The Seven Churches of Revelation - Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11)

SMYRNA: FAITH UNDER PRESSURE

 

Do we hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches? We have begun a study of the Seven Churches of Revelation and today we are looking at Smyrna, a Church under pressure.

            I was thinking about the good and the bad of being pressured and a certain beverage came to mind: Coffee! We drink this brackish dark liquid every day. Since coming to Rosenort, I drink more of it than ever before. It is a social drink. It is a spark in the morning. It is a companion to sweets. Can you imagine life without that heavenly aroma?

            What does this have to do with pressure? I thought of the process that it takes to get that cup of elixir to your mouth in the morning. Think of it: the berries are grown and then yanked off the life-giving branches of their bushes; then they are left out to dry in the hot sun; they are roasted to the point where they are unrecognizable as berries (now they are beans), darkened by the punishing heat; next, they are ground down to various levels; then they are subjected to scorching hot water to create COFFEE!! All so you can wake up with a Lilystone cinnamon bun and a coffee to start your day out right.  

            That’s the church of Smyrna. Of the seven churches, only Smyrna and Philadelphia receive no complaint from Jesus. He commends them, encourages them, and promises them eternal life. It is quite probable that the reason Jesus has no complaint for this church is that Smyrna was a suffering church, a church under pressure. Jesus praises them for enduring trials and then tells them there is more to come. They have suffered and they are going to suffer still more. Why? Why wouldn’t Jesus rescue them from this suffering? 

            Peter speaks to the why in his letter: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ,” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

The Church of Smyrna (2:8)

 

Smyrna is the only one of the seven cities still in existence today. It is known today as Izmir. 

            Smyrna had been a Greek colony as far back as 1000 BC. Around 600 BC, it was invaded and destroyed and left in ruins for 400 years. About 200 years before Jesus, it was finally rebuilt with a specific design with beautifully paved roads and careful planning for its buildings. It was known as the crown of Asia. This city had literally been brought back to life. 

            When Jesus identified himself to the church at Smyrna, he took off on this theme. He said, “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life,’” (8). This fits the situation that the church was facing. They were suffering for their faith. They were under extreme pressure to give up on Jesus.

            Suffering has a devastating effect on our faith. Pain, emotional or physical or spiritual, contributes to a loss of perspective. We see the problem before us like a looming monster and often can’t see past it. We are disoriented by pain.

            To these Christians who were suffering, Jesus identifies himself in two ways. 1) The first and the last – He is first, the source of all things. He is sovereign as God the Father is sovereign, meaning that nothing happens outside of the boundaries of his permission. He is in control. Isaiah wrote of Yahweh, “I am the first and the last; besides me there is no god.” (44:6). Jesus equates himself here in Revelation as this same God. He is the LAST – the goal, the final word on life.

            2) “Who died and came to life” – not only is Jesus God, he is the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. He has gone through the valley of suffering and death and has made a way through it for us to follow. There is nothing the church is suffering that he hasn’t suffered. Death is the worst thing that can happen to a person, and Jesus has experienced it and defeated it. 

“I know what you’re going through” (2:9)

 

As with all seven churches, Jesus knows something about Smyrna. Specifically, he knows their suffering intimately. We can pick out four types of pressure that they faced.

            First, Jesus says, “I know your tribulation and poverty…” The word “tribulation” is thlipsis in Greek and it means “crushing beneath a weight.” Like coffee beans, like grapes to make wine; like grain to make flour. But why were these believers’ poor in a prosperous city like Smyrna? 

Tribulation and poverty are thrown together for a reason. A trade guild was like a union in the Roman Empire, and it is likely that Christians could not in good conscience join a guild. If a person wanted to join the carpenters’ guild, they would experience immorality, vices, and unscrupulous business dealings. Being Christians, they were shunned by contractors and employers because they didn’t say, “Caesar is Lord,” a requirement of most guilds. As a result, they were finding it tough to make ends meet.

Jesus continues to say, “I know…” Paul reflected on the poverty of the Macedonian churches and compared them to Jesus’ own example. “…in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part… For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich,” (2 Cor. 8:2, 9). This is why Jesus adds this about the church at Smyrna “but you are rich.” What they have given up for the gospel has made them spiritually rich.

The second trouble the church endured was the “slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan.” For the first few decades, everyone saw Christianity as a sect of the Jewish faith. Christians had the protection of the state and the same privileges that the Jews had until a couple of things happened. One, the Jews were jealous of the popularity of Christianity. And two, Emperor Nero needed to blame someone for the fire that burned down the city of Rome – he decided that Christians would make a good scapegoat. The Jews took advantage of this and began to inform the authorities on Christian activities as treasonous to the Empire. Christians could not say, “Caesar is Lord,” because only Jesus is Lord. (See slide: 6 Slanders).

The Lord’s Supper (Body & Blood)               = Cannibals

Communion/Love Feast                                 = Orgies

Families divided on matters of faith               = anti-family

No images of their god                                   = atheists

Refusing to declare Caesar is Lord                = Unpatriotic

Preaching that the world will end in flames   = Anarchists/Incendiaries

Now, to be clear, Jesus calls them “false” Jews. Ethnically they are Jews; spiritually they are not since they have rejected Jesus and were persecuting the church. Who are the true Jews then? (See Rom. 2:28-29)

Do we experience slander in Canada? No. Wait. I recall hearing this and found an allusion to it this week. A certain Prime Minister told Stephen Long, a pastor, that evangelical Christianity is the worst part of Canadian society. And Global News from 2022 reported that a new Angus Reid survey identified evangelical Christianity as more damaging to society than helpful. According to EFC, evangelicals made up about 7 percent of the Canadian population, down from 12 percent in 2003. Evangelicals are seen by most Canadians as deviant. Isn’t that disheartening? 

