Philadelphia

(brotherly love; Rev. 3:7–13)—a city of Lydia in western Asia Minor, southeast of Sardis, founded by the Attalid kings and named for royal brotherly loyalty. It stood in an earthquake-prone region and was repeatedly rebuilt. The modern Turkish city at the site is Alaşehir. The message in Revelation praises the church’s patient faithfulness, sets before it an open door, and contains no word of rebuke. Christ promises that the conqueror will be made “a pillar in the temple of My God” and will bear the name of God and of the new Jerusalem (Rev. 3:12).