But we're in Revelation chapter 2, verse 8, 7 letters to seven
churches. John is on the island of Patmos.
He's in his late 90s. Jesus appears to him.
He tells us who he sees. He sees Jesus in chapter 1 and
then chapters 2 to three we have the seven letters from 7
churches which tells us what Jesus actually thinks of His
church. You remember back in 1999, April
20, a high school in Littleton, Co came under attack by two
teenagers and a 17 year old girl who was killed, was killed
whilst the gun was pointed at her face.
And she was asked do you believe in God?
And she paused. It was a life or death
situation. She said yes, I believe in God.
Why ask the young gunman pointing at the gun at her face.
But the gunman never gave her that.
A moment to respond to that next question.
And he shot her in the head. She died at his feet.
Her name was Cassie Bernal. And there was another believer
called Rachel Scott who died at the same time.
And you would ask a question, Young girl just goes to school.
She's a Christian. She was in the youth group and
she ran the youth sky School as well.
Why would God allow this to happen?
How come she got killed? She definitely got killed
because of a fight. Tonight's passage, it's the
shortest of the seven letters. It's my favourite church even
before Philadelphia in our study in Revelation.
As we journey through these 7 letters to seven churches and
this portion of scripture will challenge your very concept,
your belief, your faith in God. It's not one that's actually
spoken over often in church. I don't know how many of you
have heard sermons on the Church of Smyrna.
I want to ask you several rhetorical questions, but I want
you to take a moment. I say rhetorical.
My mom came to church a couple of times before she passed away,
and we'd sit the front next to Alan, and if I asked the
question, she would actually answer it.
Thanks, Mom. That's good.
Now I just meant that rhetorical and so these I want you to
answer them in your minds, weigh them up, examine your response.
Three things. One, does your walk with the
Lord depend upon God answering your prayers your way.
I've heard people say I'm sure, well, I tried God didn't work
for me. Secondly, does your relationship
with God rest on you? Being in good health, having
nice things, living a life without storms or battles, being
continually blessed. Thirdly, or do you find yourself
crying at times? God, this is unfair.
What what we're going through, what my family is experiencing,
what I'm experiencing. God, this is unfair when you're
in a battle time of suffering, a period of duress.
You said God, why, Why, why when you seem to be just paddling
against the tide continually? Well, the Church of Smyrna was
located some 56 kilometres north of Ephesus in Asia Minor.
We call it Turkey. Today.
You can visit visit the location.
It's called Izmir. Today it was a persecuted
church. The group of believers, it was a
small church at that church were being persecuted in the period
1895, at the time time that John wrote Revelation.
But as we know it was a symbolic church.
The Church of Smyrna covers a period in church history.
It represents every persecuted church from every age.
It represents the period in church history specifically,
however, from 100 to 1 to 312 AD.
It also represents every persecuted believer still
undergoing persecution and death today.
We find that in in Syria, particularly in Nigeria and
Africa. Now the slaughter that's going
on over there in India, Pakistan, it was symbolic, even
though the church was, as I said, actually existed, and it
covers the period of persecution.
Smyrna, at that time that John wrote this, was known as the
beauty of Asia. There were three temples in
Smyrna. On the highest mount of Smyrna
was the temples of the temple of Apollo.
Next there was a temple to Zeus Sabelli and also the town of
Smyrna, a proud Roman city, built a temple to Caesar
Tiberius. And Caesar Tiberius was the one
who said, you know, you call me God.
It was a Caesar worshipping city and proud of it.
So you had to offer the incense and say Caesar's Lord sprinkle
the incense. Everyone had to do that because
Christians who didn't do that were killed.
The word Smyrna is derived from the Greek word Smyrna and it's
translated. We often see it more likely as
the word MUR, MY double RH. It is a substance taken from a a
thorny tree and myrrrh releases this powerful fragrance.
However, it can only produce that fragrance when it's
crushed. The Jesus birth you remember
Jesus was presented from the magi.
That's why they say there were three even though there's
probably more. Wise men.
Three wise men, gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Gold was representing for Jesus royalty.
Frankincense represented Jesus deity but myrh was used as a
burial spice and it represented Jesus humanity and his death.
The reason Jesus was born was he was born to die on the cross.
Jesus was presented also you remember with myrrh as a soldier
took his spear, placed a sponge on the tip of it and offered it
to Jesus to deaden the pain. Jesus didn't take the offer.
Myrrh was offered a third time to Jesus when the women gathered
on that first Sunday morning to finish the embalming process to
his body. They were bringing more.
However, in the the prophet Isaiah says when Jesus returns
the second time and he speaks of this in Isaiah chapter 60 verse
6, and he speaks of all the nations of the world who will
come bringing their goods and offerings to the Lord, who will
be on his throne in Jerusalem. It says vast caravans of camels
will converge on you. The camels of Midian and Ephah,
the people of Sheba will bring gold and frankincense and will
come worshipping the Lord. No mention of myrrh.
