Revelation chapter 2, come tonight to verses 8 through 11. This is page 1028. If you'd like to use the Pew Bible, Revelation chapter 2. Let's stand for this reading of God's word. Beginning at verse 8, this is the word of the Lord. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, The words of the first and the last who died and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich. And the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested. And for 10 days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear. The Spirit says to the churches, the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. As far as the reading of God's word, you can be seated. Well, we come this evening to the second of Christ's letters through the Apostle John to the churches in Asia. This one is addressed, of course, to the church in Smyrna. From what we know about Smyrna, the city is still very much active today. It is the city Izmir in Turkey. It was about 35 miles north of Ephesus, so this would have been As we think of a route of a courier, our sort of mailman who would be taking this letter to the churches, this would be the next stop from the port at Ephesus up to north, 35 miles to Smyrna. Reportedly, it was a beautiful city, rich with Greek culture, paved roads, a library, a gymnasium. There was a shrine to the Greek poet Homer. and who was thought to have been born there, near the coast and very much like Ephesus, though not quite as large and prosperous. But it did have many similarities to the city of Ephesus. We've already spoken of the Greek culture, but it was also very much devoted to Rome, much like Ephesus was. The prevalence of idolatry, just like there was in Ephesus, and particularly the city was devoted to the Roman imperial cult. Greg Beal, commenting on this portion of Revelation 2, says that it was almost impossible to have a share in the city's public life without also having a part in some aspect of the imperial cult. So much was it pervasive in the city that city officials were so dedicated to it that they even contributed money from the city's money, public funds, to citizens. They distributed those funds to pay for the sacrifices to the emperor. The same has been true for a long time in ancient times as well as our own societies are very happy to fund the worship of its cultural gods. The Jewish religion was granted an exception to this sacrifice to the emperor. And for some time Christianity would have enjoyed that same privilege under that umbrella being understood as a sect of Judaism. The city did have a significant Jewish population and we see that hinted at in verse number nine. It speaks of those who say they are Jews but are actually a synagogue of Satan. The persecution of Christians very early on was largely from Jewish quarters. And so the Jews, who were persecuting Christians, Those who are referred to here as the synagogue of Satan, they were very happy to point out that Christians were not, in fact, a sect of Judaism, and so very happy to out the Christians to the Roman authorities and to gain state-sponsored persecution. It's probably the idea what's going on here in verses 9 and 10, because you have those who say they are Jews, but you also have those who are capable of throwing you into prison in the city. of Smyrna. So there is apparently is believed a partnership between the Jews who are persecuting and the Roman authorities. This letter is written to a church that was facing persecution. It is written to a church by the Lord Jesus Christ with words of comfort and also with words of exhortation. In the midst of her tribulation, this is what the Lord wants the church to hear. Smyrna, along with the church in Philadelphia, these are the only two churches that the Lord does not have a rebuke for. All he has for them is encouragement and exhortation, comfort and instruction. And so they receive comfort from her Lord, the church in Smyrna does, but so can we. And the church in every age that is threatened with persecution, the church that is called to endure tribulation, we can be comforted as well, gain great comfort, great encouragement from what the Lord has to say to these, our brethren from the church in Smyrna. Now, there are three imperatives in the letter. And we'll sort of look at those imperatives by seeing them, how they fit together, and then seeing what the Lord has to say to the church through that. The three imperatives are found, first of all, in verse 10, we see this phrase, do not fear. Do not fear. And then also in verse 10, be faithful unto death, toward the end of the verse. And then in verse 11, he who has an ear, let him hear. The let him hear there is also an imperative. So this is the idea we have here. They are to hear Christ's words like let him hear. They are to respond faithfully, be faithful unto death. They're to do so without fear. Do not fear. And so we put those together. What we learn from the church in Smyrna is that the church must endure tribulation without fear by maintaining a vision of who Christ is and what he promises. The church must endure tribulation without fear by maintaining a vision of who Christ is and what he promises. And so those are the ideas we'll look at tonight, who Christ is and what he promises. We'll see in verses eight and nine, first of all, that Christ wants the church to endure without fear by knowing who he is. And then in verses 10 and 11, Christ wants the church to endure without fear by knowing what he promises, who he is and what he promises, all of this to enable us to endure and to do so without fear. So in the first place, in verses 8 and 9, Christ wants the church to endure without fear by knowing who he is. There are a number of things here, three, that we'll note as far as who he is or who the Lord wants his church to know that he is. The first is that the Lord is in control. