REV.#5(SMYRNA) ~2:8-11 5-16-09
Today we’ll continue our study of the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, this is our 5th study.
Last time we talked about the 1st Church of the 7 that the Lord tells us of in Chapters 2 & 3, we talked about the Church of Ephesus, the Apostolic time period of the Church age, Ephesus was of the time period of about 37-100 A.D., THE Lord commended that Church for some of the things that they stood for and believed, but He also criticized them in that they had left their 1st love.
This message, as all the seven messages, has something to say to each of us as Christians today.
Notice verse 7a: ’He that hath an ear to hear’, in the singular, ’Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches’. So it’s for us as individuals to take heed to God’s word, to Christ’s revelation to each of these churches, and apply them to our own lives.
He also says, “I know thou works” to each church, and this also is to every individual person.
Today we’ll take a look at the 2nd church that the Lord writes about. The church of SMYRNA, the great persecuted church.
The time of this church period, SMYRNA, was from about 100-350 A.D.
Of the 7 messages to the 7 churches, this one, the message to Smyrna, is the shortest, only 4 verses. This church of Smyrna and also the 6th church, Philadelphia, are the only 2 churches that the Lord, Who is the Head of His True Church, did not rebuke in some way.
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Listen as I read today’s text to do with the 2nd Church, the great time of Christian persecution, the Church of SMYRNA.
8And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; 9I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. --
10Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
11He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
Let me say that there were far more churches than seven in Asia Minor in John’s day, but the Holy Spirit selected these seven. - Seven is the number of completion, and so seven is representing the complete church age, “the things which are” . So we have here a divine revelation concerning the church age in the 2 & 3rd chapters, which all both in red writing as the Lord Jesus is doing all the talking.
True believers of Jesus Christ have always been and still are persecuted around the world, some places in the world are much worse than others, some places, especially in the Muslim countries, many Christians are put to death for their faith in Jesus.
Smyrna is the modern day city in Turkey called today Izmir, and it was an important seaport in the day of the apostle John. It was about 40 miles north of Ephesus that we talked about last week.
There is nothing known for certain about how the church of Smyrna 1st began, Yet with all the persecution that had been heaped on these Christians, we find that Smyrna endured, and there is still a witness and testimony to Jesus Christ even today in SMYRNA, today called “Izmir” in modern-day Turkey.
And today the population of Smyrna, or Izmir as its called today, is about 400,000 people. The location is the same as it was then. It’s been around for a long, long time.
Ephesus is gone, its harbor is silted up, but Smyrna lives. And in that city there are still Christians worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ.
Smyrna occupied a most attractive site in Asia Minor, it was known as the ’lovely Smyrna, the crown of Ionia, the ornament of Asia’. Yet behind that great beauty there lurked evil, the satanic opposition to Christ in the whole of Asia.
The Jews there rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. They refused to acknowledge Him as Messiah and Savior. Jesus says they are members of a synagogue but it isn’t the synagogue of God, it’s a synagogue of Satan.
The thing for us to notice here is that whatever the outward appearances of beauty and attractiveness might be, we’ve got to face the reality that outward appearances matter very little. We live in a world that is, generally speaking, against Christ.
There are countless religions but only one Salvation.
Smyrna was a very beautiful place, and yet behind it all there was Satan busy persecuting these believers.
Ø The name ’Smyrna’ comes from the word ’Myrrh’, Smyrna as a city operated a trade in myrrh - that is, an aromatic resin. The resin that they got from the tree was like a gum that was often used for embalming dead bodies.
It was an industrious city that was famous for myrrh, it was used to put on a dead body for aromatic purposes. It had some kind of fragrance to it.
So it started out in the New Testament as a perfume and then later on was associated with death. And it becomes the picture of suffering in this little church. Smyrna or myrrh was used to treat the dead. And it shows the suffering character of this church, suffering even to death. In order for that thorny tree to yield that fragrance, it had to be crushed. And so you see a little church, the myrrh church, crushed and when it’s crushed it yields the sweet aroma.
