Synopsis: Like the church at Smyrna,
Philadelphia receives no correction. She is faithful and,
therefore, will be kept from the hour of trial –
Revelation 3:7-13.
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By Alexis Subias on Unsplash |
The city of Philadelphia lay fifty kilometers southeast
of Sardis, between it and the town of Laodicea.
It straddled a major road into the interior, so trade with the other towns of Asia was vital to its economic life.
Philadelphia was established as
a city in 189 B.C. by Eumenés II, the king of Pergamos. He
named it in honor of his brother and eventual successor, Attalus II. The city came under Roman rule when the last king, Attalus III,
bequeathed Pergamos to Rome at his death (133 B.C.). Thus, Philadelphia became
part of the Roman province of Asia.
As in the other major cities of
Asia, Philadelphia was a proud participant in the imperial cult and featured a temple with
images to honor the emperor. Its coins declared the city ‘Neokoros’ or “temple
sweeper”; that is, the caretaker of the temple dedicated to the emperor and nea Roma, the
patron goddess of the city of Rome.
The city was heavily damaged by
an earthquake in A.D. 17. The emperor Tiberius responded by suspending tax
obligations to alleviate its sufferings. In honor, the city changed its name
for a time to Neocaesarea. Later, under Vespasian (reigned A.D. 69-79), the name was changed again to Flavia. By
John’s time, popular usage caused a revival of the old name, Philadelphia. The
promise of the Risen Christ to write “the name of the city of my God, the
new Jerusalem…and my new name” on the one who overcomes may reflect this
background (Revelation 3:12).
(Revelation 3:7-13):
“And unto the messenger of the assembly, in
Philadelphia, write:—
These things, saith he that is holy, he that
is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no one shall shut,
and shutteth, and no one openeth:
I know thy works,—lo! I have set before thee
an open door, as to which, no one can shut it,—that thou hast a little
strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Lo! I give them of the synagogue of Satan,
who are affirming themselves to beJews, and are not,—but say what is false,—lo!
I will cause them, that they shall have come and shall bow down before thy
feet, and shall get to know that, I loved thee.
Because thou didst keep my word of
endurance, I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial, which is about to
come upon the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the
earth. I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that, no one, take
thy crown.
He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar
in the sanctuary of my God, and outside shall he in nowise go forth any more;
and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my
God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and [I
will write upon him] my new name.
He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying unto the assemblies.” – (The Emphasized Bible).
Jesus is the one “who is
holy and true.” This builds on the earlier description of him as the “faithful
witness.” He bore true witness by faithful endurance even until
death. This status is contrasted with those “who say they are Jews and are
not but do lie.” The description also anticipates the vision of the Rider
on the White Horse, he who is “called faithful and true, and
in righteousness, he is judging and making war” (Revelation 1:4-5, 19:11-16).
He possesses the “key of
David,” which enables him to “open and shut.” This alludes to the book
of Isaiah and a prophecy to replace Shebna with Eliakim as a steward of
Israel’s royal house.
(Isaiah 22:22) – “And I will lay the key
of the house of David upon his shoulder,—And he shall open and
none shall shut, And shut and none shall open.”
Thus, Jesus has the sole and
complete authority over God’s “house” and controls who may gain entry to
it. The link to the line of David, combined with conflict with a “synagogue
of Satan,” suggests the messianic status of Jesus was
in dispute between the church and the local synagogue in the city of
Philadelphia.
As with the church at Smyrna, there is no condemnation or correction of the Philadelphian congregation. Because of its faithfulness, Jesus has set an “opened door” before it that “no one can shut.”
The idea is not a door of
opportunity to evangelize but, instead, an entrance into the household of God.
The one who overcomes “shall certainly not go forth any longer.”
Instead, he or she will become “a pillar in the sanctuary of my God in the
city of my God,” New Jerusalem. Christ controls entry into God’s house, not
the synagogue.
The Philadelphians have “a
little strength.” They have “kept his word” and “not denied his
name.” From a human perspective, this group is marginalized and without any
social, political, or economic influence. Nevertheless, the church has
sufficient strength to maintain its testimony, despite the hostility of the
local synagogue and others.
Rather than compromise, it “kept
Christ’s word.” Refusal to deny his name indicates the church experienced
hostility, perhaps even persecution, although primarily in view is the conflict
with the local synagogue.
In the city, there is a “synagogue
of Satan,” a group consisting of “them who say they are Jews but are not.”
A similar group was seen in Smyrna.
Because the Philadelphians
remain faithful, Jesus will make them of the “synagogue of Satan to come and
bow down at your feet.” The language echoes three passages from the book
of Isaiah:
(Isaiah 45:14) – “The labor of Egypt and the merchandise
of Ethiopia and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to thee and they
shall be thine: they shall go after thee, in chains they shall come over; and they
shall fall down to thee, they shall make supplication unto thee,
saying, ‘Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God’.”
(Isaiah 49:23) – “And kings shall be thy nursing
fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to
thee with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet; and
thou shall know that I am Yahweh; and they that wait for me shall not be put to
shame.”
(Isaiah 60:14) – “And
the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and
all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet;
and they shall call thee the city of the lord, the Zion of the Holy One of
Israel.”
