“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,
‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”:
“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”
Revelation 3:7, 8
In terms of the myriad of metaphors, illustrations, and picture-imagery in Revelation, the ‘open door’ that has been set open before the Philadelphian church seems relatively minor. The reality is that it contains one of the most glorious truths of Scripture, yet it is a truth that seems to be missed in many considerations of this Philadelphian letter.
Whenever dealing with the imagery of Revelation, it’s always interesting to compare the interpretations of various commentators. John Stott is representative of a quite popular understanding of this ‘open door’, interpreting it as an open door of opportunity – in reference to salvation and evangelism.[1]
The reasoning for this viewpoint is simple: these are generally the meanings whenever door imagery is used throughout the New Testament. The Lord Jesus tends primarily to use door/gate imagery in terms of salvation, i.e. “I am the Door. If anyone enters by Me, they will be saved.” (John 10:9). In his epistles, Paul’s usage tends more towards evangelism, i.e. “Pray also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ.” (Colossians 4:3).
Whilst this interpretation is not wrong, I feel it only covers only a very small part of what was promised to this Philadelphian church by the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew Poole helpfully highlights the Key of David (v.7) as being “the key of the church, which answered the temple, the house David designed for God.”[2] Craig S. Keener somewhat tentatively nudges us a bit further in the right direction when he writes, “The text probably also alludes to a door to heaven… or more likely to the gates of the new Jerusalem… or the entrance to the temple… to presently available fellowship with Jesus.”[3]These thoughts of Poole and Keener both offer hints that there is an idea here that seems to have not quite been fully grasped in the main.
Verse 9 provides a key help that regretfully seems to be seldom read back into the preceding two verses. The identification of the “Synagogue of Satan” in this verse, made up of those who say they are Jews but are not, provides us with a great amount of detail about the situation of the Philadelphian church:
The church is made up of primarily Jewish converts to Christianity, who because of their allegiance to Christ have been banned from offering their Christ-centred worship of God in their local synagogue. The doors of this earthly temple have been closed to them, which is a note of tremendous importance in identifying Jesus’ ‘open door’. The closing of the door to their local Jewish temple would have prevented these Christians from offering the type of worship they would have been accustomed to offering throughout the entirety of their lives. The impact of this would have left them feeling cut off from God, because of being cut off from their familiar worship of God. Over time this would have accounted for their feelings of spiritual ‘weakness’ (v.8) – just as we would feel a sense of spiritual weakness over time when we are kept from attending church for an extended period.
The message of the Lord Jesus Christ is to encourage these struggling Christians. As a reward for their continued faithfulness to Him despite such discouragements, is a door set open before them – a door that Jesus Christ alone can either open or shut. This open door is to the heavenly temple – the true, spiritual temple – where worship to God is made within His special, holy presence, through Jesus Christ our Mediator.
Hebrews 12:18-24 – in setting out a scene reminiscent to Revelation 5 – explains what happens when we as Christians gather together to worship our God. First, v.22 tells us that we “come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (emphasis mine). The situation for the Philadelphian church, then, is this: the doors of the earthly temple have been closed to them by man, but, as a reward for their continued faithfulness to their Lord Jesus Christ, He has set open before them the doors to the heavenly temple.
This is where the true worship of God and true communion with God is made. This is Jesus Christ working in all aspects of our churchly worship – the sacraments, the preaching of the Word, the singing of hymns, praying, etc – communicating our worship to God, sanctifying it, and making it pleasing in His sight, and communicating God’s blessings to us. This is, through the mediatorship of Jesus and through the working of Christ by the Holy Spirit, the bringing of God down to us (1 Cor. 3:16) and the raising up of us to the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:3).
This open door leads us into the heavenly temple, before the throne of God above, and, as Jesus works both in and through our worship, this is what gives our worship its meaning, its worth and its power. The Philadelphian church was not to consider itself worse off that the earthly temple had closed its doors to them. They were to consider themselves better off because their Lord Jesus Christ had set open before them the door to the heavenly temple. This open door is on offer to all of Christ’s people who are faithful to Him, in keeping His word and denying not His name.
Many Christians today have lost sight of the wonder of our worship of God, and of the union and communion that we enjoy with Him in that worship. Do we show the reverence, and do we know the joy, that such worship commands?
Our Lord Jesus Christ is not only the rightful King and Heir of all things, but His throne is a throne of grace. We must pray to Him, asking that the fulness of the wonders of God-glorying, Christ-centred worship would be made known to His churches once more, and may we also be increasingly faithful to Him –
To the exaltation and honour of Jesus Christ, and to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
[1] John Stott, What Christ Thinks Of The Church: An exposition of Revelation 1-3, (London: Monarch Books, 2003) p.99.
[2] Matthew Poole, A Commentary On The Holy Bible Volume III: Matthew – Revelation, (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1979) p.957.
[3] Craig S. Keener, The NIV Application Commentary: Revelation, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000) p.150.
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