Church at Philadelphia - Revelation 3:7-13
Revelation 3:7-13 · Kurt Katzorke · Mar 8, 2009
Revelation (2009), No. 10
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926126152534

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

But what we're going to do this morning is we're going to be looking at the church in Philadelphia. And we're in Revelation chapter 3. And we'll be looking at verses 7 through 13. Alright. So, the city of Philadelphia was founded by either the king of Sardis or his brother in the 2nd century BC. And the Romans actually attempted to turn the king's brother against him. And when he remained loyal to his brother, they gave him the nickname Philadelphus, which is where we get the name Philadelphia, which is brotherly love. So the brothers love for his brother was what kept him from turning against him. And that's where we kind of get this name.

Philadelphia was located at the juncture of several major roads and became the gateway to Eastern Asia Minor. So really, lots of different roads went through there. A lot of different trade guilds, things like that in the city of Philadelphia. Commerce was big, as was for most of the cities of the time. But this city was definitely in a very strategic place.

One thing that we run into when we go to find all the other churches, we have pictures of ruined synagogues or theaters or things along those lines. In Philadelphia, we don't have that. And there's really four big reasons why. And the first one is earthquakes.

Like Sardis, the city was destroyed by an earthquake in 17 AD. And actually, interesting enough, daily aftershocks forced residents to abandon the city and live in the surrounding countryside for a while. There was so much going on and, you know, the possibility of these buildings falling down that they said, forget it. Let's just get out of here and go somewhere where we know we'll be safe.

Another reason why we don't really have any archaeological stuff going on for Philadelphia is once Christianity became legal in 1312 AD, the religious buildings of Christendom covered most of the city's sites. It just got built right over it. The synagogue used to be there, the temple for the different gods used to be there, but it just got built right over it. And then the third reason, a military sweep of Islam through the area of Philadelphia six centuries later destroyed even more of the city. So when Islam came through, they hacked it down and wrecked it even worse.

So, I mean, we've just got all these different factors why we don't really have anything for the, as far as archaeology is concerned. And then the modern city of Al-Shahir, covers the old city of Philadelphia and with so many paved streets and buildings that you can't get access much at all. So we just don't have the ability to get down there. So that's a little bit of insight into the city of Philadelphia.

We're going to go back into these. We keep running into these three satanic strategies. They were big in Philadelphia as well, and that first one being Roman Emperor worship, Throne of Satan. Philadelphia enjoyed a large and favorable relationship with Rome.

The temple devoted to Caesar Augustus in Rome was established in 27 B.C. After the earthquake, Emperor Tiberius helped the city rebuild. in 17 AD, and the city actually was renamed to Neo-Caesarea. Am I saying that right? I think so. To show its gratitude.

And then during the reign of Vespian, who came from the Flavian family, the city showed its devotion to the emperor by calling itself Philadelphia Flavia. So constantly getting a new name, and these new names usually came from some sort of paying homage to Rome.

And then our second satanic strategy there is the worship of pagan gods and goddesses. An inscription from Philadelphia mentions a number of gods and goddesses. Zeus was the chief god mentioned. The inscription also mentions savior gods, including good fortune, virtue, health, and other deities. There was an altar to the goddess of home, or hearth and home.

And then we talked about the trade guilds a little bit already. Usually, the way that those guilds were set up is they would operate out of some public building and they had They had permission from the city to do so. And without the permission, actually, they couldn't meet. It's a pretty interesting way they had things set up in the Roman culture. But they would kind of pay their homage to the Pagan gods and goddesses by performing some of the rituals in those trade guilds as well.

And then our last one of the three satanic strategies is the Jewish synagogue religion. There was a Jewish synagogue in Philadelphia in the late 1st century AD. It was definitely there. A 3rd century inscription from a nearby town mentions a synagogue indicating that the Jewish community had lived there for a long time.

According to Revelation 3.9, at least some of the members of the synagogue in Philadelphia were showing some hostility towards the Christian community there. So they were getting pressure, just like some of the other churches that we've seen here in Revelation. Philadelphia, they're getting pressured from all these different strategies to get away from the gospel and get away from their life with Christ. So that's a common theme for our churches in Revelation. Alright, so we'll hop into the verses here. And I'll read them.

