Revelation: Philadelphia
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Here want to welcome you my name is Isaac I'm one of the pastors here at mil City and uh we have been working our way through the Book of Revelation and we've kind of broken it up into three parts uh the first part being the seven letters written to the seven churches um and so we are on our second to last letter this morning and uh as I Was preparing uh for this sermon I was talking to Ben Johnson and if you don't know Ben he's the director of uh 1040 hope it's a missions organization um that we partner with and uh they rent some office space from us uh during the week.
They specifically do Mission work in the 1040 window um which is the latitude numbers uh and if you go look over it's in kind of the Middle East in Asia Northern Africa and it's some of the hardest places to reach with the Gospel because it has some of the most hostility um there's also some of the least amount of missionary presence there so we're super happy to partner with them but I was talking to him about some of the mission work uh that they are doing and he was recounting to me a story uh about uh one of their local house churches and uh in this house Church they've got about 30 or 40 people.
And the reason that they meet in houses is because the area that they are in uh is uh hostile to the Church uh primarily to to Muslims converting over to Christianity so that's why they can't meet out in the open they meet in houses they can't do like we do we're very blessed to be able to come and gather like this but through this the work of this Church to be faithful in evangelism and to to spread uh the message of the Gospel one of the local uh military personnel that was around this Church had placed faith in.
Jesus super encouraging uh to hear that through the work of this Church this man had come to Faith um but he had when he had signed up to join the military he had signed a statement saying that he wasn't going to do that so he was following Jesus and being faithful to that but he was in opposition to his government and what he was working in and it turned out unbeknownst to the Church at the time time that the government had sent in one of its agents undercover to play the part of a converted Christian to try to get inside of this local Church community uh and this agent basically was a spy coming to.
Spy on this local Church and after about uh 6 months or so of being around this local Church eventually uh this agent from the government he outs that this military personnel has converted and he's participating in this local Church community uh and this guy ends up getting kidnapped the Church didn't know where he was at for several days um and when he does turn back up uh he recounts how uh he had been taken he had been kidnapped that he was beaten up by uh the the military and that how he was fired.
And then he was forced to sign a a statement for kind of public record saying that uh he had just kind of gotten beaten up by some street thugs uh and so this guy is left without any way to support himself and the people that he used to belong to because he claimed the name of Christ he now was uh treated with disdain and he was now treated like he didn't belong now thankfully this local Church is doing the work of generosity that the New Testament calls us to and they're supporting this uh man and he's still working to try to find some work.
But it's kind of hard for him because he's been flagged by the government uh and so it's hard for him to find a job uh but uh he's also kind of gone to the local Pastor there and just said hey I've got time if there's anything I can do to serve our Church let me know so on one hand the story is it's super encouraging it's encouraging to hear about the faithful witness of this Church as they uh seek to share the Gospel and it's encouraging to hear the move of the spirit to work in this guy's life to bring them to repentance and Faith.
But there's also much grief in this story that this man had lost what he belonged to that what he was used to was taken from him that that no longer were people that were familiar faces to him they treated him like he was an outsider and today we're going to be reading about a Church uh that was treated as if they didn't belong so let's pray and then we'll dive into our text Father we thank you very much for your word and the way that it instructs us that it leads us it guides us and ultimately it reveals to us who you are and what you are doing in our lives and in this world.
To rescue and redeem a people for yourself may this uh passage this morning be an encouragement to us may it point us to who Jesus is and may that give us strength to live our lives in faithfulness to him in his name we pray amen so our passage today is Revelation 3 uh: 7-13 so if you got your Bible you want to go ahead and turn there uh if you're using one of the blue Bibles that's available in the seat racks it'll be on page 596 um and as we've been working our way through these uh letters to the seven churches um there's this pattern of commendation and rebuke that.
Jesus has things that he points out that's good and Jesus has things that he points out that is bad well particularly for this Church he only has Commendation he only has things that are that he wants to uh encourage in this local Church so today this morning for us is going to be a very encouraging morning there's no rebuke for us so let's get started in verse 7 and to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia write so this letter is addressed to the Church in Philadelphia and I know that some of you are thinking that you didn't realize that Pennsylvania was prophesied about in The Book of Revelation.
