:10 (NASB)

For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice [it], and to teach [His] statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Ezra set his heart to study, to practice, and then to teach. Most people today skip the study and the practice and just want to jump to the teaching. But you can’t teach what you don’t live—that’s just hypocrisy. As Howard Hendricks used to say, “If it ain’t working at home, don’t export it.”

They were like the people described in Joshua, who meditated on the Word day and night so they would be careful to do what was written.

Joshua 1:8 (NASB)

’This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

Third, they “did not deny His name.” This implies a white-knuckle perseverance. Come hell or high water, they would walk with God. They were like Polycarp, the martyr who refused to recant even as he was being burned at the stake, saying, “For eighty years I have served my Lord, and He has not betrayed me once. How could I betray Him?”

A Promise of Preservation

Because they were faithful, God promised to move on their behalf.

Revelation 3:9 (NASB)

’Behold, 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.

When we do what God has called us to do, He goes before us. If God is for us, who can be against us? So many times we try to torque our way through life and fix things ourselves, but Jesus says that if we walk with Him, He will handle the circumstances.

He then gives them a specific promise regarding the future.

Revelation 3:10 (NASB)

’Because 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.

Because they endured patiently, He promises to keep them from the “hour of testing” coming upon the whole world. We see this pattern throughout Scripture: God preserving His people before tribulation hits. He told Noah to build a boat before the flood.

Genesis 6 (NASB)

1. Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2. that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3. Then the LORD said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’ 4. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore [children] to them. Those were the mighty men who [were] of old, men of renown. 5. Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7. The LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.’ 8. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. 9. These are [the records of] the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. 10. Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11. Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. 13. Then God said to Noah, ’The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. 14. ’Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. 15. ’This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16. ’You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17. ’Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. 18. ‘But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark– you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19. ’And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every [kind] into the ark, to keep [them] alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20. ’Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every [kind] will come to you to keep [them] alive. 21. ‘As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather [it] to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.’ 22. Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.

We see this same pattern in the “seventieth week” of Daniel. We hold to the view that God will catch His church away before the time of the Great Tribulation—the pre-tribulation rapture.

Daniel 9 (NASB)

1. In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans– 2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was [revealed as] the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, [namely], seventy years. 3. So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek [Him by] prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. 4. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, ’Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 5. we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. 6. ’Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land. 7. ’Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day– to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. 8. ’Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9. ’To the Lord our God [belong] compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; 10. nor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. 11. ’Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. 12. ’Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done [anything] like what was done to Jerusalem. 13. ’As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. 14. ’Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice. 15. ’And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day– we have sinned, we have been wicked. 16. ’O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people [have become] a reproach to all those around us. 17. ’So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. 18. ’O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. 19. ‘O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.’ 20. Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, 21. while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in [my] extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. 22. He gave [me] instruction and talked with me and said, ’O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. 23. ’At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell [you], for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision. 24. ’Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy [place]. 25. ’So you are to know and discern [that] from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince [there will be] seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26. ’Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end [will come] with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27. ‘And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations [will come] one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.’

The Call to Follow

Jesus concludes His message with a sense of urgency and a promise of eternal security.

Revelation 3:11 (NASB)

’I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

He says, “I am coming quickly.” This doesn’t necessarily mean “soon” in a chronological sense, but rather that when He comes, it will happen with sudden speed. He tells them to hold fast so that no one takes their crown.

Revelation 3:12 (NASB)

’He 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.

To the one who overcomes, He promises stability (a pillar), security (the name of God), and ownership (a new name).

Revelation 3:13 (NASB)

‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

What gave this church an open door for ministry is not something isolated to their day. We can glean from it too. It comes down to three simple things: leaning on God through prayer, being people of “One Book” who take the Bible seriously, and living as followers.

A lot of people say they are Christians, but few live like followers. Have you noticed that Jesus never once asked anyone to “become a Christian”? He always said, “Follow me.” Any “weak sauce” person can claim a label, but it takes commitment to walk as a follower.

I am absolutely convinced that if we become people of prayer, people of the Word, and people who truly follow Christ, we will turn the world upside down. What would happen if we gathered like Jeremiah Lanphear to pray? What would happen if we studied and practiced the Word like Ezra? It would be the most tremendous movement you’ve ever seen. And I don’t think that’s just for Philadelphia; I think it’s for us.

Father, we are committed to the reality of what could be. We are people of little strength, but we want to keep Your word and never deny Your name. Open for us a door that no one can shut. Let those who claim to be Christians live like true followers, bringing a great renewal of the heart that brings glory to You alone. Amen.