Beavercreek Baptist Church
Revelation Study (started 2014- )
Wk 8 Rev. 3:7-13
Revelation 3:7-13
7
“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia Rev 1:11 write: These are the words of him who is holy Mk 1:24 and true, 1Jn 5:20, Rev 6:10, Rev 19:11 who holds the key of David. Isa 22:22, Mt
16:19 What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
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I know your deeds. Rev 2:2 See, I have placed before you an open door Acts 14:20 that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Rev 2:13
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I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, Rev 2:9 who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet Isa 49:23 and acknowledge that I have loved you. Isa 43:4, Ro 8:37
10
Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you 2Pe 2:9 from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world Mt 14:14 to test Rev 2:10 the inhabitants of the earth. Rev 6:10; 8:13; 11:10; 13:8,14; 17:8
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I am coming soon. Mt 16:27 Hold on to what you have, Rev 2:25 so that no one will take your crown. 1 Cor 9:25
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The one who is victorious Jn 16:33 I will make a pillar Gal 2:9 in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God Rev 14:1; 22:4 and the name of the city of my God, Eze 48:35 the new Jerusalem, Gal 4:26; Rev 21:2,10 which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.
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Whoever has ears, let them hear Rev 2:7 what the Spirit says to the churches.
I.
Background
Philadelphia sat on a major fault line and in 17 A.D. suffered a major earthquake. Three years later historians wrote that when aftershocks hit the only safe place was around the city walls away from buildings.
After quake city renamed Neocarsarea but the old name Philadelphia was still used.
We have no record of how Christianity came to this city.
Experiencing great challenges, but no rebuke.
*Are we like an egg or coffee in the challenges we face?
II.
A little church can listen to the one who has the big key. V7
This is a reminder that present tribulation is no obstacle to faithfulness. This is very important.
We are often tempted to think that adversity and opposition is the reason for our present failures in our spiritual lives, when in reality the exact opposite is true.

Jesus described as: He who is _____________ He who is ____________
He who has the key of ____________________
These names should bring confidence to those who struggle.
Keys are sign of authority. (Mt 16:19) Peter given authority from Jesus.
Rev. 1:18 says that Jesus has the keys of heal and death. (Same keys)
“The key of David”
Isaiah 22:20-22 (NIV2011)
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21
“In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah.
22
I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
The final description refers to Jesus as the One with “the key 9 of David” who can open and shut doors. The expressions “the key of David” and “the open door” originate in Isaiah 22 where God gave Eliakim the key to the house of David. Before Eliakim received this key, an incident occurred that gave Eliakim the rights to the “key of David.” King Hezekiah caught Shebna (the steward or governor in charge of the king’s palace) in a fraud. Apparently Shebna had used his position to allow only those favorable to him and to his ideology into the king’s presence. God sent Shebna in exile to
Babylon. God then replaced him with Eliakim, giving him the “key of David.” This gave Eliakim access to all of David’s riches. In the same way, Jesus, as the heir of David’s covenant, has been given all authority to grant entrance into heaven and the New Jerusalem ( Rev 3:12, 21 -22; cf. 1:18).
A little power keeps the door open. (3:8)
The church was not rich or no great buildings. But what they had was real.
Door image all through Scripture. Col 4:3; 1 Cor 16:9, 2 Cor 2:12
III.
A little church can impact a hostile world. (3:9)
They were facing stiff competition. The local synagogue. Said they were Jews but didn’t act like it.
Romans 2:28-39, Paul was saying that being Jewish was really about being Christian.
“Synagogue of Satan” could this be said of unfaithful churches as well?
Micah 6:6-8 not sacrifice but walk with the Lord.
1 Cor 13:1-3 I am nothing if I have not love.

IV.
A little church can survive the worst of times (3:10-11)
There will be times of testing on the whole world.
Some say this is referring to the 7-year Tribulation after the Rapture.
Jesus was speaking to this little church in the latter half of the first century. It was a church that had been holding fast against persecutions and He tells them that these persecutions were going to get a lot worse before they got better. They did. Over the next 200 years there was wave after wave of persecution that swept over the entire known world. Christianity came under the attack of the greatest superpower the world had ever known. The emperors of Rome made it their mission to destroy the message of the crucified carpenter.
Though the hurricane of persecution savaged and all but obliterated the churches within the empire, there was one little church that continued to survive. It was the church at Philadelphia.
Nor does the story end there. Islam swept over the Middle East in the seventh century and the churches in the Middle East were virtually destroyed. I don’t know whether it is true, but I am told that a small church continued to exist throughout all of this period.
V.
He who overcomes (3:12-13)
A conditional promise here. How do you know if you are an overcomer? 1 John 5:4-5
Promises:
1.
Permanence: V12 Given the earthquake background, this is a promise that you will be strong and will never have to go out for safety anymore.
2.
Possession: V12 ‘I will write upon..’ to write a name is to claim possession.
3.
Promise of Pillar: V12 ‘a pillar in the temple of God’ a strong pillar in God’s temple, which is greater than the false temples.