And to the angel of the Church of 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 they are Jews and are not, but lie. I will make them come to bow down at your feet, and I will make them know that I have loved you. Because you have kept the word of my perseverance, and also I 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 from heaven from God, and my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the seven churches." Alright, so our first verse there is, and the angel of the Church of Philadelphia writes, who is true, who has the key of David and opens and no one will shut and shuts and no one opens says this. So take a look at this. We've got a supplemental handout here for you and it's got some color on it there. And we'll kind of look at this kind of break this verse apart a little bit. In the first part there it says, who has the key of David?

So God had a special covenant that he had made with King David. And there's some verses there that talk to us about it. But basically, God had promised David, your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever. Your throne shall be established forever. So there's three things that we see there. You have the house, the kingdom, and the throne. And these are things that are promised to David, and we see that they are going to be fulfilled through Christ.

And then in Isaiah, he says, for a child will be born to us. This is something we always read right around Christmas time. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, there will be no end. to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David over his kingdom. So we see throne and kingdom there again. And then in Luke, he will be great and will be called Son of Most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob and his kingdom will have no end.

So that's kind of, when we're looking at this who has the key of David. I mean, this is kind of what we're looking at is a little bit of this covenant that God had made with David, and this being fulfilled through Christ. And actually, so Revelation 3, 7 there says, who has the key of David. David is mentioned twice more in Revelation, and in each case, it immediately has to do with who Christ is. So when we look at these verses, any time that David gets mentioned, it has something to do with who Christ is, his character, his position, the things that are within his control and power, and things that will be given to him.

Christ having the key means that he is uniquely the one who is able to open the door and fulfill the promise to David, which is him reigning over the house of Jacob on the throne of David and in the millennial kingdom. So these are the three things that Christ having the key, that's what it means.

And then when we look at his self-description here, he who is holy, if we look at Isaiah 30.15, for thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, in repentance and rest you will be saved. In quietness and trust is your strength. So this description, the holy one, this is something that's true of God. The word there is actually where we get our word saint. And when we become Christians and we're placed into Christ, this holy one, this holy nature is true of us as well.

Anyone who is believed is a saint. who is true, 1 John 5.20, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. So when we look at these verses outside of Revelation, we get deeper meaning into what Christ's description of Himself is. So the Holy One, God Himself, He who is true, the true God in eternal life, and then the last one there, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and shuts and no one will open.

If we look at Isaiah 22.22, then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder. When he opens, no one will shut, and when he shuts, no one will open.

So, I mean, these verses that we're looking at this morning for Philadelphia really are interesting ones because, I mean, we're going back into prophecy hundreds of years here, and we're seeing these things are being fulfilled in Christ. These descriptions that we have, these are things that are being mentioned way back in the Old Testament, and we're now seeing them be true of Christ. And then as we go through the verses, He's going to give us an outlook into the future as well. So it's really interesting to look at these verses with that in mind that we have.

And it's something that's different from the seven churches. Most of the seven churches are something we're dealing with right here, right now. And that's true of Philadelphia, but we also have this broad spectrum of what's happened and what's to come for the Church of Philadelphia as well. Can you say shut and then open? What is being shut? Well, I think you could look at it in our house, kingdom, and throne.

All three of those are being opened up to the believer, and no one's going to shut that. Christ is the only one that has the power to open up the door to the kingdom of heaven, absolutely. He's the only one that has the power to open it, and he's the only one that has the power to shut it. Nobody else holds this key. Christ is the only one who's got it.

This basically is a figure of expression for Christ has control. That's the same thing with He has the key. He's got the control exclusively. Right. And so another for instance of that, keys were mentioned before in Revelation in 1.18 where Christ is said to have the keys of death in Hades. So it's control over these things. And it's control that Christ has. I can't claim to have that. You can't claim to have it. Nobody can claim to have that other than Christ. Alright, so we'll move on to the next verse there.

Verse 80 says, 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. So we see this phrase I know your deeds. And it's either I know your deeds or I know your tribulation, but we see this I know to every single one of the churches in Revelation. And it's that intimate knowledge that Christ has of them. He's walking among them. He understands what's going on in their lives. And that's what that word should really bring out is Christ's intimate knowledge of the believer.

And then when we look at this word behold, a lot of times it might be easy to just skip over, but the word behold is used 25 times in Revelation and always occurs at a point where the reader is urged to stop and look intently. Kind of in our modern vernacular you might say stop and take a mental picture. So slow down, look at these things carefully.

