“I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me…“Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown.

Revelation 3: 8, 10-11

The church at Philadelphia was the sixth church to be addressed by Jesus in the first three chapters of Revelation and it was the only church to receive nothing but positive comments from the Head of the Church. They had little power but they were courageous to keep His word and did not deny His Name.

What does it mean to keep His word? In the fifteenth chapter of John, Jesus encourages the Disciples to “abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5).”

The church in Philadelphia knew what it meant to lean on the Vine. They had little power on their own, but like Paul they realized that when they were weak, they were strong. Their strength then was seen in the lives they led and in their devotion to the name of Christ.