The Seven Churches-Smyrna
Introduction: Smyrna was the second of the seven churches listed in Revelation 2-3. The message to the “angel (literally, messenger; likely the senior pastor or overseer)” was brief and to the point. Troubles were there, more was coming, but the Lord promised rewards to those who could and would overcome.
(Full disclosure: this message is based on a sermon I preached at New Hope Baptist Church near Fulton, MO on Sunday morning, October 26, 2025 but is not an exact transcription)
1 The picture of Jesus
Text: Revelation 2:8-11, KJV: 8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; 9 I 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. 10 Fear 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. 11 He 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.
The Lord Jesus Christ had just finished His message to the church in Ephesus, giving them words of praise, problems, and a way to get things back to the way they needed to be. Now He is sending a message to the believers in Smyrna, about 40-50 miles northwest of Ephesus (see a map of this area at https://bibleatlas.org/smyrna.htm). That journey doesn’t seem to be for the faint of heart, as the only two ways from Ephesus to Smyrna were either by land (walking on a more or less level plain, but with mountains on each side) or by ship, involving an out-around-and-back movement; west then north then east sailing along a (what seems to me) large peninsula. It’s anybody’s guess how many went from one city to the other, or by what means.
Now the Lord tells the believers in Smyrna that, just as He had told John in chapter 1, He was the “first and last, which [sic] was dead, and is alive.” Compare this with what the Lord told John in Revelation 1:17. Something I found interesting was that in this verse (2:8), the Lord does not use “Alpha and Omega” but the normal, usual words for “first” and “last”. Some have expressed comfort in that since the Lord was already there when the beginning began, He’ll be there when all things are made new, and He will be there with us every step of the way. Amen!
This is the only picture of the risen Lord in this letter. It’s as if (to me) that the Lord has something very important to say to these believers.
2 The words of praise
But the Lord has some very sincere words of praise for this group. Just as He tells most, if not all the other churches, so He tells the Smyrna believers “I know thy works”. We’re never told just what they had done, but it was enough for the Lord. He noticed. He knew, and He still knows.
The Lord also knew about their tribulation. Sad but true, especially in the Book of Acts, whenever the gospel was preached, persecution would soon come along. Paul experienced this first hand when people (unbelieving Jews) from Antioch of Pisidia and Iconium traveled to Lystra and stoned him, trying to kill him (Acts 14:19)! Later, in Philippi, Paul and Silas (Acts 16) were beaten and thrown into prison for preaching the gospel, and also casting a demon out of a young woman (paidiskee, https://biblehub.com/greek/3814.htm. akin to the word for servant). Paul even warned Timothy that all who live for Jesus would suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12).
Again, we don’t know for sure what happened in Smyrna in those days, but the Lord did, and He is giving them a word of praise. Besides knowing about the tribulation, the Lord also knew about the poverty among the believers. This poverty may be due to these believers losing their goods to the authorities (see Jamieson, Faucett, and Brown’s commentary on this verse, available online at https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jfb/revelation/2.htm). Hebrews 10:34 has the record that this same thing had happened to Jewish believers at an unknown time. It’s a comfort to us, that even if people steal our stuff, the Lord knows about it. Leave the rest to Him—those people who stole those goods will answer to Him one day (Rev. 20:11-15).
And the Lord knew about the blasphemy of the members of the “synagogue of Satan”. First, as best I can determine, only Jews were members of synagogues. The Lord is likely speaking about Jews in this verse. Worse, these are most likely unsaved Jews, those who heard and/or chose to reject the message of Jesus as Messiah and Savior. Paul had written in Romans 2:28-29 that there was a difference between being a (true) Jew, not outwardly but inwardly.
We’re not told exactly what made up this blasphemy but we may have a clue from Paul’s own testimony in Acts 26:11 where he said, “I compelled them to blaspheme”. Dr. Albert Barnes’ note on that verse explains that one tactic of “blasphemy” was to force a believer to deny that Jesus was the Messiah (see https://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/acts/26.htm ). To their credit, there is no record any of them did so. Well done, brothers and sisters!
