33: World News & Prophecy - Revelation 3:7-13

[McNeely] Welcome back. We're continuing through the book of Revelation. We're in chapter 3, and we are about to get into the last two messages here. At least in this session, we'll do the sixth church message, which is the church at the city of Philadelphia.

And I want to just give a brief recap. I think I'll go back to this particular quote that is in our Revelation booklet, and I explained this in the setup for our sections here on the messages to the seven congregations. And this is a quote out of a book, a commentary, The Revelation of Jesus Christ by John Walford. And he said, “many expositors believe that in addition to the obvious implication of these messages, the seven churches represent the chronological development of church history viewed spiritually. They note that Ephesus seems to be characteristic of the apostolic period in general, and that the progression of evil climaxing in Laodicea seems to indicate the final state of apostasy of the Church—so a spiritual progression. The order of the messages to the churches seems to be divinely selected to give prophetically the main movement of church history.”

And I pointed out at the time that more than 20 years ago when we were reviewing the draft of the booklet on Revelation and actually talking about a number of other points of Bible prophecy out of Daniel and Revelation—and this was the Doctrine Committee, the Prophecy Subcommittee, the Council, both of those committees of the Council—and, well, some of us who were working in media at the time, author of that particular booklet, Roger Foster, and others, and we were reviewing that. And as we discussed the many different applications or possibilities of these messages, this was the one that the Doctrine Committee—or the approach and a statement that the Doctrine Committee felt fit what we wanted to convey and where we are.

This was like 1999, 2000, 2001 period. I don't remember exactly. But with the emphasis of the past on church eras—the idea of church eras—and yet with what we had experienced coming out of the Worldwide Church of God period, creating the United Church of God and the apostasy of the Worldwide experience and everything, we were... everyone was looking at that. And what does that mean?

And as we look at the messages of the Churches—to the Churches—what should we be gaining? What should we be taking out of these messages that are from Christ, the head of the Church, to His church, His spiritual body, which is a spiritual body, meaning that there's an eternal existence about it. Christ is the head. And while He founded the Church and there's a definite beginning point there, it is a spiritual body into which we are baptized.

And if Christ is speaking to the churches, "let he who has an ear hear what the Spirit says to the churches." And when we were covering the message to Thyatira, we mentioned there that in verse 23 of chapter 2, Jesus says, "I will kill her children with death, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts" (Revelation 2:23).

So the reference to the plural “churches,” all seven of them we would take, throughout the letters indicate that there’s something for every church to have learned in the first century. And therefore, we should take this to mind—that there is something for us to learn from each of the messages through the churches today and the 21st century.

And as I emphasized at the beginning—and you might want to review that, that opening class—as we stand in the 21st century, the year 2025 as these classes are being taped, what is it that we should gain from these messages for our experience in the Church of God today? And that, at the end of all the discussions, I think is the most profitable, pertinent for us to take away, just as it was for the Church in the first century, wherever and whoever represented the body of Christ in the 16th century A.D., 20th century, now in the 21st century.

And so with that in mind, I want to go to the message to the church at Philadelphia and look at this, and we’ll spend some time on this. And since in the past, the Church identified with this message to the church at Philadelphia in the Worldwide period—and yet Worldwide doesn’t even exist anymore. And even what they became in changing their name, changing their doctrines, becoming an entirely different organization—has dwindled and dwindled and dwindled to, you know, just to say they dwindled.

And so again, for us in United and, you know, any of the other scattered fellowships of the body of Christ—what do we gain from this? Well, let’s look at this. And I think that we can see that the wisdom in selecting this quote from Mr. Walford—John Walford—is a very good one to look at all these messages and to a good place, if you will, to be at this particular point.

So here in chapter 3 then, beginning at verse 7, it says, "To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy,'" and this is Christ, "'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).

All right? Now that’s a lot to unpack here in this one verse—actually verse 7.

So again, the angel, the messenger, likely a human messenger, pastor, or leading member that this is conveyed through and being given to the Church. The focus is on Christ who is holy, who is true, and who has the key of David.

