Читать книгу Visions of the Lamb of God - Andrew Scott Brake - Страница 15

Jesus’ Message to the Church in Philadelphia

Introduction

One summer, in June, my son, Rick, and I got to go to our first Chicago Cubs game. We had a great time. Our tickets cost $18.50 a piece, and we were in the windy section. An icy wind kept blowing right in our faces, but we did not mind, because we had a hot dog to share, a Pepsi to share, a popcorn to share, a cotton candy to share, peanuts to share, and candy to share. And a stomach-ache to share. Before the game started, I took Rick down to the foul line seats, the seats closest to the field. We got to the park two hours earlier than the start of the game, so we got to see all the batting practice. It would have been great to sit there for the game. The wind wasn’t blowing, and the sun was shining right on the seats. We still had a great time, and a very enjoyable day together, but I had an inward covetousness for those seats.

Would it not be great to have the place of honor every so often? The place of honor at the company banquet or the place of honor at the school program, or the place of honor at the family gathering, or at the Premier League Championship game? There is a place of honor reserved for the faithful follower of Jesus, a place in Heaven with Jesus. When my Step-Father was in the hospital the last few years of his life I got to see him on December 24th. There were a few things I wanted to say to him alone, before we left the hospital that day. After the family was gone, I kneeled down by his bedside, and told him that he had been a great father. I wouldn’t have wanted any other than him. I then told him to save me a place at the Lamb’s table, because I wanted to sit next to him when I got there.

Now, the more I think of that, the more I realized that my father doesn’t have a say where I sit. I don’t have a say where I sit. But God does. And he will give each of us a place of honor according to his own choosing. In fact, through our lives God is sustaining us for a place of honor. This is what the church in Philadelphia needed to know.

Exposition

The city of Philadelphia was located about thirty miles north/northwest from Sardis. It was known as the gateway to the East, and this made it a commercially important city, with the imperial road passing through it. Because of the many fertile lands for grape growing, Dionysius became an important deity for the city. Philadelphia suffered much after a major earthquake in 17 A.D. that also impacted Sardis. Philadelphia was nearer the fault line. The name of the city comes from the love of the ruler of the 2nd century B.C. for his brother, who remained faithful to him.131 Osborne writes that in 92 A.D. Emperor Domitian issued a decree that half of the grape vines be cut down. This was to encourage the growing of grain for the Roman Empire because of the famine. This caused a severe crisis in Philadelphia as well as some loosening of ties with the Roman Empire cult.132

Jesus is described here as the holy and faithful one who holds the key of David. This may be a parallel to the keys to death and Hades in chapter 1. Just as Jesus remained faithful and set apart for the task God gave him, bearing witness even unto death, so this church is called upon to stay faithful in the midst of persecution and trial.133 Ultimate judgment is in the hands of Jesus. They need not fear or give up. In Isaiah 22:22 God says concerning Eliakim and Hilkiah, “And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” Eliakim was the palace administrator. As palace administrator, he would have had the keys to the King’s palace. Here in Revelation, the application is made to Jesus, who has keys to the palace of his Heavenly Father’s home. These “keys of David” refer the Messianic leadership over Israel, a leadership that is in Jesus’ hands and that he has the right to give to the faithful. The doors of the true synagogue were open to the faithful ones, whereas the doors remained closed to those who rejected Christ, the keeper of the keys.134

Jesus keeps the door open when others want to shut it. While the people of the church may have been shut out of the synagogue, they are not shut out of the kingdom of heaven.135 It seems that the Jews had kicked the small Christian congregation out of the privilege of synagogue worship. They were not welcome to worship with the Jews because the Jews did not believe that God loved the followers of Jesus. They had been told that God had rejected them, and that they were not of the chosen ones. Jesus had previously already rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew 23:13, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.”

Jesus promised the Philadelphian congregation an open door into the palace of Heaven, and no one was going to be able to shut this door on them. In the history of religion, there occasionally have arisen groups that limited salvation to a select number of people. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, a large cult today, used to claim that only 144,000 were going to heaven. When their group got bigger, they had to change their beliefs. Some groups of the 1830s and 1840s limited their number to only celibate people—obviously, their groups did not last for more than one generation. Still today, there are some that suppose they have the authority to decide who can get into Heaven.

But Jesus holds the keys in his hands and no one else. And as the key holder, he determines the entrance requirements. And as Savior, he has already paid the entrance fee with his blood and invites everyone to come to the Father through him. Jesus said of himself in John 10, “I am the gate for the sheep; whoever enters through Me will be saved. He will come in and go out and will find pasture.” As members of the body of Christ, we do not have the key to the door, but we know the One who has the key. Our task is to lead people to the Key-holder, so that he can let them in.

But more than just holding the keys, Jesus also promises a restored honor to those who had it taken away by others. Jesus used harsh language to describe those who had prevented the church from participating in their religious activities, calling them a synagogue for Satan. The synagogue of Satan is probably similar to what was encountered in Smyrna. Those who are Jews were trying to oppress or persecute the followers of Jesus. The “real” Jews spiritually are those who hold the teachings of Jesus and stay faithful. These false Jews will one day acknowledge not only the rightness of the church members in Philadelphia, but by doing so they will also acknowledge the truth claims of Jesus and his love for the church. Whether this means they repent or not is not clear.136

Because of the faithfulness to the command to endure patiently, Jesus promised that he would keep the Philadelphia church from the hour of trial that would come upon the whole world. What is the hour of trial to come upon the earth? Is this the final suffering and judgment upon the earth? Or is this a reference to a more severe level of persecution that the church will escape, while other congregations and followers of Jesus may have to endure?

