The two churches in the book of Revelation with which I am primarily concerned in these days are the church of Philadelphia and the church of Laodicea. Both are of great importance to us.
The Laodicean church and the Philadelphia church cannot be described strictly as churches in the last two periods of the church age, although we have heard this teaching many times that, starting with the church at Ephesus, it went right on through to Laodicea and that was the end-time church. Following this very carefully, it does fit the different periods of church history; however, the word of God has a universality which has to be remembered.
The church at Ephesus is alive today, as well as the church at Laodicea. All seven churches are alive. But in particular, the last two represent the two directions that the church takes in the end time.
The Philadelphia church is the church with the open door to the treasury of God. The church of Laodicea is the church that is boasting of her own riches; she is increased with goods and has need of nothing.
The Philadelphia church is the one who has access to God’s riches; the Laodicean church is the one of whom God says, “You are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). How bad can you get? What we want to be is the Philadelphia church, in the Laodicean age!
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write (Philadelphia was a city in Asia Minor, now Turkey. It was one of the cluster of churches that sprang up and had their rooting partially under the ministry of Apostle Paul and partially under Apostle John): He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:…” Revelation 3:7. (We very much need a harmony of the book of Revelation with all of the other prophets, like the harmony of the gospels. Because the allusions are many times not direct quotations, but allude to things that happened in the Old Testament.)
Perhaps the only time the twenty-second chapter of Isaiah is alluded to is in this verse in Revelation. Isaiah tells how Shebna is to be replaced by Eliakim. Then it will come about in that day, that I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah (the high priest) and I will clothe him with your tunic (he is saying this to Shebna), and tie your sash securely about him, I will entrust him with your authority (Shebna became almost a traitor, a demonically inspired man who robbed the treasury. He is replaced by a son of a priest), and he will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder, when he opens no one will shut, when he shuts no one will open. Isaiah 22:20–22.
And I will drive him like a peg (or nail) in a firm place, and he will become a throne of glory to his father’s house. So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, offspring and issue, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars. Isaiah 22:23, 24.
What is this key of David? Have you ever taken a trip on a ship and seen a quartermaster with the big key around his neck? That key puts him into the wine cellar and where the food is: he has the whole thing. It is his domain. The key of David was not like giving someone the key to Fort Knox!
David amassed, probably in one area, more wealth than was ever known in the history of the world. Vaults were built for it, and it was out of this wealth that the gold vessels were made. Shields of gold were made for the temple guard. Later under Rehoboam they were stolen, and they were replaced with shields of brass. But the original shields were of solid gold.
This passage is a prophecy about Jesus Christ. The reference isn’t to Eliakim, because in Revelation 3 we see it is about the Lord Jesus Christ! God says that He will put Him like a nail in a sure place, and all the vessels are going to hang on Him. What kind of vessels? Vessels of gold—you, me, the treasures of the house of God. This is a beautiful picture. He said, “Eliakim, you are going to get the key of David, and you are going to open, and no man can shut. You are going to shut the door and no man can open.”
I was thinking about this today. The Lord was speaking to me that I have the authority to close the door on the supposed promise and illusion of great wealth; to close the door on those not walking right with God, and to open it for those who do walk right with God. This authority He has given me.
While waiting on the Lord, I said, “Lord, I don’t have the wisdom to match wits with those who would circumvent me. You will have to show me what to do.” And the Lord said the key was there to open, and no man can shut it; to shut, and no man can open. This is like saying, “Here, the treasure house is open.” God wants the apostolic ministry and foundational ministries and all the ministries that come up in the apostolic company to move into this place in God, where they open the treasure house of God’s wealth and provision to the people, and nobody can shut it. They will shut the door on what should not be, and no man can open it.
Going back again to Revelation 3:7: “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this: I know your deeds. Behold I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.’” Jesus said, “I am setting before you a door—you can come in!”
Have you ever observed kids on Halloween night? They come saying, “Trick or treat,” and you pass out the goodies. Some little ones are very, very polite; you hold out a box, they look at it, and take one little sucker and saying, “Thank you” and go off. Then come the neighborhood “monsters,” grabbing everything they can get hold of, cramming it all into a big sack, then taking off to find the next house to plunder.
When God says to you, “The door is open and here is all the goodies,” what do you take? “Here is a big reservoir of My love and My provision for you.” “Thank You, Jesus, I’m going to fill my little thimble.” No! “A bucketful?” No! Dive in and drown yourself in it! The door is open, help yourself!
He is saying, “All My treasures, all My provisions are yours. I have set before you an open door. It is not going to slam shut just when you get there. I am holding it open for you to get all of the things that God wants you to have.” Isn’t that marvelous? all the things that he has provided for you to have. The whole key is the appropriation of the divine provision. We are not going to walk as paupers, we are going to walk as the people of the Lord that have been enriched with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3); those to whom the Lord has given promises pertaining to all things that pertain to life and godliness (II Peter 1:3).
