SEVEN ‘FROM The HEART of JESUS’ LOVE-LETTERS to the SEVEN CHURCHES of REVELATION - To The Church of Smyrna

CHURCH #2 SMYRNA

REV 1:8-11

⁸ And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ 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 name Smyrna comes from the "myrrh," which is a resin and is a critical ingredient used to embalm dead bodies because one of its major properties was its ability to slow down the putrefaction of dead flesh. This type of embalming was used in Egypt and Judea. Myrrh is often remembered as one of the three gifts the Magi gave to Jesus after he was born (gold – speaks of the Deity of Christ; frankincense – His priesthood; myrrh – his sacrificial death).

Smyrna was a port city with a good harbor about thirty-five miles northwest of Ephesus and was known for its schools of science and medicine. It boasted of, on the slope of Mount Pagus, a theater that could hold 20,000 spectators, where they celebrated Olympian games. Smyrna (located at modern-day Izmir, Turkey) laid claim on its coins to being the "first city of Asia in size and beauty" (Ramsay 1904:255), and it was indeed a city of great natural beauty. Smyrna had also a long history of loyalty to Rome, having dedicated a temple to the goddess Roma as early as 195 B.C. (Tacitus Annals 4.56).

There is no record of how Christianity came to Smyrna. Like the other Asian cities, Smyrna was probably reached as a result of Paul's ministry in Ephesus (ACTS 19:10). The message to Smyrna accents the contrast between the wealthy Roman city and the poverty-stricken congregation of Christians who lived there (yet had its own kind of riches (v. 9)). If the city was crowned "with porticoes and pictures, or even with gold in excess of what they needed," the angel of the church in Smyrna was promised the crown of life (v. 10); the "life that God has promised to those who love him" (JAMES 1:12).

By the early second century (a decade or two after John's visions), the congregation at Smyrna had a bishop named Polycarp who was martyred in Smyrna in the year 156 AD. Nowhere were the words be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life, more aptly fulfilled than in the life and death of Polycarp, There is the story of the centurion who escorted him to his execution, and on their journey, Polycarp won him over with his tender disposition and love as he shared the Gospel; the Roman was converted, and when they arrived at the place of Polycarp’s execution, laid his own head down to be beheaded for his new found faith in Christ.

The message to Smyrna assumes that the congregation will soon face an outbreak of persecution, linked to a group labeled a synagogue of Satan (v. 9) and composed of those who say they are Jews and are not. Like the "false apostles" who had come to Ephesus, these false Jews are liars (REV 3:9) in claiming to be something other than what they are. Most commentators (for example, Beasley-Murray 1974:82; Wall 1991:73) identify this group as actual Jews in Smyrna who refused to accept Jesus as Messiah (compare Paul's distinction between those who are Jews "outwardly" and those who are Jews "inwardly . . . by the Spirit, not by the written Law," ROM 2:28-29).

The LORD dictated eleven verses in His letter to Ephesus; to Smyrna – the suffering church, He gives them only four verses. Let us bear in mind, that in times of sorrow and suffering, fewer words of comfort are often better than many words of counsel.

REV 2:8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;

This church, whose city is based on the word myrrh – as we saw, used for embalming the dead, is given the revelation of the LORD as He Who is the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega, the One Who dwells outside of time, and in eternity (ISAIAH 57:15). He Who was dead, but is alive with victorious resurrection power – we see this in all of the letters to these seven churches – where the LORD introduces Himself as the One Who can meet their needs; as the One Who is LORD over all of life’s problems, struggles and situations, oppositions and obstacles.

For this church that is suffering and enduring persecution and death, He is the Eternal One, the Resurrection and the Life (JOHN 11:25)!

REV 2:9a “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) . . .”

Again, the LORD knows their works – these works that they are doing for the service of the LORD and in His Name. So often in times of suffering and heartache and tribulation, our attention draws inwardly. We desire, with our focus on ourselves, to be ministered to, rather than looking outwardly, to minister to others.

Yet not so with Smyrna – despite the severe persecution that is promised, as well as the tribulation that they are experiencing, they are working for the LORD; their focus is on Him, not their circumstances – awesome!

Amid the lavish wealth among the citizens of Smyrna, the church was dirt poor – not just poor enough so that they had food, water and barely having any more finances beyond that; this was abject poverty where even the basic necessities of life was beyond them! This was the same degree of destitution that Christ experienced – for our sakes He became poor so that we would be rich (2 COR 8:9) – and Smyrna was so declared rich by our LORD! Rich in the blessedness of the indwelling Spirit of God, the grace of God, His agape love, His depthless joy, His insurmountable peace, His Almighty patience – THESE are the true riches, NOT the prosperity Gospel junk that Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar preaches!!

