Gary, you'll open us up with a word of prayer. Dear Father, we come before you this morning and we thank you for all that you do for us, Lord God. We thank you for this beautiful weather that we have, the coolness, Lord. Thank you for us being able to meet together and listen to your word. And we just pray that you'll bless the elders as they teach us in Jesus' name. Amen. Open our Bibles too. Revelation chapter 2. We're going to read 8 through 11. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, the first and the last, who was dead and has come to life, says this, I know your tribulation, your poverty, but you are rich, and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer, and behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for 10 days, but be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life, And he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. Well, this is the second letter to the churches, and it opens up with, I guess, good morning. Once again, to this angel, and who's the angel? We don't know. We'll probably continue to say that through the letters. We don't know who the angel is. Speculation of who it is. But the angel is saying to the church at Smyrna. Well, where was Smyrna? Well, Smyrna was in the providence of Asia Minor, and it was about 35 miles It was a port city. What do we know about port cities? Busy and wealthy. very wealthy. So even if we backed up a little bit to Ephesus, Ephesus was, it wasn't the provincial capital at that moment at the time in which this was written. It would be at some point, they would move it from Pergamos to, or Pergamum to Ephesus, but it was the political, meaning all the dignitaries would go through Ephesus. because it was a port city, they needed to check in there when they came into Asia Minor. And the population with Ephesus was anywhere, there's estimates from 150,000 to 225,000. Same thing with Smyrna, it ran about 150,000 as well, so big port city. Smyrna had an interesting port. It kind of had like a bay. When you would, if you were to pull up to it, it had a bay for receiving textiles and goods and things like that. It also had, good morning, also had an Acropolis. Anybody know what an Acropolis is? Anybody? Anybody? Stud Greek? Roman Greek? a height, a mountain. There would be a mountain where people would be up on high, which obviously, one, to show that, look, how distinguished we are from the rest of the cities around us, and also, if you're on a high point, you can be able to see if somebody's coming in. Not only see if ships or whatever, dignitaries, whatever, were coming in, but see if enemies were coming in. Also, in Smyrna, there was a mall. It was a mall there. It was made up of major structures built of stone and marble, and it was called the Crown of Smyrna. So if you were looking first century, this would have been the place to go. It would have, hey, if women wanted to shop, you gotta go to Smyrna, because that's where the place is with all the goods and furnishings and all the shops to go in and out. But also in Smyrna, There was a temple to Zeus. Who was Zeus? Greco-Roman God. There was a temple to the Cybele. Has anybody heard of Cybele? Might have heard of Kybele. Well, Kybele was also a Greco-Roman religion. They would have been the charismatic part of the Pantheon. They had speaking in tongues and falling on the ground and flailing around and all that. That would be in the Temple of Cybele. But then they also had the Temple of Asclepius. Anybody ever heard of Asclepius? Oh, wow! Well, Asclepius, how many of you have seen the staff with, well who, we got a doctor, a nurse in here? Okay, you should know who Asclepius is. Well, you see the pharmaceutical staff with the two serpents around it. How many of y'all have heard, I have as a kid, I've heard, oh, that's representative of the staff in which Moses held up with the serpents on it. That is not what that's talking about. The pharmaceutical one is the one of Asclepius. Asclepius was the god of medicine and of healing and there was a, in Smyrna, there was a temple made to him. Those serpents were the serpents that came to Asclepius and gave him a piece of fruit and offered him the powers to heal. Well, you have what the people that followed Asclepius were called uh... with the hypocrites not hypocrites, hypocrites so you have what's called the Hippocratic Oath okay now that makes more sense doesn't it okay and if you were to look at the ancient Hippocratic Oath it would say we swear allegiance to Apollo and Asclepius that's what it would say now obviously western doctors and physicians have changed that to where it doesn't say that pagan but hey even in ancient culture, they gave praise to this god of Asclepius as being the god of healing. So you had that in Smyrna. You also had, in Smyrna, temples to the emperors. This became one of the central locations for imperial worship. Remember what we talked about, what the imperial cult is? What's the imperial cult? Imperial cults, the ones that bow down and worship, give homage to the emperor. It was not this point. It had not been empire-wide demanded. They were not demanded to do this under compulsory reasons, either do this or die. It had not happened. Smyrna was one of the first places to put one to the emperors. in 26 BC, Tiberius. Anybody know who Tiberius, Emperor Tiberius was? Who was he? He was the one that was around when Jesus was crucified. Tiberius was the one who came to Smyrna in 26 and offered them the status or granted them the status to build a temple to the emperor. You couldn't just go, hey, we want to pop up a temple to the emperor. They actually had to get permission from Rome in order to do that. Well, Smyrna got that, and they set up what was the imperial cult there. Then you would have another one later down the road that would be to, that would be one they believe was to Domitian, they're not sure, but the other one was to Hadrian. Hadrian would have been the one that destroyed, salted Jerusalem in 135 and actually changed the name to Palestinia. So if you ever talk to some Palestinian people who think that they own that property before, well it was Hadrian that renamed the city of Jerusalem, Palestinia, to scourge the Jews because of their ancient foe, the Philistines. Just a little more information on history. So what we do know about Smyrna, rich, lots of temples, place to party, and the imperial cult. And as we walk through some of this, we'll talk more about the imperial cult. But hey, not only did they have the imperial cult there, but they also had a very, when I say charismatic, not as in, sounds and wonders charismatic, okay? Charismatic Jews. Very hostile towards Christianity. Remember, Christianity for many years has flown under the umbrella of Judaism. And many of you say, well, how did that happen? Why didn't the Romans persecute the Jews for not, quote, following the imperial cult or for bowing down to all these other gods that were there? Well, here's the reason. Julius Caesar in between 49 and 48 BC, he was trying to overthrow Pompey, and he needed help with cavalry. He got cavalry from the Jews, and they helped him in 48 overthrow Pompey in the Battle of Phalargus, and in doing so, He granted Antipas, which would be Herod the Great's daddy, granted them what we would say, I don't like religious exemption, I like religious freedom, because religious exemption means that they were exempt from everything and they were not exempt from everything. He gave them religious freedom to worship the way that they wanted to in the confines of Judaism and that they, inside their communities, would never have to put a pagan temple up. Why do you think all this time that the Roman Empire was basically occupying Israel from Dan to Beersheba, let's just say that, how come you never saw a temple to Asclepius pop up? How come you never saw a Temple de Zeus pop up in Israel? It's because of that. Because of the religious liberty that they gave them an exemption to where they did not have to participate in their communities, whatever the Pantheon of Rome was. Now, if they left Jerusalem and went to Smyrna, they could build them a synagogue, but they couldn't complain about Asclepius being next door. You understand? So, this would play a major role as we get down in history of how the Jews begin to collaborate with Rome in persecuting Christians. And we'll talk about that because I think that's what this letter speaks of. And we know for a fact that when Polycarp was put to death in 155, it was the Jews that helped do that. And we'll talk about that as we get to the end. So it says, the angel says to the church of Smyrna, the first and the last. This is an exact quotation. It's interesting that in the providence of God, we are going to read that quotation this morning in Isaiah 44. It is God who says, I am the first and the last. And then, His recognition that He is Yahweh, I am the first and the last, but then He says, who was dead and has come to life. Who is that? That's Christ once again. Anybody ever tell you that Jesus never claimed to be God? Right there. You don't need to go any further. One verse. I am the first and the last. That's what Yahweh said about Himself. And if the one that was dead and has come to life means this has to be the one who was incarnated. Jesus Christ Himself. And He says, and this is what I say, I know your tribulation. in your poverty. This is different than perseverance. This is different than what Ephesus was doing. Ephesus was persevering in good works. They were persevering and fighting against the false teachers that were in the city. They were continually fighting against the false prophets, the ones that came in claiming to apostles. This is much different. This is the word Philipson. And it means to press, to crush, to squeeze. And he says here that I know your tribulation. Well, what would have been the tribulation that they were going through in Smyrna? Well, one, dealing with all of the pressure and the persecution that was coming around them from all the idolatry temples, and we're going to get down to see, and the Jewish that were around them. He says, and I know your poverty. And if you know anything about Smyrna, as rich as it was, why would these people be poor? Ask you the question. Why would these people be poor? Certainly part of the pantheon of deity worship. They were, well, as we get further on in Revelation, you'll see that the covenant people of God will be shunned if you don't follow culture. Hey, you want to talk about the original council culture? Right here. You've got to remember, in a pantheon of gods, hundreds, if you were a A person that worked with medicine, you better be closely associated with Asclepius. If you were going to be in agriculture, you better be closely associated with the god of agriculture. If you were going to be any type of construction worker, you better be in the temple guild that offered up oblations to the deity of rocks and stones and bricks or whatever his name is, okay? And if you didn't, you would be ostracized. It'd be like me saying, Gary's a cabinet maker, and I'm a stonesman. Gary does my cabinets for me. Well, I find out that Gary was converted and he's not going to the God of cabinet making or whatever his name is, okay? He's no longer going there. He's a follower of Christ. All I have to do is whisper into John the plumber here's ear, hey, he's no longer part of this, of us. He wants to, he's a good cabinet guy, but he's not following the cultural norm here. and what would happen to Gary's cabinet work? It would dry up like the morning dew. Okay? This is what happened. And it happened a lot in the first century. And even in... Yeah, they would take their property, everything. And I'm going to get to that here in just a second because we do have an actual book that talks about at this specific time of writing, there was property seized. Well, now you already brought it up. We'll talk about it. Hey, in the book of Hebrews, he specifically talks about the pressure and the tribulation that they were going through. The book of Hebrews is written to the Hebrew to the Hebrew Christians that were being coerced under the persecution of Nero to go leave Christianity and go back to Judaism. Why would that be the case? Because Nero, being brilliant in this sense, he saw the distinction between Christianity and between Judaism. At that point in history, up until I think Paul's, I would say Paul's first defense was probably around 62. I don't know if anybody has, probably around 62. I think he was killed between 60, around 64, 66, somewhere around there. But Paul's first defense before Nero, if you remember, he says, my first defense, nobody was here. I think it was at that point that Nero, and I'm drawing a conclusion based on history, okay, so if you disagree with me, that's fine. is at that point as he makes his first defense in Rome that now Nero knows, oh wow, the Christian leader of the church who has gone to the Gentiles has now proclaimed to me there's a difference between Judaism and Christianity. And it was just two years later that he would set Rome on fire and not Paul, but Nero, it would set Rome on fire and then would blame it on the Christians. It would be at that point that Christians were being executed. They were in Rome. This was localized. He blamed it on the Christians. They would be executing them, putting them into the Circus Maximus, having them eaten by wild animals, putting beasts on them, all that stuff. That's where it would take place, in Circus Maximus. Just to let you know, those that tell you that that was happening in the Colosseum, you know the Colosseum wasn't even built yet? I don't know if y'all know that. The Colosseum wasn't even built. The Colosseum wasn't built until 79, and it wasn't even completed until 81. So just to let you know, they were thrown into the Colosseum at the time of Christ. It wasn't even built at that moment. It's called the Flavin Amphitheater. But, so it is at that point that that distinction's made. Nero is not persecuting Jews, he's persecuting Christians. So they know the distinction. So, the book to the Hebrews was, hey man, if you go back to Judaism, You're not going to be persecuted under this great and ironic persecution which lasted from about 64 to 68, about three and a half, four years. You go back to that. You won't have to have you worry about your property being seized, which is what they were doing to the Hebrews. and the Hebrew Christians. They were taking their property. They were taking their people off and putting them in prison. They were doing all of those things. And the book of Hebrews says, hey, I know your tribulation. You have suffered these things. You have lost all these things. People have died. Family members have been put in prison. And your property has been seized. And you have remained faithful. We have somewhat of that being said to the Christians here. In Smyrna, he says, and you're poverty, but you are rich. Look, man, you've been stripped of everything. And by all means and purposes, you are broke. The only thing that some of them people had was the tunic around them and the cloak that surrounded them. And what does the Son of God say? But you're rich. How could they be rich? How? Ain't got two shekels to rub together. How could they be rich? They have life. Okay. Life in what? Life in Christ. Sure. Yeah, not just walking around breathing air. Yeah. Yeah, they have life in Christ. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Look, I'm all, I like the comforts of this life. But if the comforts of this life were to dry up tomorrow, I know that it would only be in comparison. Look, I understand as we suffer and we struggle and we go through tribulation and suffering, it seems like it will never end in the moment. How many of you wanna testify to that? I do. Matter of fact, I feel like I still ain't through it. Okay? You go, You're never going to get through it. But when you look back, when it's done, it's going to seem like that in comparison to eternity. And that's what we look forward to. Think about Christ. What a good application when it talks about Him. Him looking forward to the joy that would be set before Him. He endured the cross. Look, Jesus wasn't short-sighted. Was the cross suffering bad? Yes. And we're not talking about the suffering that He endured. Look, I'm not saying that being beaten half to death with a cat-of-nine-tails, being hammered and stapled to a tree was not suffering, although that is. And I believe that a depiction of that by the Passion of the Christ was pretty brutal, and I believe that's probably how it took place. Okay? But you understand that that's not the suffering that Jesus endured on the cross. The suffering that He endured on the cross was the payment for every sin, for every believer that would ever live. That was the suffering. And Jesus put that in the back of His mind and looked forward to the joy of purchasing that which God had sent Him to redeem. That's what He did. And that's how we should look at this, is that those men, men and women, being impoverished, being stripped of everything that they had, property seized, jobs lost, in prison. We'll talk about that here in a minute. And put in prison. Don't forget about that because you're rich. This is only temporary. And how do we know it's temporary? Because he gives us a time frame here in a minute. And it says here, and the blasphemy by those who say they're Jews and are not. What's blasphemy? speaking anything against the Spirit of God, or His representative, Jesus Christ. And speaking against God through the representative of His Son. Remember, when Jesus said, hey, He who blasphemes the Holy Spirit, it's unpardonable. Well, these people... You've got to understand that the Jews had so much light. They had so much light. Even in the book of Romans, it says, that Paul says, well, you know, what advantage did you have? It's almost like he catches himself when he says, well, what advantage did you have? Well, wait a minute. Yeah, I guess there was some advantage. What was it? You had the oracles of God. You had the law of God to be able to look at the God of all creation and for Him to say, this is how you have offended me. You understand that us having the law of God written on our heart and being able to look at this right here is a blessing and a grace of God. Hey, did God have to give the nation of Israel a law and say, hey, this is how you've offended me and now I'm showing you how to be made right with me through the sacrificial system? Did God have to do that? No, it was a grace of God to do that. Well, it says that they are blasphemed by those who say they're Jews and are not. Well, wait a minute. This sounds like a contradiction in terms. They blaspheme God. They say they're Jews. Does anybody in here think these people are lying saying they were Jews? Does anybody think that? What do you think? claiming to be the true Israel and the church is the true Israel. I agree 100% and we can go back to the book of Galatians where that is brought up. Who's of true Israel? Those who are of the faith of Abraham. Those who have, not those who are of Abraham's seed and that's how they saw that. Understand that the call of Abraham the nation of Israel separated as a covenant people with a national covenant, okay? National ethnic covenant was given to them. Those were all real, but they were typological. They pointed to something greater. They pointed to something that would be on a grander scale. When it said that Hey, Abraham, through your seed, all the world will be blessed. But then it narrows down under the Mosaic covenant to one group of people. Okay? Immediate thought should be, well, wait a minute, how's this going to be? Because it was going to be through that Mosaic legislation and through the tribe of Judah that the Savior would come which would then open up salvation for all, Jew and Gentile. So there was those who were saying, wait a minute, these aren't Really followers of Yahweh we are and Paul struggled he he went through that time and time and time again matter of fact There was I think it was in Corinth and if you go back in Acts chapter 18 The The Jews said, hey, Christians ain't really the right group of people. We are. They cause a disturbance within the city. And the man on the judgment seat, if I remember correctly, if someone wants to look up, say, I think it's Galileo, they begin to cause a riot. The Jewish people then begin to call Paul and the leader of the synagogue there, basically insurrectionists. This is not the Jewish religion. It's not even connected to it. Paul was making the statement that, hey, Jesus has come and fulfilled all of these things. You know what the Jewish people did in that synagogue? They grabbed, I think his name's Sosthenes. They grabbed him and they are beating the tar out of this guy. Right before the judgment seat. And you know what Galileo the Roman procurator does? Zero. Nothing. Lets it go. Let's it go. Hey, this is just a Jewish thing. Let's it go. So we can also see where the Jews were persecuting the Christians. Who persecuted the Christians more in the first century? Was it the Romans or the Jews? I mean, yeah, the Romans or the Jews? Who was it? Jews. Once again, pointing all more to this book being written before Before 70 AD, the Jews were emboldened to persecute God's people. They were emboldened. Hey, and Rome didn't really do anything about it. Hey, look, y'all have got this religious liberty, this religious, y'all exercise your, and because they thought that Christianity was part of that, in just a sec, hey, you want to beat the tar out of the guy? in the synagogue, so be it. Just don't kill him. And that's actually what they tell him. Hey, we gotta calm this down. You can't kill the guy. You don't have the right to kill the guy, but you can beat the brakes off of him and nothing be said. Y'all go read it. It's in Acts chapter 19. It says they beat him right in front of the judgment seat and Galileo just... No big deal. But they are the synagogue of Satan. Now that's a pretty harsh statement. I don't know if there was a synagogue there that said, hey, welcome to Satan worship. I think he's making a statement here. these people because they have rejected Christ. Because they have rejected the one that the Scriptures had all pointed to. This is no longer now a synagogue of worship which would have been approved by God in the Hellenistic time until Christ came. You understand that synagogues were set up actually in the intertestamental time so that people could worship. Synagogue wasn't something that was going on until the the intertestamental time, so that people could worship God and that they could exercise their ability to worship as God had prescribed them without having to go 200 miles to Jerusalem, okay? Now there was times that they had to make that three pilgrimages and all that so they could worship, hear the Word of God taught, hear the Word of God read, and preach to them. But here, he says, because they have rejected that and they blasphemed the only one that could have saved them, which was in the Scriptures, now they are a synagogue of Satan. Yes? I just have a quick question. Do you think that he's only saying that about these Jews in Smyrna, or do you think that that was a... apropos description of the Jews across the Jewish area. I think it's in Jews as a whole. But because he's specifically speaking to the church in Smyrna, he's saying, hey, these are ones that are persecuting you. Because remember, the letter is specifically addressing issues within that local assembly. But it does have a wider range of application. That's why all these churches were reading it. Because it's going to all the churches. These letters are going to all the... Yeah, they're going to all the churches. Hey, so let's just say, for instance, you get to Thyatira. You get there. Let's say there's another synagogue there. They're claiming, hey, these people are not true Jews. We're Jews. We're of the circumcision. The same nonsense they were saying in Galatians, you don't think this would have been applicable to them. Certainly would have been. Yeah, they had obviously been evangelized to by Christians because there was enough for debate between... they had enough to debate their Judaism. Oh sure, and how do you think the Word of God got to Smyrna? Paul. Paul. It said for three years he was in Asia Minor, and it said that all of Asia Minor heard it. So we can just say every one of those churches that was planted, not just these seven, but every one, because you've got one in Hierapolis, you've got Colossae, you have Troas, you have all these other churches too, that we can look at in Scripture. When we get to the church of Laodicea, we can see where those came up at. All these other churches were planted because of Paul. You don't think Paul was fighting the Judaizers the whole time? You don't think Paul had to set these people up? Hey man, these are going to be consistent things you're going to fight with every time you go into a new city and there's a synagogue. Yeah, what did Paul do? Go to the city, preach at the synagogue, cause a riot, get beat up, and leave. That was Paul's church fighting method. But you are the synagogue of Satan. Think about Satan. You think Satan... I probably shouldn't even ask this question because probably nobody... Anybody here ever read the Satanic Bible? Anybody? I guess I'm the only one that has. You know it's not about eating animals and killing your mother and drinking her blood and all this other nonsense. You know that? It's not about any of that. It's about doing what you want to do. It's about, you know what, man? Just worship yourself. Do what you want. Make yourself happy. It's not all the, you know, people, you know, and upside down pentagrams and slitting goats' necks. It ain't nothing like that. It's about doing what you want. Hey, Satan would rather have you doing what you want than following Christ. Doing what you want. Anything. Hey, he doesn't care. Why is the road that leads to destruction the nearest way that leads to life? You be the finder. And difficult's that way. Easy way is to go the way of Satan, which is a pantheon of ways. Yeah, the all religions lead to God. Well, lead to hell, yeah. But they would say all religions lead to whatever God you want it to be. That's right. That is, that is, huh? That was Woodstock. Oh yeah, that's right. You were there. He was there. You were burning down when he overawes. And then he says in verse 10, do not fear what you're about to suffer. Okay? There's already been this much tribulation. He's already said, you're broke, you're almost destitute, you've got these blasphemers that are punishing you or chastising you because you're not, quote, the true Jews. And he says, but don't fear what you're about to suffer. That would be a little knee jerk. I'm like, wait a minute. We're not already in great suffering and now you're telling me I'm going to suffer some more? Can we get a reprieve here? That's not what he says. And he says, who's going to do it? Behold, the devil is about to take some of you and cast you into prison. At that point, I was going to bring up those being cast into prison, as Bert said, having their property taken and cast into prison at the time the book of Hebrews was written. But even at the time of Smyrna, he's saying, look, this letter, somebody's going to be thrown into prison. Some of you are going to be hauled off Some of you are going to be cast into prison, and it's going to be not because you didn't bow down to Asclepius. It's not going to be because you didn't go to Zeus' steakhouse and get a prostitute. It's not because you didn't go to Dionysius' temple and bow down and throw some incense on the fire for him. That's not what it's going to be. It's because you have claimed the name of Jesus Christ and made him exclusive. Like you said a minute ago, in a pantheon of deities, it doesn't matter what you worship, but when you say exclusive, that now there is only one way, one judge, one mediator between God and man, it's at that point that people begin to get angry. Yeah, because there's so many gods there. Two million or something ridiculous. And it happens in the workplace today where you tell somebody that living for Jesus, making Him Lord, has implications, and they just want to be okay with Him being just... Because they just add Jesus to it. Yeah, their feel-good drug that they take, and then they live however they want to live. Yeah, and they just add Jesus to everything else that they believe. Coca-Cola gospel. Things get better with Christ. You know, so just add it in there. No, that's a good point. Yep. He said some of you are going to be thrown into prison, and that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. There's that word again, tribulation. You were tested and tribulation. It's the same word. What's the difference of being tempted and tested are the same word. What's the difference of being tempted and tested? Jesus was taken out into the wilderness. Was he tested or tempted? Yes. He said yes. He was tempted. That's the same word here. But here it says you're going to be tested. Temptation is set before you so that you can overcome. Testing is to increase your faith. When it said that, was Abraham tempted to kill his son on Mount Moriah? He was tested. He wasn't tempted. The Lord God tests no one. He will test you. He will test your faith. I'm going to tell you, don't pray that God would increase your faith if you don't want to be tested. Don't pray for patience, because you know the only way you get patience is through tribulation and trials. So if you say, hey, Lord, increase my patience, buckle up. If you say, Lord, increase my faith, buckle up. because he may give you exactly what you think you want. And you're going to go, I don't want this. I don't want this. Some of you will be cast into prison and be tested for 10 days. So this pressing to the point of squeezing the juice out of it, tribulation, flipsie, 10 days. Anybody here believe that's a real 10 days? Hey, does anybody think it's a real 10 days? Sure. Okay. This is one of those times when we look at numbers through the book of Revelation and say, it's probably impressionistic. Probably. Okay, a person gets arrested and they're thrown in jail, you don't think he's going, man, this sundial gives me nine and a half more days and I'll be out of here. No, no, no. I think it's saying, okay, Seven years is long enough to begin to be a crisis, right? Right? Ten days is short enough to be super uncomfortable, but know there's going to be an end. Just like when we get to other passages in the book of Revelation, we're going to have one where it says there was silence in heaven for a half hour. It just means it was real small. And I believe that quietness is taking place right before a final judgment. It also says when we get to chapter 12 and 13 where it says, the the basically the false prophet will give his their power to the beast for one hour meaning very short period of time this here meaning hey this time is going to be long enough to test you long enough to try you but it's not going to be a crisis that's how I understand it and then it says but be faithful unto death What? Wait a minute. You've already told us. We're already broke. Only thing we got is the tunic we got on. We don't have any money. Our livelihood's been taken. We're going through this tribulation. Now you're saying this is only gonna be 10 days. It'll be a short period of time and now you're gonna tell us be faithful unto death? What is that telling you about these 10 days? It's a possibility those that you were put in prison are going to die. Look, you've got to remember the prison system in ancient Rome is nothing like it is today. You got arrested. You were put in prison. You were very quickly going to go to trial. If you went to trial and you were a Roman citizen, you may have an attempt for an appeal. But if you were convicted, you went either to the chopping block or thrown to the lions. Normally that didn't happen to Roman citizens. Most Roman citizens were beheaded. If you were not a Roman citizen, you were crucified. There was no rehabilitation system in Rome. Rome was smart enough to know you don't throw hardened criminals together and think they'll get better, okay? They were smart enough to know that, A, with this person's convicted, the best thing for him to do, if it was punishable by death, is to put the person to death. Carry, I agree. Solomon says, because sentences aren't carried out swiftly, the hearts of men grow cold, or grow eviler. Is that a word, eviler? Set to do evil. Yeah, set to do evil. It says that you'll be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. The crown of life is only spoken of one other time in Scripture. It's in the book of James. That crown of life I would say would be synonymous to eternal life. As we know in history about Polycarp and his martyrdom, this would have been something Polycarp would have read. This would have been something, him being the Bishop of Smyrna, he was executed in 155. This would have been, Polycarp would have known John. Imagine him reading this, him already going through the suffering that had already happened in Smyrna, already knowing what had happened, with the destruction of Jerusalem already knowing that hey there's going to be more tribulation to come and then one of his church members is then apostatizes. You can read the Polycarp's Martyrdom. It's available free online. I would suggest that you read it. Fox's Book of Martyrs has a small entry of it. Read the whole story of how it came about. They have preserved the writing of this from the second century when this took place. At Polycarp, imagine him reading this going, man, this church is still being persecuted. This church is still being under great tribulation. And then he reads, be faithful unto death. I can only imagine when it comes time for them to come get Polycarp. These words in his brain went, this is what Jesus told John. And now it's my opportunity to be faithful unto death. So Polycarp's friend, church member, was pressed about the imperial cult, localized. He apostatized, said he would not. He would not follow Christ anymore. He recanted. You understand that the goal of putting someone under pressure to get them to, is not to put you to death, you know that. They don't want to kill you. What they want you to do is to show how weak and worthless your faith is by failing. That's what they want. They want you to recant. Because then they can say, you know what? That person that you serve, that person that you hold dear to, that person whom you said has secured your soul for all of eternity, the one who has paid your sin debt and has implanted the power of the Holy Spirit within you, who is supposed to give you those words at that moment when you're at your moment of death, oh, he's not worth, he's worthless. He's incompetent for helping you. That's what they want. Well, that man that apostatized with Polycarp is exactly what happened. He then led him place to place. Polycarp went on the run. He was found out in a farmhouse outside Smyrna and they brought him back. They said, okay, what's the deal? You want to recant? He says, no. He said they called the Christians atheists. And it was at that point that the city legate said, all right, if you just say, away with the atheists, meaning the Christians, which were behind him on his side, basically. He said, if you say, away with the atheists, we'll let you go. And he takes both of his hands and he says, away with all of you atheists, meaning the Romans. And it was at that point they said, feed him to the lions. the arena. And Leggett says, we already fed people to the lions earlier today. They're not going to eat him. They said, well then why don't we burn him at the stake? The Jews said, we'll help. And the Jews went around and picked up the stubble and the sticks in that city to burn Polycarp to death. And then Polycarp said, 86 years, God has done me no wrong. Why would I say anything bad about my Savior today? They tried to light the stubble. It would not light. He's singing. You've got to read this. It is an amazing recount of what took place. He began to sing. Stuff wouldn't light. One of the guys got aggravated and ran up there and just stabbed him in the heart. And when they stabbed him in the heart, the stuff did light. Then his blood gushed out and put all the fire out. So this is what they were dealing with in Smyrna. And it says, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, and he who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. We'll go through verse 11 next week, and then we'll get into Pergamum, because that is a continual statement that goes through almost each one of the letters. So we'll come back to that next week, and then we'll maybe get into the Church of Pergamum. Andy, you'll close us out in prayer? Sure. Father, thank You for Your truth. Thank You for what You have done, what You are doing, and what You will get to. I pray, Lord, now that as we continue in worship, that you would bless us, that you would open our hearts, open our minds, that we would receive the things we hear, and that it would transform our lives. And again, over and over, we thank you for Christ and soul of us that he gave himself for us. Amen. Amen.