The Church in Smyrna

8“To the angel of the assembly in Smyrna write: “The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life says these things: 9“I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death.

Revelation: The Seven Churches

At home I keep some lovely tropical fish. Some swim as if they would break right through the glass; one loves to play in my hand whenever I put it into the water. Another, perhaps finding the tank too small and confining, leaped out, landed outside the tank, and died. However narrow and stifling the tank may be, a fish that leaves it can only die, and once it dies, that is the end.

Human life is much the same. Some people have great wealth and live in comfort; others, through no wish of their own, live in poverty. Some are healthy, while others suffer with illness. Our circumstances differ, but all of us live out an appointed span and then meet death. The spiritual life, too, follows different paths. Some serve God all their lives; others serve idols all their lives. Each life takes its own shape, but when God, the Lord of life, calls, life in this world comes to an end for everyone alike.

And once we put off this body, another life awaits every person. What we can be grateful for is that we who believe are living now with our place after death already settled. Our Bible study, our worship, our striving to live by faith: we do all of it because we have made heaven our destination.

The members of the church in Smyrna lived in a city that housed a synagogue of Satan, yet because they resisted its temptations and kept their faith, God approved of them. Smyrna was a port city north of Ephesus that exported spices and was advanced in learning, science, and medicine. With its politics, economy, and culture all stable, it was a very pleasant place to live.

But Smyrna’s material prosperity drew its people into pleasure and entertainment, and this stood as a serious obstacle to spreading the gospel. The wealthy saw no reason, after all, to join poor Christians in worshiping a god they could not even see. Many who held to Judaism and kept the law also lived there, and they persecuted the Christian faith fiercely.

Hebrews 10:33-34

33partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions; and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so. 34For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens.

Hebrews 10:33-34 tells us that Christians were enduring great oppression, reviled and made a public spectacle, yet by faith they were caring for fellow believers in prison.

Whenever the apostle Paul was stoned and suffered for preaching the gospel, he was helped by those who believed in Christ. He became a spectacle for those who threw stones and mocked him, but because there were brothers and sisters in the faith who kept their faith at the risk of their lives, Paul would have been able to preach the gospel with power. To care for those in prison must have meant putting themselves in grave danger of imprisonment as well. Even so, they were faithful to the end, because they knew there was an eternal inheritance from the Lord, the first and the last, who was dead and has come to life.

That we can believe an eternal world exists is a miracle. Only faith can lead us to give our lives for an invisible God and an unseen heaven. To believe all these hidden things as though we saw them with our own eyes is possible only through the faith the Holy Spirit gives. The church in Smyrna believed in the unseen God and in heaven as if they could see them, and they received with all their hearts Jesus Christ, who came to atone for their sins.

Tragically, though, those who called themselves Jews held great power in the world, so they persecuted the Christians and tyrannically seized their workplaces and businesses, leaving them no choice but poverty. These self-styled Jews held a mixed faith that called a prosperous life in the world a blessing. That is how they could worship the emperor and live by compromise with the world. Once they gained power, they built ties with the Romans. Now powerful, they used Roman authority to put to death Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John and the first pastor of the church in Smyrna. In God’s name they persecuted God’s people far more harshly than idol-worshiping Gentiles or worshipers of assorted gods ever persecuted the Christian faith. They claimed to be Jews who kept the law, but because they did not know the truth the law was meant to teach, they persecuted the Christians. God willed that the requirement of the law be fulfilled in his people, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit; failing to grasp this, these self-styled Jews persecuted them on the pretext that they had broken the law.

It is easy to understand how frightened the church in Smyrna must have been when their pastor, Polycarp, was executed. Losing their leader would have been a great shock, and they were likely tormented by the fear that they too could die as Polycarp did. It is true that they comforted one another in faith and came through it well, but they could hardly have remained calm with death before them.

The Jews, for their part, probably thought that a church without its pastor had lost its strength, and laid larger plans to bring it down. That is why Jesus Christ foretold that persecution would come. Even now, roots of bitterness that do not know the real truth are growing in the church like weeds, and the world is persecuting the church. People without a whole faith grounded in the truth, people who think just as the world thinks, are throwing the church into confusion. When people with such a faith took church offices, the church could no longer govern itself by the law of truth, and its very foundation was shaken.