In Isaiah, the
expectation was for Gentile nations to bow before Israel and acknowledge her
election by Yahweh. Now, Revelation applies that promise to the church
at Philadelphia, but in a paradoxical way. Non-Christian
Jews will prostrate themselves before (largely Gentile) Christians to
acknowledge that God has chosen them to be His people (Revelation 5:9, 7:9).
The allusion to Isaiah
is especially fitting. God will cause the very ones who afflict His
children to pronounce them His people and “the city of the Lord,” New Jerusalem.
The promise to write the “name of the city of my God” on overcoming
believers is not coincidental - It draws on the language of Isaiah
60:14.
“Because you kept my word of
perseverance, I also will keep you out of the hour of trial.”
“Perseverance” or hupomonés is a key theme in the book of Revelation.
Believers “overcome” by maintaining their testimony in tribulations, not
by escaping them (Compare - Revelation 12:11).
Because the Philadelphians have
suffered already, the promise to be kept “from the hour of trial” cannot
be a promise for them to escape persecution and tribulation. They will be kept from the hour of the trial. The Greek
preposition means “from” or “out of,” and denotes origin or motion away from
something. Here, the latter sense is meant.
This is a promise to keep the Philadelphians from something, to avoid it altogether. Because they have endured and kept Christ’s word, they will not endure a specific impending event, one with dire consequences.
This fearful event is “the
hour of trial.” “Hour” or hōra has
a definite article or “the,” which indicates a specific and known event. It is
not just another hour but, the hour. Whether “hour” is literal
or figurative, it suggests a sudden and decisive event.
This hour is will be a “trial”
or peirasmos. The Greek noun means “test, trial.” It was used in legal
contexts for judicial proceedings. It only occurs here in Revelation and
is not the same word used for “tribulation” or a synonym. The book
nowhere equates “trial” with “tribulation.”
The “trial” will
come upon the “whole habitable earth.” This translates the Greek
clause, tés oikumenés holés, the same clause that describes the
target of Satan’s deceptions, “the whole habitable earth.” It also
describes the kings of the “whole habitable earth” who are allied with
the Beast and gathered to the final battle of the “Great Day of God Almighty.”
In each case, “whole habitable earth” describes humanity in opposition
to God. The “hour of trial” affects rebellious mankind, not the church (Revelation
12:9).
In contrast to the “hour of
trial,” tribulation is always something God’s people endure for the sake of
Jesus. “The tribulation” is already underway in John’s day (“fellow-participant in the tribulation”), and several of the Asian
churches already have seen persecution, tribulation, and even martyrdom (Revelation
1:9, 2:9-10, 2:22, 7:14).
The “hour of trial” refers
to God’s judicial response to the plea of the martyrs under the altar in the
fifth seal. They pleaded for God to vindicate and avenge their blood on “those
who dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 6:9-11).
The period of an “hour”
occurs several times in Revelation to refer to an event of finality that will occur
at the end of the age, as follows:
- (3:3) - For the unprepared, Jesus arrives at “an hour” they do not expect.
- (9:15) - Four angels are loosed to prepare for a specific “hour” to slay a third of mankind.
- (11:13-18) - In the “self-same hour,” the great city falls and the seventh trumpet sounds, the two witnesses ascend to heaven; the “hour” of final judgment.
- (14:6-20) - Men fear because “the hour of God’s judgment is come.”
- (14:15) – “The hour to reap has come,” the time of the final harvest.
- (17:12) - Ten kings receive power with the Beast for only “one hour.”
- (18:10) - Babylon’s judgment falls in only “one hour.”
- (19:2-3) – In “one hour” Babylon is laid waste.
The hour of trial is not
an extended period of suffering but a time of final overthrow and judgment,
whether for mankind, Babylon, the Beast, or the kings of the earth. All who
oppose the Lamb undergo this “trial.” The promise of escape is
conceptually parallel with promises of escape from “the Second Death,”
and from having one’s name “blotted out of the book of life” (Revelation
2:11, 3:5).
Looking at the promise in the historical
context, it was made to Christians who lived in Philadelphia in the first
century. If the promise meant escape from a future “Great Tribulation,” it
was not applicable to the congregation that first received it.
Because of death, none of the Philadelphians were ever in
danger of undergoing a future “Great Tribulation,” and, by default, they
have avoided it altogether. Therefore, if this was a promise to the
Philadelphians of escape from any yet future event in this age, it was a hollow
promise and a literary fiction.
The one who overcomes will be
made “a pillar in the sanctuary of God” and will receive “the name of
God and the name of the city of God.” These promises find fulfillment in “New
Jerusalem,” the city that will descend to the earth from heaven in the New
Creation. “Name of the city of God” alludes to Ezekiel 48:35 (“the
name of the city from that day shall be Yahweh is there”).
Revelation
places the ideal city and temple envisioned in the book of Ezekiel in
New Jerusalem, not in the thousand-year period described in Chapter 20 of the book
of Revelation. This fulfillment of Ezekiel’s ideal temple in New Jerusalem becomes
explicit in John’s final vision (Revelation 21:2-3).
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