And then he says, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut. So he's talking to the believer here. I know your deeds and I have put before you an open door which no one can shut. Again, these believers here are getting pressured in many different ways.

In particular, you can look at it from the Jewish standpoint. the loss of salvation, or if you're not doing these deeds, or if you're not eating the right foods, or doing the right thing, you might lose this. And Christ is saying, no, I have the key, I've opened the door, and no one's going to shut it. And then, since the identity of Christ in verse 7 is entirely messianic, referring to the Millennial Kingdom, the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth, we should take the open door here as guaranteed access to and involvement with the Millennial Kingdom, in which Christ will reign for a thousand years. And we'll look at this rapture and thousand years and Millennial Kingdom and stuff a little bit this morning, but we'll get much greater depth in the weeks to come.

And then the next part there, it says little hour. There should be a P there, little power. And what I was going to do is, what do you guys think this little power has to deal with? He says, because you have a little power and have kept my word and have not denied my name. Any thoughts? In ourselves, we're nothing. It's only through Christ that we have any power. It's His power. It's His power. Okay. Any other thoughts? What this little power has to deal with?

Well, if we take a little bit of insight into the Christian believer in the city, in any of the cities really back then, none of them had much power or influence over what was going on. Now, so they may have had just a little bit of power as far as being able to sustain their church. They may have had a little bit of power as far as influence on different things. And I definitely think that the little power could also be looked at as a... The power that we have as people is minuscule, but the power in Christ is infinite. But that's what I would encourage you to look at that little power as.

And then it says, you have kept my word and not denied my name. And if we look back, if we think about those three strategies again, I mean, these people are being pressured to give in to this Roman emperor worship. As a matter of fact, if you don't, we may have to do something about you. If you're not going to recognize the emperor of Rome as deity and claim and recognize him as God, as a God, there could be some severe consequences for you.

And Christ is saying, but you have kept my word and not denied my name. And then with the Jews in the area as well, it's interesting, I believe it was about, I want to say 70, 69 or 70 AD, the Jews had a council. And they came together and they said, look, anybody who professes the name of Jesus is not allowed in our synagogues. So if they come in and they say, you know, they start talking about Jesus, kick them out. It's against the rules. You talk about Jesus in the synagogue, you're gone.

So that's another thing where, I mean, they had this immense pressure coming around from the Jews as well to just, you know, this Christ thing, this Jesus guy, this is nothing. Never mind all that. But he says, you have kept my word and have not denied my name. So he's commending these believers here in Philadelphia in this verse.

Then he says, Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie. I will make them come to bow down at your feet and make them know that I have loved you. So here we see the Synagogue of Satan showing up again.

They first showed up in Revelation 2.9 with the Church of Smyrna. These are Jews who have willfully rejected their Messiah. They insist that their Jewish genealogy and legal observance are sufficient. To the Jews who claim their Jewishness from Abraham, Jesus says, before Abraham was born, I am, and they sought to kill him.

We talked about that verse a couple weeks ago in John, I can't remember the chapter off the top of my head, but I think it's chapter 10. But basically, they ask him, who are you? Tell us plainly. who you are. And he says, before Abraham was, I am. And he's making a claim not only to his eternity, but also to say that your Jewish lineage, where you've come from Abraham and you've got this lineage, well he says, you know what? That lineage is nothing compared to who I am in eternity. My lineage is eternal.

So he's really telling these Jews, you know, you think you've got it, but guess what, you don't. Christ is indicating here that he will bring about the Jews' realization. Realization that Christ is indeed the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. Realization that Christ has a special relationship with every believer. Realization that Christ has loved his body, the church.

And then the word in Revelation 1.5, Him who is constantly loving us. The translation of that when we look at the tense is in the verb, He is constantly loving us. And while the Jews thought they were serving their God by persecuting the believers whom the Messiah loved.

And then we look at this word, know. He says, I will make them know. This is the same word that Christ uses in each of the seven churches when he says, I know your deeds, I know your tribulation. It is his intimate knowledge of the believer. And here he tells the Jews who think they've got it figured out that he will make them know as he knows that he loves us. So he's going to make them know in the same manner that he knows us. That will be a very painful realization for the Jew because they will know that someone else has the love of God. And what I was going to do here is turn to Mark chapter 3 verses 1-6 there. And would somebody mind reading those verses this morning? Mark chapter 3. Verses 1-6, I've got them so I'll go ahead and read them.