So it's not in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania uh the seven churches they're addressed to uh uh seven local churches in Asia Minor uh and that is modern day Turkey if you're looking on a map uh but this uh specific City Philadelphia this is the only place in the New Testament uh where this Church is referenced you're not going to find it in the book of Acts you're not going to find it in uh any of the the Epistles so our contextual understanding of this Church really just comes from this place this passage in the Bible.
And then there's some general information that we can learn just uh historically from the city itself of Philadelphia so regarding the city itself it turns out it's very similar to all the other cities that we have been studying uh throughout these letters in terms of its prosperity in terms of its success and the religious practices would have been pretty much just the same as the rest of Rome that they would have been polytheistic worshippers they would have had Pagan practices.
So this is where this Church is located and then from the context of this letter itself we see that there is apparently this Jewish population in this city that's established enough to have a local synagogue and uh it seems from the letter as we'll get on to here in a minute that the the Church's difficulty and hardship mainly comes from this local Jewish synagogue but I think it is also safe to assume that they would have felt some of the same pressures uh and some of the same effects of being monotheistic worshippers in a polytheistic Society.
So it was some of that contextual understanding let's continue on to uh the rest of verse 7 where Christ describes himself 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 so in this we see three main descriptions of Christ so let's go through them one by one first he calls himself the Holy One.
Now the word holy it just means to be set apart by or for God that's just the Baseline definition so that idea is definitely here that Jesus is set apart by and for God of course ultimately in his life death and Resurrection but this specific description of being the Holy One has an extra note of weight when uh when looking back at the Old Testament that title Holy One is used to refer to the Lord the Lord of Israel and so uh in the book of Isaiah we.
See it show up 25 times alone just in that one book and so this Title Here of holy one gives us the idea of that Jesus is Calling himself Lord he is The Sovereign ruler over all things so that's this first title that he gives himself Jesus is the Holy One the second description is that he is the true one Jesus is true in the Gospel of John Jesus says I am the truth that there is no falsehood in him.
And if you're if you're here today if you've ever uh had an experience where you've been around somebody that was a liar or maybe you just have been deceived by a lie before you know that feeling of like the rug being tugged out from underneath your feet just every sense of stability just gets taken away but Jesus he is the essence of what is true that that's how he is describing himself there is no lie there is no falsehood in him and we're going to.
See how that's a particular encouragement to this Church so that's the second descriptor that Jesus is the true one this third one that he uh gives this description to himself isn't about who he is rather what he has Jesus says that he has the Key of David who opens and no one will shut who shuts and no one open opens now this is a little bit harder to understand uh the the imagery he here of a key it has to do with authority in the same way that.
If you have a key to something the assumption is that you have the right to access whatever that key gets you into so for instance if you had some kind of physical commodity that you wanted to keep safe and secure you take it to the bank you put it in some kind of security deposit box and they give you some kind of key we live in a digital age it might be a digital key but the point being that you have access and by having that key you are given the authority and the right to what is in it.
So this is what's talking about with the key so now we need to understand what is he talking about when he says he has the Key of David because I don't think he means that he has authority over David though that would be true he's getting at something more here David he was the king of Israel that's the David that's being referenced here King David of Israel and Israel they were in the Old Testament the people of God that's who they were as the nation.
So David as king he was the one who had authority over the people of God and the nation also belong to him as king that's how that relationship would work that the king he would rule over the people and the people would belong to him and his rule so in this context in this description of Jesus he's saying that he has authority over the people of God but there's more detail to it cuz he says who opens and no one will shut who shuts and no one opens that in context here regarding the opening and the shutting we get this picture of.
Jesus not only having authority over the people of God themselves he has authority over who belongs and who doesn't he has authority over who is and who isn't that's the description that Jesus gives himself here when he says that he has the Key of David and this also is going to be a very encouraging description for this Church as we will see here in a second so Jesus he describes himself as the Holy One the true one and he has the Key of David in other words he's the.
Lord above all things he is without falsehood he is the essence of what is true and he has authority over the people of God who is in and who is not and after this description now we're going to get to in verse 8 and N we're going to start to see some of the situation that this Philadelphian Church is in so let's continue on verse eight I know your Works behold I have set before you an Open Door which no one is able to shut I know that you have.
But little power and yet you 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 so this is where we get the most amount of information about what this Church is specifically facing about the difficulty and the hardship that they are encountering and there's a couple things that we need to understand to know what is going on here.
