Revelation Now :
Daily Devotional Bible Studies in Revelation
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Philadelphia the Faithful City : Day 16 
"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name." (Revelation 3.7-8)
Philadelphia
Philadelphia was the youngest of all the seven cities. It was founded by colonists from Pergamum under the reign of Attalus the Second, who ruled in Pergamum from 159 to 138 B.C. "Philadelphos" is the Greek for "one who loves his brother." Such was the love of Attalus for his brother Eumenes that he was called Philadelphos, and it was after him that Philadelphia was named. Philadelphia means "brotherly love."
Philadelphia was founded to be an "open door" for Greek culture and language to Lydia and Phrygia; and so well did it do its work that by A.D. 19 the Lydians had forgotten their own language and were all but Greeks. Ramsay says that Philadelphia was "the centre for the diffusion of Greek language and Greek letters in a peaceful land and by peaceful means."
That is what the Risen Christ means when he speaks of the open door that is set before Philadelphia. Three centuries before, Philadelphia had been given an open door to spread Greek ideas in the lands beyond; and now there has come to it another great missionary opportunity, to carry to people who never knew it the message of the love of Jesus Christ.
Titles and Claims of Christ
In the introduction to this letter, Christ is called by three great titles, each of which implies a tremendous claim.
He is "he who is holy". Holy is the description of God himself. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts," was the song of the seraphs which Isaiah heard (1). "To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One" (2). "I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King" (3). All through the Old Testament God is the Holy One; and now that title is given to the Risen Christ. We must remember that "holy" (hagios) means "different, separate from." God is holy because he is different from humans. He has that quality of being which belongs to him alone. To say that Jesus Christ is holy is to say that he shares the being of God. Christ is "he who is true". In Greek the word for "true" means "real" as opposed to that which is unreal. In Jesus is reality. When we are confronted with him, we are confronted with no shadowy outline of the truth but with the truth itself.
The Key of David
The Key of David refers to the heavenly city of David, the New Jerusalem over which Christ has supreme authority. The key of David represents Christ's authority to open the door into his future kingdom. Jesus has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. The key is the symbol of authority. Here is the picture of Jesus Christ as the one who has the final authority which no one can question.
Behind this there is an Old Testament picture. Hezekiah had a faithful steward called Eliakim, who alone could admit others to the presence of the king. Isaiah heard God say of this faithful Eliakim: "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" (4). It is this picture which is in John's mind. Jesus alone has authority to admit others to the new Jerusalem, the new city of David. As the Te Deum says, "Thou didst open the kingdom of Heaven to all believers."He is the new and living way into the presence of God.
The Open Door
What is the meaning of this open door the Risen Christ has set before the Christians of Philadelphia? It is the door of missionary opportunity. Writing to the Corinthians of the work which lies ahead of him, Paul says, "For a wide door for effective work has opened to me" (5).When he came back to Antioch he told how God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles (6).
This meaning is particularly appropriate for Philadelphia. We have seen how it was a border town, and founded to be a missionary of Greek language and culture to the barbarous peoples beyond.
It was on the road of the imperial postal service, which left the coast at Troas, came to Philadelphia via Pergamum, Thyatira and Sardis, and joined the great road out to Phrygia. The armies of Caesar travelled that road; the caravans of the merchant-men travelled it; and now it was beckoning the missionaries of Christ.
There is a door of missionary opportunity before every Christian and we need not go overseas to find it. Within the home, within the circle in which we move, within the parish in which we reside, there are those to be won for Christ. To use that door of opportunity is at once our privilege and our responsibility. In the way of Christ, the reward of work well done is more work to do. Philadelphia had proved faithful and the reward for her fidelity was still more work to do for Christ.
It has also been suggested that the door which is set before the Philadelphians is none other than Jesus himself. "I am the door," said Jesus (7). It has also been suggested that the door is the door to the Messianic community. With Jesus Christ, the new kingdom of David was inaugurated and so Jesus is the door to admit others to the kingdom of God. Apart from all these things, for any one the door of prayer is always open.
After the door has been opened, no one can close it. Once it is closed, no one can open it. An open door represents opportunities for sharing and proclaiming the faith. Our emphasis should be on patiently obeying God no matter what we may face.
A Wine Growing Area
Philadelphia had a characteristic which has left its mark upon this letter. It was on the edge of a great plain called the " the Burned Land." The area was a great volcanic flat valley from the lava and the ashes of volcanoes then extinct. Such land is fertile; and Philadelphia was the centre of a great grape-growing area and a famous producer of wines. But that situation had its perils, and these perils had left their mark more deeply on Philadelphia than on any other city. In A.D. 17, there came a great earthquake which destroyed Sardis and ten other cities. In Philadelphia the tremors went on for years; like a "city full of earthquakes." (8)
Earthquakes
It often happens that, when a great earthquake comes, people meet it with courage and self-possession, but ever-recurring minor shocks drive people to sheer panic. That is what happened in Philadelphia. Shocks were an everyday occurrence. Gaping cracks appeared in the walls of the houses. One part of the city was in ruins, then another. Most of the population lived outside the city in huts and feared even to go into the city streets lest they should be killed by falling masonry. Those who still dared to live in the city were reckoned mad; they spent their time shoring up the shaking buildings and every now and then fleeing to the open spaces for safety. These terrible days in Philadelphia were never wholly forgotten, and people in it waited subconsciously for the ominous tremors of the ground, ready to flee for their lives to the open spaces. People in Philadelphia knew what security lay in a promise that "they would go out no more."
In later days it became a very great city. When the Turks and Mohammedanism flooded across Asia Minor and every other town had fallen, Philadelphia stood erect. For centuries it was a free Greek Christian city amidst a pagan people. It was the last bastion of Asian Christianity. It was not till midway through the fourteenth century that it fell; and to this day there is a Christian bishop and a thousand Christians in it. With the exception of Smyrna, the other Churches are in ruins but Philadelphia still holds aloft the banner of the Christian faith.
Meditation
Do you feel inadequate as in a sudden earthquake tremor? Lean on the one who is True.
Prayer
"When we trust in the Lord, in the light of his word"
Notes
(1) Isaiah 6:3 (2) Isaiah 40:25 (3) Isaiah 43:15 (4) Isaiah 22:22 (5) 1 Corinthians 16:9 (6) Acts 14:27 (7) John 10:7, 9 (8) Strabo
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place."
