Free Reformed Church of Kelmscott
"JESUS TELLS HIS CHURCH AT PHILADELPHIA THAT HE DETERMINES WHO HAS ACCESS TO GOD."
Scripture Reading:
Revelations 3:7-13
Isaiah 22:15-25
Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise"
Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 72:1,2
Psalm 65:2,3
Hymn 33:2,3,6
Psalm 27:5,6
Hymn 12:5 & Psalm 118:5,7
Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!
We’re sensitive to what people say to us. Nobody likes being told he’s wrong, nobody likes being the odd man out. We know it from experience: it’s hard to maintain one’s position when the big majority doesn’t agree. That’s true for people individually; it’s true also for us as churches.
Before us this morning is the letter of Jesus Christ to Philadelphia, a church scorned and ridiculed because it refused to follow the path of the majority. Jesus Christ encourages this beleagured church of His, encourages it to believe that what people think about it and do to it is not important; important is rather what Jesus thinks about this congregation. For it’s Jesus, not people, who controls access to the Father.
I use this morning this theme:
JESUS TELLS HIS CHURCH AT PHILADELPHIA THAT HE DETERMINES WHO HAS ACCESS TO GOD.
John on the island of Patmos received instruction to write a letter to the church of Jesus Christ in Philadelphia. By the Lord’s command, the letter to Philadelphia had to be introduced by a description of the letter’s Author, Christ Himself. The description this time had to be as follows:
"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.’"
Why might it be, congregation, that Christ told John to begin the letter to Philadelphia with this description of Himself? What significance is there for the church of Philadelphia to be told that the Author of this letter was holy, was true, was the One who had the key of David, was the One who opens and shuts? As it turns out, beloved, we need an answer to this question if we wish to understand Jesus’ letter to Philadelphia. And understand this letter we must, for Christ has included it in Scripture for our edification too.
Both the reference to the "key of David" in our text and the reference to opening and shutting draw the reader’s attention to Isaiah 22; in that chapter these exact phrases occur word for word. We need, therefore, to come to grips with the meaning of these expressions in Is 22.
The actual words we’re interested in are found in vs 22 of the chapter we read from Isaiah’s prophecies, where we read this:
"The key of the house of David
I will lay on his shoulder;
So he shall open, and no one shall shut;
And he shall shut, and no one shall open."
We wonder: what’s to be opened, and what’s to be shut? What actually is meant by "the key of the house of David"? And: on whose shoulder is this key to be laid?
According to vs 15, the words I quoted from vs 22 are spoken to a man called a "steward", one "who is over the house." What this stewardship, this being over the house, actually involved is spelled out in vs 21. There reference is made to being "a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah." The position of this steward is further described in vs 22 with the reference to "the key of the house of David". All of these job descriptions together lead to the conclusion that the steward addressed in this chapter was not the employee of a well-to-do citizen of the land; this steward was rather "over the house" of the king.
The point is this. The Lord God had granted Israel a king so that the people might be blessed through that king (cf Ps 72). The people were to come to that king with their disputes and he, in the name of the Lord, was to pass judgment; that’s why Solomon, you’ll recall, prayed for God’s wisdom. Further, the king was to give the people leadership in the service of the Lord; that’s why Solomon wrote the proverbs he did. But all of it meant that the king could not live in an ivory tower distant from his subjects; in Israel the king had to be in contact with the people, and the people had to have ready access to the king.
Given the demands on the time of the king, we can readily understand that the king did not have time for everybody who knocked on his door. Realism dictated that there be a filter system protecting the king from nuisance visitors. And we understand too that the king would need assistance in understanding the mood of his people and the needs of his times; realism dictated that there be a system in place feeding relevant information to the king.
