Rev. Bruce A. Shields
Tawas Baptist Church Tawas City Michigan USA
www.TawasBaptist.org
Revelation Chapter 2
Vs. 8-11: to the church in Smyrna
Key Verse; Revelation 1:19
“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.”
Revelation Chapter 1: Things you have seen,
Revelation Chapter 2 & 3: The things which are,
Revelation Chapters 4 – 22: The things which shall be hereafter.
Chapter 2 & 3 – The Things that Are.
Chapter 1 – We see the Lord Jesus as the Glorified One.
Chapter 2&3 – We see the Lord Jesus as the Head over the Church.
Chapter 4-22 – We see the Lord Jesus as the Triumphant One.
We will see the Lords striking message to the seven churches of Asia.
They are applicable to the churches of today.
Before the vision of the Father in Heaven in Revelation Chapter 4, we have the vision and words of the Son, Jesus Christ in Chapters 1 – 3.
We must know the Son before we can know the Father. He is the only way to God.
Salvation – We see that salvation is given to them who overcome sin. The verses in Revelation that use the Greek word for “Overcome” are;
REVELATION
2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:26, 3:5, 3:12, 3:21, 5:5, 6:2, 11:7, 12:11, 13:7, 15:2, 17:14 & 21:7
Overcoming sin is an important theme in Revelation, with promises for those who overcome.
Revelation 2:8 – To the Church in Smyrna
2:8
Angel - Messenger of God (anyone, human or heavenly, who proclaims God’s message)
Church in Smyrna – If you follow the belief that the 7 letters in Revelation represent the 7 stages of the body of Christ before His 2nd coming, then the second letter to the church of Smyrna represents the body of Christ during the time of about 100AD – 300AD. The church in Ephesus (the first letter) closed around 100AD.
The First and the Last – Same as the Alpha and Omega which are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Simply means He was here in the beginning of time and He will be here at the end. He created time itself.
Which was dead, and is alive – Refers to the cross and the resurrection.
I know your works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but you are rich) – Smyrna was poor in the economical sense, but the Lord proclaimed them to be spiritually rich. In contrast the Laodicean church was rich financially, but the Lord proclaimed them to be spiritually poor.
I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not – From this verse we learn that God doesn’t consider Jews who reject Christ as truly Jewish.
The Synagogue of Satan – The worship of Christ-rejecting Jews is concluded by the Lord to be Satanic. We know this is about the Jews because Jesus says “They say they are Jews” and the term “Synagogue”.
You shall have tribulation 10 days – this statement is believed to represent the 10 major persecutions Rome hurled at the church of that day, spanning about 200 years.
Many people have heard of Nero throwing Christians to the lions, but Nero isn’t the only emperor who is accused of having persecuted the early Christians. The following are the ten major persecutions of Christians during the Roman Empire;
• Nero (64 A.D.)
• Domitian (c.90-96)
• Trajan (98-117)
• Hadrian (117-138)
• Marcus Aurelius (161-181)
• Septimus Severus (202-211)
• Maximus the Thracian (235-251)
• Decius (249-251)
• Valerian (257-260)
• Diocletian / Galerius (303-311)
Crown of life – The crown was a symbol among the Romans and Greeks of victory and reward. All the earthly crowns given throughout the centuries fade eventually, but the apostles speak of crowns that are incorruptible and everlasting. The crown of life mentioned in James 1:12; Revelation 2:10 represent salvation and avoiding the second death, which is being cast into the lake of fire on Judgment Day.
He who overcomes – Salvation is given to those who overcome sin. Those who have salvation shall avoid the second death of the lake of fire on Judgment Day.
