The Church Of The Open Door

Have you ever heard the expression, “If you’re looking for ‘the perfect church’ and you find it, don’t join it, because it won’t be perfect anymore.” I like that. And the reason is that no one is perfect, so there is no perfect church.

But there are faithful churches. A faithful church would be the church at Philadelphia. It was faithful to God’s Word and faithful to Christ’s name. I want you to notice Revelation 3:8. Jesus says, “You have a little strength, have kept My Word, and have not denied My name.” What a great combination of things to have in a church. They were faithful to the Scriptures and faithful to the Savior and to the doctrine of Christ.

The church at Philadelphia was the church of the open door, verse 8. He says, “I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My Word, and have not denied My name.” They were faithful to God’s Word, faithful to Christ, and God opened a door for them.

I think the same is true of us individually and corporately. If we are faithful to His Word and are faithful to Christ and His glory, then God will open a door of opportunity for us, and our part is to be faithful and to step through that door of opportunity.

As far as the prophetic application is concerned—and I do believe that each of the seven churches has a prophetic application. By that I mean that I believe there was an actual church that actually existed that the letter was written to about issues and problems in the church. But as far as prophetic application, historically you see the epochs or periods of time in church history. There are seven periods of church history that are portrayed in these seven churches.

I would put the church in Philadelphia at the time of the modern missionary movement and at a time of revival and evangelism. It was at the time of The Great Awakening, which was from 1750-1925, or the 18th-19th centuries. Some scholars have from 1750 up until the rapture.

The unique thing about the church in Philadelphia is that there was no condemnation of the church. Jesus had nothing bad to say about the church in Philadelphia. He only has good to say; He commends them, like the church in Smyrna, which was the persecuted church.

So if I could pick a time in church history I would like to live in, it would be at the time of the church in Philadelphia, the church of the open door.

There are six sections to these verses that I want to point out. The first section is the destination, verse 7. It says, “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write…” “Philadelphia” means “brotherly love.” Obviously this is not the Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, founded by William Penn. It is the Philadelphia of Asia Minor. Southeast of Sardis about 50 miles is the city of Philadelphia, and southeast of that is the city of Laodicea. It sits high on a hill that overlooked the major Roman Road, which lead to the interior of modern-day Turkey. It was destroyed in AD 17 by the same earthquake that toppled Sardis. Then Philadelphia was rebuilt by Tiberius Caesar.

Because it was in an area of frequent earthquakes, people often moved out of the city and lived outside the city, which is interesting. The Lord says about the door that it is He “who opens and no one shuts,” and He says, “I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more.” So they were familiar with earthquakes.

And the city was famous for its wines and vineyards, thus it worshipped the god of wine, Bacchus or the Greek god Dionysus.

So Philadelphia was a dark, pagan city. And God had planted His people in a dark world to be “a city that is set on a hill [which] cannot be hidden.” They were to be “salt and light.”

Now we move to the description, at the end of verse 7. This is the description of Christ. He is described as “He who is holy, He who is true, ‘He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens.’” This is unique, because up to this point, all the descriptions of Christ which opened the letters to the churches are taken from Revelation 1 of the vision of Christ. As a matter of fact, in chapter 1, we see the vision of Christ; in chapters 2 and 3, we have the voice of Christ; and in chapters 4 and 5, we have the victory of Christ or the church triumphant in heaven. So this description is not taken from chapter 1, but it is taken from the Old Testament.

The first description is that “He…is holy.” The holiness of Christ indicates that He is God. It is kind of hidden to the average reader; you wouldn’t think about that. But the Bible teaches that God is holy. In Revelation 4:8, the church and the angelic host are worshipping God around the throne and they sing, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.”

In Isaiah 6:1, when he was called by God, he saw the Lord “high and lifted up,” which we know from John’s Gospel, chapter 12, is a reference to Jesus. Isaiah saw Jesus, the Lord, or Jehovah, and the seraphim cried “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.” So this “holy,” referring to Jesus, means that He is God, that He is divine.

