# General Information:

This is the beginning of the Son of Man's message to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.

# the angel

Possible meanings are that this "angel" is 1) a heavenly angel who protects this church or 2) a human messenger to the church, either a messenger who went from John to the church or the leader of the church. See how you translated "angel" in [Revelation 1:20](../01/20.md).

# Philadelphia

This is the name of a city in the western part of Asia that today is modern Turkey. See how you translated this in [Revelation 1:11](../01/11.md). (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/translate-names]])

# key of David

Jesus speaks of his authority to decide who may go into his kingdom as if it were King David's key. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/writing-symlanguage]])

# he opens and no one shuts

"he opens the door to the kingdom and no one can close it"

# he shuts and no one can open

"he closes the door and no one can open it"