I think the context, as well as the general teaching of Revelation and the rest of the New Testament, lead to the conclusion that the tribulation is the punishment of the ungodly. The church of Philadelphia will be spared from the wrath of God just as the Jews were spared from the plagues of Egypt. The phrase, “hour of trial,” is the technical phrase for judgment (see 6:10; 8:13; 11:10; 12:12; 13:8, 12, 14; 14:6; 17:2, 8). This is an intensification of the end-times tribulation on the earth which has already been set in motion.137 The phrase “keep you from,” κἀγώ σε τηρήσω (kago se tereso), is also used by Jesus in John 17:15. There, Jesus prays that the disciples would be kept from the evil one, but not taken out of the world. Thus, in Revelation 3:10 it is not a rapture or protection from persecution, but a perseverance in the midst of that persecution. Jesus will keep them spiritually safe.138

This final trial is also mentioned in Daniel 12:2; Mark 13:19; 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12; and Revelation 13:5–10. It is the three and a half years of trial that the church must endure.139 In other words, it is a limited time of persecution under the sovereign rule of Christ. “Although the church will be on earth in these final terrible days and will suffer fierce persecution and martyrdom at the hands of the beast, she will be kept from the hour of trial which is coming upon the pagan world. God’s wrath, poured out on the kingdom of Antichrist, will not afflict his people.”140

Jesus promised the church that he was coming soon. The “soon” here is the apocalyptic “soon,” not necessarily a chronological reference. Because the coming of Christ will take place “without delay,”141 the church is encouraged to hold on to what they have: their teaching, their faith, their holiness as a congregation, and their ministry. If they do so, no one would be able to take their crown. The crown is the same word used in chapter 2, the reward for faithfulness and the wreath of the Olympic games.

Not only would the crown be permanent, the faithful would become pillars in the house of God. In an area that is accustomed to earthquakes, this is an image that would have much meaning. Often, when an earthquake shook a city, the buildings would fall down, except for the pillars of the temple. The image is real here. Jesus promised to make them pillars, so that even in the midst of the earthquakes of suffering and persecution, they would not fall, but would be fixed in God’s presence. This is where Jesus exceeds the promises made to Eliakim, the palace administrator, in Isaiah 22. Eliakim would hold the keys, but after he was fastened like a peg in a sure place to bear the weight of his father’s house, in time it would give way. Pillars planted by Jesus would not give way.

Conclusion

Three names are written on this pillar, the one who is faithful to the end, even in the middle of persecution. First, the name of God, or the seal of God. He will belong to God forever. Exodus 28:36–38 says of the priests, “You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, ‘Holy to the Lord.’ And you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue. It shall be on the front of the turban. It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts. It shall regularly be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord.”

Secondly, is the name of the New Jerusalem, God’s city. The name of New Jerusalem brings to mind also the authority of the keys of David, and the assured promise of the presence of the faithful in the new kingdom, although they had been put out of the synagogue. Philippians 3:20 says, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” A suitcase that is traveling overseas has a baggage tag on it. This shows where the suitcase is going. We have a tag or a stamp on us. The claim tag reads “New Jerusalem” because that is where we are going.

Thirdly, the pillar has on it the name of the Son, Jesus. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”142 God is preparing us as pillars. his name is on us. He is sustaining us for a place of honor at his table. We need to hold on.

131. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 115.

132. Osborne, Revelation, 185.

133. For the title “Holy One”, see Revelation 4:8 and 6:10. Also see in reference to Jesus: Mark 1:24, Luke 4:34, John 6:68, and 1 John 2:20.

134. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 283.

135. See Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 117 as well as Osborne, Revelation, 188. Aune (Aune, Revelation 1–5, 244) sees the open door as referring to the “reserved seats” in the heavenly kingdom.

136. Johnson, Hebrews through Revelation, 453, sees this as retribution on Christ’s enemies, not that they will repent. It could also be that the bowing down at the feet is an allusion to Isaiah 45:14, 49:23, and 60:14. Isaiah 45:14 reads: “Thus says the Lord, ‘The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and the Sabeans, men of sature, shall come over to you and be yours; they shall follow you; they shall come over in chains and bow down to you. They will plead with you, saying, “Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no god besides him.”’” Beale, The Book of Revelation, 287.

137. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 290.

138. For other verses in the New Testament that speak about the reality of believers going through physical suffering or persecution, see Romans 8:35–39; 2 Corinthians 4:16–5:10; 6:4–10; Philippians 3:10–11; Colossians 1:24, as well as the rest of Revelation, particularly 7:14. This sounds a death-knell on the dispensational view of the rapture of the church out of persecution. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 119, writes, “It is precisely because the church was faithful to Christ in time of trial that he in turn will be faithful to them in the time of their great trial.”

139. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 119.

140. Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John, 62. See also Osborne, Revelation, 194 who views this protection as protection from the wrath of God, not protection from persecution.

141. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 120.

142. John 10:27.