The Seven Churches of the 21st
Century
Smyrna:
Willingness To Suffer
Revelation 2:8-11
And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write;
These things saith the First and the Last, which was
dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation,
and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the
blasphemy of them who say they are Jews, and are not,
but are the synagogue of Satan. 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. 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 first thing that
captures our attention concerning the letter to the
Church at Smyrna is the fact that it is the shortest of
the seven letters. This fact is undoubtedly related to
the fact that this church was also the most spiritual of
the seven. As we’ll see later, Christ gave no rebuke to
this church. His words are those of comfort and
consolation to a group of believers who were willing to
suffer terribly for the Lord.
The Root Of The Letter (v.
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;
Concerning
Christ
The picture of Christ in
this verse is from Revelation 1:18: “I am he that
liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for
evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
The Lord presents Himself here as One Who was persecuted
and suffered death at the hands of His persecutors. That
statement was especially meaningful to those at Smyrna,
for they too were experiencing severe persecution. So
Jesus is here saying, “I fully understand what you are
suffering, but fear not, for as I was raised in victory,
so shall you be.”
Concerning
The Church
It is fascinating,
indeed, to observe that the word Smyrna means
“myrrh;” this fact is very important to the study of
this church. Myrrh was an ordinary perfume and was also
used for anointing oil as well as being used in
embalming the dead. It was a gum resin extracted from a
certain tree in Arabia by incisions made in the bark.
Actually, the English word is but a transliteration
(giving the English equivalent to the Greek letters) of
the Greek word smurrna. This
word is used only three other times in the New Testament
and is always used in connection with Christ: at His
birth (Matt. 2:11), His death (Mk. 15:23), and His
burial (Jn. 19:39). The most significant of these three
references is Christ’s birth. One of the gifts of the
Magi was myrrh. Why? Because it was a picture of the
suffering and death He would endure.
We, therefore, see a deep
meaning in regard to the church at Smyrna. An amazing
fact about myrrh is that it must be crushed in order for
its fragrance to be released. The Lord Jesus had to be
“crushed” so that we might live. Likewise, the church at
Smyrna had to be “crushed” by persecution so that it
could give off a sweet smelling testimony for Christ;
the more it was crushed, in fact, the sweeter its
testimony became and the broader it witness
spread.
Prophetic
History
The church at Smyrna
pictures the Church from A.D. 100 to 313. The “Ephesian
Period” was characterized by a waning love for the Lord,
so God allowed great persecution to come on the Church
in order to bring it back to Him. It was during this
time that the Church experienced its greatest suffering
as will become evident as we
progress.
Concerning
The City
Smyrna was
located about 35-40 miles north of Ephesus. It was a
rich and prosperous city, in many ways even a rival of
Ephesus. It, too, was a port city, a better port than
Ephesus, in fact. Historians have called Smyrna “The
Ornament of Asia” and was said to be the most beautiful
city in Asia. But, like Ephesus, Smyrna also was a pagan
city with temples to Apollo, Aphrodite, Zeus, and
especially Cybele. Moreover, Smyrna was the center of
Emperor worship, the worship of Caesar as god.
Of special significance,
however, is the fact that this city still remains today
under the name of “Izmir.” What a contrast to Ephesus!
Many believe the church at Smyrna was started as a
result of the outreach of the church at Ephesus, but the
difference was that while the church at Ephesus left its
first love, Smyrna did not. It has been estimated that
one third of some 200,000 inhabitants of Smyrna are
Christian. How marvelous! The more the church was
crushed, the more it grew. And that has been true
throughout Church History.
The Regard Of The Letter (v.
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.
The Lord Jesus held this
church in high regard. In fact, this is the most
positive letter of the seven. As we’ll see in Chapter 7,
the church at Philadelphia, like Smyrna, received no
direct rebuke, but nonetheless Christ’s highest regard
was for those who suffered for His sake. Our Lord gives
three commendations.
