THE 2ND CHURCH OF REVELATION:
Smyrna
3-3-02
Revelation 2:8-11
The first letter was to Ephesus … representing Apostolic Church – the church from Pentecost until about 110 a.d.
If you recalled … Jesus commended that church highly … but warned it about drifting away from its first love:
· The love of Jesus … and
· The rich fellowship;
that permeated the church at its beginning.
Smyrna represents the Martyred Church – the Church between 110 a.d. and 314 a.d.
Jesus expressed commendations of this suffering church. He had no word of condemnation, only a word of encouragement that he suffered everything they would have to endure.
This was a time of increase persecution …
1. From vigilant Jews trying to rid themselves of what they considered a heresy within their own ranks
2. And then from Rome after the Caesars found it to be popular sport blame Christians for everything.
Constantine ended the persecutions when he became Caesar & embraced the Church.
And then, he elevated bishops to be equal to provincial governors.
SMYRNA, The name means suffering ... comes from myrrh, perfume base also used in embalming.
Still exists today as IZMIR, a port city of 200,000 on the west coast of Turkey.
It’s an ancient city … founded 2000 B.C. by Hittites, same as Ephesus.
That’s about the time God called Abraham to father a unique people as a living testimony to the one true and living God.
In time, Smyrna became the jewel of Asia …
· A beautiful city and seaport …
· A planned city with wide streets surrounded by hills … each topped by temples for every known heathen god …
· A city swept and refreshed constantly by a western sea breezes …
· A city of culture as well as commerce.
Just what did Jesus have to say about the church at Smyrna?
2:8 “And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; “
Jesus again identifies himself as being eternal – alpha & omega … the first and last.
The reference is not only his eternal existence … but also to his preeminence.
We are humbled in his presence.
Here, he adds to his description that he "was dead, and is alive."
In the Greek, this in not a mere statement of fact.
It is a declaration that he voluntarily "became dead & became alive again.
Death did not just come.
It was not the Romans … nor the nails and spear … that took his life.
He gave up his life … when his job was done – when our sin was transferred from us to him.
Nor is He merely alive!
But, rather, He returned to life.
The emphasis is on voluntary death and resurrection.
It was all on purpose!
It was according to a plan!
It was the way the whole Godhead determined that a holy God could accept sinful people back into his fellowship.
It, also, is interesting to note that Smyrna died and returned to life also.
In 600 B.C., Lydia invaded & destroyed it.
About 200 B.C., Smyrna was rebuilt.
It found new life as a planned city.
It became a center of Caesar worship.
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.”
AS used here, "tribulation" means pressure as in a press: To be pressed flat!
“Poverty” means absolutely nothing at all – complete destitution.
The pressure was from apostate Jews, who were stirring up Roman officials.
They were searching out Christians then just like they’ve searched out Nazis ever since the holocaust.
“Synagogue of Satan” was the way Jesus described these as Jews by blood … and not by faith.
They worshipped their religion … not the living God.
In Rom 9:6, Paul told the Jews, "Not all Israel is Israel."
Jesus, told the Church: "Many shall call Lord, Lord. And I will say depart from me for I never knew you."
It was just another way of saying not all church members are Christians.
We are born dead: Spiritually dead.
It’s a genetic trait that we all inherit from Adam … after his fall.
Jesus said, “Ye must be born again.”
If we ever hope to profit from our faith … we must be born of the Holy Spirit … just as we were born of our mothers.
This is the mystery that occurs at the moment we accept Jesus as our Christ.
Recognizing Jesus as THE Christ doesn’t cut it.
Surrendering self to Jesus in full faith and trust … allows him …
· To totally invade our lives …
· To merge everything that he is with all that we are…
· To give us Spirit life … where we had none before.
That’s what it means to be born of God – of the Spirit.
That’s what brings us into the family of God.
That’s what gives us eternal and abundant life.
Before, we were dead in sin.
Now, we are alive in Christ.
In Smyrna, the Jews, who had long since, turned their backs on God … to pursue the endless rights and rituals of a lifeless religion were hunting down Christians.
Basically, believers were being charged with 6 crimes:
1. Cannibalism! This was based on sacrament of communion … remembering the body & blood of Christ.
2. Immorality! This charge also came from the communion … or love feast.
To the early Christians the love feast was a joyous occasion.
The Jews did not understand AGAPE … and accused the believers of EROS
3. Tampering with family relationships. Actually, they were the ones tampering with the families, because they kicked out anyone who joined the church.
4. Atheism. Strange that a Jew would use this one, because it was based on the fact the Christians had no images of their God. Only the heathen had images! The Jews didn’t either.
5. Revolutionaries. It was a charge based on the fact they claimed Christ not Caesar as Lord.
6. Incendiaries. The Jews charged that the Christians were a threat to the beautiful city and all of its temples simply, because they claimed world would end in flames.
Talk about dirty politics!
They charged believers with anything that would incite the Roman governor to action.
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.”
The words of Jesus to this oppressed church was to "stop being afraid!"
Jesus had suffered everything that we can suffer. He was:
· Falsely accused
· Falsely imprisoned
· Beaten almost to death
· Publicly ridiculed, crowned, mocked
· Stripped of clothing & dignity in public
· Heard the ones he came to save demand his death
· Wrongfully executed as a common criminal.