So first when Jesus refers to the synagogue of Satan he's referring to the local Jewish synagogue in this city um there's another time that this shows up in the Gospel of John Jesus is talking with some of the Jewish uh religious leaders and he says that they are of their father the devil now to them to the religious leaders that would have been mindboggling they wouldn't have been able to really process exactly what was just told of them CU remember they were the people of.
God they weren't the people of the devil so this would be outlandish this would be ridiculous this would be crazy the Jews were the people of God so how could Jesus say this how could he say it there in the Gospel how could he say it here but what we see through the accounts of the Gospel is that they miss Jesus over and over again they don't understand him and ultimately their blindness to who Jesus was leads them to murder him and I didn't know.
If you know this you don't murder your friends you don't murder those who you belong to you murder your enemies just how it goes so there's that first so this synagogue of Satan it's referencing this local Jewish synagogue these men who had rejected Jesus the second point of clarity here Jesus says that uh they say they are Jews and are not but lie so here the language that Jesus is using he's not uh referencing ethnically Jewish that's not what he's talking about.
Now the the the Jews in the synagogue they absolutely would have they would have been proud of the fact that they came from the lineage of Abraham that's what they were staking their claim on that they came from Abraham but Jesus he means something else he's referring to Jew in the sense of belonging to the people of God the nation of Israel they were the people of God that was used as the channel by which the Messiah would come to bring Redemption and rescue however what we.
See in Romans when Paul writes about this he says for no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly nor is circumcision outward and physical but a Jew is one inwardly and circumcision is a matter of the Heart by the spirit not by the letter so Paul who before his conversion he would have fit right in with this local Jewish synagogue he would have been right there with them persecuting this Church cuz remember he did persecute the Church but after his conversion this last letter that he writes he's helping to clarify that Jew is in reference to the sense of belonging to.
God it's not an issue of ethnicity or genealogy or circumcision it's about faith that's what Paul talks about it's what he gets at in all of his letters that belonging to the one true God it's about faith in Christ so Jesus in this letter here he's also encouraging this Philadelphian Church saying that these ethnically Jewish people who are combating you they've actually rejected Jesus as the Messiah that they don't belong you belong to me you belong to the people of God.
And so we see here that this Jewish this local synagogue here has beef with this Church and the main issue that the the Jews had with the Christians is that the Christians would have included Gentiles and they were saying we belong to the one true God the Jews they didn't like this cuz they didn't think that was a part of the plan the plan that they thought was going to happen was that they as a nation were going to be uh uh taken up they were going to rise up above all other nations and they would bow down before.
For the Israelites that's what they kind of understood God's big plan to be God his plan is different remember Jesus comes and he declares the Gospel to all people that the Gentiles come in so they they didn't like this the Jews thought they were the ones that belonged the Christians now are coming saying we belong to the one true God and obviously there are some Jews here in this local synagogue who are causing a headache with the Church and even though we don't know exactly the words that they were saying to them it would have involved some version of of you don't belong we belong you aren't in we're in it's not you it's us.
That would have been some of this language that would have been used with this local Jewish Community to these Christians in this Church now these letters are written to specific churches inside of the first century but we can take the content of the letters and determine what is applicable to us today and uh I don't think Colombia is a onetoone to to Philadelphia here and uh I though I think the general trajectory of our culture is uh heading in hostility towards the Church we are nowhere near where these local churches are at there are other places in the world like we saw in the story um of recounting this missionary work in the Middle East.
There are places where the suffering is just as real as they're experiencing but even though we're not a onetoone comparison I do know that there are some of you that because you claim the name of Christ you are suffering because you claim the name of Jesus whether it be in your workplace whether it be with your families whether it be with your friends that you've experience loss and difficulty I know there's a there's a guy in our group that I have conversations with him often about he's in the workplace he works in it and he's kind of over a couple people and he's trying to figure out what does it.
Look like for me to share the Gospel with them so that I don't get fired because they go complaining to the bigger boss that I was using my position to try to co them into believing this stuff because you name the you claim the name of Christ you've been in difficulty I know that some of you when you profess faith in Jesus that it caused riffs in your family relationships that simply because you claim the name of Christ that now there's tension between you and your parents your brothers your cousins whatever it might be or maybe your belief has cost you to lose friends you start believing this stuff you start speaking the language of.
