Philadelphia: The Missionary and Revival Church [1730-1930 AD]
Revelation 3:7-13
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Many theologians use the year 1798 to end the Sardis period, as this aligns with the papacy’s loss of temporal power. However, Jesus’ focus for these church eras is on the history of his church, not the history of Satan’s false church. Based on Jesus’ descriptions of the Sardis and Philadelphia churches, the more likely start of the Philadelphian church age is 1730—the beginning of the First Great Awakening.
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Only two of the seven churches were not rebuked by Jesus—Smyrna and Philadelphia. Smyrna represented the persecuted pre-Constantine church and received considerable sympathy from Jesus for its suffering. The Philadelphia church received profuse praise from him for its enthusiastic evangelism, even though it only had “a little strength.”
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Jesus knows no one is without faults, so he does not wait for perfection to praise our triumphs and successes. In his eyes, the Philadelphians’ hearts were right and their motives were pure. The members of the sixth church age expressed a zeal for Christ, as evidenced by the revivals, evangelism, and rise of Bible Societies in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.[i] Because of the efforts to spread the Christian faith throughout the world during this church age, Jesus told the Philadelphians that he “set before thee an open door”—the door to Heaven—which “no man can shut.”
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In verse nine, Jesus promises to make those who are “of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie” worship at the feet of the Philadelphian church. Since the messages to the seven churches have a dual meaning, the word “Jews” in verse nine could be confusing. In the first century, there was no widely-used name for Christians. Acts 11:26 tells us the term was first used in Antioch, but nascent Christianity was considered an offshoot of Judaism in most places.[ii] In the context of the first century, Jesus’ use of the word “Jews” in Revelation 3:9 is a reference to those who falsely claim to be what we now call “Christians.”
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The imposters Jesus described within the Philadelphia age of Christianity were the Catholic members of the Mystery Babylon “synagogue of Satan.” General Berthier’s French army subdued the papacy by revoking its temporal power during this church era. The Catholic Church was humbled at the feet of the Philadelphian Christians, not because they defeated Catholicism, but because it was suddenly less significant to Christianity in comparison. In verse ten, Jesus promises to keep the Philadelphian Christians safe from “the hour of temptation”—the era of the seventh and final church age, Laodicea.[1]
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[1] Revelation 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
[i] The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2023. Christianity. October 3. Accessed October 3, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity.
[ii] Relevant Magazine. 2023. Where the Word ‘Christian’ Really Comes From. June 5. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://relevantmagazine.com/faith/where-christian-name-really-came/.