In the address to Philadelphia it says, “I have set before thee an open door” (Rev. 3:88I 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. (Revelation 3:8)). The spirit of the world, and especially in religious arrangement, wants to shut the door against God; hence the need of the open door, for He has the right of way to every soul: “My sheep hear My voice.”
The Philadelphian state and that of the poor widow who cast into the treasury her two last mites are somewhat similar. This act of devotedness is found at the end of Jewish failure and ruin. There is this one that gives her all. Her gift, though little, draws forth the Lord’s approval.
Philadelphia presents a phase of the church found at the end of its history here. First love left in Ephesus ends in Laodicea spewed out, disowned as God’s witness. The last four churches go on together to the end. Philadelphia and Laodicea are very opposite states. In Philadelphia, Christ is everything to them. In Laodicea, Christ is nothing to them; there is inside a big, self-complacent “I” and Christ is outside. This shows how things are today.
I want to speak a little of the foundation of the hope of the church, that is, the Lord’s coming. In the writings of Luther and many other Christian writers, we find no mention of it. But in the last two hundred years it has been taught and brought into great prominence. God has worked to revive the hope which had been lost.
“He saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.” (Luke and Philadelphia occupy a somewhat similar position.) The widow has at heart God’s interests at that time. Her whole soul is bound up in the temple. She has before her what the temple is in God’s unchanging thoughts for Israel’s blessing. They made it “a house of merchandise”; she had it before her according to faith’s estimate of it, and she cast in all her living. The Lord saw the value of her act, and at such a moment of failure and ruin that shortly after this He says, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” “As some spake of the temple” (vs. 5), the Lord said it should all be thrown down. They were looking at the outward thing — the “goodly stones and gifts.” Are we trying to keep up the outward thing? The temple, as the widow apprehended it in faith, was to stand. The inner state seen by the Lord in the widow and the outward and visible thing seen by the disciples were in great contrast. Philadelphia is something the same as the widow. The widow is seen at the end of Jewish apostasy and ruin — Philadelphia at the end of the church’s ruin.
God’s Grace
Have we understood the total ruin the church has become in man’s responsibility? But God is active in grace above all the failure and directs the hearts of His people to Christ who is all and who is coming. “Hold that fast which thou hast.” The encouragement for this is, “I come quickly.” You will see the value of “that which thou hast” when you notice the state in which Philadelphia was found: “Thou hast not denied My name.” This marks attachment to Christ. “My patience” is association with Him in His patience in waiting. Philadelphia thus did not need the word “behold.” “I come quickly” expresses His heart’s desire to have His people with Him, and “quickly” is as fresh and true today as ever.
Devotedness
“That which thou hast” is having Christ and having devotedness which carries one on against a Christ-rejecting world. What the widow did would be of little value before men, but of great value “in the sight of God and our Father” (1 Thess. 1:3). “Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father” (1 Thess. 1:3). What she did would not be found in a newspaper or made much of in the world, but it drew forth His appreciation.
Every bit of truth we have, we may well ask, has it been taught to us of God? We live in a day of intellectuality, and nothing so tends to destroy spirituality as that. We must possess truth in spiritual power. May the Lord encourage us today by our seeing His unchanging faithfulness. Philadelphia had a little strength, but it was positive strength, though little. Let us take home the words “I come quickly” and “hold fast.” The very fact of our being told to hold fast shows the power of the world, the flesh and the devil at work to rob us of it. He says, “Hold fast,” showing it can be done. The power is with Him.
Christian Truth, Vol. 24