The Bible and they say you know what I look we we had a good run as friends but this stuff really isn't for me so bye you felt the cost of following Jesus and Jesus in this letter he's encouraging his Church that as the true one he's encouraging by calling out the lies in this local Church that they're experiencing from the synagogue that Jesus as the one who has authority to say what is true and what is false he's confirming for the the Church that they are walking in the truth.
Now this encouragement that Jesus gives is not just in the way that he addresses the men of a synagogue but also in the way that he commends the Church itself so he says that I know your Works says you've kept my word you've not denied my name similar to the Church in Smyrna they're said to have uh little power so in other words this people they don't have influence this local Church they don't have influence they don't have respect to the people around them.
Okay it's not comfortable belonging to this Christian Community here in Philadelphia however they're commended because they have kept the word of Truth they've kept the word of Jesus they haven't denied his name they've held fast to the Gospel that was proclaimed to them and they haven't Deni their allegiance to Jesus just to make their lives a little bit easier and specifically here Jesus says I know your works and we don't know exactly what it looked like for them to hold on to the truth and not deny his name.
But Jesus sees them and to somebody who's been Faithfully following Jesus even in the midst of suffering especially in the midst of suffering and difficulty that's an encouraging thing to hear that Jesus knows where they are he sees them and what they are experiencing and in the same way he sees us he knows what you and I are going through if you if you're here today and you feel like you've been putting every ounce of your energy and effort to try to keep the word of Christ and not deny his name he sees you he knows take the courage that he's giving to you here.
Now there's this intense line in verse 9 where Jesus says I will make them come and bow down before your feet now Jesus isn't saying that the Jews are going to come and worship the Christians that's not the language that's being used here God's the only one who's ever stated as worthy of worship the language here is Vindication language so in the end the endurance of this Church Church to remain faithful to Jesus will result in them being Vindicated and that.
Jesus Will declare his love for his people that's what he says he says they will learn that I have loved you the Christians in this Church who have felt out of place because of the slandering of this local synagogue because of the Pagan practices of the city and the culture around them and the idol worship that was running rampant they're told by Jesus here who has the authority to say who belongs and who doesn't Jesus says that at the end he will.
Look at them and he will say I have loved you if we are to endure to the end Jesus will look at you and he will say I have loved you let us take this encouragement to the end that Jesus Will declare this love for us he will declare that we belong to him and only he has the authority to say that so now that Jesus has spoken to the Church about what has been true for them what they've been experiencing.
Now he's going to talk to them about what is to come verses 10 and 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 so this first thing that we run into difficulty with is Jesus referencing this hour of trial and there is much debate over what specifically this is referring to and this uh really goes back to the conception of the Church itself and trying to understand exactly what is uh being talked about here.
And all the different opinions they really kind of fall into two main camps that either it's referencing just the General Life suffering and difficulty that we all experience uh or it could have been referring to a or could be referring to a specific suffering uh at a specific time in the future from When It Was Written those are kind of the two main camps but it doesn't really matter uh what camp you fall into to understand that Jesus says that he will keep those who have kept his word.
So we know that to be sure from this text and we don't have time today to get into all of the details that are wrapped up in this but if the words amillennialism premillennialism pre-trib post-trib any Tri whatever you want the if any of those words mean anything to you this verse is right in the middle of that debate and if you're interested in learning more if you feel like uh you want to understand the different views I would love for you to call Chad he's on vacation I'll have his number up on screen.
But seriously we've got we've got a training weekend that's coming up on the 13th that is going to be heavily dealing with this we don't have a ton of space on Sunday morning uh to walk through all of these different views but you should definitely if you're interested in knowing more uh about the different ways the Church has interpreted the Book of Revelation sign up you can go on to our website uh and you can learn more about that stuff but we're going to continue on I do think there are even though there's some maybe some ambiguity with that there is some specific things that we can take from this text this passage here.
First in the same way that the Church keeps the word of Christ right he said because you have kept my word about patient endurance so they've kept the word Jesus will keep them from whatever this hour of trial specifically is and just like we saw it doesn't really matter exactly what the hour of trial is the language is clear that Jesus Will keep those who keep his word and that word keep will mean different things depending on what interpretation you decide you want to hold to.
But the point is clear Jesus keeps those that belong to him so secondly this hour of trial is said to try those who dwell on the earth now this Earth dweller language here it shows up several other places in the Book of Revelation this is the first time and then there are like five or six other times it shows up and every other time it is specifically referring to those who don't belong to Christ it's very clear from the context that's referring to those who don't belong to Christ.