Why gold for the king of kings? Frankincense because Jesus is
the high priest. No mention of myrrh this time
because he's not coming back the second time to die again.
No death, but to rule and to reign forever and ever.
Most of the seven letters have 7 basic parts.
Let's read this letter, verse 8. And the Angel of the church and
Smyrna to the Angel of the church and Smyrna, right these
things says the 1st and the last who is dead came to life.
I know your works, tribulation and poverty, but I say you're
rich. I know the blasphemy of those
who say they're Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of
Satan. Do not fear any of those things
which you are about to suffer. Worse is to come.
Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison,
that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation 10 days.
Be faithful unto death, and I'll give you the crown of life.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
churches. He who overcomes shall not be
hurt by the second. Death.
Death seems to be a bit of a theme here, doesn't it?
And as I say, the seven letters that are written basically have
a template. Jesus gives the self title as he
presents himself to whichever church he's asking John to write
down. And the identification of Jesus,
the title that he gives himself gives us the flavour of what
what he's about to say to the church.
Then he speaks of the city and then he gives it either a
common, he gives it a commendation and then he'll go
but these things I have against you.
Then the condemnation. Then he says but this is what
you need to do. He'll give a command and then he
says this is what also you need to listen to.
He gives the counsel. But there are some exceptions to
that template. And Smyrna is 1 because it's
letter has only 6 parts. There is an absolute complete
ABS absence of condemnation. It's my favourite letter.
The part that is missing is the condemnation.
Nothing bad is said about the church at Smyrna.
There's there's an absence too of hypocrisy.
Will speak on Pergamos on Sunday.
The Church of Compromise. No hypocrisy.
You know, everyone says wow, wait, you know I don't go to
church because it's full of hypocrites.
Doesn't stop you going on the football or anywhere else, does
it? You know we're going to the
football because it's full of hypocrites.
Since the Church of Smyrna was undergoing a great deal of
suffering and it was, it would have been very easy for that to
cause the people to dissipate quickly.
Anyone belong to the Church of Smyrna?
No, you didn't wear I. I attend the Smyrna youth group
on your shirt when you went into town.
They could have given up this church so easily and the church
would have died under persecution, just killed him
off. But you know the thing about
persecution which no one likes but God uses as a way of
purifying the ranks. Smyrna, I think, is going to
give us a snapshot of where you and I are going to head till the
Lord comes and takes us home. People who weren't actually
living for Jesus Christ wouldn't claim to be Christians.
You Christian or no way, because you die, it might cost them
their lives. There was no, no pretend
Christians of Smyrna. And so the persecuted church had
all its dross and hypocrisy eliminated.
You went to Church of Smyrna, you're brave.
You were really a faithful believer because you turned up,
and turning up could risk death. The persecuted church is a pure
church and consequently Jesus had no condemnation to give to
the church at Smyrna. Did the Angel of the church at
Smyrna write these things? Says the 1st and the last.
Who was dead and is alive? The question can be raised, why
did Jesus give himself this title as the one who was dead
and is alive? It's pretty obvious the theme of
Smyrna is dying for your faith. He is writing to a suffering
church. He says I know what you're going
through, I was once dead, they killed me.
You're worried about martyrdom. Jesus says been there, this
church was and is undergoing great sorrow.
They would arrest the husband, throw the family out of the
house, kill the husband, and then whoever dobbed the family
in to the Roman council would get 10% of the goods that were
leftover from the house. So there was a great deal of
spotters fee going on in Smyrna. The believers were living every
day in the shadow of death. Some of them, their fellowship
had already been killed, Jesus said.
Others knew their time was not far away.
Jesus indicates and dictates this letter to John to the
church at Smyrna. Why does he write this?
He writes to strengthen them in writes to encourage them and to
comfort the Saints there because more is coming.
How often do we pray Get Me Out of this.
You know, there's no Get Me Out of this in Jesus words to this
church. Jesus says he knows three things
about this group of believers this period in church history.
Every believer who has and is being persecuted because they
love Jesus Christ and serve him. Jesus knows all about them.
He knows their tribulation. He knows their poverty and I he
says I know the blasphemy of them which say they're Jews and
are not borrowed the synagogue of Satan.
He says I know your tribulation. Now this is not the normal
difficulties. You know, man things are tough.
You know tyres flat, you know the plumbers bunged up at home.
Jesus did not say I know your trials.
He didn't say that. This is a far stronger word in
the Greek meaning a pressure of persecution.
The word Jesus uses here means the pressure of.
That's a picture word of the stones that grind the wheat and
the flour mill comes around, that crushes the grapes, that
forces the juice to flow. These people were being pressed
even to death on account of their faithfulness to Christ.
