by Darrel Cline (darrelcline biblical-thinking.org)
Chapter # 3 Paragraph # 2 Study # 5 November 12, 2023 Broadlands, Louisiana (Download Audio)
I. The Letter To The Angel Of The Church In Philadelphia.
A. Jesus' Self-description.
B. Jesus' Message.
1. I know your works.
2. Behold, I have given before you a door, having been opened, which no one is able to shut.
3. Because you have a little power (dunamis) and you have kept My word and you have not denied My name.
4. Behold, I give of the synagogue of the Satan (adversary) who say themselves to be Jews, and they are not, BUT they are lying.
5. Behold, I shall make them that they come and bow down before your feet and they should come to know that I have loved you.
6. Because you kept the word of My endurance, I also shall keep you out of the hour of the testing which is about to come upon the entire inhabited earth to test those who are dwelling upon the earth.
7. I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have that no one should take your crown.
8. The one who overcomes I shall make a pillar in the temple of My God and he shall NOT go out at all.
a. The "overcomer".
1) The "nikon" (from nikao) is "the one who overcomes" as presented in fifteen texts in this "Revelation".
2) All of these references present an adversary that is vanquished by some powerful means. At the root of every situation is a particular "value" and a particular "truth" so that all "overcoming" will ultimately come down to whether a person is empowered to trample the opposing values and beliefs and succeed to some degree in his/her pursuit(s).
b. "I will make him a pillar": this promise is linked to Revelation 7:15 where long-term service to God is rendered in the temple before His throne.
1) Psalm 84:10 expresses the longing of the psalmist to have such a treasured position.
2) This promise exalts the fact that none of the privileges extended to us by God are of sufficient "worth" to supplant this "ultimate privilege" of constant participation in the presence of God.
3) But, Revelation 21:22 puts a limit upon this "service in His temple".
a) Once the program of this creation is complete, there will be a new heavens and a new earth (21:1).
b) When the New Jerusalem is established in the new heavens above the new earth, it will serve as a "light upon the earth" so that "the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it" (21:23-24).
c) At this point, the nature of "The Temple" shifts from a physical temple to the reality: The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb become the "Temple".
i. This is a mystery: How do the Lord and the Lamb "become" a "temple"?
ii. The "temples" of the Lord in physical historical terms were where the most "real" worship and fellowship occurred. If the Lord and the Lamb become the temple of the New Jerusalem, apparently the city is infused with their presence so that everywhere the most significant aspects of relationship are present.
9. I shall write upon him the name of MyGod and the name of the City of My God, the New Jerusalem which is coming out of heaven from My God and MyNewName.
a. In this Book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ, there are 31 texts in which the word "name" appears.
b. At issue in the concept of "name" is an attribution of certain characteristics that the "name" points to in the person bearing the "name". The attribution may be superficial and not at all what is true of the person (3:1), but the "name" is always attached to the one named until it is erased from that attachment.
c. In this text, the promise involves having the names written upon this person of "My God", "Jerusalem", and Jesus' "New Name". These names indicate that the one having these names written upon him has a significant relationship to "God", the "New Jerusalem" and Jesus in a "New Identity".
