httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chzqWs0JVgY
If you had an opportunity to open God’s book of life and peak inside it and see what it said about you personally, would you do it? Would you want to know what was written? Would you want to know what Christ sees in your life? What he says about your life? Would you take advantage of the opportunity to maybe perhaps change the outcome? It would be great counsel would it not? It would be great caution to see what you would face if you did not obey his word and would you could gain and enjoy for eternity if you did.
Such is the opportunity that God gives us by reading this book, the bible. If we would not be found in this book of life now, we will not be found in God’s book of life in eternity. Are you there? Do you have a bible that has your name written in that you are always to be found in? Are it’s pages as torn and as battered as you are by putting it into practice? You know what they say, “A bible that is falling apart is usually owned by someone who isn’t.”
In Revelation 2:23 Christ describes himself to the Church of Thyatira as “I am he who searches mind and heart and I will give to each of you according to your works.” And in Revelation 3:19 to the Church of Laodicea Christ says, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” It is because Christ loves us so greatly that in this time of grace he gives us an opportunity to examine ourselves, to examine our lives, to examine our works, to examine our hearts in his light and in his presence while we are under this time of grace.
We have been praying for Christ to examine our hearts and evaluate our lives since the beginning of this bible study as we have been praying over Psalms 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
How much do you really believe he actually is? If you knew he was going to come by your house tomorrow to examine you personally, how would you prepare personally before he gets there? Would you prepare? We know our righteousness is in Christ, but have we grown too lax in keeping a clean house, a clean temple a pure heart?
Before the Israelites would meet with God, they would take time to prepare themselves. In Exodus 19:10 we see them taking three days to prepare to be in God’s presence when God would descend upon Mt. Sinai. If we would have God’s spirit descend upon us, we too need to prepare our hearts in faith that he is going to answer our prayer and examine our hearts with us to help us purify them for his presence now and for his coming later for we will all one day stand before him and give an account, according to our works..
These letters are indeed Christ’s review of his churches and as we talked about in Revelations 1:9-20 now is the time for a review. A review can be a very frightening thing. We just went through our review at work as many companies do at the beginning of the year. It’s a time to evaluate our past performance, our present performance and objectives and set new goals and objectives for the upcoming year and realign ourselves with them and pursue them. It’s a time of accountability as we objectively review our problems, our pursuits and our successes over a given time period. It gives us an opportunity to further succeed at work and is a necessary evil, much like going to a dentist’s office. Reviews often feel like judgment time and so they have a tendency to make us squirm and feel uncomfortable as we come under the microscope and into the light and as our weaknesses and strengths our examined objectively by another’s eye.
There are several things that we are going to look at and examine as we read each of these letters that Christ wrote to these seven churches of Asia. In particular we are going to look at the Church itself, we will look at Christ Himself and how he has revealed himself to that particular church in a very personal manner and ask ourselves why it was important to that particular church for them to see Christ in this particular way and how it relates to the reward he promises to those who overcome. We will also look at their local circumstances as Christ did and what they were enduring at the time the letters were written. Then we will examine both the compliments and the criticism Christ gave them as he examined their work. Christ is not one to give constructive criticism without giving counsel on plans of action and setting goals and objectives to correct their behavior. So we will examine how Christ counsels each church and also how he cautions and warns each church what will happen if they do not listen and take heed to his warning. Finally we look at the rewards Christ promises to each church if they overcome and conquer. He holds these rewards out before the church as one would hold out a carrot on a stick for them to set their eyes on pursue. As we look at each of these rewards, we want to ask why would this particular reward appeal to this particular church in this particular state and time? And finally we want to ask, “How is this letter to this church applicable to us today? What truths and promises here still hold?”
