Lesson #11

REVELATION 3:7-13
LESSON #11
THE CHURCH CHRIST LOVED – PHILADELPHIA

• MEMORY VERSE: REV 3:8

• READ REV 3:7-13 PHILADELPHIA
• BACKGROUND:
• THE NAME, PHILADELPHIA, MEANS = BROTHERLY LOVE.
• KING ATTALUS OF PERGAMUM SPONSORED THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY AND IT WAS NAMED AFTER HIM BECAUSE OF HIS LOVE FOR HIS BROTHER KING EUMENES. THE CITY IS NOW CALLED ALASEHIR, HAVING UNDERGONE SEVERAL NAME CHANGES THROUGH HISTORY.
• HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
• THIS CITY IS LOCATED ON A GREAT TRADE ROUTE AT THE THRESHOLD OF A FERTILE VALLEY. THIS BECAME THE GREATEST TRADE ROUTE IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY IN BYZANTINE TIMES AND GAVE THE CITY ITS COMMERCIAL PROSPERITY.
• THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA WAS TO BE A CENTER FOR SPREADING GREEK LANGUAGE AND CULTURE THROUGHOUT THE ASIAN PROVINCES. IT WAS A VITAL LINK IN THE MAIN COMMUNICATIONS LINES OF ROME AND THE REST OF THE EMPIRE.
• THE CITY WAS PRONE TO SEVERE EARTHQUAKES THAT CAUSED THE PEOPLE TO MOVE OUT AND DWELL IN TENTS AT TIMES. IN 17 AD JUST BEFORE JOHN WROTE REVELATION, JUST SUCH A SEVERE EARTHQUAKE OCCURRED THERE.
• ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE:
• A VALUABLE TRADE ROUTE LOCATION.
• A KEY CROP WAS GRAPES FOR WINE-MAKING.
• RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE:
• THE COINS OF THE CITY HAVE PAGAN GODS SUCH AS ARTEMIS AND ASKLEPIOS. THE CITY HAD PAGAN TEMPLES. THE PEOPLE WORSHIPPED DIONYSUS, THE GOD OF WINE AND REVELRY. THERE WERE MANY RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS.
• THE CITY WAS KNOWN FOR ITS RESISTANCE TO ISLAM IN THE MIDDLE AGES AND REMAINED CHRISTIAN LONG AFTER THE OTHER CITIES INTO THE 14TH CENTURY.
• THE CHURCH:
• WE KNOW ONLY WHAT WE FIND HERE IN REVELATION.
• TODAY:
• POPULATION OF THE CITY TODAY IS ABOUT 20,000.
• THIS CITY HAS 5 CHRISTIAN CHURCHES WITH A TOTAL CONGREGATION OF ABOUT 1,000.
• THE PROPHETIC HISTORICAL PERIOD:
• THE CHURCH CHRIST LOVED 1750-1950 AD
• A TIME OF REASON AND REVIVAL
• THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE AND REASON SAID THAT MAN CAN MAKE IT ON HIS OWN. THE IDEA SPREAD UNTIL SECULARISM FILLED PUBLIC LIFE. GOD REMAINED ONLY AS A MATTER OF PERSONAL CHOICE. AS A RESULT, THERE WERE A SERIES OF EVANGELICAL REVIVALS SUCH AS PIETISM, METHODISM, ETC.
• THERE WAS A GREAT AWAKENING IN THIS PERIOD OF CHURCH HISTORY IN AN ATTEMPT TO RESTORE GOD TO PUBLIC LIFE.
• ALL THE BIG MISSION ORGANIZATIONS BEGAN DURING THIS AGE. IT WAS THE TIME OF WESLEY WHO STARTED THE METHODIST CHURCH AND SPURGEON.
• CHRIST REVEALED:
• HOLY AND TRUE (7)
• THESE ARE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD, THE FATHER, AS WELL AS JESUS CHRIST.
• “KEY OF DAVID”
• READ ISA 22:15-25
• (15) SHEBNA WAS A FOREIGNER WHO WAS A TEMPLE TREASURER NOT LIVING BY FAITH.
• (16) HE MADE HIMSELF A TOMB LIKE A NOBLEMAN.
• WE READ OF HIS DOWNFALL.
• (20) ELIAKIM
• ELIAKIM WAS THE STEWARD OVER KING HEZEKIAH’S TREASURY.
• THE NAME, ELIAKIM, MEANS = “GOD ESTABLISHES”
• (21-22) ELIAKIM WAS MADE TREASURER SO THAT THE FINANCIAL GOVERNMENT OF DAVID’S KINGDOM WOULD BE IN HIS HANDS AND ON HIS SHOULDERS.
• ELIAKIM IS A PREFIGURE OF CHRIST, WHO IS THE STEWARD OVER GOD’S KINGDOM TREASURY OF BLESSINGS SO THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS ON CHRIST’S SHOULDERS.
• (23) “THE FIRST NAIL” = ELIAKIM, ON WHICH POSSESSIONS AND BURDENS WERE HUNG. THIS IS A PICTURE WITHIN A PICTURE:
• THE MAIN TENT POLE HAD A NAIL ON WHICH ALL HOUSEHOLD GOODS WERE HUNG.
• CHRIST IS THE SECOND NAIL ON WHICH ALL SIN, BURDENS AND POSSESSIONS OF THE KINGDOM WERE HUNG.
• (25) THE FIRST NAIL WOULD BE REMOVED INDICATING THAT ELIAKIM AND DAVID’S KINGDOM WOULD COME TO AN END PHYSICALLY, BUT CHRIST’S SPIRITUAL DAVIDIC KINGDOM WOULD NEVER FAIL OR NEVER BE REMOVED.
• KEY OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID
• IT WAS THE KING WHO HELD THE KEYS TO THE CITY GATE.

