180: Revelation — Philadelphia and Their New Name

[Music] This is the Baymaw Podcast with Marty Solman. I'm a SkuhoSpurt Billings. Today we examine John's apocalyptic letter to the Church of Philadelphia and look for context as well as text spoken into that context. That's right. - You know. - It was the episode on Sardis the first time we explicitly used that phrase text to context. I've used it in passing but never pointed out in the same way we did. We've certainly been talking about the concept the entire time in real relations. - Oh, and really it even goes back to session three. - That's true, yeah. And just rabbinic thought and pardews and everything in between. So it's how Jews think. It's just they think in terms of text all the time every time. So we're being blown away by culture and the historical context. And we have to learn how to double down and do is realizing that that isn't just culture. It's also text. And when we understand that, everything starts to hopefully we appreciate it on a whole new level. It's brilliant. It's brilliant writing. So, probably make it a little quicker conversation maybe today. We've been exposed this hermeneut in revelation. Should be able to cover some more ground maybe a little bit more quickly. So we'll take a look at the context of Philadelphia. And we'll let it shape the way that we read the letter. And then we'll ask where John is drawing his material from in the Old Testament in the Hebrew Scriptures. Philadelphia is another city that was plagued in the first century by earthquakes. Talk about that last episode with Sardis. And this led to, by the way, if you remember I'll be back in our lesson on first lesologians. In fact, we have put that in your show notes. For this episode, we have put epa what episode was that? That was 161. 161 was our lesson on first lesologians. And we titled that parusia or parusia. And it was about the second coming in this idea of an emperor coming back. And we said it would usually happen after things like what Brent, like an earthquake. Like an earthquake sort of disaster. Right. Something destroys your city. Rome needs your city to be functional. And so Rome comes essentially bales you out, gives you a bunch of money, helps you rebuild. And then that emperor has a parusia where he shows up and says, let me see what you've done with the place. That was our conversation about that. So you can go back and review that if you wanted to. That conversation is very relevant for Philadelphia because it was decimated by multiple earthquakes and had multiple rebuilds. So in AD 17, that was the first of the earthquakes we mentioned in the last episode. There was a major earthquake that essentially destroyed Philadelphia. The rebuilt city was given a new name to honor the Caesar who helped them rebuild. And they called it neo-Cessaria. In AD 60, another major earthquake hit and the city was rebuilt again by the Flavian dynasty. They sought to rename the city Flavia. But the name was rejected because of how the residents of the city despised the Flavian dynasty. Like we're going to do some more talking about domicion and the domicion era and how much people just hated and despised domicion. Domicion was the last of the Flavian empires. And their whole dynasty will die out. They were not a popular dynasty. The general public did not like the Flavians. So even though they tried to rename the city Flavia, nobody really accepted the change, locally, like locally, and nobody recognized it. And so they just called it Philadelphia again. So it was Philadelphia, then it was neo-Cessaria, and then it was Flavia, Guessna, Philadelphia. And then among the many things that plagued the early Roman Empire, the lack of grain production, I think we've mentioned that before, on our podcast, Rome's big struggle. If our struggle is what is our great resource, Bren, we have to have an our world today. America has to have oil. Oil. The oil of their day was grain. Rome was having a major grain shortage and they were doing everything they could. And the treaties and agreements with Egypt trying to get enough grain for their empire. So that production was crippling the lack of production, was crippling the Roman economy. Rome was doing everything they could think of to produce more grain. And in fact, one of the references in the book of Revelation, found in Revelation 6.6, I don't know if I like that number. Matches exactly what we found in Roman records. The price mentioned is 500 times the average price prior to the grain shortage. Actually, can you just pull up Romans 6, or not Romans, Revelation 6.6, pull up Revelation 6.6 for me. This is exactly this phrase in Revelation is exactly the same phrase we have found in archaeology when we unearth different records about the same period of time. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying two pounds of wheat for a day's wages and six pounds of barley for a day's wages and do not damage the oil and the wine. I've got some footnotes on that. Two pounds is one kilogram that's number-y-helpful. All right. Days, wages, denarius, six pounds, three kilograms and these wages, denarius. So imagine spending your entire day's wage, work a whole day, have to spend it all on two pounds a week. A kilogram of wheat. So, that's 500 times, by the way, what the average price was prior to the grain shortage in the same area of the world. So one of the major exports of Philadelphia was its incredible wine. They loved their wine and were known throughout the land as having wonderful grapes. The Flavian Dynasty. Remember how did everybody feel about the Flavian Dynasty, Brent? Oh, they were loved, loved favorites. Favorite Flavians. Yeah, like the opposite, right? They hated the despise of Flavians. Well, these Flavians, in an effort to curb the grain shortage, ordered more than 75% of the grape vines of Philadelphia uprooted. They were replaced with grain fields that never produced healthy grain and they were certainly warned by experts that the grain wasn't going to grow in the first place and in light of this, you can understand the anger of the residents of Philadelphia towards the Flavians. Philadelphia was also known as the door to Asia Minor. Like when you go to Philadelphia, you are sitting on the doorway between Asia and Asia Minor. Go past Philadelphia and you are now in Asia Minor. So if you're going from west to east, if you're traveling eastward, you're going through the door into Asia Minor when you pass through Philadelphia. It was the border between the two regions on the main highway. Once you pass through Philadelphia, on your way, if you're going west, you would have entered the province of Asia. So now let's read the letter to Philadelphia and let's listen for context, right, millions. To