Well, if we take that meaning and understanding, then what is it that the Lord is saying here in verse 8 to the church in Philadelphia when He says, “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”? Simply this: It is connected to His knowing their works. You see, that’s the key. This was apparently a relatively small congregation. They didn’t have much strength or influence (“you have a little strength,”), and the implication of that phrase is that it had to do with their size. But, they were a working church—they were a working community for Christ. He knew that, and because of their work and their willingness, He had set before them opportunities. Opportunities for what? Well, we don’t know. He doesn’t say what their works were, but we can imagine that with Him being as well pleased with them as He was, and not rebuking them or condemning them in any way, that they must have been in the business of evangelizing. They must have been in the business of benevolence. They must have been in the business of keeping the saved “saved,” [exhorting] because those are, as we know, the three primary works of any church, whether it’s a church in ancient Philadelphia in the latter part of the 1^st Century, or whether it’s the Northeast church of Christ here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, today. The door of opportunity opened before them. “No one can shut” that door. The Lord was pleased with them and what they had done. They “kept His Word” and they “have not denied His Name.”Oh! that we would have that said about us! If the Lord were writing a letter to the Northeast congregation today, would that He would write, “I have set before you a door of opportunity. You have kept My Word. You have not denied My Name. You are not as big as a lot of other places; you are not as powerful, perhaps, as some of your opponents, but I know your works.” This congregation in Philadelphia must have been a great congregation.

Promise and Exhortation (verses 9-13)

We notice that the church in Philadelphia is beset with the same detractors as the church in Smyrna. Who were the opponents of the church? We talked a little bit about that in the Introduction. It’s not the Romans; it’s not the pagans. It is the Jews. In both cases, in Smyrna and here in Philadelphia, Jesus will very pointedly describe them as a “synagogue of Satan.”

They were those who claimed to be Jews, but were not Jews. What does that mean? Well, we know that there were synagogues built whenever there was as certain level of population of Jews in a community. The synagogue then became the center of worship, and, in a certain respect, the center of Jewish life in that community. If the community was large enough and there were enough Jews, a city might have more than one synagogue. Of course, a synagogue represented the place where God’s people met and worshipped. However, from the time of Christ and the establishment of the church—from the time He died upon the cross—from the time that He rose from the dead—from the time that the church was established in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost—the Jews, the children of Israel, were no longer God’s people in the way that they had been. When they came in direct opposition to the Lord’s church and to the Lord’s people, as they did in Smyrna and in Philadelphia, and many other places, then they became instruments of Satan, as they opposed the church and persecuted the church and tried to stop its progress and growth. Who were they working for? Certainly not for the Lord! They were instruments—maybe unwittingly, but instruments nonetheless—of Satan. That’s how the Lord describes them—“as a synagogue of Satan.” They opposed God. They were the people of God at one time, but now they are in strict opposition to God, and to the plan of God, and to the Will of God. They opposed God in their persecutions and in their opposition to the church [just as Paul, who, as Saul, was a ‘Jew among Jews,’ and persecuted the church, and thus, persecuted Christ]. Instead of the people of God, they have become the people of Satan. So as they gather in their synagogue, and we can picture this, and they are going through their ritual, so to speak—who it this church?—what is it?—they think they are being pleasing to God, but in reality, they are the servants of Satan.

But while the Lord mentions in verse 9 “those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, butlie…,” He also says, “I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.” Is this the “open door” that the Lord says that He would give them in verse 8? Is the door of opportunity for these Christians there in Philadelphia to evangelize among the Jewish community?—to convert many?—or even to convert all of the Jews there in that Jewish community to Christ? Is that the implication of this verse? Could be! We don’t know for certain the far reaches of the implication here, but that may be the door of opportunity that they were given. We don’t know for certain, but one thing that is clear: It is absolutely evident from what the Lord says that something is going to happen to these Jews—these Jews who are hindering the Lord’s work here in this place. Even if they are not converted, they will at least be made to acknowledge that the church IS the community of God—that the church of Christ IS God’s plan. Now, will that happen in that time there in the 1^st Century? Will that be a time when those members of the church there in that community will see this happen, or will it be the time when the Lord comes again and “every knee will bow,” and “when every tongue will confess,” as Paul says in Philippians, chapter 2, verses 10 and 11? Again, we can’t be exactly sure about what the Lord has in mind, but clearly something is going to transpire—something is going to take place—either at that time, or in the future.

Let’s notice verse 10 again: “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” Here is a great promise that the Lord makes to these Christians in Philadelphia. Notice that He has already commended them for their works. He says, “I know your works” [verse 8], and it goes without saying because of the commendation that He has for them, that their works have been good works. He also says that He knows that they “have kept His Word,” and that they “have not denied His Name,” even in the face of the troubles and trials and persecutions. Now He commends them for keeping His “command to persevere,” [verse 10]. Another translation says, “patient endurance”—His command to “patiently endure.” They have been keeping that command. Thus, because of that and, no doubt, because of what else they have been doing, the Lord promises to “keep” them “from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world.”