But Smyrna was also marked for its idolatry, it offered worship to the emperor through an imperial cult, and this cult, along with a large Jewish population, made life extremely difficult for the believers of the Lord Jesus Christ in Smyrna.
None of the other cities of the seven churches written to in the Revelation were so stained with the blood of the martyrs like Smyrna.
There was very strong emperor worship there. They killed people who didn’t worship Caesar. Each year every citizen had to burn incense on Caesar’s altar after which he was issued a certificate, and to be without a certificate was to risk discovery and the death penalty.
The Christians would not call Caesar lord and so they would be accused of rebellion and they would lose their lives.
Joining hands with the Romans to oppose Christianity was a large Jewish community and they repeatedly informed the Romans against the Christians and incited the local government to attack the Smyrna believers in Christ.
With the rejection of Jesus as their Messiah, Judaism becomes as Satanic as emperor worship. Even more so because of its light and privilege.
Even the Jewish people who we as Christians love so, will end up in hell if they reject the Lord Jesus Christ, because no man comes to the Father except by Him and that includes the dear Jewish people, it matters not how religious they seem to appear.
The Jews set out to slander the Christians there in Smyrna. They slandered them for cannibalism, saying they eat flesh and drink blood. They slandered them for lust and immorality because they greeted one another with a holy kiss, they slandered them for home wrecking because one member of a home became a Christian and it brought a division into the household.
They slandered them for atheism because they rejected the worship of emperors and the deities of Rome. And the Jews wanting to destroy the Christian faith went to the Romans to report the Christians, that they might lose their lives.
Ø A Christian man named Polycarp was burned alive at the age of 86... he was the pastor of the Smyrna church and he would not bow his knee to Caesar. Polycarp was reported and turned in as being a Christian and that he refuse to bow the knee to Caesar as a god.
We’re told that not even the Roman soldier that arrested him wished to see Polycarp die. On the brief journey to the city he pled with the 86 old year Christian man, we’re told the Roman soldier said to him. "What harm is it to say Caesar is lord and to sacrifice and save your life?" But Polycarp was steadfast in that for him only Jesus Christ was Lord.
And we’re told that he entered the arena and the government official gave him the choice of cursing the name of Christ and making sacrifice to Caesar or death.
Here is a quote of what Polycarp said, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?"
The government official then threatened him with burning. Polycarp replied,
"You threaten me with the fire that burns for a time and is quickly quenched, for you do not know the fire which awaits the wicked in the judgment to come and in everlasting punishment. Why are you waiting? Come do what you will."
We’re told that he remained unmovable. So the crowds came flocking with their sticks and wood from the workshops and other sources, and the Jews, even though they were breaking the Sabbath law by carrying such burdens, were foremost in the clamor and bringing wood for the fire.
When they were getting ready to bind him to the stake. Polycarp said, "Leave me as I am for He who gives me power to endure the fire will grant me to remain in the flames unmoved, even without the security you will give by binding." So they left him loosely in the flames and there he died for Christ.
The Christians of Smyrna suffered more than the rest of the seven churches. The city of Smyrna was destroyed and rebuilt many, many times. There were many earthquakes there, and it’s still earthquake prone today.
For about 200 years pagan Roman would crush the church. In verse 10 it is prophesied that for ten days they would be thrown in prison, and would be tested and tried, and they would need to be faithful unto death.
According to history books there were 10 separate attempts by 10 separate Roman emperors to exterminate Christianity from the Roman Empire.
The tenth attempt was by an emperor by the name of Dio-cle-tian, and that tenth attempt lasted about 10 years!
Christians during those 200 years or so were martyred, butchered, burned at the stake for their faith in Jesus Christ - the church in Smyrna particularly typifies that period of time.
Ø They; like the resin that they represent, would be cut, bruised, wounded, crushed for Christ - but from that process of tribulation there would be a fragrant smell that would ascend unto God that had never gone up before.
Its important for us to remember that these 7 churches that we read of here in chapters 2 & 3 are revealing what will transpire during the Church age, most of the 7 churches will show us how the church eventually becomes worldly and finally in the last days of the church on earth, during the 7th church period, the Laodiceans have put Him out of their church as He’s seen standing on the out side Knocking for just any one to let Him in.