Best count is more than 5 million Christians were brutally executed, mostly in sports arenas and banquets before Constantine’s edict of toleration in 313 a.d.
Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, 155 a.d., said the people in the stadium, at the games, would chant: “death to the atheist . . . get Polycarp.”
Polycarp could have escaped, but had a dream of sleeping on a burning pillow.
Told his disciples he would be burned alive.
A tortured slave finally told where to find Polycarp.
When they came for him … Polycarp would not leave until arresting party had been welcomed and fed.
Captain of the guard …obviously moved by Polycarp’s fearless hospitality … pleaded with him: "What harm is it to say, ’Caesar is Lord’ and to offer sacrifice and be saved?"
To this, Polycarp said, “80 years I have served Him(Jesus). He has done me no wrong.”
Then he heard a voice from above saying: “Be strong Polycarp. Play the man.”
The chief magistrate threatened to burn him alive!
To which Polycarp replied: You threaten me with fire that burns for a time and is quickly quenched.
But, you do not know the fire which awaits the wicked in judgment to come and in everlasting punishment.
Then Polycarp chided him, “Why are you waiting? Come, do what you will.”
It was recorded that even though it was the Sabbath, the Jews carried wood for the fire in open defiance of their own Sabbath Law.
Polycarp refused to be tied to the post.
He said: "He who gives me power to endure the fire, will grant me to remain in the flames unmoved even without the security you will give by the nails.
As soldiers applied their torches to the pyre: Polycarp prayed: “O Lord God Almighty, Father of your beloved and blessed Child, Jesus Christ, through whom we have received full knowledge of you, God of angels and powers, and of all creation, and of the whole family of the righteous, who live before you, I bless you that you have granted unto me this day and hour, that I may share, among the number of the martyrs, in the cup of your Christ, for the resurrection to eternal life, both of soul and body in the immortality of the Holy Spirit.
“And may I today be received among them before you, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, as you the God without falsehood and of truth, have prepared beforehand and shown forth and fulfilled.
“For this reason I also praise you for all things. I bless you. I glorify you though the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Child, through whom be glory to you with Him and the Holy Spirit, both now and for the ages that are to come. Amen.”
It was faith such as this that impressed people throughout the Roman Empire … wherever and however believers were put to death.
It was faith such as this that caused the church to grow … and spread like the flames themselves throughout the known world.
It is faith such as this that the church needs today … to get us off our duffs … and out into the world … where people are dying unto the eternal flames.
If everyone who claims the name of Christ today … would display faith such as this there would be no government … no political party … no terrorist … who would dare run counter to the commands of our Lord and Savior.
But the church at Smyrna was in for it … for a long time.
The “10 days” in this verse has 2 possible meanings, both may be right:
1. Short time, Several OT uses this way.
2. 10 seasons of persecution.
Either way it refers to identifiable periods of time.
History records that between 64 a.d. and 313 a.d. there were 10 Caesars to pursued Christian persecutions.
1. Nero, 64-68 … had Paul beheaded and blamed Christians for the fire that he, himself, set to burn Rome.
A favorite of Nero was to wrap Christians in animal skins and feed them to his dogs.
Another was to wrap them in waxed shirts … bind them to posts … and set fire to them to light his garden banquets.
2. Domitian, 95-96, had John boiled in oil then exiled to Patmos.
Timothy was clubbed to death by a mob.
3. Trajan, 104-117, had Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, burned at the stake.
4. Marcus Aurelius, 106-180, had Polycarp burned alive.
5. Severus, 192-211, had Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, beheaded.
6. Maximus, 235-237 slaughtered thousands and refused to allow them to be buried.
7. Decius, 250-253.
8. Valerian, 257-260.
9. Aurelian, 270-275, and,
10. Diocletian, 303-313, is reputed to be the worst of them all. Exactly what could be worst, I don’t know.
The verse refers also to “Faithful to death ... crown of life.”
Smyrna understood crowns:
· Crowns of royalty,
· Crowns of wealth and social position,
· Crowns of victory in games.
Jesus promised the best of them all: The Crown of life.
Salvation is a free gift.
That’s not the subject here.
Crowns are rewards for those who are saved … and who have earned them.
The crown of life makes you royalty in King’s court for all of eternity.
The point is that our great and loving God will multiply anything that we lose in his service.
When we die for the cause of Christ … we are elevated to the uppermost branches of his family tree … and are crowned for royal rewards and service.
In Facing Christ … we have 2 choices:
1. Accept him… and have eternal life…
2. Reject him… and have eternal torment.
In Accepting Christ … we have 2 choices:
1. Yield to him as Lord … and receive his gifts and joy of service.
2. Ignore him … suffer the sin unto death … or show up empty-handed at the throne of rewards.
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.”
Again, the ear that can hear – the one that overcometh – is the one that has been born from above.
It is the ear of the Spirit of God – the one who has accepted Jesus as his Christ – that hears the Word of God.
It is the born again ear that escapes the second death – the death of separation and torment.
Our Jesus wants us all to hear.
He wants us all to trust him.
He wants to bless us beyond all expectation.
He is coming back to get us.
He wants us with him … now and forever.
Millions have died!
Millions more have suffered … just to keep the message alive until it got to us.
Now, It’s our choice …
It’s our turn!
Do we share the Good News of Jesus as the Christ with those who have not heard… with those of the next generation,
Or with the message die with us… unspoken… unshared?
Let us pray!
