Jesus’ Letter To The Church In Smyrna: Persevere! - Revelation 2:8-11

Revelation 2:8-11

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.’

Introduction:

A straight sail from the island of Patmos of some 60 miles brings one to the port of Ephesus at the mouth of the river Cayster.

Traveling up coast some 35 miles almost due north of Ephesus is the city of Smyrna (population @ 100,000).

It is the only one of the 7 cities still in existence today

modern Izmir in western Turkey

Smyrna was a proud and beautiful city and regarded itself as the “pride of Asia.”

An inscription on coins describes the city as “First of Asia in beauty and size” (although other cities were certainly more highly populated).

The people of Smyrna were quite sensitive to the rivalry of Ephesus for recognition as the most splendid city of Asia Minor.

Of the 7 churches, only Smyrna and Philadelphia receive no complaint from the Lord.

There is only commendation, encouragement and a promise of eternal life to the one who overcomes.

Perhaps the reason there is no cause for complaint is that Smyrna was a suffering church.

The letter is devoted almost exclusively to an account of their past and present trials

a warning of yet more persecution to come, and a strengthening word of encouragement from the One who knows all too well the pain of scorn and death.

It is interesting to note that the word “myrrh”, associated symbolically in the NT with weeping, burial, and resurrection, is related to the name of this city: Smyrna.

Why did the church in Smyrna suffer? The answer is two-fold.

First, as early as 195 b.c. a temple personified as a goddess and dedicated to Rome had been built in Smyrna.

The city soon acquired a reputation for patriotic loyalty to the empire and its emperor.

In 29 a.d. all Asian cities were competing for the coveted favor of erecting a temple in honor of Emperor Tiberius.

Smyrna won!

It was a city fervent with emperor worship.

The Christian refusal to sprinkle incense on the fire which burned before the emperor’s bust no doubt fanned the flames of hostility against them.

It was dangerous to be a faithful Christian in Smyrna.

Second, great antagonism existed within the Jewish community toward the church.

This no doubt stemmed in part from their conviction that to worship a crucified carpenter from Nazareth was blasphemy.

There was also undoubtedly a measure of bitterness at the loss of so many from their ranks to the new faith.

The Jews were known to inform the authorities of Christian activities

the latter being perceived as treason.

Jewish antagonism against Paul is well known in the book of Acts

at Corinth they so bitterly opposed the gospel that Paul “shook out his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be upon your heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles’

This strong allegiance to Rome plus a large Jewish population that was actively hostile to the Christians made it exceptionally difficult to live as a Christian in Smyrna

John Piper says this is a letter where, “Things are worse than and better than they seem” (His Sermon title, 6-6-93)

The Lord’s Deity and Resurrection Power Gives Us Encouragement in Present Suffering v.8

Revelation 2:8

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.

The established church - From Ignatius’s letter to Smyrna (early second century a.d.) we learn that the church was already well organized, with a bishop (Polycarp), elders, and deacons

Temples of Apollos, Asclepius, Aphrodite, Cybele and Zeus dotted the landscape of this beautiful pagan city.

Politically the city was close with Rome and the imperial cult (emperor worship)

The Roman speaker Cicero paid Smyrna a great compliment calling her “the city of our most faithful and most ancient allies.”

As a reward for her loyalty in A.D. 23, Smyrna beat out 11 other cities and received permission to build the first temple to honor Tiberius Caesar (A.D. 14-37)

the Caesar who reigned when Christ was crucified. (

Couple this allegiance to Rome with a large and influential Jewish population, and you had all the ingredients for a hostile environment for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

While we do not know for certain how the church began, it is reasonable to suppose that it came about from Paul’s ministry in Ephesus.

Acts 19:10 tells us, “all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.”

This was a church that especially needed encouragement.

It was persecuted and suffering.

And, things were going to get worse.

John takes them back to the vision of the glorified Christ in 1:9-20, specifically to verses 17-18

Revelation 1:17-18 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Here are the words they need to hear and the Christ they need to see.

He is the eternal God

Jesus is described as the First and the Last

This is a title used of God in Isaiah 44:6 and 48:12.

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.

Isaiah 48:12 “Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last

The characteristics of deity are appropriately ascribed to Christ.

The emphasis is on his sovereignty.

He is the eternal Lord over all of history and He will have the last word!

He has always been aware of the circumstances of His people.

He knows their situation right now.

He has their future in plain sight.

Time is in His hands.

This is a God you can trust now and the future

The city Smyrna may claim to be the “first in Asia,”

but it is Christ who is the “First and Last”

and He alone provides “a superior foundation for security”

The church at Smyrna was a persecuted church, so the letter comes from the sovereign One “the First and the Last”, who died and came to life again.

As he was victorious over death, so they, too, can face martyrdom knowing that faithfulness is rewarded with eternal life

He is the resurrected Lord

If “The First and the Last” draws attention to His deity

“the One who was dead and came to life” speaks to His humanity.