“I Know Your
Tribulation”
May we again take
special note of the words I know. As noted in our
study of the church at Ephesus, the Greek is oida
(or eido), which speaks of a
full, complete knowledge. As I studied this passage,
these words made a deep impression upon me. In essence
our Lord says to these believers, “My dear children, I
know fully what you are going through; I understand
completely your suffering because I too have been
through it.” The same is true now. Our Lord understands
every burden we carry, every heartache we feel, every
tear we shed, and every pain we suffer. Is that not all
that matters? Would to God that we stop wallowing in
self-pity when these things occur and just think back to
what our Savior suffered. We could never suffer to the
extent that He did.
Tribulation
translates the Greek thlipsis, a graphic word
that literally means “to crush, press, compress,
squeeze” and “is from thlao,
to break.”[i] Another form of
this word, thibo, appears in
Matthew 24:21, which describes the future Tribulation
Period, when there “shall be great tribulation, such as
was not since the beginning of the world to this time,
no, nor ever shall be.” Indeed, the church at Smyrna was
under tremendous persecution, but some ask, “Weren’t
most of the churches in Asia Minor under persecution?”
Yes, to one extent or another, that is true. The church
at Smyrna, however, was under greater persecution
because it took a stand against many things when other
churches would not. Historically, the church at Smyrna
stood against three falsehoods.
The Church Stood Against
Emperor Worship
As mentioned earlier,
Smyrna was the center of the Roman imperial cult that
declared, “Caesar is God.” But these faithful believers
refused to bow down to Caesar.
The Church Stood Against
Pagan Worship
We also mentioned
earlier that the city was full of pagan temples, but
these Christians refused to participate in any way
whatsoever. As we will also see later, they also refused
to make sacrifices to the gods, even though it would
have immediately delivered them from persecution. They
could have said, “We could go ahead and make the
sacrifices but not really mean it in our hearts.” But
that they would not do. Like their descendants the
Puritans, those dear Christians would make no compromise
paganism. In our study of the church at Thyatira
(Chapter 5) we will see the exact opposite. Not only was
that church not separate from pagan practices, it
was clinging to such
practices. Likewise, many Christians today allow
unarguably confirmed pagan practices into their homes
and churches. But the dear believers in Smyrna would not
tolerate it in any form whatsoever.
The Church Stood Against
False Religious Worship
Without argument,
the “religious crowd” has always been the greatest enemy
of Christianity. This is vivid in reading the book of
Acts as well as Church History. Why is religion the
greatest foe of Christianity? Because religion is always
based on works (what man tries to do in himself to get
to God), while Biblical Christianity is based on grace
(what God has done for man through Christ). The Jews,
for example, hated Christ and anyone who was connected
with Him, so what was once the synagogue
(sunagoge, “assembly or congregation”) of the
Lord, was now, as our text says, the synagogue of
Satan. How many there are today
who say they are of God but are in reality “of their
father the Devil” (Jn. 8:37-44). There are many who
profess to be “Christian,” but with their next breath
deny or redefine the virgin birth of Christ, the
inspiration of Scriptures, salvation by grace alone, or
other cardinal doctrines of the Christian Faith.
So, it was these three
factors that gave way to great persecution. For some 250
years persecution raged in Asia Minor, starting as far
back as Nero in A.D. 64-68, and seems to have been
centered in Smyrna. This leads to the second point of
Christ’s regard.
“I Know Your
Poverty”
One Greek word for
poverty is penes and occurs only once in
the New Testament (II Cor. 9:9); it speaks of a
“pauper,” one who doesn’t have much and works very hard
for what he does have. But the word used here is
ptocheia, which occurs, in
various forms, about forty times in the New Testament.
This word refers to a beggar, someone who was completely
destitute, having nothing. Materially, then, the
believers in Smyrna were destitute. Standing for Christ
in Smyrna meant no job, no money, and few possessions.
How many of us today would be willing to stand for
Christ if it meant that kind of destitution? But, as
we’ll see, even though they were materially poor, they
were spiritually rich.
“I Know You
Are Blasphemed”
The Jews, as well as
pagan Gentiles, slandered Christians; they spread lies
about their character, purpose, and even mode of life.
Based on a misunderstanding of the Lord’s Supper, for
example, Jews often accused Christians of cannibalism.
Based on a perversion of the “holy kiss” with which
believers greeted each other (?Rom. 16:16?; ?1 Cor.