We cannot afford to grow complacent, then, because Satan has been at work without ceasing, in the Garden of Eden and still today. Since we cannot know when or where Satan will strike before this world ends, we must always be armed with faith. Persecution may come from those who hold a false gospel; we must therefore stand firm on the word. And since Satan’s attacks may one day leave us to keep the faith alone, we need to grasp the truth more deeply and train ourselves to live it out.

Revelation 2:9

9“I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

Jesus Christ saw that the church in Smyrna kept their faith even through the great ordeal of their pastor’s execution, and he commended them as rich. Their life in the world may have been hard and needy, but spiritually they were beautiful. He recognized them as rich in faith; that is, in the midst of persecution and trials, they set their hope on heaven and lived out their faith before him.

People sometimes choose their faith according to their own interests. When life is hard and painful, we ought to choose faith to the end as the church in Smyrna did, but we may give way to temptation for a moment. That is understandable on a human level, and we can sympathize; yet the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who take it by force, and if we lose the spiritual battle, we lose our chance to enter it. Since this is the law God has set, it is not a matter that human feelings or understanding can resolve. We must endure, then, with the faith that says, if I perish, I perish.

Revelation 2:10

10Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Jesus Christ told the church in Smyrna in advance about the suffering that was coming upon them. The suffering and persecution they would face were more than anyone could easily bear, so he asked them to be faithful to death. Suppose that, like them, you had just seen your pastor executed, and the Lord told you that before long you too would suffer. Could you lean on the word alone to the end, and bear it?

The word that persecution was at hand, persecution that might cost them their lives, must have filled the church in Smyrna with dread. Even so, their hope was in heaven, and I imagine they waited for that hour with praise and prayer, because Jesus Christ had promised that if they were faithful to death, he would give them the crown of life. When he told them to prepare their hearts, since the devil would throw some of them into prison to test them, he was showing them a kindness: the time would be short, and they could overcome it by faith.

Here we see how attentive God is, since we can glimpse his heart, anxious lest the people he loves should fail to bear their suffering and fall. If Satan’s aim is to obstruct human salvation, then persecution of a church as full of faith as Smyrna was certain to come one day. Knowing this, God helped the church in Smyrna to prepare in prayer beforehand.

When Jesus warned the church in Smyrna that persecution was coming, he was not promising a way of escape so that they would never face it. He was cheering them on: in this world spiritual warfare with the devil cannot be avoided, but they were to win it. He was asking them, when the devil persecuted them, to show their faithfulness with all their life and strength. In effect he was asking whether they believed that heaven exists, and whether they believed in him, its Lord.

Suppose God told you that Satan would throw some members of your church into prison and make them suffer. What preparations would you make? And if he said that not only your pastor but you yourselves might be in danger, and asked you to show him a true faith, what would be the very first thought to come to your mind?

Of course, if we stand together when trials come, we will be able to overcome them. But what if Satan threatened to kill your children unless you denied Jesus Christ on the spot? What would you choose? We must put this question to ourselves every day, and live with a full faith, so that we can make the right choice.

Many Christians today think that if they believe in God, they ought to succeed in the world and their children ought to do well. It is commonly held that this is the blessing God gives. And when they succeed in the world, they boast that they were blessed because they lived the life of faith so well.

But God, who created heaven and earth, is not like that. He calls those who sincerely believe in Christ, who came to this earth to atone for their sins, his saints, and it is God’s will to save such children of faith. To enter the Kingdom of such a God, we must endure even when the world persecutes us; only by being faithful to death to keep our faith can we enter it.

You probably know that God has set these principles and works according to them. Yet even knowing this, you may still harbor the wish that you, at least, could go to heaven and prosper in the world as well. So people would rather hear that God will give them great blessings and rewards than hear words like suffering, Satan, and endurance. Because pastors know this about people, they fail to proclaim the word honestly. Blessing sounds far sweeter than suffering and trial, but heaven is a place for those who take it by force. We must fight hardship, fight Satan, and fight ourselves to keep our faith; otherwise we can never enter it.

For pastors, too, it is far easier to tell people they will be blessed than to tell them to endure. And so people flock to churches that preach worldly blessing, to hear what pleases them. When asked which church they attend, people take pride in naming one that everyone has heard of. Perhaps it pleases them because it makes them look as if they have some faith. So when they introduce their church, the first thing they mention, with great confidence, is how many members it has, and then, as if boasting, they speak of the pastor’s education and the size of the building.