THE KEY OF DAVID
What is the key? … you have a little power. Revelation 3:8. If you have a lot of power, you don’t get in—only when you have a little power. The promises do not go to those who have a great deal of strength in the natural realm; it is the weak who will confound the mighty (I Corinthians 1:27). You have a little power. You had a lot more power in the flesh when you came into the Walk than you do now. You have a little power, because you have no more confidence in the flesh.
“What do you have?”
“Oh, a little handful of meal, a little cruse of oil.”
“Good, now we can work a miracle. What do you have?”
“Five little barley loaves, two little fish.”
“Ah, that’s good; let the people sit down, everybody’s going to eat.”
It doesn’t take very much, when you have a little power, and you have kept my word Revelation 3:8. It isn’t how many prophecies were over you, it is how many you have kept; it isn’t how many words you have heard, it is how many you hang onto.
The Lord gave me this promise: “I will set before you an open door which no man can close.” Revelation 3:8. And He said, “This will be true of your ministry all your life.” No matter what persecution I have had, or whoever has tried to hinder me, I have never been without effective open doors all my life to preach the Word. It was a promise.
When I came into the Walk, I had a lot of promises that the Lord made to me. I went through so many testing’s; I wasn’t familiar with the idea that there would be a wilderness involved with it. I thought a person could jump right out of Babylon into Canaan; I didn’t realize the wilderness was in between. I went through it for such a long period of time.
Sometimes when you are looking for a fresh word, all you have to do is go back and say to yourself, “The Lord has spoken.” He has already said what He had to say to you. He may give you fresh revelation as you go along, but your faith isn’t dependent upon getting a new word from God every Tuesday. Your faith is dependent upon having a word; and like Abraham, walking for years with faith in that word. The periods of silence are sometimes the greatest periods of faith-building you can ever know. God has spoken, and then He doesn’t speak again.
Many people will receive ministry, then they may go along for years with no further prophecies over them. They don’t get another word, but they faithfully come to church. The enemy will battle and battle against the individual, but he hangs onto the word he has received, and that is the key. If we depend upon a fresh word every day from the Lord, we don’t have any faith; if we are dependent upon a fresh new visitation from the Lord every service, we don’t have any faith. Faith is made strong and grows in the periods of silence, in the periods of testing.
THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN
You have kept my word, and have not denied my name. Revelation 3:8. We are not talking about blasphemy, we are talking about the fact that at no time are we going to deny what God has provided through that holy name. He says, “I have put before you the door.”
“Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews, and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them to come and bow down at your feet, and to know that I have loved you.” Revelation 3:9.
The synagogue of Satan? Is it possible for something that God starts to go that bad? Yes. God started the synagogue, but remember, Satan perverts authority. He deceives it, so that he can use it for his own good. There is nothing more deadly than a false prophet who once was a true prophet and became a channel of authority.
The most significant thing in Israel in the days of Samuel was the school of prophets, who went through the land prophesying. They created spiritual forces that were unbelievable.
King Saul wanted David assassinated, so he sent a man to kill him. The soldier was walking down the road, and the school of prophets came along prophesying with great discernment and perception. As they prophesied, the soldier threw down his sword and began to dance and prophesy with them. This was reported to Saul, who said, “Send another one.” The same thing happened to the second soldier. Finally, Saul said, “Well, you can’t send a boy to do a man’s job; I’ll do it myself.” He went down the road to kill David, and he also came upon the school of prophets. He threw off his clothes and started dancing and prophesying before the Lord! They began saying, “What is this, is Saul also became a prophet” (I Samuel 19:21–24)? Saul had murder in his heart, but the force of the prophets was so great that it overcame Saul’s murdering spirit.
We don’t need to worry about the people that have problems, or worry about sin being in the camp. If we have a few prophets walking with God in this day, we will do what the school of prophets did in their day.
In that day Saul was a partner to seeing the witches put out of all of Israel, though he was not really dedicated to it. Later he looked around to find one himself, so his heart was not set against witchcraft. The real job was done by the fact that the witches were overcome by the school of prophets. The prophets prophesying overcame the whole religion of witchcraft that was prevailing throughout the land. It is the same thing today.
There is a synagogue of Satan, there are churches of antichrist. These were churches traditionally born in revival having had something from God. But Satan is the usurper, he tries to take over. He takes the synagogue and makes it the synagogue of Satan; he takes the church and makes it Babylon, the mother of harlots. He does these things because he has no authority.
Where is the authority? It is with Jesus Christ. Satan tries to usurp authority where he can find it. That is why the prophets generally are men to whom authority has been committed.
We read in Acts 20:30 that there would be elders who would lead men astray and draw people after themselves. Paul, when ordaining these elders, knew that some of them would do this. Jesus picked twelve disciples, knowing that one of them would be a Judas. You do what God tells you to do, knowing that these things will come to pass inevitably; you are not trying to create a perfect record where no one ever fails. As Paul said, “For there must needs be heresies among you that He that is true may be made manifest” (I Corinthians 11:19). This has to be.
So the synagogue of Satan and going astray will come to pass. But the Lord says to those to whom He has given the open door, … I will make them to come and bow down at your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth. I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, in order that no one take your crown.’ Revelation 3:9–11.
