PHILADELPHIA: WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES…
Finish this statement, “When one door closes…” (“…another one opens”). For you optimists, this is a mantra to live by. To you realists, this statement is overly optimistic. There is a grain of truth in it as many scientists have discovered in learning from their failures.
Who said this? When one door closes, another opens? Alexander Graham Bell made it famous and was himself one who learned from his setbacks and failures. But did you know there is more to the quote? He originally said, “When one door closes, another door opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”
We can get rattled so easily by the closed door that our focus becomes glued on that missed or denied opportunity. Will we choose to stare at the closed door and miss the open door as it swings wide open? A closed door may seem like loss or failure. What if, instead, it stands as an opportunity for growth?
The city of Philadelphia (not Pennsylvania, but Asia Minor) was the newest of the seven cities. It was established with a special purpose: the intention that it might be a “missionary” of Greek culture and language to Lydia and Phrygia. This worked out so well that by AD 19, the Lydians had forgotten their own language and were very Greek.
When Jesus spoke to the church at Philadelphia, he had this potential for influence in mind. He speaks of an open door that was set before them. Three centuries earlier, Philadelphia had been given an open door to spread Greek ideas to a vast region; now a true missionary opportunity stood as an open door before the church, an open door to tell people about the love of Jesus Christ.
If Jesus has nothing good to say about Sardis, he has nothing bad to say about Philadelphia. Theirs is an example of enduring suffering by staying close to Jesus.
The Door that is Open to us (3:7-8)
When addressing this church, Jesus in his usual way identifies himself to them in a way that is meant to encourage. To this church, Jesus uniquely veers from his usual reference to the description of “the man among the lampstands” to speak of himself in four ways not found in chapter one. Jesus says:
He is the “holy one” – he is set apart, perfect, pure. This pretty much identifies him as God.
He’s “true” – He cannot lie. He keeps his word. We can count on him in every way in every situation.
He possesses the “key of David” – This is new! The person who holds the key has the power to unlock doors. That person has the authority to go in and to invite others in. The key of David is full of Messianic significance. This expression is based on Isaiah 22:22 and it was said to Eliakim, a servant of King Hezekiah. Eliakim was so trustworthy that he was given royal emblems and authority to rule over the house of David, Jerusalem, and Judah. It was like he was given “the key to the city.” Nothing was closed to him. In this way he was a type, a foreshadow of the Messiah. Jesus, the true Christ, by virtue of his faithfulness to God by dying on the cross, has been given this key and rules over God’s house and over God’s people.
What is this door? Some writers say it is the door of salvation; others that it is the door of service; another that it is the door to the kingdom of God. In one sense, they all mean the same thing. Entering the kingdom of God requires evangelism; we need to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior if we are going to enter into the kingdom and live as God’s people. Jesus has himself opened this door to us. And this is the fourth thing we see about Jesus…
He is the One who opens and shuts the door. He is sovereign overall and powerfully able to open and shut.
To the church at Philadelphia, Jesus has set before them an open door. It goes back to this theme of influence that the city had on culture and Jesus applies it to the church. He knows this church intimately, just as he knows all the churches that bear his name. Jesus acknowledges, “I know that you have but little power,” which could refer to the lower classes and poor folks who make up the congregation. They are not leaders in the community, they don’t have pull on city council – but they have one thing that is more important that social status or political influence – they have kept the word of Jesus.
This little church has stood firm. They have suffered for the name of Jesus, but they did not give up and deny Christ. And because of this, Jesus is opening the door of evangelism to them. It doesn’t matter what circumstances they face, what opposition threatens them, Jesus has opened the door for them to make some noise for the kingdom!
The Door that Appears Shut (3:9)
It’s hard to imagine that the door is open when you face such hostility from the people you want to share Jesus with. Jesus knew this; he saw this. Look at verse 9…
Jesus calls this church’s great opposition “the synagogue of Satan.” If anybody opposed the Philadelphian church with hateful vengeance, it was the Jews. This is not justification to be anti-Jew, this is just the reality of their situation. The Jews didn’t trust Jesus. Just as Satan opposed Jesus, the Jews opposed the followers of Jesus. That’s it means when Jesus says they are a “synagogue of Satan” – they belong more to the camp of the evil one because they rejected the Messiah.