16:20?; ?II Cor. 13:12?; ?I Thess. 5:26?), they were
also accused of immorality. Because conflict occurred
when one spouse became a Christian and the other did not
(e.g., Luke 12:51–53), Christians were also accused of
breaking up homes. Finally, the ultimate irony is that
because Christians rejected the emperor as God and all
other pagan gods, they were considered atheists and
disloyal subjects of the Empire. So again Jesus said,
I know, “I understand fully.” He was slandered at
every turn during His earthly ministry, so He was
touched in His heart by the willingness of His children
to suffer the same.
The Rebuke of The
Letter
As stated earlier, there
is no rebuke given to the church at Smyrna. It’s also
significant to note that it, and Philadelphia, are the
only cities of the seven that still survive today. The
principle here is clear: Suffering for Christ keeps us
purer, more faithful, and more humble and makes us
gloriously triumphant. As Paul wrote to the Romans, “The
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”
(8:18). What a thought that is! In effect, Paul is
saying that present suffering and future glory should
not be mentioned in the same sentence, perhaps even the
same paragraph. The future glory in Christ is so far
above present suffering that they are less than
insignificant.
The Requirement of The Letter
(v. 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.
Even though there was no
rebuke, the Lord nonetheless gave the church two
requirements. This is an important fact because it shows
us that no church is “perfect;” every church still needs
the Lord’s challenge and command.
Don’t Be
Afraid
The Lord said,
Fear none of
those things, that is, “Even though the
persecution will continue, do not fear your sufferings.”
He uses the phrase, Ye will have persecution ten
days. Though a few commentators
disagree, there can be little doubt that this refers to
the ten great historical periods of persecution that
occurred as a result of the edicts proclaimed by ten
specific Roman emperors.[ii] As one respected
historian writes, “Usually ten persecutions are
enumerated, beginning with Nero in the first century and
culminating in the one which was inaugurated by
Diocletion early in the fourth century.”[iii]
As I was preparing this
study, I heard a message on suffering by one preacher
who was speaking to a group of pastors at a conference.
He made the point that few of us, preachers included,
know anything about suffering. He made the comment,
“It’s pretty hard to suffer when they put you up in the
Hyatt Regency.” While this invoked a good natured laugh
from the audience, his point came through clearly. Most
of us are clueless about what it means to suffer for
Christ.
Nero
(64-68)
While there were
persecutions before Nero, mainly because Christians were
still associated with Jews, it was Nero who began the
focused persecution of Christians. Tertullian, for
example, stated, “Nero was the first who assailed, with
the imperial sword, the Christian sect.” After being
accused of deliberately setting a fire that raged for
nine days and destroyed a large part of Rome and killed
thousands of people in July of 64 as an excuse to
rebuild the city, Nero sought a way to shift the blame
and Christians were an easy target. Some Christians were
wrapped in animal hides and then thrown before dogs to
be torn to pieces. Others were fastened to crosses and
set on fire to illuminate a circus that Nero staged for
the crowds in his garden. It was also during Nero’s
reign that the Apostle Paul was beheaded and Peter was
crucified.
Domitian
(81-96)
Equal to Nero in cruelty
was Domitian, who called himself, and demanded that
others call him, “Lord and God.” He decreed that
embracing Christianity was a crime against the state. He
condemned many Christians to death, including his own
nephew[iv] Flavius Clemens, who
actually might have become emperor, accusing them of
atheism because, of course, they denied that he was God.
He sent others, such as Domitilia, the wife of his
cousin, into exile. According to the histories of
Irenaeus, Eusebius, and Jerome, it was Domitian who
exiled the Apostle John Patmos where he penned the book
of Revelation.[v]
Trajan (98-117) and
Antonius Pius (138-161)
While in some ways a good
emperor, such as being just and good-tempered, it seems
that Trajan should have been against persecuting
Christians, but such was not the case. He listened to
Pliny the Younger, the governor of Bithinia, who wrote
to the emperor that the land was “swarming with
Christians” and that as a result of this “contagion of
superstition” the temples of the gods were deserted and
few people were buying sacrificial animals. To stop this
progress, he condemned many Christians to death, sent
others, who were Roman citizens, to the imperial
tribunal, and then asked the emperor for further
instructions. Trajan, who wanted to uphold the ideals of
the old empire and to protect if from disintegrating
forces, responded by saying that Pliny was doing the
right thing and that while Christians should not be
searched for, decreed that when accused and convicted
they should be put to death if they didn’t repent. It
was during this era that the famous Symeon, bishop of
Jerusalem, was tortured and crucified, and Ignatius, a
student of the Apostle John and pastor of the church at
Antioch, was transported to Rome and thrown to the lions
in the Coliseum. (We cannot help but wonder why
Christian visitors to Rome would want to make the
Coliseum part of their do site seeing tour.)
