There was a time in the U.S. (and Canada) when white people could put on blackface, and people thought it was amusing. You could pretend to be Denzel Washington, or Will Smith, and people would laugh. There was a time when you could wear traditional Native American clothing on Halloween, and people would think it was a great costume.
Now, though, all of that is considered deeply offensive. Critics will call that "cultural appropriation," or "racist," or insensitive. If, at one point in the past, you did anything of those things and had your picture taken, you live in constant fear that someone will manage to dig up that old picture, put it online, and try to discredit you, and cancel you. And the more important you are, the more likely someone will go to the time and trouble of finding that picture.
We've reached the place as a society, where we've decided that only black people can have black faces. Only Native Americans can wear Native clothing. And actors can only play the roles of people who are the same skin color as themselves. You have to be true to your skin color, basically.
The other thing we've decided, as a society, is that you can't claim to be a minority, if you aren't. Rachel Dolezal can't be president of the Spokane Washington NAACP because she's white. Elizabeth Warren can't pretend to be Native American. You are what you are, regardless of how you want to self-identify. And if people try to claim to be a race that they aren't, we have society's permission to call them out on that.
At the same time, we have also decided, as a society, that things work differently with gender.
When it comes to gender, we are supposed to believe that you have the right to decide whether you are male, or female, or some exotic third category. You might have been born a male, have male body parts, and have an impressive beard, but if you say you are a woman, we are supposed to accept that. If a teenage boy wants to call himself a girl, and swim against my daughter, and change in her locker room, I'm supposed to be okay with that. If a 50 year old male wants to use the women's bathroom at a park at the same time as my 9 year old daughter, I'm supposed to let him in. Disagreeing with that is considered violence, and hate-speech.
We live in a time when people are really sensitive about their identities as men and women, black and white, "cisgender" and "transgender." The raging questions of our time revolve around identity. Who are you allowed to claim that you are? Can you claim to be black, if you were born white? Can you claim to be female, if you were born male? Can you claim to be an animal-- a "furry"-- if you were born human? And when you run across people who disagree with you, what protections do you have? What happens when their right to free speech runs into your feelings?
We tend to think of these types of debates as examples of modern stupidity, and maybe as illustrations of how useless many public universities have become. We probably also think about it as evidence of how hard satan is working to pervert God's created order.
But in today's little passage, Revelation 2:8-11, we will find ourselves reading something that shows that these kind of debates are not completely new. The question our passage pushes back against, is every bit as controversial. It's this: "Who is the true Jew?" Lots of people claim to be Jews. They say they belong to God's people. But what we will see today, is that it doesn't matter how people self-identify. Jesus gets the final word.
Let's read verses 8-10-- everything Jesus says to the angel in Smyrna, and the church he represents:
(8) and to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
"These things are what he says-- the First and the Last, who was dead, and he came to life--
(9) 'I know your affliction/tribulation
and your poverty--
but you, rich, you are ["rich" is focused]--
and the slander/malicious talk of the ones calling themselves "Jews,"
and they aren't, but [are] a synagogue of satan.
(10) Don't fear what you are about to suffer.
LOOK! The devil is about to throw some of you into prison,
in order that you may be tested,
and you will have affliction/tribulation 10 days.
Be faithful up to death,
and I will give you to you the crown of life.
What we see in these verses, is that people who call themselves "Jews" are persecuting the church. They are doing this, primarily, through their speech. They are speaking lies ("slander"). They are speaking cruel things to Christians, and about Christians ("malicious").
When they do these evil things against God's people, they are revealing the truth about who they are (as in John 8:44). They aren't a synagogue of God. They are a synagogue of satan. So if you showed up at their synagogue for a Saturday, Sabbath service, you'd hear them read the Torah on the Sabbath, and offer prayers to God. You'd see their desire to keep the Mosaic covenant. But all of that doesn't reveal who they really are, as much as how they treat God's church.
So Jesus here encourages the angel, and the church he represents, to not be bothered, or confused, by this Jewish persecution. These people look like God's people. They look like a synagogue serving God. But they are doing satan's bidding. And Jesus tells the angel, with his church, that all of this will very shortly get worse for them. The current persecution is about to intensify. Satan is partnering, not only with the ones calling themselves Jews, but also with the Roman government. And in the near future, these three entities-- satan, Rome, and the Jewish synagogue-- will put Christians in jail. Jesus says this, and gives them one bit of good news. This level of persecution will be short-- Jesus says it will run 10 days. I don't think the number 10 is literal. This number, like every number in Revelation, is symbolic. But 10 days is long enough to be painful, and short enough that it can be endured.
