The Great Second Advent Movement: Its Rise and Progress

Chapter 28 — A Door That No Man Can Shut

“I HAVE set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” ¹ GSAM 462.1

Such is the language addressed to those in the Philadelphia state of the gospel church. This church was the one which had been developed by the proclamation of the near advent of Christ, or those who had held fast to what they heard upon that subject; for he says of the Sardis church (the one immediately preceding the Philadelphia), “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” ² GSAM 462.2

The Sardis church, then, heard the doctrine of the Lord’s soon coming. Those who held fast to what they had heard, moved on in the truth as the “candlestick” was removed, and constituted the Philadelphia church, to whom he said, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” ³ It is to this Philadelphia church, then, that he says, “I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” GSAM 462.3

Here, then, is the emphatic declaration of Holy Writ that those who, in God’s providence, are moved out to warn the world of the Lord’s coming, and to entreat the people to prepare to meet God, have the special favor of God in their work. Men may try to hinder, to defeat their movements, to close the “door of utterance,” but still the voice of God sounds out above all clamor, “I have set before thee an open door.” GSAM 462.4