Rev. 3:7-13; Psalm 34:19-22

Rev. 3:7-13
The message to the church in Philadelphia comes from "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." So these words tell us that Christ is "holy" meaning that He is God. As God, He is holy in character, in deeds, as well as in any other way we can think of. He is "true." We can count on Him as our Lord and Savior; He will never let us down! He "holds the key of David," referring to the fact that Christ, the promised Messiah, was born as prophesied through the line of David. v. 7

The name Philadelphia means "brotherly love." In v. 8, Christ assures them that He knows their deeds. He had placed before them a door of opportunity and though they were not strong, they kept His word and did not deny His name. Though we make be weak in many ways and perhaps not great in numbers, our influence does not depend on us but on the strength of the Lord whom we serve!

Another obstacle that the believers of Philadelphia faced was opposition from the Jewish establishment. They were kept out of the synagogue which meant ostracism in other areas of society as well. Jesus promised to judge such people and to protect the faithful Christians. vv. 9-10. In fact, we see several promises as we complete this passage:

• Christ will punish the enemies of His children. v. 9
• He will protect faithful Christians from coming judgment. v. 10
• He will soon return!. v. 11 
• He will honor and reward the faithful. vv. 11-12
• He will "write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem." This shows that when Jesus claims us, we take on His name! He claims us as His own, and heaven, the New Jerusalem, is our eternal home.

I believe the 21st century church can identify with Philadelphia. We are weak and small in many ways, but we have a great and mighty God! We have open doors of opportunity. Though we may not be popular in Hollywood or on college campuses, our freedoms are not really very much diminished. We can still gather together, pray, preach, serve our communities, witness to our neighbors, educate our children, send missionaries, and the list goes on and on. We can even deduct our charitable giving on our income tax! (I just filed ours, so it's fresh on my mind! ;)

With all this in mind, I hope that when Jesus returns, He will find us faithful!

Psalm 34:19-22
We, as "the righteous man" or believer, may have many troubles, but God promises to deliver us from them all! v. 19    v. 20 likely refers to Christ who of course was truly the most righteous of all. This verse prophesies that not one of His bones would be broken. We see in the account of the crucifixion, which we will commemorate tomorrow (Good Friday) that this came to pass. Not one of His bones was broken.

"Evil will slay the wicked;"  Wicked and violent people often meet their end in wicked and violent ways.

"...the foes of the righteous will be condemned."  God will condemn the enemies of the righteous.

"The Lord redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him." v. 22