Three Weights- Smyrna
7 Church’s of Revelation Series
CCCAG 8-11-24
-Scripture- Rev 2:8-11
Introduction- Brief overview of 7 Churches
Location/ trade routes
Smryna- One of the best sea ports in the ancient world, particularly in the Mediterranean sea. It had direct access to Athens, Greece, and was a highly used to get various products into Europe so you wouldn’t have to take the much more treacherous overland route.
It’s chief export was myrrh- the fragrant incense used for embalming the dead, and it’s chief trading partner for that was Egypt who used a lot of this in their mummification process.
However, you remember that myrrh was one of the gifts the Magi brought Jesus as a child, foreshadowing his death.
The myrrh that the women who were going to the grave to finish preparing the body of Jesus for a proper burial probably came from Smyrna.,
Why was myrrh a big deal and why was it used in Jewish burials?
In the Jewish Culture they have a tradition called “Sitting Shiva”.
It involves 7 days of intense mourning for the person who died, often at the graveside.
Obviously, you don’t want an unprepared body if you are spending 7 days there with it just on the other side of a large rock, particularly in middle eastern heat.
Because of Smyrna’s location and value as a seaport, various nations targeted it during military campaigns to cut off supplies to that area.
Smyrna had been conquered, burned, raised again. The people who called Smyrna home were very proud- they kept getting knocked down, but then rising again even more powerful than before.
This was the culture of this city- and the attitude of it’s residents.
Conformity to this was absolutely necessary and expected of all of it’s citizen. With that, Emperor worship was absolutely mandatory, and Smyrna, like the other 6 churches we will be studying, had a wide array of other temples to other gods that were used by it’s citizens.
That’s the culture this group of believers was living in. A culture heavily focused on death and resurrection, and that forms the structure of how Jesus will speak to them.
Let’s read what Jesus had to say to this church-
Changing it up and reading from the ESV this morning-
Rev 2:8-11 ESV “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.’
Prayer
The church of Smyrna has been identified throughout church history as the persecuted church- one that has gone through many tribulations in its history.
This morning we are going to talk about this church, and what lessons it can teach us for our lives today.
We are going to start with looking at the bible word for Tribulation.
We hear that word and think about a time of trouble, or the 7 years before Christ’s physical return to this earth to set up the millennial kingdom.
However, the word tribulation comes from the Greek word thlip'-sis. This word refers to an ancient torture or execution method in which a person would be tied face up on a table, a series of heavy flat stones would be placed on his chest, making it increasingly difficult to breathe until they eventually suffocated to death.
A very bad way to die.
But Thlip-sis doesn’t have to be a physical weight.
Most often for us today it’s a spiritual weight or oppression. The enemy has a tool box of effective ways of putting these weights on us.
In these last days, it’s his primary tactic.
You should know that the bible predicted this.
Daniel which is the OT version of the Book of Revelation, that says that in the last days the antichrist spirit will try to “wear out the saints of God”. This demonic spirit will do this by adding weights into our lives to try and get them to give up and give in to the worlds system
And in doing so- fall away from Christ and follow the evil one.
This is what Jesus is referring to when He talks about the thlip-sis that the church of Smryna will experience.
Jesus lists some of the weights that are coming, and the first weight the enemy will use:
The first is
I. Poverty
Poverty is a powerful tool of the enemy that he has been working on for years in our nation’s version of Christianity.
This plan has had two parts to this thlip-sis.
The first part was to equate our physical wealth with God’s pleasure in our lives.
We call it the prosperity gospel. That is a damnable heresy because it reduces what Jesus Christ did on the cross and elevates our effort to gain our salvation.
I’ve always seen this as an attack of the enemy, which is why I have continually preached against it since I’ve been here, even when it’s cost us members.
The prosperity gospel is bad for two reasons.
The first I mentioned- we equate God’s pleasure or presence with material possessions and wealth. The prosperity gospel says that if we are not wealthy- that God is not pleased with us or we are not practicing enough faith to make HIM happy.
It also produces a sense of entitlement and it also insidiously sneaks in covetousness- the want for more this side of eternity.
Why that is bad is because when the bottom falls out, and the prosperity disappears, we have a sense that God has left us.
The human response to that is there is no longer any benefit for following Jesus. And really, people who love the prosperity gospel we never really followed HIM in the first place, they just wanted the benefits.
You see the same thing in the Gospels- while Jesus was performing miracles and blessing people, they followed HIM. Then He would give a hard teaching, and many left at that point.
That’s where we are today.
This is why the thlip-sis of poverty is such an effective and insidious weapon of the enemy.
How I think this will manifest in our day- our national debt.
Don’t think for a moment that the national debt and the coming economic collapse that HAS to happen is an accident.
It’s part of a demonic plan to take down our nation, the American Church, and then the world.
If you skip ahead in Revelation to chapter 6, it describes a timeline of what is coming. It starts with 4 horsemen and look at what they represent-
1st Horsemen- antichrist and his spirit starts to gain control
I actually threw this out on my social media feed this week- I wonder if this is actually happening now.
2nd Horsemen- global war- to judge this- we look at Israel….not just what is happening in Gaza, but other countries coming against it.
3rd Horsemen- Famine- the strongest indicator of poverty
4th Horsemen- Disease and pestilence- the natural result of multitudes killed by war and famine.
You can see all of this coming together. I’m not necessarily saying that we are living in the seal judgments right now, but it’s getting closer.
All of this will cause a severe shrinkage of material wealth, and when those soft Christians who believe in the prosperity gospel see that, they will fall away and into the antiChrists world system.