But Jesus says not to worry about this closed door; it’s going to swing wide open for them. In other words, they are going to have the opportunity to share Jesus with these Jewish neighbors. At the very least, the Jews will bow down before them.
You know what’s ironic about this? Isaiah the prophet promised the Jewish exiles that one day they would be restored from exile (see Is. 49:23). This verse talks about how Gentile kings and queens will take care of the Jews and they will bow down before them, even licking the dust at their feet. But in Philadelphia, Jesus now turns the tables using the same imagery saying that the Jews will bow before the Gentiles who have received Jesus as Lord.
This won’t come without suffering. Christians will suffer at the hands of the Jews in this city. But it is precisely in that suffering that the Jews will recognize Jesus.
You may be staring at a door that is shut to you. Your child is refusing to believe in Jesus, rejecting the God that you raised him or her to believe. Jesus says the door is open; they can see you and your faith. And when you suffer and go through painful trials, it is then, as we keep (or hold on to) Jesus’ word, that they will see in our pain that we have not denied Jesus.
A wonderful illustration of this suffering that bears fruit is found in the story of Joseph, a warrior of the Masai tribe in Africa. He traveled to Amsterdam for an Itinerant Evangelists Conference. Joseph had hoped to tell Billy Graham his personal story.
The story began when Joseph, who was walking along one of those hot, dusty African roads, met someone who shared the good news of Jesus Christ with him. Then and there he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. The power of the Spirit began transforming his life. He was filled with such excitement and joy that the first thing he wanted to do was return to his own village and share the good news with the members of his local tribe.
Joseph began going door-to-door, telling everyone he met about the cross of Jesus and the salvation it offered, expecting to see their faces light up the way his had. To his amazement the villagers not only didn't care, they became hostile. The men of the village seized him, holding him to the ground, while the women began to beat him with strands of barbed wire. He was dragged from the village and left to die alone in the bush.
Joseph somehow managed to crawl to a water hole, and there, after two days of passing in and out of consciousness, found he had the strength to get up. He still wondered about the hostile reception he had received from the people he had known all his life. He decided he must have left something out or told the story of Jesus wrong.
After rehearsing the message he had first heard, he decided to go back to the village and share his faith once more.
Joseph limped back into the circle of huts and began again to proclaim the good news about Jesus. "He died for you, so that you might find forgiveness and come to know the living God," he pleaded. Once again, he was grabbed by the men of the village and held while the women beat him a second time, opening up wounds that had only just begun to heal. Once more they dragged him, unconscious, from the village and left him to die.
To have survived the first beating was truly remarkable.
To live through the second was a miracle. Again, days later, Joseph awoke in the wilderness, bruised and scarred and yet determined to go back.
For the third time he returned to the small village. This time he found everyone waiting for him. They attacked him before he even had a chance to open his mouth. As they began to flog him for the third and probably last time, he began again to speak to them of Jesus Christ, the Lord, who had the power to forgive sin and give them new life. The last thing he remembered before he passed out was seeing the women who were beating him begin to weep.
This time he awoke in his own bed, not in the wilderness. The very ones who had so severely beaten him were now trying to save his life and nurse him back to health.
The entire village had come to Christ.
[All Billy Graham could say was, “I’m not fit to untie his shoes, and he wanted to see me?”]
(From Immanuel: Reflections on the Life of Christ by Michael Card, pages 172-174)
Going Through the Door come what may (3:10-11)
Jesus said that suffering is part of following after him. It is not a “maybe” but a certainty that being a disciple of Jesus will bring pain. The world does not like the “good news.”
