by Jeff Carter
Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia and say, “Here is the message of the holy and true one who has the key of David so that when he opens, no one will close, and when he closes, no one will open:
I know about your activities. Look, I have opened in front of you a door that no one will be able to close – and I know that though you are not very strong, you have kept my commandments and not disowned my name. Look, I am going to make the synagogue of Satan – those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are liars because they are no such thing – I will make them come and fall at your feet and recognize that I have loved you. Because you have kept my commandments to persevere, I will keep you safe in the time of trial which is coming for the whole world, to put the people of the world to the test. I am coming soon: hold firmly to what you already have, and let no one take your victor’s crown away from you. Anyone who proves victorious I will make into a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, and it will stay there for ever; I will inscribe on it the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which is coming down from my God in heaven, and my own new name as well. Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. (New Jerusalem Bible)
Philadelphia, the city of “brotherly-love” was a frontier city 28 miles south-east of Sardis. The main road from Rome to the farthest eastern parts of the empire passed through Philadelphia as the last “civilized” stop along the way. Unfortunately, it was built on the edge of a great plain called the Katakekaumene , which means the “Burnt Land.” It was the edge of a great volcanic area. The earthquake that leveled Sardis in A.D. 17 also destroyed Philadelphia. The frequent earthquakes and tremors sent the people of Philadelphia running out to the plain to escape the falling masonry and crumbling buildings.
Philadelphia, known as the “little Athens,” was a center of Greek culture and was influential in educating the central regions of Asia Minor in Greek philosophy and thought. The city was founded by King Attalus II whoa had been given the title “Philadelphus” (Brother-lover) because of his loyalty to his brother (Newport, 156).
The message to the Christians at Philadelphia came from The Holy One the True One.
“Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh Sabaoth.
His glory fills the whole earth. (Isa. 6:3)
Throughout the prophets, and especially in Isaiah, God is described as “the Holy One of Israel. (Isa. 1:4; 5:19; 10:17, 20; 40:25; 41:14, 16, 20; 43:3,14, 15; 47:4; 49:7)” This Holiness is a separation from all else, a transcendence of everything. He is also the God of Truth (Isa. 65:16). The Christians in Philadelphia receive no word of condemnation from the Holy One, the True One. Instead they are praised by “the Holy One, the True One who has the key of David, the one who opens and no one shall close and who closes and no one opens.” This description is drawn from Isaiah chapter 22 wherein Isaiah prophesies against Shebna who had attained the highest office, next to the King, the master of King Hezekiah’s palace. He was to be run out of his office and replaced by an honest servant:
I shall dress him in your tunic,
I shall put your sash around his waist,
I shall invest him with your authority;
And he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
And to the House of Judah.
I shall place the Key of David’s palace on his shoulder;
When he opens, no one will close,
When he closes, no one will open.
Isaiah 22: 15 – 25
Handing over the key was not just an appointment as a porter and servant in the palace, but an endowment with full authority and complete power. The false Jews at the Synagogue of Satan were to be replaced by true and honest servants, who would be endowed with the authority of Christ. Though the Christians living in Philadelphia had only “a little power,” they had remained true to Jesus and had not denied his name.
Therefore, the false Jews (those who were Jews on the outside by circumcision but not inwardly by faith – Romans 9:6 – 13) would be made to come before the Christian community to kneel down and to recognize that it was the Christians that Jesus, the Messiah had chosen and loved. “Your oppressors’ children will humbly approach you, at your feet all who despised you will fall addressing you as ‘City of Yahweh’, and ‘Zion of the Holy One of Israel.’ (Isa. 60:14)”
Because they had been faithful during their times of oppression, Jesus promised that they would be kept “safe in the time of trail which is coming for the whole world, to put the people of the world to the test.” Though some teachers maintain that John is speaking about the rapture here, this is not a rapture verse. The weak Christians in this city would not be “raptured” out of their trial, but would be kept safe through it. They would not be seized away, but bought through.
John was not speaking about a time of trial some 2000 years removed from his first century audience- such a message would have been completely irrelevant to them. What value would a letter saying, “Be of good cheer you patient, suffering, faithful servants of first century Asia Minor, I won’t let Soviet missiles, killer bees, or nuclear explosions (or anything else Tim Lahaye, Hal Lindsey, or Jack Van Impe might dream up) get you.” The hours of testing that John wrote about was in the immediate future, “I am coming soon,” Jesus said.
The time of trial which was coming for the whole world, to put the people of the land to the test was the same time of trial and tribulation that Jesus spoke of in his Olivet discourse (Matt. 24; Mk. 13; Lk. 21:5 – 36). “The people of the land,” is an expression used 12 xs by John – once for each tribe of Israel – to refer to the False Jews, Apostate Israel (3:10; 6:10; 8:13; 11:10; 11:10; 13:8, 12, 14:6, 17:2, 8). In addition, it is used in the LXX version of the Old Testament throughout the prophets to describe the rebellious idolatrous Israel about to be destroyed for her sins, and driven from the land. (Jer. 1:14; 10:18; Ezek. 7:7; 36:17; Hos. 4:1, 3; Joel 1:2, 14; Zeph. 1:8)
The whole world being put through this tumultuous time of trial and tribulation was the oikoumene, the “inhabited world,” or the “Roman world.” This is not the entire globe – and does not point to a “universal period of tribulation, (Lahaye, Revelation, pg. 57)” still in the future, despite the claims of many prophecy experts.
The faithful and victorious followers of Philadelphia are promised that they will be made into pillars within the heavenly Temple of God. John tells us later that he, “could not see any temple in the city since the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb themselves were the temple. (Rev. 21:22)” The temple where God used to reside was in Jerusalem, but according to the revelation John received that physical temple was about to be removed (Rev. 11: 1-2) and the spiritual sanctuary (which is God and the Lamb themselves) would be opened (Rev. 11: 19). Faithful overcomers would be made into a pillar in this spiritual temple and they would never depart from it, they would be forever in God’s presence.
They would be marked with three names: 1) “the name of my God,” 2) “the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem,” and 3) “my new name. (Rev. 19:12, 16) Much anxious speculation is made about Revelation’s “mark of the beast,” but Revelation’s true emphasis on the mark that God’s people receive, not the mark of the beast. (Ezek. 9:1 – 7; Rev. 14:1) “The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city; his servants will worship him, they will see him face to face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. (Rev. 22:4).
I shall give them in my house and within my walls
A monument and a name better than sons and daughters;
I shall give them an everlasting name
That will never be effaced
(Isa. 56:5)
False Jews (Synagogue of Satan)
-claimed physical circumcision
- boasted of the Temple in Jerusalem
- claimed to be the "people of God"
True Jews (Christian Community)
-claimed circumcision of the heart (Phillipians 3:3; Colossians 2: 11 - 12)
-Claimed that God did not reside in a temple built by human hands (Acts 7:48; Hebrews 8: 1 - 3)
-Claimed that the "sons of the Kingdom" were being thrown out and the Kingdom given to another group (Matthew 8:11, 21:43)
Newport, John P., The Lion and the Lamb Broadman Press, Nashville TN, 1986.
LaHaye, Tim, Revelation Illustrated and Made Plain, Zondervan Publishing House,
Grand Rapids MI, 1980.
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Jeff Carter is a columnist for PlanetPreterist.com. Jeff is an officer in the Salvation Army, working as an Administrator of the Social Services and Pastor of the Church.
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