I was wondering as I was studying last weeks passage on the church of Ephesus and this weeks passage on Symrna, what was Christ looking at as he walked among the seven golden lamp stands? What qualities was he looking for? If Christ had a review form for his churches what might it look like? After examining each of the seven letters to the churches, I found seven common areas that I found him looking at specifically with each church and addressing and this is what I came up with. If they had an Evaluation form, I imagine it might look something like this:
Ephesus Review
Last week Penny covered the letter to the church in Ephesus and we learned how important an ingredient love is to our Christian faith. It really brought home 1 Cor. 13:1-3 which says:
If I speak in the tonguesof men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Without love, we are nothing and all our works and labor we do for the Lord is nothing. The Ephesus church was a busy church, they had some of the great pastors, Paul, Timothy and even John himself. They knew the Apostles and could spot a false one. They were alert and intolerant of false doctrine. When it came to effort, they were hard working, toiling in their labor for Christ, in endurance they were consistent and steadfast, they did not allow themselves to grow tired or lax. Everything on the outside looked great. If I were looking for a church, this would be definitely one that I probably would have chosen. They were intelligent, active and for all outward appearance they appeared as a faithful church.
But we found out last week they were faithful, not in their heart because when it came to love, Christ found them to be loveless, loveless for him. This is what made them an unfaithful church. When it comes to our covenant union with Christ, love is everything. We can be doing everything right and not miss church, not miss a prayer meeting, not a miss a bible study, not miss our devotional time, not miss an opportunity to serve, not miss an opportunity to give generously and on and on and still be doing everything wrong and gain nothing, simply because we have missed love our one and only primary calling to love God and one another.
Luke 10:27 “And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Andrew Murray once said, “Our love to God is measured by our everyday fellowship with others and the love it displays.”
Do you want to measure your love for God? You only need to measure your own love for people to see how much you love God. You see many “religious” people, who profess to love God and yet show no love for people. It’s easy for them to maintain a right relationship with an invisible God, who is usually silent and only exists in their imagination but their relationships are a mess.
The apostle John records Jesus instructing them in John 13:35, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
How do people know you are a Christian? Not by the cross you wear, the church you attend or by all the good work you do, but by the way you love others. Love is the mark of a Christian.
John further teachers in his letter,
1 John 4:20-21 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot[a] love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
1 John 4:16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
1 John has a lot to say about love. The Apostle John was big on teaching on the importance of love. You can read the emphasis in his Gospel and in his Epistle. Perhaps this is why he is known as the dearly loved disciple because he grasped that without love we are nothing.
Christ cautioned the church of Ephesus to return to it’s first love, to remember and to do the things it had done at first or else he would remove their lamp stand because without love, they too were nothing. Beloved Ephesus no longer exists. Their lamp stand was snuffed out and Ephesus went dark. For years not a single Christian could be found within it.
In 1 Cor. 16:22 Paul ends his letter to the Church of Corinth, “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!’
Love for God is not an option.
8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
Angel of the church
From our previous lessons we understand the Angels of the church to be those who are messengers of the church, ministers of the church, to those who are positioned as lights in this world, represented previously as stars, stars intended to guide people to Christ.
Daniel 12:3 – And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
Smyrna
If the church of Ephesus was a church I would have liked to attend, the city of Smyrna would have been a city I would have liked to live in. It was and still is a beautiful port city on the coast of the Mediterrean Sea of what is now known as Izmir, Turkey. Back in John’s day it about 200,000 people living in it, today it is about 2,000,00.
It was famous for not only being wealthy and beautiful but also for being culturally sophisticated in its day. It was the home of the arts and many temples and statues of various Greek Gods and idols of the day. Smyrna was the birthplace of Homer the poet who wrote the famous Iliad and the Odyssey. It was also a city famous for it’s great Olympic games and contributions to science and medicine.
Aristides once described Smyrna as “a flower of beauty, such as earth and sun had never showed to mankind.” Part of it’s beauty came not only from being located on such a beautiful coast but also from being built around the foot of a mountain called Pagos when it was rebuilt. In about 600BC the city had been entirely destroyed, and was nothing but villages. 300 centuries later Alexander the Great planned to rebuilt it but was unable to, but his successor did. They built the city at the bottom of Mount Pagos with a road of gold wrapped around the bottom of it ending at two temples on either side. One to Zeus and the other to the goddess Cybele, ‘the mother of the gods. The gold road was made to look like a necklace at the foot of the mountain. And at the top, the beautiful arrangement of ornament buildings was made to look like a crown, and so called “The Crown of Smyrna.” Because the city was dead and came back to life, it was identified with the Phoenix rising, the bird symbolizing resurrection from the dead.