I have never once heard churchgoers introduce themselves by saying how many times they have read through the Bible, how long they pray each day, or what choices they have made to live by faith while communing with God in praise. If we think a little more deeply, however many people surround us, each of us goes to heaven alone, and the faith God looks at is the life that person has lived.

Having someone of strong faith beside you certainly helps your own walk with God. But their faith is not your faith. Judas Iscariot, who was at Jesus’ side, fell to temptation, and Gehazi, at Elisha’s side, could not let go of his greed. And Demas, who had been with the apostle Paul, went off to the world; all of this makes clear that each of us must keep our own faith. Others can bring us the word and help us hold on to our faith, but if we do not endure for ourselves, even that is of no use.

God has no interest in what church you attend, where your pastor studied, or how many members your church has. What concerns him is whether, like the seven churches of Revelation, you know the truth, and whether, each time a problem confronts you, you overcome it with a faith grounded in that truth. He cares whether you are making right choices according to his will, and he watches to see whether you are proclaiming the word boldly. So we must abandon the views of faith and of the church that so many people hold, and build our faith anew within the truth.

Those who have grasped God’s will and turned from the road they were on long to die with Jesus on the cross, and they practice denying themselves again and again. This is true blessing and great power, the faith that can share in the work of God. When God’s people take up their cross of their own accord in the Lord, they will realize that even the world, which once looked so vast, is moving through history according to God’s word. The moment they realize it, neither the world nor Satan nor any person will frighten them anymore. I hope you will lay down the greed that fills your heart and see the world through the eyes of Jesus. Then the world itself will fear the one who has let go of greed. If you cast off your lusts and cravings for the world, God will delight to give the blessings of heaven to you, whose hearts have been made clean.

Those who are faithful to death receive the crown of life as their reward. It is the crown of glory, the crown of eternal life. Satan can never take away a crown received according to God’s promise; those who are saved will therefore live forever before God, singing his praise. When he said, Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life, he also promised the church in Smyrna that he would help them not to be harmed by the second death.

In the words about giving the crown, “I will give” signifies a “shield” and “protection.” The crown itself refers to a reward and symbolizes glory, dignity, and the like. So whoever is faithful to death will enter the Kingdom of God, be clothed with God’s glory, and live protected from everything that threatens.

Scripture records many kinds of crowns: the crown of life, the incorruptible crown, the crown of rejoicing, the crown of righteousness, the crown of glory, and more. So many kinds of crowns in the Bible tell us that everything we give ourselves to for God becomes a reward.

In promising the crown of life to the church in Smyrna, he was promising to protect those who held a heavenly hope from eternal death, the second death, even if their bodies suffered persecution. By giving the crown of life to those who strove to keep the faith until the moment their earthly life ended, he will bless them with peace and rest in heaven.

The world truly is heaped with things that can kill. With no way to guard against attacks from evil people and evil spirits, people grow ever more hardened and make wicked decisions. On top of that, believers must wage spiritual war against Satan, who seeks to rob them of their faith. So unless we die with Jesus Christ on the cross of our own will, we cannot keep our faith.

If people knew how terrible the torment of falling into the second death is, they would realize what a great blessing it is that Jesus Christ now promises the crown of life. If even this brief life in the world is so hard and painful, the thought of living in darkness among unclean spirits is horrifying. How could anyone live forever in a fire that is never quenched, tormented by worms? Hell would be torment upon torment beyond imagining.

One day, held in God’s embrace, we will give heartfelt thanks for what a great blessing it was to have received Jesus Christ. On the day we see him face to face, we will know how right our present endurance and faith were.

Your faith now is not endurance for God’s sake. You are enjoying the blessing God has given for your own eternal peace and rest.

May you keep your faith to the end, as the church in Smyrna did. Satan comes even into the church, sowing confusion among its people and tempting them to abandon their faith. Sadly, though, Christians who know the truth are living with far too careless a mind and far too idle a faith.

Today, through every kind of media, the idea is being cleverly planted that Jesus was a man worth respecting but not God. People are taught that Christians believe in a Jesus no different from the gods the world serves. With false claims that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and even had children, they blaspheme his divinity. They insist on these things, offering all sorts of evidence they cannot prove, in order to block people’s salvation. In their own way, they are working to keep people from receiving Jesus, who is worthy of honor. Satan works night and day, because rather than trying to bring down the whole church, he is satisfied if he can make even one person fall.

