Rev 2:8-11

Revelation 2:8-11, Under Pressure

Intro

If you know anything about 1948 Romania you know that the Soviet Union was at the height of what would basically be a supernova. Communism would spread through out the slavic world and into the Eastern bloc of countries very rapidly in the years right after world war II.

Well a year after The Soviet union took over Romania, it gathered 4,000 pastors and faith leaders into one place and one by one they all had to stand up and profess that Christianity and communism could exist side by side

That communism was a good thing and would be a great thing for their faith community.

What was happening was the communist party went to the christian leaders and made them publically kiss the ring of communism so that they would fall in line…

If you understand communism at all you know at the core and root of it that it is atheistic and authoritarian,

In every single example of Communism that I know of the church has either been repressed or massively silenced, the church is always seen as an enemy…

Well this women in the crowd leaned over to her husband Richard and said, “Richard, stand up and wash this shame from the face of Christ”

Richard replied: “If I speak, you will lose your husband”

Her reply was thoroughly Romanian: She said, “I dont wish to have a coward as a husband”

Richard Wurmbrand took the podium and to everyones surprise he began to preach

“Delegates, it is our duty not to praise earthly powers that come and go, but to glorify God the creator and Christ the savior, who died for us on the cross.”

One of the Soviet officials yells, “Your right to speak is withdrawn”

But Richard Wurmbrand keeps preaching, and he is saying all the things that the other pastors are too afraid to say …And the crowd starts chanting and going wild for him

He was so popular in that moment that the communists couldn't touch him

But just days later he was on his way to church when he was kidnapped by secret police, Pastor Wurmberland says and I quote

“I was led to a prison 30 feet beneath the earth, where I was kept in solitary confinement. For years, I was kept alone in a cell. Never did I see the sun, moon, stars, flowers. Never did I see a man except the interrogators, who beat and tortured me. Never did I have a book, never a bit of paper. When after many years, I had to write again, I cannot even remember how to write a capital D.

After years of torture:

Finally, the worst came. Communist tortured those who believe in God. With red hot, iron pokers, with rubber hoses, with sticks with all kinds of methods.

And then the miracle happened. When it was at the worst, when we were tortured, as never before, we began to love those who tortured us. The more were mocked and tortured, the more we pitted and loved our tortures

Many asked me how it was, that I could love those who tortured me my reply was as follows

By looking at men, not as they are, but as they will be. I can also see in our persecutors Saul of Tarsus – a future apostle Paul. Many officers of the secret police to whom we witnessed became Christians and were happy to later suffer in prison for having found Christ. Although we were whipped, as Paul was, in our jailers, we saw the potential of the jailer in Philippi, who became a convert. We dream that soon they would ask, what must I do to be saved?

It was In prison that we found the hope of salvation for the communist. It was there that we developed a sense of responsibility towards them. In communist prison, that idea of a Christian mission to the communist was born. We asked ourselves. What can we do to win these men to Christ?

The gates of Heaven are not closed for the communist. Neither is the light quenched for them. They can repent like anyone else. And we must call them to repentance. Only love can change the communist and the terrorist.

Pastor Richard Wurmband was released from prison and went right back to preaching and right back to prison. For years he was in a Romanian Prison.

Finally when he was exiled he came to America and began a ministry called “the voice of the martyrs”

Why Do I tell you all of this?

In America we judge a churches success by how many people come on a Sunday, by whether or not your pastor is a celebrity pastor, we judge success by church finances, we judge church success by how many cool events we have and how many buildings we have built.

We judge many times by outward experiences but God has a very different standard of success for churches and for christians.

Are we faithful witnesses? There are only two churches out of the seven that Jesus will go on to praise completely and have no complaint against, these are the churches that remain faithful in all circumstances

The church we are going to look at today only covers four verses of the Bible…It is a tiny spectrum of the book of Revelation

You might wonder, Pastor Dave, why are we going to spend months in this book of the bible and you devote an entire Sunday to four verses?

Because in these four verses we find the definition of a successful church in the eyes of God. And generations of christians in countries that have heavy persecution have lived out this reality of what it means to be a good church in the eyes of God.