The steward mentioned in Is 22 is now the man ultimately responsible for that filter system, responsible for who may come to the king with his dispute, responsible for who may come to the king with information about the goings on among the people. It’s clear, then, that the man spoken of in Is 22 held immense power in his hands. As the man ultimately responsible for access to the king, as the man who –in a manner of speaking- unlocked the door to the king’s throne room for the one person and locked it for another, this man controlled the whole relation between king and people. This man was in a position to have such information fed to the king that the king would decree policies suiting the line of thinking of the steward. Equally, this man was in a position to have only certain cases brought to the king for judgment, in a position to stop those whom he himself oppressed (for example) from taking their complaint to the king. We understand that his job asked of him to have the well-being of the people at heart, asked of him to be a father for the people, looking after them well, ensuring that they have access to their king, seeing to it that their king understand their needs. But the position was such that the steward could readily abuse it to feather his own nest, push through his own ideas.
And in the instance before us in Is 22, the steward Shebna indeed was using his position for his own benefit. Vs 16: Shebna is presented as using his position to have a tomb carved for himself in a rock. We’re to know: the people of influence in those days built tombs for themselves as lasting reminders to future generations of their importance and influence; think of the pyramids of Egypt. This Shebna had great thoughts of himself as steward over the king’s house, and so used his position to build for himself a lasting memorial. But in so doing Shebna was misusing his position; instead of keeping himself busy with the well-being of the people, Shebna was busy with himself. Hence the word of the Lord to Shebna in vs 17: the Lord would throw Shebna away, would toss him like a ball into a large country where he would die in shame.
But what, then, of the stewardship? Who would receive that? Vs 20:
I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah;
I will clothe him with your robe...
I will commit your responsibility into his hand."
So Eliakim would receive from the Lord "the key of the house of David", with as result that he would open the door to the king and no one would close it, he would shut the door and none would open it. Yet this new steward would not be selfish like Shebna had been; this new steward would rather be a "father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem And to the house of Judah" (vs 21). In a word: Eliakim would be a true steward, one holy to the Lord, one who would use the key of David with honour. As it turns out, later chapters of the prophecies of Isaiah tell us that the prophecy concerning Shebna and Eliakim as we read it in chap 22 have been fulfilled. Shebna was demoted, Eliakim became the steward, and in his office as steward he very much had the wellbeing of the people at heart; he was for them very much a father.
Now Jesus Christ presents Himself in His letter to Philadelphia as "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." In the light of Is 22, this is language we can now understand; Jesus presents Himself to Philadelphia as the steward over the house, the One who controls absolutely who has access to the King. Yet Jesus as steward, as the One who has the key of David, does not use His office for Himself (He is not a second Shebna out for His own name and glory); Jesus as steward is a true father for the people, He uses His office to care for them tenderly, He is holy to the Lord, a true steward, faithful. With integrity and uprightness He allows the needy of the people to come to the King, and with equal integrity and uprightness He bars others from the King. In a word: Jesus is the better Eliakim.
That brings us, brothers and sisters, to our second point: why in the world does Jesus use this description of Himself in His letter to Philadelphia? Why does He present Himself as a second Eliakim? Here we need to come to grips with the situation of the Lord’s church in Philadelphia.
The actual letter of the Lord to Philadelphia begins with the Lord’s statement that He knows what goes on in His church in Philadelphia, knows what His people are doing. Vs 8: "I know your works." What the goings-on among the people of the congregation were? Vs 8: despite the fact that the saints of Philadelphia have but "little strength", they nevertheless "have kept [Christ’s] word, and have not denied [Christ’s] name." We’re to notice here the past tenses of Jesus’ words: the believers of Philadelphia "have kept [Christ’s] word, and have not denied [His] name." From those tenses we’re given to understand that the saints of this congregation had suffered persecution. The nature of that persecution is indicated in vs 9: in town there was a "synagogue of Satan", and the people of that synagogue thought to compel the Christians to bow at their feet.
The people of the "synagogue of Satan" turn out to be Jews. These were the people of God of the Old Testament, people with whom God had made His covenant. These Jews, however, denied that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah of God, and therefore persecuted those of town who did accept Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah of God. Their attitude was the same as the attitude of the apostle Paul had been before his conversion; they were "exceedingly zealous for the traditions of [the] fathers" and so "persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it" (Gal 1:13f). But through their persecution these Jews demonstrated themselves to be not children of God any more, but instead children of the devil. Hence that phrase: "synagogue of Satan".
