You’ve Got Mail: Smyrna
Scott R. Bayles, preacher
First Christian Church, Rosiclare, Illinois
Several years ago, my life was a mess. After enduring a painful divorce, I was jobless and living with a friend. I was an emotional wreck. I couldn’t understand why all these bad things kept happening to me. Then one day I got a letter in the mail—a card, actually. It was from a family at a church that I had served years earlier. They heard what was going on in my life and sent this card as a bit of encouragement. It simply said, “We just want you to know that we’re thinking of you and praying for you.” I don’t know why, but that brief message was a real comfort to me and I still have that card to this day.
Twenty centuries ago, a small band of Christians experienced a very different, yet remarkably similar situation. About forty miles north of Ephesus sat the ancient seaport-city of Smyrna. World renowned for its beauty, Smyrna was often referred to as “first in Asia in beauty and size.” In fact, that very line was imprinted upon its currency. Although Smyrna was enthusiastically Roman through and through, it was also home to a humble body of believers wholly committed to Jesus.
But, because Smyrna was a center for emperor worship and also boasted a small but strongly anti-Christian Jewish population, life for these believers was anything but easy. Many of them were unemployed, unwelcome and under extreme persecution. But in the midst of their difficulties and discouragement, they too received a letter in the mail—a brief word of encouragement, not from some kind-hearted Christians, but from Christ himself. Here’s what he had to say to them:
“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: 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. 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. 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.” (Revelation 2:8-11 NLT)
Aware of the trouble that these Christians had found themselves in, Jesus decided to express his immeasurable love by sending this letter to encourage and strengthen the church in Smyrna. And like each of the seven letters to the seven churches, Jesus begins this letter by giving his credentials.
• THE CREDENTIALS
In the opening of this letter, Jesus initially describes himself as “the First and the Last.” This phrase, when read by Hebrew Christians, would have immediately triggered memories of the Old Testament scriptures. Deep within the prophecies of Isaiah, the Bible declares, “This is what the LORD says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies: I am the First and the Last; there is no other God” (Isaiah 44:6 NLT).
By quoting this sacred scripture in his letter to Smyrna, Jesus was sending a powerful and provocative message. He was saying with unwavering resolve, “I am God! I am the Almighty, the King and Redeemer! I am the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! I am the beginning and the end!” That’s an incredible claim. For many, it’s an unbelievable claim.
Tell anyone that you think Jesus was a wise and wonderful teacher and you’ll get no argument. Announce that you believe the carpenter from Nazareth was an excellent moral example, who would dispute you? But tell the world that you believe Jesus is divine, that he is in fact the God who spoke the universe into existence and some folks just can’t wrap their minds around it. Their queries are summed up by Solomon’s question: “Will God really live on earth among people?” (2 Chronicles 6:18 NLT).
But if Jesus’ claims are true, then he was at once both man and God. If his allegations are actual, then it changes everything, doesn’t it? Not just for the folks in Smyrna, but for you and me and everyone else in the world. Jesus wanted these believers to remember that he wasn’t just a good man or even a great man; he’s the God-man—sovereign and eternal. And he proved it by coming back to life after dying on a cross.
His credentials to the church in Smyrna also contained these words: “who was dead but is now alive” (vs. 8). Jesus wasn’t the first person to make a claim to deity, you know. The Pharaohs of Egypt believed themselves to be gods—the bright and morning star. Those who worshipped the Roman emperor believed Caesar to be god-incarnate. The difference is—when they died, they stayed dead. Jesus authenticated everything he ever said or did when he brought himself back to life. Some of these believers may have seen the resurrected Christ with their own two eyes. Most probably heard and believed the testimony of Paul and others. Today we have overwhelming evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. Not only does Jesus’ resurrection prove his position as the God-man, but it proves his power over the grave and his promise of eternal life to those who believe.
As “the First and the Last” nothing can take Jesus by surprise. He knows the beginning from the end. And even if our lives are threatened, Jesus “who was dead, but is now alive” can and will raise us up to eternal life, too. This is the God in whom we trust. And, I’m sure this portrait of Christ came as a great comfort to the persecuted church in Smyrna. Following the credentials of Christ, Jesus goes on to give a word of comfort to this suffering church.
• THE COMFORT
Jesus comforts the Christians in Smyrna, saying, “I know your troubles; I know that you are poor—but really you are rich!” (vs. 9 TEV). The problems in Smyrna came in the form of persecution which, in turn, resulted in poverty.
Citizens of Smyrna were hostile toward Christianity from two directions. On the one side, they faced hatred and persecution from local Jews. Jesus mentions them, saying, “I know the blasphemy of those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they are not, because their synagogue belongs to Satan” (vs. 10 NLT). Jesus says that these Hebrews are not true Jews because, as Paul says, “you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God” (Romans 2:28-29 NLT). These Jews, because they had violated Christ and victimized Christians were, in reality, allied with Satan rather than God. They blasphemed or slandered Christians in a variety of ways, accusing them of everything from cannibalism (based on a misunderstanding of the Lord’s suppers) to political disloyalty and rebellion (since they claimed Jesus was King).
