Philadelphia was the smallest of the seven, and the letter to it is the only one with no correction in it.
Revelation 3:7-8 is written to a real congregation in a real town in Asia, and it is one of two letters out of seven where Christ finds nothing to put right. And this is the church He describes as having a little strength.
Those two facts belong together, and they change how the whole letter reads.
Here is the sentence.
I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.Revelation 3:8, King James Version
For thou hast a little strength.
Most people quote the first half of that verse and stop at the door. The second half is where the letter is actually addressed, and it is not flattering, and it is not meant to be.
Little strength. A small church, in a small town, with not much capacity, and He says so out loud.
And then look at the conjunction. For. The open door is set before them for that, which reads as because of it rather than in spite of it.
Who opens and who shuts
Now look at how the letter introduces the one speaking, because it is written to be heard by people whose doors have been closing.
These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openethRevelation 3:7, King James Version
Four descriptions, and the last two are about doors. He opens and nobody shuts. He shuts and nobody opens.
That is a statement about who holds the authority over openings, and it is placed at the top of a letter to a small church, before anything else is said.
You are not waiting for a door I have to force. Revelation 3:7 puts the opening and the shutting in one hand and says twice that nobody else can reverse it, and it is the Holy Spirit who keeps that in front of somebody who has been shouldering doors for years.
Now the phrase everybody stops at: an open door, and no man can shut it.
Read what the assurance is actually about. It is not that the door will be easy, or that it will lead somewhere impressive, or that it will open soon. It is that once it is open, nobody has the standing to close it.
Which is a very specific comfort, and it is exactly the comfort a person needs who has watched things close. The fear of somebody who has had ten doors shut is not that there will never be another one. It is that any new one will go the same way.
You have an assurance about the shutting rather than about the opening. Revelation 3:8 says no man can shut it, and the same Spirit who put the assurance on that half of the sentence is the reason it answers the actual fear.
And then back to a little strength, because I do not want to leave it.
He does not tell them it is more than they think. He does not encourage them about their potential. He says they have a little, agrees with the assessment, and sets a door in front of them anyway.
And then he names two things they did with the little: hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Both of those are things a tired person can do without capacity. Keeping and not denying are holding actions, not achievements.
You have been credited for holding rather than for building, and the two things named are both things done by staying put. Revelation 3:8 lists keeping and not denying, and it is His Spirit who is the reason a person with very little is not disqualified from either.
There is one more line in this letter and it is the tenderest thing in the seven.
Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.Revelation 3:9, King James Version
To know that I have loved thee.
That is said to the smallest church, the one with a little strength, the one that had presumably been looked past by everybody in that region. He is not promising them growth or standing. He is promising that the affection will become visible.
You have been loved in a way that is going to become obvious to people who did not notice you. Revelation 3:9 says to know that I have loved thee, and the same Spirit who kept that clause is the reason the smallness in this letter is never the disgrace.
So stop measuring your strength before you look at the door.
You have concluded that a person with your current capacity does not get given anything, and this letter is addressed precisely to a congregation with a little strength, and the door is set in front of them because of it rather than in spite of it.
You are being handed something set by somebody else, and the verb in the verse is His. Revelation 3:8 says I have set before thee, and it is the Holy Spirit who is the reason that reaches a man who stopped applying rather than staying a letter to a small town.
You have an assurance that nobody can shut it, which is the exact thing a person who has watched doors close needs to hear. The written word puts no man can shut it immediately after the opening, and the same Spirit who fixed that order is the reason this answers the fear rather than the wish.
And I will not lay one gram on you: eleven closed doors are not a measurement of you. The letter to Philadelphia contains no correction anywhere in it, and the smallness of the church is stated as a fact and never as a fault. What God does not correct, nobody may audit, and He has never once required a person to have strength before He would set something in front of them.
Declare this over yourself
- Eleven doors that closed on me, you are not a measurement. Revelation 3:7 puts the opening and the shutting in one hand and says twice that nobody else reverses it, and His Spirit holds that here. I am not waiting for a door I have to force.
- Tiredness of walking up to them, get out, in the name of Jesus. You have kept me from applying for years, and the written word says I have set before thee, in the first person, which takes the finding off me and ends you, and his Spirit set that down in the record and He means it here. What God sets, I do not have to locate.
- Lord, You are the God who told the smallest of the seven that they had a little strength and then set a door in front of them for it, and You are doing that here. Scripture puts no correction anywhere in that letter, and Your Spirit kept the smallness as a fact and never as a fault. I am saying the four words without arguing, and I am saying the promise after them.
Revelation 3:8
This message is free, and always will be. There is nothing to unlock, nothing to subscribe to, and nothing you owe for having received it.