He entered again into the synagogue and a man was there whose hand was withered and they were watching him to see if he would heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, get up and come forward. And he said to them, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill? But they kept silent. And they in this verse is the Jews. In these verses, after looking around at them with anger, grieved with their hardness of heart, he said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. So what does Christ show the Jews here in Mark?

No, he's pretty powerful. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. He's also showing that the parasitical laws and the additions that they made to God's law are not appropriate, like the working on Sunday and the healing on Sunday. If somebody needs something on Sunday and it's good, you go ahead and do it. Right.

What does he demonstrate to this person with the withered hand? That He's the Messiah. His eternal power. Love. Yeah, he shows this guy with the withered hand that my love for you is more important than a Sabbath. or than any law that these guys come up with. My care for you is more important than any of that.

And I think it's so interesting because the Christ that we see, the Jesus that we see in the Gospels, is the same Jesus His character carries through right through here into Revelation. He's showing these Jews the same thing. He's saying, I love these people. That love is there for the Jews, too. All they had to do was accept it. But I love these people regardless of law or Sabbath or Jew or Gentile or any of that stuff. I love them.

That's going to be something else for the... yeah. I guess he showed them that they didn't understand their impotence. Impotence. Okay. They were unaware of their unworthiness. Yeah, they think they've got it figured out. They think they're worthy. And this is how we're going to accomplish it is by following these rules and not doing things on the Sabbath and our genealogy. This is why we're in line with God and why God, we're the chosen people. And Christ comes in and says, look, it's not about all that stuff. It's about me. I'm the Messiah. I love these people, and I'm going to do whatever it takes.

Were some of the Jews not looking for a Messiah anymore? Well, actually, at that period of time, I would say that they were intently looking for a Messiah. They were all very intently looking for one. The exception would be the Sadducees. Pharisees would have been looking for a messiah.

Right. And there were lots of different sects of Judaism at that point in time as well. Sadducees, Pharisees, these are the big ones. There were others that really thought that this messiah, he's going to come in and he's going to tear apart this Roman government that we have to follow and he's going to establish this kingdom of Jerusalem all over again right here and now.

There's basically two messiahs. There's Messiah Ben-Joseph and Messiah Ben-David. Ben-David is the reigning messiah, and that's the one that they were all looking for, was this one that was going to overthrow the government and reign politically. But the other one is this Ben-Joseph, and he's the suffering messiah. And what we see in Christ's initial coming to earth is this Messiah Ben-Joseph, the suffering Messiah, who suffers and takes away the sins of the world. What we see in the Millennial Kingdom is the Messiah Ben-David where he reigns.

Is that still true of the Jews today? The two Messiahs they're looking for, or are they not looking? Well, I don't think they made the differentiation between splitting them. Would you agree with that? They tended to suppress the Messiah Ben-Joseph. In about 1850, they switched to Messiah Ben-Joseph as actually Israel. Okay, so they've actually changed their interpretation to ignore that part of a Messiah. At first it was, Jesus, you're not it. And now it's, we never were looking for that.

But that's been about the last 150 years. But I would say that it was more common, wouldn't you say even then it was more common for them to want and look for the reigning, the Messiah ben David. I mean that's the one that they wanted. They wanted the one to get rid of the Roman government, get these people out of here and give us our land back and give us that kingdom that we had with David.

Alright, so we'll move on to verse 10 here. He says, Because you have kept the word of my perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, the hour which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Now this verse fits with the rapture of the church, the taking of believers of this age to be with the Lord Jesus before the tribulation. Any other meaning that would allow the church to be taken through the worldwide tribulation in whole or in part would require a different choice of words than the original language as shown in this chart. Now, I don't know a ton about Greek, but what I can tell you, and in 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18, we get a more defined picture of what this rapture is going to look like. But the word used here in verse 10 is keep out. I will keep you from the hour of testing. The word there is keep out.

And if any of these other terms on the right hand side were used, then maybe we could interpret this verse to say that the believers would be part of the tribulation, but they're not. And so we've seen a very defined use of Greek words that say the believers are not to be part of this tribulation.

And we'll get into that actually in the In the next verse, that is something we will talk about. But let's hold off on that for maybe five minutes here. But we will look at that. But it would not be right for us to take the promise to Philadelphia as applying generally to the church, that includes you and me, if the Lord had not made it quite clear in other passages that we can count on it.

