Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduce who I am, the IC, my passion for ministry and the message of Revelation (privilege of studying under a prof.

Darrell Johnson who has inspired this passion to bring the message of Revelation to the church.)

Revelation has three genres, it is a letter, it is prophetic and it is apocalyptic.

In its apocalyptic genre, it seeks to do two things:

First, it seeks to set the present in light of the unseen realities of the future.

For, if we know what the future holds, it should help determine the choices we make now.

Second, and more importantly, it seeks to set the present in light of the invisible realities of the present.

The fundamental conviction of apocalyptic is that "things are not as they seem," or there is more to reality than meets the unaided eyes or ears; there is more to this present historical moment than we can deduce.

And, such writing seeks to unveil that unseen reality into the now, to pull back the curtain on the present so we can really see what is going on, it's simply beautiful.

Now, while the text for today is not apocalyptic, but a letter in genre, it is important to understand the language of the message that Jesus is giving in the context of the whole book.

John the evangelist, to whom the revelation was given to write down, was foremost a pastor.

He wants to encourage his people to keep on following Jesus in a world that is increasingly anti-Christ and we see John’s pastoral heart as he writes to the churches in the first few chapters of Revelation.

Perhaps if John was around today he would have perhaps have written words such as “Hang in there....Jesus is going to win.”

But God wants John to write a message that not only ‘pats us on the back’ but that will grab hold at the core of our being.

But ignite us from our present reality into God’s coming true reality.

So, he writes an apocalypse that expands vision, both temporally, into the realities of God’s future and spatially, into the unseen realities of God’s present.

Richard Bauckham said it this way: POWERPOINT slide 1 “It is not that the here-and-now are left behind in an escape into heaven or the eschatological future, but that the here-and-now look quite different when they are opened to transcendence.”

John believes, as a faithful servant of Jesus Christ, that there is more to “reality” than meets the unaided senses.

If John were here now he’d say, “Look around you, take in all that you see, including all the data you can obtain with your eyes.

Listen and hear all you can hear.

Smell, touch, and taste.

Gather all the possible data you can gather through your senses.

And then realize, as I did in prison on the island of Patmos, that there is more to what we call 'life' than we can know with our unaided senses and intellect and emotions.”

Opening prayer

Read Scripture – Slide 2. NASB

Can you sense the delights that Jesus has the Church of Philadelphia?

I think Jesus enjoyed sending this message because it is different to the five preceding messages to the other churches.

In that, there does not seem to be any word of correction.

In this message, Jesus does not say “I have this against you,” as he did for the church in Ephesus (2:4), Pergamum (2:14), and Thyatira (2:20).

For, the church in Philadelphia has not lost its first love and has remained loyal under pressure; it is not callously tolerant of ideas contrary to the gospel; it boldly confessed Jesus in the marketplace.

And unlike the other five messages there is no call to repentance.

Instead, Jesus heaps on praise: “I know your deeds.

You have kept my word and not denied my name.”

(3:8) The tone of the message to Philadelphia, positive and upbeat and the main exhortation is simply, “Behold!” “Look!” “Listen!” “Pay attention!”

“Behold, I have placed before you an open door."

(v8)

But, before we look at the main theme of this letter, I want us to pause and think about the magnificent radiance or put another way the sheer ‘brilliance of Jesus,’ as Darrell Johnson writes in his book, Discipleship on the Edge, “Throughout the years I have walked with him I have been captured by Jesus’ compassion and by his integrity.

But more and more I am taken by his brilliance.”

Dallas Willard a well-known Christian philosopher wrote: “Jesus is the smartest person who ever lived.”

And, we see this brilliance in each of the seven letters to the churches whereby Jesus chooses unique words and images that resolutely identify himself to them.

It’s beautiful and brilliant, it shows that Jesus in his message to each church desires that they know his intent and reward he personally has for them.

So, when Jesus says to the Philadelphians in verse 12: “The one who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down to heaven from my God and my new name” (3:12), he understands how it is for them in their present reality but wants them to know what is in store in a future reality, an eternal perspective and promise.

There’re three phrases in this verse, “Will not go out from it anymore,” “new city, new name,” and “pillar in the temple.”

All of which the Philadelphians would be intimate with:

Slide 3 (progressive with phrases 1-3)

1. “You will not go out from it anymore.”

Philadelphia found itself situated on the edge of an active volcanic area.

It was both a blessing and curse.

The blessing meant it was provided with rich fertile soil and hot springs.

But the curse meant constant danger from earthquakes.

Frequent tremors and jolting could be felt throughout the city.

And, whenever a quake struck, the people in Philadelphia would immediately leave the city only when the aftershocks subsided would they return.

The Philadelphians were then always fleeing and returning to their city.

Jesus knows this and is reassuring them when he says: "if you remain faithful to me you will enter the city of my God and will not go out for me anymore.”

Jesus is telling them: I am your security, I am your unshakable foundation.

In all, of your going and coming, you’re fleeing and coming back, I remain the same.

My presence with you is not disturbed by geological economic and political disorder.

2. Jesus then tells them (Slide 4): “I will write on you the name of the new city”.

In Philadelphia, at that time in history, the ‘new’ holds considerable significance, as in A.D. 17, an earthquake levelled the city.

The Roman Emperor, at that time was Tiberius and, it is recorded that he extended kindness and generosity to the city, postponing its taxes and providing money to rebuild the city.

Out of gratitude, Philadelphia changed its name to Neocaesarea, meaning the city of the new Caesar.

Jesus knows history (“Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.” ) and so when he says to them “I will write on you the name of the city of my God, the ‘new’ city, the new Jerusalem,” Jesus was telling them of what is to come for those who remain faithful (the New Jerusalem is described in Revelation chapters 21 and 22.)

3. The third phrase (slide 5): “I will make you a pillar.”

Like the other cities to which Jesus sent messages, Philadelphia was a religious city.

There were so many temples that Philadelphia gained the nickname ‘Little Athens’.

William Barclay gives understanding to the significance when he explains that: when a person had served the state well, when he had left behind a noble record, as a magistrate, as a public benefactor or as a priest, the memorial which the city gave to him was to erect a pillar in one of the temples with his name inscribed on it.

Philadelphia honored its illustrious sons by putting their names on the pillars of its temples, so that all who came to worship might see and remember.

Jesus says to the disciples of Philadelphia, “I will make the one who overcomes a pillar in the temple of God.” Jesus honors those who are faithful to him by making them pillars, not in this worldly temple but in the only temple that will last.

The temple of the living God!

Not only that, Jesus grants to those who overcome, the triple honor of bearing the name of his God, the name of the city of his God and his new name……

Jesus is brilliant!

And he speaks of this in , when he refers to the 'bright morning star.’

Here we begin to grasp the unfathomable truth of how ‘brilliant’ he truly is, saying: “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.

I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Main theme: The Open Door

So now let’s look at the main theme of the message, the image of the open door.

In verses 7 &8 we see how Jesus portrays himself to the Philadelphians (Slide 5): “He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this: I know your deeds.

Look!

I have put before you an open door which no one can shut.”

Who in today’s world would dare to make such a presumptuous statement: “he who is holy and true.”

And yet, Jesus could make them.

Holy and true are both words the Old Testament uses of God, and only God. and tell us only God who is the Holy One.

Only God is true.

In the Hebrew ‘true’ translates as the word trustworthy, in the Greek it means real.

The believers in Philadelphia were in trouble with those in the synagogue, in fact, they had been excluded from the synagogue, because they were using the words ‘holy and true’ of Jesus.

They used the words because that’s how Jesus speaks of himself.

Jesus goes on to say he “has the key of David……… I have put before you open door.”

To what does this image of the open door refer?

To what door, or doors is Jesus, the holy and true one, holding the keys to?

As is often the case in the writings of the apostle John, there are two possibilities to be adopted:

A. The first refers to the open door' of salvation.

The phrase ‘the key of David’ comes from a text in the book of .

(SLIDE 6)

Eliakim was the steward to the riches of King Hilkiah.

He was given authority to open and shut the door to the house of David.

To what does “the house of David” refer?

If we continued to read Isaiah, we would understand that “the house of David” is another way of referring to the kingdom of God, to the city of God, to the temple of God, to all the riches of God the king.

In truth, Jesus is the great king.

And he has the key of David that unlocks the door to all the riches of the living God.

“Look!