REV 2:9a “… and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

This synagogue was in all likelihood, members of the Jewish religion that refused Jesus as the Messiah, and severely persecuted the church, in hand with the Roman government – these say that they are Jews, and are not – Paul addresses this issue of true Jews and false:

ROMANS 2:28-29
²⁸ For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: ²⁹ But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

This is religious externalism; it’s all for show – dead works done in a vain attempt to ‘look good’ and find approval from God – and FAILING! because there is no genuine change of the heart, which is in need of ‘spiritual circumcision’ that is, a conversion by the Spirit of grace as a result of believing the Gospel, as Abraham did!

ROMANS 4:11-13
¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: ¹² And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. ¹³ For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

ROMANS 10:2-4
² For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. ³ For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. ⁴ For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.

Going about to establish a righteousness by religious means (Jewish, Hindu, Islamic, etc.), apart from repentance, the atonement of sin through the Lamb of God and indwelling of the Holy Spirit is satanic – thus the persecutors of Smyrna are indeed “of the synagogue of Satan”. ‘Satan’ means adversary, and so these religious Jews were enemies that opposed the Gospel (ROM 11:28).
But we love the Jewish people and pray for them, because they are the elect for the sake of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; they have a destiny ordained by God, that if they receive the Messiah, they too will be converted and no longer laboring in “dead works” in a vain attempt to find approval from God (HEB 6:1; 9:14).

REV 2:10 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.

What word appears three times in vs. 10? It is the word “shall (shalt)” – the same word that appears in:

2 TIM 3:12
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

This is not a “maybe” or “perhaps” or even “probably” – this is a certainty that the LORD is alerting the church of Smyrna to.

JOHN 15:19
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 

The world hates the church of the LORD Jesus Christ, because His Light exposes their evil deeds, and that same Light shines from the church (JOHN 3:19-20).

From the very beginning of human history – the righteous followers of the LORD were always persecution by the religious and proud people of this world!

And yet the flip side of the world’s hatred, we have the LORD’s love for us:

JOHN 13:1
Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

The LORD could easily spare the church the suffering and persecution that the world has threatened and committed against the saints – He could stop the enemy from doing this to us; so, why doesn’t He?

It is the harshness and brutality of persecution, suffering, hardships that works in us the same way that a forge purifies iron ore. Iron is strong when it is pure, but when it’s first dug up, there are all kinds of impurities in it that must be burned away.

It’s the same with us – the LORD uses suffering as a means to an end: to bring to our attention the impurities of sin that resides in us; this “furnace of affliction” (ISAIAH 48:10) refines the saint, burning away the ‘dross’ that keeps us spiritually weak. When we allow these trials to do their work, accept them as from the LORD, together with His Empowering Spirit of grace – these trials make us better, not bitter.

For those who refuse the furnace, that fight the LORD and rebel against the work He seeks to accomplish in their lives, these trials will make them bitter, not better.

This is the way of the Cross (MATT 16:24: “…if any man come after me…”) and “…the fellowship of His sufferings…” (PHIL 3:10), that brings death to the sinful self, allows Christ to manifest His Light and Love in our lives and convicts the Lost of their sin. There is a depth to the saint that is long suffering in trials; they have a sweet fellowship with the LORD that the rest of us cannot know, apart from trials.

The LORD tells the saints of Smyrna that the devil is going to cast some (not many or most) of them into prison to be tried (“trial by fire” as it were) – this demonstrates God’s sovereignty: how He can even use Satan for His own purposes (Consider the first two chapters of Job!). Those that are accounted worthy to suffer for His Name’s sake (See MATT 5:11-13; ACTS 5:41). These saints, the “some” mentioned here, will attain to a better resurrection!

HEB 11:35b-38
…others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
³⁶ And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; ³⁸ (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

The promise of persecution shall last ten days; for the saints at Smyrna, this very well could have been for a literal ten days; historically however, during the time of the church when persecution escalated dramatically – it was a time of extreme suffering that lasted through the administration of 10 Caesars …. Interesting. These who were promised persecution looked toward to two things: suffering and death, and a crown of life if proven faithful.

Vs. 11 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.

Again, we see the LORD making provision for the situation that each of these seven churches find themselves in; for the suffering church of Smyrna, the LORD declares Himself as the Resurrected One, and for those who overcome, while they may experience pain, suffering and physical death, they shall not be hurt of the second death (spiritual separation from God) which they who reject Christ will suffer.

Next time, we will look at the Love Letter from Jesus to the church of Pergamos! Until then, Keep Your Eyes On the Skies and Don't Believe the Lies - The LORD Jesus Christ Returns Soon From On High!