Smyrna was about 30 miles away from Ephesus, a two days journey back then. Smyrna was a very competitive city, especially with it’s neighboring towns of Ephesus and Pergamum who were its biggest rivals for the imperial’s favor which they all sought. Smyrna was famous for it’s political loyalty to the Roman Empire. In AD29 all the cities of Asia competed for the favor of erecting a temple in honor of Emperor Tiberius and Smyrna won. It Smyrna would to the aggravation of Ephesus and Pergamum boast and call itself the “Pride of Asia” and wrote on its coins, “First of Asia in beauty and size”
The name Smyrna means “myrrh” in Greek. Myrrh is an expensive spice referred to often in the Old Testament. It was often used for making perfume, incense, medicine because of its aromatic and healing qualities. Matthew 2:11 tells us that the three wise men brought Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh when he was a baby. It was myrrh that was also mixed with the wine that was offered to Jesus as Gall when he was on the cross as a stupefying potion but he refused to drink it. (Mark 15:23)
Both frankincense and myrrh are aromatic gum resins taken from various Arabic trees. A long cut is made into the trees breaking through the bark of the tree to the resin and it drips out like tears and slowly hardens after a few days. Once it is hardened it is ready to be gathered to be prepared for their various uses in perfumes, incenses, medicines and embalming the dead. While the burning of Frankincense often represented prayers going up to heaven, a sweet fragrance offering; myrrh often represented death and was often used for embalming the dead because of its ability to preserve the dead from putrefaction or decaying. John 19:39 tells us the story of Nicodemus buying 100 lbs of myrrh to anoint the body of Jesus for burial.
I find it interesting that both spices flow like tears only from deep cuts that pierce the tree and so our own fervent prayers and sacrifice offerings to God also only come from the deep cuts in our own lives as we are pierced with troubles and turmoil but remain faithful and true to him despite our bitter condition. How sad it is when we are pierced that instead of a fragrant offering to God from our bitter state as we yet trust him and remain loving and faithful in our conditions, a foul smell rises up instead to his nostrils as our cuts reveal what is really in our hearts as bitter circumstances often do.
In Geek myrrh means bitter. Like the barren, fruitless Isle of Patmos meaning “My Killing” was a fitting name for such desolate place that John was exhiled to, so Smyrna meaning “myrrh” bitternessness is a fitting name for the Church of Smyrna because their state was indeed a bitter one. Much like the bitter state of Naomi in Ruth when she wished to be called “Mara” meaning “Bitter” instead of Naomi which meant “Pleasant.” We learned much about living in bitter conditions in the book of Ruth which we just finished and we will learn much more as we look at the Church of Smyrna and their very bitter conditions and how their very bitter conditions probably were the means that kept them from spiritual decay and putrefaction.
I Know Your Tribulation
Syrmna was facing great persecution. They were in very bitter circumstances and Christ says I know your tribulation. I know your anguish and the burden you are bearing. I know it is heavy. As Penny said last week, this “I know”, is an “I know”. Christ sees their tribulation and knows it as if it was his own tribulation and suffering, which it was and still is, for Christ is known as a man of suffering (Isa. 53:3-4)
Isa. 53:3-4 “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.”
It is for the name of Jesus that the early church suffered and it was Christ’s own suffering that they were sharing in.
Phillipians 3:10 – “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,”
1 Peter 4:13 – “But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”
Romans 8:17-18 – “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Revelation 1:9 – “I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”
The early church was a suffering church but they took Christ’s words literally and counted it pure joy to be counted worthy to suffer for Christ on his behalf, to be so identified with him that they suffered for him in his place as Christ did for them. They counted it as the highest honor.
The bishop of Smyrna was a man named Polycarp. Some of you may be familiar with him. For those of you who are not let me share with you his story. Polycarp was an apprentice of John the Apostle as was Ignatius who was the Bishop of Antioch. These men and several others, are important in church history because they were of the generation that knew and had personal contact with the twelve Apostles themselves. They are often called Apostolic Fathers of the church and their writings preserved much of the early Christian theology. They are not part of the canon but as with many of the great men used by God and now known as the Church Fathers, their writings are quite edifying and have helped build up the early church through their leadership and writings.
