The book of Revelation. As we saw in the sermons that covered the introduction to the apocalypse in chapter one, this is a book that is a revelation from God the Father given to Jesus Christ, God the Son, who then gave it to an angel, who transferred it to the Apostle John, who wrote down the things that he heard and saw. The contents of the book are for all of those who are God's slaves, everyone who's been bought by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not our own, we belong to Him, we are actually His slaves. So that's for all true Christians. John is writing about AD 95, he's on the small barren island of Patmos off the coast of what is now Turkey. And he had been exiled there because the word of God and testimony of Jesus. Now John had been in Ephesus for actually a few decades by that time. Emperor Domitian was the current emperor, and as he ended the, toward the end of his reign, he became more eccentric and demanding. And the result was wherever the emperor cult existed, those who would not yield to its demands were subject to persecution. And that is what had happened with John and Ephesus, because Ephesus actually had a temple dedicated to the mission. And so John would not compromise the worship of the Word of God. He would not compromise his continuing proclamation of the testimony of Jesus Christ. And so he was exiled to Patmos, where he ended up having to work in mines, though he was in his 90s at that point. He was an old man. He would not be free until Domitian's murder in AD 96. Now explaining John's salutation, recounting of his commission from Jesus, John is writing to seven particular churches in the Roman province of Asia, again that's modern western Turkey, and each church is a city located in a clockwise fashion from Ephesus. makes a loop through this province of Asia. Each city also was a postal hub and so from that the letters would be given to other churches and copied and then sent out and from there eventually would reach to all of those who was intended for which is all of God's slaves. And that would be necessary because the book begins with stating that there is a blessing for those who will read and heed its message. And so that's a blessing to all Christians. Now, the book, as a whole, is actually from all three persons of the triune Godhead. That is actually described in verses four and five of chapter one. As he describes it, John breaks into a doxology in verses five and six. And then in verse seven, he proclaims the prophecy of the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is actually the theme of the whole book. Then that statement is attested to by God the Father in verse eight. In verses nine through 20 is the commission given to John by the exalted Christ. And we spent a whole sermon just on that. We tend to think of Jesus as his earthly ministry when he came meek and mild, tenderhearted. And that's not the Jesus presented here. This is the glorified Christ. human, but well beyond anything human. It matches somewhat the vision of Isaiah had of heaven. His clothing is dignified, his hair are white like wool or snow, his eyes are like flames of fire, and his face like the sun shining in his strength, feet like burnished brass glowing in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of many waters. So this is the returning king. This is who is coming. This is what Jesus is like now. And he's worthy of all worship. We love Jesus because of his selfless sacrifice for sinners, but we worship him because of who he is. He is the eternal second person of the triune Godhead. Now Jesus commissioned John to, quote, write the things which you have seen, the things which are, the things which will take place after these things. That's verse 20. So chapter 1 covers the things which have taken place. It's history. He's already writing what has been given to him. Chapters 4 through 22 are going to cover the things that will be. The current section we're studying, chapters 2 and 3, are the letters of the things which currently are. That's an important point because it helps us understand the message is for particular churches and particular places at a particular time. That has to be kept in mind. Too much of the commentary tries to make this all allegorical and ignores that very fact. These are messages to particular churches at a particular time with particular messages for each church. Now, the messages will have application to other churches at other places and times, but each one has to be interpreted according to its grammatical historical context, and then the principles can be applied to other churches. We'll see that at the end of each letter is that very point. There will be an application to others, but a particular message to that church at that time in that place. So once again, allegorical or mystical interpretation opens a door wide for the musings of man to distort or even destroy the meaning actually meant for those to whom it was written. And we'll see that again in our study today. Now by way of quick review, two weeks ago we looked at the church in Ephesus. That was the first letter. Now this is a church highly commended. They had toil in doing the Lord's work, even to the point of exhaustion, and yet not, they were persevering and not growing weary in the midst of it. That's a good commendation. They endured great hardship for the Lord's sake, as already mentioned, like John's exile, the church in Ephesus was still persecuted as well. They had a high doctrinal integrity, so that self-professed apostles were tested, and false doctors, and things like the practice of Nicolaitans were hated. They would