◄ What Does Revelation 3:12 Mean? ►

In sending His seven letters to the churches early in the book of Revelation, the Lord Jesus gives great insight into the spiritual temperature of the Christian Church... as the day for His return to earth draws ever nearer. We know that we are closer to that day than when we first believed, and are exhorted to be holy, for the Lord our God is holy. Indeed, we are encouraged to watch for Christ's any day return for His Church, for we do not know the day nor the hour of His coming.

Philadelphia means 'love for the brethren' and true, godly love for one another can only be manifested in the life of a believer who is in fellowship with the Father and walking in spirit and truth. These Philadelphian Christians recognised Jesus as the One Who is holy and true. They confessed His absolute sovereignty and acknowledged that He alone, has been given the keys of David. Jesus alone has the keys of the kingdom of God - against which the gates of hell cannot prevail.

They acknowledged Christ's Lordship in their lives. They believed in His power to open gates that no one could shut and to close doors that no one could reopen. They also renounced Jewish legalism, which places people back under the 'law of sin and death', and they exposed the pagan cults that denied the deity of Christ or denounced His perfect humanity. They opposed the self-appointed Pharisees who despised the truth of the glorious gospel of grace by claiming to be God's chosen people when they were, in fact, a synagogue of Satan.

Our lives should reflect this body of believers... for they were beloved of the Lord and received no condemnation from Him, but were, instead, commended for their perseverance. And so they were given a promise: "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and 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 - and I will write on him My new name."

The same promise that was given to the Philadelphian Christians can become our promise, when we love the Lord our God with all our heart, and when we love the brethren with the same godly love that comes through Christ.

The Christian has been given all he needs to love as Christ loved. We are enabled to overcome the world (by faith), to overcome the enemy (by resisting the devil), and to overcome the flesh (by denying self and taking up our cross, as a true disciple of Christ.) The precious promise to become a pillar in the Temple of God, should thrill the hearts of all born-again believers, for this is a reminder that we have the permanently, indwelling Spirit of God Who has become our 'life' through time and into eternity.

God, in His grace, chose to use our bodies as His permanent dwelling place during this dispensation of grace. Today, those who have been saved by faith in Christ, are a Temple of the living God. However, a day is coming when each member of Christ's Body will receive an incorruptible body - and the new Jerusalem will become our heavenly home.

The new Jerusalem will become the heavenly Temple of God and we, who have the indwelling Spirit of God, will remain as established pillars in that glorious Temple of the Lord, for we have been promised a part of Christ's heavenly rule when He reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Having been identified with Christ and positioned in Him by faith, we will similarly be identified with Him in the eternal ages to come - for when we see Him, we shall be like Him - having immortal bodies of flesh and bone, for we are bone of His resurrected bone and flesh of His resurrected body. We who have overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil in this life, by faith, will be made a pillar in the temple of our God and we will not go out from His presence anymore.

On that day, our redemption will be fully completed. On that day our justification, sanctification, and glorification will be finalised, when our spirit, soul, and body, is at last made perfect in Christ. Our positional identification and progressive sanctification with the Lord Jesus will be completed, we will be perfected, and He has promised, "I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem."

By grace, we are sealed by the Spirit and identified with Christ now, and by grace, we will be permanently identified with Him throughout eternity, for we will have His name inscribed upon us forever, for none can pluck us out of His nail-pierced hand - and no one can pluck us out of the hand of our Heavenly Father.

Heavenly Father, what an amazing privilege to be identified with Christ as a member of His Body and to have the seal of the indwelling Holy Spirit as a guarantee that we will be permanently established as pillars in the Temple of God, to Your praise and glory. Thank You that as Your children, we have Christ's name engraved upon us forever, and that nothing in heaven above nor the earth beneath, can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in Whose name I pray, AMEN.