“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept My Word and have not denied My name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept My Word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from My God out of heaven, and My own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'”
Revelation 3:7-13
Jesus Christ has the key of David, meaning the keys of the Kingdom. When He opens it, no one can shut it; when He closes it, no one can open it, for He possesses the Keys. These Keys He also lends to the office of Pastor, for the binding and loosing of sins (Matthew 18:18) is how Christ brings His kingdom to Earth. Thus, when your pastor looses your sins by forgiving them in the stead and by the command of his Lord Jesus Christ, He opens the door to His kingdom and you are welcomed, and no one can close it before you. But if you remain hard hearted in your sin and refuse to repent, and your pastor binds your sin on Earth and does not forgive you your sins in the stead and by the command of Christ, He closes the door to His kingdom and none can open it before you, save Christ alone in repentance.
You and I don’t have much power, but Christ enables us to keep His Word when we do not deny His name (v. 8). If we do not repent, we deny His name, for in such hardness of heart we do not confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we deny the power of His name to forgive us our sins. Repentance acknowledges Christ as Lord and therefore the power of His name to save (Matthew 1:21), “for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). And because we acknowledge His name in repentance, He opens His kingdom to us as a refuge from the “trial that is coming on the whole world” (Revelation 3:10). What is this trial? Likely the messianic woes He spoke of (Matthew 24:3-28).
Within Christ’s kingdom, you will be made “a pillar in the temple” of Christ’s God, who is God the Father. This is not a literal description of its intended referent, meaning you will be transformed into a physical pillar to keep the temple standing. Rather, it means you will be given a secure place in God’s very presence. The name of God will be written on you—indeed, it already is, for you were baptised in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). The name of New Jerusalem will also be on you, meaning you will be a permanent resident of the Holy City when it comes down from heaven at Christ’s Parousia.
The Lutheran Column 