How we can lessen this impact on ourselves and our families-
I would encourage everyone here- get as far out of debt as you possibly can, particularly credit card or other high interest debt. I know people have mortgages and things that can’t be avoided, but the high interest debt is going to get really horrible if the dollar loses it’s place as the world default currency.
The second thylip-sis the enemy will use is-
II. Slander
The church of Smyrna was enduring the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
The word for slander in the Greek is most appropriately translated “Blasphemy”
Blasphemy is speaking against God, His Nature, or His revealed truth found the bible.
Blasphemy twists truth to either portray God in a negative light, or to support an idea or a sin that the crowd wants others to accept as normal.
Do we have anything like that today? Do we have twisting of God’s truth to fit the convenient political narratives?
It’s on both sides- the conservative and the liberal side.
The news media has thrown out anything representing true journalism and instead is selling you a product.
Telling you what you want to hear.
Fake news.
It’s all around us. The media has a stranglehold over the information we are provided.
Social media, with the exception of Twitter or X, is profoundly left leaning and actively censors opinions that go against their worldview, and allow lies to spread that fit their political narrative.
This is going to get very bad over the next several months heading into the general election.
An additional weight of thylip-sis has been added in the last few years by people who call themselves woke. The woke culture is committed to things that should make any bible believing Christian recoil in horror.
They will use terms to slander you
like bigot, misogynist, transphobic, homophobic and a list of other words and terms that they barely understand themselves but they will shout it nonetheless.
Let me quickly give an example- “From the river to the sea!”
What does that mean?
If you ask your average person shouting it, they have no idea. I know because I’ve asked people I know that are left leaning. They just join the crowd in shouting slogans.
Israel exists between the Jordan River on its eastern border, to the Mediterranean sea on it’s Western border. People shouting this are calling for the complete genocide and annihilation of an entire nation and it’s people.
While they call the conservatives the Hitler like fascists.
When I was in high school, I was on the debate team and learned the art of dialectics- which is the art of making your point in a winsome way.
You also learn a series of things to watch out for-
A red herring- when a person brings up a point that has nothing to do with the subject at hand to distract you.
A non-sequitur- a point that has nothing to do with the main argument.
Bandwagon fallacy- everyone believes this, so it must be true.
Probably the most used dialectic fallacy seen today as it pertains to slander-
The ad hominem attack- To attack the person you are having a debate with, and not focusing on the subject you are debating.
This last attack- the ad hominem.
It’s the one most used by the woke. They know they have no argument, so they try to destroy the person making the argument.
That is what the thlyp-sis of cancel culture is about. Destroying the person because they know the enemy knows it has no argument to make- They just have a very destructive spiritual cancer, and they want to spread that disease to you.
So when the blasphemy and slander come, pray.
Pray for discernment
Prayer for wisdom,
And MOST IMPORTANTLY be filled with the HOLY SPIRIT
and then you will have this promise that Jesus made it us
Matt 10:18-20
On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
If you are being continually filled with the Holy Spirit, it’s the Holy Spirit who will come out when you speak.
But this does bring up another thyip-sys that Jesus talks about to the Smyrna church, and to us today-
The possibility of
III. Imprisonment
I know many will think, that doesn’t happen.
Well, our neighbors to the north in Canada would beg to differ.
There are at least 5 Canadian pastors in jail or awaiting sentencing for speaking God’s truth.
In The United Kingdom/ England, pastors are routinely arrested and imprisoned for speaking biblical truth that is not politically correct.
Throughout all of Western Europe, the governments are arresting and jailing pastors if they don’t follow the government imposed limitations on free speech.
I know many think, “Well, we have a first amendment right to religious freedom, and a 2nd amendment right to defend the first amendment. It will never happen here.
But they are trying.
A few years ago, Houston Texas’ mayor demanded that pastors send their sermons to her office for approval before speaking them.
Other more liberal cities followed suit, and fortunately the courts immediately ruled against them, but you see where we are heading
But do not be afraid
Jesus told us this is coming
I would encourage everyone here- get your eyes off your phones and look around. I saw again- Be filled continually with the Holy Spirit,
Allow God to open your spiritual eyes, and see things for what they really are.
Take a stand now, or find yourself having to make a decision soon of jail or being faithful to Christ.
That leads us to the last thylip-sis. And the most uncomfortable one.
IV. Death
That’s a scary one for most people. But let me tell you a secret from being set free from the fear of death.
Simply accept that barring the rapture happening in your lifetime, everyone has to walk through that door we call death at some point.
Do not fear it.
In fact, Jesus tell us in Revelation 12 that those who live during the end times will defeat the antichrist spirit by
Rev 12:11
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. NIV
If you want victory over the enemy in every part of your life, that last point is the most important.
You can have the blood of the lamb- that is the first step. You are saved, and you are HIS.
You have the word of your testimony-
That testimony is-
I once was blind and slave to sin, but Jesus has come, restored my sight, and set me free.
I am dead to the old life, born again into the new LIfe that lives for Jesus and HIM alone.
That’s why you should not love your life here more than Jesus.
Because HE IS YOUR LIFE, and what HE has for your on the other side of death’s door is so much better than anything this life is offering you right now.
Finally, Jesus tells the Smyrna church
Do not fear, for HE is with you
Do not fear, for HE awaits you,
Leading the applause of heaven, and ready with a crown to place on your head- the victors crown welcoming you into eternal life
Prayer/Worship Worshipping Jesus
“Endless Praise”