So whatever this specific time of trial is it's meant specifically for those who don't belong to Christ which especially makes sense because Jesus is going to protect he's going to keep those who belong to him so I think those are some things that we definitely can understand from that verse now let's continue on into verse 11 Jesus says that he is coming soon now I think we would do well not to import our own understanding of soon to the one who is called Alpha and Omega that is the beginning and end.
Jesus as the creator of time let's not import our own understanding of soon to his understanding of soon but what is clear what is plain is that Jesus is coming and here he's using this as an encouragement for this local Church remain steadfast because I am coming he said hold fast as to what you have several years ago my younger brother and I we were helping our dad build some cabins out of the camp that he directs and we were working on installing some metal sheet roving uh and this one cabin we had gotten all the main panels done and I guess we must have been come back from lunch or something cuz we were.
All on the ground about to make our way back up onto this roof to finish it up and my little brother he heads up first he gets with the ladder climbs up makes it up to the ridge my father he's right behind him and he makes it up about halfway and then I'm right behind holding up the rear I'm very at the top of the ladder about to step out onto the roof and as I'm getting there my father he slips and he starts to fall and you know.
When you slip and you fall you reach out for something trying to grab something but there's not really much there for him to grab it's just an empty roof and my little brother he sees him he sees our dad about to fall and he reaches down and he grabs him and if you've seen the difference between my father and my little brother my little brother loses he starts to go down too and he throws his arm up and he grabs onto the ridge and they're holding fast to what they have this is all they have and they're holding fast.
Because if they don't hold fast both of them come tumbling down into me and all three of us end up off of the roof now we're all very tall so it wouldn't have been that far of fall for us but the point being that they it was second nature to them in this hour of trouble to hold fast to what they had so that they wouldn't fall down and that's what Jesus is encouraging them to do he says hold fast to what you have and what they have here are the words of.
Jesus and his name that's what they've already been commended in hold fast to the Gospel this Gospel reality that Jesus as God comes as man to pay the cost for our sin to pay the cost for what you and I have produced in this world and by going to the Cross he pays the record of our debt so that we could be redeemed so that we could be purchased and freed and that in raising a new life that he has new Resurrection Life.
And if we would walk in faith with him we could participate in that new Resurrection Life as well and he reigns on high with authority over all things authority over us that that is the Gospel truth and if we would live by faith in that truth holding fast to it Jesus says that what old ultimately results is receiving a crown and a crown here is referring to a reward like a runner who wins the race and has given a medal that.
Jesus he's encouraging his Church to patiently endure all things and to hold on to what is true so at the end they will receive their reward and if there are any of you in this morning this morning that are here that are suffering because of the name of Jesus hold fast to what is true because there is a reward however my fear is that most of us are not in those types of situations where we are suffering there are some for sure.
But I think most of us most of the time are safe to claim the name of Christ and that might be a weird thing to be afraid of but when we feel safe we start to let our guard down and though the physical world around us might not be a threat against us because we claim the name of Jesus most often in our life there is the reality of a spiritual war that is ever present and that's some of what this book of Revelation is doing.
For us it is revealing we're going to get into this in part two but it's beginning to reveal to us the weight of what is at stake of the cosmic Battle of good versus evil that is taking place that you and I are a part of if we would open our eyes to see what is going on so when we don't hold fast when we begin to let our guard down we start to loosen our grip on what is true.
Then we begin to compromise but let us not be people who compromise let us be people like the Church in Philadelphia who are commended for keeping the word of patient endurance and not Den denying the name of Christ because the reality is something Greater is Coming Jesus is coming so Jesus ends this letter with a promise to the ones who would conquer verses 12 and 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 in the Old Testament the temple it was the place where God's presence resided it's where God's presence resided with his people and this first promise that's given to the one who would conquer is that they will become a pillar in the temple of.
God now I don't think Jesus is saying here that we'll become a physical real pillar of a building and we actually learn at the end of Revelation that there is no physical temple in in Revelation 21 John says I saw no temple in the city for its Temple is the Lord God the almighty and the lamb that there is no need for a physical Temple where God's presence could come to reside behind a veil to be with his people because God's presence will fully be with his people.