While not a separate
period, we should also mention Antonius Pius (138-161),
who to some degree seems to have tried to protect
Christians simply to avoid public calamity. It was still
during his reign, however, that the specific
persecutions in Smryna took place. Some historians
submit that it was more the populace in Smyrna that
persecuted Christians that it was the government, but
Antonius Pius (like many politicians) seems to have
bowed to public sentiment. It was there that Polycarp,
the personal friend and student of the Apostle John and
pastor of the church at Smyrna, was burned at the
stake.[vi] A stone monument still
marks his grave.
Polycarp’s
martyrdom, in fact, is one of the most striking
testimonies in Church History. The second-century
document, The Encyclical Epistle of the Church at
Smyrna Concerning the Martyrdom of the Holy
Polycarp, records the story. When finally brought
before the Proconsul, who said to him, “Swear the oath,
and I will release thee; revile the Christ,” Polycarp
answered, “'Fourscore and six years have I been His
servant, and He hath done me no wrong. How then can I
blaspheme my King who saved me?” When the Proconsul
threatened, “I have wild beasts here and I will throw
thee to them, except thou repent,” Polycarp answered,
“Call for them: for the repentance from better to worse
is a change not permitted to us; but it is a noble thing
to change from [evil] to righteousness.” Again the proconsul
threatened, “I will cause
thee to be consumed by fire, if thou despisest the wild
beasts, unless thou repent,” but Polycarp answered,
“Thou threatenest that fire which burneth for a season
and after a little while is quenched for thou art
ignorant of the fire of the future judgment and eternal
punishment, which is reserved for the ungodly. But why
delayest thou? Come, do what thou wilt.” The document
goes on:
Saying these things and
more besides, he was inspired with courage and joy, and
his countenance was filled with grace, so that not only
did it not drop in dismay at the things which were said
to him, but on the contrary the proconsul was astounded
and sent his own herald to proclaim three times in the
midst of the stadium, “Polycarp hath confessed himself
to be a Christian.” When this was proclaimed by the
herald, the whole multitude both of Gentiles and of Jews
who dwelt in Smyrna cried out with ungovernable wrath
and with a loud shout, “This is the teacher of Asia, the
father of the Christians, the puller down of our gods,
who teacheth numbers not to sacrifice nor worship.”
Saying these things, they shouted aloud and asked the
Asiarch Philip to let a lion loose upon Polycarp. But he
said that it was not lawful for him, since he had
brought the sports to a close. Then they thought fit to
shout out with one accord that Polycarp should be burned
alive. For it must needs be that the matter of the
vision should be fulfilled, which was shown him
concerning his pillow, when he saw it on fire while
praying, and turning round he said prophetically to the
faithful who were with him, “I must needs be burned
alive.”
These things then happened
with so great speed, quicker than words could tell, the
crowds forthwith collecting from the workshops and baths
timber and faggots, and the Jews more especially
assisting in this with zeal, as is their wont. But when
the pile was made ready, divesting himself of all his
upper garments and loosing his girdle, he endeavoured
also to take off his shoes, though not in the habit of
doing this before, because all the faithful at all times
vied eagerly who should soonest touch his flesh. For he
had been treated with all honour for his holy life even
before his gray hairs came. Forthwith then the
instruments that were prepared for the pile were placed
about him; and as they were going likewise to nail him
to the stake, he said; “Leave me as I am; for He that
hath granted me to endure the fire will grant me also to
remain at the pile unmoved, even without the security
which ye seek from the nails.”
