Revelation 3:9, commentary and pictures

Christ promises his faithful people in Philadelphia that those who falsely claim to be his people while belonging to Satan will be made to come in humiliation and submission before them and to recognize that he has loved them. The promise is spoken by Christ himself to those who have a little strength and have kept his word and have not denied his name, before whom he sets an open door that no one can shut. Those false claimants are deceitful pretenders who belong to Satan's confederacy and army opposed to truth and to those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus. In the last conflict and judgment the opposers, including fallen professors and false shepherds who despised the saints, will fall helpless before them and confess that God loved those who held fast truth and kept his commandments, though that acknowledgment does not save those who are forever lost. Therefore no one can remain neutral in the warfare between good and evil, but must hear what the Spirit says to the churches, hold fast what has been received, and stand on Christ's side in word and work.

Philadelphia Message Setting

These are Christ's own words to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, spoken by the one who is holy and true and holds the key of David to open and shut beyond any human power, as part of the last testimony he gave to John on Patmos, message after message to the angels of the churches. They are addressed to those who have a little strength and have kept his word and have not denied his name, before whom he sets an open door that no man can shut. Whenever believers are tempted they have this open door to behold, and no power can hide from them the light of glory shining from heaven's threshold along the whole length of the ladder they are to climb, for he gives them strength in his strength, courage in his courage, and light in his light.

The verse stands together with the promise to keep those who kept the word of his patience from the hour of temptation that will come upon all the world, and with the charge to hold fast what they have because he comes quickly so that no one takes their crown. The seven churches are symbolic of the Christian church in different periods of the Christian era, and the number seven indicates completeness, so the messages extend to the end of time and are in force today. They portray the state of things existing in the churches of the religious world today, with wheat developing among tares and truth standing on its own eternal basis in contrast with error, and they show Christ discriminating character and weighing those who take his name, proving every individual is under his supervision, acquainted with the thoughts and intents of the heart as well as every word and act, knowing all about religious experience and whom each loves and serves, which calls for close self-examination.

The sixth church is those who proclaimed Christ's coming in the autumn of 1844 and then faced a time of trial with violent opposition for defending the Advent movement and keeping God's commandments. The messages give the history of Satan's effort to bring dissension into the church, a difficulty to be met today. Christ examines the churches and the church will continue to have faithful witnesses to his name and glory, and when some refuse to testify to the word and shine for him their place will be taken by faithful ones, the test revealing who is faithful and who is not.

Synagogue of Satan Exposed

Those who claim to be Jews and are not but lie are deceitful pretenders claiming a standing as God's people which they do not have, and they will be compelled to humble themselves before the faithful and recognize that Christ has loved them. They belong to the party of darkness, are not contrite, and love and make lies while opposing God's children amid persecution for keeping God's commandments rather than honoring the papal Sabbath. The promise is Christ's own word to the church that has a little strength and has kept His word and has not denied His name, spoken by Him who is holy and true and has the key of David to open and shut beyond human power, and it is given as warning to be heard and heeded.

The synagogue of Satan is the church over which Satan presides and his confederacy and army opposed to truth and righteousness. It stands against those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus, whom He has loved but whom it hates and despises, and its spirit working against them today is the same spirit that crucified Christ. There are two armies in this world, the army of Christ and the army of Satan, and Christ desires in contrast a church that separates evil from good, does not willingly tolerate wrongdoing, and removes it from heart and life.

Its members are children of sin, transgression and disobedience who reject God, cast aside His law, choose sin, and work to make void His holy, just and good law. They blur the distinction between good and evil and present rebellion and apostasy as truth and loyalty, continuing the great rebellion against God begun in heaven. In contrast Christ has a church whose members honor God and make the difference between good and evil clear by displaying holiness and truth in conduct that shows they belong to Christ.

It watches those who seek to represent Christ for mistakes and defects in thought, word, habit, disposition and character, making the most of every failure and defection to justify wrongdoing and hinder spiritual advancement. Every mistake grieves Jesus and injures the influence of the truth which is the power of God for salvation, giving this hostile watch its opportunity. Ministers and workers must therefore set a right example of deep personal holiness, keeping guard over thoughts, words, habits, dispositions and character and revealing Christ's character, lest by example they place other souls in peril, and there must be care in judging others and in mistaking the work of the Holy Spirit for the work of evil.

The whole synagogue is arrayed against God's faithful workers and the advance of His truth, standing together with the world and the churches in united resistance, so that the work goes forward against united opposition and goes very hard especially when unsanctified believers join that resistance. As Christ's coming draws nearer that opposition grows, so the nearer the coming the more earnestly and firmly His people are to work, advancing His cause and hastening His coming in faith, prayer and hopefulness. This calls for courage grounded in genuine faith rather than feverish excitement, meeting opposition not with excitement or discouragement but with faith and courage born of genuine faith, trusting the Lord as helper who will uphold those who do their part, for Christ is their refuge and source of strength, fully able and willing to give needed help, and His presence remains with them amid trials and temptations.

