PHILADELPHIA The Commendation Revelation 3v8-10.
He commends four qualities they possessed, all of which come under the heading "thy works". He knows the whole panorama of their collective works, as He does all of ours today.
- Strength.
- Obedience.
- Loyalty.
- Endurance.
All of these are commendable Christian graces in a group whose standards must be higher than the world's, even the religious world.
- Strength....."thou hast a little strength"
- Whatever the nature of their weakness was, we don't know; it may have been they were few in number, or they may have had a feeble grasp of eternal things. As Christians we need strengthening every day, this is a major topic in the prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah portrays God's people as being constantly surrounded and harassed by enemies; they needed divine strength to see them through. Isaiah, whose name means "the salvation of the Lord " was the son of Amoz, whose name means "strength." Thus immediately we learn that those who are saved need strength and this topic is all through the prophecy.
Chapter 17v10 - he speaks of God as "the rock of his strength" :
chapter 10v13 speaking of God's punishment of Assyria - "by the strength of my hand have I done this."
chapter 25v4 - "thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress."
chapter 26v4 - " in the Lord is everlasting strength."
chapter 30v15 - "in quietness and confidence shall be your strength."
chapter 33v6 - "wisdom and knowledge shall be to the stability of thy times and the strength of thy salvation."
chapter 40v10 - " behold the Lord will come with a strong hand and His arm will rule for Him." : chapter 40v29 - "He giveth power to the faint and to them that hath no might He increaseth strength."
chapter 40v31 - "they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength."
chapter 41v10 - "for I am thy God I will strengthen thee."
chapter 62v8 - "the Lord hath sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength." The New Testament abounds with the need for inward strength day by day. The church had a little strength and the Lord was about to increase it.
- Obedience...... "thou hast kept My word."
- The prophet Samuel said "behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." (1st Samuel 15v22). Obedience to God and to His word is much better, because sacrifices that we make may just be a cover, whereas obedience is from the heart. That which is done, if it does not spring from heart obedience is worthless in the sight of God. Jesus made this clear when he said "If you love Me keep My commandments." The definition of love therefore to the Lord is to obey Him, just as His love to the Father was displayed in keeping His Father's commandments. He could say of His disciples in John 17 "they have kept Thy word." the apostle Paul at the end of his life could say "I have kept the faith." Paul said to the Roman saints in chapter 6v17 "Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you."
- Loyalty....... thou hast not denied My name."
- They were under fierce opposition from zealous Jews who were active and who opposed Christianity. It is an outstanding thing to confess the name of Christ in a city which considers Christianity as nothing. The city contained what Jesus called "the synagogue of Satan;" very religious, very active, but rejecting Christ as the Messiah. The city was a center of Hellenist culture (the merging of Judaism and Greek culture). The Christians were marginalized by the ranting of fanatical Jews. Loyalty in a time of Jewish apostasy was greatly valued by the Lord. Their efforts were only feeble, but they had the courage to confess His name.
- Endurance...... "thou hast kept the word of My patience."
- John described the Christian life in chapter 1 as "the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." Endurance is a sterling human quality, and when it is practiced in a spiritual sense in a world and an environment which is anti-God, it is even more commendable. The phrase "the word of My patience" means they had heard of the incredible endurance of Christ in all that He went through for their sake and they were now following His example. This takes us to the subject matter of Hebrews chapter 12v1 - 13. We can only linger a little on this huge subject matter, but there the Christian is encouraged to endure in three different ways. Firstly, to endure the Christian race by laying aside all things that would hinder our progress for God. Secondly, to endure the contradiction of sinners against ourselves, with the prime example being Jesus Himself. Thirdly, To endure the chastening of our Father God who in this life puts us through trials to improve our lives.
We would all do well to emulate the Christian graces of the Philadelphian church.
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