That's why they were dying. I know your tribulation.
It's the Greek word philipsis, which means constant aggressive
persecution. In fact, the literal meaning of
ellipses was to be crushed. Do you see the significance of
what Jesus said? This little Church of myrrh was
being crushed, the life out of it.
The more it was crushed, however, something was
happening, the more it gave off this fragrance.
Amazing. Here Paul's words in Two
Corinthians he says you can be sure that the more we suffer for
Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through
Christ. So when we are weighed down with
troubles is for your benefit. Notice that we don't realise
that and salvation. When God comforts us, it is so
that we in turn can be encouragement to you.
Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer.
We're confident that as you share in suffering, you also
share God's comfort. I think you ought to know, dear
brothers and sisters, Paul went on to say about the trouble we
went through in the province of Asia.
We were crushed, completely overwhelmed.
We thought we would never live through it.
In fact, we expected to die, Paul said.
But as a result, we learn not to rely upon ourselves, but on God
who can raise the dead. That's why God allows true
tribulation in our lives. Note the last words of Paul.
He said who he who can raise the dead.
Jesus spoke to the Saints in Smyrna, he who was dead and came
to life. Jesus said, I know your poverty.
It's the actual word beggary. It means extreme poverty.
Now this is not referring to spiritual poverty like he's
going to say to the Church of later see it different.
Most likely these people had suffered great loss, the loss of
all things in the persecution they faced because the love they
loved Jesus Christ and refused to say Caesar as Lord.
So as a result they lost their jobs.
They lost their jobs because they're Christians.
They lost their ability to trade, to buy and sell because
they were Christians. They were blackballed.
Don't go to his shop. Don't buy anything off him.
They were delisted from the Guild.
It's like you can't be a member of the union, so no one's going
to have do any business with you.
Their social standing was removed.
And because of this, they were living in a state of absolute
poverty. They couldn't earn a living,
couldn't buy anything no one would buy.
They couldn't work for anyone. And so they were blackboard
because of their faith. You know what the Book of
Revelation tells us that this is again going to happen soon
during the Tribulation period, Revelation 1316.
There's going to become a new leader.
And isn't the world looking for someone to fix things?
Because when you get all the people gathered together,
there's not a, there's not a bright star among them, is
there? There is one coming, Revelation
1316, the Antichrist. He causes all, both small and
great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on
their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may
buy or sell, except one who has the mark, or the name of the
beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom, that he who has understanding calculate the
number of the beast, or is the number of a man.
His number is 666. Hebrews 10/24 says you suffered
long Speaking of those who would die for their faith.
With those who are thrown in gaol when all you owned was
taken from you. That's what's happening in
Smyrna. Everything in the house gone,
Everything gone. They went earning can't earn a
living, gone. You accepted it with joy man.
You knew you had better things waiting for you in eternity.
Hebrews 10/24 and the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews
and are not. What does he mean by blasphemy?
Usually we associate it with something something about God,
don't we? That word is usually associated
with someone blaspheming God. But in this context, and in this
case, certain Jews were literally slandering the
Christians. It's where the fellow who was
the pastor there, fellow called Polycarp, 166 AD, was arrested,
burned at the stake, and the Jews gathered the bits of wood
to throw on the fire so that he could be burned at the stake.
The little church in Smyrna was being crushed for its love for
Christ. The more they were crushed,
however, this is the amazing thing, the more they loved the
Lord. Contrast that with the church in
Ephesus. Those people had everything
going their way, no particular problems from persecution.
They left their love for Christ. They left their first love.
The church in Smyrna didn't. The more the world hated them,
the more they loved Jesus. Don't we get that often in our
discussions? When people were at school they
said this, and at work and at uni, and I'm isolated and
ostracised. That's when you and I need to
go. Guess what?
That it's because you love God. That is because you're
identified with Jesus Christ. It's what the Christian life is.
It's not unusual. And I'm not Tom Jones when I say
that, but we go the other way. We want to help them get out of
that situation. It's not going to happen to a
true believer. The more the world stomped on
them, the more they leaned on Christ.
That's when you know your faith is true, when you're going down
the hall and you're leaning more and more in Jesus.
The Christ loving Saints in the little church in Smyrna were
destitute, crushed, powerless, poverty stricken.
However, they knew the comfort of the warm arms of Jesus Christ
like nobody else in their tribulation, in their crushing,
they exuded A fragrance that would make the world notice.
And then there's the commendation, verse 9.
I know your works, tribulation, poverty, but they are rich.
I know the blasphemy of them that say they're Jews and I'm
not, but the synagogue of Satan. And there are two important
words again in verse 9. I know I can hear the Lord
saying I know I've been there, I know it's rough.