Satan gathers agents under his rule and into his councils to promote his worship, and he can give them scientific knowledge and philosophical learning, refinement and intellectual greatness, with knowledge of history and worldly wisdom. He boasts of his success when those who claim to believe the truth take part in political strife and manifest variance and contention, exhibiting the natural attributes of unregenerate hearts, not heeding God's voice nor obeying His commands, while the same power from beneath that inspires the nations to strife controls them and works through contention to make them weak and carry out his plans in this most important period. He rejoices over souls tempted and deceived, spreads infidel theories and books with persuasive doubts that unsettle minds and harm souls, and works through professed conversion still doing the power of darkness amid the din and confusion of unconsecration, so that God's workers must be men of spiritual understanding with keen eyesight to discern the deception, follow His way, make His will known and lift their voices against it, for minds not surrendered to God remain vulnerable as the conflict of light and darkness grows more intense.

Refusing Christ's delegated messengers puts Him to shame before that assembly and the heavenly universe, and rejecting His invitation of mercy is a step toward rejecting salvation and committing the sin against the Holy Spirit, until continued refusal leaves no hope of pardon and destroys the desire for reconciliation with God. Satan could cause Jesus pain and sorrow but could not make Him transgress God's law or share Satan's attributes, and by enduring suffering without defilement Jesus broke Satan's chains from the human family and made it possible for those willing to be drawn to Him to be united with the Father. The synagogue of Satan is the powers of darkness and evil agencies arrayed against Christ's disciples after He left them to bring discouragement, and Christ guarded His disciples against this opposition in advance with comfort assuring them He would come again and take them to Himself, words they would remember after His trial and resurrection and ascension as impressing them with the power of truth and leading them to realize He is the foundation of faith and cornerstone of the building of truth.

Promise of Vindication Given

Christ himself will bring the opposers to come and bow in worship before the feet of the faithful, in humiliation and recognition and submission. That bowing is their acknowledgment of Christ's favor toward the church in Philadelphia, not the church receiving divine worship for itself. Those who falsely claim to be Jews and belong to the synagogue of Satan will thus be humbled before God's faithful people and compelled to recognize His love for them.

They will be brought to know that He has loved the Philadelphia church, publicly vindicating it and showing His favor toward it. This acknowledgment vindicates those who keep His word and remain faithful to His name amid persecution for keeping His commandments rather than honoring the papal Sabbath. Even opponents who belong to the party of darkness, who are not contrite and who love and make lies, will come and acknowledge that He loves His faithful people.

The promise rests on the stated reason, because thou hast kept. The words to know that I have loved thee mean that He loves His faithful people, and the greatest evidence of His love and of the infinite God's love is that the Father gave His only begotten Son to come into this world to die for a race of rebels. That gift stands as proof against the apostate and the infidel and those that deny Christ. Those so loved are to take hold in their own experience of the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour, to represent Christ in character, to encourage gratitude and thanksgiving and praise God for blessings already given, to hold fast the truth for these last days, to get ready for the coming of the Son of God in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and to have the robe of Christ's righteousness.

With verse 8 the promise stands beside the open door set before those who have a little strength and have kept His word and have not denied His name, which no man can shut and which believers may behold whenever tempted. No power can hide from them the light of the glory that shines from the threshold of heaven along the whole length of the ladder they are to climb, for the Lord gives them strength in His strength, courage in His courage, and light in His light. When the powers of darkness are overcome and the light of the glory of God floods the world, they will see and understand more clearly than now. Realizing that the glory of God is round about them and that heaven is nearer earth than supposed brings heaven into their homes while preparing for the heaven above.

Together with the next verse it is a promise that God loves those who keep the word of His patience and will keep His faithful people by His power from the hour of temptation that will come upon all the world to try those who dwell on the earth. The promise is to be accepted and kept in mind, especially when tempted to criticize and make difficulty. Dwelling on it brings the melting mercy of God into the heart and teaches how to work for others, setting them an example of righteousness that receives the commendation of the Master.

Christ's love for those who keep His commandments is made known by bringing them into sacred relation with Himself through temperance in eating and drinking to keep mind and body in the most favorable condition for His service. Those He loves will accept the light on health reform and be converted from backsliding and from perverted appetite. They will give up flesh meat because it is not the right food for God's people, because it animalizes human nature, because it allows the lower passions to control the higher powers, and because it robs men and women of the love and sympathy they should feel for everyone.

End-Time Fulfillment Scenes

The promise belongs to the last conflict to be had in this world, a continual battle between the forces for good and the forces for evil, between the angels of God and the fallen angels, besetting before and behind and on the right hand and on the left. It is the great and last warfare of the third angel's message now to be proclaimed, which combines the first and second messages and binds them up with the third, bringing down to the closing scenes of this earth's history between those who keep the commandments of God and those who make void the law of God. In that warfare two parties strive for supremacy, with Satan and evil fallen angels working in all deceivableness of unrighteousness to deceive if possible the very elect, and a great victory is gained for him if minds are kept confused about these revelations. No one can be neutral but must stand either on one side or on the other, for there is a right side and a wrong side, and it is of the highest consequence to be on the right side. Taking position on the side of Christ means acknowledging Him before the world in word and work, bearing a living testimony as to whom is chosen to serve and honor and leaving no one in uncertainty in this important period of earth's history. The wrong side is the course chosen by the largest number in Noah's day and by a world under Satan's training and inspiration that sustains and gives popularity to sin and transgression of the law of God, yet that popularity lessens the force of not one principle of Jehovah.

