"8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:
9 ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’"
Revelation 2:8-11We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord. Thank you for joining us today, we're glad to have you here. We are especially grateful for those of you who have been sharing the ministry website with all of your family and friends. Your faithfulness to share God's Word with others continues to bring about tremendous results. We are grateful to each of you and your prayers. Prayer is powerful, and the greatest weapon we have. And
through your sharing, God has brought a number of people to Christ.
Praise God! May He continue to use you and this ministry mightily
to effect change in even more lives.
Satan has three primary lines of attack. First, he tries to keep men from
becoming Christians. Then, if they're already saved, he tries to keep them from
being active and useful as Christians. And finally, as a last resort, he
tries to destroy their character.
Today's Message: Persecuted But Prosperous
When the love of Christ goes out, the world comes in, you begin to
compromise with the world and you intermarry with the heathen, and the
church and the world start to come together, and the church becomes
characterized by sinful indulgence. I believe that is what we are witnessing in the church today.
Even though they may still believe in Christ, even though they may still believe in the true faith, there’s a total failure of separation, therefore, there's no church discipline, and there’s no high standard of holiness. There is just a tolerate compromising of sin and worldliness. In other words, the doors of the church has essentially wide open for the world to come in. As we return of our study of the second chapter of Revelation, I wanted to give you some perspective on the church, living in the midst of a pagan world. This is exactly what we have in the first three chapters of the book of Revelation. In chapters two and three, the church is under severe persecution.
I
invite you to follow along with me as I read to you from verse 8 through 11, to set the text in our minds, as we prepare our hearts for what the Spirit is saying to each of us. Revelation 2:8-11. "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
The letter to Smyrna, is the shortest of the seven letters, it was written to Christians being persecuted not only by the pagan Gentiles but also by hostile Jews and by Satan himself. Smyrna, a large city, rebuilt by Alexander the Great, was wealthy and famous. However, this church was paying the price for their allegiance to Jesus Christ. They faced poverty because of their relationship with Him. They faced prison.
As our society continues to descend into the abyss, the Christian voice is shining the light of truth into the darkness! It is difficult for some people to grasp just how far our society has fallen in the last several decades, as the ongoing effects of the sexual revolution continue to damage our culture.Pornography and sexual immorality have degraded and perverted our society on an epidemic level. Our culture is spiritually indifferent. They really are not seeking anything spiritual.
The rise of secular "religion" with its own ideas and agendas, such as
the Critical Race Theory and the "Woke" culture want to cancel everything that holds a differing belief. This anti-religion movement means that Christians must be resolved to take a stand.And, if we keep silent, we become a slave to the opinions of ungodly people. The only way to push back against the total collapse of our culture, is for Christians to live as disciples of Jesus Christ. We must stand for what is right regardless of cost or consequence!
In Luke 9, Jesus said "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me."
If you want to be a disciple of Jesus, you must be willing to give up everything. While salvation is free, discipleship will cost you.
In Luke 14:28-31, Jesus defines the cost of discipleship when He said "For
which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit
down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions."
The greatest need of every soul is divine forgiveness of all sin, and
the greatest benefit of Christianity, is then, the provision of that
complete forgiveness. Only Christianity offers that benefit. In fact, Scripture is very clear that only God can do this, that only God, the
One who is the judge and the lawgiver and the executioner, God who is
the One offended, is the only One who can forgive sin.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, we thank You for Your Word for us today. Thank You for revealing to us the majesty of Jesus Christ, who is both Savior and Judge. For if He is not the Savior, He is the judge. Lord, grant us the grace to be the people You have called us to be. We pray that Your grace be abundant to sinners today. May they become terrified of the reality of Your judgment and cry out for forgiveness and repent.
Lord, we praise You for what You’re doing in the world, may we be faithful to be a part of that, in leading the lost to You. Use us to touch lives with the gospel of Jesus Christ. May it all be for Your glory and for Christ's sake.
In Christ's name we pray
Amen
When John received the book of Revelation from the Holy Spirit over whatever initial period of time it took for him to have all those visions and write them down, he then made six copies. He then gave them to the seven pastors from those churches. When they had received these letters, they began to go from city to city to city on their way to each church, as well as to read to each church this specific letter to them.
