0:00
0:00
Part 8
CHAPTER VIII. THE PHILADELPHIA LETTER And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth, and none openeth. I know thy works.
Behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which no one can shut. And thou hast a little power, and didst keep my word, and didst not deny my name. Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of them which say they are Jews, and they are not, but do lie.
Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou didst keep the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. I come quickly.
Hold fast to that which thou hast, and no one will take thy crown. He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more. And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new name.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit sayeth to the churches. Revelation chapter 3 verses 7-13. This is the second epistle which contains no word of complaint.
To the church at Smyrna, suffering amid persecution and tribulation, his message was wholly of his own love and strength. Again to the church at Philadelphia, he has nothing save commendation, and the announcement of preservation from the period of calamity and trial which is coming to the whole earth. The church being in true relationship to its Lord, he approaches it in his rightful character of the Supreme One who directs the activity of the church.
These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no one shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth. Thus he announces three facts concerning himself, concerning his character, he that is holy, he that is true, concerning his official position, he that hath the key of David, concerning his administration, he that openeth and none shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth. Between these things there is a close connection.
His character of holiness and truth is his right to kingship. He is, moreover, king by the official act of God as witness his holding of the key of David. And because he is king in character and by appointment, he exercises his kingly office and administers the affairs of his kingdom.
The relation between these facts must be remembered. First let us consider the kingly character. He that is holy, he that is true.
The first marks the essential fact, and the second the relative. Holy in character, true in action. Holy in himself, true in his government.
The two statements give us two sides of the one essential fact. These two statements constitute the complete whole which creates the true kingliness of Christ and gives him what all other kings have lacked, the divine right of kingship. These two facets of the one fact are constantly revealed in New Testament thought.
In the prophecy of Zacharias chronicled in Luke, in referring to the result of the coming of Christ it is said that he should establish the people in holiness and righteousness. Holiness, the hidden fact. Righteousness, its outward manifestation.
The rightness of character and conduct. He that is holy, that is, right in character. He that is true, that is, right in conduct.
Holy and therefore in himself royal. True and therefore making others loyal. By his holiness of character and truth of conduct, he creates a consciousness which demands the loyalty of those who find him as their king.
It is always impossible to be loyal, in all the broadest sense of the great word, to that which is other than royal, also in the broadest sense of the word. No man who loves purity can be loyal to impurity. No man who has his heart set upon holy things can be loyal to that which is unholy.
Loyalty must be the outcome of royalty. The royalty of earth is created by the accident of birth or by the questionable right of conquest and expresses itself in trappings and dwellings. Christ's right to kingship rests upon the bedrock of character.
He and he alone is king by divine right. Because he is holy, he is true. The second psalm announces the fact of God's appointment of a king.
Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will tell of the decree. The Lord said unto me, Thou art my son.
This day I have begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. The twenty-fourth psalm reveals the character of the king.
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, and hath not sworn deceitfully, he shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, he that hath clean hands and a pure heart? This God-appointed king comes to the church at Philadelphia, and speaks of the deepest fact which constitutes his right to kingship.
I am he that is holy. And then he declares the necessary sequence. He that is true.
He then proceeds to announce that his position is official. He that hath the key of David. In Isaiah's description of Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, already referred to in another connection, it is written, I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah, that is, government based upon life and upon resource.
It is then added, And the key of the house of David I will lay upon his shoulder, and he shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open. From that prophecy the Lord quotes the words, He that hath the key of David, and thus claims its fulfillment in his own person. He it is to whom God has committed his government, of which fact the key is the symbol and the sign.
And then in the last place he declares the fact of his administration. He that openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth, and none openeth. Let it be most particularly noted that Jesus did not say, He that can open, and none can shut, and that can shut, and none openeth.
That is obviously true. But he said something far stronger. He did not make a declaration of ability, but of activity.
Not merely that he held an executive position, but that he was executing the work. He that openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth, and none openeth. This is not a distinction without a difference, but a difference with a distinction.
Philadelphia was a church like the other churches of the time, existing in the midst of the corruption of paganism, and surrounded by forces which perpetually threatened to overwhelm these assemblies gathered around the Risen One. To it, however, the Lord comes, announcing himself in all the kingly majesty of actual administration, He that openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth, and none openeth. These words should bring to us a great sense of confidence and safety, notwithstanding all the appearances which appall us.
He is God's King today, and though for a while man rejects Him, He nevertheless holds the reins of government, sitting upon the holy hill of Zion. King by right of character, King as witness the key of office which He holds, He moreover acts in perpetual administration. He opens today, and He shuts today.
Amid all the fret and restlessness of the age, He is moving toward the final order, and that through the mysteries that enwrap us. Presently the crisis will arise, and then the process will be vindicated. Let us ever comfort our hearts also with the threefold truth, of His character, that He is holy, that He is true, of His official position, that He hath the key of David, and of His actual administration, He that openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth, and none openeth.
