Letters to Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea: the Amen who stands at the door

These three letters complete the circuit of the seven churches of Asia. Sardis, once the capital of the Lydian kingdom and its king Croesus, stood on a hill that seemed impregnable. Ancient historians record that its acropolis fell to surprise attacks twice, to Cyrus of Persia in the sixth century BC and to Antiochus III in 214 BC, when soldiers climbed an unguarded part of the cliff. A severe earthquake in AD 17 damaged both Sardis and Philadelphia. Sardis also had a large and long-established Jewish community. Philadelphia, further east, was a smaller city on the edge of a volcanic region and exposed to earthquakes. Laodicea lay in the Lycus valley near Hierapolis and Colossae. It was wealthy from banking, a textile industry and, probably, a medical school. The Roman historian Tacitus records that it rebuilt itself after an earthquake in the early 60s AD without asking for help from Rome. Paul's letter to the Colossians mentions the Laodiceans (Colossians 2:1; 4:13-16), so the church was founded by his time.

Christians in all three lived by the standards of their city, and the letters show three failures or pressures: spiritual drowsiness, weakness under pressure, and self-sufficiency. The authorship and date are discussed in the first class. This class assumes the usual date near the end of the first century and notes where the earlier date, held by many preterists, would change the reading.

The same form applies as in chapter 2: Christ's title, 'I know', commendation or complaint, a call, the refrain about the Spirit and a promise to the one who overcomes. Each letter is also full of local detail, which helps when it is secure and misleads when it is guessed. The Sardis watchfulness, the Philadelphia earthquakes and the Laodicean wealth and water supply are possible sources of the images and not proofs. As in chapter 2, the Old Testament governs. The 'key of David' is from Isaiah 22:22, the 'Book of Life' from Exodus 32:32-33, Psalm 69:28 and Daniel 12:1, and the pillar and the name from the temple language of the prophets and the high priest's plate (Exodus 28:36-38). A further rule is to hear each letter as addressed to a congregation. The words to 'anyone who hears My voice' in 3:20 stand in the letter to a church that has shut its Lord out, and the extension to individuals is fair but secondary.

The seven letters as a set have been read as real first-century messages (preterists such as Kenneth Gentry), as seven ages of church history (historicists, and some dispensationalists), as types of church in every age (idealists such as William Hendriksen, and most eclectic scholars such as G. K. Beale and Richard Bauckham), and as messages to churches in the age before the future events of chapters 4 to 22 (futurists such as John Walvoord). Applied to the last three letters, the seven-ages scheme sees Sardis as the Reformation, Philadelphia as the age of missions and Laodicea as the last apostasy. Its supporters value the match between the order of letters and the order of ages. Its critics say that the text gives no key to such a reading and that every age contains all seven types of church.

The most disputed sentence is 3:10: 'I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world.' Pretribulation dispensationalists, such as John Walvoord, Charles Ryrie and Robert Thomas, read it as a promise that the church will be removed before a future seven-year tribulation. They argue that the Greek tereo ek means to keep out of, and that an 'hour' on the whole world is the future tribulation. Posttribulation and historic premillennialists, such as George Eldon Ladd and Robert Gundry, and amillennial interpreters, such as G. K. Beale, take the phrase to mean protection through a time of trial, spiritual preservation rather than physical removal. They point to John 17:15, where Jesus asks the Father to keep the disciples 'from the evil one' without taking them out of the world. Preterists take the testing as the first-century persecution or crisis that was about to come. Our understanding is that the sentence is a promise to the church at Philadelphia, that the 'hour' is described as 'about to come', and that the verse itself says nothing explicit about a rapture. Whether it supports one depends on how one reads other texts, such as 1 Thessalonians 4:17, and the verse does not decide the question alone.

Sardis (verses 1 to 6). Christ holds 'the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars', and he knows their 'deeds', which are not what their reputation says. 'You have a reputation for being alive, yet you are dead.' There is no commendation and no named opponent. The danger is internal. 'Wake up' (literally, become watchful) would have struck hard in a city captured twice because its guards slept. The warning that he will 'come like a thief' draws on the saying of Jesus (Matthew 24:43-44; Luke 12:39-40) and the apostolic teaching of 1 Thessalonians 5:2. 'Strengthen what remains' and 'remember what you have received and heard' call the church back to the gospel it first heard. A few have not 'soiled their garments', and they will 'walk with Me in white'. White garments signify purity, victory and festival. The promise has three parts: white clothing, a name that will 'never' be blotted out of 'the Book of Life', and public confession by Christ 'before My Father and His angels', which recalls Jesus' words in Matthew 10:32.