The church at Smyrna, which is the stop in the postal route from Ephesus, approximately 35 miles away, was receiving the greatest amount of persecution. The churches who had not been being persecuted had come to a very comfortable compromise with the world, and tolerating sin. They were spiritually dead. Today, we will be looking at Smyrna, this church was an extremely persecuted church. They had not compromised with the world. Smyrna was said by historians to be the most beautiful city in Asia Minor. It was called the crown of Asia. Christians are still being severely persecuted there by Muslims today.
Open your Bible with me to the book of Revelation chapter 2. As we return to our study of God’s Word in the marvelous book of Revelation, we come to verses 8 through 11. The context is persecution.
The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:
‘I
know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the
blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a
synagogue of Satan. Do
not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to
cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will
have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give
you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’"
The introduction is here: "The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life."
By the way, "The first and the last" is a title given to God. In Isaiah God refers to Himself as the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the eternal one, who always was and always will be, the first and the last. This is to speak of the eternality of God. It was encouraging that this came from the eternal one who knew everything.
And, if you will notice, in the final chapter of Revelation, in reference to Christ, it says "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." This speaks to the eternality of Christ.
The letter to Smyrna, is the shortest of the seven letters, it was written to Christians being persecuted not only by the pagan Gentiles but also by hostile Jews and by Satan himself. Smyrna, a large city, rebuilt by Alexander the Great, was wealthy and famous. However, this church was paying the price for their allegiance to Jesus Christ. They faced poverty because of their relationship with Him. They faced prison.
When the Lord said in Matthew 16, that He would build His church and the "The gates of hell would not prevail against it," that was a euphemism for death. He was saying, that Satan would attack the church with deadly force. This explains the hell-bent assailing of the church throughout its history. The world hates God and His Word. The world hates Jesus Christ, his followers and his preachers. That has always been the case since the beginning. Consequently, persecution is a result of that hatred.
Jesus declares what they are doing right, and what they are doing to influence the world around them positively. He offers no invitation to change anything. For all intents and purposes, it is what a church should be like in the face of difficult circumstances. The name Smyrna means myrrh, which is substance that was used in the anointing oil of the Tabernacle, as well as being used in the preparation of the dead. It’s fragrance
is released by crushing. So here, we have the picture of a very poor Church, who in
its difficulties, is the sweet aroma to God. A church that continued standing for Christ, in the midst of a pagan society.
I believe that this is encouraging to the church today, though we may pass through difficult times, we are destined for something far greater than this temporal life.
In II Timothy 3:12, the Apostle Paul said, "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
In I Peter 5:10, Peter wrote these words, "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."
We can therefore conclude, that persecution doesn’t destroy the church, it makes it stronger. The church in Smyrna was purified by suffering. The suffering that comes from persecution.
That brings us to verse 9, "‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan."
" I know your tribulation," the word "thlipsis" means to be crushed, to be pressed. The more they loved the Lord, the more of a problem. The first reason was due to their opposition to emperor worship. Smyrna had become a center of the worship of Rome and Caesar. Christians would refuse to offer incense before the altar of the emperor nor would they call him Lord.
Christians were out of sync with the culture, they refused to worship the pagan gods and goddesses. They would celebrate the fact that they worshipped the One true living God. And, there was also here opposition because of the Jews. These were Christ hating, gospel hating Jewish people. The Jews had joined forces with the heathens in putting them to death. Judaism had really demonstrated that it was as Satanic as emperor worship. Jews hatred for Christians was actually quite familiar. The Jews persecuted Christians; they were brutal to them. You can read more about that on your own in the book of Acts, chapters 13, 14 and 17.
I know "your poverty (but you are rich)," this was a very poor church. They didn’t have human resources. They were destitute, crushed, powerless, persecuted, but they were comforted in the presence of their Savior.
At the end of verse 9, H e says "and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan." They were blasphemers. The synagogues became synagogues of Satan, they blasphemed Christ, they rejected the Messiah. Therefore, they hated God. They poisoned the minds of the people and the leaders against the Christians.
