Study of Revelation and End Times - wk 8
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The Letter to the Church at Smyrna - wk 8
The Letter to the Church at Smyrna - wk 8
Two weeks ago we began looking at the seven letters to the seven churches, as we looked at the letter to the church at Ephesus.
In the introduction to the letters two weeks ago, we seen that there are some symbolic things in the letters like the angel of the church is the pastor of the church, the lampstand is the actual church.
We need to remember that these letters were addressed to specific churches, like tonight we will be looking at the church located in Smyrna.
They were also meant to be spread around so that all the churches, and even us today can learn from them.
8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:
9 ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
11 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’
I. Destination
I. Destination
8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:
This second letter is addressed to Smyrna, a large and wealthy city about 35 miles north of Ephesus.
Like Ephesus, it was a sea-port.
In contrast to Ephesus, which today is a desert ruin, Smyrna is still a large sea-port it is the modern day city of Izmir of Turkey, the third largest city of Turkey with a population in 2019 of 4.37 million.
The name of the city, Smyrna, means myrrh, an ordinary perfume.
Which was used in the anointing oil of the tabernacle, and in embalming dead bodies.
While the Christians of the church at Smyrna were experiencing the bitterness of suffering, their faithful testimony was like myrrh or sweet perfume to God.
Here Jesus described Himself as the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.
Jesus is letting the believers know that He is One who precedes all creation and will remain when all else is gone.
Here Jesus is portrayed as the eternal One, who suffered death at the hands of His persecutors and then was resurrected from the grave.
These aspects of Christ were especially relevant to the Christians at Smyrna who, like Christ in His death, were experiencing severe persecution.
II. Commendation
II. Commendation
9 ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
The church at Smyrna was not having an easy go at life!
The members were being persecuted, because they would not bow to the social and worldly ways of the day, by saying - Caesar is Lord.
Smyrna was an important center of the Roman imperial cult, and anyone refusing to acknowledge Caesar as Lord would certainly be excluded from society.
This would mean unemployment and poverty.
The Greek word used there for poverty is meaning, possessing absolutely nothing.
There was a large Jewish community in the city of Smyrna.
The Jews, of course, did not have to patronize the imperial cult since their religion was accepted by Rome; but they certainly would not cooperate with the Christian faith.
Therefore, the Christians in Smyrna were being persecuted from both the Jews and the Gentiles.
Here in verse 9 we are told that they were rich!
They were not rich by earthly standards, as we seen already they were living in poverty, they were poor as far as worldly standards go.
But they lived for eternal values that would never change, riches that could never be taken away.
In fact, their suffering for Christ only increased their riches.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The Christians in Smyrna were laying up treasures in heaven that would last for eternity, not treasures here on earth that will fade away, or that can be taken away.
Yes, they were very poor, they lived in poverty in the view of the world, but in view of eternity they were rich as you could get.
They were working as hard for Jesus and at every turn they were being persecuted for their work for Jesus.
We might think, why would we want to continue to do things that are causing us to be persecuted.
10 as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.
Doing things for Jesus may cause us to be poor, and cause us to be persecuted, but the heavenly and eternal rewards out way anything that will ever happen to us here on earth.
Then just two chapters later Paul gives us another reason to continue in persecution and poverty.
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
Jesus left eternity, heaven, and all the riches of all of that, to come to be born in a manger, a feed trough in a barn with animals.
To live a poor life, of poverty, the King of kings and Lord of lords, left everything behind to come to this earth so that we can have salvation and then have riches.
Therefore, we endure a little poverty and persecution, so that we can have the riches of eternity.
As Frances Chan once preached a sermon on eternity, using a couple hundred foot rope, he colored the first foot of the end of the rope red and said this is our time on earth.
He then started talking about eternity and pulling the rope from off stage and he preached for 20 to 30 minutes the whole time pulling this white rope and said this is eternity, that little red spot on the end was our time on earth compared to eternity.
We may suffer persecution, we may live in poverty, but it is nothing compared to what we will experience in the presence of God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Heaven.