In examining the commendation, a little care must be taken to notice the structure. I know thy works, and behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut. And thou hast a little power, and it's keep my word, and it's not deny my name.
The words, Behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut, being in parenthesis, must be omitted from the commendation. Of course these words cannot be altogether omitted, neither would it be wise to place them anywhere but where the Lord has placed them. The commendation, then, consists in this statement, I know thy works, that thou hast a little power, and it's keep my word, and it's not deny my name.
Now in the parenthesis, in the middle of that commendation, comes the declaration concerning the opened door. The question arising is as to whether the Lord meant to say, that because they had kept His word, and not denied His name, He had opened a door, or that, having opened the door, they had kept His word and had not denied His name. Without desiring to dogmatize upon what must be a somewhat difficult matter, let me say that I hold the latter view, that the opened door is not a reward for fidelity, but the opportunity in which this church has proved its faithfulness.
The statement of reward comes further on in the epistle. It is as though the Lord had said, I set before you a door opened, which none could shut, and I know your works, you had a little power, and it's keep my word, and it's not deny my name. He opened the door in front of them, and they passed through it, and filled the opportunity.
He opened the door, and they, though having but little power, were yet true to His word, and loyal to His name. It is evident, then, that the commendation must be considered wholly in the light of statement concerning the opened door. What this door was locally, it is impossible to state.
We cannot go back and examine in detail the opportunity which the Lord gave the church. In all probability, however, it was some special opening for a missionary enterprise. There is almost certainly a connection between the announcement of the kingly character of Christ and His opening of the door.
It is, He that holdeth the key of David, which is the insignia of kingship, who has opened the door, and the suggestion is that of a passport given to His dominions for the transaction of His business. In the second psalm already quoted of the announcement of the appointment of the king, the divine promise concerning the king is made, Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, all the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. The key opens the territory of the king.
He who held the key has set before the church a door opened. He has given them entrance to some other of His dominions for the transaction of His business. The opening of the door is the king's governmental preparation of the pathway, along which his messengers are to run to do his bidding, to herald his gospel, to win his dominion for himself.
The opening of the door is the exercise of his executive right. Turn for a moment from the immediate and local application of these words. Let us think of them as the statement of a great principle.
How wondrously in every successive century has the king opened the doors before his church. In spite of human opposition, and human hatred, he has unlocked and flung wide open the doors of opportunity before his faithful people. Never has this been more conspicuous than in the past century.
It is not for us here to stay to illustrate the truth. Those who would follow the thought should obtain Dr. Arthur T. Pearson's book, The Modern Mission Century, one of the most thrilling romances ever written since the first chapter in the history of the open doors, called The Acts of the Apostle. The message of the book will cheer the heart and nerve the arm.
What the particular opening for the church at Philadelphia was, we have no means of knowing. The fact of value revealed is that there came to a church which was neither great nor strong an opportunity which the church recognized and filled. But who are these that enter through the open door? Mark well his description.
Jesus did not say to this church at Philadelphia, Thou art strong, but Thou hast a little power. They were faithful to the opportunity in that they kept his word and did not deny his name. That is the true principle of success in Christian service.
The greatest rewards that will ever come to churches or to men will be bestowed not according to the greatness of the strength they had or the greatness of the opportunity as it appeared to men, but according to fidelity to opportunity and full use of the measure of strength possessed. The measure of strength was small. But entering the open door, the church made use of all in loyalty to his word and in maintaining the honor of his name.
In this twofold statement there is a revelation of the secret of success in all service, the keeping of the word, and loyalty to the name. Of the first of these there is a double explanation. The word of Christ is not kept merely by defending its letter, but by realizing its spirit and obedience to its teaching.
No man keeps the word of Christ in duty unless he keeps it as doctrine, and yet no man keeps the word of Christ as doctrine unless he possesses it in all the details of duty. If life is to be according to the will of a king, there must be knowledge of his teaching. Knowledge of the teaching is only evident as life harmonizes therewith.
There is great force in the word, keep. The other phrase marks the fact which is correlative. Thou didst not deny my name.
Holding the word of Christ must issue in unswerving loyalty to his name. Wherever there has been a tendency to undervalue the word, there has resulted the peril of insulting the name by degrading the personality. During recent years there has gone forward within the church a certain kind of criticism of the words of Christ, until we are not surprised, while strangely startled, that today the name of Jesus is being assailed by those who are questioning the essential facts concerning his person and his nature.
One hears of those who suggest that perhaps after all the story of miraculous conception is mythic. This is the necessary corollary of speaking of his words as partaking of the ignorance of his age, and such failure to keep the word and maintain the name inevitably reacts upon the church in her fitness for service. His claim of kingship is inseparably bound up with the miracles of his nature, and the authority of his speech.