Revelation 2:8–11 ESV

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. “ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

This is a church where the government didn’t allow for anything but the worship of Cezar

it was 1948 Soviet controlled Romania

And nearly every other church we will read about has a complaint by Jesus, but Jesus only has encouraging things to say about this church

This is a church who is poor and slandered…People who should be their friends are turning them into the secret police

They are about to be tested to death and Jesus never tells them, don’t worry I’ve totally got a plan, there is a way out…He just says, I Died and came to life

And Jesus’ message to them: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life!

And that’s it…

So many times we have our theology around suffering all wrong, we look at it as a punishment but what if it is when God is nearest to us?

So lets look deeper at this all today because I really think embedded into these 4 verses is just some amazing gold.

Smyrna

Smyrna was called, “the crown of Asia” and, “The flower of Asia”

It was the birthplace of Homer

Later it would be the home to the bishop Polycarp (who was disciple by John the author of Revelation) In fact it is very possible that Polycarp, who is a famous church father of the 2nd century was reading this letter to this church…

Smyrna still exists today as a port town in Turkey called Izmir, it is the 3rd largest city in Turkey

This was a town that competed with Ephesus for being the religious center of Rome.

The city used to be ruled by a man named King Eumenes of Pergamum, the city of Pergamum is actually the subject of the next letter that we will be looking at.

in 197BC the city cut ties with a foreign king and appealed to the Roman empire for help.

In order to show their allegiance to Rome they were among the first to establish temples to the goddess Roma. They required allegiance to this goddess…

They were also among the first to start paying a religious tribute to their emperor, they were one of the firsts to build a temple to worship their emperor in 23BC (Tiberius)

They were sucking up because the city was rich. It literally was the Beverly Hills, or the Laguna Beach of the Roman Empire.

They actually had a road referred to as “the Golden Road” and on this road were temples to

-Apollo: God of truth, healing, prophesy & poetry

-Aphrodite: Goddess of Sex and fertility

-Asklepios: God of Medicine, which by the way was a serpent god

-Zeus: Father of the Gods

-Cybele: Goddess of nature or Earth

and here was a church that would not “bow down to another” and who would not pay tribute…Inside a city with a 300-year tradition of worshiping the gods and goddesses of the empire…

So let’s break this letter down a bit more

Revelation 2:8 ESV

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

See how Jesus introduces himself to this church

He is echoing the words of Isaiah

Isaiah 41:4 ESV

Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he.

Isaiah 43:10 ESV

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.

So the way that Jesus presents himself to the church matters and it matters to us today

Jesus presents himself as the boundary marker for the church, he is first and last. (Rev 2:8, Isa 41:4, Isa 43:10)

Now why is this important…Because what Jesus is saying is that I am first and last, that your life finds it boundaries within me….

Its hard to make Jesus your boundary line when you yourself are your own boundary line

Its hard to make Jesus your boundary when

Your political party is your boundary…

your job

your money

your circumstances

The church of Smyrna would have felt the pressure to find their identity in politics and the empire

He is saying your lives are not defined by Smyrna…Your lives are found in me… I am your beginning and end, not Smyrna, I am your identity…not the city you dwell in…

Archaeologist have found coins from Smyrna at this time with the inscription “First city in Asia in size and beauty” And it is no wonder because they were the first to establish so much…

Jesus is saying don’t be fooled, I am first…not your city

Then if you go back to Revelation 2:8 you will see that Jesus says I am the one who died and came back to life again. This has an amazing double meaning

First: The church is literally being persecuted, people are dying for their faith

But also

the city had been destroyed in 580BC and rebuilt in 290BC…And people who lived there often wrote and bragged about the resurrection of the city…They bragged that the city died and rose again!

And here Jesus is…saying your city is a fraud…there is no security in it…It is just a parody of me…It claims to be first…but I am first…It claims to have resurrected, but I was the one who raised from the dead

Too many times churches take their cues from culture. Because we are so shaped by the city we live in and we don’t even realize it we look to the city for what is good, beautiful and true rather than to Jesus.

And Jesus’ introduction is to say, take your cues from me! I am your portion

Revelation 2:9 ESV

“ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

First: I know your tribulation and your poverty

Now this is a church that had endured harsh suffering because of their faith in Jesus…

So, imagine what you must have felt the first time the church gathered together, and you heard the words of Jesus…I know your afflictions and poverty…

I know your pressure! Jesus knows what his church is experiencing!

