Pillars in the Temple 10-12-08
Some of the most engaging stories are those dealing with perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. We remember heroic leaders such as General Washington, as he kept up the war effort despite every problem from shortages of pay, food, and clothing, to a lack of solid support from the Continental Congress – not to mention fighting the strongest and most advanced army in the world at that time! We look at business successes such as Sam Walton, who endured scathing ridicule when he proclaimed the desire to build the world’s largest retailer, a distinction that belonged to Sears until Wal-Mart eclipsed it in sales shortly before Walton’s death. Even the tales we tell our children ring with this image – remember that it is the “little engine that could”, not the “great big engine meeting no resistance”.
The church at Philadelphia was not known for great wealth or political power; the town was situated in fertile farming lands. They seemed to be an out of the way small town church. What they did have was faith.
“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: these are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. “ (Revelation 3:7-13 NIV)
Jesus, through their example, gives us three important lessons for Christian perseverance: God controls opportunity (“I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut”); God expects us to obey him and to acknowledge him no matter how great the persecution or how weak we seem to be (“you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name ”); and all we have to do is to hold on to his teachings in reverence and patience, and we will receive an eternal place with God (“hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown”). We are therefore told that if we do these things (as the Philadelphians did), God will shelter us from the trials that the world will have to undergo, and that the enemies of God will acknowledge that Jesus loves the church (meaning that the church is the one true bride).
We should not measure the trials that we face by how large the enemy is, or how powerful, or how numerous. We should instead recognize that the enemy is indeed larger, more powerful, and more numerous than us, but that God is greater than any enemy and that he guides and protects his children. We do not need to worry about making the opportunities for us to be faithful to God; God will make those opportunities for us. And we do not need to worry about how to overcome the forces arrayed against us; God will overcome them for us. It is not the strong, numerous, or famous who get God’s opened doors, but rather the faithful.
Jesus is holding the key of David, and is opening doors for us that no one can shut, and closing doors that no one can open. We simply need to have the faith to enter the opened doorways, accepting our path to becoming pillars in the temple of God.
-Charles Peterson