not even endure those who had bad character, those of low moral character, those who were worthless, those who were godless. They wouldn't tolerate that either. All those are wonderful qualities. And let's face it, if we were commended for such things, that would be a great blessing and certainly a praise, right? We would desire to have those things said of us. But there was a serious problem in Ephesus in that they had left their first love. Doctoral integrity is necessary and good. but it must be exercised with the love that reflects Jesus Christ and even more so among fellow believers because it's by our love for one another that Jesus said we demonstrate we're his disciples. If the love's not there, there's a real problem. We're to be characterized as those who speak the truth in love that we may grow up in all aspects in Christ. Ephesians 4.15 states that directly. were to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone, 1 Thessalonians 5.14. And so the Ephesians did properly, strongly defended their orthodoxy, but they become cold, lacking the love that enables spiritual maturity and really an application of truth properly. They were good at one another commands such as admonish one another or expose the deeds of darkness, yet they were missing a lot of the other one another's. The commands to be patient, be tender hearted, encourage, help, forgive, accept, love one another, all half hearted or neglected or even ignored. They'd left their first love. Now that's not something we want to ever characterize us as a church or you as an individual. We don't want to depart from that. So what's the cure if that does happen? Well, summarizing it, he says, remember from where you have fallen, repent and do the deeds you did at first. Or simply stated, remember, repent, redo. Remember what it was like when that love was new. Repent, that is change your mind from where you've let it decline and change the directions to go back to where it's supposed to be. And then go back and redo, that is start again doing the things that you did according to the priorities you had when that love was new. Now, That principle here is applied directly to relationship with the Lord. And sometimes, let's face it, our relationship with Christ gets stale. Or for whatever reason, it could be sin, it could be you're too busy doing other things, and you're not paying attention to walking with him properly, it gets stale. Well, go back, remember what it was like when you first understood salvation. And we're so grateful for what God had done for you. Repent from where you've allowed that to go, and then start redoing those things that enabled that love to grow for Christ. Now, the same principle works in all relationships, actually, okay? When I preached through this a couple weeks ago, I mentioned in marriage, often that happens. Well, go back to what you used to do. Pay attention. It's interesting how Men and women when they're dating, everything is about their love and it's so exciting and they'll sacrifice all sorts of stuff. I've known several guys that will drive crazy distances. to go see this gal, and that included my son, Jonathan. He was down in North Carolina. Now, he used the excuse that he was in seminary and he wanted to do his practical theology training stuff here, and it wasn't the reason. Danielle was up here, and it gave him an opportunity to see her for a day. Like, you're gonna drive nine hours up, nine hours back, like, all right, son. I guess that's what it is. Well, will you continue to do that kind of sacrifice? You see, we should. Are we willing to do that? Remember, repent, redo. So don't let that happen. If it does, go back. Remember, repent, redo. Now Jesus promises to all that overcome, that'd be all true Christians, they would be able to eat the tree of life that's in the paradise of God. Sin kicked man out of the Garden of Eden and accessed the tree of life. Jesus overcame sin. He offers redemption to all who believe in him. So we are cleansed, we're made holy before him. And then Revelation 22 describes the fulfillment of this promise in the new heaven and new earth. Encouragement to believers of all ages. We'll have access to the tree of life. Now this morning we're going to be looking at the church at Smyrna. Starting in verse 8, let's read through the letter itself, and then I'll catch verse 11 later in the sermon. To the angel of the church in Smyrna write, the first and the last, and who was dead and who has come to life, say this, I know your tribulation, your poverty, but you are rich. The blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life." So this letter is addressed the same way as that to Ephesus, except it has the conjunction and, and it is addressed to Smyrna. So to the angel of the church in Smyrna write. Now as I pointed out last week, the term angel here is not referring to the supernatural holy angel, it's referring to a messenger, a respected human messenger that's going to take the letter to Smyrna and who is addressed specifically as the representative of that church. So it's written in the first person to directly this person, but it's applied to the whole church. Now it would be helpful to get a little background on the city of Smyrna to understand the message there and why they were going through what they were going through. Now the city is located about 35 miles north of Ephesus, situated on the southeastern end of a protected inlet of the GNC, as you can see here on this map. It had a very deep harbor. That ended up allowing it to be a very strong center for commercial business, for trade. It also was at the end of a road that