Polycarp lived from AD 69-155. He would often share with others bits of his and the Apostle John’s conversations together and the stories that Apostle John would share with him. There is one letter preserved by him, it is the Letter to the Philippians. His greatest contribution to Christianity is said by some to be his martyred death which is well documented. During this time there was great persecution of Christians by the Jews and by the Emperors of Roman. Polycarp was arrested simply for being a Christian. At this time he was an old man at 86 years old and it is said the Roman proconsul took pity on him because of his age and said if he would just say “Caesar is Lord” and burn incense to Caesar, he would be released. But Polycarp refused and his response is still being repeated today. Polycarp replied, “”Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me? Bring forth what thou wilt”’ To this the proconsul replied, “I have wild beasts I will throw you to.” And still Polycarp remained faithful to Christ and would not curse him responding, “Call them. For repentance from better to worse is not permitted to us. But it is noble to change from what is evil to what is righteous.” The proconsul continued to threaten him saying, “Since you make light of the beasts, I will have you destroyed by fire unless you change your mind. Polycarp replied, “The fire you threaten burns but only an hour and is quenched after a little. You do not know the fire of coming judgment and everlasting punishment who is laid up for all the impious. Why do you delay? Come! Do what you will.” Polycarp was then sentenced to be bound and burned alive on a stake. As he stood by the stake, he asked not to be bound to it and said, “He who grants me to endure the fire will enable me also to remain on the pier unmoved without the security you desire from the nails.”
Ignatius the Bishop of Antioch another apprentice of John and a close friend of Polycarps that I mentioned earlier lived from AD30 to AD117. He was put to death under the Roman Emperor Trajan who ruled after Nero. It is said that before putting him to death he was interrogated by Trajan and Trajan asked him. “Dost thou then carry within thee Him that was crucified by Pontius Pilot?” To which Ignatius replied, “Truly so; for it is written, ‘I will dwell with them, and walk in them.” Then Trajan pronounced his death sentence. “We command that Ignatius, who affirms that he carries about within him ‘ Him that was crucified.’ be bound by soldiers, and carried to Rome, and there be devoured by the beasts for the gratification of the people.” When Ignatius heard this sentence, he cried out but it was not with sorrow he cried out but joy. “I thank thee, O Lord, that Thou has vouchsafed to honor me with a perfect love towards Thee, and hast made me to be bound with iron chains (which he referred to as spiritual pearls), like thy Apostle Paul.” After saying this, he clasped his chains to his heart with delight and prayed for the Church, commending it with tears to the Lord. The soldiers then carried him to the amphitheater in Rome and on the way, he wrote a letter to his dear friend Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna. In his letter he writes, “…nearness to the sword is nearness to God; to be among the wild beasts is to be in the arms of God; only let it be in the name of Jesus Christ. I endure all things that I may suffer together with Him, since He who became a perfect man strengthens me.”
It is with an understanding of these stories and with the knowledge that there were many more unpublished and unrecorded stories of Christian laymen like them that we move forward in this letter, for it is said in these days that martyrdom was as common as conversion.
The pain that the church in Smyrna faced daily is unimaginable as they would watch their members, their family members, their spouses, their children, their grandchildren drug off by Roman soldiers to face torturous deaths for their Christian faith. It is said that the Heathens believed it was not possible for a genuine Christian to deny Christ. And so the fires of affliction that the Smyrna Christians faced during these days truly proved the genuine Christian who remained faithful unto death and who “conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (Revelation 12:11)
It is with this in mind that I would like you to now to read and look at the letter that Christ wrote specifically to the church of Smyrna in her bitter state.
‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.
Christ knew the bitter sufferings that the Church of Smyrna was facing and because of this he opens his letter by identifying himself as, “The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.”
What impact do you imagine these words had on the hearts on the Church of Smyrna?
????????Isaiah 44:6 – Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel ???????and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ???????“I am the first and I am the last; ???????besides me there is no god. ???
Christ is reminding them not only of his own deity, for this is how God identified himself in the Old Testament several times. They would have instantly recognized its reference, and seen the connection that Christ was drawing that he is God. And they would also be reminded of Christ’s own resurrection from death, he is the one who died and yet lives.
This would have spoken to the Smyrnaean Christians very personally on many levels. It would have reminded them of Christ’s own promise to give them life, that even though they die they would live.
Matt. 10:39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
Christians are a people who are called to die daily for Christ, to live for Christ at the expense of their own lives as the Smyrnaeans were but in doing so they found as we do we gained a life, a joy that we couldn’t have imagined existed and its only a shadow and a small taste of the one we are to have. Like Christ, we die and yet live.
