Comfort from the one who has the key

Sermon for Midweek of Laetare

Revelation 3:7-13

Jesus’ second-to-last letter, to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, has no criticism or condemnation, only comfort, encouragement, and uplifting promises. Just as we have taken to heart all the rebukes and warnings in the previous letters, let’s also take this comfort to heart.

What image of Himself does Jesus want the pastor and people in Philadelphia to remember? He says, first, These are the words of him who is holy and true. Jesus is holy as both God and Man. He is set apart from the creation and set apart from sin. He is perfect love, perfect mercy, and perfect justice, in perfect harmony. He is also true, the essence of truth, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Everything He says is true and trustworthy. He never deceives, never fails to do what He promises, never lies.

And He has the key of David, who opens and no one shuts, who shuts and no one opens. This image is pulled straight from Isaiah 22. Around the time of King Hezekiah, there was a wicked steward over the royal house of David, a scribe named Shebna. We aren’t told much about his bad behavior, just that he managed the royal house and, by extension, the city of Jerusalem with pomp and pride, seeking glory for himself and not caring for the people whom he was supposed to be serving. But God promises to take the stewardship away from Shebna and give it instead to a better man, to a man named Eliakim, whose name means, “God will arise.” God says through Isaiah, ‘Then it shall be in that day, That I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah; I will clothe him with your robe And strengthen him with your belt; I will commit your responsibility into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem And to the house of Judah. The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; So he shall open, and no one shall shut; And he shall shut, and no one shall open. I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, And he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house.

So the Old Testament Eliakim was a type or a pattern of Christ, who has the key of David, that is, the key of the house of David, which is the Church on earth and the Church in heaven, the new Jerusalem. He is the One charged with letting people in or keeping them out, charged also with distributing the goods of the house to the people of God, where and when He chooses.

Jesus tells the pastor in Philadelphia, I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it. The pastor is already in the Church Militant, the Church on earth. Here Jesus promises him that the Church Triumphant is also open to him after this life, and none of his earthly enemies can keep him out of the Paradise that awaits.

What has this pastor done well? For you have little strength, but you have kept my word and have not denied my name. This isn’t a powerful pastor or congregation. They aren’t big. They aren’t influential. It may seem like they’re barely surviving in their daily struggles against the devil, the world, and their sinful flesh. But this pastor, unlike several of the others, has kept Jesus’ word and has not denied His name. He’s preached the Word purely and faithfully, both the Law and the Gospel. He has warned the impenitent. He has comforted and absolved the penitent. He hasn’t tolerated wickedness among his members. He hasn’t tolerated false teachers in their midst. He continues to treasure God’s grace to him as a poor sinner, and so he still loves God and the flock entrusted to his care. What’s more, he hasn’t denied Jesus’ name or any of Jesus’ teachings in order make other people happy or to save his own skin.

Some of those who were obviously trying to get him to deny Jesus’ name were the leaders of the local Jewish synagogues. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but are lying — behold, I will cause them to come and bow down before your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Again in this letter Jesus identifies the Jews who rejected Jesus as the Christ as not real Jews. The real ones accepted and welcomed the Christ who had been promised to Israel, the Christ who gave His life as a sacrifice of atonement on the cross and who was raised back to life, according to all the Old Testament prophecies. The real Jews became Christians. Even those who were not Jews by birth became spiritual Jews when they became Christians, as St. Paul explains so beautifully in Romans and in Galatians. But the ones who rejected Christ were severely persecuting the Christians and lying about them. In the end, maybe not until the last day, in some cases, the false Jews will have to acknowledge the true ones, the Christians, and fall down at their feet.

Now, realize, to say that, even to read these words of Revelation in public, would bring accusations of “anti-Semitism” against you from the world. So understand the difference. There is a sin of “anti-Semitism,” that is, hating a person or mistreating a person or even thinking less of a person because he or she is of Jewish descent. That’s not what true Christianity has ever taught or practiced. But true Christianity also doesn’t fail to speak the truth: The Jews who reject Jesus as the Christ have made themselves enemies of God and of God’s precious Holy Christian Church. The world will still call that statement “anti-Semitic.” But the world is wrong.