Then in verse 10, the Lord said "Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."
Now, that is a confidence builder if I've ever heard one! You will
experience every kind of assault this world can throw at you, but don’t
be afraid. Though He was promising them great trials, He comforted them by urging them to be fearless in the face of what was assuredly coming upon them.
We have not yet experienced tribulation of biblical proportions, however, I am certain that dark days do lie ahead for the faithful of the churches of our Lord. As the future unfolds, either we will be forced to serve the Risen Lord, or we will succumb to the siren call of this dying world, just to find ease by avoiding obedience to the Living God. Tragically, this congregation may have much in common with what faces us in coming days.
In our culture today, we want to believe that God blesses the church we attend so that we will
be associated with His power, so that we will be part of what is seen as
influential, so that people will respect us and maybe even fear us just a
little. Many church goers to choose the congregation they will attend on the basis of the building in which that assembly meets.
We don’t want to think of our congregations as insignificant, as lacking in influence, as unimportant.While wealth can certainly be a blessing, if used for honoring God and the purposes of God, the lasting example of one’s life cannot be measured by the wealth one accumulated. Some of the most influential churches in history were not particularly powerful in terms of the world. Despite poverty and opposition, notable men and women have successfully served the cause of Christ. When God decides to convert the heathen, he’ll do it without consulting you!
In the Roman Empire, there were many wealthy Jews who had the ear of the authorities, and they sought to blot out the infant church, to wipe it out; and they knew that the nation had rejected Christ. They wanted nothing to do with Him. The first Roman emperor to kill Christians was Nero, chose two Jewish proselyte friends, using them to kill Christians. One named Aletourus and the other his lover, Poppaealover.
In Matthew 24, our Lord said "The one who endures to the end, he will be saved." It can then be said that true faith is proven by persecution. And, they will go through it triumphantly.
The counsel is this, though you are going to be persecuted, there may be many of you who go to prison for a time because Satan is going to be unleashing relentless attacks on you, it’s going to cost some of you your life. "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life." The crown which is life is the promise of heaven.
Then, in verse 11 He says "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’"
You may die physical death, but you will never experience spiritual death. The second death is eternal death. We often read these accounts of fellow believers being persecuted, some even to death, in distant lands, but the accounts seem somehow distant, and unreal. Perhaps you haven’t experienced severe opposition, but you’ve felt the
lash of rejection, the sting of ridicule and perhaps even the pain that
accompanies persecution. Christians are being persecuted in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia,
Indonesia, Pakistan, in India or even in Mexico leave us with a great
sense of
sorrow because these are our brothers and sisters, but the have no real
impact on our lives. I urge you as Christians, to stand up
In Closing..
Is it possible that we have become too comfortable, taking for granted the peace with which we are
blessed? If this is true, I submit that it must be because we are ignorant of the
Word of God. Inflated with our own sense of self-importance, we are somehow dismayed because some soul speaks ill of us!
If we remain silent, we essentially give unexpressed approval of the wickedness being promoted in the name of tolerance. Making it easy for others to take advantage of those who would follow Christ.
There is a high cost to be paid for worshipping the Son of God. Christ never hides from His people that they can anticipate opposition,
and violent opposition in some instances. We have been abundantly blessed, shielded from the
violence directed against many of our brothers and sisters throughout
the world. God has been gracious to us. Perhaps the sheltering is about to cease.
Has our worship of the Risen Lord become artificial, lacking sincerity, a mere ritual offered up lacking any real passion? We imagine if we would only we sing a little more loudly, or craft a sermon
that includes some really moving stories, then, we can "really worship." If we organize a march, in protest of denouncing sin, the we are really standing firm for the cause of the Christ.
We must realize that behind every opponent we may face, and behind every persecution
unleashed, whether near or far, on the saints of this fallen world, is the dark, bloody hand
of the wicked one, that evil being who stands opposed to righteousness, is an attack against all of us. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ! We must not forget who we are and what we are charged to do. Instead of being fearful, Jesus calls us to be faithful. As a church family, when one of us suffers, we all suffer!
If you have ears, I pray that you will hear this message.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2021 All Rights Reserved