- 48 km southeast from Sardis
- Founded in 140 BC by a king from Pergamum
- Strategic location with fertile land
- Prone to earthquake and volcanic activity
- Missionary city for the export of Greek culture
Revelation 3:8-10
8 “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.
I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.
10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
Church in Philadelphia: Faithfully Keeping the Word
- Why keep God’s word?
- Keep God’s word even when you have little power
- Keep God’s word to testify God’s love and reconcile others to God
- Keep God’s word and be kept from the hour of trial
- Reward of keeping God’s word
Why keep God’s word? (v7-8)
‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
8 “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.
Revelation 6:10
10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Isaiah 22:22
And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
Revelation 1:18
I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Acts 4:12
there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”
John 14:6
Jesus is “the way and the truth and the life” and that “no one comes to the Father except through him”.
Keep God’s word even when you have little power (v8b)
I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
2 Corinthians 12:9-11
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Keep God’s word to testify God’s love and reconcile others to God (v8-9)
8 “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.
I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.
Romans 2:28-29
For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.
Philippians 2:10–11
“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Keep God’s word and be kept from the hour of trial (v10-11)
Next, we see how keeping God’s word is related to being kept from the hour of trial.
10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
Is this a promise that:
- believers will be removed from the world via rapture prior to the great tribulation OR
- believers, while enduring the tribulation, will be kept miraculously and spiritually by God from losing their faith in that tribulation?
John 17:15
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
John 16:33
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
…to the one who conquers, ….. (Rev 2:6, 9, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21)
NIV – victorious
NASB / KJV – overcomes
Rev 2:10 (Smyrna)
…for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Rev 2:13 (Pergamum)
13 “ …. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
Revelation 7:14
“These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Revelation 1:9
I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
Tribulation = Kingdom = Patient Endurance
Revelation 3:11
I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
Reward of keeping God’ word (v12)
12 The one who conquers,
I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and
I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
Rev 21:22
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
Name of my God – belong to God
Name of the city of my God – citizenship rights in new Jerusalem
Jesus own new name – new relationship with Jesus
| Bible | World |
| Receive power | Grab power |
| Keep the Word | Follow your heart |
| Tribulation can be conquered/overcome | Tribulation can be avoided |
| Focus on eternal reward | Live for today |