This idea would even have a deeper connection and illustration in the hearts of the Smyrnaeans. There was a time period the Smyrnaeans had undergone when their own ancient city had been destroyed by the Ldyians and for four hundred years their city had ceased to exist. They had been spread out through villages and on hillsides for four centuries before becoming reformed again and becoming self governing again. In a sense, they had came back from the dead. When they read these words in this letter, “I am he who died and yet lives” it would have risen up some patriotic feelings and understanding coming back to life and full vitality after death because of their national experience and they would have identified much more closely with Christ much like someone who may read them after going through a horrific accident that took away their life as they knew it and experienced a horrible time of recovering but in the end after it all gained a new life as if they were back from the dead.
Christ was literally back from the dead, and these experiences are but shadows of the living reality that we will experience in also being resurrected to life with him, but our experiences help us have some shadow of a context and understand its meaning on a personal level and transfers head knowledge to heart knowledge. These words of resurrection would have spoke on a deeper level to the Smyrnaeans heart even as they do now in various ways to those who are hearing this or reading this and ever had such an experience.
At the same time, Christ was also reminding the Smyrnaeans that just as he had authority over their beginning, he also has authority over their end. They had no need to fear death, or people because he alone was their end.
There are many circumstances that we face in life that would taunt us by saying if we obey God in this, it would be our end. It would be the end of our job. It would be the end of our joy. It would be the end of our comfort. It would be the end of our life. But Christ is our end. Christ determines the point in time at which something ends. He determines our final state. Not our circumstances. Not these Roman Emperors who would be their end. Christ is the true “The End”.
What a peaceful thought knowing that our end is Christ! What a fearsome thought knowing their end is Christ! The same lion that protects those who confess him, will devour those who deny him. We can either stand before Him as our Judge or behind Him as our Savior and Protector.
9 “‘I know your tribulation
I know your burden and your anguish….see above.
and your poverty (but you are rich)
Here Christ looks at the economic condition of the Church of Smyrna. They are poor, poverty stricken going without having their physical needs met because of their love for Christ.
Smyrna was a city that was very devoted to Rome and to the worship of the Roman Emperors as gods. It had started with the deceased Roman Emperors but when Domitian and other Roman Emperors claimed to be Lord and God they went along with it easy enough. Once a year the Smyrneans had to offer incense to the Roman Emperor “gods” in order to receive a token which allowed them to work and so on. Since the Christian Smyrnaeans refused such idol worship they often could not find work, they were forced to live in poverty and endured additional persecution.
Hebrews 10:34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
Our worldview and God’s worldview are often upside down from one another. The Smyrnaeans seen themselves as poor, but Christ saw them as rich. The Church of Laodicea who we will come to in Revelation 3:17 saw themselves as rich, but Christ saw them as poor and poverty stricken. Things are not always as they appear.
Many times its easy for us to think even today that a churches material wealth is a sign of its favor by God and a small church is a sign that they are doing something wrong otherwise God would have blessed them. We must be careful, both churches that avoided rebukes in these letters were either poverty stricken or weak in power.
1 Cor. 1:27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
Riches can and often are a blessing from God, but they have a tendency to make us more self- confident, independent, prideful, boastful, instead of dependent on God, humble and meek. Instead of expanding the kingdom of God, we expand our own kingdom in this world. It takes great strength and great wisdom to handle riches appropriately so that they do not become an obstacle to our ending the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 18:25 “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”.
and the slanderof those who say that they are Jews and are not,
It was not the Romans who persecuted the early Christians so much as it was the Jews. Starting with Jesus and continuing with Paul and the rest of the Apostles and earl church fathers, the Jews would continually stir up the people against the Christians and have them arrested for various reasons and try to get the Roman officials to use their power and authority to persecute the Christians in ways the Jewish law forbid.
The Jews could not stand the idea that the Messiah was a man accused of blasphemy. They could not stand the idea of being saved apart from the law or the idea of dirty Gentiles becoming part of the church. Their hatred blinded them as hatred does to make exceptions for themselves as needed to break their own laws to slander and persecute the Christians and bring the death penalty upon them as they did with Christ and they did with Polycarp bring the sticks to make the fire that would burn him on the stake on a Saturday.