The holiness of God is what is known as one of the “communicable attributes” of God. It means that God can communicate that to us. Now we’ll never be perfectly, absolutely holy until we go to heaven and we see Him face to face. “We will be like Him,” because we will be with Him. But right now we can have God’s holiness. That’s why Peter said, “It is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy,’” the Lord says. He wants us to be holy like Him. It conveys the idea, primarily, of His deity.

Secondly, “He…is true,” verse 7. The word “true” here has the idea of “genuine” or “authentic.” I like that concept. Many times you see those two attributes coupled together in the Old Testament: true and holy or “true and righteous altogether.” So the Scriptures speak of God being true.

Jesus, in John 6:38, is described as the true bread who comes “down from heaven” in contrast to the manna that was given to the Israelites in the wilderness. So Jesus is that true bread.

At this point it’s interesting that He is holy, He is true, genuine or authentic, but yet there is no word of rebuke or chastisement to Philadelphia from this holy, true and righteous God.

Thirdly, notice that Jesus is “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens.” This statement of the key of David opening and shutting is from Isaiah 22:22. It’s a reference to Eliakim, God’s servant, who was given authority or power over the house of David to open and close doors. So he became a picture of the future fulfillment of Christ, who is the Son of David and has the key of David. “The key” symbolizes and speaks of authority. So He is holy, true and genuine, and He sits in the place of authority on the throne in heaven where He reigns.

These attributes bring my heart great comfort; to know that God is in authority, to know that God is holy, to know that God is true and righteous. In Matthew 28:18, Jesus said, “All authority…”—or “power”—“…has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

I’m glad of that. It doesn’t matter who’s sitting in the White House, it doesn’t matter who is in government today, because God is the one who reigns and rules in all things.

Thirdly, notice the commendation, in verse 8. “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door.” He mentions the open door at the end of verse 7, and now He comes right back to it. “And no one can shut it.” I like that. “For you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”

The first thing Christ commends is, “I have set before you an open door.” What does this door symbolize or speak of? It could be the door of salvation. Jesus said in John 10:9, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.” So to be a Christian, you have to go through the door of salvation, which is also likened unto “a narrow gate,” which leads to “life.” Jesus said, “Broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.”

But in this text, I don’t think that’s the primary meaning, that it’s talking about salvation, because a door is also used in Scripture to symbolize opportunity and/or service. God opens a door, which is an opportunity for us to serve Him. Paul used a door like this in 1 Corinthians 16:9. He said, “For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” He also alluded to this same concept in 2 Corinthians 2:12 and in Colossians 4:3.

Notice in 1 Corinthians 16:9, Paul said that when the door was opened for him, it came with “many adversaries.” So when God opens a door, Satan tries to shut it. But aren’t you glad that Jesus said that no one can shut it? If Jesus opens the door, no one can shut it. If Jesus shuts the door, no one can open it. He’s in control.

Whenever God opens a door of opportunity for service, you can bet that Satan will be there to try to hinder the service. Once you become a Christian, Satan has no power over you, yet he tries to throw all the roadblocks he can in your path to keep you from a life of effective, Christian service.

But what you don’t want is to have a saved soul and a wasted life. You want to have a saved soul and an invested life. You want to use your life to serve the Lord to the glory of God. So God is the one who opens the doors of opportunity. God is the one who opens the doors of ministry.

I have young men come to me all the time and say, “Pastor John, I feel like God has called me to be a pastor or a Bible teacher. What advice can you give me?” My advice to them is that they trust the Lord, get grounded in His Word, have a high view of Scripture, study their Bible and look to the Lord, wait on the Lord and trust Him to open that door. You can’t make it happen; He has to make it happen. Pastoral ministry is a calling from heaven. It is a divine call. And with God’s calling comes God’s enabling. So God opens the door, God calls us and God enables us.

But the calling may not be to full-time pastoral work. It could be to anything that God has called you to do. He then opens that door of opportunity and service. We then need to be faithful to step through that door.

Now coming back to my thought on the prophetic application, as I pointed out, this door that is opened here, in verse 8, I believe is a reference to the modern missionary movement, coupled with the time that is called The Great Awakening.