came through the Hermas Valley, River Valley, just north of it, and so it was another place where commerce would come in. Now the location itself is very picturesque and is made more beautiful by the layout of its paved streets and landscaping. The picture here is a drawing of what an artist thinks it might have looked like. So you can see the inlet and then it has an inner harbor and a great center for commerce there. But a beautiful city. It had groves of trees that lined the streets and the outlying areas, and it had stately public buildings adorning the pagus, which is the hill from which this picture is supposedly being drawn, above the city. this, particularly the temples there, there were a lot of them. Sibyl, the goddess of retributive justice was at one end, all the way around at the other end was one to Zeus, he's the sky god and the chief god of the Greek pantheon. In between them were temples to Apollo, the god of sunlight, prophecy, music, and poetry. Asclepius, Lepias, the god of healing. Aphrodite, the goddess of sex and beauty. And so this area was actually called the Crown of Smyrna. And the buildings were likened to a necklace of jewels around the neck of a statue. Now, Smyrna, a beautiful city, but obviously a very pagan city. It was founded as a Greek colony sometime before 1000 BC. It was later captured and destroyed by King Algates of Lydia in 627, and then not reestablished until 290 BC by the successors to Alexandria the Great, Lysimachus and Antiochus. Its trade brought it in contact with the Romans. Having been destroyed hundreds of years before by a kingdom to the east of it, it made league with Rome. entered into treaties with it in order to defend itself against these other kingdoms, as well as to help Rome defend itself against Carthage in North Africa, which was a threat to the Rome at that period of time. In 195 BC, Smyrna built a temple honoring Rome, a temple to a city. A.D. 26, the favor was returned when Rome chose Smyrna as the site for a new temple to their emperor, Tiberius. Now deification of emperors or heads of state was not uncommon in the ancient world. Usually it would wait until the guy died. That changed in the first century under Caligula. He reigned 37 to 41 A.D. and the worship of the current emperor began. Cultic emperor worship became very strong at Smyrna because of this close tie to Rome, and this would prove to make life difficult and dangerous for the Christians there. Now, Smyrna was also known as a center for education. It's claimed that Homer was born there, or at least raised there or nearby. It was especially renowned for science and medicine. That was a reason for the temple of Asclepius, the god of healing, to be located there. The name Smyrna actually means bitter. Would you like to live in a place called bitter? Well, the Septuagint gives us a little bit, maybe, of a different take on that. The Septuagint translates the Hebrew word for myrrh as smyrna. It's an aromatic, bitter-tasting gum rest extracted from the camphora tree, and it was used for medicinal purposes and embalming. So that may have the greater tie to smyrna, especially with medication. The name itself would later become... reflective of the bitter lives of the Christians there and their martyrdom at the end of the first century. Now, there's no clear record of when a church was planted in Smyrna. Most likely, after the church in Ephesus was planted and established, the surrounding areas were evangelized. In fact, part of the complaint by Demetrius, the Ephesian silversmith, we mentioned this briefly last week, is recorded in Acts 19 was this. Quote, that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all. And so, so many people were becoming Christians through that whole area, that it had a negative effect on the trade in idols. And that was his complaint. And that would certainly include Smyrna, because its southern entrance was actually called the Ephesian Gate. Now in verse 8 we have an identity of the author. Who's writing this? We've already talked about that before. It's Jesus Christ. Here he identifies himself as, quote, the first, the last, who was dead and has come to life. Only Jesus Christ matches that description. It's a variation of what he proclaimed back in, of himself in chapter one, verse 16. As mentioned when explaining that verse a few weeks ago, the phrase first and last refers to Jesus' eternal nature. He has always existed, so he was before time, he always will exist, he will continue after time. Do we understand that? No, why? We're in the box of time. We can't, how do you get out of it? We can't. but God is not bound by time. That's the nature of being eternal. So though we don't fully grasp it, this is a truth about Jesus, unrestricted by time. The second phrase, who was dead, encompasses Jesus, the second person, the triune God, who became a man and then he physically died at a point in time because he was human. Fully God, fully man, he physically died. Denial of Jesus' humanity, denial of his physical death, according to 1 John 4, 2 and 3, and 2 John 7, is the mark of a deceiver, a heretic. And there's plenty of those around. This death is in the Aorist tense, again, it's a point in time, but death did not continue, because the next phrase states, and has come to life. He rose from the dead at a point in time and continues to be alive. Denial of the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ is heresy, and it demonstrates a faith that is vain. 1 Corinthians 15 deals with that whole issue. So He is the eternal living Savior whose death was redemption price, satisfied the penalty of our sin, and His resurrection proving all of His claims about Himself, all of His promises are true. He can forgive us of our sin if we will have faith in Him, and He guarantees eternal life in heaven with Him. Now, verse nine begins the explanation of the church in Smyrna. What were they experiencing? It says, I know your tribulation, your poverty, but you are rich. The blasphemy by those who say they are Jews are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Now, Jesus' knowledge here, it's the Greek word oida in perfect tense, signifies he has a full knowledge of everything about them, and that will continue on. He knew them at that point, and he'll continue to know everything about them in the future. Well, that's still true, isn't it? He knows everything about you. Everything about you, and he will continue to know everything about you in the future. So why do we try to hide things from God? Confession is nothing other than, I agree, God, you're right. He always is, and I'm wrong. You always will be when it comes to your relationship with God. He's always right. He already knows, so you can't hide anything. So just be open and true. But this would be a comfort to them. He knows everything about what they're going through. And what they're going through is not good. Describes it as tribulation, poverty, persecution. blasphemy by these unbelieving Jews. Tribulation is trouble that involves direct suffering. The particular word here, phlitsis, means to press, to squash. You can understand, we will use those same kinds of terms ourself. You know, someone, they're under such tribulation, they're being squashed. A figurative sense then of affliction, oppression, harassment. And their tribulation here directly described in their poverty and the blasphemy against them. Their poverty, particular word here means a state of having insufficient physical resources. They were destitute. In fact, the same word is used of Christ in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. What was Christ's life like when in terms of having enough for himself? Well, let's see. He was born in a stable. First bed was a feeding trough, a manger. In his years of his ministry, he states in Luke 9.58, I have no physical place to call home, no place to lay my head, wherever he was. He relied on the generosity of others to meet his physical needs for life, Luke 8.3. He didn't have his own money, it's just whatever was supplied to him. And yet, did Jesus ever lack? Never. He never lacked. The world looks at poverty, you don't have, you're not sufficient in yourself. You don't have the stuff sitting there. And that's not how God looks at it. God always supplied Jesus' need. If he needed bread in the wilderness, well, even the temptation, Matthew 4, 11, the angels came and ministered to him. He supplied the bread when he needed it. If Jesus needed to pay his taxes, I love this one. I wish I could do it this way. I like fishing anyways. Peter, go catch a fish. You'll find a stater in its mouth. Pay the tax for us. Man, that's great. You know, April's not that far away. Let's all go fishing. God always met his needs. So poor by the world's standards, but as stated here, rich by the standards of God. Because God is true to always meet His promises. If we will seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, He tells us He'll meet the needs that we have for physical life. That doesn't mean you're gonna be rich by world standards. It doesn't mean you may have abundance. In fact, your cupboard may be bare. Do you need anything in the cupboard until you go to eat? Actually, no. There are so many stories of missionaries or those supplying like orphanages and things like that. There's nothing there. Okay, it's about dinner time and here comes somebody knocking on the door. Hey, I got all this food, could you use it? It's just over and over again. I have friends who've been in, they're in poor places. Honey, there's nothing here. And someone knocks on the door and leaves some bags of groceries. God provides what we need when we need it. But faith says I have to trust him for that and step out to do, live my life according to what he says is the right thing to do, his righteousness, putting his kingdom first. That's not easy to do. We like to have our cupboards full with an abundance, and I got enough to supply in a year, and maybe I need to put some more away. Okay. There's wisdom in doing that, but I hope if you do do that, it's with the mindset, I might be able to help other people when they have need. God provides for us. Well, such is the condition in Smyrna. Poor in what is valued by the world, rich in what mattered to God, he provided the necessities of life. Now, why are they impoverished? Now, a lot of ideas have been thrown out that could be contributing factors, but the context here points to it's related to their faithfulness in Christ. I already pointed out Smyrna had very strong ties to Rome. The empirical worship there was extremely strong. By the end of Domitian's reign, there was increasing persecution of those who would not offer incense in worship of the emperor and say, Caesar is Lord. Now that was required on a yearly basis, and when you did it, you got a certificate. The certificate would allow you to show I am in compliance, and it actually would have a lot to do with your being able to engage in business, transactions, and commerce. If you didn't have the certificate, you could be ostracized, you could be shut out from economic activity, and you could be killed. Now a faithful Christian could not comply with that demand because it would be a denial of Jesus Christ, for only he is Lord and only