To deny these is to neglect the open doors. Infinitely better to have a little power and use it within the doors he opens in loyalty to his teaching and himself, than to have much power and use it as abetting the work of those who, robbing him of his dignity, hinder his coming into his kingdom. In passing to the Lord's counsel to this church, we notice that he emphasizes his administration.
Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of them which say they are Jews and they are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Recognizing the difficult conditions under which this church has borne its witness, he declares his administrative activity first with regard to the synagogue of Satan.
This reference is of interest inasmuch as it closely resembles the Lord's reference in his other epistle, without complaint, that to the church at Smyrna. He then said, I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty, and the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. In writing to Philadelphia, there is no such detailed declaration, but the passing reference creates the idea that there were conditions calculated to hinder the church at Philadelphia, similar to those which hindered and brought to relation to the church at Smyrna.
There the Jewish synagogue had stirred up a pagan population to oppose the work of the church. It is likely that something of the kind had also happened in Philadelphia. Concerning such, he announces that the synagogue of Satan is yet to be compelled to recognize the church.
I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. This is not the language of a great anger, nor that of vindictive administration. His ancient people, who are hindering the work, and yet to be brought to the feet of the church, to learn how he has loved her.
These administrative facts all lie in the realm of that great crisis, his second advent. To the church he says, Because thou didst keep the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Recognizing the faithfulness of his people, he promises them exemption from the tribulation which is to come.
While that promise may have had its partial fulfillment in the escape of the church at Philadelphia from some wave of persecution that swept over the district, its final fulfillment will undoubtedly be realized by those who, loyal to his word, and not denying his name, shall be gathered out of the world at his second coming before the judgment that must usher in the setting up of his kingdom on the earth. I come quickly is the great announcement which unlocks the meaning of this promise of exemption from coming tribulation. There can be no interpretation of the administration by which he shall bring the synagogue of Satan to the feet of the church, or of the churches being saved from tribulation, save the thought contained in the announcement, I come quickly.
In these words the Lord does for the church at Philadelphia what he has done for the church again and again. He directs their attention to his second advent as the goal and crisis of victory. Through all the years of service the church should ever wait for him, hearing constantly the sound of his voice, I come quickly.
In view of that promise, consider the Master's declaration of the present responsibility of the church. Hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown. To the church at Sardis he said the same thing, and yet how different the value and application of the announcement.
To them it was a warning, to these it is a promise. To the church that was dead it was a proclamation, calculated to startle them into obedience. To the church exercising its little strength in fulfillment of his gracious will it was a declaration calculated to comfort them in obedience.
Thus again it is evident that the doctrine of the advent of Jesus affects persons according to the condition of their life. One church is threatened, another is comforted by the announcement of his coming. In the little while that lies between the present moment and his advent he marks their responsibility in the words, hold fast that which thou hast.
What had they? A little power, his word, his name, his promise of return. These they were to hold fast, and the reason, that no one take thy crown. The crown referred to was that of reward for service.
He had opened the door. They in little power had entered in and had fulfilled his will. He knew their works, that they had kept his word and did not deny his name.
He had no complaint to make of them. He himself was coming, and at his coming they would have their crowning. Not the crowning, but the conflict is for today, but so surely as the conflict is maintained and the things now possessed held fast, the crowning must come.
Then lastly notice his promise to the overcomer. He that overcometh I will make him a pillar in temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more. And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new name.
The overcoming referred to in this case is not that of some evil in the church, but of the forces which were outside, and these will finally be overcome at his advent. As he has been speaking of that advent as the crisis at which all the rewards he promises will be bestowed upon the church, his promise to the overcomer is here, that of those conditions of life to which they shall pass beyond that advent. First he promises them position.
I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. That is finality. The Bible does not speak of men as being pillars in his temple while on earth.
Sometimes we have prayed for our children that they may become pillars in the house of God, and that will be by and by, always providing that here they are trees of the Lord's planting by the rivers of water. Then yonder they will have a position, conspicuous and abiding, based upon the fact of their approximation to the character of God. Then, secondly, I will write upon him the name of my God.
This is indicating the fact of likeness and the reason of the position of prominence. And yet again, a definite and specific reward. I will write upon him the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God.
Those who have the right within that city of permanent dwelling upon the basis of character are not to be there as foreigners or aliens, but as those who have the city's freedom, that freedom being the recognition of their overcoming. And yet once more, I will write upon him mine own new name. What strange and mystical statement is this? In the nineteenth chapter of this book of Revelation there is another reference to it.
He hath a name written, which no one knoweth but he himself. There are yet honors for Jesus unrevealed, and these are signified in that new name. This, then, is the name that he will write upon the Overcomer.