So they did not nail him,
but tied him. Then he, placing his hands behind him and
being bound to the stake, like a noble ram out of a
great flock for an offering, a burnt sacrifice made
ready and acceptable to God, looking up to heaven said;
“O Lord God Almighty, the Father of Thy beloved and
blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received
the knowledge of Thee, the God of angels and powers and
of all creation and of the whole race of the righteous,
who live in Thy presence; I bless Thee for that Thou
hast granted me this day and hour, that I might receive
a portion amongst the number of martyrs in the cup of
[Thy] Christ unto resurrection of eternal life, both of
soul and of body, in the incorruptibility of the Holy
Spirit. May I be received among these in Thy presence
this day, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, as Thou
didst prepare and reveal it beforehand, and hast
accomplished it, Thou that art the faithful and true
God. For this cause, yea and for all things, I praise
Thee, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee, through the eternal
and heavenly High-priest, Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son,
through whom with Him and the Holy Spirit be glory both
now [and ever] and for the ages to come.
Amen.”
When he had offered up the
Amen and finished his prayer, the firemen lighted the
fire. And, a mighty flame flashing forth, we to whom it
was given to see, saw a marvel, yea and we were
preserved that we might relate to the rest what
happened. The fire, making the appearance of a vault,
like the sail of a vessel filled by the wind, made a
wall round about the body of the martyr; and it was
there in the midst, not like flesh burning, but like [a
loaf in the oven or like] gold and silver refined in a
furnace. For we perceived such a fragrant smell, as if
it were the wafted odour of frankincense or some other
precious spice.
So at length the lawless
men, seeing that his body could not be consumed by the
fire, ordered an executioner to go up to him and stab
him with a dagger. And when he had done this, there came
forth [a dove and] a quantity of blood, so that it
extinguished the fire; and all the multitude marvelled
that there should be so great a difference between the
unbelievers and the elect. In the number of these was
this man, the glorious martyr Polycarp, who was found an
apostolic and prophetic teacher in our own time, a
bishop of the holy Church which is in Smyrna. For every
word which he uttered from his mouth was accomplished
and will be accomplished.[vii]
Marcus Aurelius
(161-180)
The reign Marcus Aurelius
was a trying time for Christians. While actually mild,
philosophic, and even amiable, he was nonetheless a
devout Stoic so was strongly biased again Christianity.
Because Stoicism believed in an immediate absorption
after death into the Divine essence, he considered the
Christian doctrine of the immortality of the soul, with
its moral consequences, as vicious and dangerous to the
welfare of the state and therefore ordered the
persecution of Christians. Especially violent and
fanatical were the persecutions in the churches of Lyons
and Vienne in Gaul in 177. Slaves were tortured to give
false testimony against Christians. The severity of the
tortures, endured without flinching from morning till
night, even among young girls, are almost unbelievable.
It was also during this era that Justin Martyr, the
great apologetic writer, was seized during his second
trip to Rome in 166, scourged, and then beheaded, along
with six other Christians. His last words were: “We
desire nothing more than to suffer for our Lord Jesus
Christ.”
Septimus Severus
(193-211)
Septimus Severus was
actually favorable to Christians early in his reign and
even had some in his household, one of which was a nurse
for his children. But in 202 he turned hostile and
issued an edict against anyone converting either to
Christianity or Judaism and persecution followed
quickly. Especially severe were the persecutions in
Egypt and North Africa. The Great Clement of Alexandria
wrote, “We see daily many martyrs before our eyes
burned, crucified, and beheaded.” One woman named
Perpetua said of her suffering, “The dungeon became a
place,” even while her aged father begged her to
recant.
Maximinius Thrax
(235-238)
After Septimus Severus the
persecution of Christians lapsed for a few years but was
sharply revived under soldier turned emperor Maximinius.
In his short three year rule, as one historian puts it,
“the fury of the heathen populace, which was stimulated
by governors hostile to Christianity, was allowed to
vent itself without check.”[viii]
Decius Trajan
(249-251)
Motivated by the singular
desire to build up of the ancient institutions of the
Roman Empire, Decius brought the most severe persecution
that Christianity had yet endured. By imperial command
Christianity was an obvious threat to that goal, so he
set out to exterminate it. He decreed that all
Christians must stand before a magistrate, renounce
their religion and make a sacrifice to the gods. While
some Christians did so, many did not and were
imprisoned, tortured, or killed outright. The church
father Origen suffered imprisonment and torture. One
married couple was crucified on neighboring crosses and
encouraged each other as they endured their agony.