But Satan and his kind are no match for God. That is why they tempt God’s chosen children instead, and so we must discipline ourselves and bring ourselves into submission every day. If God’s people fail to see through these schemes of Satan, they will start trying not to be hated by the world. They will say and do what the world wants, live much as the world lives, and take care that their faith does not show. It is to such Christians that God gave the warning, I wish you were cold or hot. And yet the church is fighting over denominations and struggling for power, judging and condemning one another, and failing to proclaim the truth rightly.

Even if such people do not abandon Jesus altogether, Satan will count it a success that they quarrel, compete, judge, and condemn without regard to the truth. Because that in itself is no longer the likeness of a good Christian, Satan declares his victory. The quarrels of God’s people become a tool that obstructs the gospel. What is truly sad is that Jesus has shown his people many signs and wonders and caused them to experience how thoroughly he protects them, and still they fall to Satan’s temptations. To bring down a single person, Satan will spend vast sums of money, hand out honors, and resort to threats and persecution.

But if God’s people simply trust wholly in Jesus, who left his throne and came to this earth to save them, Satan will be able to do nothing to them, since God’s protection can never be broken. Suffering and trials in the world are painful, it is true, and spiritual persecution is more agonizing still. But what we must not forget is that the oppression Satan brings lasts only ten days. Those ten days will be very short and pass quickly, compared with the blessing of living with the Lord in heaven and enjoying eternal life.

Threats and persecution from the wicked, pressing us to abandon Christ, are a torment hard for any human being to endure, yet those who have set their hope on heaven must overcome. Jesus Christ knew the church in Smyrna would overcome by faith, and so he introduced himself as the first and the last, who was dead and has come to life. The God who created this universe, who rules over human history, and who governs even the end of all things made known that he has absolute power to help them. He promised the church in Smyrna that, just as he had died and come to life, if they kept their faith, then even though their bodies might suffer at the hands of evil people, he would bring them into the rest of eternal life.

Jesus does not sit on his throne and simply order his people to overcome, no matter what. He came first to the lowly place and showed them the agony of the cross, and then how he conquered death and rose again. Because of this he can encourage them, telling them that since he has done it they can too, and that they need not worry, for he is protecting them.

Revelation 20:6

6Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him one thousand years.

Those who have part in the first resurrection are holy. Those who have lived holy lives may meet bodily death, but they have been blessed to have nothing to do with the second death, the final judgment of the lake of fire. Every person must meet the first death, the putting off of the body. But with Christ at the center, people will be divided into those who will fall into the second death and those who will enjoy eternal life in heaven.

Christ knew that even under persecution from the Jews, the church in Smyrna did not take their poverty and want as suffering. Their outward life was poor, but inwardly they had a full faith. Because they lived amid abundant grace, Jesus commended them, telling them that they were in fact rich. It was because of such faith that he could even give them the fearful word that the devil would throw some of them into prison to be tested.

Jesus wanted to give the church in Smyrna a heavenly reward, and so he asked them to bear it for just ten days, painful as it would be. The faith that says if I perish, I perish is not one that everyone who believes in Jesus has. Only those who have truly grasped the truth, who believe in Jesus, who laid aside his throne and bore the cross for their sins, and who know how precious God the Creator is, can give their lives in faithfulness.

Christ’s words to the church in Smyrna tell us that he gives each church a different word, according to the measure of its faith.

Revelation 3:14-17

14“To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, says these things: 15“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. 16So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. 17Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked;

To the church in Laodicea he spoke words entirely different from those he gave Smyrna.

Which of these churches, then, is our church closer to? Could it be that, like Laodicea, we know the word and lack nothing in the world, and are boasting of it before Jesus Christ? If Jesus told them that persecution was coming, what decision do you think the Christians in Laodicea would make? Would they answer that he need not worry, since they were ready to overcome persecution whenever it came and had a faith that would never betray God? Most likely, because their faith was not sound, they would not have shown him a faith like that of the church in Smyrna.

The suffering and persecution we meet in the world will be over in ten days. So I hope you will not be shaken by passing pain, but will set your hope on heaven and overcome, because if you cannot endure and you betray God, the eternal second death, truly fearful and terrible, is waiting. Let us never forget that Jesus Christ is always at our side, helping us so that we do not fall into hell with Satan.

May you keep your faith well, enter the glorious Kingdom where God reigns, and receive and enjoy the crown of life. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.