And we’re in that period now, we that are truly saved are members of the 6th church, the Philadelphian church, the mission minded church, the church of brotherly love, and at the same time we have the Laodicieans with us, the pretenders.
Let me say that there are members of each of the 7 churches on earth today, and there were and are saved people from each of these 7 mentioned churches. But when the True church is taken away in the rapture, the church people that will be revealed as pretenders, will be left behind to go into the Tribulation, and will become part of the Harlot church system headed up by the False Prophet and the Antichrist.
Domitian, was the Caesar at this time. Roman history reveals that Domitian was a murderous dictator who launched an extensive persecution against the church, which reached some kind of a fever pitch in the town of Smyrna.
The church, which suffers persecution, becomes purged, becomes pure. Hypocrites don’t stick around to be persecuted. False Christians don’t want the pain; they’re not willing to make the sacrifice. Persecution, trials, tribulation and suffering will always destroy false faith, but those same things will strengthen true faith.
So as we look at this church we’re going to see a model of a suffering church. And we’re going to learn from them how every faithful Christian should respond in the matter of suffering. And let me say that there will be some form of suffering for us today, there may be some terrible times ahead for us before its over..
Jesus said in John 16:33 In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
2nd Tim.3:12 "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." So the little church in Smyrna can be an example for us.
Most of us here in the U.S. don’t know what real persecution is. Some might think if the Preacher doesn’t shake their hand that something must be drastically wrong.
There in that little church there was a wonderful working of God, produced through great difficulty. This is one of just two of the seven churches where there is no condemnation from the Lord Jesus, there is no discussion about sin, and there is no word from the Lord about punishment.
This is a purged church. Through persecution they had come to a serious kind of Christianity, through persecution they had been deprived of many things including jobs, without jobs they couldn’t support their families, are have the necessities for every day living, all because they would not worship the Emperor as god, and in their poverty they had become spiritually rich. And so, the Lord has only praise for this church.
Ø The Lord Jesus said in:
John 10:14 & 28 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish,
I want us to notice the Title that the Lord Jesus proclaims here in verse 8 He says;
8And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, --
The First and the Last, we read it 1st back in 1:17 Fear not; I am the first and the last:
This is a name God took for Himself back in Isa.41:4—Isa.43:10—Isa.44:6 and Isa.48:12.
In those places JEHOVAH GOD calls Himself the First and the Last.
Here that same title is used to designate Jesus Christ...in chapter 1 verse 17, and here again in chapter 2 verse 8, and once again in chapter 22: verse 13.
This points out the fact that Jesus Christ is none other than God Himself. And although they are ONE, He is distinct; He is the Head of His True Church.==================
Ø He is the eternal infinite God, He was already in existence when all things were created and He will remain after all things are destroyed. He is the first, He preexisted, He is the last, He will go on forever. When other things cease, He does not. When all things begin He is already there. He is the First and the Last, the eternal One.
Ø He transcends all time; He transcends all space, and He transcends all creation. And yet, this same One who is eternal, Who was before all things and will live forever, Who transcends all things was dead, and is alive.
How can the eternally living God Who is beyond all time, beyond all space, beyond all history die? How can He die? But He did. The Lord Jesus Christ was God incarnate, entering into time, space and history for the very purpose of dying. That is the heart of the gospel.
Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
John 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep
John 12:27 --for this cause came I unto this hour.
But how could the eternally living One die? He could only die as a man. He never could die as the eternal God in whom is unending life. But He died as man for sin and now lives by resurrection as the glorified God/Man.
But He Himself has the power of an endless life.
Heb.7:16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
He’s telling the church at SMYRNA THAT He knows what their going through, and that He’ll be there with them, He’s telling them that He was also persecuted and put to death and is now alive forevermore and for them to keep the faith and continue to believe in Him no matter what may come their way, and at the end of it all they’ll be greatly rewarded.
Six of the 7 churches are given a commendation, but not the seventh, the church of Laodicea.