In these verses, Jesus promised the church at Philadelphia, “I will keep you from the hour of trial.” The NLT says “I will protect you from” leading us to believe that we will be exempt from the tribulation that is to come upon the world. This is misleading. Some even say that this is proof for the rapture of the church, taking us out of the world before the “brown stuff” hits the fan. Scripture doesn’t support this escapist teaching. Here’s a few reasons why:
First, the idea that believers are exempt and have special protection from trials, tribulations, and persecution is unbiblical. Jesus said, “In this world you will have tribulation,” (John 16:33); and Paul said, “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God,” (Acts 14:22). John, the author of Revelation, identified himself as a brother and a partner in the tribulation (1:9).
Second, the tribulation Jesus mentions in 3:10 is meant for the judgment of unbelievers (or as Jesus calls them “earth-dwellers”). In Revelation, this always refers to unbelievers who persecute the church. They are the ones who will suffer the seals, trumpets, and bowls of Revelation troubles.
Third, the promise Jesus makes here is “spiritual” protection in the midst of physical tribulation. When Jesus says “keep,” he means he will provide what they need to sustain them in their faith, come what may. The promise is similar to Rev. 7:1-3; 13-14 where the believers are sealed to protect them from spiritual harm. As one writer put it, “they are not preserved from trial by removal from it, but their faith is preserved through trial because they have been sealed by God” (Beale).
Fourth, while some Christians insist that the only way God’s people can be spiritually protected from tribulation is by being physically removed from the earth, Jesus prayed, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one,” (Jn 17:15). This verse also sheds light on what is meant by the word “keep” in our passage.
Finally, is it not precisely when we remain faithful to Jesus right to the death (or through intense suffering) that we express true faith? As it says in Rev. 12:11, believers conquer Satan and the Beast “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”
Suffering is an opportunity for witness. That flies in the face of the prosperity gospel.
Through the Door and Beyond (3:12-13)
Jesus is coming soon! Don’t give up, Jesus says. I know it has been a long “soon” – the Philadelphians did not see Jesus’ Second Coming. We may not either. But we persistently believe he is coming.
It’s like a race. We are all running this race – this course of life. We have seen Olympic meets and high school track and field – what do you cheer when you are on the sidelines? “Take it easy. Don’t wear yourself out. You are so close you can coast to the finish line.” No, you stand and scream, “Go! Go! Go! Give it all you got!” The closer we get to seeing Jesus, the more effort we put into this race, to finish and to win the prize. Even if your limbs burn and your lungs feel like they’re going to burst, keep going. That’s how we want to finish the race. We run with perseverance remembering that Jesus ran this race before we did – he set the pace, he endured, and he finished.
The one who conquers… the one who overcomes… Jesus says, “I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.” That sounds fun! What kind of prize is that? Okay, it’s a metaphor. Think of this like an OT Jew: What is the temple? It’s where God lives. You get to be a pillar, a part of the temple – where God is! In other words, you will be in the presence of God forever.
This is reinforced with the three names Jesus will write on you if you overcome this world. If you follow Jesus…hear what the Spirit says to you right now…this is who you are: Here is your current identity and destiny in Christ Jesus is going to write on your heart the name of God, the name of his holy city (the new Jerusalem), and a name Jesus will receive but that no one knows yet. When God’s people have his name on them, they belong to him, and he can call them out of anything. As Isaiah wrote, “…everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made,” (43:7).
The name of the city, the new Jerusalem is like the temple image. In Revelation 21:2-8, the people of God are literally identified with the New Jerusalem. We are the new Jerusalem. And where does God plan to live? Right in the midst of this city. We are going to be with God forever.
And the new name of Christ. How do you describe this? This new name is another way of saying that what awaits us is a fuller, infinitely expansive, revelation of the glory and beauty of Christ beyond anything we have ever seen or imagined in this life. Whatever we know of Jesus, however amazing, whatever we have experienced, whatever grace we have known in knowing him, all is but a sub-microscopic drop in the vast ocean of a spiritually macroscopic revelation yet to come!
This is the Door that is open to us. It is the Door that we invite others to come and share in and experience. I pray that we, like the church at Philadelphia, would keep Christ’s word, claim his name, and invite the world to enter through that door.
AMEN
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