7And 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 8I 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
We start off with three great titles for our Lord, holy, true and, "hath the key of David".
Starting with holy, the greek translation (hagios) means different, seperate from. This is the seperation from man and seperation from evil. To state that Jesus is Holy implys the connection or "oneness" with God. It is something we should strive for by God's direction, "Be holy, for I am holy." We must reject sin, repent and strive to walk with God, holy like Him.
True: Greek, alethes meaning true. i.e. The sky is blue. That statement is true, not false. Then there is the greek word alethinos meaning real. Reality, not fiction. It is the second word, alethinos which is utilized here. Christ is the reality!
"hath the key of David.": The key here is a symbol of authority. We find in I saiah 22:22 that he who had the key of David was the treasurer of David's house. Here we find that he, Christ has the key that opens the door, and no man can shut it and shuts the door and no man can open. Christ has the final say, the final authority. There is a more indepth meaning here in that Christ is the key himself. He is the one who opens up the meaning and the gifts of His Word. He is the key to the Holy Scriptures, there is no other, He is the only way.
The Church in Philiadelphia kept His Word, they didn't just go to church and leave, they allowed Christ to be their authority, their guide, their answer. It was more than just believing for them. This is what the church Philiadelphia is being commended for. They did not deny His name!
This may seem basic but it is really not. How do you act when your with your friends? Do you act cool, maybe cuss, stretch the truth some, maybe gossip??? This is peer pressure for today, for the churchs in the book of Revelation, things were much the same in that the people were faced the same things we face here. It may be a different scale but it came down to the same thing. Let me give you an example. If you wanted to sell your product or hang around with the "cool kids", how do you do that? You get approvial of the person your selling to or you want to be with, right? To get that person to like you or want to hang with you, you conform to their likes and dislikes. If Christ and speaking of Him makes them unconfortable........do you still speak of Him? The answer for Philidelphia was YES! Is your answer YES?
Something to ponder!
Blessings on all till next time,
Calabash
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