Tag Archives: Earl Palmer

⁷ “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.

This is the message from the one who is holy and true,
    the one who has the key of David.
What he opens, no one can close;
    and what he closes, no one can open:

⁸ “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me. ⁹ Look, I will force those who belong to Satan’s synagogue—those liars who say they are Jews but are not—to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love.

¹⁰ “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world. ¹¹ I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. ¹² All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.

¹³ “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

Revelation 3:7-13

Dear God, the beginning of this letter, referencing the “key of David,” was unique so I pulled out my biblical commentary (The Communicator’s Commentary: 1, 2, 3 John and Revelation by Earl Palmer) to see what it had to say about it. It referred back to Isaiah 22:22 that says, “And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” So these people are seen and known my Jesus in a seemingly intimate way. He has opened a door for them that no one can close. That just made me think of the last verse of the song “The Love of God” by Rich Mullins:

Joy and sorrow are this ocean
They’re in its every ebb and flow
Now the Lord a door has opened
That all hell could never close
Here I’m tested and made worthy
Tossed about, yet lifted up
In the reckless, raging fury
They call the love of God

I don’t think I ever caught this connection from Rich. I wonder if that’s what he meant. Either way, this paints a beautiful picture of Jesus appreciating these unassuming, unpowerful, faithful Christians. They weren’t doing things that felt like they were showing up in the box score. They were just living their lives as faithfully as they could, doing the next thing they saw in front of them.

I couldn’t help but notice to keep them from the “great time of testing.” What was this? Is this what people understand to be “tribulation” and perhaps a reference to “rapture” in the mentioning of avoiding that time? I don’t know. It’s interesting that the commentary ignored this part of the passage completely. Maybe I will too. 🙂

Father, I want to be what the author of the commentary, Earl Palmer, describes when talking about why he’s impressed with the Church in Philadelphia: “I am impressed by the naturalness of basic realism of this strategy of evangelism. It does not idealize the Christian missionary task; it does not call for ‘super Christians,’ but rather for garden-variety Christians who are experiencing the miracle of the love of Jesus Christ in their own lives and fellowship.” Yes, to be a general, “garden-variety” Christian living a simple life of faith is what I want. No glory. No acclaim. No scorecard I can point to at the end of the day and show people, or even you, how great I was. Just a faithful life that successfully, quietly, knocked over a couple of dominoes in other people’s lives and maybe one of those dominoes falling over will be used by you for something great. And I’ll never know about it. And no one will ever know it was me. Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I just want to serve you as simply and humbly as I can. Please bless the path I walk to make that happen, regardless of what it costs me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen