A Call to be Consumed by Christ #3

A Call to be Consumed by Christ

The Church at Smyrna

Revelation 2:8-11

Intro:

Last week we heard Christ's message to the local churches in Ephesus. He commended them for their right beliefs, their right teaching, and their testing and rejection of false teachers. Then Christ lowered a serious condemnation, they have left their first love. They are just going through the motions. They are just playing church. They are not living passionate, Christ-consumed, God-honoring Christian lives. Christ tells them that if they don't repent of this empty Christianity, He is going to remove His power and presence from their churches. They will continue to exist but Christ won't be involved in the church. This is a serious warning. Historically we learn that the local churches in Ephesus did not repent. They continued to exist but Christ's power and presence was not in their churches.

In our passage this week Christ addresses the church in Smyrna. Smyrna was a large and prosperous city which was 35 miles north of Ephesus. Like Ephesus it was a seaport. Unlike Ephesus which is a deserted ruin today, Smyrna is still a large seaport with a population of 200,000. The church in Smyrna was one of only two churches addressed in Revelation 2-3 that is not given a negative evaluation. They are experiencing great persecution at the hands of unsaved Jews and at the hands of the Romans who are calling them to worship Domitian as a god.

I) Christ knows what is happening to these believers in Smyrna (8-9)

Christ addresses the second church in Asia, the church at Smyrna (8). Christ gives the church at Smyrna His identification card, just as He did with Ephesus. Christ says that He is “the first and the last.” This is Christ's title referring to Him as the eternal One. He existed before everything and nothing is greater than Him. Christ is Creator and Judge. He then reminds them that “He was dead.” Christ paid the sin debt for all of mankind by His substitutionary death on the cross. But Christ completes His introductory statement by clarifying that He “has come to life.” Christ in introducing Himself personally to the church at Smyrna reminds them that He has resurrected bodily and that He is alive forever.

Christ moves on to His main message. Christ knows what is going on in their lives (9). He knows about the persecution that they are suffering. Domitian demanded that the empire worship him as a god. Those who refused to do so were persecuted and many times killed. There was a large Jewish population in Smyrna and many of the non-believing Jews were hostile toward Christianity. This made it very difficult to be a Christian living in Smyrna. Polycarp, who lived at a later time, was one of the first to die for his faith. He was bishop of Smyrna. Christ also mentions their poverty. They were extremely poor, in a wealthy city. Christ informs them that they are rich. They are rich spiritually through Christ (Jas. 2:5; 1 Pet. 1:3-9; Eph. 1:3-14; 1 Tim. 6:17-19). The Jews that were persecuting the believers in Smyrna are described by Christ in a very unflattering way. The Jews were the Old Covenant people of God and had been entrusted with the O.T. Revelation. A Jew was to be known for loving God and doing His will. Instead of being godly, Christ says the unsaved Jews in Smyrna were Satanic. They rejected the gospel and they persecuted Christianity. Christ also confronted this reality during His earthly ministry. As Christ was debating the Jewish religious leaders who considered God to be their Father. Jesus told them that Satan was their father (Jn. 8:39-47). Jesus speaks the truth. The unsaved Jews and Gentiles are used by Satan to persecute Christians. Isn't this a comforting thought that Christ knows exactly what is going on with these believers in Smyrna? He also knows exactly what will happen to them in the future, and He is allowing this persecution and suffering as a part of His sovereign plan.

II) Christ encourages the believers in Smyrna about a persecution that is coming (10-11)

Next, Christ gives the church a warning. They are about to suffer something very difficult, of which Christ says not to fear (10). Christ tells them that some of them will be imprisoned and He ascribes it to the activity of Satan. Their persecution was going to continue. Christ says that they will be tested during this time. The non-believers who are Satan's instruments will incite the imprisoned believers to deny Christ and abandon the faith. Their test will be to remain faithful to Christ and hold to the faith. Christ says that this specific tribulation will last ten days. This refers to a short period of time, not an exact number of days (Alford proposes this based on Scriptural precedent – Num. 11:19; 14:22; 1 Sam. 1:8; Job 19:3). Walvoord discusses how Christian suffering causes confusion on the part of believers. It is easy to understand why the unsaved would experience suffering, but why the saved? The Bible teaches that believers suffer at times for some of the following reasons: discipline (1 Cor. 11:30-32; Heb. 12:3-13); preventive measures (2 Cor. 12:7 – Paul's thorn in the flesh); the learning of obedience (Heb. 5:8 – Christ; cf. Rom. 5:3-5); or for the providing of a better testimony for Christ (Acts 9:16).

Christ provides them with an encouraging promise. In His promise is found the reality of death for remaining faithful to Christ and holding to the faith. Christ says that even though faced with death for refusing to deny Him, remain faithful to Christ and He will reward them with the crown of life. One thing that Christ makes clear to them is that even if their persecutors take their lives, it will only result in the believers receiving the crown of life in heaven. This is a reward to individual believers in Smyrna who die for not denying Christ and the faith.

Christ uses a call that He had used during His earthly ministry. Those who were saved and spiritually sensitive would hear what the Holy Spirit was saying to the believers in Smyrna (11). Christ says that the believer who overcomes will not be hurt by the Second Death. The Second Death is the Lake of Fire, which Christ mentions later in the letter (20:11-15). The Lake of Fire was created for Satan and his demons (Matt. 25:41-46). Only the unsaved will be harmed by the Second Death. Christ says that the one who overcomes will be rewarded by protection from the Second Death. The overcomer is described by John as a person who has repented of his sin and trusted by faith in the gospel for the forgiveness of sin (1 Jn. 5:1-5). Every true believer is an overcomer. No true believer will ever be hurt by the Second Death, the Lake of Fire.

Conclusion:

Christ encourages the church in Smyrna by letting them know the He knows exactly what is happening to them. He knows they are poor materially but informs them that they are rich spiritually and heavenly. He warns them that a more severe persecution is coming and some will die because they refuse to deny Christ. Jesus encourages them by telling them that if they die for Christ, He will reward them as martyrs with the crown of life. Some feel they would lose something if they died, but Christ tells them that they will gain a crown for doing so. Christ concludes by telling them that everyone who overcomes (all true believers) will not end up in the Lake of Fire. All true believers will spend eternity with Christ. It does not matter what is done to a true believer during this earthly life, but his eternal destination will never be effected. A true believer's eternal destination is assured by Christ.

The application for believers today is simple. True believers should always remain faithful to Christ and cling to the faith, no matter how difficult or deadly it becomes to do so. Christ says that if you die for Him, you will be rewarded! Not only will you be rewarded, but you will be in the presence of Christ eternally. A true believer will never be sent to the place of eternal torment, the final abode of the unsaved, the Lake of Fire.