There are two factors in the modern missionary movement and in The Great Awakening. The first is that the Bible was now printed for lay people; we have the invention of the printing press. Thank God for that! Bibles no longer had to be individually hand copied; they could be printed. More and more people were getting the Word of God, and as more and more people were getting the Word of God, revival broke out. As has been said, “If you want revival, you need reBible.” Put the Word of God back in the hands of His people.

So coming out of the Dark Ages, we have the Reformation, which brought us back to the Scriptures. But the Reformation had many problems, as they brought tradition and government-run, state churches along with it. The church became a lifeless formalism. So there was a real need in the world at that time for the churches to be awakened spiritually.

The second factor leading to the modern missionary movement and The Great Awakening was the new interest in Christ’s pre-millennial Second Coming. Thank God for that! It’s not enough to just study salvation and Christ and those doctrines that were revived in the Reformation. At this point in time in church history, people began to believe the Bible; that Jesus Christ would actually come back, that Jesus Christ would return visibly and powerfully and physically to set up His 1,000-year kingdom on earth.

And if we’re going to literally translate the Scriptures when it comes to salvation and the doctrine of Christ, why not in the area of prophetic Scripture? Why not in eschatology should we carry a literal translation also? Did not the angels tell the disciples on Mount Olivet, “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” He’s coming back.

They believed the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ will physically, gloriously, powerfully, wonderfully return and set up His kingdom on earth for 1,000 years. It will happen at the Second Coming of Christ. What a glorious hope that is!

So because of the Bible becoming available and the doctrine of His coming again, the church finally became motivated once again to go out and do what Jesus said before He ascended back into heaven: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”

So what we had in the world at that time was a revival of evangelism, discipleship and missionary work. Now the modern missions movement goes back to William Carey; it is most often attributed to William Carey, an English shoemaker, who lived from 1761-1834. The story is that William Carey took the leather from his shoe shop and made a globe from it. As he was cobbling shoes, he would take a break and pray over the globe and pray for the other continents and other places. God began to stir his heart to go. He wasn’t formally trained or a member of the clergy. He hadn’t gone to seminary or had the education; he was just a shoe cobbler. But God called him to go with the Gospel.

When he went to the church to make his appeal to go, they told him, “Sit down, young man, and be quiet. If God wants to save the heathen, He can do it quite well without you.” The church had no missionary thrust at that time. Yet Jesus commanded us to go into all the world with the Gospel. So Williams Carey went anyway. He went to India, and the rest is history. He birthed the modern missions movement.

Out of that movement came men like Robert Morrison, who went to China; Adrian Johnson, who went to Burma; Robert Moffett, who went to Africa; and John Williams, who went to the south seas. And on and on.

In England and America, God raised up men like John and Charles Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church. He raised up George Whitfield, in England, and especially the blessing that he brought to America in his preaching. And then men like Jonathan Edwards. He preached the famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

Can you imagine that on the marquee of a church today? “Come hear the sermon: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

“Oh, I can’t wait to hear it!”

But God brought great revival because there was great fidelity to His Word and to the glory of Christ.

Then there were great preaching revivals that came from Phinney and Moody and Billy Graham, even in our own generation. Thank God for Dr. Billy Graham. I love the picture of Billy Graham preaching in Seoul, South Korea in 1974. The crowd numbered 2,700,000, and one man is telling them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What a thrill! What an excitement!

What is happening in the church today? We have become apathetic and complacent. Why aren’t churches do evangelism? Why aren’t churches doing outreach? Why aren’t churches more missions minded? We need to be reaching out to the world around us: to our community, our state and our nation.

As God opens the door for us individually and personally, we must be obedient to share the Gospel. Maybe God just opens the door at the grocery store. Maybe as you’re checking out, someone says, “I don’t know what’s happened to this world of ours!”

“I do; I’ve read the book of Revelation.”

You say, “Well, they might laugh at me.”

“Let them laugh.”

“They might reject me.”

“They rejected Christ, so you’re in good company.” The Bible says, “So persecuted the prophets which were before you.”

Pray that we are like this, willing to serve God. And where does it start? In our own hearts. Each one of us must hear what the Spirit has to say to the church. What is the door of opportunity that God has opened for you? Are you being faithful to step through it? Are you being faithful to His Word and to the glory of Christ? Do it for His glory. Do it faithfully.