A sense of how the Jews persecuted those who followed Jesus Christ comes through to us in a prayer which has been preserved for us through the writings of people who lived at the time. This particular prayer had to be prayed three times every day in every devote synagogue. One of the petitions of that prayer was this:
"Let there be no hope for apostates. And let those who follow the Nazarene and the heretics perish in a flash, and let all our enemies and those who hate us be quickly cut off."
To this prayer, which was not to be skipped, all those in the synagogue had to voice their Amen. We understand from this prayer, beloved, that in effect these Jews excommunicated the Christians from the kingdom of heaven. With such a prayer these Jews asked the Lord God to close heaven against the Christians, asked God to shut the doors of salvation in their faces.
We’re to have it straight in our minds, beloved, that for the Christians of Philadelphia this cannot have been a small thing. Face it: who was it that knew the Old Testament best? (And remember, the New Testament was not near complete yet, and copies of the various New Testament Bible books still had to be made and circulated.) And who could be expected to know best the God of the Old Testament Scriptures? Was it not the Jews?? If they then reject Jesus of Nazareth as a fake, and excommunicate all those who follow this Jesus, surely that demands self-examination, drives one to rethink one’s faith, to question whether perchance you do have it all wrong after all! No light matter this!
And when these same people point out that there was nothing attractive about Jesus of Nazareth, that He was but an insignificant carpenter who tramped about through the land with big talk, that He was but a broken reed of a man who didn’t have the inner strength to resist His arrest, a criminal who died that most horrid death on the cross, surely the urge was great to admit that No, He could not be the Messiah of God after all; such a Jesus cannot be the fulfilment of the Old Testament! Get real; have all those promises of old about the restoration of the throne of David and the glory of Israel been fulfilled in Him??! Is there really reconciliation with God through the blood of such a reject??! Consider, beloved, how great the temptation was to agree with the Jews, those Jews who, after all, know the Bible of those days so much better than so many of these new Christians! Those Jews were the learned, those Jews were the authorities in the ways of God: surely they would know best!
But here’s the marvel: in the face of the pressure put on the believers by the Jews of town, in the face of persecution, the Christians of town had held firm to the name of Jesus Christ. Though they had but little strength, and though the temptation was so strong to break with the faith they had received, they held onto the only name given under heaven by which men might be saved; they "kept [Christ’s] command to persevere" (vs 10).
It’s in that situation now, brothers and sisters, that Christ writes a letter telling His people in Philadelphia who He is. While the Jews of town persecute so cruelly, even excommunicate the Christians from the kingdom of heaven, Christ –faithful, caring steward that He is- tells His beleagured congregation in Philadelphia of His identity. Says Jesus to Philadelphia: I am the second Eliakim, I have received the key of David, and so when I open the door it’s open indeed, and when I shut the door it’s shut indeed. And to the situation of the Philadelphians Jesus applies this gospel straightaway; says Jesus in vs 8: "See, I have set before you a door which is opened, and no one is able to shut it."
Of which door does Jesus speak? That, beloved, is the door to the throne room of the king! Jesus is steward, is "over the house", controls access to the King. And who is the King to whom Jesus gives access? That’s none else than God the Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. Yes, the Jews say that this God is their God (for this God had made His covenant with Abraham and his seed), but Jesus impresses it on the Christians of Philadelphia: I open for you the door to that King, and if I open it none can close it. The Jews of town can pray for all they’re worth, and they can plead with God that you be destroyed because you follow the Way of Jesus of Nazareth. But I say to you: I control that door, I control who has access to the Lord God, and I choose to open that door for you. So the prayers of your persecutors, those prayers for your excommunication, for your eternal destruction, will not be heard; I open the door for you, I give you access to the King, to God Most High.
Certainly, the sins of these Christians dictate that the door to God be well and truly closed; God, after all, is too holy to tolerate sin in His presence. But implicit in Jesus’ words to the saints of Philadelphia is the gospel that He came to pay for sin, He died on the cross of Calvary to wash away the sins of those whom the Father had given to Him. It’s on the basis of that sacrifice that Jesus Christ had been elevated to steward over His house, on the basis of that sacrifice that Christ had received from God the key of David. That’s why Jesus can now say to His suffering people in Philadelphia: I open the door, and so you are free to come to God, free to stand in His presence, free to speak to Him, to lay your problems before His feet, to ask for His divine protection, His blessing. You are His people by covenant, to you has He promised His grace; I now open for you the door to His throne so that you may freely say what you will, ask what you will of this God.
