August 21, 2016
Evening Service

Revelation 1:10-11  I came to be in the Spirit in the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,  (11)  saying, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.” Also, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

 

Last week we looked at the letter to Ephesus and along with His commendation for their labor and patience, Jesus rebuked them for losing their first love.  We concluded that we have to keep in focus why we do what we do.  If we find ourselves slipping away from the close relationship with God we once had, He gave us the solution.  We are instructed to repent, remember where we came from, where we could have been and return to our first works.

 

Smyrna-A city of Asia Minor located 40 miles north of Ephesus along the Aegean Sea.  The word Smyrna refers to “myrrh” which means bitterness.  This certainly fits with the bitter persecution Christians received there.  It was a city of abundant trade and great wealth.  It had risen from a long period obscurity into one of prosperity.  History points to the fact that Polycarp was the bishop here at this time being appointed by the Apostle John himself.

 

Revelation 2:8 And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The First and the Last, who became dead and lived, says these things:

·         In His second introduction of Himself, Jesus refers to Himself as the “First and Last.”  It is God’s Holy Spirit that has always existed and will have no end.

·         The reference to His resurrection from death could ring loud to the resurgence of the city, but also would speak hope to those in the church that faced death daily.

 

Revelation 2:9 I know your works and tribulation and poverty (but you are rich), and I know the blasphemy of those saying themselves to be Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

·         God knows all things. He is omnipotent meaning His power and knowledge is without limits.  He is fully aware of all our circumstances.  He knows our successes, our failures, our sorrows and our needs.

·          He reminds them that though they may be in financial poverty they are spiritually rich.  God’s blessings are sometimes material things but are mostly blessings of the spiritual kind.  We are rich in that our Father has “cattle on a thousand hills.” (Ps 50:10)

·         This stemmed from the fact that Christians were not allowed into the city market without declaring themselves to be followers of the pagan gods.  They were given the choice of renouncing their Christian faith or being able to participate in the local economy.

 

·         This persecution came primarily from a sect of Jews who claimed to be following Judaism, but were really more serving Satan than the OT scriptures.  Their claim of faith did not match their works of persecution towards the church.  It was this group that led to the martyrdom of Polycarp in 160 A.D.   History tells us that he was burned at the stake for his faith.

 

Revelation 2:10 Do not at all fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the Devil will cast some of you into prison, so that you may be tried. And you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.

·         The church is warned that more persecution is coming and they need to be prepared to be faithful even unto death.  The same group of Jews would also cast many believers into prison for a trying of their faith.  This tribulation period would last a certain time period of ten days and now through history it lines up more with ten years.

·         He encourages them to not be afraid for in the end they will receive the crown of life (we win).

 

What ways is God using in our lives to try our faith?

·         We all have our crosses to bear but they seem rather light compared to what the church at Smyrna was asked to carry.

·         It seems that perhaps the lack of persecution and our abundance of wealth may be putting our need for faith to sleep rather than stirring it to action.  We have seen in our study of Acts that the early church had greater times of growth during the times of greatest time of persecution.

·         Christian leaders are now beginning to come out and sound very much like this letter to Smyrna in that the clouds of persecution seem to be rising against the church more and more. 

·         We need to expect and anticipate this as a reality.  As time wind to an end the church will be persecuted to a far greater degree than in recent history.  Many of our brothers and sisters overseas are already experiencing this.  I believe that time is quickly approaching for us as well.

·          Do not be afraid, but only trust Him.

 

Revelation 2:11  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.

·         Each letter encourages us to “hear” what the Spirit is saying to us.  We cannot simply sweep these words under the rug and forget them.  We are being called to action and preparation.  

James 1:22-25  But become doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  (23)  For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man studying his natural face in a mirror.  (24)  For he studied himself and went his way, and immediately he forgot what he was like.  (25)  But whoever looks into the perfect Law of liberty and continues in it, he is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This one shall be blessed in his doing.

·         Our Bible study needs to turn into Bible doing.

·          The promise to the overcomers at Smyrna is that of being unhurt by the “second death.”  By following Christ we are given the chance for eternal life and the opportunity to miss the second death at the final day of judgment.

 

Revelation 20:14-15  And death and hell were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.  (15)  And if anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the Lake of Fire.

·         This is the final judgement for those who do not profess Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  They will have their part in the Lake of Fire and experience the second death.  Death is defined as the cessation of life.  Those unbelievers will be destroyed at that time.

 

Lord may we hear what You are telling us and act upon it wisely.