Revelation 3:9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie–indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
It would seem that the Philadelphian church was contending with the same synagogue that persecuted Smyrna. The pair of churches have two things in common. First, the Lord has nothing negative or detracting to comment regarding their corporate worship and evangelization.
Revelation 3:8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
We shall see, like Smyrna, Philadelphia has nothing for the Lord to correct them about. Commendation is always followed by correction, and in this instance–as with Smyrna–there is no correction necessary. The church is unified and submitted to God the Holy Spirit.
Revelation 3:7c “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”:
The third descriptor Jesus offers the church is that He possesses the key of David. What is the key of David? Isaiah, writing about 250 years after David, writes about Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the high priest. Eliakim is in this passage seen as a type of Messiah or Christ, a picture of He who was to come.
Revelation 3:7b He who is true,
Christ tells the church of Philadelphia that He is first holy, and then that He is true. Once our Lord simply stated that He is, “the way, the truth, and the life,” John 14:6. Homing in on this with greater focus, Jesus tells us, “I am…the truth.” Holiness and truth are interwoven, and the reason why is simplicity itself.