the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right? These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens, no one can shut and what he shuts, no one can open. I know your deeds. See I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars. I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have so that no one will take your crown. The one who is victorious, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name, whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Alright, let's just talk culture here. How about this phrase? "No one can shut, no one can open, see I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut." Give me some context, Brent. Philadelphia is the door. The door. They are the doorway. The synagogue of Satan, most scholars have, we talked about this in our discussion about smurna, by the way. The synagogue of Satan being a group of Jews who did not accept the Gentiles. They said these Gentiles are not Jewish. We're not accepting any Gentile followers of the God of Israel. And Paul calls that, if you're that, you're not even in his mind. You're not even truly Jewish because you don't even understand the mission and the message of Judaism. Not strongly stated, but that's the cultural context of that phrase. How about I am coming soon? Do you think of anything that would be relevant to context? I am coming soon. Parocia. Brilliant. Perusia. The parocia speaks to a city that has experienced at least two of them, maybe even more. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God. I will write on them my new name, three different references to names. Why that? Brent. They had three names for the city. They had gone through more than any other city. All kinds of chaos surrounding their name. Without the cultural context, that little chunk of text sounds ridiculous. It's like, how many times do you have to say this over and over? But then when you know, when you count it and then you know the culture. Whoa. Absolutely. Now, what's the next question we're going to ask, Brent? We've learned our hermeneutic. We've now looked at culture. What's the text behind it? What's the text? Well, fair listeners are jumping ahead of us and already there. We need to talk about John's source material. Considering the following passage from Isaiah 45, give me some Isaiah 45, Brent. This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of, to subdue nations before him, and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut. I will go before you, and will level the mountains. I will break down the gates of bronze, and cut through the bars of iron. I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. For the sake of Jacob, my servant, of Israel, my chosen, I summon you by name, and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me. All right? So here we see another reference of God opening doors that cannot be shut. Isaiah spends an unusual amount of time talking about somebody in Cyrus by name, not only this, but the whole passage is about God using a Gentile to save and redeem his own people. Could it be a deliberate reference because of the synagogue of Satan, who says we're not accepting the work of Gentiles? And John says, well, the work of Gentiles has been a part of our story for a long time. How about Isaiah 62? Let's look at chapter 62 and see what's showing up there. Go ahead, Brent. For Zion's sake, I will not keep silent. For Jerusalem's sake, I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation, like a blazing torch. The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory. You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord's hand, a royal diet dim in the hand of your God. No longer will they call you deserted, or name your land desolate, but you will be called Hepsibah and your land, Betullah, for the Lord will take delight in you and your land will be married. As a young man marries a young woman, so will your builder marry you. As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God, rejoice over you. In another incredibly fitting source from which to grab material for the letter to Philadelphia, John made mention of nobody taking their crown, a reference to a passage that is also filled with references to a new name. Again, an unusual amount of naming, and you'll be called this, but you won't be called that, and I will call you this, and I will be, and you will be given a new name, name, name, name, name, name, name, name, name. I'll link that because of a reference to John saying something about a crown, okay? There's more. There's more, but wait, there's more. Go to second Chronicles three, Brent, and read us some third chapter of second Chronicles. Another one of those abstract portions of this letter to Philadelphia, that once you read some text, you're like, "Oh, that's brilliant." For the front of the temple, he made two pillars, which together were 35 qubits long, each with a capital of five qubits high. He made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains. He erected the pillars in front of the temple, one to the south, and one to the north, the one to the south. He named Yachen, and the one to the north, Boaz. So John said that they would be pillars in the temple of my God. Such a reference would take any Jews' mind back to the Temple of Solomon, because when we were told of Solomon's project, one of the notable things he did was to set up two pillars. However, as you can see above, he doesn't just set up two pillars. He does something incredibly peculiar. He gives the pillars what Brent names, names. And again, I'm forced to recognize the literary genius that is the book of Revelation. We could write, we could talk, we could fill up so much conversation about all the different things that we find in the book of Revelation, just on the different hidden sermons that are being preached through Revelation by John referencing these passages known as Remes. May we continue to push in and learn more about the book that has perplexed so many for so long. But may we remember that if we're going to study the last book of the New Testament, one of the most critical things we can bring with us is the Old Testament. So, let her throw Philadelphia ends. What's interesting is that Second Chronicles passage. He sets one pillar up to the north and one to the south, thereby creating a doorway going from west to east. Absolutely. And they stand right in front of the door of the temple, framing the doorway. Absolutely. Brilliant. Brilliant. Sorry, I had to get that last one. Yeah, that's good. Just noticed that. All right, well that's it for Philadelphia. We have one more church to go. Leo Dicquia. Leo Dicquia. All right. Well, if you have any questions about the show, go to Baymodiception.com. You can get a hold of me or Marty there. Thanks for joining us on the Baymod Podcast this week. We'll talk to you again soon.