Sermon | Revelation 3:7-13 | Jesus Is...
INTRODUCTION
Who is Jesus Christ? There’s a lot of confusion about Jesus. A lot of misinformation, and disinformation.
In 2022 Barna research asked 25,000 teens in 26 countries what they thought about Jesus. Most of them had a positive perception of Him, describing as loving, offering hope, caring about people. But 8% said He is detached from today’s real issues. 7% said He is judgmental. 6% said He is irrelevant. 4% said He is hypocritical.
Who is Jesus? Today we’re going to look at a passage that will teach us a lot about the real Jesus.
TEXT: Revelation 3:7-13
7 “Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia: Thus says the Holy One, the true one, the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one opens: 8 I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 Note this: I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth. 11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one takes your crown. 12 “The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never go out again. 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 my new name. 13 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
CONTEXT
We are studying Revelation. In this part of Revelation, chapters 2-3, Jesus is writing letters to the seven churches in Asia. This letter is to the church in Philadelphia. In most of the letters Jesus has a rebuke, but in this letter He only has words of praise.
In this letter we can find six facts about Jesus.
SIX FACTS ABOUT JESUS
1) The Holy One.
Revelation 3:7 “…Thus says the Holy One”
That Christ identifies Himself as the Holy One means two things.
a) He is God.
In the OT, God is identified as the Holy One.
Isaiah 43:15 “I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”
By calling Himself to be the Holy One, Jesus is claiming to be God.
He is not merely a holy man; a good teacher; a moral example. He is fully God and fully man. He is worthy of worship. Jesus Christ is God.
The OT prophet Isaiah prophesied that the coming Messiah would not merely be a man, but God.
Isaiah 9:6 “For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
b) He is completely sinless.
This was confirmed by several NT writers.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Christ’s holiness is not merely something to admire. It is something to imitate.
1 Peter 1:15-16 “15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.”
2) The true one.
Revelation 3:7 “…the true one”
There are two Greek words for true. One means true as opposed to false. The other means real as opposed to unreal, or fake. The Greek word used here means real as opposed to fake. Real as opposed to counterfeit.
Jesus is the real source of happiness.
There are a lot of counterfeits out there. The devil wants you to believe that sin will make you happy. Alcohol will make you happy. Drugs will make you happy. Sex will make you happy. A relationship will make you happy. Money and material things will make you happy. Success will make you happy. Fame will make you happy. The things of this world do not satisfy. They are counterfeits. Jesus is the real deal. Only Christ satisfies. Only Christ can lead to true happiness; lasting happiness.
It reminds me of soda commercials. Soda commercials usually don’t tell the truth. They usually don’t just say, “This is not going to quench your thirst. It’s liquid candy. It’s going to make you more thirsty.” Instead, they usually lie and say that their drink will satisfy your thirst. But that’s not true. They only leave you more thirsty. In the same way, the things of this world don’t satisfy the thirst of your soul. Only Jesus can do that.
This is why there are countless stories of people who have everything in the world, but they are miserable. Many of them commit suicide.
One time Jesus met a woman who was looking for happiness in the things of this world. She had been divorced five times, and she was living with a man who wasn’t her husband. Christ promised her true satisfaction.
John 4:14 “But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well, of water springing up in him for eternal life.”
We must seek happiness in Christ. How do we do that?
Pursue an intimate relationship with Jesus.
Repent of sin and devote your life to obedience. Spend much time in prayer, and Bible reading, and Christian fellowship, and serving God.
The more that you seek intimacy with Christ, the less you will be drawn to the things of this world for happiness and fulfillment.
3) The key holder.
Revelation 3:7 “…the one who holds the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one opens.”
David was Israel’s greatest king. The key of David refers to authority over the kingdom. What kingdom? The kingdom of God. It means Christ has the authority to admit or restrict entrance into the kingdom. If you want to get into heaven, you must go through Jesus. He is the only access into God’s kingdom.
He gave this access to the church in Philadelphia.
Revelation 3:8 “I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”
The Jews in Philadelphia had rejected Christ and persecuted Christians. They kicked them out of the synagogue; the excommunicated them. They locked them out.
The church members had “but little power.” They were not wealthy, powerful, influential citizens.
But Christ says, because “you have kept my word and have not denied my name,” I have placed before you an open door that no one can close. You may have been kicked out of the synagogue; but I will give you entrance to the kingdom of God; to eternal life.
You may be rejected on earth; you may be a nobody on earth; you may be mistreated on earth; you may be poor and powerless on earth; but if Jesus is your Lord and Savior, you will go to paradise in the next life, where the first will be last, and the last will be first.
Jesus is the only way to heaven. He is the key holder.
1 John 5:12 “The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
When it comes to heaven, it doesn’t matter how good you are, how religious you are; all that matters is do you have Jesus as your Lord and Savior?
4) The punisher.
There’s a popular comic book character called “The Punisher.” His name is Frank Castle. After his wife and two children were killed by the mafia in New York City, he wages a one-man war on crime.
But Jesus is the real punisher. There will come a day when He will punish His enemies and all those who rejected Him.
Jesus will one day punish His enemies and those who reject Him.
Revelation 3:9 “Note this: I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you.”
Jesus says one day He will make the so-called Jews bow down at the feet of the Christians. In other words, one day those Jews will see and acknowledge that the Christians are the true people of God, and not them.