Those who are made to come and worship are not thereby saved, for they are fallen professed Adventists who crucified the Son afresh and put Him to open shame. Their true character is revealed in the future hour of temptation, when knowing they are forever lost they bow before the saints in anguish of spirit. The sealed, united 144,000 show humble fellowship by washing one another's feet and greeting one another with a holy kiss and stretching out their hands in the Lord's name. When the wicked try to seize and imprison them they fall helpless and are struck helpless by God's power. Then they recognize that God has loved the saints and worship at their feet.

Opposers of truth, especially hireling priests and false shepherds who lead their flock to death, will soon be arrested in their course. During the coming plagues of God, after one or two have fallen to torment them, God's hand will still be stretched out until His purposes are fully accomplished. Then they will be led to worship at the saints' feet and to acknowledge that God has loved the saints because they held fast the truth and kept God's commandments. God's hand will still be stretched out in wrath and justice until the hireling priests and all the unrighteous are destroyed from the earth.

In the judgment the faithful, though despised and persecuted by false teachers, are publicly vindicated. Those admired for talents and eloquence who rejected truth, and ministers who led them astray, see the ruin their disobedience brought. They realize their transgression has cost them eternal life, and fall at the feet of those they had derided and despised, confessing God's love and favor toward them. The hour of temptation is coming upon the world in far stronger light, and the judgments of God are also coming upon the world, and soon there will be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.

Urgent Call to Faithfulness

The message stands as God's own words with no human messenger behind them, given as light and warning because a crisis has come and many have closed their hearts. It must be heard with determined purpose to understand and heed what the Spirit says to the churches, for very soon all will wish they had heard it and no excuse remains for refusing to hear.

The messages of the third chapter were sent from heaven by His angel to be read and studied, to arouse believers to awake, to gain a deep work of grace in the heart, and to do the work given them to do. When this is done the unconverted are given evidence that the truth professed is of heavenly origin and is practiced. The whole chapter must be read to understand the work to be done, for it is the warning of the True Witness to those whose excellent qualifications are neutralized by self-love and self-deception and self-justification for gross neglect to help their brethren in the service of God by encouraging words and deeds.

The whole of Revelation 3 is a most tremendous testimony made known by Christ Himself to John on Patmos from God as a solemn warning for these last days, reminding of things which will be and revealing the last events to the close of earth's history. The time is at hand, and Seventh-day Adventists are in the condition of the church spoken of in the last part of that chapter, while perils thicken around and continue to increase until the close. It needs now to be carefully studied because its words of warning tell that men will arise claiming to have new light whose theories, if received, would destroy faith in the truths that have stood the test for half a century. It calls for having the candlestick and having fine, correct discernment as to what is truth, and for not letting loose the things received and heard or losing the truth that has been established, for Satan gains a great victory if he can keep minds confused about these revelations now amid the conflict between the two parties in the world working in all deceivableness to deceive if possible the very elect.

The special message of Revelation 3:6-13 is to be given with every effort to reach professed Christian churches living in transgression of the law of God, and the eternal interest of its hearers is involved as a matter of life or death. Those addressed are found in every church, and it is not addressed to the common sinner or to those who make no profession of piety, but its voice is to be heard by church members. It calls people to prepare to meet the Lord coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and serves as an earnest warning against indifference to the signs foretold, giving evidence that the end of the world is right upon us. As revealed truth now being fulfilled it must be read and understood with earnest attention now, with no time to be idle and indifferent, requiring striving to develop Christian character with spiritual understanding cleansed, purified, sanctified and ennobled, while a heavenly Watcher marks words and deportment and reads the motives prompting action, and all are now taking sides for blessing or curse by purifying the mind through obeying the truth.

There are two armies in this world, the army of Christ and the army of Satan, the synagogue of Satan being Satan's army opposed to truth and righteousness and to those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus, whom He has loved but whom it hates and despises. The spirit working against them today, seen in the demonstration by the children of disobedience at the baptism, is the same spirit that crucified Christ. The chapter presses hearers to know there is a right side and a wrong side and to be on the right side, for the wrong side is the course chosen by the largest number in Noah's day and by a world under Satan's training and inspiration that sustains and gives popularity to sin and transgression of the law of God. That popularity does not lessen the force of one principle of Jehovah, so it is of the highest consequence, especially for young men and young women, to purify the mind, be on the right side, and let conduct display holiness and truth that makes good and evil clear and shows belonging to Christ.