And hast not denied My name.—“If we deny Him, He also will deny us.”—2 Tim. 2:12.
3:9. Behold I [will make] HAVE MADE them of the synagogue of Satan.—The opponents of the reformers were already of the synagogue of Satan.—Rev. 2:13.
Which say they are Jews.—Claim to be Israelites indeed, saints.—Rev. 2:9.
And are not, but do lie.—Papacy is one of the two systems of rulership (imperial power being the other) congenitally “spotted like a leopard,” as far as the Truth is concerned.—Dan. 11:27; Rev. 13:2.
Behold I will make them to come.—“All nations whom Thou hast made shall come.”—Psa. 86:9.
And worship before thy feet.—“The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet.”—Isa. 60:14; 49:23.
And [to] THOU SHALT know that I have loved thee.—See Eph. 2:7.
3:10. Because thou hast kept the word of My patience.—My patience-enjoining word.—Matt. 10:22; Lu. 8:15.
I also will keep thee.—“As to the Philadelphia stage of the Church, and their being saved from the hour of temptation, we think possibly the Lord meant that some of the Church of that epoch would live over into the present period, and that they would not be subjected to the special trials of this hour. For instance, we think of a very fine old gentleman, who was about ninety years of age at the time we are about to mention. He was pastor of a church. He seemed to receive Present Truth with a great deal of joy and spoke it forth with much zeal. But he was surrounded with so much opposition at home, and in the church to which he was attached as a minister, that he could not seem to trust to his mental judgment. This Scripture which we are considering has rather comforted our mind with respect to him and others like him.”—Z. '15-200.
From the hour of temptation.—“ ‘The hour of temptation’ has been the Harvest time. The majority of professing Christians of the world—probably more than three-fourths—have lost all faith in the Bible, and fallen into [pg 051] Evolution, Higher Criticism, Christian Science, Theosophy, Spiritism, New Thought, etc. They are not able to stand in this ‘evil day.’ ” (Z'15-199.) Additionally, “so far as we are able to judge, the same conditions prevail today amongst Bible students which the Apostle pointed out to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus. (Acts 20:28-32.)”—Z. '16-328.