So Jesus warns the angel, and his church, about what's coming so that they can mentally prepare themselves. You will be charged with some crime that gets you put in prison. You will lose your court case, and end up jail.
All of this is inevitable. This isn't something you can pray about, and be protected from. You will be persecuted. Now, what does Jesus want from you, in all of this? Verse 10: "Be faithful up to death." Be faithful to Jesus, openly acknowledging Jesus as Lord and Savior. Don't recant. Don't hide. Be faithful.
Do this, and Jesus holds out a blessing for you. Jesus will give you the crown of life. The crown of life, is eternal life.
With this, we come to verse 11. Here, John broadens his perspective, to address everyone reading these words:
(11) The one having ears should hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The one conquering/overcoming will absolutely not be harmed by the second death.
So we have this privilege of overhearing Jesus' words to the angel in Smyrna. What are we supposed to learn from them? The life Jesus gives doesn't keep you from being persecuted, or thrown in jail, or even killed. It doesn't keep you from living a life of poverty, under people who hate you, and oppose you, and do their best to partner with satan in fighting you. There is no guarantee that Christians will prosper on this earth in the time before Jesus returns.
What Jesus offers here, is a blessing that comes on the other side of death. Everyone dies once. But if you live faithfully toward Jesus, regardless of the cost, then the second death won't harm you. You will die once, but not twice. Instead, you'll live forever.
So if we have ears, what should we take away from Jesus' words to the angel in Smyrna?
Jesus' focus is on evangelism. Jesus expects us to be open about Jesus. We believe that Jesus is Lord, and Savior. We believe he is the promised Messiah. We follow him, obeying his teaching. We give Jesus our allegiance. And all of this is public knowledge. We don't hide who we are.
So Jesus' focus here is on evangelism. And that means, probably, that my focus should be on evangelism as well. But I think that what Jesus says about the Jews is something that a lot of Western evangelical Christians really need to hear, especially right now.
Who is the true Jew?
From Jesus' perspective, the word "Jew" is a religious category, and not an ethnic one. The true Jews are made up of people who follow Jesus. We are the true Jews. And Jewish synagogues who set themselves up against the church, and persecute the church, are not. They can call themselves whatever they want. They can self-identify as Jews. But anyone who sets himself against God's people, aligns himself with satan.
This might strike you are incredibly insensitive, and anti-semitic, but Jews for thousands of years have debated who belongs in this category of "Jew." At the time when Jesus walked the earth, a group of Jews called the Essenes believed that the nation as a whole had apostatized. But this little group of faithful Jews retreated into the wilderness, and committed themselves to living faithfully toward God in a way that the nation as a whole did not. They waited there in the expectation that the promised Messiah would come soon. Even today, Orthodox Jews in Israel draw the circle of who is a Jew much more narrowly than Western evangelical Christians. An Orthodox Jew would call most of the people in Israel either "Israelis," or "Zionists." But they aren't willing to call them "Jews," because their life and government isn't built around faithfulness to God, and to his Torah. Politicians in Israel are just as careful to call their citizens "Israelis." There are Christian, and Jewish, and Muslim "Israelis."
So in Revelation 2, when Jesus, who was born a Jew, of Jewish parents, refuses to call the people of a Jewish synagogue "Jews," and instead calls them followers of satan, Jesus is doing nothing new. There has always been a sharp debate among the Jewish people, about where you draw the boundary between Jew, and outsider. And not only "where" you should draw the line, but on what basis. And I should say again, that this debate has happened among people who would call themselves Jews. This is an internal dispute.
We do the same thing. We draw a circle around the boundaries of the Church. We say some people are on the edges of that circle-- they are what scholars call a "sect." And other groups of people are outside of the circle, even though they claim to be Christians. If they are outside the circle because of what they believe, we call them a cult-- Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses. If they are outside the circle because of behavior they promote, rather than doctrine, we describe it differently, by saying they've fallen away, or turned away, or apostatized. "Churches" who promote transgenderism, or who say that all religions point to the One God (Unitarians), or who worship multiple gods, would belong to that group.
