Philadelphia

[Rev. 3:7] And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
[Philadelphia - in Lydia, twenty-eight to thirty-five miles southeast of Sardis. The city had been founded in the second century B.E. by Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamos, one of the kings of Pergamum, (who died A.D. 138), and was the youngest of the seven cities. Philadelphia is the Greek word that means ‘one who loves his brother.’ Such was the affection of Attalus for his brother Eumenes that he was called Philadelphos, and it was after him that Philadelphia was named.
The ancient historian Strabo called Philadelphia a city full of earthquakes. Earth tremors were frequent, and had caused many former inhabitants to leave the city for a safer home in the surrounding country. The severe earthquake of A.D. 17, which had devastated Sardis, almost completely demolished Philadelphia. But the 90s, with the aid of an imperial subsidy, had rebuilt Philadelphia, and within the city there was a congregation of Believers.
The church in Philadelphia was very different from the church in Sardis. It was poor, small, and harassed both by pagan citizens and by the local Synagogue; but its members had stayed from the way. The letter to Sardis contains almost unmitigated censure; letter to Philadelphia is one of almost unqualified commendation.
The connection of this Church with Jews there causes the address to it to have an Old Testament coloring in the images employed. It and Smyrna alone of the seven receive unmixed praise. He that is holy - as in the Old Testament, "the Holy One of Israel." Thus Y’Shua and the G-d of the Old Testament are one. None but G-d is absolutely holy (Greek, "hagios," separate from evil and perfectly hating it), in contrast to "the synagogue of Satan" (Revelation 3:9). True - Greek, "alethinos": "Very G-d," as distinguished from the false idols and from all those who say that they are what they are not (Revelation 3:9):real, genuine. Furthermore, He perfectly realizes all that is involved in the names, G-D, Light (John 1:9, 1 John 2:8), Bread (John 6:32), the Vine (John 15:1); as distinguished from all typical, partial, and imperfect realizations of the idea. His nature answers to His name (John 17:3, 1 Thessalonians 1:9). The Greek, "alethes," on the other hand, is "truth-speaking," "truth-loving" (John 3:33, Titus 1:2). He that hath the key of David - the antitype of Eliakim, to whom the "key," the emblem of authority "over the house of David," was transferred from Shebna, who was removed from the office of chamberlain or treasurer, as unworthy of it. Messiah, the Heir of the throne of David, shall supplant all the less worthy stewards who have abused their trust in G-d's spiritual house, and "shall reign over the house of Jacob," literal and spiritual (Luke 1:32,33), "for ever," "as a Son over His own house" (Hebrews 3:2-6). It rests with Messiah to open or shut the heavenly palace, deciding who is, and who is not, to be admitted: as He also opens, or shuts, the prison, having the keys of hell (the grave) and death (Revelation 1:18). The power of the keys was given to Peter and the other apostles, only when, and in so far as, Messiah made him and them infallible. Whatever degrees of this power may have been committed to ministers, the supreme power belongs to Messiah alone. Thus Peter rightly opened the Gospel door to the Gentiles (Acts 10:1-48, 11:17,18; especially Acts 14:27, end). But he wrongly tried to shut the door in part again (Galatians 2:11-18). Eliakim had "the key of the house of David laid upon his shoulder.
Shutteth - So Vulgate and Syriac Versions read. But the four oldest manuscripts read, "shall shut". And no man openeth - Two oldest manuscripts, B, Aleph, Coptic Version, and Origen read, "shall open." Two oldest manuscripts, A, C. and Vulgate Version support English Version reading.
Messiah, as the antitypical David, Himself has the key of the supreme "government upon His shoulder." His attribute here, as in the former addresses, accords with His promise. Though "the synagogue of Satan," false "Jews" (Revelation 3:9) try to "shut" the "door" which I "set open before thee"; "no man can shut it" (Revelation 3:8). ]
[8] I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
[I know thy works as the opening formula, is followed by no word of reproof but by the declaration I have set before thee an open door. The door was a technical expression for an opportunity for spreading the gospel. The church, though small, had a great missionary task to perform. The missionary zeal of the church had been met with opposition.
