Revelation 3:7-9

November 10, 2019

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

The sermon starts at 17:35 in the audio file.

Or, The Kingdom Has a Keeper

Most of my sermons follow a fairly simple pattern. A pattern isn’t necessarily bad; a good pattern can be comfortable, though it could become predictable in a way that makes one feel as if he’s heard it before. These messages to the churches in Revelation follow a pattern. Jesus identifies Himself, usually in some manner that is especially relevant to the church He’s addressing. Then He says what He knows about their works, good and bad. He gives them instructions about what they need to do and gives promises to the ones who conquer. And there is always a call to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

My messages about these messages, and probably most of my sermons, usually begin with some observation I’ve made that introduces a current problem with the answer to be found in the upcoming verses. I don’t feel like it’s my job to sell you on the idea that the Bible relevant; it is relevant. But I regularly start by trying to show some relevance, then return to the historical context of the city, then move into the verses themselves.

I also have a thing for paragraphs. That seems like the min/max level for good interpretation. Too many verses might make for too much material to grasp, too little and the context can be lost. Plus, paragraphs keep the study moving; I’m not trying to reach John Calvin numbers of dozens or hundreds of sermons per book of the Bible.

I say all that to say that I’m not following my typical path today, which will include asking you to take your copy of God’s Word and look with me at a couple other passages outside of Revelation. I want you to see some of the background for the allusions in Revelation, and how that sets us up to be both surprised and yet also confirmed in what we knew already. One of the goals is that we would be better equipped to keep God’s Word, including being gripped by the reality that God keeps His word first.

This is a good word to a small church of Christians who were being left out by those who weren’t actually in the position of getting to decide who should be left out. We’re only going to consider the first three verses in the Philadelphian message today because we need more time to consider the Kingdom Keeper.

The key idea in these verses is actually key, the “key of David.” The key is good for opening and shutting a door, and that door is the door in and out of the Messianic Kingdom. Jesus is the keeper of this key, He is this Kingdom’s Keeper, and He is also a Keeper of Promises, especially those related to His Kingdom.

Verse 7

None of the four pieces of the description of the Keeper are from John’s initial vision but all four work together. Here’s my translation for verse 7: “The holy, the true, the one having the key of David, the one opening (and no one closes) and one closing (and no one opens), says thus:”

In verse 8 Jesus wants the Christians to behold the door before them which He had made open. In verse 7 He’s identifying Himself related to that door.

He’s been set apart, consecrated for His office; He’s holy. There is no deception, no shading in His character; He’s true. He has authority as the key-holder, and this is authority over the royal household since it is the key of David, more about that in a moment. And it is not an authority in title only, but He exercises the authority of His office with total prerogative and without resistance; He is the one opening and closing, no one can overturn His policy.

This imagery comes from the chapter about the “valley of vision” in Isaiah 22. There was an unfaithful steward over King Hezekiah’s household named Shebna, who thought of himself to be the strong man (verse 17), who built himself a tomb like that for a [...]