• “OPENS AND SHUTS” =
• WHAT DOES THIS PHRASE MEANS (7)
• CHRIST CONTROLS THE OPPORTUNITIES OF THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL AS WELL AS THOSE WHO ENTER AND THOSE WHO DO NOT.
• CHRIST CONTROLS THE WEALTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD JUST AS ELIAKIM CONTROLLED THE WEALTH OF THE KINGDOM OF DAVID AND THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA CONTROLLED THE DOORWAY TO THE WEALTH OF THE VALLEY IN WHICH IT WAS SITUATED.
• REVELATION SAYS THIS CHURCH HAS AN OPEN DOOR (8).
• IN THE PROPHETIC HISTORIC PERIOD, THIS WAS THE PERIOD OF THE OPEN DOOR OF EVANGELISM.

• COMMENDATION (WORDS OF PRAISE):
• WORKS
• MISSIONS (OPEN DOOR)
• LITTLE STRENGTH (FEW IN NUMBER)
• KEPT THE WORD
• NOT DENIED CHRIST
• DESPITE THOSE OF THE “SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN” (9)
• WE CAME ACROSS THESE PEOPLE IN THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA (2:9).
• THESE WERE JEWS WHO PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS.
• CORRECTION:
• THERE IS NO SPECIFIC WORDS OF CORRECTION SPOKEN, BUT AN IMPLICATION THAT SOME HAVE BEGUN TO QUESTION GOD’S PROMISES AS TO WHETHER THEY ARE TRUE AND WHETHER COMMITMENT TO CHRIST IS WORTH IT.
• COUNSEL:
• “HOLD FAST” (11) MEANS = TO CLING TO TENACIOUSLY OR ELSE SOMEONE WILL TAKE YOUR CROWN (2JOH 8).
• WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LOSE YOUR CROWN AND HOW CAN YOU DO THIS?
• IF YOU LET A GOD-GIVEN OPPORTUNITY SLIP BY, GOD WILL CALL SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT, AND HE WILL WIN THE CROWN YOU WOULD HAVE HAD. OR IF YOU DON’T COMPLETE THE WORK GOD GAVE YOU TO FRUITION, YOU WILL LOSE YOUR REWARD.
• BECAUSE THE WORD, CROWN, IS SINGULAR AND NOT PLURAL IT REFERS TO THE CROWN OF LIFE. IT IS, THEREFORE, A REASSURANCE OF ETERNAL SECURITY.
• CHALLENGE: ISA 56:5
• “PILLAR IN THE TEMPLE”
• PERMANENCE
• IN A CITY OF FREQUENT EARTHQUAKES WHERE NOTHING IS PERMANENT, OUR SALVATION AND OUR HEAVENLY REWARD IS PERMANENT.
• “WRITE A NEW NAME”
• A CITY WHOSE NAME WAS ALWAYS CHANGING, BEGGED FOR A PERMANENT IDENTITY.
• WE HAVE A PERMANENT IDENTITY IN CHRIST.
• THE BELIEVER WILL BE GIVEN A NEW NAME THAT IS UNIQUELY HIS (REV 2:17)
• THE BELIEVER WILL BE GIVEN THE NAME OF GOD.
• THE BELIEVER WILL BE GIVEN THE NAME OF THE CITY OF GOD, JERUSALEM.
