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. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars. I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.

Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Revelation 3:7-13

This is sixth of seven articles on the seven cities mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3.
Part I: Ephesus
Part II: Smyrna
Part III: Pergamum
Part IV: Thyatira
Part V: Sardis

Philadelphia, the modern-day city of Ala?ehir, Turkey, sits midway on the route between Laodicea and Sardis on the Roman mail route which defined the Seven Cities of Revelation. Very little of the ancient city of Philadelphia remains, though, with only an unexcavated hill and the ruins of a 4th century church remaining. Because of this, we do not have much archaeological context for what was written in Revelation.

However, we do have a number of writings from this time, and records from nearby cities, including those of church fathers, like Polycarp (a talmid of John). From these, we see a picture of Jews (people of God) who were not acting in the manner of God’s people, as they were persecuting Christians [Current scholarship suggests this was out of a combination of doctrinal differences (leading to Judiazing) and jealousy of the success of Christianity in winning Jewish converts, while some speculate it was because of the Christian abandonment of Jerusalem in AD69]. Whatever the cause, this persecution was occurring in the church at Philadelphia against Messianic believers.

I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars.  I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.

During the reign of Domitian (81-96), the Christians in Philadelphia escaped much of the persecution suffered by those in the coastal cities of Ephesus and Smyrna, and this may be what is referenced in verses 10-11:

Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

The Earth Shakes

In 17 AD, the city of Philadelphia was devastated by an earthquake, which completely destroyed Sardis and other nearby cities.  Because of it location near the fault line, it suffered aftershocks for an additional 20+ years. As a result, its people lived in fear, and would frequently flee the city into the hills, where they would live in tents and booths, before returning when the aftershocks subsided. This is the imagery Jesus uses when he says:

Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it.

You see, pillars were usually the first architectural components to fail in an earthquake, which made standing, unbroken pillars a sign of permanence and strength.

What’s in a Name?

Philadelphia was founded by the kingdom of Pergamum during the second century BC, and underwent many name changes until it was given the name “Philadelphia” by Eumenes II in honor of the love he held for his brother, Attalus II (who kept the name out of love for Eumenes, upon his death in 160 BC). In 17AD, when Tiberius paid to rebuild the city, its name was changed to Neo-Ceasarca – a name the city’s residents came to despise. And so, it is interesting that this ‘naming’ imagery is also brought out by Jesus, through John:

I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.

Once again, as we’ve seen with the other five cities, this letter in Revelation was sent to a church using phrases and symbols that would have had special meaning to them, words that would help them to feel the emotional punch that might be missed by others unfamiliar with them.  The letters to the churches in Revelation aren’t impersonal platitudes or disconnected teachings or symbolic references to ages of the church – they are personal letters written to flesh-and-blood Christians known to their author.  While its core teachings can be carried across cultures, to suggest that the content of Revelation is only (or even primarily) about futuristic events of no import or impact to its original recipients would require a great deal of hubris or ignorance on the part of the modern reader.

What can we learn from this?

In the day we live in, and in the American culture, there are opposing forces at work, both of which act toward the detriment of Christ’s bride, the Church. One of these forces, those that lead the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world (no, I’m not dispensationalist, but I still believe there may be unfulfilled prophetic passages pointing to such a time) are the forces actively seeking to dismantle the church, and those who wish to so completely water it down that it means nothing, killing it softly.

Against these forces of evil from without, Jesus will close the door, and what he shuts no one can open.

On the other side, we have the ’synagogue of Satan’, those Christians who would mock, slander and persecute brothers in the church by insisting on certain beliefs and actions above and beyond those given by Yeshua and his Apostles. Like the Judaizers of old, they insist on works for the purpose of salvation, or they insist on belief in specific man-made doctrines for inclusion in the kingdom. They try to close the door opened by Christ, the open door that no one can shut. Paul calls them out in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 -

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

To this end, those of us who are believers must persevere and test ourselves so that we do not join their ranks. If we do so and become spiritual citizens of Philadelphia, Jesus tells us:

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. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars. I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.

And so, I would hope that we, like the church in Philadelphia would endure persecution from without (the hour of trial) and from within (the synagogue of Satan) and that we would strive to ‘hold on’ to what we have been given by Yeshua, so that no one will take our crown.