So just as we try to decide who is inside the boundaries of the church, and who is outside, so also people who call themselves "Jews" have made decisions about who is inside and outside of Judaism. And what this passage reveals, is that it's not just us making these decisions. Jesus makes this decision, as well. And Jesus gets the last word, on who the true Jews are.
Now, what we see in this verse is something that we find throughout the NT. It doesn't matter if we are reading Jesus' words, or Paul's, or Peter's (1 Peter 2:9-10), or John's-- everyone agrees that the church is the true Israel, made up of the true Jews, who ethnically, are Jew and Gentile.
This is a touchy subject. It's one that's fiercely debated among Christians. And I don't expect everyone to agree with me. But what I'd like to do for the rest of this morning is try to make five main points:
(1) Israelites were never a distinct ethnic race.
(2) Not everyone who is descended from Abraham physically is a Jew.
(3) Jews have never been "pure" ethnically. They've never all physically descended from Abraham.
(4) Even in the OT, God doesn't view all of his people, as being truly part of his people.
(5) In the NT, the true Israel, the true Jewish people, is made up of people who call Jesus "Lord."
So, #1.
(1) Israelites were never a distinct ethnic race. I don't want to belabor this point, but let me just read a few verses from Ezekiel 16 (NRSV updated):
16 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 Mortal, make known to Jerusalem her abominations 3 and say: Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
Israel emerged out of the Canaanites. They were of the same ethnic stock as all of their neighbors-- specifically, from the Amorites, and Hittites. So we shouldn't think that Abraham was like Adam. Abraham came from somewhere, and that somewhere was the peoples who lived in the same area.
(2) Not everyone who is descended from Abraham physically is a Jew.
Let's turn to Romans 9:1-13 (NRSV updated no reason):
9 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; 5 to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever.[a] Amen.
6 It is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all those descended from Israel are Israelites, 7 and not all of Abraham’s children are his descendants, but “it is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. 9 For the word of the promise is this: “About this time I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 Nor is that all; something similar happened to Rebecca when she had conceived children by one husband, our ancestor Isaac: 11 even before they had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose of election might continue, 12 not by works but by his call) she was told, “The elder shall serve the younger.” 13 As it is written,
“I have loved Jacob,
but I have hated Esau.”
Paul here argues, especially starting in verse 6, that not all who are physically descended from Abraham, and Israel, are "Israelites." Only some of his descendants are Israelites. Isaac, not Ishmael, is an Israelite. Jacob, not Esau, is an Israelite. "Israel" isn't about tracing a family tree, through physical descent, back to Abraham. "Israel" is made up of children connected to God's promise.
Now let's hop down to Romans 9:22-29:
22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction, 23 and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 including us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the gentiles? 25 As he also says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ”
26 “And in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they shall be called children of the living God.”
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth quickly and decisively.”[b] 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left descendants to us,
we would have fared like Sodom
and been made like Gomorrah.”
Without diving fully into Paul's argument here, I think he's making two main points. First, in verse 15 we see that people who were Gentiles by birth, in accordance with the flesh, are now called "God's people," and "beloved," and "children of the living God." We are Israel.
Second, in verse 27 we see that most of the "children of Israel" by birth, in accordance with the flesh, will be rejected. Only a small, righteous remnant of birth Jews, made up of people like Paul, and John, and Peter, will be saved.
(3) Jews have never been "pure" ethnically. They've never all physically descended from Abraham.
It's always been a primarily religious term, describing people who have committed themselves to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There are three passages in the OT I know of that show this clearly:
(A) Exodus 12:37-38:
37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides little ones. 38 A mixed crowd also went up with them and livestock in great numbers, both flocks and herds.
So the group of people who left Egypt, and followed Moses, was made up of Israelites and whole lot of other people groups who we'd call "Gentiles." This group, together, made a covenant with God.
(B) Leviticus 24:10-23:
10 A man whose mother was an Israelite and whose father was an Egyptian came out among the Israelites, and the Israelite woman’s son and a certain Israelite began fighting in the camp. 11 The Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name in a curse. And they brought him to Moses—now his mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan— 12 and they put him in custody, until the decision of the LORD should be made clear to them.