Jesus continues, Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of trial that will come upon the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. There are lots of words that can describe or summarize the word of Christ. How often do you think of it as the word of His patience? A word that, first and foremost, describes Jesus’ own patient endurance in suffering. But then, also a word that requires patience for Jesus’ sake. That requires endurance and perseverance. A word that tells Christians ahead of time that this life will be full of troubles and hardships and persecutions and struggles against the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh, and that calls on us to bear up under those things and to “produce fruit with patience,” as Jesus said in the parable of the sower and the seed.

At the same time, Jesus’ word is that which gives us patience, that which gives us the strength to patiently endure all the troubles of this world.

Jesus promises the pastor and people in Philadelphia that He would spare them from “the hour of trial” that was—or is?—coming on the whole world. The next two hundred years would see some of the most vicious, most horrifying persecution of Christians there has ever been. This promise to spare that church may have been a promise to shield them from it so that it didn’t harm them, or it may have been a promise to bring them out of this world, safely to their heavenly home, before life on earth got really bad. Either way, God promises to “keep” His people, and that gives us reason to hope and to be at peace.

Behold, I am coming soon! Hold onto what you have, that no one may take your crown. Hold on, Jesus urgently calls out. That implies that there will still be temptations to let go, to let go of His word and of faithfulness to it, to let go of your zeal and of your diligence, of your love and, ultimately, of your God-given faith, which would result in your crown of life being taken away. There’s a warning there, but there is also comfort, because you are not alone in holding on. You don’t hold on by your own powers. “You have little strength,” Jesus said here. But His Means of Grace, His Word and Sacraments, are able to keep you holding on.

Finally, we have those beautiful promises made to all who overcome this world, to all who remain faithful until death: The one who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never leave it again. And I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God. And I will write upon him my new name. A pillar in God’s heavenly temple, steady, firm, and immovable. And just as, in ancient times, patrons or conquerors would inscribe their names on pillars, so Jesus promises to inscribe several names on those who overcome: the name of His God, the name of the city of His God, the new Jerusalem, and His own name, His “new” name, His name of victory over every enemy, His name as the exalted and victorious Son of God. And so Jesus claims these believers as His own, special people, purchased by His blood, made His own in Holy Baptism, and sealed for His own after they overcome this world, to spend eternity with Him in the New Jerusalem.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. You’ve heard and taken to heart all the warnings that the Spirit has given so far, and you’ll hear another warning next week. But for today, hear the comfort that the Lord Christ is offering to you! I would say that we have relatively “little strength” here, like the church in Philadelphia, but I would also say, humbly, that we have kept His word and have not denied His name. Now, you and I aren’t sinless. Neither was the angel of the church in Philadelphia, and neither were its members. But keeping Jesus’ word, as they did, doesn’t mean being entirely sinless in this life, for as much as it is our goal and desire to be. It means struggling against sin, and repenting of it when we fall, and trusting in Christ alone for forgiveness, and then abiding in His Word, holding onto all the doctrines of it, including the unpopular ones, including the ones that the world would have us deny in order to fit in better here.

Will we be spared from the hour of trial that is coming on the world? In a way, we already have been for a time. As I’ve said at times, it’s like we’re still “flying under the radar,” too small and too insignificant to draw too much of the world’s anger and persecution. But it’s really God’s doing, as He has allowed us to continue here more or less unharassed by painful persecution. Will that continue? Only God knows. But if He allows us to be tried, He will also provide the strength we need to prevail.

So keep holding onto Him and His Word! And know that the promises Jesus sets forth here apply to you: An open door that no one can shut, divine help to face the world’s hatred, and a permanent place in the house of God, reserved for you by Him who has the key of the house of David. Amen.