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write the words of the first and the last who died and came to life. Each of these letters, as we'll see and as we have seen now for two weeks, Each of these letters opens with a description of Christ, as we saw with Ephesus last week, the words of him who holds the seven stars in his hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Well, here we have it. He is the first and the last. Addressing the angel or the messenger in the church of Smyrna is the one who was called the first and the last, and just as it was with The church in Ephesus, so it is with the church in Smyrna. This language, this description of who Christ is draws on the vision that John received of Christ in chapter one. So in verse 17 of chapter one, when John saw the risen Christ, he fell at his feet as though dead. But Christ laid his hand on John and he said to him, fear not. I am the first and the last. We have those same themes. Do not fear. I'm the first and the last. The things that were spoken to John, now spoken to the church in Smyrna. The first and the last. This is a divine title. This is the way the Lord described himself through the prophet Isaiah three times. The Lord gives Himself to Himself this title. Isaiah 41, verse 4. Isaiah 44, verse 6. Isaiah 48, verse 12. In all of those, God is saying, I am the first and the last. And now that very title is attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, He is fully man. He is the man Christ Jesus, the only mediator between God and man, but we know as well he is also fully God. He takes for himself. this divine title, this name, the first and the last, that denotes the fact that he is eternal. There was none before him. He is the first. And after all the things and all the threats that the church in Smyrna faces, after all those things are gone, the Lord still will be. He is not only the first, but the last. He is the great I am. And so the church has to take comfort in knowing that All of those who oppose them are created and yet God is eternal. They're created, they're limited, their time will come to an end but the Lord is outside of them all. He is the first and the last, the sovereign ruler of every event and every circumstance. He is indeed divine. So that is the first thing that the church in Smyrna is to know about their Lord. The second is that the Lord is victorious. The Lord is in control, and the Lord is victorious. Drawing yet again on chapter one, we have not only the words of the first and the last, but the words of the one who died and came to life. Back in verse 18 of chapter one, that's what we have here, the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and hell. This is what Christ says to John as he lays his hand upon him, telling him not to fear. And so they're there to remember that this is who their Lord is. He's the one who died. He's the one who came to life. He was raised from the dead. As we'll see as we move on through this passage, some of them will actually be threatened with the possibility of death. But they're to know that Christ holds the keys of death and hell. That is to say the one who has the keys is the one who is in authority. He has the ability to open and to shut. He is the one who is in charge of death in the grave. And so they can face it. They can face it with great optimism. They don't have to fear it, but they can go forward knowing, as they have great courage and hope, knowing that death doesn't have the final word. The final word belongs to this one. It's the words of Him. who is the first and the last, who died and came to life. That is what they need to hear. The one who has defeated death and stands victorious over it. The Lord is in control. The Lord is victorious. The third thing is that the Lord is aware. The Lord is aware. In verse number nine, he says, I know. I know your tribulation and your poverty and the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not. just as he comforted the church in Ephesus with similar words to tell them what he knew about them. In verse 2, I know your works and your toil, your patient endurance. The Lord knew how tirelessly they labored, how they could not endure those who were false teachers. They rejected them and they stood against them. Now he writes to say that just as he knew what the church in Ephesus was facing, so also he knows what the church in Smyrna is facing. He knows their particular challenges. And this is what he knew. I know your tribulation. I know your poverty. I know the slander, the false things that have been said about you. So let's look at each of those quickly. The tribulation, of course, that's affliction. But it's a word that means pressure. So they were in the pressure cooker, as it were. The pressure was upon them. And this is the particular pressure that has been placed upon them. One has to do with their poverty. As far as worldly standards were concerned, they were poor. And of course, poverty comes with many challenges. But according to the Lord, they were rich. I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich. Worldly riches mean very little if we are spiritually impoverished. But worldly poverty, their poverty, by worldly standards is greatly outweighed by the fact that they are rich in faith. They have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. According to the Lord's own attestation of them, they were not poor, but they were rich. Rich despite all evidence to the contrary. That's part of the tribulation they're facing. The other part is the slander. slander by those who claim to be Jews and are not. The word for slander, the Greek word is the term blaspheme. This is not to say that what is being said about them is just generally untrue, but this is destructive speech. These are lies that lead to the destruction of one's reputation. And again, this is likely a reference to those Jews who were in the city of Smyrna, who were partnering with the Roman officials, they said that they were Jews. That is to say, you know, they claim to be worshippers of the true God, but actually you find they were in league with Satan. They were partnering with the one