• THEREFORE THE BELIEVER HAS AN ETERNAL NAME AND AN ETERNAL ADDRESS.
• THE BELIEVER, THEREFORE, HAS PERMANENCE, AN IDENTITY, A RELATIONSHIP OF BELONGING, AND A PERMANENT PLACE TO BE WRITTEN ON HIM WHICH IS OPPOSED TO THE MARK OF THE BEAST OF THE ANTICHRIST.
• “KEEP THEE FROM THE HOUR OF TEMPTATION” (10)
• THE WORD, “KEPT (tereo)”, MEANS = PRESERVATION AND PROTECTION, TO TAKE CARE OF, TO GUARD.
• THE WORD, “FROM” = MEANS = OUT OF. OR IT CAN MEAN = IN THE MIDST OF.
• THE PRE-TRIBULATION VIEW INDICATES THAT THIS MEANS BELIEVERS WILL BE RAPTURED PRIOR TO THE TRIBULATION PERIOD.
• THE POST-TRIBULATION VIEW INDICATES THAT THIS MEANS BELIEVERS WILL BE PROTECTED DURING THE TRIBULATION PERIOD. (SEE JOH 17:15).
• THE CHARACTER OF THIS CHURCH:
• LOVED
• THE KINGDOM PARABLES RELATED TO THIS CHURCH:
• THE PARABLE OF THE MERCHANTMAN AND THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE (MAT 13:45-46)
• THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS (MAT 25:1-13)
• HOW DO THESE TWO PARABLES RELATE TO THIS CHURCH?

• CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH, THE UNIVERSAL BODY OF CHRISTIAN BELIEVERS, SO MUCH THAT HE SHED HIS BLOOD FOR IT. (EPH 5:25-27 JOH 17:20-23)

• THOSE WHO HAVE THE OIL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT INSIDE OF THEM THROUGH A BORN AGAIN EXPERIENCE WITH JESUS CHRIST, WILL BE READY FOR THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.
• AS IN THIS CHURCH, CHRIST IS REVEALED AS HAVING THE KEY THAT OPENS AND SHUTS THE DOOR TO SALVATION. IN THIS HISTORICAL PERIOD, THE DOOR IS WIDE OPEN FOR MOST OF THE GREAT MISSIONARY ORGANIZATIONS WERE ESTABLISHED DURING THIS TIME, AS WELL AS GREAT TIMES OF REVIVAL, AND PROMINENT LEADERS IN THE FAITH. THEREFORE, THIS IS THE HISTORICAL PERIOD CHRIST LOVED AND DIED FOR.

• APPLICATION:
• HOW TO BE AN OVERCOMER:
• #6 BE LOYAL TO CHRIST SHARING LOVE AND THE GOSPEL TO ALL MEN.

HOMEWORK
REVELATION 3:14-22
THIS IS A SELF-STUDY. PLEASE DO NOT SEND HOMEWORK ANSWERS TO THE TEACHER FORCORRECTION.

• APPLICATION OF REV 3:7-13

• HOW WELL DOES YOUR PERSONAL LIFE CORRESPOND TO THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS CHURCH IN SHARING CHRIST’S LOVE AND SPEAKING THE GOSPEL TO OTHERS?

• PREPARATION FOR REV 3:14-22
• READ REVELATION 3:14-22
• DESCRIBE “LUKEWARM” WORKS IN VERSE 15.

• MEMORY VERSE: REV 3:11