Revelation Chapter Three, An Open Door

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.

This time our Lord simply pauses when He says that He knows their works. Then He tells them, see, or behold, or observe. The Lord set before them an open door. We read of a similar situation with Paul, when the apostle writes, “But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries,” 1 Corinthians 16:8, 9. The Lord opened a door of evangelism to Paul, and Paul, recognizing the opportunity, seized upon it. And like Philadelphia, Paul relied solely on the Lord’s strength to provide for these moments. When Paul suffered from physical affliction, the Lord answered him, saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness,” 2 Corinthians 12:9. Paul, realizing this sublime truth, testified, “For when I am weak, then I am strong,” 2 Corinthians 12:10.

The church may utilize two types of strength, which will have two diametrically opposed results. The first is the type of strength we can produce naturally. Because we belong to Christ does not mean that every venture we perform glorifies Him, or is done in His strength. We note that in Acts 16:6 the Holy Spirit forbade Paul from ministering in Asia. If Paul had gone into Asia regardless, he would not have gone without God’s blessing and the result would have been purely human effort in attempting to preach Christ where God Himself did not want Paul to presently be. The result would not have been glorifying to the Lord, and it would have been certainly frustrating to Paul and his companions. Twice the Jews learned this in their wilderness wanderings. Numbers chapter 14 records the nation of Israel poised to kill Joshua and Caleb, and to replace Moses and Aaron when they learned that there were giants in Canaan. They wanted to go back to Egypt in their fear. God commanded them to enter Canaan and claim the land but they would not; then when they were commanded to withdraw, the people attacked anyway afterward and were soundly defeated by the enemy because God was not with them, Numbers 14:39-45.

Gamaliel, a wise man amongst the Sanhedrin, adroitly explained the difference between a man using his own power, or a movement with God’s might undergirding it. He said, “Keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it–lest you even be found to fight against God,” Acts 5:38, 39. Paul, when writing to the Ephesian church, told them that, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them,” Ephesians 2:10. The open door Christ offers Philadelphia is the path to the good works He prepared on their behalf. He isn’t asking for their strength; He is asking for their obedience. “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts,” Zechariah 4:6.

The disciples in this church have kept His word and not denied His name. They were doctrinally sound and unafraid to be publicly associated with the much maligned Nazarene. They have a spiritual potency, being yielded to the Holy Spirit. They have, as the Lord put it, “a little strength.” Apparently the article “a” is not present in the original Greek text, so it literally reads, “little strength.” The disciples have little strength; and when they are weak, then they are strong. They accomplish much, not because they are affluent, well coordinated, well connected or have some kind of marketable technique; it is because they are collectively yielded to the Holy Spirit, that through them He may reach the lost with the message of the gospel.