Smyrna: The Church Rich in Christ
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What do you say to somebody who is suffering? How do you counsel people who are going through great times of sorrow and tribulation? We’ve been party to suffering in our country lately. What do you say to someone who lost a job, is struggling to pay their bills, or is sick? How do you counsel a person who lost a loved one because of this pestilence? Words can seem insufficient unless you’ve shared something similar.
What would you say to an individual whose family has been torn apart because of the stand they have taken for Christ? A village in Nigeria where hundreds are beaten nor murdered because they would not denounce Christ?
We come to the second church in our 7 churches of Revelation series. The churches in the second and third chapters of Revelation were recipients of a message from the Risen Jesus Christ himself through the Apostle John. John was exiled by the Romans as punishment for his unwavering loyalty to Christ Jesus.
It is a time of tribulation for Christianity. As we will see today, the Romans were barbarically brutal to Christians. Radical Islamic groups like ISIS or Al Qaida may pale in their barbarianism compared to how the Romans treated the Christians. During the time of John's writing Revelation from Patmos, Dominican was Caesar. He was god and he demanded every person worship him as a god.
Last week we looked at Ephesus. The church that was faithful in doctrine, but lost its zeal for Christ. Ephesus was known as the church that lost its first love. Christ Jesus told the Ephesian church to repent or he would remove their lampstand. If you go there today, there is no church of Ephesus. There is no city of Ephesus. The harbor has been filled in with silt over the centuries and all you will find are ruins of the town.
Smyrna was a different story. before we get too much further, let us read the entire message from Jesus, and then we’ll break it down verse by verse.
8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. 9 “ ‘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. 10 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. 11 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.’ (Revelation 2:8)
I. The City of Smyrna
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus told his disciples that the gates of Hell would not prevail against his church. The Church in Smyrna is probably the closest example of how Christ’s church prevails, even in the most brutal of persecution. It seems that Smyrna received the greatest amount of persecution. They had not lost their first love and zeal for Jesus. The testimonies of the church’s perseverance in the time of John’s delivery of this letter from Jesus is powerful.
We should not be surprised by the world’s disdain for our faith. The world hates God and therefore is enemies with those who are God’s children (1 John 4:5). Jesus promised to us that we as his disciples would experience tribulations (John 16:33). What we have to understand is that persecution doesn’t destroy the church, it strengthens and purifies the church. Those who capitulate their faith in order to avoid discomfort or persecution really have no faith at all.
Smyrna is located about 40 miles north of Ephesus. It is an anti-God and anti-gospel city. It is a Roman city and the center of Domitian’s fury against the Christians? If you were a Christian in Smyrna, you were an outcast in every way and received brutal treatment. Why? With some historical context, we begin to see the significance.
In those days, Smyrna was a great city with an inland harbor. It was a very pleasant and beautiful place to live with beautiful buildings and landscapes. It was also the center of pagan worship of gods like Apollo, Zeus, and other gods with glorious temples including one to Homer, who was born there. Every year, every citizen had to burn incense to Caesar and declare “Caesar is Lord.” Upon doing so, you would receive a certificate. Christians, of course, can only say that Jesus is Lord. But to be without a certificate was death.
II. Jesus is Bigger Than Death
So Jesus’s message to the church in Smyrna is a message of being overcomers because Jesus is bigger than death. And our faith in Christ may bring tribulation unto death. In order to be faithful unto death, our relationship with him must be greater than the tribulations we face.
So, first, Jesus said, “to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.” Someone may ask, is Jesus addressing a heavenly angel. That’s one interpretation. But the word angel means messenger and could be a heavenly messenger or it could be a person. Likely, it is a person Jesus is addressing. Here Jesus is addressing the messenger of Smyrna.
I also think it’s significant Jesus identifies himself as the “first and the last” as well as “who died and came to life.” Jesus can truly identify with a church facing persecution to the point of death. So we have to ask, can the eternal God, Jesus, die?
“There’s an interesting statement about Him in Hebrews 7:16 that brings together the eternality of God and the death of Christ. It says in Hebrews 7:16 that “Christ arose by the power of an endless life.” What a great statement: “Christ arose by the power of an endless life.” Death could not hold Him. The body of Jesus died and went into the grave. The Son of God did not die, and by the power of that endless life, raised the body that did die in the resurrection.” (MacArthur).
The identification to the church in Smyrna is that Jesus not only died but defeated death through his resurrection and those in Smyrna will too as they stay faithful to him. Jesus has the power of death and Hades in his hands. So the worst thing that could happen to them could not hold them back from their eternity with Christ.
III. Jesus Knows the Suffering of His People
Going on in verse 9, ‘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. It was encouraging that this came from the eternal one who knew everything and knew about suffering too.
Why kind of tribulation was the church facing? It’s interesting that Smyrna is Greek for “Myrrh.” What is myrrh? Myrrh is an ointment or oil derived from a thorny tree. It was used for fragrance and more specifically for the burial of the dead. The Wisemen brought Myrrh to Jesus when he was born. John 19 says when they buried the body of Christ, they covered His body with aloes and Smyrna. Myrrh was made through crushing the plant to extract and purify the ointment.
So Jesus is addressing the church called Myrrh. A church where death and persecution was a reality and Christ tells them, I know your tribulation and poverty. The word for poverty here isn’t referring to someone who doesn’t make much money as in the lower middle class. it is a term to describe someone who is impoverished without anything. They were a poor church with little resources.
