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The Letter to the Church in PhiladelphiaText: Revelation 3:7-13 Introduction:
I. The word “Philadelphia” means “brotherly love.”
II. The city of Philadelphia was founded with the idea
that it would be a missionary center for the Greek
language and Greek culture in the area.
III. All we know about the church is what we read in our
text.
Body:
I. Author.
A. He is Holy.
1. Holy is the description of God Himself.
a. Isaiah 6:3
b. Isaiah 40:25
c. Isaiah 43:15
d. All though the Old Testament, God is the Holy
One; and now that title is given to the Risen
Christ.
2. Holy means different; separate from. God is
holy because He is different from men; He has
that quality of being that belongs to Him alone.
To say that Jesus Christ is holy is to say that
He shares the being of God.
3. In Christ is set forth the idea demanded by God
of absolute separation from the profane and
sinful.
B. He is the True One.
1. There are two words that are translated “true.”
a. One means true in the sense that a true
statement is different from a false
statement.
b. The other means real as opposed to that which
is unreal. “True, dependable, genuine, real”
A. & G.
c. “b” is the word used in our text.
2. In Jesus is reality.
3. When we are confronted with Him, we are
confronted with no shadowy outline of truth, but
with the true itself.
C. He has the key of David.
1. “Key” is a symbol of authority.
2. Isaiah 22:22 – Hezekiah’s faithful servant
Eliakim, who was over all his house and who
alone could admit to the presence of the king.
3. Jesus alone has authority to admit into the new
Jerusalem.
II. The Positive Characteristics of the Church:
A. Although they had little strength.
1. God can do great things with little things.
a. Gideon’s reduced army.
b. 2 Corinthians 12:9
2. They had kept His word.
a. Under some unrecorded trail of faith, the
church had kept His Word, standing fast,
being “true” as was their Lord.
b. The keeping of His Word is a test of love for
Him. John 14:23f.
c. While to deny His Word is to reject Him, and
to reject Him is to reject His Father. Luke
10:16.
3. They had not denied His name.
B. They had persevered. 3:10
1. “The word of my patience” – Literally, it is
“the word of my endurance.” The real meaning is
that the promise is to those who have practiced
the same kind of endurance as Jesus displayed in
His earthly life.
2. When we are called upon to show endurance, the
endurance of Jesus Christ supplies us with three
things:
a. an example.
b. an inspiration. We must walk looking to Him,
who for the joy was set before Him endured
the cross despising the shame. Hebrews 12:1-2
c. The endurance of Jesus Christ is the
guarantee of his sympathy with us when we are
called upon to endure.
III. Advice.
A. Hold fast
1. It is not a question of someone stealing their
crown but God taking it from them and giving it
to someone else, because they were not worthy to
wear.
2. Some examples:
a. Esau lost his place to Jacob.
b. Saul lost his place to David.
B. This shows that one can lost his salvation.
IV. Reward.
A. Vindication. 3:9
1. Those who claimed to be Jews but really were of
the synagogue of Satan.
a. Romans 2:28-29
b. Romans 9:6-7
2. These false Jews would recognize that Christians
are the true Children of God.
B. They will be “kept” from the hour of temptation.
3:10. When this hour came, Jesus will preserved
all the way through it.
C. The one who overcomes:
1. Jesus will make him a pillar. This is the idea
of permanence.
2. Will not go out.
3. Jesus will write upon him the name…
a. The name of God the Father, to whom the
individual would now belong in a permanent
and fixed way.
b. The name of the New Jerusalem identifies the
victorious saint as a citizen of the heavenly
city.
c. Christ’s own new name, 19:12, identifies the
victor as sharing the glory, which is
Christ’s.
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