Now let’s pause for a moment and just kind of get the setting of this. This is the sixth congregation, and the map will be online. You’ve been handed a map. I’ve given you a map earlier of this area here. But Philadelphia is basically right here, and Laodicea follows it. Now one of the interesting matters about all seven of these churches—it begins with Ephesus and then progresses to Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

That was a convenient and logical travel route. Some say a mail route of the first century. But if a messenger with the book of Revelation coming from John starts in Ephesus, which would be the logical place—that's where the first church message is mentioned—and it was where John essentially was headquartered. And when John came off the island to Patmos, having been released, and with this, and at whatever point he got it all written down, as that message of Revelation is taken, it would have started in Ephesus and would have logically gone up to Smyrna, and then to Pergamum, and then down to Sardis, Philadelphia, and ending at Laodicea.

And we know at Laodicea, and likely in some of these other areas, around Laodicea there were two other churches, Colossae and Heropolis. We know that from the New Testament, likely in the others too. And when you read the book of Colossians, Paul tells the Church there, make sure that they in Laodicea read this letter. So the Laodiceans, Laodicean church, also were to receive and read the letter to the Colossians. And so you turn that around, all of these churches would have read all of these messages. And so there's a logical progression to this in coming down to this particular point.

Now, the picture that you see here is some pillars in the modern city of—I believe it's Alas... I better not try to pronounce it, the Turkish name for the city—but it's on the site of ancient Philadelphia.

And when you go there today, there's really nothing to see from the first century. You can see these pillars, but they are from a Byzantine church of the fifth or sixth century AD, some 500 years after the time of the message coming there. And that's essentially all you... a tour group will see there. There's some ruins of a theater that you can see fine pictures of, but they're not even excavated, and they're just laying there, barely above the ground part of it. I've not seen those. I've usually been there on a big tour group, and the buses don't go into the area where that would be.

I think I've mentioned this, but it seems like the city fathers in Philadelphia and also the site of ancient Thyatira, they have done nothing to excavate their ancient Roman heritage. Almost like they don't want Christian tourists today going there, even though it would be a lucrative fundraiser for them. And so archaeology has not been encouraged. The modern city just had paved over everything, and there's no desire, it seems, to unearth anything.

As a result, when I go this April, I'm not even going to stop at the sites of Philadelphia and Thyatira. I'm going to add some other cities and we'll just point it out. If we drive by, there it is, or I'll read the message and go there. It's just not worth the time. There's other things to see. And so this is what you see there.

It was a very lush vine-growing or wine-growing area of the day, and it is today. When you do drive through there, you see a lot of vineyards growing wines. It's a very fertile valley area.

It was also earthquake-prone, as frankly all of Asia Minor was earthquake-prone. But in the early first century, there was a major earthquake in Philadelphia. There's one in Laodicea, too—we'll talk about when we get there. The city was rebuilt with the help of the emperor Tiberius and the FEMA of the day. And this was in 17 AD.

And so when that took place, when the earthquake took place like that, most people just kind of left. They lived outside the city. Whatever they would have had would have been destroyed. And understand that about these ancient cities—it happened here, it happened in Laodicea. And as earthquakes periodically through the centuries devastated these areas, eventually people just left and moved to a... you know, that they... if your home's all destroyed, and it's, you know, it's going to happen again.

At some point in these cities, people abandoned them, which is why Philadelphia was abandoned for a while. Laodicea was abandoned, the actual site. Many cities were like that. Later, in modern times, other cities grew up either on top or next to them. But earthquakes were a big problem.

In Philadelphia, we have obviously the presence of a Church of God. Again, likely started during the time of Paul's sojourn in the city of Ephesus for three years, mentioned in Acts 19 and chapter 19, where he taught in the school of Tyrannus. People—or possibly Paul—founded this church at that particular time. So there was a Christian influence.