Philadelphia (verses 7 to 13). Christ is 'holy and true' and holds 'the key of David', quoting Isaiah 22:22. In Isaiah, Eliakim receives the key and opens and shuts in the king's house. Christ has the authority of the Davidic king. 'An open door' has been read as an opportunity for mission (compare Acts 14:27; 1 Corinthians 16:9), as access to the kingdom, or both. The church has 'only a little strength', but has kept his word and not denied his name. Opponents appear again as those of 'the synagogue of Satan', who will come and 'bow down at your feet'. This reverses Isaiah 45:14 and 60:14, where the nations bow to Israel. Here the bowing is to the church of Christ, and the aim is that they know 'I love you'. It is a promise of vindication, not of conquest. Verse 10 has the 'hour of testing' for 'those who dwell on the earth', a phrase used elsewhere in the book for people who resist God. 'I am coming soon' calls the church to hold fast so that no one takes its crown. The overcomer becomes 'a pillar in the temple of My God', fixed and no longer leaving, and receives three names: of God, of the city of God, 'the new Jerusalem', and Christ's 'new name'. The city is the one seen in 21:2.

Laodicea (verses 14 to 22). Christ is 'the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God's creation'. 'Amen' is a Hebrew word for 'so be it'. In Isaiah 65:16 the LORD is called the God of truth, literally the 'God of Amen'. 'Originator' (arche) can mean source, beginning or ruler. The early church debated it, and the majority reading, supported by Colossians 1:15-18, takes it as Christ being the source and sovereign of creation and not the first thing created. The charge is 'neither cold nor hot'. A popular explanation is that Laodicea's water, piped from springs some miles away, arrived tepid, unlike the hot springs of Hierapolis or the cool water of Colossae. This is plausible but has been questioned. What matters is that the church is useless and sickening, and Christ is 'about to vomit' them out. The cause is self-sufficiency: 'I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.' Christ answers with the city's own pride: they are 'wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked'. They are to buy from him gold refined by fire, white garments and salve for their eyes, the three things for which Laodicea was known: banking, wool and medicine. The purchase is without money, as in Isaiah 55:1. 'Those I love, I rebuke and discipline' draws on Proverbs 3:12.

Verse 20 is among the best known in the book. 'I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.' The image of a bridegroom knocking appears in Song of Songs 5:2, and Jesus describes a master who knocks and is welcomed by watchful servants (Luke 12:35-37). Because the knocking is in a letter to a church, it is first an invitation to a church that has shut out its Lord. The meal is table fellowship, an anticipation of the wedding supper (19:9). The final promise reaches the highest point in the letters: to sit 'with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne'.

All the main readings agree on what these letters say of the church and its Lord. The church is accountable to Christ, who sees hearts (compare 2:23) and judges by deeds. Reputation and reality can differ (Sardis), small strength is no obstacle when Christ's key is in use (Philadelphia), and wealth and comfort can blind a church to its poverty (Laodicea). These are the conditions Scripture warns about throughout: spiritual deadness (Ezekiel 37; Ephesians 5:14), pressure (Daniel's faithful remnant), and self-sufficiency (Deuteronomy 8:11-17; Hosea 12:8). Christ's discipline is stated as love, as in Hebrews 12:5-11, and his threats of removal and his invitation at the door belong together, as they do in the prophets.

The promises gather the Bible's hopes and anticipate the end. White garments and the Book of Life recall priestly clothing and the covenant register. The pillar in the temple, the name of God and the new Jerusalem point to Revelation 21 and 22, where the city is the temple and the name is on the foreheads of the servants (22:4). The throne promise fulfils Psalm 110 and Daniel 7:18 and 27, where the saints share the rule given to the Son of Man. The warning that Christ will 'come like a thief' and the words 'I am coming soon' keep the second coming in view as the standard for the church's life. This is a lesson in what eschatology does: it is the future presented as a present claim on a congregation.

The debated matter is the shape of the church's future in 3:10 and the use of these letters in schemes of history. Pretribulational, posttribulational and amillennial readers differ on whether the church passes through a final period of trial, and each can state the strongest case from the text and from other passages. The readings agree that the Lord keeps his people faithful in the trial, whether by removing them or by guarding them through it. Our understanding is that this promise, like the others, is spoken first to Philadelphia as a church that has persevered, and that its larger application is to be reasoned from other Scripture, not read off this verse.

The titles show Christ in three characters. To Sardis he holds the seven Spirits and the stars, so that the life the church lacks is in his hands, and the Spirit is his to send. To Philadelphia he is holy and true, and he holds the key of David. Isaiah 22:22 is applied to the Davidic Messiah, the king who rules the household of God, and the sentence 'What He opens no one can shut' states his unchallengeable authority. Jesus is called the Holy One in Mark 1:24 and Acts 3:14, and 'true' (alethinos) in the sense of the real thing of which the Old Testament gave shadows (John 6:32). To Laodicea he is the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, and the source of creation. Colossians 1:15-18 and John 1:1-3 make the same claim about his role in creation, and the 'Amen' links him to the God of truth in Isaiah 65:16.

Two images stand out. The knocker at the door is the one who 'dwelt among us' and now seeks entrance. In the Gospels he promised to come to those who keep his word (John 14:23). The invitation to share his throne is possible because he conquered first. He 'overcame' by dying and rising (5:5-6) and sat down with his Father (compare Hebrews 1:3; 12:2). Nothing the church is given is its own. Each promise is a share in what Christ has won.