VERSE 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept my word, and have not denied my name.”
The “little help” (Dan 11:34) or power that they were given is from a couple of different possibilities.
The first possibility was that in this church the civil power had supported Luther and the other reformers. Previously they had not helped any of the other reformers to the extent of being willing to go to war for them, but now in this church they were ready, since they also had severe grievances against Papacy.
The second possibility is that at this time a great deal of truth and knowledge was given to Luther, and he used it to further the Reformation. The reformers were directly attacking Papal doctrines with the scriptures. By the time of Luther the bible had become readily available, and many people were reading it. After Luther’s time this became even more prevalent. Both of the above things, eventually broke the back of the Papal system.
We like the second possibility of the little power the best, since it seems to fit better with the statement that I, Jesus have given you this power. It’s true, it could be from the civil power, but the help coming from the more complete understanding of God’s word, seems more appropriate.
As our study group discussed the door in the sixth church, and we refined our understanding of it, we came to the conclusion, that it was a re-opening up of the understanding of God’s plan of salvation. This salvation had been lost, because of the great falling away. As far as salvation goes, only Jesus has the right to choose who enters by this door, not the false church system as they claimed.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.” (John 10:1 NAU)
The Terrible Doctrine of Indulgences
The means by which you were to get salvation was a major question that had caused the Reformation in the first place, so it's fitting that our Lord should mention the true salvation here. Luther realized that indulgences were not God’s way and he found that it was only by grace that we are saved, not by money.
They claimed at that time, that through indulgences, they could grant the right to anyone to get into heaven, no matter what they had done wrong. They even claimed the right to bar someone from heaven; if for example, that one was resisting their established false church and state system, such as the reformers did. We should remember that if any man tries to enter in by any other way than by Jesus who is the door, he would not be accepted (John 10:1-9). It's interesting that the thing that did the most to start the Reformation was the nailing on the church door of the 95 theses by Luther, where he promoted justification by faith, and was complaining about the indulgences.
The key that our Lord showed us in Verse 7 may also be used to open the door of opportunity that existed there. In this case, it may be considered to be the door of the Lord’s house, which the nominal church had shut up with their false doctrines and idolatries, just as Jezebel and Ahab had done in their time. Elijah and Elisha literally restored the worship of God back in the time of ancient Israel. Because of that they picture the restoration of the true worship of the Lord in the time of the Reformation. We also remember that Josiah the king restored the house of the Lord after it had been neglected. (Also compare this with our Lord’s words in Luke 11:52).
This church is commended for having guarded his word and kept his name. Instead of believing only what the councils or Popes claimed was gospel, ones like Luther turned back to the scriptures as the only authority. This renewed idea of scriptural authority, eventually led to the forming of Bible societies, and to ones like William Miller. He preached that you did not have to be a part of an organization to be saved, or go to a theological school, but that you could preach God’s word without being ordained of man. The Bible Students of today have the same opinion.
We move on to Verse 9 in our next post.
