Revelation Study Series 3 - God's Mysterious Plan Fulfilled Series

Revelation Study Series 3 - God's Mysterious Plan Fulfilled

10.17.21

Message…

Revelation 2:8-11

8 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Smyrna. This is the message from the one who is the First and the Last, who was dead but is now alive:

9 “I know about your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich! I know the blasphemy of those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they are not, because their synagogue belongs to satan.

10 Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days. But if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life.

11 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches. Whoever is victorious will not be harmed by the second death.

A young man said to his father at breakfast one morning, "Dad, I'm going to get married."

"How do you know you're ready to get married?" asked the father. "Are you in love?"

"I sure am," said the son.

"How do you know you're in love?" asked the father.

"Last night as I was kissing my girlfriend good-night, her dog bit me and I didn't feel the pain until I got home."

-Source Unknown

Last week we talked about our love for the Lord. How we don’t want to live life just going through the motions. That our Lord needs to be our first and greatest love.

Today, our focus is on how much we love Him. How far are we willing to go to love Him?!

This letter was addressed to the church in Smyrna...

During John’s day the citizens of Smyrna worshipped the emperor of Rome as a god.

The name “Smyrna” means “myrrh” which is a perfumed, anointing oil used to prepare a body for burial.

For the Christian, that name would be most prophetic because they would suffer much for the cause of Christ. Smyrna represents a persecuted church.

Revelation 2:9

9 “I know about your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich! I know the blasphemy of those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they are not, because their synagogue belongs to satan.

It’s been said of Smyrna’s, because of the intense hatred of Christians, if you took a stand for Jesus, your business was boycotted.

If you worked for someone and they found out you were a Christian you would have been fired.

Although the city was wealthy the church in Smyrna probably had little if any money.

“...the churches of the first three centuries were marked by material poverty and spiritual power, whereas the churches of our day are marked by material wealth and spiritual weakness.” -Revelation, Tim Lehaye, p. 32

God knows what you have and what you lack. God knows what you are going through or suffering through.

God saw their suffering and poverty and said, “You are rich!”

God assesses our lives differently than how the world does. The world is full of the “haves and the have nots”…

God says that those that have Him through Christ...have it all…

2 Corinthians 6:10

10 Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.

The Lord not only knew of their persecution/suffering He knew the source of it.

There were many Jews who lived in this area. They were Jews by birth, but they were just pagan as the other people who lived there.

They were against Christians. They were against Jesus.

They did as much to stamp out Christianity as anyone did.

Revelation 2:10

10 Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days. But if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life.

The Lord told the believers in Smyrna...some of you will suffer...some of you will be thrown into jail...some of you will die for your faith.

This letter to Smyrna is believed to represent a specific time period in history. “...you will suffer for ten days...”

This is thought to be from 100 A.D.- 312 A.D.

During this time ten rulers inflicted intense persecution on Christians...

Paul was beheaded. Peter was crucified. John was exiled to Patmos. And, one of John's early disciples...a man by the name of Polycarp was persecuted.

Polycarp was a pastor of a church in Smyrna. At 86 years old, he was arrested and told to denounce Christ and he would be freed.

Polycarp's reply: "Eighty and six years have I now served Christ, and He has never done me the least wrong; how, then, can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?" -http://www.padfield.com/1999/smyrna.html