13 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and let all who were within hearing lay their hands on his head, and let the whole congregation stone him. 15 And speak to the Israelites, saying: Anyone who curses God shall incur guilt. 16 One who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall be put to death; the whole congregation shall stone the blasphemer. Aliens as well as the native-born, when they blaspheme the Name, shall be put to death. 17 Anyone who kills a human being shall be put to death. 18 Anyone who kills an animal shall make restitution for it, life for life. 19 Anyone who maims another shall suffer the same injury in return: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury inflicted is the injury to be suffered. 21 One who kills an animal shall make restitution for it, but one who kills a human being shall be put to death. 22 You shall have one law for the alien and for the native-born, for I am the LORD your God.” 23 Moses spoke thus to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him to death. The Israelites did as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Here, we see what we'd call a "mixed marriage." I'm not sure we're still allowed to talk about "mixed marriages," so if that's offensive, I apologize. But it's a mixed marriage. An Israelite woman, and an Egyptian man, married, and had a kid. The kid sins by blaspheming Yahweh. And Yahweh responds to this situation by saying that He has one law, one covenant, that holds true for all people. Everyone who lives under this covenant, Jew and Gentile, God expects to live faithfully toward himself. [And so they do the right thing, and kill the kid for blaspheming.]
Joshua 8:34-35 (NET Bible, and here it matters. The NET correctly understands the waw following "Israel" as an elaboration unpacking who belongs to "the whole assembly":
34 Then[ba] Joshua read aloud all the words of the law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the law scroll. 35 Joshua read aloud every commandment Moses had given[bb] before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, children, and resident foreigners who lived among them.[bc]
Who here belongs to the "whole assembly of Israel"? It's not just the men. It includes the women, and children, and foreigners. Israel, is made up of all who commit themselves to Yahweh, and to keeping the covenant Yahweh made through Moses.
So how do you draw the line around who belongs to "Israel"? In the OT, you'd say that "Israel" isn't an ethnic term. It's not something that's determined by tracing a family tree. "Israel" is made up of all who view Abraham as their spiritual father, who serve the one true God, who live under the covenant God made with Israel through Moses, and who are children of the promise.
Now, how do you draw the line around who belongs to "Israel," on this side of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection?
This leads us to my fourth point:
(4) Even in the OT, God doesn't view all of his people, as being truly part of his people.
Let's turn to Ezekiel 34:14-24 (NRSV updated no reason):
11 For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep and will sort them out. 12 As shepherds sort out their flocks when they are among scattered sheep,[a] so I will sort out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them into their own land, and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strays, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.
17 As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats: 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? 19 And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet and drink what you have fouled with your feet?
20 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you pushed with flank and shoulder and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, 22 I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged, and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
23 I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them; he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I the LORD have spoken.
What we see in this passage, is God drawing a distinction between sheep and sheep. In verse 22, God says that He will save "his flock," and make so that his flock is no longer ravaged, and He will judge between sheep and sheep. And God promises that one day, He will set up over his people one shepherd, his servant David, who will feed his true sheep, and be his shepherd. God will be their shepherd, through his servant David being their shepherd.
All of this leads us nicely to my fifth point:
(5) In the NT, the true Israel, the true Jewish people, is made up of people who call Jesus "Lord."
Let's turn back to Romans 10 (NRSV updated no reason):
10 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them [Jews by birth] is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not based on knowledge. 3 Not knowing the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Salvation Is for All
5 Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” 6 But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say?
“The word is near you,
in your mouth and in your heart”
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim), 9 because[a] if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe[b] in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes[c] with the heart, leading to righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, leading to salvation. 11 The scripture says, “No one who believes[d] in him will be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Paul says that you draw the circle around who belongs to the true Israel, based on the decision you make about Jesus. Those who confess Jesus as Lord, and give Jesus their allegiance ("believe"/"faith"), will be saved. That's who belongs to "Israel." To use Ezekiel 34 language, that's who belongs to God's flock. To use Romans 9 language, that's who are the "children of the promise." And Paul looks forward to a time when lots of people who are Jews by birth will be provoked to jealousy, and join us. And one day, Paul expects that "all of Israel" (Romans 10:26), Jew and Gentile, will be saved.
All of this unpacks what Paul says earlier in Romans, 2:28-29:
28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something external and physical. 29 Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not the written code. Such a person receives praise not from humans but from God.
If we have confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior, and committed ourselves to following him, then we are Jews. It's not that the church has "replaced" Israel. It's not that Gentiles have "replaced" Jews. God's people has always been about covenant faithfulness to him. It's always been made up of children of the promise. And now, the promise has been fulfilled through Jesus. Jesus is God's promise, basically. And now, on this side of the new covenant made through Jesus, it's all about allegiance to Jesus.
So the true Jews today, are the ones who have turned from their sins and committed to Jesus as Lord and Savior. And the true Israel, is the body of God's people who love God by following Jesus, and who love one another.
One more passage. Galatians 6:12-16 (NRSV updated no reason):
12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who try to compel you to be circumcised—only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh. 14 May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which[b] the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. 15 For[c] neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, but a new creation is everything! 16 As for those who will follow this rule—peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
Paul here calls us the Israel of God. Those of us who have committed to Jesus, and been made a new creation in Christ, are part of the Israel of God, regardless of whether we are circumcised or not, regardless of whether we were born Gentile or not. We are the Israel of God.
At this point, we can turn back to Revelation 2:8-10:
(8) and to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
"These things are what he says-- the First and the Last, who was dead and he came to life--
(9) 'I know your affliction/tribulation
and your poverty,
but you, rich, you are ["rich" is focused],
and the slander/malicious talk of the ones calling themselves "Jews,"
and they aren't, but [are] a synagogue of satan.
(10) Don't fear what you are about to suffer.
LOOK! The devil is about to throw some of you into prison,
in order that you may be tested,
and you will have affliction/tribulation 10 days.
Be faithful up to death,
and I will give you to you the crown of life.
When Jesus describes the synagogue that's persecuting the church, he refuses to accept their self-identification. They call themselves Jews, but they aren't. And this particular group of Jews isn't neutral. It's not simply living in peace with Christians. It's actively trying to harm them. And by doing this, this Jewish synagogue proves that it's working for satan. They gather together (the meaning of "synagogue") to serve satan, and do his bidding.
So I'm not saying this morning that every Jewish synagogue is a synagogue of satan. I think they are Jews who view us more neutrally, who live and let live (some would be perhaps equivalent to the "crowds" in the gospel of John, who haven't yet made a firm decision for or against Jesus). But any time people set out to persecute us, they are aligning themselves with satan, and choosing to do satan's bidding. [And this holds true for everyone: Jews, governments like Rome, etc.].
I say all of this today, in part, because I feel like a lot of Christians are mixed up when it comes to the nation of Israel. Many evangelicals wholeheartedly support everything that the modern day state of Israel does. It doesn't matter how many hospitals it bombs, or churches. It doesn't matter how many children it kills with indiscriminate bombing. Many Christians assume that the Israelis are the good guys, doing the right thing, because they are God's people (Romans 10:21). Many assume that the modern day state of Israel is the same thing as the true Israel of God's people. And many think that the modern state of Israel should do whatever it wants to Palestinians, for however long it wants, and they will happily pay for all the bombs.
But from my perspective, at a certain point, every nation has to decide that it's adequately avenged itself when it's been wronged (Genesis 4:23-24), and that it's murdered enough innocent people to make up for its loss. At a certain point, you've blown up enough hospitals, and schools, and apartment buildings. Now, I'm not defending Hamas. I'm not saying that the nation of Israel should let Hamas sit on their borders. But let's not assume that a nation who has bombed churches and hospitals and mosques, or who deliberately targets journalists and their families, has God's favor, or that God views them as the true Israel. And when we find ourselves praying about what's happening in Palestine, let's not forget about our Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ.
So let me just close by saying two things:
(1) Nothing I've said this morning advocates for violence against Jews, or Israel. Jesus' call is quite clear. You don't fight back against any persecution, brought by any group. Jesus calls us to conquer, but this conquering comes through non-violence. You conquer by faithfully testifying to Jesus, regardless of what it costs you, up to and including your death.
(2) I encourage you to self-identify as the true Jews, and as part of the true Israel. You are God's flock, following the Davidic shepherd. See yourselves, the way that Jesus sees you.
Translation:
(8) and to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
"These things are what he says-- the First and the Last, who was dead and he came to life--
(9) 'I know your affliction/tribulation
and your poverty,
but you, rich, you are ["rich" is focused],
and the slander/malicious talk of the ones calling themselves "Jews,"
and they aren't, but [are] a synagogue of satan.
(10) Don't fear what you are about to suffer.
LOOK! The devil is about to throw some of you into prison,
in order that you may be tested,
and you will have affliction/tribulation 10 days.
Be faithful up to death,
and I will give you to you the crown of life.
(11) The one having ears should hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The one conquering will absolutely not be harmed by the second death.
