And to the angel
of the church in Philadelphia write,
“These things says
He who is holy,
He who is true,
He who has the key of David,
He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens.”
Revelation 3:7
As the Lord does in each of the letters He writes to the seven churches, He begins by introducing Himself to that church by selecting the characteristics of His nature they need to focus on based on their situation. This time however He surprises us with
His introduction.
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write As always the Lord addresses His letter to the pastor of the church. The Lord always
works through t established authority who are responsible to tell the people His message. As with most of the other churches we have no idea who this person is but the Lord knows.
These things says The Lord states who this message is from. The words are His. He then makes four points of reference to Himself that are intended to strengthen, encourage and motivate the saints at Philadelphia. This is where the surprise comes into play. Up to this
point the characteristics the Lord has chosen to use have came directly from His description provided in Chapter 1. The characteristics He uses here do not come from that list but are
selected by the Lord especially for the church at Philadelphia. We are not told why this occurs but there might be a very important reason for this added revelation. We know that one of the
key benefits of being in heaven is “to know God”, Many commentators believes that one of the rewards for great faithfulness is the capacity to know God in a deeper and fuller way. Philadelphia is a very faithful church. The Lord reveals Himself to them in a special way – different than the He does with the other churches, so that they can know Him more fully and deeply
There is a second insight into this special revelation of the Lord to His church at Philadelphia. We know this church is an evangelistic church. They are reaching the world around them for Christ. Proverbs 11:30 says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that wins souls is wise”. When we fear God (the beginning of wisdom) we win souls knowing the terror of God’s judgment to come. When we are wise in God’s sight, scripture tells us something important happens.
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.” – Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus we see that the wise in God boast in one thing – that they know Him and His attributes!
What can we learn? The Lord sends an important message to his church in this introduction to the saints in Philadelphia. Following the Lord’s great command to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel” is very important to the Lord and will be greatly rewarded in heaven. The first lesson we can learn from the small, weak church in Philadelphia is how important it is to make what pleases God our
priority. Being faithful and obedient in this short life will be rewarded by the greatest reward of all eternity – “to know Him”. That is much more important than we could ever imagine!