Revelation: An Open Door

 Revelation: Justification by Faith

An Open Door

Revelation 3:7-8 (ESV)
"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. 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.’”

This was spoken to Philadelphia, a name meaning "brotherly love."
Though they had little strength, they remained faithful to God's Word and honored His name.

Because of this, they were given an open door. In Revelation 1, this key is also called the key of the grave. Christ is the One who delivers us from the death sentence, granting us a way to escape from the prison of death.

However, here the emphasis is on the very gate we pass through. This kind of language is also found in Isaiah:

Isaiah 22:15-25

15 Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him:
16 ‘What have you here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself,
you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock?
17 Behold, the LORD will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you
18 and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land.
There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots,
you shame of your master's house.
19 I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station.

20 In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
21 and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him,
and will commit your authority to his hand.
And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

22 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.

23 And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house.
24 And they will hang on him the whole weight of his father’s house,
the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons.
25 In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will be removed, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken.”

The key here belongs to the house of David—the palace and royal court, with all its authority and wealth. The one holding this key had authority over access to the king’s house and throne.

Eliakim was granted such a privilege, but Jesus is Lord over an even greater house.

The house over which Jesus reigns is a far greater kingdom, and access to His throne is of supreme worth. What an honor to be welcomed into such a house, to have access to such a throne! Through the grace of the Father, we receive all the spiritual riches and provisions we could ever need.

The Spirit of wisdom, power, truth, and love is freely given to us—granting freedom from dead works that may follow the letter of the law but lack its true life.

If we, like Philadelphia, choose to keep God's Word and not deny His name, then the gates of the grave are opened, and we have free access to His throne and house through Jesus.

There, Jesus stands as our forerunner.

There, we receive the bread of life—a royal feast.

There, we are given oil to be a light in the world.

There, our prayers rise before the throne as sweet incense to God Himself.

In other words: if we simply ask, we receive help for every need.

Why?

Because Jesus Himself stands over the house, and this Jesus happens to be our Advocate—who gladly opens the gate for our aid.

On one side of that gate, there is only death and the grave.

On the other side, there is life.

The only thing we must do to receive all of this is to accept it in faith, making it our own. If we keep the words of Jesus and believe, we will find an open door.

But if we harden ourselves in unbelief and sin, rejecting the King’s invitation to enter, then eventually those doors will close—and we will remain forever in the darkness of the grave.