Interestingly, a Christian community existed in the city of Philadelphia far into the future. As late as the 14th century AD, after this whole region has come under the control of Islam and Muslims, there's still a recorded Christian influence or presence in the city of Philadelphia, which is quite long for that location, given the historical circumstances that took place.

Going back to the first century, if you remember when we were talking about the message at Sardis—or not Sardis, but Smyrna—and the story of Polycarp in the second century, who defended the faith in the quartodeciman controversy, he and the other churches in Asia Minor were holding to the Holy Days. The 14th they Passover, obviously the Sabbath too, while other churches, primarily in Rome, had already gone to Sunday and were wanting to jettison the Holy Days and keep Easter.

Polycarp was martyred in the city of Smyrna, but at the same time, we know from Eusebius and his Church Histories, at the time Polycarp was killed, there were 11 other Christians from the city of Philadelphia who were martyred with him at that time. So that's just an interesting connection to the city there and to what is actually being done. So let's—I think that's about as much as I can say historically regarding this.

Again, going back to the text, Christ appears to the Church as the Holy One. And it's used by Christ to affirm that He is God. Only God is holy, so it's another reference to confirm that. And He describes Himself as true, trustworthy, He is not false. And He sets Himself as the genuine key to understanding with what He says here so that the members in Philadelphia, who were facing trials and difficulties, knew that their head, their spiritual guide, was holy and true.

And He had the key to—He says, the key of David—we'll talk about that—but He had the key of all understanding, obviously, as God does. And so all of these descriptors—the key of David, being true, being holy—all serve to establish Christ's supreme role that He has in the Church and in the lives of individuals and to give them help in the time of their struggle with faith in the city.

And again, remember that as we've been saying along all these messages, emperor worship is a very big problem at the time. Other pagan deities with their temples, and the need to be there at certain times of the year if you were a certain tradesman, or to do even your civic duty—there was a requirement to pay for and engage in a sacrifice in the temple. And you couldn't get around that in many of the circumstances.

These were pressures upon the Church to conform to the culture and the society around them. Coming out of that was a daily challenge. And again, this is why this message—the messages—continually focus upon that and encouraging them to be victorious, to be firm, to stand true.

Let's focus for a moment on this phrase: He who has the key of David.

For a moment—He who has the key of David. Notice, it's Christ who has the key of David. Technically, it's not the Church, although Christ is the head of the Church and the Church is His body. So the Church takes part in whatever that key of David means or represents. But Christ has it, which means He puts it in the lock. He turns it to either lock or unlock, whatever the key will do. We all know what a key does. A key opens or unlocks or locks a box, a door, a room. And so Christ has this key.

Now, what is that meaning? What's the reference here? Well, it's not very difficult because if you take your Bibles and turn back to Isaiah 22, you see the reference from which this is taken—Isaiah 22. Isaiah 22, beginning at about verse 15, speaks to a story at the time of King Hezekiah in Judah, Jerusalem. And Hezekiah had a steward whose name was Shebna.

Now, the steward was kind of the—call it the chief of staff—the top executive assistant to the king who controlled his daily schedule, controlled who had access to the king, and came in every morning, “All right, King Hezekiah, you got this and this. You got a 9:30, you got a 10 o’clock, and then at 1 o’clock we’re supposed to be at this opening for a new fountain or whatever, and then at 2:30 you’re going to go by this school and stop in as a patron,” etc. The chief of staff does that.

This is what Shebna was doing. He was the chief steward over the house. Verse 15 of Isaiah 22 mentions there. But Shebna got the big head, all right? Which happens when you get close to the power. And Shebna had this idea—because today the kings of Judah built big tombs for themselves in advance of their death, and they were all in a valley there in Jerusalem, and there were tombs of all the past kings, and Hezekiah had his. And Shebna thought, “Well, you know, I work here. I'm kind of an important person. I need a tomb down there myself.”

And this is what Isaiah 22 records. So he starts to build his own tomb. Well, he’s getting a little bit uppity, as they say, and out of his place. And so as this is going on, God delivers through Isaiah a judgment upon Shebna, telling him that he's going to be sent away to another land and die. He won’t even be laid in that tomb. And, you know, God is affronted by that, and he wouldn't be needing that.

