The Presentation of Christ to Philadelphia

This brings us to the consideration of:

The Way in which Christ is Presented to the Church in Philadelphia

Christ is seen in a three-fold way: first as "the Holy," then as "the True" and lastly as "he who hath the key of David." It is clear that Christ is not presented to this assembly in His official character as holding the seven stars and walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. He is presented in His moral glories.

He is "the Holy" — the One Who is free from all taint of sin and wholly separate from sinners. Personally, He was ever so, but at the cross He vicariously stood in our place, was made sin, and as such was forsaken of God, for God is holy. But He is risen, the sins are gone, the man who committed the sins is judged and legally removed from the eye of God, and as the risen Christ He is "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens."

In the prayer of John 17 we learn the two great ways in which practical holiness is brought about in the saints. First, it is by the cleansing power of the Word, for the Lord can say, "Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy Word is truth." Then it is by having Christ Himself before us as an object in the glory, as He says, "For their sakes I sanctify Myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth." The Word searches our thoughts and words and ways, leading to the condemnation of all that is of the flesh.

Further, it reveals to us Christ in the glory, the perfect pattern of a holiness that is according to God. As we behold the glory of the Lord we become changed into the same image from glory to glory. He is apart from all evil and separate from sinners, and we too, if we call upon the Name of the Lord, are responsible not only to depart from iniquity, but to separate from those who go on with iniquity. We must purge ourselves from the vessels to dishonour (2 Tim. 2: 19-21). There can be no holiness without separation from evil and from those who hold the evil.

Then Christ is "the True." All that He is, He is in perfection. All that He does and all that He says is in absolute perfection. He is nothing partially; He is everything perfectly. If He is the Light, He is "the true Light." If He is the Bread come down from heaven, He is the "true Bread." If He is the Vine, He is the "true Vine." If He is the Witness, He is the "true Witness." Does He bear record of Himself? His "record is true." Does He pass judgment? His "judgment is true." Correspondence to Christ as"the Holy" will demand separation from all the corruptions of the flesh which find their greatest expression in Thyatira; the appreciation of Christ as "the True" will deliver from the lifeless formalism and unreality of Sardis.

Furthermore, the Lord has "the key of David." Keys are not directly connected with the Church and its administration, but with the Kingdom and government (Matt. 16: 19). The quotation is taken from Isaiah 22: 22, and the context of the passage connects the idea of government with the key, for in the preceding verse the Lord says, "I will commit thy government into His hand." The two great symbols of government in Scripture are the sword and the key.

The sword implies the exercise of government in the judgment of evil; the key implies the exercise of government in restraining evil or in opening a door for blessing. The day is coming when the Lord will use the sword in overwhelming judgment. Today, He uses the key on behalf of His people to make a way for what is of Himself and to restrain that which opposes Himself. How blessed to apprehend Christ as "the Holy" and "the True" and as the One Who holds the key and can thus maintain His people in testimony for Himself in spite of all the power of evil.

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