"Smyrna" Sermon: Revelation 2:8-11 (manuscript)

 

“Smyrna”

[Revelation 2:8–11]

October 29, 2023 YouTube

 

          The second of the seven churches that John addresses in the letter – the book – of Revelation is the church in Smyrna, and it was about thirty-five miles north of Ephesus and was founded by Paul.  It had a natural harbor and a flourishing export trade, and it was one of the wealthiest cities in Asia Minor – Turkey. 

Smyrna was controlled by the Romans, but the Jews were accepted and allowed to practice their religion, and since the Romans saw no real difference between the Jews and the Christians, so the Christians were able to practice their religion.  Smyrna hosted the Temple of Dea Roma – the god of the founding of Rome, and they won the honor of having the Temple of Ceasar Tiberius constructed in their city.

As we look at the letter, note that nothing negative is said about this church.

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

We will remember, we understand, the letter is addressed to the real, historical minister and the real, historical church in Smyrna – as well as all ministers and all churches throughout time and space.

Jesus tells the church in Smyrna that the words of this letter come from Jesus, and He is the first and the last.  Jesus is unchangeable and eternal.  He is before all things, and He has no end because He is Divine – He is God.  And He lived a human life and died a human death and resurrected – He came back to life.  Jesus is God in the flesh.  He is the God-Man – Wholly God and Wholly Man able – since He is God and Man – to bring the believers in Smyrna out of tribulation, into His Victory, and into His Kingdom.

Because Jesus is the God-Man, the Christians in Smyrna, and all Christians throughout time and space have hope and comfort and confidence that we all will come through tribulation – no matter how horrible it may be – Jesus will bring His people through it into the Paradise of God.

“‘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.

Initially, the Christians were tolerated as a type of Jew, but the Jews eventually made it clear that Christians are not Jews, and the Romans and the Jews cause the Christians to suffer – to have tribulation – in four different ways:

First, they suffered by being impoverished, by being poor, by not having things.  The Romans and the Jews would not allow them to trade or buy or sell because they confessed Christ and lived out their Christianity.  Yet, they were rich in the things of God – in the salvation that Jesus merited for all Christians.

Paul writes, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (II Corinthians 8:9, ESV).

Jesus teaches, “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:20-21, ESV).

“Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life’” (Mark 10:29-30, ESV).

Second, they were slandered.

As we already said, the Jews turned against the Christians, and the Romans turned against the Christians in turn.  The Jews started telling each other and the Romans lies about the Christians – they spread slander about them.  Some of the slander that was being spread about the Christians was that they drown their children and ate human flesh and drank human blood – a perverse caricature of the sacraments.

Jesus says, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12, ESV).

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours” (John 15:18-20, ESV).

Jesus is not saying, “Hey, if they slander you and lie about you and get you persecuted, don’t worry about it – why are you making such a big deal?  Enjoy it and know good things are coming.”  No.  Jesus knows what it is to suffer at the hands of those who slander.

The theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who died in a concentration camp during World War Two, said, “Suffering is the badge of true Christians.”

Remember what Paul writes, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, ESV).

Don’t panic.  Don’t despair.  Don’t try to laugh it off.  And Christians in 2023, don’t think it won’t happen to you.  Jesus has overcome, and no matter how much or how little a Christian endures, Jesus brings him into Paradise and His Kingdom.

What the Christians in Smyrna need to know is that the people who are slandering them – the people who call themselves, “Jews,” aren’t Jews – they are members of the Synagogue of Satan.

How can that be?

Paul explains, “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ 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 offspring” (Romans 9:6-8, ESV).

Paul explains that just because you are born in the line of Jews doesn’t mean you are a Jew.  Likewise, just because you are born into a Christian family and go to church and mouth the right words doesn’t mean you are a Christian.

If you say you’re a Jew and you go to synagogue and you do all the right things, but you don’t believe the Word of God, you are not worshippers of God, you are worshippers of Satan.  The same goes for Christians.

Trust.  Have hope.  Be comforted:  Jesus is already victorious over Satan – the devil.  He is a vanquished foe.  Jesus is bringing us through this – no matter how difficult it is, we will be brought through it and will be with Jesus in glory forever.

“’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.”

Third, some were falsely imprisoned.

Jesus tells them not to be afraid, even though the devil is going to throw some of them into prison.  Of course, Jesus does not mean that the devil will physically throw them into prison, but that the devil will influence and coerce people in power – through slander and lies about the Christians – to have some of them thrown into prison.  The devil will be behind their being thrown into prison.

We shouldn’t understand this to mean that the devil got the better of Jesus and got some of Jesus’ people falsely thrown into jail because, just as Jesus told Pilate, it is true of the devil, “Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin’” (John 19:11, ESV).

Some people talk about the devil and God as though they are two equals fighting it out, but that is not what the Bible tells us.  The devil is a creation of God, and the devil cannot do anything except what God commands and allows.

The devil threw some of them into prison, but only because God let him.

Why?

The author of Hebrews writes, “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Hebrews 12:6, ESV).