The former emphasized His authority over time.

The later emphasizes His authority over death and life.

Jesus experienced death for us, and a far more horrible death than any human will ever know.

He bore the full judgment and wrath of God for the sins of the world

Turn to John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

He was subject to slander, persecution, rejection, imprisonment and death

He walked this road. But, “He came to life!”

He conquered!

He won!

Like the sovereign Lord, the church of Smyrna, and you and I, can walk the road of persecution and suffering.

Like Him, they may even walk the road of an unjust death. Don’t lose heart.

Paul says; To live is Christ and too die is gain (Phil. 1:21)

If you are in Christ it’s a win/win scenario

I felt this tension all week. We don’t know what it means to suffer in America

We love going on controlled mission trips

Even going to serve Jesus in the hard places has a certain romance to it.

But, it is a call to go and die if it is His will

It will be worth it, and He will sustain you, but it may cost you your life

Listen to this from Christianity Today:

“Every year for 20 years missionary Graham Staines of Australia conducted five-day open-air “jungle camps” in villages of the eastern Indian state of Orissa.

After a meeting on January 23, 1999, the 58-year-old Staines and his two sons, 10-year-old Philip and 7-year-old Timothy, were sleeping in a vehicle parked outside a local church when militant Hindus doused the vehicle with gasoline and set it afire.

“My husband and sons tried to get out of the burning vehicle, but were stopped by the attackers,” Staines wife, Gladys recounts.

As the flames engulfed the vehicle, the mob danced and some shouted, “Justice has been done; the Christians have been cremated in Hindu fashion.”

The mob kept would-be rescuers at bay for more than an hour until making sure the missionary and his sons had died.

Staines, secretary of the Evangelical Missionary Society, had been operating a hospital and clinic for lepers for 34 years.

Two days after the murders, lepers dug the graves for the family while Gladys Staines consoled them as they wept. “God has given me peace, and I have never questioned his wisdom in allowing this tragedy,”

Gladys Staines said after the tragedy. “These people are my people and I hope to stay here.”(Christianity Today, 3-1-99).

Gladys and her 13-year-old daughter Esther, did stay. World Magazine reported that Gladys said, “I am terribly upset but not angry. My husband loved Jesus Christ who has taught us to forgive our enemies” (11-6-99; p. 16).

It is a living resurrected Lord who gives us the ability to do this.

By the way, in 2005 she received from the government of India one of its highest civilian awards. Amazingly, there was negative protest throughout the nation.

Gladys, as of 2014, still serves Christ and still forgives those who murdered her husband and sons

Remember as Christ was victorious over death, so they, too, can face martyrdom knowing that faithfulness is rewarded with eternal life.

John Stott - The first mark of a true and living church is love and the second is suffering

The one is the natural consequence of the other because the willingness to suffer proves the genuineness of love

The truth, we will suffer.

We are reminded in the letter to Smyrna that as Christians we are called to suffer.

Persecution takes different forms, and we don’t all suffer death or imprisonment for our faith

The call let us be faithful for our Lord will sustain us and reward us

Application: What has following Christ cost you physically?

The Lord Commends His Church For Their Faith And Perseverance vv. 9-10

Revelation 2:9-10

Revelation 2:9–10 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. 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.

The church at Smyrna is reminded that its afflictions and stark poverty have not gone unnoticed by the Lord of the church universal.

He is fully aware of the pressures brought upon the faithful.

The linking of affliction and poverty suggests a close connection between the two.

Their poverty, however, was a material poverty:

spiritually they were rich (note the contrast with the Laodicean church, which claimed to be rich but was poor; 3:17)

Revelation 3:17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked

James wrote to a similar group, indicating that “God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith”

Look at James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

Matthew 6:20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal

2 Corinthians 6:10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

After the honorable Polycarp confessed that he was a Christian,

“the multitude of heathen and Jews living in Smyrna cried out with uncontrollable wrath.”

They then joined (although it was the Sabbath) with the mob in gathering wood to burn Polycarp alive

The Jews who blasphemed, however, were not real Jews.

This should be taken in the sense of Rom 2:28–29 where Paul says that “a man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly … [but] … a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly.”

Phil. 3:3

3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—

We must conclude, then, that John makes a real distinction between literal Israel—the Jews—and spiritual Israel—the church.

v.9 b A synagogue of Satan

As Christ was in the midst of the church gatherings, the devil was in the midst of the Jewish gathering

Note the implication:

They were facing martyrdom itself. Yet Jesus refrains from intervening.

He does not remove the poverty nor does he vindicate his people in the face of those who hurled their indignant slander, nor does he overturn the vicious actions of the Devil who will instigate the imprisonment and even their deaths. Why?

Perhaps instead of asking the question, “Why do Christians suffer persecution?” we should ask, “Why do Christians not suffer persecution?”

Says Stott: “The ugly truth is that we tend to avoid suffering by compromise.