And He goes on to say that, “I’m going to replace you by another man. His name is Eliakim.” So Eliakim would have a different nature. He had more humility.

And all of this is in the story. And not only will he have the office and the authority that Shebna had, but it says in verse 22 of Isaiah 22:

“The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open. I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place” (Isaiah 22:22–23), “and he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house” (Isaiah 22:23).

So Eliakim was going to be given even a little extra there, and it's referring to the key to the house of David. And then He uses this phrase, “so that he will open, and no one shall shut, and shut, and no one shall open.”

So this is where the phrase comes from now. And there's a lot of echoes. The word echo—when you hear an echo, it kind of comes from a distance. And scholars talk about it in the book of Revelation. There are echoes of Isaiah, echoes of Ezekiel. In other words, you're hearing something from afar off. It's kind of echoing down through to your presence. And this is kind of an echo out of Isaiah. And there are others in the book of Revelation, but there are quite a number in this.

And so what might we draw from this? What should we draw from this?

Well, consider this. Whoever had the key of David—Hezekiah was of the house of David. He was a descendant of King David, sitting on the throne in Jerusalem. So, number one, Eliakim, as the steward to the king, was a steward to a descendant of King David. And he had the key.

Again, the key opens, the key shuts—but a key would be a responsibility. It was a symbol of authority and high delegated responsibility in the ancient world to people in such a role like this. And so Christ Himself was also a descendant of David.

So you've got kind of a lineage working here. And of course, David being of Judah, Christ being of the house of Judah—all part of the Israel, of the nation of Israel—descendants there.

But also, more importantly, the Israel of God that Paul talks about in Galatians, which is the Church. And Christ is speaking here as the Son of David, as the Lion of Judah—we'll read about it later on in Revelation. He's saying something—that I've got this key. And though it was given to Eliakim at one point, really, I'm the owner of it and I have it. And it is a key of David, who was the king over the united tribes of Israel.

We know from prophecy, Ezekiel 37, that at the time of the resurrection and the reuniting of the tribes with the valley of the vision of dry bones, it all comes back together. And the house of Joseph and Judah, David, are all brought back together. And David will be king over them, it says back there in Ezekiel 37. And so in the millennium, very clearly, it shows that David is going to be over that.

Christ is going to sit on the throne of the house of David—the throne of David is mentioned in the early chapters of Luke as part of the announcement of His birth, that He would sit on the throne of David.

So there's a connection here to Christ's rightful role when He does come back and rule—His historic genealogical position as a descendant of David through Mary and that story. And of course, He was David's God to begin with when you understand and put it all together. And so He has this key.

When we look at the ministry of Christ, Christ did something interestingly—and it's recorded in Matthew 10 and Matthew 15. I'm not going to take the time and turn there, but He said in one of those places, "I am sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

And that was part of His mission. He then also, in the other location, sent out for a period of time His disciples and said, "Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." If Christ said He had—part of His mission was to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, the lost tribes—and then He gives that and tells the disciples to do that, you have Christ transferring His commission to His disciples, which are the Church.

They are the foundation of the Church—the apostle, the Twelve Apostles. Christ did give and has given—and the Church does have—a commission from Christ as part of what His divine role was and is: to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Which we have done, the Church has done, in understanding that historic or prophetic role with the knowledge of who the lost sheep of Israel are in the modern world.

We’ll talk about that when we talk about the promises to Abraham in a few weeks—that teaching—and the modern fulfillment of those promises in nations in our world today and in our time. And the Church has always understood and done the role of taking a message of repentance and warning to modern Israel, feeling that that is part of our duty.

And I think that that is true. And I think that what is said here in Revelation, in looking at this message, that the Church—that Christ has the key of David—and He's talking to the Church. And I think we've rightly, historically identified with that here in this message to Philadelphia, and have a continuing responsibility to make known that identity of the modern tribes of Israel because of the prophetic implications—because it's Christ's message, it is Christ's role, and He has done that.

