Revelation 3:7

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write.

PHILADELPHIA

The very name Philadelphia arouses our interest, as one of the great modern cities of the United States bears the same title. "Here is the seventh and last occurrence of this word in the New Testament, the other passages where it is found being: Romans 12:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; Hebrews 13:1; 1 Peter 1:22; and 2 Peter 1:7 (twice).[25]

Philadelphia is supposed to have been founded between 189 B.C. and 138 B.C., either by Eumenes, king of Pergamum, or his younger brother Attalus; but, "one thing is certain: its name commemorates the loyalty of Attalus to his brother."[26] The word means "lover of his brother," a fact evident in these events: (1) a false rumor of Eumenes' assassination led to Attalus' acceptance of the crown, which he relinquished when his brother returned to Greece, and (2) Attalus resisted Roman encouragement to overthrow Eumenes and become king.[27]

The great earthquake which devastated twelve cities in the very district where these seven churches lay (17 A.D.) was particularly destructive in Philadelphia, due to its being nearest the fault line. For an extended period afterwards, there continued to be many more earthquakes, especially at Philadelphia, which was called the "city of many earthquakes." Some of the citizens refused any longer to live within the city proper.

Philadelphia was also the city that tried to change its name. After Tiberius' help in rebuilding after the earthquake, they tried to name their city "Neocaesarea," meaning "New Caesar," but the name never became established. They tried again in the reign of Vespasian to name the place "Flavia" after the name of his dynasty; but this too failed to catch on; thus the city twice tried to name themselves after their "god," but failed! It is difficult indeed not to see a consciousness of this in Revelation 3:12.[28] "Still another name of the city was Decapolis, because it was considered one of the ten cities of the plain. And in addition to all these names, it sometimes bore the title of Little Athens."[29] There were many temples and centers of learning in the city. The grape industry in the area resulted in the practice of rites connected with the pagan god Bacchus (Dionysus). The present name of the place is Ala Sheher, "the Red City," so named, not from the bloodshed there, but for the volcanic earth of its location.[30]

Up until the current century, Philadelphia was nominally Christian, with about one fourth of its population professing Christianity, leading to the comment of Gibbon that, "Among the churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect, a column in a scene of ruins, a pleasing example that the paths of honour and safety may sometimes be the same."[31] Still, Philadelphia suffered the terrible subjection under the Turks who followed Tamerlane, who had subjected the city in 1403, and is said to have "built about it a wall of the corpses of his victims."[32] "Of whatever remnant of Christianity may be left in Philadelphia today, there are no statistics."[33] Following the edict of the League of Nations in 1922, practically all the Christians were deported.

[25] William R. Newell, The Book of Revelation (Chicago: Moody Press, 1935), p. 67.

[26] Robert H. Mounce, op. cit., p. 115.

[27] Ibid.

[28] Ibid.

[29] E. J. Banks, op. cit., p. 2366.

[30] E. M. Blaiklock, op. cit., p. 122.

[31] (Gibbon, as quoted by Blaiklock), Ibid., p. 123.

[32] E. J. Banks, op. cit., p. 2366.

[33] E. M. Blaiklock, op. cit., p. 122.

These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth:

Holy ... true ... These attributes of Christ are clearly appropriate for a church maintaining their love and faith in Christ in the midst of pagan culture.

Key of David ... openeth and none shutteth ... shutteth and none openeth ... This verse is clearly related to the principal problem which confronted the Philadelphian church. That problem was Jewish opposition. Secular Israel, still in power over the Jews in a religious sense (this was prior to 70 A.D.), still pretended to have final right of determining who should or should not enter heaven, sternly resisting the claims of the Christians that they, the Christians, were the true Israel of God. To enforce their claims, the Jews cast out of their synagogues all Jews who accepted Christ, and the existence of that situation in Philadelphia when Revelation was written points squarely to the sixties and not to the eighties or nineties, be cause there were evidently Christians who desired to continue in fellowship with the Jewish synagogues, if it had been allowed. Paul, it will be remembered, attempted to maintain such a fellowship throughout his missionary efforts, always going first to the synagogues. This passage emphasizes the truth that, "It is Christ alone, and no longer Israel, who can give men entrance into the messianic kingdom."[34] "Christ speaks as he by whom alone comes entrance to the Church, the spiritual house of God."[35] The imagery of "key of David" and other expressions here is from Isaiah 22:25-25, where the king of Israel deposed Shebna and appointed Eliakim as the chief-steward. The analogy is that Judaism has been replaced by Christianity as the true religion.

The key of David ... therefore means, "undisputed authority to admit or exclude from the New Jerusalem (heaven)."[36] We also agree with Mounce's opinion that, "This is an intended contrast with the practice of the local synagogue in excluding Christian Jews."[37] However, there are further implications of this passage that are exceedingly important in understanding the New Testament, especially with reference to the kingdom of Christ (the church). The "key of David" means that, "Christ possessed the throne of David, and that the government was upon his shoulder (Isaiah 9:6)."[38] The annunciation angel promised Mary the mother of Jesus that God would give her Son "the throne of his father David" (Luke 1:31-33); and this verse is an indication that God had kept his promise. Acts 13:33-34 indicates that the prophecy of the "sure mercies of David" was fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ; and the prophecy of the rebuilding again of the tabernacle of David (Amos 9:11-15) was determined by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem to have been fulfilled by the establishment of the church to which all of them at that time belonged. Added to all of these prophecies, declared by inspiration to have been fulfilled, is the pronouncement of Peter on Pentecost to the effect that God's raising up one after David to sit upon the throne of David was a prophecy of the resurrection of the Son of God (Acts 2:29-33). Wallace's summary of this is:

Jesus has the throne of David, the tabernacle of David, the sure mercies (blessings) of David, and the key of David in every spiritual sense of these terms ... These passages teach that the house of David was perpetuated in the kingdom of Christ, his Church.[39]

[34] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 59.

[35] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 1076.

[36] Robert H. Mounce, op. cit., p. 116.

[37] Ibid.

[38] Foy E. Wallace, Jr., The Book of Revelation (Nashville: Foy E. Wallace Publications, 1966), p. 100.

[39] Ibid., p. 101.