Have you felt many times like you are ready to lose out? More accurately, it is as though someone was about to take away from you everything that you had from the Lord. Hold fast to that which you have that no one take your crown. This passage is describing how Satan always contends with you to take away what you have, to get you to relinquish it. You must hold fast to what you have!
Has the Lord brought you to an experience where God really delivered you from something and you felt cleansed? The next week or two watch how the enemy will try to convince you that you weren’t really delivered. Did you have a healing? You go a week or two where all the symptoms have left; you were enjoying beautiful health; you tell everybody about it, and then some nagging symptom comes back. Satan is trying to say, “You weren’t healed.” It is a lying symptom; he is trying to convince you that you have lost your healing, or that you never were healed in the first place. The minute you agree with him, the moment the deception is effective in your mind, that minute he starts taking everything away!
The crown that belongs to the overcomer must be maintained. You win it and you keep it by never relinquishing what your faith lays hold of in the Lord. Never let go of what the Lord gives you, even if you go by the seemingly negative signs for a long time. Keep what you voice and claim in faith, in the name of the Lord. I have been suffering with this divine health for almost three years, but I will not give it up. I believe that I have it, and I am maintaining that confession.
There is a story told about a man who had been healed of a large growth on his throat. He was prayed for and believed that he was healed. He would get up and testify, “God healed me.” It became such a reproach, because they could still see the growth. He said, “I’m healed. I’m healed. Thank God I’m healed.” It was very real to him.
Finally, the preacher told him, “You can’t say that anymore, because this has become a stumbling block to the people. They see this big growth, and they know you are not healed.” He said, “But I am healed. I don’t trust in this symptom, I trust in the Word of God.” So he went before the Lord and said, “Lord, I know I’m healed, and You know I’m healed. Your Word says I’m healed. For the sake of these unbelievers, will You manifest it in the symptom?” He began gagging and threw up that growth, and it was gone. You see, it was a test of faith all those weeks with the growth still there, knowing that he was healed. Finally, the symptom had to conform with the reality of his testimony.
We have to lay hold upon the claim; hold fast to what you have. Don’t let anyone take away your crown that belongs to an overcomer. We don’t overcome because we decide, “Now, I’m going to do better,” like the little train in “The Little Engine that Could.” It went up the hill saying, “I think I can, I think I can,” then, “I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could.” This isn’t a mental exercise. It isn’t, “I think I can,” it is “I believe He did! I believe He did!!!” The overcomer’s crown comes in the accepting the finished, completed work of Jesus Christ in our behalf. We stand on this and that is the way we are released. When we come to a problem it isn’t, “I think I can,” it is “I know He did it! I know He did it!”
The Lord says, He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.” Revelation 3:12a. A pillar is not just an ornament. Ask any pillar, he will tell you. A pillar cannot say, “Excuse me, building, I’m going to go out and do such and such a thing”; the Word says, “He will not go out from it anymore.” ‘I will make him a pillar of the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it any more; 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 My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ Revelation 3:12–13.
When you overcome, graduating from your own personal defeats, is it so you can say, “I’ve overcome. I don’t have anymore of those oppressive things that drag me down. Now I’m going to travel around the churches and see the world!” No, the minute you overcome, He says, “Now I am going to set you right here and make you a pillar and build a temple on you. I will write a lot of names on you, because you will identify God and His name, the new Jerusalem, and the temple. It will be written all over you.” Everyone who comes along says, “Do your work, pillar, hold the whole thing up!”
The church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). What are the apostles and prophets? They are pillars. You must overcome first, then the responsibilities are laid upon you.
What is the difference between the churches at Philadelphia and Laodicea? He writes to Laodicea saying, “I know all about you, you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one way or the other. I am going to spew you out of My mouth. You say that you are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. You don’t know that you are wretched, poor, miserable, blind, naked.” He says, “I counsel you to buy from Me gold tried in fire that you may be rich” (Revelation 3:15–18).
The Philadelphia church had the door open to the treasury of David, having access to all the gold they wanted. He told the church of Laodiceans “I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire that you may be rich; white raiment that you may be clothed, that the shame of thy nakedness does not appear. As many as I love I rebuke and I chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent” (Revelation 3:18–19).
Would you like to go back to the Laodicean church? Never! Do you believe to be part of the Philadelphia church, where the door is open?
The evangelist to the Laodicean church says, “Come on, get on fire for God. Get out of that indifference, get out of that slump. You are too cold and indifferent here; come on, fire up, fire up! Get with it.” The evangelist to the Philadelphia church says, “Help yourself, the door is open—walk in, it is all yours!”
I want to have a new awareness of the treasure house of the Lord. Blessed is the man who never goes away from God’s table hungry, because he has learned how to partake. Blessed is the one who is not poor, but senses that the promises of God have made him as rich as Abraham. He reaches in because the door is open, and no man can shut it. Blessed are you in this day if you do not bemoan your trials and tribulations. Realize the great wealth God has given you—the wealth of the believer. You are rich with things that no man can take from you.