When he comes to to live with us so there is no place but this language here of us being a pillar gives us the idea of this security and this belonging to the presence of God if you've ever looked at a building and saw a pillar holding it up you thought that belongs there and that is secure there and that's what we see here that we will belong and be secure in the presence of God when he comes to dwell with us you ever been on a long road trip and uh you've been nearing the end sorry I lost my place in my notes that's not where we're at forget what I just said that.
Is our that is our future if we are to hold fast to the Gospel that we will be secure in the presence of God and that reward is so worth it to hold fast so that's the first promise the second promise that Jesus gives is that he will inscribe three names on us now at first that sounds a bit strange it sounds a little weird at first but it's a beautiful promise names uh hold great significance in the Bible because they give a word picture.
For who you are that's what words are that's why Jesus he uh renames Peter to be Peter he was cus but then he's Peter because he's the rock upon which the Church is built that names they give you word picture of who you are so the first name that Jesus writes on us is the name of God signifying that we belong to him that if we endure and hold fast to the Gospel then we would be those who our very essence would be that we belong to.
God that would be who we are as his people my wife and I were in the process of adopting right now and when the time comes when we're placed with a child our name our last name Hill will become its last name because he or she will belong to us that's this picture that's being given here that in the end that God's name will be describ will be inscribed on us that we will belong to him and this idea of this inscription this being written on gives me the sense of permanence that never will be be cast out from from it.
But forever we will belong to the almighty God so that's the first name that's written on us the second name written on us is the name of the New Jerusalem so in Revelation chap 21 later in the chapter than where we referenced earlier it says and he and he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain this is John so Jesus carried John away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from.
God having the glory of God its Radiance like a most rare Jewel like Jasper clear as Crystal the wall was built of Jasper while the city was pure gold like clear glass the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of Jewel the first was Jasper the second Sapphire the third agot the fourth Emerald the fifth Onyx the sixth Carnelian the seventh chrysite the eighth Barrel the ninth topaz the 10th chriso pra the 11th jasin the 12th amethyst and the 12 gates were 12 pearls each of the gates made of a single Pearl and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass what a place what a city.
And the name of that city is written on those who conquer because we will belong there Church family if we are to hold on to what is true we will belong there no longer will we live in cities that push out the Church push push the Church out of the synagogues that practice Pagan rituals that bow down to Idols we will belong in our home whatever feelings of misplacement you have right now it's because we don't belong here we belong there you know that feeling you get.
When you're driving home from long trip you start to pass the signs on the interstate Columbia 20 M 20 miles and that there's that little sense of comfort that starts to creep in and then you see your exit number and it starts to intensify you feel it more and then you pull into the drive you walk into your house and you're washed with a sense of belonging when the end comes when we are there we will be washed with a sense of belonging this final name that is written on us is what.
Jesus calls my own new name now this is similar to the promise to pergamum describing a white stone with a new name on it but the difference being being here that Jesus calls this his own new name in chapter 19 of Revelation Jesus comes writing in to conquer his enemies and it is said that he has a name written that no one knows but himself now it's possible it's referring to this name and that would be my understanding but it's also possible that it's referring to a different name there's a little bit of difficulty.
If it is going to be that name at the end of Revelation uh because it says that no one knows it but it's written on us but in numbers chapter 6 in the Old Testament the Lord is talking with Moses and he says so shall they put my name upon the people of Israel but they weren't actually marked with a name on their body the point was the significance of belonging to the Lord and I think that is what is ringing true here that.
Jesus is saying that my new name will be on them because they belong to me and this picture that we see of Christ at the very end what does he do he conquers every force of evil every bit of sin death Hades Satan and every enemy of God is conquered by Jesus if you're in a battle do you want to hear that you belong to the defeated or to the Victor and the promise of Jesus to those who would endure is that we would belong to the one who is Victorious over every inch of Darkness that you and I ever have or will ever face in this life what beautiful promises given to us to.
Encourage us to hold fast to what is true to hold fast to the Gospel and not deny the name of Christ but to endure the band's going to come back up and as we close I want us to have ears to hear this as John says The Sovereign Lord who is without falsehood or lies who has the authority to welcome in those who belong and keep out those who are his enemies he knows our work the ways in which we have kept his word and not denied his name he will vindicate our patient endurance and he will protect us from the hour of trial that will test those who do not believe we will forever.
Be secure in the presence of our God belonging to him belonging to his City and belonging to the Conquering son let us hold fast to this that we might receive our reward Jesus is coming.