Sam Storms, in his sermon on this passage, said this about slander: “We live in a day when we Christians will be accused of many things: we are antisemitic (because we insist on faith in Jesus as Messiah to be saved), antichoice (because we oppose abortion), anti-gay (because we won’t affirm homosexual intercourse…and anti-intellectual (because we won’t embrace biological evolution). They will accuse us of being unloving, narrow-minded, bigoted, intolerant because we believe in something called the second death (hell) and the only way to escape it is through faith in Jesus Christ. And our response to all such anti-Christian rhetoric is to love them and pray for them and tell them ever more fervently and humbly about eternal life that can be found in Jesus.” (https://www.samstorms.org/sermons/sermon/2017-05-14/-seeing-the-so-that-in-suffering)

We have not faced widespread imprisonment, but that was the third trouble that the church in Smyrna could expect “…the devil is about to throw some of you into prison…” Imprisonment in Roman communities was not a long sentence. It was not a punishment because jail was just a prelude to execution.

And the fourth trouble…being put to death. Martyrdom. They were going to die. What may strike you about this reality is that Jesus does nothing to prevent it. He does not alleviate their poverty or deliver them from slander. When the devil moves to have the Christians killed, Jesus does not intervene. Sometimes he did and does. Sometimes not. 

Our heads may spin at the thought – why do Christians suffer persecution? Maybe we ought to ask why we do not? John Stott offered this reason: “The ugly truth is that we tend to avoid suffering by compromise. Our moral standards are often not noticeably higher than the standards of the world. Our lives do not challenge and rebuke unbelievers by their integrity or purity or love. The world sees in us nothing to hate.” Ouch! Compromise.

But this is why the church in Smyrna was under pressure – they did not compromise!

 

“Do not fear what’s coming” (2:10a)

 

The Christians at Smyrna were facing touch economic hardships, they were being slandered by the Jews, they were social outcasts and considered traitors by the populace. Is there anything worse that could happen to them?          

            Jesus says to them, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is going to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation,” (10ab). Oh, there’s more. I’ve already mentioned that prison is just a prelude to death. But Jesus says not to fear this. 

            Jesus does not rescue them from the fate of execution. But this is not abandonment. Popular theology teaches that Jesus delivers us from our problems, but that’s not what we see in the NT. Jesus DOES NOT rescue us from our tribulation, but he DOES walk with us through it. Take note of three things:

            Jesus knows what we are going through. We have already unpacked that detail, but I want to repeat it. He knows our troubles, our heartaches, and our spiritual poverty. He knows how weak we feel when the devil and the world conspire to make us quit. But he didn’t quit, and he invites us to follow his example and not give up our faithfulness. 

            Second, notice that the devil is limited in his ability to attack us. He may seem to have a long leash, but he is only able to trouble us to an extent. Jesus says, “ten days.” There’s a subtle hint to Daniel chapter 1 when the four Jewish lads are tested for ten days by their handlers to see if their food is better than the Babylonian delicacies. 

            The devil is limited. Remember in the gospel how Jesus said that we should not fear the one who can kill the body but rather fear the one who can kill both body and soul. The devil lacks subtlety and his attacks can backfire, for what Satan intends for our destruction, God can use for our spiritual growth. The devil wants to destroy our faith with difficulties, to test us beyond our endurance. But God uses that same fire to refine us in our faith. (Rom. 8:28 “…all things work together for good…”)

            Third, though the devil inspires the unbeliever to kill Christians, it’s just death. Romans 8:38 tells us that death cannot separate us from the love of God. I honestly don’t understand why Christians fear death or lose their cheese when loved ones die. Death is not the end for us. Death is a doorway for those who have put their faith in Christ, the one who died and came to life. He is our hope beyond the grave. 

            Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Jesus means death. If standing on the truth of Christ threatens your life, don’t fear it. Remember that the theme of these seven churches is being a witness for Jesus in a hostile world. That may mean death. It may mean the “death of a job,” an opportunity, a relationship, - or death itself. 

 

What is the Spirit saying to the Church? (2:10b-11)

 

“Be faithful unto 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. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.” 

            A teenager was sitting in the audience when this letter was first read to the church at Smyrna. His name was Polycarp, and he was no doubt impacted by what he heard from his Lord Jesus. 

            Many years later, Polycarp was the elderly bishop of this same church. On Saturday, February 23, AD 155, during some public festivals, some troublemakers got it into their heads to root out the “atheists” in their city, those who did not believe in Caesar as god. 

            When a crowd came to arrest Polycarp, he first served his captors a meal and all kinds of treats. Then he asked if he could have an hour to pray before going out to the arena. Not even the police captain wanted to see Polycarp die at this point. He tried to persuade Polycarp to just say, “Caesar is Lord,” and be done with it. But Polycarp was adamant that only Jesus Christ was Lord. 

            When he entered the arena, there came a voice from heaven saying, “Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man.” The proconsul gave him the choice of cursing the name of Christ and declaring Caesar lord, or death. Polycarp said this, “Eighty and six years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” 

The proconsul threatened him with burning, and Polycarp replied: "You threaten me with the fire that burns for a time, and is quickly quenched, for you do not know the fire which awaits the wicked in the judgment to come and in everlasting punishment. Why are you waiting? Come, do what you will." Legend says that the flames never touched him, and he had to struck down with a sword. 

Paul said, “We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance of death to death, to the other, a fragrance of life to life,” (2 Cor. 2:15-16). Is that aroma coffee? 

 

So that…

 

                                                AMEN

 

17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 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. (2 Cor. 4:17-18)