And we can take that a step further. If we look at this as well—let's say, Jeff, from a spiritual perspective—what Christ is saying, that "I have the key of David," in other words, "I have the key that gives access to God and to the Kingdom of God through salvation, through all the elements of salvation."

I think that's another step in dimension of understanding of this as well. Taken together, it's really a strong statement of assurance to the Church. Christ has an affection for the Church. They have endured trials of their faith.

All have been tested. And where in some of the other congregations of the day, they have let down—in some, like in Thyatira or in Pergamum—Pergamum, they seem to have some there, in a sense, kind of weakened and needed to repent. Here in Philadelphia, they have a very positive message to them. And Christ is assuring them that, "You continue with that. I have this key, and I will help you. I am holy. I am true." This is a pretty important matter.

And it's recognized by what Jesus then says next here in this passage as we look at it. And He said, as He opens this up—and He says, "I have set before you a..." no one opens—and I said through that key of David, "He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens."

Verse 8, He says, "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name."

So this is a commendation to the Church. You have a little strength, but you have kept My word. You've been faithful to My word. And you've not denied Me or My name in any way by engaging in pagan worship. You have been an exemplar of My faithful teachings.

All of this He's saying here—and He's saying, "I know your works," and those are important. Now, the open door. Let's kind of look at that for a moment here. They have good works, but He keeps a focus here.

In our tradition, we have looked at this—and rightly so—as an open door to preach the gospel, opportunities set by God for us.

Paul mentioned something similar in Colossians 4:3, where he says to the church at Colossae—which, keep in mind, is not that far away—Paul says to the Church there, "Pray for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains" (Colossians 4:3). A door of opportunity. A door of invitation—whatever it might be—to preach the gospel of Christ. And so, an open door can have certainly reference to that, to an opportunity to preach the gospel and a clear path forward in doing so. Paul demonstrates that.

When we look at it here in the context of the message to the Church at the end of the first century, there's another dimension that can be understood as well to add to that. Christ seems to be giving access to the Church—to the Kingdom. He says that "I am the door" in John 10. He likens Himself to a door, an opening through which you go to salvation or to the Kingdom. And so, there’s a fit there. But through that, we have access to eternal life through Him.

And so again, this speaks to us today—to look to Christ as that door through by which salvation is possible, and also through whom and by whom the word is preached. And we take that literally, and we pray for that. When the gospel is preached, it unlocks the mystery of God’s purpose and plan—to unite all things together in earth and in heaven in the work of Christ. And so, that includes the sacrifice for sin, the resurrection, the opening to eternal life, which is possible. All of that is through the message of Christ as well.

There’s something else that is important to add to this here in this message to the Philadelphia. In their day, they had begun to encounter opposition from those who should have been brothers and even fellow workers for the Kingdom—the Jewish population, the Jews. But that was not possible. The Jews did not accept the truth that Christ was the Messiah then. And we see that in the book of Acts.

They then were now, at this point in time, beginning to shun the Church and treating the Church as enemies. Whereas in the first opening pages of Acts, we see through that—that Paul would go into a city, and he'd go into a synagogue of the Jews and preach until he couldn't go back in there. And then he’d go next door, rent a place, or have to go someplace else. The opposition would grow against him. That continues through the early decades of the Church. But by the time we come to the end of the first century, things have changed.

the Church is no longer welcome in the synagogue—even though they keep the Sabbath and assemble on the holy festivals. And there’s a shutting of the door. And this is a known event, known situation. Scholars write about this and they call it a “parting of the ways”—a parting of the ways between the Jews and the Christians. And sometimes even the Jews would turn in the Christians to the Roman authorities because of their antagonism toward this group.

And so when He goes on to refer to this—as we’ll see in some of the other things—about those who verse 9 talks about, "I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you" (Revelation 3:9).