God is to be worshiped. Now the situation was aggravated here. It says the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, they are the synagogue of Satan. Now the blaspheme is to speak against somebody, usually with lies and slander, in order to cause harm and injury to that person. If you go through Acts, you find that in city in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Ephesus, Thessalonica, there were Jews, in the sense of being physical descendants of Abraham, who rejected the gospel and so were not spiritual descendants. They had no circumcision of heart. Paul explains that in Romans 2, 28, 29. And so they would blaspheme Jesus Christ and stir up persecution of the followers of Christ. Remember, that's why Paul had to flee Thessalonica and then flee Berea. It was these kinds of Jews. Physical dissent cannot save anyone. And Paul explains in Romans the Jew has great advantages. being a descendant of Abraham, being among God's chosen people, but without a transformation of heart to believe God and follow him, they're heading for hell. The same is true for those born and raised in a Christian home. Many have that privilege. They grow up in church where the gospel actually is preached. That's a great advantage, but the individual must turn from sin himself to believe in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. or there is no salvation. Having a Christian heritage does not make you a Christian. There is no such thing as second-hand faith. Now Jesus points out the true heart of these Jews by stating they are a synagogue of Satan. Well, what does that mean? A synagogue consisted of a minimum of at least 10 Jewish men who could gather to worship and promote the knowledge of God. Isaiah 43, 12 talks about that was their purpose. Actually, their purpose was to be spread all around the earth. Jesus characterizes these blaspheming Jews as those who have gathered to do the bidding of Satan in promoting the devil's lies and slander against God and his people. Now Jesus had much conflict with the same type of people. In fact, in John 8, 44, he records a very strong rebuke over this issue. These are very strong words. This is Jesus talking to these Jews, unbelieving Jews. Verse 44, you are of your father the devil. You want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Wherever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies. That's the same kind of people that they're dealing with. Jesus dealt with them too. And that's the current situation in Smyrna. It was going to get worse though. But that becomes the base of the command and a promise given in verse 10. Now the first part of this is not very encouraging. There's no encouragement until you get toward the end. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Does that sound encouraging to you? Wait, wait, wait, what's this suffering you're talking about, right? Well, here it is. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, and you will be tested, and I will give you tribulation. Then he says, for 10 days. Well, there's some encouragement. Be faithful unto death, and I'll give you the crown of life. Whoa. That's not exactly the message you want to hear, is it? Unless you really start thinking about it. The command of the first sentence actually is in the present tense. It could be translated as stop fearing. That brings out more of the sense. They were to seize from the current fear they already had of future suffering. And Jesus hadn't even told them what's gonna come yet. And the command is to counteract the normal response of facing impending danger. And they were already afraid. More details are coming. Jesus now reveals them their near future includes prison, testing, tribulation, and possibly death. Your situation's bad, it's gonna get worse. Now is that a reasonable command? Is it a reasonable command to stop fearing and it's gonna get worse? Or, more the point made, is it possible for a command to change an emotion? Stop fearing. Okay. Yeah, no problem. Just turn the key and, you know, different switch. No more fear. How are you going to do that? Emotions arise from what's being thought and believed, and then they're reinforced by action. So emotions are changed by changing the thoughts and beliefs. That'll eventually then result in different actions, which will reinforce a change in the emotions. So you have to change what's being thought about. You have to change the belief system. Sometimes just progressing far enough to get the actions to change starts laying the foundation for the thoughts and beliefs and then the emotions to be changed as well. You gotta get them to start going a different direction. An example of this is from a story I was reading. Actually it was in Knickerbocker History of New York. Interesting. but it was dealing with a battle that was going on, and the soldiers were frightened as the enemy was advancing, and so they started to retreat. Actually, they started to flee. But as they did, guess who they ran into? The commanding officer, who, by threats, haranguing, and encouragements, got them to stop, to turn around, and to begin to advance, and they won a great victory. Do you think the emotions changed? Oh, they did. From utter fear, we're running away, to joy and exuberance, we won. Something had to change. They had to change their minds, change their thoughts, change their beliefs, and take action with that. And that's exactly what happened. So emotions are real. And they're important indicators of what you're thinking and what you believe. But you can never allow emotions to lead you. That always puts you into trouble. So when you're feeling something, you've got an emotion, start using that. Well, what am I believing? What's causing this emotion? And then you think through that and evaluate it by truth. The romantic adage, follow your heart, In reference to emotions, oh man, it's dangerous. So dangerous. Jeremiah 17, nine, what are our hearts like? Desperately wicked. No, instead, set your mind to seek truth and wisdom to follow the Lord, the emotions will follow. And they do. Remember, repent, redo. As you redo, the emotions will eventually follow. I found it interesting, you might as well. The word translated fear here, phobeo, has an original root meaning of to flee, to run from. And as is the case for many words for emotions, they're derived from an original word describing a physical action. The word then expands into connotations, broadens in its meaning. The natural response to fear of impending danger is to, run to flee, right? We would say there's a lot of wisdom there. If you are in the path of an oncoming hurricane, we could ask the Ryans, what should you do? Evacuate, right? There's wisdom there. If an approaching storm is coming, and you have what Diana had when we were in Knoxville. We actually stopped early. We were gonna just take it easy, and the next day we were gonna see David, and I had a lot to do. I said, we'll just stop a little early. So we stopped, we had dinner, got back to the hotel, and our phones went off. A tornado was coming. It was not a relaxing evening, especially because Diane turned on the TV and went watching everything. It's like, it's coming right for us. Well, it got close. I mean, it was headed right for us. There was a tornado. It did hit just north of us and then continued on. And I, being me, I opened the door just so I could keep an eye on what's going out there. And we did go get in the bathtub. For a little while, I heard it pass and went, yeah, okay, it's passed, we're good. And of course, Diane was a little more shaken up by that one. If you are in that situation, what should you do? Seek shelter, right? Find some place of safety. That's a normal, proper response to fear. If you're a civilian and the army is approaching, you flee. The Lord commands these at Smyrna, though, do the opposite in face of coming trouble. Well, what trouble? He says, first, some of them are going to be cast in prison by the devil to be tested. Now the devil here does not refer to the devil personally. It is referring to those that are used by the devil that do his bidding. Ephesians 6, 10, and 12 specifically talk about that. It's gonna be humans that do the wrong, but our struggle is not with flesh and blood. Often it sure seems like that way, doesn't it? But it's actually not with them, it's the power behind them. It's the devil, his powers. It's as true today as it was then. And in Smyrna, there are plenty of Roman pagans and false Jews, as already mentioned, to do the devil's bidding. We know from historical accounts from Smyrna that occurred later, Christians would be charged with disloyalty to the empire if they refused this offering of incense and worship of the emperor. the testing would be of their faith with the temptation to escape the imprisonment, escape the tribulation by yielding to the demand to conform. Because all that would need to be done is offer the instance, say, Caesar is Lord. Now that would be an act of no consequence to any pagan. You got a whole host of gods and goddesses, so yeah, so the emperor wants to be one too. No big deal, we'll just add them to it. So they could do it. Apparently these false Jews did not have a problem finding a way to justify their conforming to the idolatry, but then false worshipers of the true God have always been able to justify themselves for just about anything, for their understanding of God is really only a caricature of Him. So they just justify it, according to the musings of their own mind. So these false Jews, they would offer it. But the true Christian could not do that because it would be a direct denial of Christ, a repudiation of their own faith, and joining in idolatry. The most famous case of this in Smyrna is Polycarp. Polycarp was born about 80, 69. And so he actually is a contemporary with the apostle John. He's a young man when John's old. And according to Irenaeus, he was a disciple of John. And about AD 155, Polycarp by then is old. This was continuing on, the same kind of emperor worship. He was arrested. and repeatedly entreated to say, Caesar is Lord, offer the sacrifice, swear by the fortune of Caesar, reproach Christ, he would be set free. He was threatened with being fed to the animals, to wild beasts. He was threatened with fire. He had a response to each of these things. He kept pointing toward there is something greater to fear here. Like, well, fire is like fire burns for an hour. Hell is forever, that's a challenge to them. He was told to say, away with the atheists, referring to Christians, because the Romans, the Greeks, believed that you didn't believe in all their gods, you must be an atheist, you don't believe in the gods. And so he said, say away with the atheists, and he looks up at the stands of all these pagans and goes, away with the atheists! They were the atheists. This was the nature of this man. He's recorded to have said in this going back and forth, it's such a precious statement. For 86 years I have served him. He never did me any injury. How then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior? I am a Christian, period. and remained a faithful witness and became a martyr that day. In the back, I have a sheet. It's next to the faith box. Brief summary on polycarp and then