Romans 2:28 – For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man, but from God.
The Jews have always been known as God’s people. But here we see that a true Jew is one who follows Jesus. These are God’s people. Abrahams seed are children of the promise of Abraham. These people who were slandering the Christians, though they claimed ethnic heritage of Judaism, Christ says here they are NOT true Jews, they are not God’s people. Instead God sees them as…
but are a synagogue of Satan.
The unsaved Jews were doing the work of Satan in persecuting Christ and the Christians and in doing so had become a gathering of Satan.
We often think of Satan worship as dark witchcraft, Wicca and such. Here we see that it is a gathering of people who hinder the work of God and it often comes in a religious cloak
2 Cor. 11:14 “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”.
10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer.
Here is the counsel that the church of Smyrna receives from Christ. He knows what they have been through and have faced in the past, here he tells them not to fear or to stop being afraid not because they won’t suffer but because of the reward he promises them at the end.
I am sure they were praying to be rescued, for Christ to intervene and stop the persecutions. Yet here Christ informs them this is not the end of their suffering. Their suffering is not over yet and there is more to come but they are to continue to be courageous in the face of their suffering as they have been.
Matt 10:28 – And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”
More than anything, this reminds us that this is a spiritual war that we are engaged in. Yes, Christ could put an end to all our suffering, but that comes only at the end of the war when the battle is won and we are not done yet. Through our testimonies, through our faithfulness, battles are being won in the spiritual realms. Because of Polycarp’s and Ignatius’s faithfulness unto death, along with many others including Paul’s, Peter’s John’s, and let’s not forget Christ’s spiritual battles were worn. The gospel has spread. What would have happened to Christianity if these men had loved their lives more than Christ? If they choose to “pretend” to bow to Caesar? If they had just went along with it? Surely more could have been done for Christ if they had another ten years? What would have happened to Christianity if it was not suffered for?
What we are willing or not willing to suffer for, shows how much or how little we value it.
Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison,
This is a reminder to the Smyrnaeans and to us that we have an enemy and just who our enemy really is. It wasn’t the Jews for them, although they were acting as Satan’s obedient demons carrying out his wishes and work. It’s not the false teachers today or others that hinder the work of God. It is Satan.
Eph. 6:12 – For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
The “prison” into which the devil would throw the Smyrnaean Christians must be understood as they understood it. This was not they were going to prison for a few days and then be released. This was they were going to prison for a brief time and then they would be executed and the readers would have understood it that way because back then, they didn’t hold people in prison for long periods of time and release them like they do today. Going to prison meant you were going to be held there until you saw the magistrate and then you would be released or executed.
This is confirmed by the next verse, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.” Christ was asking them to remain steadfast and endure all the way to the end, whatever it may be and he himself would reward them.
that you may be tested, tried, examined, proven
What is being tried?
Your faith, love, patience, obedience, may be tried. – Poole
1 Peter 1:7 – so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
ii. Most specifically in this case, God allowed this attack so that they may be tested, in the sense of being proven. Through their suffering, God would display the true riches of the church in Smyrna to everyone, including themselves – even though He knew they were rich already. – Guzik
A large part of the purpose of being examined, is so that we might be found proven, shown to be faithful and established beyond doubt. To be examined is to studied, probed and to be put to the test, as for its quality, or give experimental use to.
Psa. 17:3 “Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed.”
Psa. 26:2 – Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind;
Jeremiah 17:10 – “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”
This is what we have been praying for so that sin and any unholiness that is revealed can be dealt with and removed.
How do you feel about the Lord testing your faith? Testing your love for him?
James 1:2-4 – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
and for ten days you will have tribulation.
The “ten days” means simply a period which can be measured, there is an end in sight. It will not last forever and the church will overcome.