And this is an interesting statement here because it’s an echo again of another passage from Isaiah 60:14. Isaiah 60:14, where it says—and it's speaking to Israel in Isaiah’s account—"The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you, and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet. And they shall call you the City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel" (Isaiah 60:14). So there God is assuring Israel that they will be vindicated. The nations will come and acknowledge that.

And so the same language is used here in the Church—in the message to the church of Philadelphia—about those who oppose God’s work with spiritual Israel, the Church. And they are told that those are "the synagogue of Satan." And it’s a direct reference to the Jews. "They say they are Jews and are not, but lie." In other words, there was an affinity because the Church sprang up out of Judaism. Christ was of the tribe of Judah.

So keep that in mind, but because they rejected Christ as God in the flesh, then this antagonism grew. We already see the elements of it in the book of Acts. And so, as a result, Christ is saying to the Church now, "Look, they will come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you."

The focus is not upon those Philadelphia members—or any member of the Church of God—"I'm better than you are. You're going to come and worship at my feet." That’s not what Christ is focusing on. He says they will acknowledge that "You are Mine." And as a result of that, "to know that I have loved you."

We’re only special as the people of God because of God’s grace—His love upon us. And so one should never use this passage to beat anybody over the head and say, "Well, you’re not like me because you’re not. One day you’re going to come and worship at my feet."

I mean, there are people who teach that today in the—let’s call it—the Church of God diaspora, all right? There are people who—there’s a group, at least one group I know of—that’s what they teach. That we will go and worship them and acknowledge them. It’s a little bit uppity—dare I say, a bit self-righteous—but it’s also betraying a twisting of the Scriptures.

One of the things that you always have to remember in reading these messages is to be very, very careful in the application to us today. Don’t over-apply and read things into it that just aren’t there. Look at the message. What did it say then? What should it say to us today? And don’t read a denominational bias, a fellowship bias, or anyone’s bias. And I’m talking among our church of God diaspora primarily. Don’t read a bias into it—any of these messages, or really into any other part of the Bible. That’s not what God wants.

So He says—we’ve read verse 9—"I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you" (Revelation 3:9).

I should say, when you read Romans 11—have you been through Romans? Okay, you’re all through that. So you’ve read Romans 11, you study that. But that passage, Romans 9, chapter 9, 10, and 11, talk about the fact that God’s going to graft Israel back on.

They were cut off because of their rebellion, their sins. Paul’s talking about that, and he’s working this great issue together in chapter 11 of Romans. Paul comes back around—he says, they’re going to be grafted on. And Jew and Gentile are going to work together.

And the Israel of God will be together and will be one and will be unified. And that ultimately is what this passage points to. So when you understand what the Isaiah passage is, what was taking place in the first century with the parting of the ways, and then what Paul says is the ultimate reality of God—that this is all going to be brought back together.

And the Jews and the Gentiles, Israel and all of the nations, will be grafted back on.

And the mystery of God is so great that while we may not see it then or even completely now, that's going to happen. And that is really, frankly, when the totality of this is understood, the message to the church of Philadelphia takes on very relevant information for us today, and also in another way that we want to go to next here.

He says in verse 10, "Because you have kept My command to persevere." And they did. They faced a lot of strong headwinds in their day to persevere in the face of Roman persecution. Today, we in the Church face great and strong headwinds in proclaiming salvation to the nations as well. And we’re in challenging, tumultuous times as well.

And Christ goes on to make a direct statement about our age. He said, "Because of that, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth." Now, this is a remarkable statement. "I will keep you from the hour of trial." That word trial is understood to be tribulation. And as it is used elsewhere by Christ and other places in the New Testament, it can only mean the tribulation at the end of the age. Get that? The end of the age. Three and a half years. The time of great tribulation. We'll study more about that later on in the book of Revelation, but we've touched on that back in Daniel. And Christ says, "I want to keep you from that."

Now, other commentators who break apart the Greek and all this and look at this message—that's what they say too. They say that can only mean the trial at the end of the age, not the trial in the first century, although that would be a type. But the time of trial, which will come upon the whole world.