Jesus is a sympathetic saviour. He's a high priest that knows I
know your works, I know your tribulation, I know your
poverty. Remember Me, I was persecuted to
the Greek word, as I said, is about crushing.
He says I know the pressure and agony under death and some of
you are dying for me. I know the persecution the the
word Jesus uses here for I know is an interesting word.
It's the Greek word Oeda and it means I know by experience.
You know when you talk to someone you go, yeah, Are you?
Yeah, straight away. You don't have to explain.
I know, I know by it's not. I know by watching observation.
Jesus is not observing them. Bette Midler says.
God is from the distance watching unknown.
He knows what is happening by experience.
Their poverty was great, private poverty.
It's a word not panaya, which refers to someone who has very
little. It's the word PTOCHEIA petitia,
and it means absolute, complete destitution.
They didn't have any televangelists sending them
hankies or some fancy oil or something to help them through
the time I couldn't get a job. I robbed, I plundered people.
Didn't do anything to help that. Nothing as I read Jesus words to
these awesome Christians, these true Saints.
It is though Jesus leans over quietly and closely to each of
the suffering Smyrna believers. Can you imagine this letter
being read out to that church as I gathered, not knowing who's
going to die next? It's though Jesus reached over
and says, Hey, you are rich in my sight.
The people around you can't you as big as he says, I can't you
as rich, robbed of everything but wealthy.
What was Jesus final words to this amazing church and to you
and I tonight as we wrap it up and the thing that astounds me
the first time I read this, I went wow.
There's not a single promise to them that they shall escape
their suffering. Not a single promise, the 10
days, Some people say it was a period of time of years.
Others say it was the 10 Roman Caesars that they went through
that just brought horrific persecution to them.
In fact, Jesus says he doesn't say, oh, I'm going to get you
out of this. He says worse is to come.
How'd you be? You're praying.
And God says, yeah, things are tough, worse is to come.
How would that be an answer to your prayers?
In the year 100 to 131 AD, 10 Roman emperors who respond to
the 10 days spoken here launched a massive campaign of
persecution against the church, God's people in the Roman
Empire. 5 to 7 million Christians died for their faith
during that evil rule. That's a lot of people.
So where's the comfort in this case?
And I'm like, man, come to church.
I must just go out and walk in front of a car.
I don't understand. Firstly, for Jesus to allow this
season of suffering, it is for a reason.
Job teaches us that for you and I, we need to know sorrow that
comes in your life always has a purpose.
God does not allow sorrow in your life without there being a
purpose. It's for a reason and that
reason is always for me in that time to grow closer to him.
When you grow close closer to the Lord, I tell you when in an
intensive care unit in the prayer room, in the waiting
room, you're, you're with the Lord constantly, aren't you?
You're praying the Lord help, dear God, you, you, you're
praying without ceasing. No one's having to tell you when
something's wrong with one of your kids or this is happening
and you're praying and praying. Oh God, you're, you're in
constant communication. You see, you grow closer, you
know him more and more, you experience his love like never
before. 1 Peter 416 Peter said. Yet if anyone suffers as a
Christian, they were, Let him not be ashamed.
Tell your kids that, but let him glorify God in this manner.
Secondly, it means He will most certainly enable me to bear it.
1 Corinthians 10 verse 13. No temptation has overtaken you
except such as common to men, but God is faithful.
It will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able.
How often have you said I don't, I'm not going to make it through
this, Have you? I've said that this is too much.
Paul said that but with temptation God will always make
a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.
Psalm 100 and 314 says for he knows our frame.
God knows our frame. He remembers that we're dust.
Jesus is saying, don't question me in this time, don't doubt me
in this time, but do depend upon me.
What was their reward in verse 10?
And I'll give you the crown of life.
Jesus says I will personally give you a crown of life.
This is the most powerful church I know.
The faith of these people at Smyrna is so powerful that it
will carry you through every storm, every battle, and to
glorify him as you walk through the valley of the shadow of
death tonight. Know this when times of crushing
come upon you in your life as you are crushed, what is the
fragrance of your faith? Is it a sweet aroma to those who
need to see the light? To those who are seeking salt,
that you have a peace that no one can understand.
Does your life make the Lord inhale?
One of our kids has this habit. Whenever there's a small born,
young born, baby, infant born in our family, they lean over and
breathe in, you know, the breath of a newborn baby.
I don't know if you've ever done that.
What's the smell of a newborn baby?
What's the breath like as we close the study?
Does God breathe in the fragrance that you give off as
you love him? In the tribulation, in the
poverty, in the trial, the crown of life.
Smyrna would have annually athletic games in Smyrna.
Smyrna as a city would participate and the winner of
the game would get the crown. They knew that God will give
them the crown. What is the crown eternal life?
This crown eternal life.