Valerian
(253-260)
While at first mild
towards the Christians, in 257 Valerian changed his
course, possibly by the advice of one of his counselors.
Trying to prevent bloodshed, he tried to deprive the
Church of its leaders, banishing, confiscating their
property, and prohibiting religious assemblies. That
didn’t work, however, so he decreed that they would be
killed. One prominent deacon named Lawrence was slowly
roasted to death. One of the most prominent of the early
pastors was Cyprian, who was beheaded. Upon receiving
his sentence of death, he calmly answered: “Deo
gratias!” (Gracious God).
Aurelien (270-275)
After another deliverance
from persecution under Valerian’s son Gallienus, who
reversed his father’s policy and issued a decree of
toleration, warlike Aurelian came to power. While he
issued an edict of persecution, it was rendered void
when he was assassinated. So, since 260, the Church new
a wonderful rest from persecution, but that was to
change with a renewed vengeance.
Diocletian
(284-313)
Perhaps the simplest
summary of Diocletian’s reign is “a bloodbath.” Like
others, he was motivated by the welfare of the Empire,
but even his methods of government were unorthodox.
Feeling that “a single head can be severed by a single
blow,” he appointed “co-emperors,” one who was a
co-regent with him and two others who ruled large parts
of the Empire. While tolerant for the first 20 years of
his reign, in 303, spurred on by his co-regent and
son-in-law Galerius, he became determined to eradicate
Christianity and issued a series of edicts to accomplish
that goal. The first required the destruction of all
Christian churches and Bibles and reduced all
Christians, no matter what their status, to the rank of
slave. The second edict required the immediate
imprisonment of all Church officers. The third offered
amnesty to any ministry who would make sacrifice to the
gods and decreed that any torture could be used to get
such a profession. The fourth edict decreed that death
and confiscation of property was to occur for any
Christina who refused to make sacrifice to the gods. As
one historian describes this period:
All former persecutions of
the faith were forgotten in the horror with which men
looked back upon the last and greatest: the tenth wave
(as men delighted to count it) of that great storm
obliterated all the traces that had been left by others.
The fiendish cruelty of Nero, the jealous fears of
Domitian, the unimpassioned dislike of Marcus, the
sweeping purpose of Decius, the clever devices of
Valerian, fell into obscurity when compared with the
concentrated terrors of that final grapple, which
resulted in the destruction of the old Roman Empire and
the establishment of the Cross as the symbol of the
world’s hope."[ix]
Indeed, in spite of the
savage storm of persecution that rage Empire-wide,
Christianity flourished. Perhaps seeing the futility of
such violence, or maybe just reflecting upon his life as
he neared death, in 311 Galerius himself changed his
course and declared toleration for
Christianity.
Why have we reviewed
that history? To
demonstrate how persecution has always made the Church
stronger. Through the ages to
come, in fact, more persecution raged and each time it
was made stronger. True Christians have been persecuted
in Communist countries, Muslim countries, and Roman
Catholic dominated lands. In today’s atmosphere of
toleration for false teaching, however, many professed
Christians do not stand for the absolute Truth of God’s
Word. A growing number of Christians today compromise
the Truth and tolerate virtually any teaching. Most of
us have no idea what it means to stand for Truth as did
those in the Early Church. We cannot help but ask, How
many professed Christians today, if threatened with
torture or death, would deny the Savior and even make
“sacrifices to the gods?”
So with the words,
Fear none of those things which thou shalt
suffer, our Lord Jesus repeats
the principle He uttered in Matthew 10:28 as he
predicted future persecution, “Fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather
fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell.” May we not be afraid to suffer for our
Lord.
Be
Faithful
Faithful is
the Greek pistos, a very important word in the
Christian life; it means “faithful, trusted, certain,
reliable, consistent.” History tells us that some
believers feared the thought of horrible death, but may
we remember that our Savior asks nothing of us that He
Himself has not already experienced. And, what’s more,
he experienced it all for us; can we not do the same for
Him? God not only
demands faith, but also fidelity.