He says they claim to be Jews and are not. The Jews, Biblically speaking, are the people of God. God’s chosen people. What makes someone a Jew? Is it your blood? Your race? No. The true people of God are not those who are related to Abraham by blood, but those who are related to Jesus Christ by faith. The true Jews are Christians – made up of both Jews and Gentiles.
Galatians 3:28-29 “28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.”
Revelation 3:10 “Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth.”
There will come an “hour of testing.” This means a time of adversity, affliction, and sorrow.
It is going to come on the “whole world.” This doesn’t mean literally the entire world. The Greek word is oikoumene. It is often translated “Roman world (Acts 11:28; 17:26).” It means the Roman Empire. In the years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, not only did the Roman army fight against the Jews, but the Roman empire was embattled in wars with other nations as well as civil wars.
So, this hour of testing that Jesus spoke of is not a time of world calamity just before His second coming. It refers to a terrible time of warfare and bloodshed throughout the Roman leading up to and including AD 70. The purpose of all this warfare was to punish the Jews for rejecting and murdering the Messiah.
Make no mistake. Jesus is loving, and kind, and nice, and gentle, and humble, and patient, but He is the punisher. Just as He punished the Jews in the first century, there will come a day when He will punish all the wicked. The wicked may wreak havoc on earth, but when they die, they will have to face Jesus, and He will punish them by throwing them into hell.
What does this mean for Christians? Vengeance belongs to God, not us. We are not called to get even; to get payback; to settle scores. We are called to forgive, to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us. And hopefully they will repent and turn to God before they die and meet their Maker. If not, they will meet the Punisher.
Romans 12:19-20 “19 Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,, says the Lord. 20 But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.”
5) The keeper.
Revelation 3:10 “Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth.”
“Because you have kept my command to endure.” The Greek grammar means that there was a particular time of persecution that had come upon the Philadelphian church, and they had stayed faithful. It could have been that the Jewish leaders in the city gave them an ultimatum: Deny that Christ is the Messiah, or be kicked out of the synagogue, and they stood their ground. As a result, Christ made them a promise.
“I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world.”
The most popular Bible prophecy perspective today is called Pretribulational Rapturism. It says that before Christ comes back, He will rapture the church out of the world, and then there will be a seven-year tribulation (which is what Revelation 6-19 is all about), and then after that Christ will come back and reign on the earth for 1,000 literal years, and which will be the final judgment and the beginning of the final state. According to Pretribs, this verse is talking about the Rapture. Christ will keep the church from the Great Tribulation by rapturing it out of the world.
There are multiple problems with this view:
a) No verse in the entire Bible teaches a two-phased return of Christ – Rapture, tribulation, Second Coming.
b) The Rapture is not Christ taking the church out of the world to heaven, but the church meeting Christ in the air as He makes His descent.
c) This promise was made to the first century church in Philadelphia who would be gone long before the second coming of Christ.
d) The phrase “I will also keep you from the hour of testing” can be translated two ways: “Keep you from undergoing” the hour of testing, or “protect you through” the hour of testing. The phrase is only used one other time in the NT, and it means the latter. For this reason many scholars interpret this to mean that Christ is going to preserve them through suffering, or keep them from failing while suffering, not keep them from suffering altogether.
In other words, Jesus is promising to give His people strength to faithfully endure suffering. He is promising His people strength to remain Christlike, to stand firm in the midst of suffering.
This promise is made to all Christians Christ commands us to endure suffering – to remain Christlike while suffering; and He promises to give us strength for the battle.
Philippians 4:13 “I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.”
But I want you to notice something here. Christ promised to keep them, to preserve them, to give them strength to endure, as a reward for their previous endurance. The more you endure for Christ, the more strength He will give you.
6) The rewarder.
Revelation 3:11-12 “11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one takes your crown. 12 The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never go out again. 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 my new name.”
“I am coming soon.” Is Jesus talking about His second coming at the end of history? No, because that wouldn’t be soon. He said this 2,000 years ago. He was talking about His coming in judgment just a few years after this against the Jews in AD 70.
“Hold on to what you have, so that no one takes your crown.” The Greek word for crown here is stephanos. It refers not to a royal crown, but to the victor’s crown; a wreath usually made of leaves given to the winner of an athletic contest.
To the Christian who holds on to Jesus to the very end of their life, who remains in Chrit to the end, Christ offers a crown – a reward.
What is the Christian’s reward for remaining faithful to the end?
a) He will be made a pillar in the temple of God. The temple of
God is God’s dwelling place, or heaven. A pillar is a permanent, immovable fixture.
In Philadelphia at that time, when a priest died after a lifetime of faithful service, people honored him by erecting a new pillar in the temple in which he had served and inscribed his name and the name of his father on it. In a sense, after death that priest became a permanent part of the temple. If you will stay faithful to the end, you will be given permanent residence in heaven.
b) Jesus will write on you three things:
God’s name.
The new Jerusalem, another synonym for heaven.
Christ’s new name.
In that day slavery was very common. And sometimes a master would brand his slaves with his name to show that he belonged to him. If you remain faithful to the end, Christ will claim you as His own.
The bottom line is that a great reward awaits Christians after death. But it only awaits true Christians. Who are the true Christians? Those who remain faithful to the end. They keep believing, keep seeking, keep fighting, keep serving, keep confessing to the end.
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