But if you notice what he says, there is plenty he does not say…

He doesn’t say, it’s going to get better…I am going to lift the pressure…

I mean I wish this letter had said…I know your suffering and I am going to change all of that! I am going to bulldoze those evil people! Just hang in there…But he doesn’t…he just says endure!He actually says it is going to get worse before it gets better out there

Now why is that?

Had they done something to displease God?

No, not at all, and that is the point. This church had done everything right…

In the face of the pressure from the Roman government they did not bow down, they did not lose their first love, they were not lukewarm, they didn’t engage in immorality

Let’s look at it this way, when the light shines in the darkness, the darkness has two options

First: To acknowledge what the light reveals and make the necessary changes

Second: To extinguish the light…

The Smyrna church was shining brightly, and the darkness couldn’t handle it…so the church was feeling the pressure…

Now it is important to note, that sometimes we feel like we are under pressure because we are making careless and ungodly decisions with our life…

But these disciples were facing tribulation because of their godliness

The word that Jesus uses for afflictions or trouble or pressure is thlipsis…this is a technical term, it is not used for the normal life pressures…it is always used in connection with the coming of the kingdom of God.

So, we know the reason why this church was facing thlipsis was because they were bringing God’s kingdom to light, and the darkness was freaking out.

why does does darkness feel so comfortable to operate in our world when we have so many christians?

Does our church put the kingdom of darkness on notice? Do we put it in check? Is your family a threat to darkness? Are you personally, if we were to sprawl out your life…Would your life threaten darkness?

Is my life a threat to the kingdom of darkness?

If not, what are your waiting for? Get in the fight! Don’t be afraid of what is to come!

The kingdom of darkness has a really great lie that is super believable, but at the end of the day it is still a lie….

That is, there is a middle ground…a grey area…I think the kingdom of darkness doesn’t care if you engage in it or not, as long as you do nothing to stop it…

Now most people would never claim to be on the side of darkness of evil…But most people also are not feeling the pressure of being against it…

I think the great lie is that there is a middle ground, and I think when we take Jesus at his word, we are either for him or against him…

There is a middle ground in a lot of things in life….But never when it comes to following Jesus!

The believers in this church intrinsically got that! They got persecution and they celebrated!

I was thinking about it this week…and in America, who are the people that probably face the most pressure because of their faith?

I think teenagers who are trying to be faithful to Jesus have such a hard time.

Literally their school is preaching to them embrace your true self and Jesus says deny yourself

You get ridiculed if you don’t have sex before marriage

Your society looks at you like some sort of crazy person, and your just a teenager trying to be faithful to Jesus.

There are many others who have it bad but I think its our teenagers who feel the pressure day in and day out

They feel the pressure!

Its almost like pastor Pastor Richard Wurmband who had to make his stand in front of soviet officials

If our teenagers go to school and say I believe in Jesus they feel intense pressure by not just other kids but by teachers too

If you are living your life for Jesus you should be feeling pressure! The pressure of Darkness running for cover and freaking out

So, Jesus chiefly says…I feel your pressure…I know it

Then he says I know your poverty…yet you are rich…

We will talk about this more later in Revelation but in almost all of these economies the trade guilds ran the economy. They were poor because in order to be in the trade guild you had to worship the guild’s god and pay tribute to cesar, literally you had to have your papers stamped that showed that you uttered the words, Cesar is Lord.

You think things are bad now! There is nothing new under the sun!

They were poor because of their allegiance to Jesus…Work for them meant to worship a false God and they would rather be poor and suffering rather than disloyal to Jesus

Success in the kingdom of God is living as a faithful witness

Then Jesus says:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan

There are people who call this anti Semitic, as if John a Jew, calling the Jews a synagogue of satan can be anti Semitic. If you are upset at someone who attacks you it doesn’t make you anti human

So the Jews enjoyed a special relationship with the Roman Emperor.

Every Roman was required to go to the temple of Cesar, throw in a pinch of incense and declare “Cesar is Lord”

But the Jewish population in Rome was huge, and they were exempt from worshiping the Roman god’s…

See they struck a deal with Rome that they would pray to their God on behalf of the Emperor, but to worship him would be against their religion

They could be safe because of that exemption…What was happening was that the church was planted in the Synagogues all across the Roman world…Of course it was It was Jews coming to Jews saying…The Messiah has come! He died and rose again!