Have set - Greek, "given": it is My gracious gift to thee. open door - for evangelization; a door of spiritual usefulness. The opening of a door by Him to the Philadelphian Church accords with the previous assignation to Him of "the key of David." And - The three oldest manuscripts, A, B, C, and Origen read, "which no man can shut." For - "because." A little - This gives the idea that Messiah says, He sets before Philadelphia an open door because she has some little strength; whereas the sense rather is, He does so because she has "but little strength": being consciously weak herself, she is the fitter object for G-d's power to rest on, that so the L-rd Messiah may have all the glory. And hast kept - and so, the littleness of thy strength becoming the source of Almighty power to thee, as leading thee to rest wholly on My great power, thou hast kept My word.
Little strength means that she had a Church small in numbers and external resources: "a little flock poor in worldly goods, and of small account in the eyes of men".
The Greek verbs are in the aorist tense: "Thou didst keep . . . didst not deny My name": alluding to some particular occasion when her faithfulness was put to the test.]
[9] Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
[I will make - Greek present, "I make," literally, "I give"
The opposition against them appeared to have come from the Jewish population of the city, who rejected the claim of Believers to be the spiritual Israel. Since John himself had been born a Jew, we must not the expression them of the synagogue of Satan in an anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic sense. The synagogue at Philadelphia was criticized, not for being Jewish, but for hostile to Christians. The authorities of the Synagogue would undoubtedly have excommunicated any of their group who confessed Y’Shua as the Messiah.
The promise to Philadelphia is larger than that to Smyrna. To Smyrna the promise was that "the synagogue of Satan" should not prevail against the faithful in her: to Philadelphia, that she should even win over some of "the synagogue of Satan" to fall on their faces and confess G-d is in her of a truth. Translate, "(some) of the synagogue." For until Messiah shall come, and all Israel then be saved, there is but "a remnant" being gathered out of the Jews "according to the election of grace." This is an instance of how Messiah set before her an "open door," some of her greatest adversaries, the Jews, being brought to the obedience of the faith. Their worshipping before her feet expresses the convert's willingness to take the very lowest place in the Church, doing servile honor to those whom once they persecuted, rather than dwell with the unG-dly. So the Philippian jailer before Paul.]
[10] Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
[Patience - "endurance." "The word of My endurance" is My Gospel word, which teaches patient endurance in expectation of My coming (Revelation 1:9). My endurance is the endurance which I require, and which I practice. Messiah Himself now endures, patiently waiting until the usurper be cast out, and all "His enemies be made His footstool." So, too, His Church, for the joy before her of sharing His coming kingdom, endures patiently. Hence, in Revelation 3:11, follows, "Behold, I come quickly." I also - The reward is in kind: "because thou didst keep,". " From - Greek, "(so as to deliver thee) out of," not to exempt from temptation. The hour of temptation - the appointed season of affliction and temptation (so in Deuteronomy 4:34 the plagues are called "the temptations of Egypt"), literally, "the temptation": the sore temptation which is coming on: the time of great tribulation before Messiah's second coming.
It is not easy to determine whether this promise means keep you from undergoing the trial or keep you throughout the trial. But the promise can scarcely mean entire escape from suffering, because the promise to the one who conquers in verse 12 shows that there will be martyrs. It appears that the Philadelphia church will not be spared from testing. It will kept in, not from, the time of trouble.
All the world - mankind, except the elect (Revelation 13:8,14). The temptation brings out the fidelity of those kept by Messiah and hardens the unbelieving reprobates (Revelation 9:20,21, 16:11,21).To try them that dwell upon the earth – is an expression used elsewhere in Revelation to refer to the enemies of the Believers, those who are of earth, earthy (Revelation 8:13). "Dwell" implies that their home is earth, not heaven. This is the first indication in the book of an approaching general visitation, which will be portrayed in the successive series of judgment-visions from chapter 6 onward.
The particular persecutions which befell Philadelphia shortly after, were the earnest of the great last tribulation before Messiah's coming, to which the Church's attention in all ages is directed.]
[11] Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
[Behold - omitted by the three oldest manuscripts and most ancient versions. I come quickly - the great incentive to persevering faithfulness, and the consolation under present trials. That . . . which thou hast - "The word of my patience," or "endurance" (Revelation 3:10), which He had just commended them for keeping, and which involved with it the attaining of the kingdom; this they would lose if they yielded to the temptation of exchanging consistency and suffering for compromise and ease. That no man take thy crown - which otherwise thou wouldst receive: that no tempter cause thee to lose it: not that the tempter would thus secure it for himself (Colossians 2:18).]