What do the ten days mean? – Guzik states:
i. Some think that John really means ten years of persecution. “As the days in this book are what is commonly called prophetic days, each answering to a year, the ten years of tribulation may denote ten years of persecution; and this was precisely the duration of the persecution under Diocletian, during which all the Asiatic Churches were grievously afflicted.” (Clarke)
ii. Others think that John really means persecution over the reign of ten Roman Emperors. “The first under Nero, a.d. 54; the second under Domitian, a.d. 81; the third under Trajan, a.d. 98; the fourth under Adrian [Hadrian], a.d. 117; the fifth under Septimus Severus, a.d. 193; the sixth under Maximin, a.d. 235; the seventh under Decius, a.d. 249; the eighth under Valerian, a.d. 254; the ninth under Aurelian, a.d. 270; the tenth under Diocletian, a.d. 284.” (White, cited in Walvoord)
iii. Still others have taken stranger approaches: “Others observe, that in ten days are two hundred and forty hours, which make up the number of years from 85, when the second persecution began, (under which John at this time was) to 325, when all the persecutions ceased.” (Poole)
iv. Others say that ten days is simply an expression of speech: “The expression ten days is not to be taken literally; it is the normal Greek expression for a short time.” (Barclay)
v. However, there is no compelling reason to believe it means anything other than ten days of severe persecution, with an emphasis on the idea that it is a limited time.
Be faithful unto death,
Be faithful would have been another personal word to the Smyrnaean readers of their history. As a nation they were known for faithfulness. They had been faithful friend and ally to Rome for centuries and were proud of their historic claim and reputation of loyalty. Rome referred to them as pro singulari fide or “the most faithful of our allies.” Faithfulness was regarded as the chief glory of Smyrna by the entire city.
and I will give you the crown of life.
2 Timothy 4:8 – Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
A symbol of honor and recognition. Here is another personal message for the Smyrneans. The crown would have had great significant meaning to them. As we discussed their entire city was built around a crown centerpiece on Mt. Pagos. They were extremely competitive for first place. They were very much into Olympic games. Their athletes and good citizens received crowns. Those who worshipped pagan gods often wore crowns of flowers around their head.
Christ says you want a crown? Your crowns though beautiful are temporary. Your flowers wilt and die. I have a special crown. A crown of life, that I am offering to you and that you can win. A stephanos, a crown of victory to be given to those would overcome and be conquerors of this world for the kingdom of God.
The Church of Smyrna was a victorious church. From the eyes of the world it was a weak church, overcome with poverty and persecution and was anything but victorious. But in God’s eyes they were victorious because they had overcome their love for the world by their love for God and would not sacrifice their love for God for their love and life in this world. They were victorious.
11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
This reminds us that this letter is for anyone who would listen, anyone who would pay attention t what the Spirit has to say to the churches for it has something personal to say not just to the Smyrnaeans but to all of us.
The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
This crown will only be given to those who overcome, those who finish this race, not those who only begin. We have nothing to boast about if we began a race but did not finish it. If we did not run for it with all our heart, all our mind, our strength and all soul. It is going to take everything in us to finish this race well.
We do not conquer not for our own glory but for the glory of Christ. We do not conquer not to win more of this world but more of the next.
As Jesus said, In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (Joh. 16:33)
Because Christ has overcome the world, we too must overcome the world and do overcome the world as pursue living and abiding in Christ by abiding in love. Remember 1 John 5:2-5…
1 John 5:2-5By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Second Death
There is a death to be feared and it is not so much the first death as it is the second death as Polycarp pointed out. Our first death is the death of the body and it is a temporary death. The second one is the death of the soul.
Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Lake of Fire
Romans 20:14-15 – “14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Revelation 21:8 – But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Second death is not a temporary death but an eternal death, a death that never ends. It is an eternal separation from God, an eternal separation from light, mercy, love, compassion, goodness, hope and fellowship. It is a state of darkness, loneliness and hopeless without end.
If we do not want God in our life now, God will give us what we want; a life without him. Is this your idea of heaven because this will be the heaven of those who prefer to live without God now. It will be the heaven of those who cannot be found in this book of life. Whose names are written in. Are you in it? Do you want to be in it?
All you have to do is turn around from doing things your own way and turn to God now. You will find that what for all appearances appears to be a death sentence to your life now will bring you greater life and greater joy then you have ever known both now and in the world to come. You too will know the meaning of a resurrected life that no amount of bitterness in this world can keep you from rising up through for the glory of God. If you asked Paul, John, Polycarp, Peter and all the martyrs of old and of today, was it worth it? Were you sacrifices worth it? There would be ten thousands upon ten thousand of responses repeating what Paul told the Romans in Romans 8:18…
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