But the Jews were only part of the problem. As mentioned before, Smyrna was also a center for emperor worship. The citizens of Smyrna were fanatical to an extreme. In A.D. 26 (just a few short years before Jesus was crucified), Rome rewarded Smyrna’s loyalty by choosing it above all other candidates, including Ephesus, as the site for a new temple dedicated to the worship of emperor Tiberius. By the time Jesus sent this letter to the church in Smyrna, the megalomaniacal emperor, Nero Caesar, had already risen to power. Because Christians refused to worship Nero as “Almighty God” and “Savior”, he blamed them for the burning of Rome in AD 64 and instigated three-and-a-half years of persecution that claimed the lives of thousands of Christians including the every single one of the apostles except for John.
The Christians in Smyrna aren’t the only ones to experience persecution, though. There are more martyrs today than there were in the days of the Roman Empire. An estimated 200,000 Christians are martyred each year around the world because of their faith in Jesus. Recently, in a small village in Bangladesh thirty Christian families stood outside the local mosque, surrounded by five hundred angry Muslims. Among the Christians was a young father named Mira Jarali, a new convert from Islam. Muslim leaders interrogated each family in turn. When it was Mira’s turn to stand before the court, he said proudly, “In your religion there is no salvation, no hope for going to heaven. I have Jesus, and now I am whole. Now Jesus has forgiven my sins and I have hope for heaven.” All the Christian families were forbidden to use the village well; instead they would have to walk over a mile everyday to get water. Mira was tied back to back with another Christian man, locked in cell and severely beaten for four days.
Folks, we don’t know how good we have it here. Every one of us ought to drop to our knees everyday and pray for the persecuted church around the world and be thankful that we have never be persecuted to point of shedding our blood. But we mustn’t let our guard down either. Wherever there are faithful Christians, persecution will follow. Jesus said it himself: “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20 NIV).
Not surprisingly, the persecution against Christians in many Roman cities resulted in poverty. The word translated “poor” in verse nine meant “abject poverty, possessing absolutely nothing.” Despite the fact that Smyrna was a very wealthy city, Christians were under extreme economic pressure. They often had their possessions and properties confiscated and were forbidden to buy, sell or trade in the marketplace. Yet, Jesus assures them: “but really you are rich!” (vs. 9 TEV).
Imagine Jesus saying, “Your families may have turned against you, but now you are in the family of God. You may have lost your jobs, but now you have a higher calling. You may have rags on your backs, but you have been clothed in righteousness. Your pockets may be empty, but your hearts can be full. You are being persecuted, but you can rejoice that you are counted worthy. Your bodies are endangered, but your souls are safe. Your names may be blasphemed on earth, but your names are spoken with reverence around the great white throne. Men may be against you, but God is for you!”
Whenever you begin to feel a little underprivileged, we would all to do well to count our blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Now, after giving his credentials and some comforting words, Jesus gives a simple and straightforward command.
• THE COMMAND
This was his command: “Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer…if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life” (vs. 10 NLT). Don’t be afraid. This was one of Jesus’ favorite commands. He repeats it no less than twenty times in dozen situations all throughout the New Testament. Don’t be afraid!
It’s hard not to be afraid though, isn’t it? We may not fear persecution and martyrdom like the church in Smyrna did, but there is still plenty for us to be afraid of in this world. Do you have a fear of rejection that keeps you from sharing your faith, or a fear of intimacy that prevents you from sustaining any healthy relationships? Maybe you have a fear of failure that thwarts every attempt to try anything new?
Whatever challenges we meet, whatever obstacles we face, we don’t have to be afraid because we, like the church in Smyrna, have God on our side! Cancer, Alzheimer’s, car crashes, a failing economy, a floundering 401K, teenage pregnancy, crime, natural disasters—come what may, God is by your side. In the words of hymnist E. A. Hoffman: “What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms” of Jesus?
Jesus reassured the church in Smyrna that he was in control. Yes, some of them would be thrown into prison. Yes, some of them would even be thrown to the lions. But, in the end, they would gain the victory. He told them that the worst of it would only last for ten days. Interpreters disagree as to whether the ten days should be taken literally or symbolically, but either way I think Eugene Peterson gets it right in the Message: “It won’t last forever” (vs. 10 MSG). Whatever fears we have, we can rest assured that Jesus is in control and it won’t last forever. On the other hand, some things do last forever.
Smyrna was known as the “Crowned City.” With stately public buildings atop the surrounding hillside, from a distance the Smyrna skyline resembled a glorious crown. So, when Jesus promised “the crown of life—an unending, glorious future” (vs. 10 TLB), it must have struck a heart-chord with the Smyrna church. That same, unending, glorious future has been promised to everyone who puts their faith in Jesus and remains faithful to the end.
Conclusion:
Do you know what it’s like to be persecuted and poor? Have you been put-down more times than you’ve been picked up? Does your bank account fail to reflect your privileged status as one of God’s elect? Well, you’re not alone and you don’t have to be afraid. Jesus’ message to the persecuted, impoverished church in Smyrna is his message to you: Don’t be afraid. Don’t give up. Hang in there. “It won’t last forever. Don’t quit, even if it costs you your life. Stay there believing. I have a Life-Crown sized and ready for you” (vs. 10 MSG).