But Jesus as steward does not just open the door to God; He also closes it. Those Jews considered themselves children of God, considered that they had free access to God, certain salvation. They were Jews after all, children of Abraham, was it not? But Jesus says of them: they "say they are Jews and are not, but lie." With those words Jesus tells His church in Philadelphia that the Jews, despite all their boasting, are not God’s people, are not because they have rejected Jesus of Nazareth. The implication is that for them the kingdom of heaven is closed, the door is shut. So it is that they, together with all the hosts of hell, shall bow before the saints of God (Phil 2:10).
How glorious, beloved, is the gospel as contained in the description Jesus gave of Himself in this letter! In the face of the hatred of the Jews and their damning prayers, Jesus assures His people of their salvation: the door to God is open. What the people of town think of you is not important; important is only what God thinks. That Jesus should give such a message to His beleaguered congregation in Philadelphia: behold there the care of this steward, how much He is a father to His people.
Then it’s true that persecutions will continue, continue throughout the history of the world. Our sworn enemies –the devil, the world, and our own flesh- will tell us that they’re crazy to believe that through Jesus’ blood they have access to the throne of God. Yes, people may even pray the believers out of heaven, may persecute "those who live holy lives according to the Word of God", may persecute those "who rebuke the false church for its sins, greed, and idolatries," may even excommunicate. But close the door of heaven to those who are washed by the blood of the Lamb? No, beloved, No! No one can do that. That’s the gospel of our text: no one can close the door of heaven to those washed in the blood of the Lamb because it’s ultimately not people who have received the Key of David; that key has been given to Jesus Christ. When He opens, the door to heaven is open indeed, and when He shuts the door is shut indeed.
By the grace of God, we are today not persecuted. In fact, we live in a society that quite tolerates those who believe that Jesus Christ provides access to the Father, even tolerates those who believe that Jesus Christ is the only access to the Father – as long as we do not loudly insist that all others are wrong. So we’ve got it quite easy. So we conclude: our text does not mean much for us today….
It is true that we are not persecuted physically. But let it be fixed in our minds, brothers and sisters, that Satan hates you with a passion. And he plays with your sinful conscience so that you see your sins and your inadequacies so sharply that you’re convinced: I must not belong to God after all; with my sins I shall never enter the kingdom of heaven.
This, now, is the gospel for us: it is not people who control access to the King! It is not Satan either who controls access to the King! Nor is it your conscience that controls access to the King. It is instead Jesus Christ Who controls that access. And He has given His blood for you; that’s what He promised you in the covenant He established with you. And if He has opened that door for you, no one can close it, not even Satan or your conscience or your sins. Unless, of course, you refuse to believe the gospel; then Christ closes the door in the face of your unbelief. And that’s what the elders drive home when the brothers come to you with discipline; they say: given your conduct we can only conclude that there is no faith with you, and so Jesus Christ closes that door for you – unless you repent.
What were the believers of Philadelphia to do in the face of further persecution? What are we to do in the face of Satan’s attacks and the conclusions of our conscience that we’re not good enough to enter the throne room of the King? One thing alone, beloved: "Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown" (vs 11). And what do you have? You have God’s promises to you, His promise that you are His, that He gave up His Son to pay for your sins.
Soon the steward over God’s house comes on the clouds of heaven, and He will set wide open the doors of His kingdom for the faithful, and they will enter into the glory of their Master and receive on their persons God’s own name, for they’re His possession. But for those who arrogantly thought that they were saved while in fact they rejected God’s promises, the door will be shut tight. Their sins shall torment them eternally, for to them Christ will say: "I never knew you."
How true: what people think of us isn’t important. What Satan whispers into our ears isn’t the truth either. Nor does my conscience tell me precisely where things are at. Important is what that holy and true steward over God’s house thinks. Amen.