The other word that's very interesting in these verses, I will keep you from the hour of testing. The word hour is used similarly in Revelation 14.7 and 14.15.

In 14.7, the time of tribulation is called the hour of his judgment. The word hour is used figuratively here in Revelation 14 to portray a literal seven-year period of unparalleled tribulation that is about to come upon the earth. So when we look at this verse in Bible context with whole Bible context with Thessalonians in mind, and the way that this word hour is used throughout Revelation, it makes perfect sense for us to look at this in a rapture and tribulation sense. the hour of testing to test those who dwell on the earth. This is going to be something like the world has never seen before. I mean, really just different than anything the world has ever seen, ever experienced, ever been through. And you can be glad that you won't be here.

Is there any place that it specifically says that hour stands for seven years? Because, you know, there's times time and a half time, there's 1,265 days or whatever it is. And so does that mean that hour means the same thing as those? Should we save that question for a later week?

Yeah, I think so. We'll be looking at that. And that's the danger of getting into this too deep. In coming weeks, we're really going to dig into questions like that and make sure we get them all answered. This morning, I don't know if we have the time to really tear that apart. When we get to Revelation 14. Yeah, Revelation 14, we'll really be tearing stuff like that apart. I will wait. I will wait. All right. Now the question that was asked a moment ago, verse 11, it says, I am coming quickly.

Hold fast to what you have so that no one will take your crown. Alright, so this does not mean that he was telling them that his coming would be soon in their estimation. Take a look at 2 Peter 3. And the big verses there, I mean, I have three through nine listed, but eight and nine are the big ones.

And he says, But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

So your estimation of quickly might say that it should have happened already. God's estimation, you know, if a thousand years is like a day, it's been two days. If we look at that literally, it's been two thousand years, it's been a couple of days. But the point there is our estimation of quick and His are two different things.

And it's interesting, I mean, when you look at that verse, God's love comes through again. He says, but is patient towards you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. He's giving the whole world an opportunity to know. He's giving the whole world an opportunity to learn about who He is.

So this word quickly, what Christ is saying here is that when He comes, He will come very quickly and suddenly. And once things begin, they will happen in rapid succession. Last week with Sardis, we had the, you know, he'll come like a thief in the night. We don't know when he's going to come, but when he does, it's going to be quick. It's going to happen rapidly, and things are going to just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and everything's going to happen.

So that's the idea behind this quick loop. Now, the next word there is hold fast. This is the third and last time that Christ has told a church to hold fast. He also did it with Pergamum and Thyatira. What is different here is that he says, hold fast so that no one will take your reward. So what do you think he means? So that no one will take your crown. What does that mean? It's a little bit what we got into last week about losing your salvation or losing your reward. Can that happen? Well, he's saying that you can lose your crown. You think that's the case? You think God is looking to take away I'm not saying salvation, I'm saying it specifically says crown or reward. Is that the Stephanopoulos word or whatever it is? Stephanos. Stephanos word? Yes, it's a Stephanos crown, which was a crown that was given in athletic events to the victor.

I would disagree, and I would say that The impression that you ought to take from this is that Christ desires to reward us when we go to be with Him. That is the perspective that He desires us to have. Not that He wants to take something from us, but rather He wants to give something to us. The other side of this is His life in us is what will bring about the desire in us when we depend upon His life and not our own.

The flesh wants to seek a reward here on planet earth. Consider the Jews who Christ will make realize that their Messiah loves all who have and will believe in Him. They've given up their reward by ignoring who the Messiah is. The Jew has given up that reward. But he's specifically not saying that he will take their crown. He says so that no one will take their crown. He's referring to those who choose the world over Christ. And so no place that I see that he's saying that he's going to take it away from them.

It's a personal choice. If I live my life in a manner in which I hand it over to Christ daily, moment by moment I'm giving it over, I am taking my reward. That is my reward, is that I can rest in Him, that I can give those things to Him, that His life will be sufficient for me. Now, if I live my life in another manner, I give my reward away. We're going to look at John 2, verse 8. Isn't this 2 John? It's 2 John. 2 John 8, I'm sorry. Typo. Same John. Same John. So scratch that through and write down 2 John 1, verse 8.