the rest of it is the translation of something called the Martyrdom of Polycarp. Very interesting read and I would encourage you to pick up a copy. There's at least one for every family here. A true hero of the faith. A good example for us to follow. Now, tribulation is then mentioned here a second time. It's connected with but not joined to being in prison. It would appear then that those not in prison would suffer some additional tribulation or an anticipation of what they were already undergoing. The command then to stop fearing is meant as an encouragement, which is lacking until we get to the next phrase and the next sentence. The suffering would be limited. There is a promised hope for the future. While those that interpret Revelation allegorically or mystically spill a lot of ink trying to make the ten days into some unknown length of time or sequence of periods of time, none of their speculations match the plain meaning of the text or the reality of recorded history. Now the letter does not indicate any kind of starting date for the imprisonments and the additional tribulation to begin, but the nature of the letter itself restricts it to something in the near future, something imminent. Nothing additional would need to happen for this to begin. But when it did begin, the promise here, it's short duration, specifically it states 10 days. No other interpretation is honest with the text, since it's 10 days, it's not 10 weeks, 10 months, 10 years, 10 decades, 10 centuries, 10 millennia, 10 time periods, 10 epics, it's 10 days. Because if Christ had meant any of those other things, he could have said it. He specifically says days. So no other encouragement, and more to the point here, would have been, no other interpretation could be an encouragement. If you're going to suffer and God tells you, yeah, you're gonna get thrown in prison, it's just for 10 days. That's an encouragement, okay? I know it's not long. If he says, you're gonna be thrown in prison for 10 unknown time periods, you feel better now? You see kind of the point? So we look into the context that tells us how to interpret it, it's short duration. Additional encouragement and hope is given alongside the additional revelation that some of them might die as martyrs. Be faithful unto death, I will give you the crown of life. Now this is also in the command voice and in the present tense. They would not have to do or become anything new. They only have to continue in what they were already doing. Just remain faithful, continue as you have been doing, and for that there is the crown of life. Now note, the crown of life here does not require you to die as a martyr. It only requires you to be faithful. that immediately brought to my mind, Matthew 10, 32 and 33, where Jesus promised and warned, therefore everyone who confesses me before men, I will confess him before my Father who is in heaven. Whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father who is in heaven. Just be faithful. The imagery of a crown of life is probably taken from the victor's wreath that was commonly given out in the athletic games, common in all the cities in the Greek world. You've got a wreath you put around your head. But here there's this juxtaposition between death and life. And that takes you immediately back to Jesus' description of himself at the beginning of the letter. That's no accident there. He gave that description on purpose because this is where it's gonna end. The one who was dead and has come to life. For the Christian, death is an enemy that's been conquered by Christ. It does not hold fear over us as those who have no hope of eternal life. Just as Jesus died and rose again, we know the same promise belongs to us. It was given to us in multiple scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15 being the most extensive. Death is swallowed up in victory, and that would be a great encouragement to them, and it still is for Christians. We're ready. If we die, we're ready. If we die, however that may be, if it's called to suffer and martyrdom, it's still there. If it is suffering, if it is persecution, if it is whatever it may be, we also have another promise. He's with us. Jesus never forsakes us. Always with us. Now we may not know how long. We don't have a promise that you only get 10 days of it. We don't know how long it'll be, but we know he goes through it with us. The letter ends in a similar manner as the letter of Ephesians. 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. Now this verse then applies the message of the letter universally. The Spirit is speaking to the churches, plural. The command is given to anyone that has an ear to hear the message. So this moves it beyond just to Smyrna. So particulars of suffering, the length, well, they don't apply, but the principles do. And that's good news for any Christian undergoing persecution. And there's plenty of our brothers and sisters of Christ who are undergoing severe persecution as I speak. Jesus knows what you're gonna go through, and he's still in control, even when Satan buffets you. All you need to do, remain faithful. Now this testing is a temptation. We have a great promise in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, don't we? No temptation is overtaking you but such as is common to man. Whatever temptation you have, it's not unique to you. But then the great promise. God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation provides the way of escape also that you may be able to endure it. He always provides a way to get through it, to endure it, or to escape it. He overcomes, applies to all true Christians, as