Are we be willing to be faithful even unto
death? We see this principle
again in our last point.
The Reassurance of the Letter
(vs. 9b, 10b-11)
(but thou art rich) . . .
I will give thee a crown of life . . . 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.
In closing, the Lord Jesus
gives two wonderful encouragements to the believers at
Smyrna.
“Thou Art
Rich”
What a dramatic
statement that was in the face of their utter
destitution! Moreover, what a contrast this is with the
church at Laodicea (see Chapter 8). When we study that
church, we will discover that it was rich and
satisfied (3:17), but in contrast the church at
Smyrna was poor and glorified. The Greek for
rich is plousios (English “plutocrat”)
which means “wealthy, abounding in material resources.”
Obviously, the Lord does not use it in its literal
sense. What He says here is: True wealth is the
enrichment of spiritual character, not the possession of
material things. In that sense,
we are truly God’s plutocrats. The world tells us that
wealth is money in the bank and various investments, but
true wealth is the Lord Jesus and spiritual
values.
“I Will Give
You the Crown of Life”
This is one of the five
crowns promised to the believer in Scripture. The Lord
here reinforces the promise given in James 1:12:
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when
he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which
the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” There is
no reason to fear suffering and death because we have
eternal life, but deeper still is the fact that we will
be specially honoured if we have endured suffering with
grace and dependency. As Paul wrote to the Philippian
believers, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is
gain” (Phil. 1:21).
Our Lord then sums
up in verse 11 by saying that we are “overcomers,” that
is, victors. Paul knew this when he wrote, “We
are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us” (Rom. 8:37, emphasis added).
The world thinks it is victorious, but only those who
are in Christ can know true victory. As commentator
Lehman Strauss writes, “Christ was not telling His
suffering saints to ‘keep a stiff upper lip,’ or to
‘keep your chin up,’ or ‘keep smiling,’ or ‘grin and
bear it.’ What He told them was to depend on Him.” May
we humbly add, He was also telling them that there is
life and glory to come.
The church at Smyrna
has rightly been called, “The poor little rich church.”
How true that description is. While they experienced
physical death, they did not hurt of the
second death, that is, they did not experience
spiritual death. So as our Lord
says again, He that hath an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches, may each of us listen to our Lord’s words in
this letter. May each of us look at our own life and
ask, “Am I truly rich by God’s standards?” Can we then
look at our Local Church and see a group of believers
who are truly rich and willing to suffer anything for
our Savior? As I shared from the pulpit when I delivered
this study, I don’t want to pastor the Church at
Ephesus. I want to pastor the Church at Smyrna, where
all of us are willing to suffer for
Christ.
[ii] Historical sources
for the following periods: Kenneth Scott Latourette,
A History of Christianity, Revised Edition, Vol.
1 (New York: Harper Collins, 1953, 1975); George Park
Fisher, History of the Christian Church (New
York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1893); Henry Sheldon,
History of the Christian Church, Vol. 1 (Peabody,
MA: Hendrickson, 1988); Earle Cairns, Christianity
Through the Centuries (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1954);
Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church,
Vol. II (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company,
1973, originally published in 1910 by Scribners); Henry
Bettenson, Documents of the Christian Church (New
York: Oxford, 1963); Elgin Moyer, Great Leaders of the
Christian Church (Chicago: Moody Press, 1951); Will
Durant, The Story of Civilization, Vol. III: Caesar
and Christ (New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1944).
[iii] Latourette, Vol. 1, p.
85.
[iv] According to Durant.
Others say his cousin.
[v] Shaff, however, maintains
that John was exiled by Nero but cites no
sources.
[vi] Schaff writes, “The
persecution of the church at Smyrna and the martyrdom of
its venerable bishop, which was formerly assigned to the
year 167, under the reign of Marcus Aurelius, took
place, according to more recent research, under
Antoninus in 155, when Statius Quadratus was proconsul
in Asia Minor,” and goes on to list several
sources.
[vii] J. B. Lightfoot
translation in Apostolic Fathers.
[ix] Arthur James Mason
in his book The Persecution of
Diocletian; cited by
Shaff.
