Recap Introduction

Last week we looked at the Lord Jesus’ address to the Laodicean church and that He said that they were neither hot or cold but lukewarm, which He will spit from His mouth.  We delved into the reasons why the Lord made scathing comments to the Laodicean church and despite of His criticism, He still wants the church to restore their fellowship with Him.  As I mentioned last week, part two of this sermon series will deal with another church that the Lord Jesus addressed, and this church is the church of Smyrna.

Let us read again the passage in Revelation 2:8-11

⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

⁹ “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that 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 throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto 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. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

The City of Smyrna

Smyrna, a city in The Roman province of Asia (Asia Minor), is the western-most city addressed by Jesus from the seven churches. The city was founded around 1100-1000 BC and was claimed to be the birthplace of Homer, the author of the epic poems The Iliad and Odyssey.

After 688 BC, the city fell to the Lydian Greeks and was destroyed and reduced to a tiny village until it was rebuilt after Alexander the Great’s general Lysimachus, became the ruler of the area.  The rebuild of Smyrna was considered as the resurrection of “the crown city”.  The city embraced the common folklore that it was a city that was once dead and now came to life.  Take note of this later when we look at verse 10.

 Smyrna is the Greek word for myrrh, the sweet-smelling incense used for medicinal purposes and for embalming.  Smyrna actually had the exclusive rights to import and export myrrh, and it could be possible that the myrrh Jesus received as a child and what was used in his burial, came from Smyrna.

At about 195 BC, Smyrna pledged its allegiance with Rome and it became the first of the Asia Minor cities to build a temple to Roma.

Roma is a goddess that personified the city of Rome or the Roman state, similar to Columbia being the female national personification of the United States. Smyrna was home of a temple to Emperor Tiberius and was a center of the Roman imperial religion. It competed against six other cities for the right to build a temple to the emperor and was ultimately chosen as the temple warden.  This led Smyrna to establish a culture of religious zeal for Rome (i.e. the city was very patriotic and very loyal to Rome).  We will see how this plays out with the Christians in Smyrna.

In Roman times, Smyrna was considered the most brilliant city of Asia Minor, successfully rivaling other notable cities of the day like Ephesus.  The city was an important seaport in Asia Minor.

The Church of Smyrna

In the beginning of the letter and similar to the letters to the six other churches, Jesus again establishes who He is.  In verse 8 it says, ⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

In this verse, Jesus states that He is the first and the last.  This phrase is used to emphasize His eternal nature.  Jesus was there in beginning of creation and He will be there in the last days.  Jesus first mentioned this in Revelation 1:17as it says,¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,

This phrase was also mentioned in the Old Testament in Isaiah 48:12, ¹² “Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called!  I am he; I am the first, and I am the last.

This place another perspective when we read this passage in Isaiah 48 that the second person of the triune God is speaking to the Israelites with the same authority as Him speaking to the church of Smyrna. “I am the first (protos) and the last (eschatos)” is all He needs to say to establish His authority.  Jesus also mentions that He was the one “who died and came to life”.  This statement is significant because it states His sovereignty over death, which is a theme that He will touch upon later in His address to the church of Smyrna; and also, this theme is something that the church will relate to since as we recall earlier, the folklore of the city being resurrected from death to life is embedded in their culture.

In contrast to last week’s address of Jesus to Laodicea, Jesus did not provide the church of Smyrna with any criticism.  In fact, it was one of two churches from the seven churches that received no critique from Jesus.  In His address, Jesus points out three facts that are a reality in the church of Smyrna: their poverty, the slander against them, and finally their persecution.  These three things would lay the foundation for his commendation to the Smyrna church. In verse 9 it says, ⁹ “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

In this verse Jesus uses the dichotomy between being rich and in poverty.  If we recall last week, Jesus did the same thing to the Laodicean church but in reverse. Why would Jesus say that phrase to the church in Smyrna?  Smyrna itself was a very wealthy city and had a large concentration of artisans and craftsmen. These would range from basket-fishermen, tanners, silversmiths, and goldsmiths.  For a city like Smyrna, trade guilds or unions were established.  These guilds often required their members to participate in certain pagan activities such as sacrificing to a pagan deity and various “R-Rated” activities.  The Christians in Smyrna who were unwilling to participate in these activities, resulted in exclusion from the guilds and financial hardship.  In short, the Christians in Smyrna would be left jobless and destitute, even if they have the skills to earn a living. Hence, the believers were living in poverty; they were lacking the financial resources and other essentials to meet their basic needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter.  Can you imagine in this country where we are living in, that if we as professing believers of Jesus Christ, will be prevented from being employed, just because we do not subscribe to a culture that is contrary to God?  Do you find that when you are expressing your religious beliefs to other people, that it seems like you are walking on egg shells hoping that you won’t receive any negative repercussions? If you do, then we are nearing the same reality as that of the Smyrna church.

Today we think that material affluence equates to success and fulfillment in life.  However, Jesus states the opposite in Luke 12:15, ¹⁵ And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Jesus then tells a parable about a rich man who accumulated wealth during his lifetime and having a false sense of security as it says in Luke 12:19-21, ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ ²¹ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

In ancient Egypt, the pharaohs believed that the material possessions that they have accumulated throughout their lifetime can be taken with them to the afterlife.  We see in the present day that all the gold and treasures they possessed were either stolen and repurposed, or are now in a museum somewhere.   Jesus understood the mindset of His believers in Smyrna.  Despite the circumstances, the Lord states that they are rich.  They are rich because they held on to and did not forsake the most prized possession they only have, and that was Jesus.  This reminds me of a song by Fernando Ortega called Give Me Jesus, which I highly recommend everyone here to listen to, it’s a good song, it’s a very Christian song. Part of the lyrics of the song says,

 “You can have all this world, but give me Jesus”.  I believe this phrase would have similarly echoed throughout the Smyrna church if they would have heard this song, for in Christ they are indeed rich.