explained in the earlier sermons. Adam's fall into sin brought death into the world, and our sin confirms it. The wage of sin is death, but God's grace alone, through faith alone, and the Lord Jesus Christ alone, death is overcome, and we are granted forgiveness and eternal life. The second death is explained in Revelation 20 and 21. That's the eternal lake of fire and brimstone. But it's reserved for those who are not part of the first resurrection, those whose names are not found in the book of life. That's everyone who's not a true Christian. Every true Christian then, it can't hurt us. It's not part for us. The application letter then is really quite simple. We can trust God. He keeps his promises. And therefore, we can be at peace even if persecuted, even if having to undergo martyrdom. None of us are facing that here today. But again, there are those of our brothers and sisters around the world, they are. There will be Christians who will die today for their faith. This is a promise that's so precious to them. It needs to be precious to us. It needs to be precious to us in things that are so much less. Can't we just be faithful? Just continue on? Walking with the Lord, giving him praise and honor and glory, living for him and in his righteousness, instead of yielding to the pressures that are around us. Peer pressure to conform to whatever else is going on. Now those are mild, but they are forms of persecution and harassment. You don't wanna be slandered by other people. Okay, you're gonna be slandered. You have to live for Christ. He never forsakes us. He never deserts us. He's always with us. That's His promise in Matthew 28, 20, isn't it? Those are truths we hang on to when life gets confusing, when trouble comes. They're promises for the present and for eternity. Now, how much peace you have is going to be directly related to your trust in God. Isaiah 26, 3 tells us, thou will have perfect peace whose mind is saved in thee because he trusts in thee. If your mind is focused on Him, you're trusting God, you're gonna be at peace in any circumstance. If it's not, well, you're gonna have fear. Let the fear be the thing that tells you, okay, something is wrong in my thinking. Something's not right here. I gotta get my thinking changed. If you do not know and trust Christ, then be warned, none of the promises belong to you. And you will be hurt by the second death, and that goes on for eternity. That is not something you avoid by any means or methods of your own. Salvation only comes from turning from sin and self to the Savior. Only by belief and trust in Him, you cast your eternal future in His hands. And that's what gives you peace. I'm sure many of you can share many stories of times of fear when, as you turn to think about what God has promised, peace comes. or that you had peace in a situation that the world would say, how can you be peaceful in that? I trust God. I can trust him in any situation. And I will tell you by my own experience, the longer you live that way, the more you're at peace, no matter what it is. To be honest, the only reason I went and got in the bath, it was Diana's because she was afraid. I've been through enough tornadoes. I kind of know what I'm looking for, but I was watching and I knew where I was going to go if it started doing what I was expecting. It didn't. So I'm like, okay, it's not being foolhardy. Again, I knew what the bathtub was and that was the only safe place, but it means I was still at peace because the reality is, okay, let's say the tornado hit our hotel, tore it all up. What would be the worst thing that could happen to me? It certainly wouldn't be death, would it? I'd be with the Lord. No, no, that sounds macabre, doesn't it? But death would not be the worst thing. Probably just being badly injured, right? I'm not particularly fond of pain. But let's say that's what was there. I have seen enough people who've gone through so many horrible things, have horrible diseases, injuries, everything else, and God uses them so strongly. So can you be at peace even with that? I believe so. It's a matter of what do you believe God has in store for you. Do you believe God wants good for you? Do you believe that He wants good for you even when you're going through bad things? The answer has to be yes. And so it was for the folks at Smyrna. They were facing some horrible things coming up, but they understood. It's only a short period of time. And for us, no matter how long it goes, it's still a short period of time. How long are you going to live? Not long. Life is short. My dad even understood that at 101. is still short. It's not gonna go on forever. What's gonna go on forever is being with Christ. And so I have hope. I can glorify Christ no matter what the situation. That's what Philippians 4.11 deals with, right? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can find a way to glorify him no matter what I'm going through. That's the message to Smyrna. It's a message to us. Thank you, Father, for your many blessings to us and this wonderful message given to this church. Certainly a hard message, one that would be tough to hear and one that we'd have to say, we're glad we weren't in Smyrna at the time to hear it. And yet at the same time, to have those precious promises and to see that they are universal are important to us. You are still in control. You are sovereign. You know all things. You know what's good in our life and how you're going to use us for your glory. So, Father, do that. Use us for your glory. and grant us the peace that comes with trusting you, no matter what circumstance of life we may face. In Jesus' name, amen.