Chapter # 3 Paragraph # 2 Study # 1
October 8, 2023
Broadlands, Louisiana
(Download Audio)
Thesis: Jesus has encouragement for the one who "has a little power".
Introduction: We have come in our studies to the letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. In this letter we have a picture of Jesus as a "Barnabas" figure (
Acts 4:36 compared with
Hebrews 6:18) Who is "calling" (paraklesis) this man to the pursuit of his "open door" because God's Ultimate Son is "Holy" and "True".
I. The Letter To The Angel Of The Church In Philadelphia.
- A. Jesus' Self-description.
- 1. He that is holy.
- a. This is the first reference to "holiness" in this Revelation. The next is 4:8 where "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Which was, and is, and is to come" is chanted each day and night as a kind of "call to worship" (the 24 elders fall down and worship when they hear this chant).
- b. In 6:10, the martyrs of the Great Tribulation call out, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?" This later text uses the same words, "Holy", and "True", and the same phrase, "those who dwell upon the earth" (using "dwell" and "earth" together as in our current text).
- c. "Holiness" is the basis for all of God's activities, but it is focused in these texts upon His judgment upon mankind in The Hour Of Trial.
- d. There are 25 texts in The Revelation that use this word and 14 of them refer to "the saints" (i.e., "the holy ones").
- e. The major New Testament metaphor for "holiness" is 1 John 1:5's "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all".
- 1) James 1:17 says something very similar: "...the Father of Lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning".
- 2) John 1:4 says that the Life of Jesus is the Light of men and Jesus said in John 8:12 that He is the Light of the World and all who follow Him will have "the Light of Life".
- f. Our question is this: what has the "holiness" of Jesus to do with the angel of the church in Philadelphia?
- 1) The general concept in this letter is the issue of "compelling men to acknowledge Truth" (3:9).
- 2) This "compulsion" is in the form of "forcing the Truth to come out" by bringing Truth's compensation out in the open (6:10).
- 2. He who is true.
- a. The focus here is upon the absolute correlation between God's words and His actions.
- b. In 6:10 the words "holy and true" are restated.
- c. In 15:3, there is a change to "just and true".
- d. In 16:7, the words are "true and righteous are Thy judgments" and 19:2 repeats these words.
- e. In 19:9, we have, "These are the true sayings of God".
- f. In 19:11, we are read, "He is called Faithful and True" and "in righteousness He doth judge and make war".
- g. In 21:5, "Write, for these words are true and faithful".
- h. And in 22:6 we have, "These sayings are faithful and true" and they have been given to the "holy" prophets to show to the servants of "The Lord God".
- i. The "point" of this claim is that history is going to fall into line with what God has revealed it will be. The "problem" men seem to have above all other "non-Love" issues is whether, or not, the phenomenal truths God has revealed in prophecies will prove to be accurate. The bottom line to "truth" is the absence of "darkness" in the "Light.
- 3. He Who has the key of David.
- a. The original concept is in Isaiah 22:22 and it refers to sitting upon the Throne over Judah.
- 1) The original owner was Eliakim (meaning, "The God of Raising") whom God raised up to sit upon David's throne during the Babylonian captivity. He was the one whom God cut off as a link to the lineage of the Christ through Solomon.
- 2) Since Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of the Heir of David's Throne, there is at least the possibility that "the God of Raising" refers to Jesus' resurrection by which Jesus was proven to be "the Son of God" (Romans 1:7-12).
- b. Having this "Key" is pertinent to the message to this angel in that God was setting before him a "door" that could not be shut and locked; i.e., he would be able to go through it by the "little power" that he possessed.
- 4. He Who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens.
