In the city of

Philadelphia,

the Jews acted like

they were the sole

representatives

of God.

They boasted that

they were

the chosen race,

overlooking the fact

that in the eyes of God a Jew is a Jew

only if he is one inside.

Romans 2:28-29

"I set before thee an open door, and no man
can shut it".

The open door refers to the rapture of the
church. The promise of the rapture is given
to the Philadelphia Church.

In chapter 4 of revelation, "a door opened
in heaven". At the sound of the trumpet a
voice said, "come up
hither",
and
John was caught up
into heaven
representing the
rapture of the Church.

There is another church, the lukewarm
Laodicean Church. As the Philadelphia
Church's love was fiery and true, so the
Laodicean Church was lukewarm with
Jesus standing outside the door.






















The Lord gave a warning to the Philadelphians
not to allow anyone to tempt them away
from their faithfulness. "(Let) no man take
thy crown."

The Philadelphia Church had kept its first

love and it kept the faith. It rejected the

doctrines of Balaam.

Jezebel, with her idolatry

had no part in this

church.

Because it kept the faith, the Lord promised

to keep the Church from the terrible hour of

temptation, which would come upon all the

world to try them.

The all-important thing in a Christian's life
is to love Jesus and keep His commandments.
(John 14:15). They are the real overcomers.

Only those who are Spirit-filled can hope to
keep His commandments. So we know that
the Philadelphia Church was a Spirit-filled
Church.

Jesus commends the Philadelphia Church,
saying, "For thou hast a little strength, and
hast kept my word, and hast not denied my
name. . . .thou hast kept the word of my
patience. . . ." Revelation 3:8,10

Nothing is said about their intelligence, or
their abilities, or having special advantages.
They were faithful, they kept the word of God,
they were patient in well-doing.

The Philadelphia Church is the only one
that didn't get rebuked. It stands out as
the greatest and best of them all.

It was a spirit-filled church;
an active missionary church;
it could evangelize the world;
it could carry the Gospel to the
ends of the earth;
it withstood the attempt of Satan to
corrupt its doctrine.

I had none of the faults of the others.

The Philadelphia Church refers to the end
of the Church age, so does the Laodicean
Church.

It is just before He returns. "Behold I come
quickly: hold fast that which thou hast that
no man take thy crown."

It is the faithful church, the "church of
brotherly love"

When Jesus went down into hell [Hades]
God gave Him the
keys of that place.

He not only opened
the gates of Hades,
but took with Him
all the righteous
who were confined
there, including
David the king.

Jesus is now able to
fulfill the promises of
God's Covenant with David and, at His
Coming [return] He will occupy the Throne
of David.

The Philadelphia Church, will sit with Him
and rule with Him in His throne [Revelation
3:21].

Isaiah 22:21-22 is a prophecy in which Jesus
will take over the government of the kingdom
that was promised God's covenant with David.

". . . .and I will commit thy government into
his hand: and he shall be a father to the in-
habitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of
Judah. And the key of the house of David will
I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and
none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none
shall open."

A key is to give entrance. Christ, by receiving

the key to the house of David, has access to all

the promises that God has given to the House

of David.

Believers do not go down to Sheol or Hades

any more when they die, like they did in the

Old Testament days. Instead they ascend to

Paradise, the Third Heaven. [2 Corinthians

12:1-4]

Jesus has held the keys of Hades. That is

why He could say in Matthew 16:18 that

"the gates of hell [Hades] shall not prevail

against it [the church]."

The Lord declared to the Philadelphia
Church that He has the keys of David: that
"He openeth, and no man shutteth, and
shutteth and no man openeth".

It has some relation to His words in 1:18
of Revelation, where He declares that He
has "the keys of hell and death".

There is no scriptural evidence that the
keys to death and hell and the key of David
are the same thing.

There was a custom in Philadelphia which
concerned the temples of the city. When a
man had served as a public servant, or priest,
the city would build a pillar in one of the
temples and write his name on it.

That is how they honored

their sons. So Jesus promised

the overcomers: "I will make

him a pillar in the temple of

my God".

Philadelphia hadn't been successful in
civilizing the barbarians with their Greek
culture, but its citizens were given the
opportunity of spreading the gospel, for
Philadelphia was the gateway of that great
area.

At one time they had changed the name of
the city to NeoCaesarea "The New Town of
Caesar". But returned to the old name, even
though the people understood the meaning
of Jesus' promise to give them a new name.
"I will write upon him a new name."
Revelation 3:12

Philadelphia was founded with the purpose

of becoming a 'missionary' city. It had

intended to spread the Greek language, its

culture and way of life.

Jesus' letter to

Philadelphia said,

"Behold I have set

before thee an

open door".

Revelation 3:8

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In every church there is a remnant of the
faithful. Martin Luther and others, in Sardis,
faced the organized wickedness of their times.

The reformers lifted up their voices against the
evils and sounded a call for the Reformation.
And some became martyrs for the cause.

Sardis is a church with a great name. It
shook off Jezebel, but kept many of its
forms and trappings.

Ceremonies, liturgy, priestly garments,
candles, altars, processions and music;
anything that produces a spiritual air that
takes the place of the Holy Spirit.

They don't stem back to the apostle's
church or Pentecost.

The
"seven spirits of God"
that Jesus possessed
didn't refer to different
spirits, but phases of
the Spirit's attributes
and operations as seen
in Isaiah 11:2









1) The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him
2) the spirit of wisdom
3) the spirit of understanding
4) the spirit of counsel
5) the spirit of might
6) the spirit of knowledge
7) the spirit of the fear of the Lord

The church at Sardis needed the ministry of
the Holy Spirit, and Jesus was calling attention
to the fact that He was able to restore it.

The works of the Sardis Church were in an un-
finished and imperfect state.

The task that the reformers faced could only be
possible by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The next important development in the
church was the Reformation (1517 A.D.).
The Church of Sardis represents this period.

The Reformation was good as far as it went,
but it stopped short of restoring the church
to the one that Jesus' apostles ministered
through.

About twenty years after the birth of Jesus,
the city of Sardis was destroyed by an earth-
quake. Sardis was not a center of emperor-
worship. But it was a community of loose
living people who loved pleasure.

As a city that lived for pleasure, it "was dead
while it lived." Materially it was alive, but
spiritually it was dead.

"And unto the angel of the church of Sardis
write; these things saith he that hasth the
seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I
know thy works, that thou hast a name that
thou livest, and art dead."
Revelation 3:1

The synagogue of Sardis

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