So God opens those doors for the church.

I know that this has been a difficult year for the church. We’ve seen so many affected with this Covid-19 and the restrictions of the government on the church. But I’ve long had a burden on my heart that we go out of the building to our community and do evangelism, that we rent a high school football stadium, fill it with people and we preach the Gospel. We can do that. We can actually do our own evangelistic outreach. We can do personal evangelism, as well as discipleship. But we need to be a church that is “salt and light” by reaching out to the community around us. Yes, we need to take care of social needs, but also preach the light of God’s Word, the Gospel, which is what men so desperately need.

God is also opening and expanding our radio ministry at Revival Christian Fellowship. We just received an opportunity to go on a large radio station in New Jersey that covers that entire state and the entire state of New York, including New York City. That would cover millions of people, who would hear the Gospel. We’re stepping through that door. Pray for us as we step in that direction.
As I read about the church in Philadelphia, where Jesus said, “You have a little strength,” I realize it’s not a matter of how much strength we have; it’s the strength that God has. We must be obedient to Him to step through those doors of opportunity.

That’s the second point that Jesus commended them for: “You have a little strength.” The word “strength” there is “dunamis” or “power.” In other words, “You are small, you’re a weak church, but you’ve looked to Me for strength.”

So first God opens the door, they are faithful to step through it, and even though they are small and weak and have little power, they’re trusting in God and looking to His strength. I like that sequence. In 2 Corinthians 12:10, Paul said, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” So it doesn’t matter how weak we are; He’s a strong God. When we rely upon Him, we experience His power. Paul said, “I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me….For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

So they had an open door, they had little strength and then, thirdly, they “have kept My word.” This is perhaps my favorite. They were loyal to the Word of Christ or to the Scriptures or to the Bible. We need to be loyal to God’s Word in our lives and in our church. It’s not enough to just have a Bible church; we have to have a Bible people. The Word of God has to be read and studied in our daily lives.

They not only believed the Bible; they obeyed the Bible. When He says they “have kept My word,” it means they were living His Word or obeying His Word or acting out His Word. So they had a high view of the Scriptures and were faithful to the Scriptures and were obedient to it, as well.

Fourthly, and lastly, in verse 8, He said they “have not denied My name.” They were faithful to Scripture, and they lived for the glory of Christ the Savior. They were loyal and faithful to preach the Gospel for the glory of God. This is what will bring revival to the church: fidelity to God’s Word and a desire to glorify and honor Christ. In Romans 1:16, Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ…”—why?—“…for it is the power…”—or “dunamis”—“…of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” Here in Revelation, He says that they had little “dunamis” or little strength.

The Gospel is what gives the church power. It’s not our programs, not our wisdom, not our education, not our ability, not our money—it’s the Gospel. The power that we have to change the world around us is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that when “old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” in Jesus Christ. That’s what can change men’s hearts. So let’s go out through the doors that God opens and be faithful to His Word and unto Christ.

So the church in Philadelphia had opportunity, power, stability—His Word, and testimony.

Now, the fourth section I want you to notice, in verses 9-10, is Christ’s commitment to this church. “Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” 

In these verses there are two things: number one, there is vindication, verse 9; and there is preservation, verse 10.

In verse 9, these Jews, who say they are Jews, are not really Jews; they are “of the synagogue of Satan.” Who were they? Most likely, they were unregenerated, unsaved Jewish people who tried to foster upon Gentiles that they had to become a Jew in order to be saved. They were called “Judaizers.” They would say to Christians, “You can’t be a Christian just because you believe in Jesus. You have to become a Jew; you have to proselytize into Judaism. You have to be circumcised. You have to keep the Mosaic dietary laws. You have to worship on certain days.”

In Acts 15, the church leaders gathered to determine the relationship of the Gentiles to the Law, and they determined that these restrictions were not necessary. They determined that we are saved by grace through faith. But they were to “abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.” Then you would do well. You don’t have to become Jewish to become a Christian. Just trust in Jesus Christ, and you are born again.

So He called these Jews “the synagogue of Satan,” and a lot of persecution came to the church from these Jewish individuals.

Time is always on the side of truth. God said that eventually they would be vindicated; “Indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.”