In addition to being outcasts from society, the church of Smyrna also received slander from others, and not just from the pagan Gentiles but also those who call themselves Jews.  The Jewish synagogue in Smyrna was composed of Jews who refused the message concerning Jesus as the Messiah.  On the outside they professed to worship God, but their opposition to Christians showed that they were under the power of Satan.  In Rome at the time, every religion had to be registered with the Roman authorities.  Once registered, the religious group obtained the rights and privileges to practice their religion freely.  The Jews in Smyrna obtained this registration and so they can freely worship in their synagogues and be exempt from worshipping the emperor of Rome.  If the group was not registered, they were considered to be an illegal organization by the state and would not be provided any rights to practice their religion.  Persecution towards this unregistered religion will not be punishable by law.  This was the case with the church in Smyrna.

Slander is a false spoken statement that damages a person’s reputation.  Concerning the believers, these Jews would say that they would have orgies in their gatherings, and in these gatherings, they would practice cannibalism during the partaking of the communion.  Ultimately these Jews in Smyrna would further enforce the alienation of the Smyrna Christians from society.

The word “Diabolos” in Greek not only means Satan of devil, but it also means slanderer.  Instead of supporting the believers which is a direct service to God, the Jews in Smyrna were doing the work of the devil because of their slanders against the Christians.

Despite the circumstances, Jesus addresses the Smyrna church by saying, “I know your tribulation and your poverty”.  This phrase can elicit a double meaning in that Jesus knows of the church’s sufferings and is aware of it, but it also means that He also empathizes with them because He himself had gone through it when he faced the ultimate persecution, when He was on earth.  It says in John 15:18-20, ¹⁸ “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Let us continue on to read Revelation 2:10,¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Not only were the church of Smyrna told that they were impoverished and their reputations lost, Jesus warns them that their faith will be further tested by being imprisoned, and even losing their lives for the sake of His name.  Notice that Jesus did not provide any help in their suffering and He also did not promise to get them out of their suffering.

We have seen in different cases when the believers of Jesus were thrown into prison for their faith such as the apostles, Paul and Silas, and in this case the Christians of Smyrna.  One such example from Smyrna is the martyrdom of Polycarp.

Polycarp was considered to be the bishop of Smyrna, and according to tradition, he was a disciple of the apostle John.  Polycarp lived quite a long life and during his eighty-six years in the ministry, he defended the church against heretical teaching, preserved unity in the church, and preached the Gospel to people. The accounts of Polycarp’s arrest reported that soldiers arrived late Friday evening at his house to arrest him.  He welcomed his captors like they were his old friends and requested them to give him about an hour to pray before they take him away.  The officers who were doing their job felt sympathy for him that they questioned, what were they doing arresting an old man like this?  When he was brought before the proconsul, because of Polycarp’s old age, the proconsul tried to persuade him to deny his faith or at least make a shallow public proclamation of the deity of the emperor.  Many times the proconsul tried to get Polycarp to deny Christ and worship Caesar but he kept enduring to hold on to Christ, and Polycarp famously replied,

 “Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never did me any wrong.  How can I blaspheme my King (Jesus) who saved me?”  Can you imagine a man who is in the twilight years of his life being led like a lamb to a slaughter, all because he would not surrender his only prized possession?

In verse 10 again it says, ¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. As the fires engulfed his body, Polycarp was “faithful unto death” that at that same day he was able to fully experience the “crown of life” Jesus gave him.  Notice that in this verse Jesus said be faithful unto death, and not be faithful until death.  The verse means to be faithful even up to the point when your life will be taken away from you at anytime because of your faith in Christ.  The aim of persecution by the persecutor, is to break the resolve of the church in its faithfulness to Jesus, but remarkably as we see throughout history, persecution accomplished the complete opposite – it refined the faith of the believers like gold refined in the fire.

That every impurity is burned off and only the luster of Jesus is left as it says in 1 Peter 1:6-7, ⁶In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷so that the tested 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.

 The “crown of life” may allude to the famous Crown of Smyrna which is a hill in the center of the city that were surrounded by a street and buildings that looked like a crown. In those days crowns were given to individuals who achieved victory in games or war.  Emperors and kings wore crowns to show their regal status.  Apparently, Colin Hermer notes in his book The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, that a crown was bestowed on a commoner in Smyrna annually.  The crown is basically a wreath with the inscription “O Demos”.  It was awarded posthumously and placed on the body of the dead.

The Christians of Smyrna were never given any crowns by any officials or important individuals at the time, yet the crown they received from Jesus was by far greater than one can receive here on earth.  The crowns these Christians received were not physical wreaths that will ultimately wither from the passage of time, but the eternal crown of everlasting life with Jesus Christ as it says in Matthew 5:10, ¹⁰“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Conclusion

Finally verse 11 of the passage says, ¹¹ 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.’

Jesus ends His address by saying that the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. Brothers and sisters in Christ, when we receive the crown of life from the Lord, we are exempted from experiencing second death. The first death is the physical death here on earth, but the second death is far more serious.  It is a type of death where God’s grace and love are not present but instead His judgement and punishment are.  What good is it to receive accolades and crowns in this life, but not receive the crown of life?  It is similar to an athlete running a race and just stopping short of the finish line and not completing the race.

I hope and pray that for the people of this church, that when we reached the end of our lives, we would echo the same sentiments as Paul did in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

One last question I will leave today.  Do you want all of this world and what it offers, or do you want Jesus?

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