The Christians in Smyrna understood this and had it all figured out, and they had given everything up for their relationship with Jesus, and to share the love of Jesus Christ to others, and that others may have that same relationship.
We must learn from the church at Smyrna that we must put out earthly wealth aside and see that there is greater wealth in eternity to gain, and we do that by seeking Jesus Christ, by sharing His love no matter what the outcome may be.
The Christians at Smyrna had realized this was not a battle or struggle with flesh and blood, but with the enemy, Satan, who uses people to accomplish his purpose.
The Jewish synagogue was actually a synagogue of Satan.
See the Jewish people were not serving Jesus Christ and therefore, they were serving Satan.
I heard it illustrated like this, there was a field with a fence down the middle, one side of the fence was God’s people and the other side of the fence were people that had not accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The day came God sent Jesus to collect His people and so Jesus gathered all the people on the one side of the fence, and then Satan comes out and gathers the people on the other side of the fence.
But there was this one person, who was sitting on the fence, and Satan called for them and said lets go, it is time to go.
The person said, but I did not chose to follow you, Satan said, but you did not chose to follow Jesus either.
The person said, I am on the fence, I have not made up my mind, Satan said it is too late.
The person said, but I haven’t made up my mind, I think, I am going to follow Jesus, as I want to go to heaven, it sounds better then Hell.
Satan says, it does not work that way, it is too late, you did not chose before Jesus came, and now you are mine, because you do not chose, you are automatically mine.
See because the Jewish people were not worship Jesus they were by default serving Satan.
30 “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
Any religious group, that does not acknowledge Jesus Christ as God’s Son is certainly acting contrary to God’s will.
III. Rebuke
III. Rebuke
If we recall from two weeks ago, Jesus had some criticism or rebuke for the church at Ephesus, but that is something that is lacking here for the church at Smyrna.
Jesus does not have anything to rebuke the Christians in Smyrna for because suffering through extreme difficult, had helped keep them pure in faith and life.
Yes they were facing all of these persecutions, all of these difficulties, all of these struggles, but through all of that it had kept them headed in the right direction, it had kept their eyes on Jesus.
IV. Exhortation
IV. Exhortation
10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Here Jesus tells the believers do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer.
Jesus is encouraging the believers to have courage to continue to face the persecution and to face the upcoming persecution.
See their severe trial was going to continue, they would receive further persecution by imprisonment and additional suffering for 10 days.
These 10 days have been taken different ways, some believe it is ten different out breaks of tribulation the church would face.
Others believe it is symbolic to represent the entire church period of persecution.
And then, while ten days is also a brief period.
No matter which way we look at the ten days, if it is ten outbreaks, the entire church age, or just ten days, it is all brief compared to eternity.
No matter how long we face persecution on this earth, it does not compare to the time we will have in paradise with Jesus.
Now do not get me wrong here, I am like anyone else, I do not want to face persecution, or go through trials and tribulations, but when we are faced with those things, we can think of the what we will get to experience with Jesus in paradise.
See, Satan, the devil can do all he wants to us, just think of what all Job went through in the Old Testament, but at the end he could not take Job away from God.
Jesus tells us in Matthew
28 “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.
This is one of my all time favorite verses in the Bible, because it reminds me that no matter what I face in this life, that I am already secured for the next.
That no matter the persecution, the trials, the tribulations, the hard times I face, nothing can take away my salvation, an my eternity with Jesus Christ in paradise.
The Christians in Smyrna faced persecution day in and day out, and here Jesus warns them that there was more to come, but He also encourages them to not fear it.
We do not have to fear it because we have Jesus on our side.
4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
See the Smyrna believers could stand on this promise that God was in them and He is great than he that is in the world.
V. Promise
V. Promise
10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
11 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’
Jesus had encouraged the believers to be courageous as they faced the persecution of imprisonment that was about to come, now He is giving them a promise if they are faithful through persecution.
I do not know about ya’ll but prison is not somewhere I want to go, and the other night me and Donetta was watching - Beyond Scared Straight - it is where they take teenagers who continuously get in trouble to prisons and let them see what it looks like on the inside for the day.