Our moral standards are often not noticeably higher than the standards of the world.

Our lives do not challenge and rebuke unbelievers by their integrity or purity or love.

The world sees in us nothing to hate

The Comfort of Christ

The appeal: Be faithful and fearless

Faith and fear are opposites

Faith banish fear

Look at Psalm 56:3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you

Mark 5:36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”

Faith brings faithfulness

Christ is worthy of our absolute trust:

He is eternal - v.8 - first and last

Revelation 1:8 I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Hebrew 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever

He is victorious - V.8 - We live & Die; He died but is alive

Phil 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross

Rev 1:18 - Keys of death and hades are his

Heb 2:14-15

Hebrews 2:14–15 ESV

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

He is all-knowing

V.9 - We long to unburden ourselves with some who understands

Jesus is the worlds greatest confidant

He knows because he walks among the lampstands

Not only does He know, He cares

He is balanced

He has a different value system - your poor yet your rich

He sees our physical and spiritual condition

It is possible to be physically poor but be rich in Christ

1 Corinthians 1:4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus

Eph 3:8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ

We become rich in Christ one way - 2 Cor 8:9 “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 by his poverty might become rich.”

There was a group in Smyrna who had a false perception of themselves - v.9

Outwardly Jewish but inwardly satanic - Rom 2:28-29

We should not be overly concerned about the opinions of unbelievers, but seek to cultivate the mind of Christ.

He is in Control

Suffering comes to us only be permission

Jesus limits our suffering

Those who know he’s on the throne and is in control can remain clam amid the evils and sorrows of the world.

The Promise to the Faithful - vv. 10-11

Revelation 2:10-11

Revelation 2:10–11 (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. 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.’

The Command v.10a

Do Not fear

Christ enjoins them, Do not fear what you are about to suffer

thus making clear that their suffering was both an inevitable and immediate result of their being followers of Christ

John 15:20-21 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me

this is the joy of being connected and identified with Christ

This doesn’t remove the pain

but it does provide the purpose

Do not be afraid to be mark as a Christ-follower and treated like they treated our Lord

Be faithful unto death v.10c

v.10c Be faithful even to death

Polycarp was in all likelihood a member at Smyrna when this letter was written and may have been encouraged by its words.

The Death of Polycarp

Feb, 2 Ad 156 - Polycarp Bishop at the time

Didn't attempt to flee but fed his captors and asked for permission to pray for 2 hours

As they traveled to the city he was urged to recant;

just sacrifice to the emperor who cares….! He refused

On arrival, he was again encouraged due to his age to recant and swear allegiance to Caesar.

Polycarp's response: “ For 86 years I have served him, and he has never done me wrong; how can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

The proconsul threaten to throw him to the wild beast. Polycarp, call them

Polycarp was taken to the stake to be burned but asked to not be tied to it.

He would stand willingly

As they piled the wood around him, He prayed, “ O Lord Almighty, the Father of your Beloved Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have come to know you… I thank you for counting me worthy this day and this hour of sharing the cup of Christ among the number of your martyrs.”

The fire was lit, but the wind blew the fire away from him prolonging his suiffering.

A soldier eventually ended his suffering with his sword

This is a Call to Suffer

But there is a great promise...

The promise - vv. 10d-11

vv.10d-11 Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Their devotion to Jesus means He rules over every part of their lives.

If they are faithful, Jesus will give them the “crown of life,” an image of a garland wreath.

The crown isn’t a reward above and beyond eternal life

The reward, the crown, is life itself.

Just as Jesus triumphed over death and is the ever-living one (Rev. 1:18)

so too the believers in Smyrna will never die if they are willing to give their lives for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Eternal life - the cross of Christ provided for us life forever with Him

For eternal life is to know God thru knowing his Son.

The promise is there is a greater reality to knowing Christ. Greater than we can imagine.

The words to Smyrna are the words of the Holy Spirit, addressed to and applicable to all the churches:

the one who “conquers,” the one who overcomes, will not be injured by the “second death.”

John uses the phrase “second death” three other times (20:6, 14; 21:8) and identifies it as the lake of fire.

It clearly refers to punishment in hell, and thus we have further evidence that the “crown of life” (2:10) refers to eternal life.

So Then..

The first death is the death of the body which all men, believers and unbelievers alike, must suffer.

The second death is the eternal death.

Jesus himself had taught, “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” (Matt. 10:28)

So What?

Am I willing to live by faith not fear no matter the cost?

2 Peter 1:5-11

2 Peter 1:5–11 ESV

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Make every effort - urgency - bring everything you have to bear

“Supplement” your faith = add to - Active imperative - How

Spiritual discipline & the ordinary means of grace

Faith banishes fear

Faith brings faithfulness

Hebrews 11:26

Hebrews 11:26 ESV

He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

By Faith Moses said Jesus is better than comfort

better than playing it safe

better than living the Amercian dream

and so he stepped into His calling by faith