And right around 90ad, there was a Jewish council called Jamnia that expelled anyone from a synagogue that declared Jesus of Nazareth as the messiah.

So no longer did the church have the political cover! The synagogues kicked out their own brothers and sisters and then informed on them to the Romans

the Jews in the city were informing on Christians, people who were Jews and converted to Christianity were turned into the government…and then Christians would be killed or beaten

Synagogues were formally called “Synagogues of the Lord” but see Jesus says they are Synagogues of Satan…because he is saying, with the way they have been acting, they are no longer worthy of the title…

Revelation 2:10 ESV

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

One of the questions that comes up in this letter is, will the literal devil throw them into prison?

So, if we had a video of some of the acts in Smyrna you would not find a devil creature eating Christians…You would find the government officials and police rounding people up and persecuting them

What Jesus is saying is, behind the political forces…behind the hostile religious forces is the force of evil…

Richard Halverson was the Chaplin of the United States Senate and one time from the floor he said:

“No adequate understanding of history can be had without taking into account the fact that behind and around and through history, a personal diabolical, Satanic spiritual force is bent on destroying all good and its author, Jesus Christ”

It is what Paul told the Ephesian church…That the battle is not against flesh and blood…it is about the spiritual forces of darkness in the world…

We have to understand that the believers of Smyrna were not the real target of evil…Jesus was…and since he lost the battle to Jesus, he goes after that which is most near and dear to Jesus, his followers…

You will face pressure in this life based on how close you get to Jesus…who is the real target

This is what believers in the USSR faced under Stalin

This is what believers are facing now in China

This is what believers in many middle eastern countries are facing…

Believers in North Africa and around the world are coming under pressure because of their Christlikeness…

Jesus says you will face persecution for 10 days…

Scholars take this back to Daniel 1. Where Daniel and his three friends asked to be tested for 10 days that they didn't eat from the kings table.

And in those 10 days that they only ate vegetables, they looked healthier and better than anyone else.

Daniel and his friends were rewarded for not pledging allegiance to the pagan king

This is what Jesus is reminding them of!

And he says I will give you the crown of life

This was referring to a crown won in athletic games…it was a familiar phrase…but only what Jesus is saying is that I will give you a crown that will not fade…I will give your life itself

Jesus is saying, you will share in my victory

You will have victory over death just like me, so keep being bold!

And the second promise is this

Revelation 2:11 ESV

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

And to explain this

I want to end with this:

The Bishop Polycarp Came from this church and most likely even read this letter to his church…He was Martyred and his death shines light on this:

He was arrested on the charge of being a Christian -- a member of a politically dangerous cult whose rapid growth needed to be stopped.

Amidst an angry mob, the Roman proconsul took pity on such a gentle old man and urged Polycarp to proclaim, "Caesar is Lord". If only Polycarp would make this declaration and offer a small pinch of incense to Caesar's statue, he would escape torture and death. To this Polycarp responded, "Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?" Steadfast in his stand for Christ, Polycarp refused to compromise his beliefs, and thus, was burned alive at the stake.

Before he died, he prayed that he would be an acceptable sacrifice…

When he was thrown into the fire the account of his death was that there was an aroma of bread baking or of gold and silver being refined…

Response:

The words of Mrs Wurmbrand ring in my head

“I do not wish to have a coward as a husband”

Well I do not wish to be a coward

I think of the words of Jesus

Luke 9:26 ESV

For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

I have two response for you today

First: to live your faith boldly

if you are a follower of Jesus then to live in such a way that doesn’t bend to our culture, that doesn’t give your worship to anyone else

To live in such a way that honors God even if it is at great personal expense

Second: Maybe your here and you have been kind of living on the fence…”The christian Grey area”

I mean you do believe in this Jesus Stuff but you dont ever stand up for Jesus

I mean this all makes sense to you but you would never share the gospel because then youd be one of those crazy Christians

I mean Yeah, Jesus is God but this church thing is really more of your husbands thing than yours

Life is more comfortable on the fence because you don’t have to really take any hard positions

you dont have to have strong Jesus convictions

if that’s you, what I think Jesus wants to remind you is that he died for your redemption and came to life again

He says “follow me”

Sitting on the fence might feel better now but I’ll tell you what, there is no comfortable way to sit on a fence long term

Jesus is inviting you to go all in with him today.