¹⁸ I told their children in the wilderness, “Do not follow the example set by your fathers. Do not live by their standards or degrade yourselves with their idols. ¹⁹ I, the Eternal One, am your God. Follow My laws and remember to obey My rules. ²⁰ Keep My Sabbaths holy as signs between us so you will know I, the Eternal, am your God.” ²¹ But the children also rebelled against Me. They strayed from My laws and ignored My commandments, even though they knew that one who follows My rules will live. They polluted My Sabbaths, and they were not careful to keep My rules. So I told them that I would pour out My anger upon them and express My wrath against them in the wilderness. ²² But for the sake of My good name and reputation, I suspended their punishment. I chose not to profane My name in the eyes of those nations who had witnessed Me bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. ²³ Also, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among those nations and cast them out into unfamiliar lands ²⁴ because they had refused to obey My rules and rejected My laws. Instead, their eyes were devoted to their fathers’ breathless idols, and they polluted My Sabbaths. ²⁵ I handed them over to bad laws and rules that could not lead to life. ²⁶ I declared them ritually impure because they were giving every firstborn child as a burnt sacrifice to pagan gods. I did this to horrify them, so that they would know I am the Eternal One.

²⁷ Therefore, son of man, confront the people of Israel and tell them the Eternal Lord says, “Your fathers showed their contempt for Me and betrayed Me. ²⁸ When I brought them into the land I had solemnly promised to give them, they offered their sacrifices on every high hill and under every shade tree they saw. In the land I gave them, they irritated Me with their offerings. They burned fragrant incense and poured out their drink offerings there. ²⁹ I asked them, ‘What is this shrine you visit?’”

⁷ Write down My words, and send them to the messenger of the church in Philadelphia. “These are the words of the holy One, the true One, and the One who possesses the key of David, which opens the possibilities so that no one can shut them. The One who closes all options so that no one can open:

⁸ “I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door, which no one can shut. I have done this because you have limited strength, yet you have obeyed My word and have not denied My name. ⁹ Watch, and I will make those of the congregation of Satan—those who call themselves ‘Jews’ but are not because they lie—come before you penitent, falling at your feet. Then they will know how much I have loved you. ¹⁰ Because you have obeyed My instructions to endure and be patient, I will protect you from the time of trial which will come upon the whole earth and put everyone in it to the test. ¹¹ I will soon return. Hold tight to what you have so that no one can take away your victor’s wreath.

¹² “As for the one who conquers through faithfulness even unto death, I will plant that person as a pillar in the temple of My God, and that person will never have to leave the presence of God. Moreover, I will inscribe this person with the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, New Jerusalem—which descends out of heaven from My God—and My own new name.