who was the chief slanderer, a liar and a murderer from the beginning, the accuser of the brethren, as he's called in scripture. But it's not their word that ultimately matters, is it? They are to remember again, these are the words of their Lord, the first and the last, the one who died and came to life. Despite all the things, all the untruths, all the destructive speech that is being said about them, the Lord knows the truth. And they're to remember that. The Lord is aware. He knows everything. He knows them. What truly matters is his judgment. And they're going to stand before that bar. And God's appraisal of them is what? You are rich. He has something much better to say about them than those who slander them. Those who slander them are part of the synagogue of Satan, but the church is the true Israel of God. Those who have been called to the Lord as the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is being fulfilled throughout the earth as the nations are coming to worship him. And so then the Lord tells them in verse number 10, do not fear. Do not fear, that's the first imperative that we spoke of earlier. But in order to endure without fear, in order to obey those imperatives, do not fear and be faithful unto death and to listen. This is what they must do. They must listen to who Christ is. They must know who he is. And this is the way that the church is to endure without fear. It's by knowing who he is. He is in control. He's the victor and nothing has escaped his knowledge. And then we'll move on to our second consideration. We've seen that Christ wants the church to endure without fear by knowing who he is in verses 9 and 10. But now we see in verses 10 and 11 that Christ wants the church to endure without fear by knowing what he promises, by knowing what he promises. They can endure without fear because of what the Lord promises to them. We'll note three again. The first thing the Lord promises is that their suffering has a purpose. Their suffering has a purpose. Now, they have suffered. He's told them in verse 9, I know what you're experiencing. I know your tribulation, your poverty and the slander. But the Lord says in verse 10, there is more to come. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. And he lays the blame of this suffering really at the feet of Satan. He says, behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison. You've already seen the satanic nature of the slander of the synagogue of Satan. And this slander is going to lead to imprisonment for some of them. The devil will throw some of you into prison. And of course, the devil's purpose in that is only harm. He only intends to destroy. But notice that there is a higher purpose. The devil is about to throw some of you into prison. And here's that purpose, that you may be tested. That you may be tested. It's a great comfort to remember that even the devil's assaults result in and are part of fulfilling the Lord's purposes. Joel Beeky says it this way, that the devil is not his own boss. Or as Martin Luther would say, even the devil is God's devil. Certainly he operates and yet he does so according to his own intentions, but that is all under the sovereignty of God. He cannot escape the boundaries that the Lord has set for him. Christ speaks in his ministry of his going to the cross and his victorious resurrection. And he says that he has come and what he was doing in the delivering people from demon oppression and sicknesses and all that he was doing, he spoke of it as though he were plundering a man's house. He says that the Son of Man has gone in to bind the strong man and he is plundering his household. That is what Christ is doing in bringing the captives out, bringing, as we saw this morning, someone like Rahab out of a city devoted to destruction to bring them to be part of the people of God. This is what Christ is doing. He is bound the strong man. He is plundering his house. And yet Satan is still active to some degree as we find it here, even casting God's people into prison. But what he's allowed to do, the Lord is allowing that for the fulfilling of his own purposes, the advancing of these things. And one of those purposes is the testing of his people. Satan never means to test and to mature us only to kill and to destroy, but the Lord uses those very things to bring about our good. And so we, these saints can be tested so that they can grow in maturity, grow in grace. and be conformed even to the pattern of Christ whom they follow, the one who suffered, the one they're united to. So the Lord promises this, their suffering has a purpose. They're also to know that the Lord promises that their suffering is limited. Satan or the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and for 10 days you will have tribulation, 10 days. Now those who are suffering here in Smyrna, they're in a long line of faithful believers. You remember when Daniel and his companions refused to eat from the king's table and they were tested for 10 days. It seems to be an allusion to Daniel chapter 1. What we don't know though is if the 10 days for the church in Smyrna was a literal 10 days or a figurative 10 days. Is this to say that they were to be cast into prison for 10 days on the dot and then to be let loose? Or is it to say that the 10 days is simply a period that is known by the Lord but is not known to them? And yet they are still identified in the same pattern of someone like Daniel who suffered. It's hard to say whether or not that the 10 days is intended to be literal or to be taken figuratively, but there is one thing we can absolutely say. Their suffering would come to an end. Their suffering is limited to the time, the parameters that the Lord himself has set. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. The suffering will not last forever. And so the Lord has set the parameters of their suffering. Ten days, you'll have tribulation. And then finally, you're to see what the Lord promises that is that their suffering will bring life. He says at the end of verse 10, be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. The one who conquers at the end of verse 11, the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. So we've seen that some of them would be cast into prison, they will have this tribulation for the 10 days. But there's also the potential there that some will face martyrdom. The 10 days, the limitation of their sufferings or the end of that suffering, that suffering coming to an end for some of them may come to an end through their own death. The Lord tells them there to be faithful unto death. The Lord is the one who himself was faithful unto death. And he expects a faithfulness from his people all the way through, faithfulness to the end, faithfulness even to death. But just as their imprisonment would come to an end and again for some through maybe the door of death, so also we find that death is not the end because the Lord promises that through death and through their faithfulness to death that there is awaiting them the crown of life. This, again, is being spoken to them by the one who has conquered death. They're to remember the one who was dead, who died and who came to life. The one who conquered death, the one who's victorious over it is the same one who will see them through death. Safely through that passage, he's taken away its sting. And what awaits them is the crown of life. And we see that the one who will hear, What the spirit says to the churches who has an ear to hear and who conquers in this way, of course, by the supply of Christ, who gives the spirit to equip to do the very thing he is calling them to. The one who overcomes this trial through this faithful endurance, enduring and being faithful and hearing and not fearing. That of this one who is said to be a conqueror. evict her just like the Lord Jesus. They will not be hurt by the second death and so they don't need to fear. Second death, of course, is a reference to what will be mentioned later on in the book. It's everlasting punishment, it's hell in the lake of fire. We find that here that those who pass through this door who belong to Christ They go through death, but they they do so not to more death, but actually it is the passage to everlasting life. Life in Christ on earth. When we face death, we find that we go through that passage just to be crowned with more life, a greater life in communion with the Lord to have what is the life is referred to here with in terms of a crown. That's the victor's wreath. That is to say that this one has come to the end of their course. They finished their race and now they're crowned with life everlastingly. Even though they face death, they're to remember that their persecutors can't ultimately harm them. It's much like what Jesus told the apostles. Remember, he says, it's always interested me because he says, some of you will be delivered over to death and immediately he follows that up with, but not one hair of your head will be harmed. It's incredible to think how can these things be? Well, this is how. It's because through the passage of death, it is through that door that the Lord actually leads us into life. Of course, we can't avoid tribulation as much as we would like to, but we can face it. Even the tribulation of persecution, that pressure, we can face it without fear because we know what the Lord promises. He promises that our suffering has a purpose. He promises that our suffering is limited. He promises that through it, we will come to life. So the church must endure tribulation without fear by maintaining a vision of who Christ is and what he promises. The most notable saint who lived in Smyrna was the Bishop Polycarp. He was a disciple of the Apostle John, one of the early martyrs in the second century. Depending on the date of Revelation, the date that the book was written, which of course is heavily contested, it could be Polycarp actually was the angel or the messenger of the church in Smyrna, the bishop who received this letter. Regardless, we do know that he received great comfort from this message of Christ because he himself was persecuted, was a persecuted saint in Smyrna and he himself faced martyrdom for his faith in Christ and his commitment to him. Polycarp was given the opportunity to recant, to denounce his faith, to swear to Caesar. And Polycarp, now an old man, said, 86 years have I served him, that is Christ, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my king and my savior? Polycarp was burned at the stake. Of course, we don't seek these things. We don't want tribulation. We don't want imprisonment. We don't want to face martyrdom. But we do know that there are times in the church, in history, that for God's people, these things are unavoidable. In fact, the Apostle Paul said, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will face persecution. Being faithful to Christ is costly because it runs afoul with the world and so faithfulness to Christ can get us into trouble with the world at times. But if or when we face a similar tribulation as we find here for the church in Smyrna, to be impoverished, to be slandered, even to be imprisoned or potentially to face death. We find here that there is a way to endure those things faithfully, to do so with courage and hope, to do so without fear. And we can do this because of who Christ is and because of what he promises. We can know that the first and the last is the one who is orchestrating all of it, that he is victorious over death. That he knows the truth. He knows we're genuinely his. We can know that his purposes are accomplished in our suffering, even though it comes through satanic activity and assault. We can know that our suffering is limited to the times that the Lord himself has appointed. And we also can know, most of all, that even death itself can only bring us to greater life and communion with him. And so let us then endure. Let us be faithful. Let us do so without fear. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Let's pray.