They have inmates, that are there for life that come and talk to them and show them around, and man after watching that show. I was like man, I could not do prison.
But I remember when I surrendered to the call of the Gospel ministry I told Donetta, the I felt like I would probably end up in prison one day for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jesus tells the Smyrna believers, be faithful to the point of death, not that is not really what we want to hear is it.
Hey you are going to face persecution and you are going to get put in prison, but be faithful to the point of death.
But I think back to what Jesus said, in Matthew 10:28 that man, Satan, our persecutors may harm our bodies and maybe even to the point of death, but if we will be faithful then our faithfulness will result in the crown of life.
There are five heavenly crowns mentioned in the New Testament that will be awarded to believers.
The five crowns are: the imperishable crown, the crown of rejoicing, the crown of righteousness, the crown of glory, and the crown of life.
The Greek word translated crown is stephanos and means a badge of royalty, a prize in the public games or a symbol of honor generally.
Used during the ancient Greek games, it refereed to a wreath or garland of leaves placed on a victor’s head as a reward for winning an athletic contest.
As such, this word is used figuratively in the New Testament of the rewards of heaven that God promises those who are faithful.
We see it best defined on how these crowns are awarded for us in 1 Corinthians:
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
The crown of life is for all believers, but is especially dear to those who have endured suffering, who bravely confront persecution for Jesus, even to the point of death.
In Scripture the word life is often used to show a relationship that is right with God.
It was Jesus who said in John:
10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Here in our text of Revelation 2:10 we are encouraged to be faithful by contemplating what awaits us after death, namely, eternal life.
No matter what we are faced with here on earth, we must remember that we have eternal life awaiting us, and that we may face a little suffering, a little persecution here.
But it is nothing compared to the greatness of God, the perfection of paradise that we will enjoy when we get into paradise.
8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
Verse 11 of our text, we come to the same three things that we see at the end of all seven letters, anyone who has ears, listen to what the spirit has to say to the churches. The one who conquers or overcomes.
Listen up, The Holy Spirit has something to say church, if you will overcome, if you will conquer the fear of persecution and make it through even if that means death, then there is a promise.
True believers will keep their eyes n Jesus, I am reminded of Stephen when he was being stoned to death for preaching Jesus.
54 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.
55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;
56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse.
58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
60 Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.
Stephen was facing death but he conquered his persecutors by keeping his eyes on Jesus, he did not allow them to get the best of him, he did not allow fear to overcome him.
Verse 11 of our text, tells us that if we will overcome or conquer than we will never be harmed by the second death.
This is referring to all believers here, that if we overcome Satan’s deceptions, Satan’s lies, his leading astray, then we will not be harmed or hurt by the second death.
What is this second death, the first death is physical death, when the soul is separated from the body.
The second death is then when the soul is separated from God.
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Unbelievers, those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives, that have not been washed in the blood of Jesus, have not been forgiven of their sins, and covered by the blood of Jesus and had their names written in the Lambs book of life, will be cast into the lake of fire which is Hell.
The term second death does not mean that unbelievers will die spiritually, or that they will no longer exist, or that they perish, their souls will also live for eternity but they will live in the lake of fire, where they will be tormented for eternity.
We know this because Jesus taught us this in His parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke
22 “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.
23 “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’
See the second death again is simply the unbeliever being eternally separated from God for all of eternity.
We must stand the test of time, just like the Smyrna believers, we may not see that kind of persecution here in America right now, but there is that kind of persecution in other parts of the world.
That kind of persecution can come to America very easily.
We must stand the test of persecution, I am not saying we can lose our salvation, but what Scripture tells us is that only true believers will stand and endure the fires of persecution.
Therefore, just as Jesus told the believers at Smyrna, we must not be afraid, but be courageous, stand firm and be faithful, keep our eyes on Jesus.
We may face things here on earth but it will only last for a brief moment in comparison to the time we get to spend with Jesus in paradise for eternity.