Another word about this “synagogue of Satan”: these unbelieving Jews were just like those who had confronted Jesus in John 8. Jesus said it clearly, “Ye are of your father, the Devil (John 8:44)” and it seems some of their own descendants went everywhere the Gospel was preached to cause problems with the new believers.
3 The words about problems
Actually, the Lord doesn’t list or mention any problems here in Smyrna except for one, coming, and severe problem: suffering and persecution was headed that way. The Lord had already praised them, knowing their tribulation (see verse 9) but now He seems to be alerting them to something much worse coming to them. They had done nothing wrong, but for those who hate God’s people, it didn’t matter. May we be reminded that the Lord Himself had promised the Apostles that the world would hate them because they chose Him (John 15:18-25).
We’re not sure what did happen to the believers in Smyrna but we can accept the words of Jesus. He notified them that they would have “tribulation ten days (opinions differ about what that phrase means)” and that they would be cast into prison “that ye may be tried”. This could mean that they would face trials before authorities, like Paul, and like Peter and John himself in the early days of the church, as recorded in the first few chapters of Acts.
It could also mean that this would be a test to see if those who claimed to be believers in Jesus would be faithful even to death. All the original apostles (except Judas Iscariot) had died as martyrs according to records, leaving only John as one of the original Twelve. Only the Lord knows how many remained true to Him, and how many of those who claimed to be His followers did not stay true to Him.
Even so, with the warning of problems to come, the Lord didn’t leave these believers with nothing to hold. Someone once made a variation of an old proverb, making it read, “When the going gets too tough, even the tough will leave”—which is something the Lord did NOT want to happen to Smyrna. As with Ephesus, and with the other five churches to be mentioned later, He promised a reward for those who stayed faithful to Him.
4 The words about rewards
Now, staying faithful, even when your own life may be at stake, is not something most of us want to consider. Dr. Oliver Greene, in one of his “The Gospel Hour” radio broadcasts, reflected that he wasn’t afraid to die, but neither was he anxious to die. The unstated message was that he knew his life was in God’s hands, and he was resting in that assurance.
Further, the late Dr. Peter Marshall, originally from Scotland and chaplain of the United States Senate in the 1940’s, related something along the lines of “when time comes for me to leave this world, I shall leave not one moment early nor one moment late (paraphrased from one of his books, maybe the preface to “Mr. Jones, Meet the Master)”. The point is that genuine believers know they have a life to live down here, on this earth; they (and we) know that one day our life on this earth will end and we’ll go to be with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:10, e.g.), but few of us will really know just when our earthly journey ends and our heavenly walk begins.
These believers in Smyrna knew they were living, they knew where they were going, and now they had the Lord’s warning about what was coming their way. And even so, the Lord gives them (and us) the promise of two rewards for those who stay faithful. The first reward is a crown of life, which some take as life itself and not a victor’s crown or “stephanos (something to be worn or displayed per https://biblehub.com/greek/4735.htm)”. No matter what that crown or reward may actually be, won’t it be worth it to know we have remained faithful to our Lord!
The second reward, this one for the overcomer, is to never be hurt “of the second death.” We in this age may never really know how much theology these early believers had absorbed. It’s clear they were aware of literal death, the cessation of life on this earth; and from verse 11 they seemed to have a working knowledge of the second death. John would expand on this later in Revelation 20, when the unsaved dead of all time would stand before Jesus as He sat on the Great White Throne. John records that the dead were judged out of the records “according to their works” and anyone whose name was not in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death. Comfort for saints, absolutely, but if I was not yet a believer, I’d be terrified of spending forever—FOREVER—separated from God and everything good, knowing I never had to come to this place of torment.
Let’s try to wrap up this one. Sure, it’s a short message, for them and for us, but there are still some things we can take home. First, we worship the Lord just like these believers in Smyrna. We like them face opposition from organized religions, denominations, and the like, but that’s to be expected. Of course, we may not (yet) experience the “ten days” of tribulation like Smyrna, but then again, the Enemy of our souls has other means. The intent is the same: to make us lose our faith in Jesus and stop being faithful to Him. Think about that when something comes your way that doesn’t exactly square or measure up to the promises from our Lord Himself.
Beloved, in one final word: be faithful unto death for Jesus! The rewards will be worth it!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