Again, go back to Daniel 12:1. Daniel 12:1 says that there will be a time of trouble upon the nations such as never has been before (Daniel 12:1).

And so this is the context in which this is being said. And He promises that "I will keep you from that." So Revelation 3:10 is a very direct promise to keep people in the Church from the worst of that trial.

Now, when we combine that with Revelation 12—which we will study in detail—but verse 14, Revelation 12:14, verse 13, the dragon goes to persecute the Church, the woman who gave birth, which is the Church. But verse 14, "the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the presence of the serpent."

Our understanding of that is that it is a promise of protection for a three-and-a-half-year period of the ending tribulation for the woman—or the Church—in what is called "her place." Her place. Where that is, I don't know. Bible doesn't tell us. We've had our tradition on that. I talked about that back in Daniel 11. I'm not going into it today.

But God knows. That's the important thing. And it is a promise. So you connect Revelation 12:14 with Revelation 3:10 and to the church at Philadelphia. Again, you see the connection to the identity that we've historically, traditionally had to the message at Philadelphia. And it's unmistakable.

And again, we look at Mr. Walvoord’s comment about the prophetic flow of the story toward the end of the age—as you get down to the last few books, especially our message to Laodicea—then there is a reason to think that and to understand that. And so it does have great meaning for us today—and a comforting promise, but a sobering reminder of the times in which we live.

The hope of God's protection, but also the responsibility and the work that we have to do to be an instrument in the hands of Christ, who has the key of David, to proclaim salvation through the Son of David—Christ—to the nations and particularly to Israel, knowing their identity and the prophecies that are said about them. And so, very strong part for us.

He says then—He wraps this up—"To him who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name."

And so a distinctive promise—to be a pillar in the temple of My God. "And I will write on him the name of My God." So God’s going to write on, figuratively, us—being a pillar—His name.

Now, one of the interesting features—you’ve got pillars here. These are Byzantine pillars, not Roman pillars, in the temple. But in the Roman age, when they would build these great pagan temples full of pillars—and they would be like a forest of pillars in these temples—Temple of Artemis is an example of that. You go into it and you’re just surrounded by a forest of pillars. Names were on those pillars then of people—prominent names. And so again, the Church would have seen this allusion and recognized, hey, they’re talking about us. And God’s writing that.

There’s a temple to Apollo in the city of Didyma, which is not on this map—it’s down near Miletus. I’ve been there. And there’s a huge temple to Apollo, for a god. And around that temple are laying unfinished pillars. They never finished that temple back in the ancient world. And the earthquake destroyed that one too.

But you go there today, and you see unfinished pillars still laying out there. And these are massive pillars. They’ve just left them through the centuries. No names on them.

Almost like you kind of—you look at this and you look at the message to Philadelphia—hey, we’re unfinished pillars waiting to be polished off. And our name is going to be put on that in Christ’s eyes. "I will make you a pillar in the temple of My God."

I promise. There’s a reward here that is given to them in verse 11: "Hold fast what you have, that no man may take your crown." Now this is the Greek word stephanos for crown, which is different from another word, diadema, for crown.

Stephanos was a crown that a victor won in a race. You get first place, you’re the victor, you got a laurel wreath crown. That’s the stephanos, and that’s what this is talking about. And it was a crown for victory and overcoming and winning against the odds in your race—physical.

A king wore a diadema. Interestingly, the kingly crown was made of gold, but it was fashioned to look like a laurel wreath—even though it was of gold. They wanted to identify with the common crown of stephanos—a plain laurel wreath—much more inferior in quality and would fade, but they wanted to identify with that because it was—the king wanted to identify because it was of the people.

Christ is using it to say, "You're going to get that crown because you've overcome the spiritual forces of your time and your age." And that’s the promise to the Church in this idea of a stephanos crown—this laurel wreath victory—to overcome and to be victorious.

Well, that’s the message to Philadelphia. Next, we’ll pick up the message to Laodicea and conclude these seven messages.