He will share with him all his honors and rewards. There is to be the most perfect oneness between the Overcomer and the King. To suffer with him will be to reign with him o'er all the territory.
To enter the door he opens to-day is to walk with him in all the spacious realms over which he yet must reign. In this great and gracious promise to the Overcomer, mark the reiteration of Christ's personal pronoun. I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down from heaven from my God.
He came to do the will of his Father. He became the King upon the basis of the perfections of that will. And even in the unutterable anguish of the hour of his forsaking, there was still marked the relationship between him personally and his Father, for even then he said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? As he looks on to the ultimate triumph, all for him lies in the fact of his relationship to God, and this is marked by that gracious word, my God.
To those who in little power yet fulfilled his purpose, he will give, as the reward of service, association with himself in that union with his Father, which is the full glory and the final center of perfect government. From this study there are certain abiding lessons to be remembered. The first is a word of comfort, the word that reminds us of the present administration of Christ, O, that we may turn back to our work with the music of that thought ever sounding in our hearts.
Our crowning may depend upon our fidelity, but God's ultimate victory depends upon the King whom he has set on his holy hill. Let there be no moment in which we imagine that he has either lost ground or abandoned any part of the territory committed to him. He cannot fail nor be discouraged till he have accomplished the uttermost purpose of his God, and though at times our eyes may fail to trace the method of his administration, let our hearts be ever comforted by remembering, He openeth and none shall shut, and he shutteth and none openeth.
If we are not able to see how he opens or how he shuts, it matters little. The fact is full of infinite and inexpressible comfort. God's anointed King, though for a time hidden from the eyes of men, is carrying on his government.
As of old, David the anointed King of Israel was for a time exiled from his kingdom and took refuge in cave Adullam. So for today Christ is earth's rejected King, but he is still God's anointed King. The story of Adullam is full of significance.
David, refused by his people, went up to the fastness in the mountains, and there three classes of people gathered round him—men in debt, men in danger, and men that were discontented. Not much of count in the eyes of the nation. In all probability it was looked upon as a happy exodus when they left for the cave.
And yet how wonderful the story of their relation to David and its results. Contact with him turned them into mighty men. The story of David and his mighty men is indeed a romance.
The raw material was surely as poor as ever gathered to a man, but then the finished product there has seldom been anything finer. In process of time the glad day dawned when David left Adullam and came to his crowning. Concerning that crowning a statement full of significance is made.
These all came to Hebron of one heart to make David King. Our Lord is now rejected, and by the world disowned, by the many still neglected, and by the few enthroned. But he is gathering to himself a company of people in debt, in danger, and discontented.
And those who have thus gathered to him in the days of his rejection are by that contact and comradeship being transformed into his mighty men. And presently the morning will break when we shall gather with one heart to make Jesus King. O, take heart! Let there be fewer dirges sung in the sanctuary, and more paeans of praise.
Let us have done with the lamentations of hope deferred, and putting on our garments of beauty, rise from the dust and believe in our King. He at this moment holds the reins, and swaying the scepter, administers the affairs of the kingdom of God. Such is the comfort to be gathered from this epistle.
Then there follows a solemn word, marking our responsibility. Hold fast that which thou hast. Opposition is not over.
Satan still has a synagogue. Open doors! And never had the Church such open doors as she has at this moment. Open doors do not make strenuous fidelity unnecessary, but more than ever necessary.
One of the most terrible facts of the present moment is that the Master is unlocking the doors all around, but the Church is not entering them as she should. Blindness to the fact is utter folly. A great door and effectual is open before the Church in India, that land of fascinating problems and splendid opportunity.
There we have undermined the false faiths by educational methods. At the present moment there are multitudes of men in that land who have discovered the falsity of the faith of their fathers, and are now waiting for something else, and the Church is slow to bring them to the evangel of the risen Christ. How terrible a thing it is to have taken away a faith, and yet not be ready immediately to supply the lack.
And India is but one instance. Surely never was it so true that the fields are white unto harvest, but the laborers are few. The Church should stand ready before every door, so that the moment it is open she may occupy the territory for Christ.
When will those who prosecute the commerce of heaven manifest the same witness as that of the merchant princes of the earth? If the Church is thus to be ready and responsive to the call of the King, she must hold fast his word and not deny his name. Alas, that we have too often allowed things essential to be neglected, while we have been dealing with things of minor or of no importance. Back to the word, back to the name.
Then will the Church be what God intends she should be, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners. The final word of value from the study is that the test of the Church's loyalty to Christ is not the measure of her manifestation before men, but her fidelity to the opportunity her Lord creates. Infinitely better to have a little power only, all used for Christ, than much strength bestowed in other ways.
If he have opened the door, then let us go through in all the strength we possess, remembering that our all, with the all of all the rest, shall make his all, that is, the nations for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. End of chapter 8