Philadelphia is a small town in an area where earthquakes occur regularly, and which was therefore rebuilt many times. It was renowned for its viticulture, as a result of which the Greek god Bacchus (Dionysius) was worshipped there. The frequent earthquakes are the reason it had remained a small town. This dangerous place had not become a ruin, however—in contrast to most of the other towns in Asia referred to—and it is still inhabited today. And there is still a small Christian church in this Islamic town, which is called ‘Allasehir’, meaning The City of God.
Is that not a living illustration of this text? When He opens, no one shuts—including Islam, which has ‘closed’ very many Christian churches and assemblies in Turkey and North Africa and the Middle East. But the Church of Philadelphia still exists today.
Philadelphia means ‘brotherly love’. Living in an area without worldly security, where even the ground shakes regularly, they hold on to Christ and to each other. This is the second church to which Christ does not address a single word of criticism. Its most important characteristic is that this Church has continued to expect Him to come in Glory.
Christ has the power: the key to open or to shut. He opens and no one shuts and He shuts and no one opens. This power is also applicable to death and the realm of the dead.1 He holds the key of David. He is David’s Son. He is from the line of King David and one day He will be the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Both Mary, His mother, and Joseph, His adoptive father are descendants of the house and the lineage of David. He is thus the Son of man, but also the Son of God, who fathered Him in the womb of His mother, Mary.2
When Eliakim (whose name means: ‘God will rise up’) has to replace the haughty chancellor Sebna, the Word of God says: “I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut …”3 This servant of the Lord in the past history of Israel has been given authority in those days in the house of David and he decides who is to have access to the king. He is a prophetic type of the great Son of the house of David, Jesus Christ, who decides who will have access to the great King. The government rests upon His shoulders.4 Christ opens the access to all God’s treasures.5 He is God’s true treasure, the Holy One, the True One, the True Holy One. He is referred to as such more than sixty times in the book of Isaiah.6 The Holy One is holy, and He makes holy. Holy means separated from the world, set apart for God’s service—and that applies to us too. To be a separated instrument in His hands.
Separated and called to bless the nations and the world. Called to be holy is how Paul refers to Christians7—certainly no ‘saints’ in the sense of those who are declared by the Roman Catholic Church to be saints, as people who apparently did nothing wrong and could perform miracles, but ordinary people who are set apart and made holy and complete in Christ.8 He is the Holy One of God,9 and we are in Him.
• The key to open or to shut, according the Roman Catholic Church, was given to the Apostle Peter. And after him to the popes through apostolic succession—and to bishops and priests according to the Council of Trent.
• The Counter-Reformation (Latin: Contra-Reformatio), also called the Catholic Reformation (Latin: Reformatio Catholica) or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation.
• It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and largely ended with the 1781 Patent of Toleration, although smaller expulsions of Protestants continued into the 19th century. The Council was initiated to preserve the power, influence and material wealth enjoyed by the Catholic Church and to present a theological and material challenge to Reformation. It led to a series of wars, political manoeuvring by the Holy Roman Empire, exiling of Protestant populations, confiscation of Protestant children for Catholic institutionalized upbringing, heresy trials and the Inquisition, notorious for its torturing and killing of protestant Christians. And in the southern part of Europe thousands of Jews were burned at the stake as well, with the crucifix of Jesus right before their eyes.
• The Heidelberg Catechism is a Protestant confessional document taking the form of a series of questions and answers – 52 in total, one for each Sunday – for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine. It was written in 1563 in Heidelberg. In Q&A Sunday 31 it explains the power, the key (Matthew 16:17-19) to open and to close, as the proclamation of the Gospel and the Christian ban or exclusion from the Christian church. The rock is the confession of faith (not Peter himself as a person) that Peter had just spoken, being given by God this revelation about Jesus. Basically, this key is the preaching of the Gospel. This key opens the door to salvation. By rejecting the Good News this key closes the door. Matthew 16:13-19 and 18:18. The Apostle Peter makes use of this key at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), in Samaria (Acts 8:14) and in Caesarea (Acts 10).
• Every believer can use this key by bringing the Good News to other people! By the preaching of the Gospel Jesus will open by the power of the Holy Spirit the hearts of people. The key of true faith to everlasting glory and life!
• The Holy Spirit was firstly given to the Jews and for proselytes—non-Jews who have converted to Judaism, and thus had become Jewish as well. Next the Holy Spirit was given to the Samaritans (half-Jews, in Acts 8) and finally the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles (non-Jews, in Acts 10) at the house of Cornelius from Italy, the Roman centurion and his household.
Bible References:
1.Revelation 1:18 2.Matthew 1:18–25; Luke 1:30–35 3.Isaiah 22:15-22 4.Isaiah 9:5–6 5.Romans 8:32; Colossians 2:2–3 6.Isaiah 6:3, 43:15, 65:16; Revelation 19:11 7.For example, Romans 1:6–7 8.1 Corinthians 1:30–31 9.John 6:69; Acts 3:14; 4:27 and 30