Your faith in Jesus Christ will be vindicated. I don’t think we’ll ever get to heaven and say, “Oh, why did I accept Christ?! Why did I let myself get persecuted and hassled?! Now here I am in heaven. How stupid! I could have really had a good time.” You think that’s going to happen? No!

Once in a while, there are little times in my thoughts that the reality of heaven hits me, and I think, How marvelous! How wonderful! It’ll all be worth it! Another old hymn that pops in my brain is,

“It will be worth it all
When we see Jesus.”

That’s so true. We’ll be vindicated. People who laughed at you, mocked you, persecuted you, heckled you and dogged your path with false teaching—one day they’ll be humbled, and you will be vindicated.

A story is told of Robert Ingersoll, an atheist, who wanted a friend, Lew Wallace, to research Christianity, to study the Bible, and to write a book against Christianity. Ingersoll commissioned Wallace to do that, so he started studying the Scriptures and investigating Christianity. As a result, he became a Christian! And to celebrate his coming to Christ, he wrote a novel that he called Ben Hur. Wallace was vindicated. Christ was vindicated. So in the end, truth prevails.

Notice in verse 10 that they also would be preserved. “Because you have kept My command to persevere…”—or “have patience”—“…I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” I believe that this is a promise to the true believers in Philadelphia. They will be kept from the Great Tribulation. When He uses the phrase “hour of trial,” I believe it refers to the seven-year period of tribulation.

I believe that the rapture happens first, the Antichrist is then revealed and he makes a covenant with Israel for seven years. In the Old Testament book of Daniel, it is known as the “seventieth week” or the last seven-year period of Daniel’s prophecy, the seventieth seven. It is known as the time of “Jacob’s trouble.” It will be seven years of God’s wrath poured out on planet earth.

We get some insight to that here. It “shall come upon the whole world,” so it will be universal. It will “test those who dwell on the earth,” so it will try them. It will come upon earth dwellers. I say that because, as we’ll see in Revelation 4-5, we are heaven dwellers at that time. This “trial” will be for those who will be dwelling on the earth.

So I don’t believe the tribulation is for the church. I believe that the church will be “caught up” to heaven in the rapture, which is not the Second Coming, but it happens seven years prior to that when the church is “caught up to meet the Lord in the air.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 describes this time and in 1 Corinthians 15:51 to the end of the chapter, Paul says, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep…”—or “die”—“…but we shall all be changed…in the twinkling of an eye….For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” To the Thessalonians believers, Paul said, “I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus….And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” We’ll be raptured.

So I believe that this is a promise in the Bible to the true believers in the church in Philadelphia; that they will be raptured before the time of the tribulation, called here “trial,” and that the tribulation is a time to punish the earth and to prepare for the coming Lord Jesus Christ.

In light of this, notice Christ’s counsel to them, in verse 11. “Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.” As I said prophetically, at this time, the church began to understand and come awake to the doctrine of the coming again of Christ. They believed in a pre-millennial Second Coming of Christ.

Jesus said, “I am coming quickly!” But what you need to do in light of that is to “hold fast.” Why? So that you won’t lose your crown. Now don’t misinterpret that as though you would lose your salvation. The crown here is referring to your rewards for service. The whole context of this letter to the believers in Philadelphia is that God opened a door, and they were serving the Lord. So Jesus told them to “hold fast” to that, to stand strong in His Word, be faithful to His name. He was coming quickly. They don’t want to lose their crown or “stephanos” or reward. 2 John 8 talks about losing our reward when the Lord returns. He says, “Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.” So he talked about the importance of not losing our hope in the Second Coming.

One of the reasons why the church is weak—next time we’ll study the church in Laodicea, which is the church in the last days, which I believe we are living in right now—is because we are losing the doctrine of the coming again of Christ. Churches today are rapidly giving up on prophetic scripture; they’re not teaching the book of Revelation, they don’t preach the rapture of the church, they don’t believe in the rapture and they don’t look for the Second Coming. That’s why we’ve lost motivation for missions, for evangelism.

Jesus Christ is coming soon. You say, “John, the church has been saying that for 2,000 years!”

“I know. Think how close now He is to coming!”

