He’s set apart, perfect, pure.Ģ) He’s true. This is the distinctive attribute of God. We have in that single verse a four-fold description of Christ.ġ) He’s the holy one. “The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.” Listen to how Jesus introduces himself in verse 7. We must listen to the great Tsunami Stone himself, Jesus Christ, who is more than worthy of our ears. The Scriptures must be the centering point of every church. That’s our call today-listen to and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. In a world filled with idolatry, they listened to Jesus alone, and that was their greatest achievement.
But despite weakness and opposition, they trusted his word and remained faithful to him. They also faced persecution from the Jews, which we see in verse 9. They had little power, as Jesus mentions in the letter. But though it was filled with idolatry, the church remained faithful to Jesus. It stood between Rome and the eastern world and was known as “little Athens” because of it’s many gods and idols. So who was this church? Well, Philadelphia was a strategically located trade town in Asia. Out of the seven churches, only this church and the church in Smryna received unqualified praise and approval. They loved Jesus, and Jesus was not ashamed to call them brothers (Hebrews 2:11). It appears the ancient church took that name to heart. Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ Never shall he go out of it, 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 from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. 12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. 9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie-behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. Let’s hear this message from Revelation 3:7-13 now.ħ “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.Ĩ “ ‘I know your works. Keep his word, and you can withstand anything. So, what’s the message in this particular letter? To endure suffering, stay close to Jesus. These letters stand like Tsunami stones in the landscape of the Bible, and each sends a certain urgent message relevant in some way to every church. We have his word speaking to us, warning, correcting, and in the case of our passage today, encouraging and comforting. But instead of messages from unknown ancestors warning of tsunamis from the sea, we have a message from Jesus about how he’s saved us from the tsunami of sin. When we approach these letters to the churches (and the entire Bible, really) we have something similar. Messages from the past serving those living in the present. Hundreds of so-called tsunami stones, some more than six centuries old, dot the coast of Japan, silent testimony to the past destruction that these lethal waves have frequented upon this earthquake-prone nation.” “They knew the horrors of tsunamis, so they erected that stone to warn us,” said the village leader. The waves stopped just 300 feet below the stone. Residents say this injunction from their ancestors kept their tiny village of 11 households safely out of reach of the deadly tsunami that wiped out hundreds of miles of Japanese coast and rose to record heights near here. “The stone tablet has stood on this forested hillside since before they were born, but the villagers have faithfully obeyed the stark warning carved on its weathered face: “Do not build your homes below this point!” Let’s open the Bible to Revelation 3:7-13, the letter from Jesus to the church in Philadelphia.Īs you’re turning, the other day, a friend pointed to this story published in the NY Times in 2011 about a stone tablet on the coast of Japan.
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