Revelation is book of disclosure. It discloses what God makes known. It reveals the unblemished majesty of the coming Lord Jesus Christ and the events that surround His triumphant arrival, but the letter also reveals the agenda of the Church. To unveil these truths, one of the most recurring words in Revelation is the Greek word, ἰδού, meaning Look!
8I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Revelation 3.8
And in this case it calls us to take note of something very crucial. Look! Something different is about to happen and it’s crucial that you act on it. The word appears 3 times in just these 2 verses. They comprise three commands for the church and shows us the present activity of Christ.
Behold an open door of ministry.
The Lord who has the keys of the kingdom and opens and shuts doors, which cannot be altered, places before the believers at Philadelphia an open door. It is a door into the kingdom, an access for believers into true fellowship with Christ. It is also a door of opportunity for service.
2Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Colossians 4.2-4
A praying church will be earnest and vigilant or watchful in prayer. It is prayer on the offensive. It looks for opportunities and implores God for the opportunity. It is a church with a vision for the advance of the gospel.
The door of opportunity to impact others is somewhat conditional. Jesus says to this church, I know your deeds… …because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “People only see what they are prepared to see.”
In a Leadership magazine article, Lynn Anderson described what happens when people lose their vision. A group of pilgrims landed on the shores of America about 350 years ago. With great vision and courage they had come to settle in the new land. In the first year they established a town. In the second, they elected a town council. In the third, the government proposed building a road 5 miles westward into the wilderness. But in the fourth year the people tried to impeach the town council because they thought such a road into the forest was a waste of public funds. Somehow these forward-looking people had lost their vision. Once able to see across oceans, they now could not look 5 miles into the wilderness.
This teaches us a lesson about vision, that it must be sustained in order to be realized. God has a vision for us that he desires us to sustain because he wants it to become a reality for us.
We cannot afford to lose our vision. A church of lost vision is a church of lost opportunity to make an eternal difference in the lives of others. Do we compassionately love the lost or carelessly leave them in darkness without our witness?
Paul Harvey said, “Too many Christians are no longer fishers of men but keepers of the aquarium.” It is constant, vigilant prayer that keeps our vision and our purpose for evangelism alive and vibrant.
What were there works? They had little strength, but they kept His word and hadn’t denied His name. They were weak, but they were willing. They maintained an integrity of obedience and devotion to Christ. God will open the door of ministry effectiveness to a church that is wholly devoted to Christ and no power on earth can shut it! Behold the open door and enter through it!
Behold an overwhelmed adversary.
9Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. Revelation 3.9
Not only can enemies of the Gospel NOT shut the door, which Jesus opens before us proclamation, but they shall be overwhelmed. Those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not; we’ve seen this group before. In the church at Smyrna, they persecuted follower of Jesus, even exposing them to Roman authority and persecuting them through public slander. Jesus said that they were carrying out the orders of Satan. Though they claimed to be true Jewish worshipers of the true God, they were, in fact, a sanctuary for Satan, our Accuser, the slanderer, and the ultimate enemy of Christ.
The Lord Jesus informed this church with great news of encouragement. Those who would slander you with lies and false accusations will be the very ones coming before you in submission and homage.
The word for bow is the same word we would use to say that we worship God. It is προσκυνέω, meaning to bow in honor and reverence. They would revere the body of Christ. Christ would powerfully move on their hearts and there is a strong suggestion to their turning to the truth and worshiping the God, who we worship! We’re talking radical conversion here!
Jesus said they would “know that I have loved you.” It is a reference to the saving work of Christ.
18Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2Corinthians 5.18-20
The ministry of reconciliation has been committed to the church to convey the love of Christ and implore people to turn to Him! It results in the plundering of Satan’s kingdom, turning them from Satan’s Synagogue into true believers in the Church at Philadelphia, having entered the door of the Kingdom.
Behold an Ordained Future.
10Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Revelation 3.8-10
Christ promise a future of His protection. It is a broader application to the Great Tribulation. It wasn’t just a local outbreak of persecution in Philadelphia. Jesus promised the church that He would keep, τηρήσω, from that hour by the Lord’s coming in the sky. It means to guard or protect. Believers in the church were completely devoted to Christ, even in difficult times and the Lord promised that they would not have to face the coming tribulation.
For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Matthew 24.21
The verb in this sense means to guard, detain, or withhold. It is coupled with a preposition from or out of. This is great evidence for the rapture of the church taking place before the Great Tribulation of 7 years, preceding the Lord’s coming kingdom.
The One standing among the Lamp Stands of Revelation has scripted a future for us to embrace opportunities without fear, live for His glory without entanglements, and envision ministry that loves people boldly.