The second letter is
addressed to the church at Smyrna; the city today known as Izmir, Turkey.
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 which 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 Lord begins His letter
to Smyrna again declaring that He knows what they are doing; however, He also
immediately lets them know that He is aware that they are suffering tribulation/persecution. They are being slandered with vicious verbal
abuse by those who claim to be “Jews,” followers of God, but are actually
followers of Satan, God’s greatest enemy.
I think this is an important truth for believers to understand today;
labels such as Jew, Christian, etc., are not always—in fact, today often are
not—true indicators of one’s belief. There
are many who claim the name “Christian” today that do not accept God’s word as
true and that deny or misuse the scripture to support sin and harmful attitudes
toward others, e.g., the murder of unborn babies, sexual immorality, and
anti-Semitism. These actions very often
result in the persecution of those who stand for the truth of God’s word in
opposition to these actions.
The Lord also lets the
believers in Smyrna know that He is aware of their poverty while emphasizing
that in His eyes they are spiritually rich.
Again, that is a truth that the prosperity preachers in the professing
church today ignore. It is not God’s
will that all believers enjoy material wealth.
It is God’s will that every believer be laying up treasure in heaven and
become spiritually rich.
Matthew 6:19–21 “Lay
not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not
break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also.”
In fact, it is
God’s desire that we love Him so much that we are willing to sacrifice all that
we possess to follow Him. We are even to
love Him more than our father, mother, son or daughter.
Luke 18:22–25 “Now
when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing:
sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very
sorrowful: for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful,
he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man
to enter into the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 10:37–38 “He
that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not
his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.”
To take up one’s
cross is a statement of denying self in submission to His will.
Jesus is always truthful
with those He loves, even when that truth is not something we want to
hear. He tells this group of believers
that they will suffer a time of spiritual testing that will result in some of
them being thrown into prison. The Greek
for “days” allows for the phrase “ten days” to be representative of a period of
time—even years. The important point
being made is that those who remain faithful to Him (whose faith is proven
genuine through the time of testing)—even to the point of death—will receive a
crown of life. In other words, death
will not mark the end of their lives, but a new beginning.
Jesus affirms this
conclusion by declaring that true men and women of faith will not suffer the
second death—death that condemns one to eternal separation from God. The future of every believer is declared to
be more wonderful than we can even imagine.
1 Corinthians 2:9 “But
as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
Ephesians 3:17–20 “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;
that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all
saints what
is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness
of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think….”
(to be continued…)
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