Watch yourselves that you do not lose what you have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. So how might you lose what you have accomplished and not receive your full reward? Well, if we read our next bullet point, the warning in Revelation 3.11 is not saying somebody else might get the reward that was destined to us, rather that by giving in to the world and the satanic enemy, what was ours is forfeited. Kind of like what I was just talking about, where if you're, you know, Sam, were you going to say something? Go ahead.

Yeah, well, if you look at verse, and you go to 2 John, you look at verse 7 and verse 9, it puts it in context because it talks about deceivers. And it talks about those who do not abide in the teaching, so that not be what he's referring to. And that's why deceivers are so critical. Yeah, verse 7, he says, For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Watch yourselves that you do not lose what you have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

But the point there is that if you give in, I mean, we look at it in the context of what we've been looking at this morning, the three satanic strategies. If you're giving in to those and you're giving in to the world, you're giving away, you're forfeiting your full reward.

And that's what we should look at and take from these verses. Alright, so verse 12, 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. So the first question here is, why does God say, my God, four times in this verse? He said it to the church of Sardis once as well.

Christ is not denying that he himself is God. Thomas exclaimed, my Lord, my God, when he saw Christ as risen. The answer to this question is Christ calls the Father, His Father, My God. We see it in Mark 15, 34, that Christ calls out from the cross, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? He's calling out to His Father. In John 20, 17, our Lord says to Martha in the garden on the day of His resurrection, Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father, to your Father, and my God, and your God." So it's not a lack of deity as far as Christ is concerned, it's just how he referred to the Father. Next question here is, what does Christ mean by a pillar in the temple of my God?

The temple in the New Jerusalem has no physical temple. because the Lord and the Lamb are its temple. In Philadelphia, frequent earthquakes, when they were larger, often toppled pillars. They were not permanent. Even Jews had lost their temple a quarter century ago in the attack on the Roman army against Jerusalem. So we're not looking at a physical temple.

This is a temple built out of the Lord, basically. more of a mental picture. In contrast, both of these, the Lord is promising to make believers a permanent part of the temple, which is His dwelling forever with the Lord. No earthquake or army will ever take it or touch it. And moreover, their dwelling will be forever with the Lord.

And then this pillar in a cultural aspect, It's very common for the pillars that were used on the different buildings in the area, it was common for people who had made some sort of financial donation to help build the temple, or who were simply just part of the temple, they would inscribe their names on the pillars. So what is this referring to? A Christ's new name? We could look at part of that, you know, he's writing the name of my God on the believer, on the pillar.

And then this new name has to deal with how we were talking about earlier, how Philadelphia was constantly going through being given a new name. You know, after the earthquake, they had a new name when they wanted to pay homage to the Flavian family. They were Philadelphia Flavia. You know, so I mean, just constantly getting a new name.

And what God is telling them is I'm going to write My name is your new name. And it's never going to change again. And then the last verse here, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the seven churches. The invitation is here for us again.

And like we did last week, if you guys just want to take a moment, write down something God is teaching you or reminding you of and feel free to share with those around you. I'm going to end in prayer and then I'll give you guys a little bit of time to do that. Does anybody have any questions before I finish up? We've got maybe a minute or two.

Going back to the new name again, isn't that like Jacob became Israel, Abraham became Abraham, Sarah, Sarah Roth? When we talked about that last week a little bit with Sardis, where the name in the Jewish mindset has to deal with the character of the person, and has to deal with who they are, how they act, things of that manner. Whereas in the Greek mindset, it's just a superficial, it's a name that sounds pretty, we'll give it to you. And since he's creating a new person, then they get a new name because they are a new person, right?

He says, I will write on him the name of my God, the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven, from my God and my new name. Anyway, we'll finish up here. Father, we thank you for our time this morning. Thank you that we can learn about time in your eyes, scale of what you have planned, who you are really. All the things that were promised to David thousands of years ago are true in you. The fulfillment of those prophecies, you are that fulfillment. We recognize that.

It's nice to know that you're the only one who has the key to our salvation. No one else has that key. No one's going to shut the door on our salvation. No one's going to shut the door on us being with you in eternity. That's only for you to do, and you've said that you've opened it forever for us.

It's a very reassuring, very comforting thing to know. I look forward to a day when I might be a pillar in the temple of God and have your name written on me. and just be there with you worshiping. Just an amazing thing to think about. Again, we just thank you for our time this morning. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.