re-post
The city of Philadelphia now known as Alasehir has existed for a long time even though located in a region that suffered from earthquakes. It is twenty-eight miles southeast of Sardis.

Revelation 3:7 – And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: “The words of the Holy One, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.”

CHRIST THE HOLY SOVEREIGN: Jesus being the son of God and who walked amongst us to know us and then took our sins was given the keys of David upon His arrival in heaven. Between the time of His crucifixion and His resurrection Christ went into the hell itself and took the keys of death and hell. He is the holder of the keys and all actions go through Him. Any door of opportunities are opened and closed by Him. Biblically this is also associated with Isaiah 22:22 in reference to Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was placed in charge of the kings treasure. As Dr. Walvoord says in his commentary: “The Philadelphia church, surrounded by paganism and wickedness, needed the assurance Christ gives that He has to power to bring about His sovereign will.”

Revelation 3:8-9 – “I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is about to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie – behold. I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.”

Dr. Walvoord believes the image of an open door is in reference to opportunities for the witness of the gospel and to spread the word of that Jesus is the Messiah. Of all the options he listed this one makes the most sense. I do not agree with his opinion of the fallen away Jews though. Christ and God have never let their desire and love for the Jewish people fade. This does not mean that the Jewish people have done the same for Him. It has been twenty-five years since the destruction of the Temple by the Roman army. It is my personal believe that these Jews fell away in their true faith of God and had started to embrace the world about them since in their eyes God had abandoned them. Then to have the Christians of their city professing the Son of God and the Messiah made the Jewish congregation turn to wrath not only out of hearing a group profess of a true Messiah but also out of their falling away from their believe in God and their own guilt was a factor as well.

Revelation 3:10-11 – “Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.”

To me this praise given to the church of Philadelphia supports my above statement. For in prophecy the Jewish nation is not given this promise that the Christians are given. We are offered the Rapture while the Jewish nation is to stay upon the earth during the Tribulation to come.
Historically for the church as a whole this period of praise, worship, and ability to spread the gospel took place between the 1500s till the middle of the 1960s. After this the time of the great falling away started to take place and in my opinion was celebrated at Woodstock by Satan in 1969.

Revelation 3:12-13 – “The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from My God out of heaven and My own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To those that overcome and live a faithful life to Christ are promised glorious rewards in this closing. They who have an ear, let them hear.