In verse 11 we see the Lord’s charge: “I come quickly; hold fast what you have that no one take your crown.” The recovered church has gained a crown already. However, if she does not hold fast what she has in the Lord’s recovery until the Lord comes back, her crown may be taken away by someone.
Let us now consider the promise to the overcomer in Philadelphia (vv. 10-12). To overcome in this epistle means to hold fast what we have in the recovered church.
Verse 10 says, “Because you have kept the word of my endurance, I also will keep you out of the hour of trial which is about to come on the whole inhabited earth, to try them who dwell on the earth.” “The word of My endurance” is the word of the Lord’s suffering. The Lord today is still suffering rejection and persecution with His endurance. We are the joint partakers, not only of His kingdom, but also of His endurance (1:9). Hence, His word to us today is the word of endurance. To keep the word of His endurance we must suffer His rejection and persecution.
“Trial” in this verse undoubtedly denotes the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21) “which is about to come on the whole inhabited earth,” as indicated by the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpets with the seven bowls (8:1—9:21; 11:14-15; 15:1; 16:1-21). The Lord promises the recovered church that He will keep her “out of the hour of trial” (not just out of the trial, but out of the hour of trial) because she has kept the word of His endurance. This promise of the Lord, like His promise in Luke 21:36, indicates that the saints who have kept the word of the Lord’s endurance will be raptured before the great tribulation, implying that those who have not kept the word of His endurance will be left in the great tribulation.
In verse 11 the Lord tells the recovered church that He will come quickly. In this epistle the Lord brings the church in His recovery into the sensation of His coming because she loves Him. All the churches in the Lord’s recovery should love the Lord under the inspiration of His coming back. The Lord’s coming back quickly should be precious to us while we are testifying of Him in His recovery.
A crown has been given by the Lord to the recovered church. Being a reward from the Lord, this must be kept until He comes back.
In verse 12 the Lord says, “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall by no means go out anymore.” In 2:17 the overcomer becomes a transformed stone for God’s building, but here the overcomer will be made a pillar built into the temple of God. Because he is built into God’s building, “he shall by no means go out anymore.” This promise will be fulfilled in the millennial kingdom as a prize to the overcomer. To overcome in the church in Philadelphia is not to get anything or to overcome other things; it is to keep what we have received in the Lord’s recovery to the end. If you do this, the Lord will make you a pillar in God’s temple. This reminds us of Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28. After Jacob had that dream, he set up the stone which he had used for a pillow to be a pillar. That pillar was for God’s building. The overcomers in Philadelphia will be pillars in God’s temple. The principle is exactly the same today. The Lord has set up a good number of stones to be pillars in His recovery. Praise the Lord that there are many pillars among us. Once a stone has been set as a pillar into the building, it can never be removed, for it has been built in. Some stay in the church for a short while or for several months and then go away. However, if you have been built into the temple as a pillar, you could not leave even if you wanted to. If you can still go out of the church, it means that you have never been built in.