The suffering of Christians is purposeful.  There is a purpose for why God allowed the devil to throw some of the Christians of Smyrna into prison.  There is a purpose for all the ways that Christians suffer.  We endure exactly what our Father knows to be what we need to be the person He has called us to be.  He does not sin.  He does not tempt.

He disciplines us and chastises us and grows us by the best and most effective means necessary – whether it looks like it right now or not.

Don’t worry or be frightened that the devil is throwing some into prison but take comfort in knowing that our God and Savior is testing us, and He is bringing us through passing the test by the merit of Jesus.

And, again, showing the Sovereignty and Divinity of Jesus, He says they will be imprisoned for ten days.  The number ten symbolizes wholeness, the law, divine order.  So, they will be imprisoned for a short period of time which has been set in accordance with the Divine order – Jesus’ Sovereignty.

We see the use of ten days in the book of Daniel where Daniel and his friends are commanded to eat the food provided by the king – which is not kosher.  So, Daniel asks, “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see” (Daniel 1:12-13).  Daniel and his friends looked better and were healthier than those fed the king’s food by obeying the law – ten.

Fourth, some were put to death.

Sometimes – Jesus Who lived and died and rose from the dead – sometimes – in the plan of God and in love for us, death is the best witness – best confirmation – that our faith is genuine and purposeful.

Jesus tells the Christians in Smyrna to be faithful.  That doesn’t mean you won’t be poor.  That doesn’t mean you won’t be slandered.  That doesn’t mean you won’t be falsely put in prison.  That doesn’t mean you won’t be put to death.  All Christians endure tribulation – like our Lord Jesus – just in different amounts and ways.

Polycarp was the bishop of Smyrna until he was burned to death in 156 A. D. at the age of eighty-six for the crime of refusing to denounce Christ and worship the emperor. He was likely one of the first people to read or hear the book of Revelation.  The Romans prepared a stake to tie him to and wood for him to stand on as he burned.  Polycarp said there was no need to tie him up, he would stand there on his own as he burned.

As he burned, he said, in part, “O Lord, Almighty God, the Father of Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, through whom we have received the knowledge of Thee, I thank Thee that Thou hast thought me worthy this day, this hour to share the cup of Thy Christ among the number of Thy witnesses” (in Joel Beeke, Revelation, 81).

We are to be faithful – in suffering – in tribulation – and when we are not.  We are to be faithful – not to the world – not to the devil – but to Jesus.  Polycarp was faithful. The church in Smyrna was to be faithful unto death.  We are to be faithful unto death.

And if we are, Jesus says, we will receive “the crown of life.”

Is it a gold crown with gems in it like we see on TV and in the movies?  No.  It is a laurel wreath like the one given in the sports games of the day – the winner of a race.  And notice, it is given to us by Jesus – it is not something we merit – it is something given to us by grace for what Jesus has done.

Paul writes about the tribulation – even to death – as he would suffer – and he does not say this lightly or flippantly, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (II Corinthians 4:17-18, ESV).

If we suffer or are even put to death for the sake of Jesus, we have won the race – we have received the crown.  That’s not to say the tribulation we endure is easy – I know some of you who are suffering a lot. But we have hope and comfort in knowing that our hope is not here in the way things are now, but with Jesus in the restored Creation and His Kingdom.

“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.’

Christians in the church in Smyrna, hear what the Holy Spirit says to you and the other churches – all the other churches and all the Christians in them, if you are one who conquers – are you one who conquers?  Do we conquer?  Has Jesus conquered for us – in our place?

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39, ESV).

Jesus has conquered everything for His people that we would be comforted and have hope through our tribulation knowing that He has conquered the last judgment for us as well.  We are conquerors through Jesus – He has conquered everything and credited it to our accounts and all those who believing savingly in Jesus will not be hurt by the second death.

The first death is our physical death when our body and soul are separated until the last day.  The second death is the final judgment on the last day when everyone who ever lived will be raised from the dead and judged.  But the Christians in the church in Smyrna and all the Christians through time and space will not be hurt by the second death.

Later in the book of Revelation we have a definition: “Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14-15, ESV). The second death is eternal suffering in Hell.

The church in Smyrna suffered a great deal.  They faced poverty due to their confession of Jesus.  They were slandered by the Romans and the Jews.  They were unjustly thrown in prison.  They were even put to death for their faith.

Jesus tells them to be faithful.  “Don’t panic; don’t worry.  Hold on to all you have believed and been taught.  Know that whatever may happen, I am Sovereign.  I am faithful.  I have saved you and made you more than conquerors – winners of the crown of life.  And since I lived and died and rose from the dead, your debt to God has been paid, and you will not face the second death.  You have been delivered from eternal suffering in Hell.”

Let us have ears to hear what the Holy Spirit says to the churches.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank you for this record of a faithful church – a church that suffered in many ways under the hands of the Jews and the Romans.  Help us to be faithful in every way.  Keep us hopeful and give us comfort in knowing that the work of Jesus helps us to believe that our suffering has purpose, and we are more than conquerors because He loves us.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.