Does that mean we should get lax and lazy? No. That’s what the false prophets would say. “Since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willfully forget…the world that then existed…”—before the flood—“…perished.” They mocked Noah. They never had any comprehension of the flood and that the world would be destroyed. But it actually happened. It happened once, and it will happen again. Not by flood, but by fire God is going to destroy this earth. So we need to be looking “for the city…whose builder and maker is God,” looking for the Lord’s return and living as pilgrims reaching out to those who are around us.

In closing, the sixth section I want to point out is in verses 12-13. It is Christ’s comforting words of promise. “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God.” You see that at the end of the book of Revelation. “And I will write on him My new name. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Now I believe, as in all the letters, the overcomers are true Christians. They’re not members of a deeper-life club or super saints; they’re believers. So if you are a Christian, you are an overcomer.

Notice these two promises: “I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more.” You remember that Philadelphia was subject to frequent earthquakes. It was an area of seismic activity. So when there was an earthquake, they, in fear, would move outside the city. This happens today. But God said that He would “make him a pillar in the temple.” He would write his name on that pillar, so they wouldn’t have to go out anymore.

What does it symbolize? It symbolizes stability, security and strength in our eternal home in heaven. He is saying, “You will be permanently, securely planted in your eternal home in heaven.”

What the Romans did back then was that they would actually inscribe on the pillars of their temples the names of honorable citizens: philanthropists, politicians and civic leaders. It was a thing of honor.

In contrast, God says that He will put your name on the pillar in heaven, time will not fade it away and earthquakes will not destroy it. So it speaks of the fact that we’re going to heaven, and we will be with Him forever. I love that stanza in the song that John Newton wrote, Amazing Grace, which says,

“When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Then when we first begun.”

He says that He’s going to make us a pillar. We’re never going to move. We’re going to be there forever. What a glorious truth that is!

The second promises is in three parts. He “will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God…and…My new name.” First, “the name of My God” speaks of ownership. It’s like the seal of the Holy Spirit. I’ve got quite a collection of books in my library, and every one of them has my name in it. If you’ve borrowed one, I’d like it back, by the way. So when He puts His name on us, it means we’re His property. We’ve been “sealed for the day of redemption” by the Holy Spirit. We belong to Him.

Secondly, “The name of the city of My God” speaks of our citizenship. We’re looking “for the city…whose builder and maker is God.” We need to be focused on eternal things.

Thirdly, “My new name.” This is the one that intrigues everybody. “Pastor John, what is the ‘new name’?” I don’t know; He didn’t say. But it’s going to be a new name.

I was thinking about this. We just had our fifth grandchild born a couple of weeks ago. Little Ella. What a blessing. I see the photos. I haven’t gotten to go back to see her yet; they live in Alabama. But when the parents have children, they get to name them. We have a sixth grandchild expected, on the way, too. But I don’t get to name the children; the parents do. I wish I could but I can’t.

But when you belong to the Lord, you’re His child. He gives you a name perfectly suited to you. God gives you that new name. I believe that it conveys the idea that we are redeemed sons and daughters of God, and that we’ll be face to face with Jesus. How glorious is that!

He says, “I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God….I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God…and…My new name.” He has a new relationship with a redeemed child of God.

In closing, in verse 13, He said, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Are you listening? If God is speaking to you about a door of opportunity, a door of ministry—you say, “Well, I don’t know if there’s a door open.” Then wait on Him. If God opens a door for you to step through, you’ll know it. I don’t believe He would open a door for you and keep it secret. “Shh! Let him figure it out!” No.

This is why when young men come to me and say, “I want to be a pastor,” I tell them, “Well, I can’t help you. You have to learn to trust God. Look to God. Wait on God and have hope and faith in God.” I hopefully can model for them what a pastor is to be and to do. But I can’t open that door; only God can open that door. Only God can equip you and enable you.

So whatever it could be—it could be raising your children, it could be the job you work at, it could be a missionary, it could be teaching Sunday school, it could be ushering, it could be cleaning the church. I don’t know what door God opens for you, but when He opens that door, step through it in faith. Do it for His glory. Be faithful to His Word, and live for the glory of Christ.