But look at what Jesus tells them in verse 9, “But you are rich?” I think is far greater than an allegorical phrase. I think Jesus is being quite literal. “You may be poor with material possessions, but you are rich in God.” Are you rich in God? There’s no better feeling in the world than to be liberated from the unhappiness that money brings.
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?
The other product of tribulation the church in Smyrna was slander from the Jews. Why the Jews? Because they hated the Christians as much as the Romans. The Romans had exempted the Jews from participation in pagan worship. A literal translation for slander is a harsher word, “blasphemy” They were Jewish by practice but not by heart, and in doing so they blasphemed God. They denied God and rejected the Messiah and so Jesus calls them a synagogue of Satan. In rejecting Jesus Christ, Judaism really demonstrated that it was as Satanic as any other false religion.
Romans 2:29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
In Smyrna, there was a significant Jewish population, and they poisoned the minds of the leaders and the people against the Christians. “They claimed to be Jews,” it says, “but they are not. They are a synagogue of Satan.” So whether it was emperor worship, pagan idolatry, or the hostility of the Jews, the Christians in Smyrna suffered immensely. That was part of the persecution and you would think that a group of people experiencing this kind of torment wouldn’t thrive. Let’s read on...
IV. Jesus Call People to the Faithful Unto Death
Revelation 2:10 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.
Have you ever had a major event approaching in your life that you knew wasn’t going to be pleasant and the dread that was associated with the arrival of that event? Maybe a medical procedure or surgery. Maybe the imminent death of a loved one, or some other significant event. Time seems to slow in our suffering, doesn’t it? Jesus’s word to the Smyrna church was a word of encouragement, “do not fear.” That can seem a bit aloof from someone who has no idea, but how about our Lord?
Some Christians in Smyrna were tortured on the rack, which was a wheel about 2 feet wide and about 8 feet tall. The ankles of the dissenter would be chained to the floor and his wrists to the wheel or the rack. And every time the believer was asked to recant his faith in Jesus and refused, the rack would be tightened until his limbs were actually torn from his body. Other Christians were burned in boiling oil. Others were crucified. Many were thrown to the hungry lions before 50.000 bloodthirsty people in the coliseums. The suffering of the Christians in Smyrna is described for us in Christ's letter by three words: tribulation, poverty, and slander.
To illustrate the hatred of the Christians in Smyrna, history has left us the details of the death of Polycarp. Polycarp knew John. Polycarp worked with John in the churches of Asia Minor. Polycarp was the pastor of the church at Smyrna. And Polycarp was martyred in 155 A.D. at the age of 86. As they took Polycarp to the pro-council, they begged him to just recant and say ‘Caesar is Lord’ but Polycarp refused. The proconsul gave him the choice of cursing the name of Christ and making a sacrifice to Caesar or death. His famous words are these: “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 proconsul 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 everlasting punishment.” They burned Polycarp at the stake, even after he refused to be bound, but remained in the fire. History tells us that his face showed with tranquility and peace. They ran a knife into his chest to hasten his death.
Polycarp is the fulfillment of verse 10 when Jesus said to the church, do not fear what you are about to suffer. Nothing the world will do to you can compare to the eternal suffering you will never taste or see because of your faith in the Lord Jesus.
Psalm 56:11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
V. Jesus Promises His People Life
Revelation 2:11 Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 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.’
Only Jesus could make such a demand, “Be faithful unto death” because only Jesus holds the guarantee of what comes after our first death here on earth. Jesus is worth dying for and if he is worth dying for, then he is worth living for. We have nothing to fear in this life, so we can live courageously for him. Courage is precisely what Jesus calls for the church in Smyrna to have. He is proclaiming to them that he is better than life itself.
By the way, interestingly you can visit Smyrna today. Did you notice that there is no rebuke from Jesus in his letter to Smyrna? If you go there today, you will be in Izmir. Ephesus is gone, its harbor silted up; but Smyrna lives. And in Smyrna, there are still Christians. Christ has His own there. He removed the candle out of Ephesus; never out of Smyrna.
Being faithful to death, Christ promises the crown of life. What is Jesus talking about? Interestingly, Smyrna was known as the “Crown of Asia.” Its city center was known as Smyrna’s crown because of it elegant estates and lofty heights overlooking the sea. The highest of classes and wealthiest people lived there.
Jesus is offering something greater than an ornament of life or prominence in the world’s society. Jesus promises us eternal glorious life. “Romans were also given laurel crowns to wear at special banquets; Christians who are faithful to Christ through the tribulations of this world will wear the crown of eternal life in the eternal banquet of heaven.” (Phillips).
Jesus tells us that overcomers will not be hurt by the second death. The second death is eternal death after the judgment. You may be hurt by the first death, but you will never be hurt by the second death. The second death is the final death. It is that eternal death. “That will not touch you.”The Bible reminds us time and time again to “endure to the end.” The reward for our perseverance is an eternity in abundant and glorious life. Do you hear what Jesus is saying to you today? “He who has ears, let them hear.”
Conclusion
Are you going through a time of suffering? Maybe you are experiencing persecution, maybe the trials of life are suffering enough for you right now. Your heart is broken, heavy, and life has torn you apart. Be faithful. Be faithful. Stay the course with God.
Satan is going to be unleashing on your hostilities that are going to cause you to harm here on earth. There may be a particularly heated time in which you’ll be put in prison. It’s going to cost some of you your life; you’re going to be tested all the way to death. “Be faithful and I will give you the crown of life.”
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