{"id":634,"date":"2017-10-21T07:59:36","date_gmt":"2017-10-21T15:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=634"},"modified":"2017-10-21T07:59:36","modified_gmt":"2017-10-21T15:59:36","slug":"devotion-revelation-37-13-letters-to-the-seven-churches-philadelphia-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=634","title":{"rendered":"Devotion\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 3:7-13\u00a0 \u00a0Letters To The Seven Churches, Philadelphia\u00a0 Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revelation 3:7-13 <\/strong>–\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>\u201cTo the angel of the church in Philadelphia\u00a0write: These are the words of Him who is holy\u00a0and true,\u00a0who holds the key of David.\u00a0What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open.\u00a08\u00a0I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door\u00a0that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.\u00a09\u00a0I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan,\u00a0who claim to be Jews though they are not,\u00a0but are liars\u2014I will make them come and fall down at your feet\u00a0and acknowledge that I have loved you.\u00a010\u00a0Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you\u00a0from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test\u00a0the inhabitants of the earth. 11\u00a0I am coming soon.\u00a0Hold on to what you have,\u00a0so that no one will take your crown.\u00a012\u00a0The one who is victorious\u00a0I will make a pillar\u00a0in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God\u00a0and the name of the city of my God,\u00a0the new Jerusalem,\u00a0which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.\u00a013\u00a0Whoever has ears, let them hear\u00a0what the Spirit says to the churches.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSince you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you\u00a0from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test\u00a0the inhabitants of the earth.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0 Since, or because, they have kept the kept the Lord\u2019s command to endure patiently (V8<\/strong>) the Lord gives them a great promise to embrace.\u00a0 They have been faithful to His Word and to His name.\u00a0 They have not backed down and succumbed to the pressures of the world to compromise with the Word of God.\u00a0 They have not failed to proclaim that Jesus is the only Messiah and there is no other (John 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 John 2:5<\/strong>), He gave them another Word to cling to and be faithful to.\u00a0 Hasn\u2019t Jesus said that those who are faithful in little things will be faithful in bigger things (Luke 16:10<\/strong>)?\u00a0 Now He tells them I have seen your faithfulness in all things, small and big, and so I give to you another Truth.\u00a0 Oh the Lord is gracious, considerate and grand! The Philadelphians had been enduring, had been faithful, through the persecutions, and now He rewards them when He plainly says that He will keep them from the coming great tribulation.\u00a0 This is a clear reference that the church will be raptured (For a brief explanation of the Rapture of the church, please see (https:\/\/www.gotquestions.org\/rapture-of-the-church.html<\/a>) before the great tribulation and will not have to endure it.<\/p>\n

Concerning the letters to the seven churches listed here in Revelation 2 and 3, many believe that they are: 1) Written to a real church with real issues, real troubles and in need of real encouraging.\u00a0 The Lord is speaking to real churches.\u00a0\u00a0 2) They are letters that also apply to every church since the resurrection of Jesus.\u00a0 3)\u00a0 Remembering that the letters were written to churches with believers who were going through these trials.\u00a0 The letters not only applied to the church in general, but to the individuals of the church.\u00a0 Furthermore, these words from Jesus are given to all His churches and to all His followers, since His resurrection until His return.\u00a0 4) These letters are prophetic. It is asserted that, while applying to all churches during the history of the church, they also are representative of the church during certain periods of time: A)\u00a0 Ephesus \u2013 AD 33 \u2013 AD 100\u00a0 B) Smyrna\u00a0 – AD 100 \u2013 AD 312\u00a0 C) Pergamum \u2013 AD 313 \u2013 AD 600\u00a0 D) Thyatira \u2013 AD 600 \u2013 AD 1517, and still existing today\u00a0 E) Sardis \u2013 AD 1517 \u2013 AD 1648\u00a0 F) Philadelphia \u2013 AD 1648 \u2013 AD 1900\u00a0 G) Laodicea \u2013 AD 1900 \u2013 present day.\u00a0 These dates represented: Ephesus \u2013 The Apostolic Church; Smyrna \u2013 The Church of the Roman Persecution; Pergamum \u2013 The Church of the Age of Constantine; Thyatira \u2013 The Church of the Dark Ages; Sardis \u2013 The Church of Reformation; Philadelphia \u2013 The Church of the Great Missionary Movement and Laodicea \u2013 The Church of Apostasy.<\/p>\n

Why would the Lord tell this first century church that He would keep them from the great tribulation if they were not going to live to the time of it?\u00a0 It would seem clear that the Lord was speaking to the church that will be alive at the time of the start of the great tribulation. V10 <\/strong>and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-9<\/strong> point to a rapture of the church that occurs before the Antichrist is revealed, before the seven years of tribulation.<\/p>\n

Family, throughout the Bible, when great devastation was coming, the Lord removed His own from among those for whom judgement was intended.\u00a0 He cleared out the Jews before the Red Sea closed, He took put Jonah in the ark before the flood, and He took Lot\u2019s family out of Sodom before it was destroyed.\u00a0 Revelation 6:15-17<\/strong> refers to the Great Tribulation as a time of God\u2019s wrath.\u00a0 We, having been redeemed by Jesus and are not people upon whom God\u2019s wrath will fall.\u00a0 When speaking of the end times, and our salvation, the Apostle Paul wrote that we are not to suffer the wrath of God \u201cFor God did not appoint us to suffer wrath\u00a0but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ<\/span>.\u201d (1 Thessalonians 5:9<\/strong>)\u00a0 This verse in amidst Him writing of end times (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11<\/strong>).\u00a0 The Lord is clearly telling His church not to fear the seven years of tribulation.\u00a0 His wrath will be poured out on those who rebel against Him, not on His children.\u00a0 He is telling them that all of His own are safe from it.\u00a0 Family, we have nothing to fear.\u00a0 We belong to God.\u00a0 He is good all the time and in all He does.\u00a0 And He loves us.\u00a0 Always and forever, He love us.\u00a0 Let our comfort be in God. Our God is God and there is no other (Deuteronomy 4:39, 1 Kings 8:60, Isaiah 45:18<\/strong>). Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/strong>\u00a0– But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revelation 3:7-13 –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cTo the angel of the church in Philadelphia\u00a0write: These are the words of Him who is holy\u00a0and true,\u00a0who holds the key of David.\u00a0What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open.\u00a08\u00a0I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door\u00a0that no one can shut.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,1872,103,100,2148,106,2460,711,757],"class_list":["post-634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-deuteronomy","tag-isaiah","tag-john","tag-kings","tag-luke","tag-philadelphia","tag-revelation","tag-thessalonians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":635,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions\/635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}