Let us turn to God's Word in
the book of Revelation, the book of the Revelation, chapter 2, and reading the letter to the
church at Smyrna, verses 8 to 11, Revelation Chapters 2
and 3, of course, contain the letters to the seven churches
of Asia Minor, and reading now the letter addressed to the church
at Smyrna in verses 8 to 11. And unto the angel of the church
in Smyrna writes, These things hath the first and the last,
which was dead and is alive. I know thy works and tribulation
and poverty, but thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy of them
which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of
Satan. Fear none of those things which
thou shalt suffer, Behold, the devil shall cast some of you
into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation
ten days. Be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not
be hurt of the second death. The letter then. that was addressed
to the church at Smyrna. But it is not only addressed
to that particular church, of course, it belongs to the whole
company of God's people, that one true church. as we see from
verse 11, that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches. Now clearly from what we've read
of the content of this particular letter we see that Smyrna was
a persecuted church and I do particularly want to concentrate
your attention tonight on what we read here in verses 9 and
10. I know thy works and tribulation
and poverty, but thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy of them
which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of
Satan. Fear none of those things which
thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast
some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall
have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of life." It was a persecuted
church. But the same, in some degree,
must be true in every age. All gods children, in a certain sense,
are martyrs. There are those, of course, in
the course of church history who have literally been killed, executed because of their
faith in Christ. The seed of the martyrs is the... the blood of the martyrs is the
seed of the church, said the church historian to Tullian and
there have been martyrs and there have been martyrs of course even
as we know in our own country if we know anything of the history
of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century and was it
not a truth that that blood that was shed by the noble band of
martyrs was the very seed of the church and we can trace back
to the testimony of those men that greatness with which God
was pleased to favor nation. As I say then, There have been
those literal martyrs, but all God's children, in a sense, are
martyrs, are spiritual martyrs. The hymn writer says, see the
suffering church of Christ, gathered from all quarters, all contained
in that red list, were not murdered martyrs. Saints who feel a load
of sin, yet come off victorious, suffer martyrdom within, though
it seem less glorious." And the one who is receiving this revelation,
John the Apostle, of course, was himself at that time being
persecuted because of his faith. as we see from what he declares
there in the first chapter, verse 9, I, John, who also am your
brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience
of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the
word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Exile. to the Isle of Patmos because
of his faithfulness to God's Word and to the testimony of
Jesus Christ. He was companion in tribulation
and in the kingdom and the endurance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yea,
all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution,"
says the Apostle Paul. And so here, as this church is
addressed by the Lord Jesus Christ, he says, I know thy works, and
tribulation, and poverty, but thou art rich. And I know the
blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are
the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which
thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast
some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall
have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee the crown of life. Fear none of those things. Our God's people are often a
fearful people. Isn't that the reason why we
have the comfort of those fear nots that are to be found in
Holy Scripture? How we see those precious words
time and again in the book of the Prophet Isaiah, so many fear
not. Why so? Because God's people
of course are such a fearful people. And so the Lord must
again and again come and speak to them and assure them of His
presence and that they have no real reason to be afraid. in
chapter 41 and verse 10 then of Isaiah we read, fear thou
not. It's interesting, it's not just
a fear not, but the singular pronoun is placed here in the
middle of the fear not, fear thou not. How it's such a personal
reassuring word, fear thou not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed. for I am thy God, I will strengthen
thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Again at verse 13, for I the
Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear
not, I will help thee, fear not thou worm Jacob, and ye men of
Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. As we said, there
are many such fear nots scattered throughout this book of the prophet. Chapter 43, But now thus saith
the Lord that created the old Jacob, and he that formed the
old Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called
thee by thy name, thou art mine, when thou passest through the
waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee, when thou walkest through the fire thou
shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. How God then to his suffering
saints speak such gracious words! Fear none of those things, which
thou shalt suffer he says fear not little flock it is your father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom well first of all tonight
I want us to consider more particularly what he said here concerning
God's suffering people Now look at the context in which we have
this reassuring word that they're not to be afraid. It's stated
at the beginning of verse 10, fear none of those things which
thou shalt suffer. And the context is of course
there in what we read in the previous verse. He says, I know
the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but
are the synagogue of Satan." What are we to make of this reference
then to those who say they are Jews and are not, but are the
synagogue of Satan? Well, we know that in the early
church there was a great deal of persecution from the Jews. Our believers were constantly
persecuted by the Jews in the Acts we see that so clearly as
the Apostles are making known the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ there is constant opposition from the Jews Paul certainly
experienced it in the course of his ministry In Acts 14 it
came to pass in Iconium that they went both together into
the synagogue of the Jews and so spake that a great multitude
both of the Jews and also the Greeks believed. But the unbelieving
Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil, affected
against the brethren. And then again in chapter 17
and verse 5, where we find them at Thessalonica. We're told there
the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them
certain lewd fellows of the basest sort, and gathered a company,
and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason,
and sought to bring them out to the people. There was this
constant opposition, even persecution from the Jews. Now, initially,
we know that this man Paul, who himself was there being persecuted,
was in many ways an arch-persecutor before he was converted to Christ. He tells us himself he was before
a blasphemer, and a persecutor and injurious." And as a Jew,
he thought that this was a wonderful qualification. This gave him
some standing amongst the Jews, as he writes in Philippians chapter
3. speaking of his pedigree, circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee
concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness
which is in the law, blameless. Here he speaks of those things
that as a Jew he would make so much of and boast of. He was
not only circumcised on the eighth day, he was not only of the tribe
of Benjamin, he was not only a Pharisee, he was a persecutor
of the church. Or did not that make him in those
days such a notable Jew? Oh, these early believers then
were constantly persecuted by the Jews. I know the blasphemers,
of them which say they are Jews and are not. but are the synagogue
of Satan, says the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the expression that we have here
at the end of verse 9 is an interesting one. They say they are Jews and
are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Dr. Gill refers to these, not so
much as those who were ethnic Jews, but those who were spiritual
Jews, when he calls them the synagogue of Satan. In other words, he understands
it in terms not so much of those who were literally descended
from Jacob, those who were really Jews, but those who profess to
be Christians. And the Christians, of course,
are really the true Israel of God, the synagogue of Satan. Now, if we turn to the epistle
to James, we learn something quite interesting there in James
chapter 2 and verse 2, where we have this expression, assembly. If there come unto your assembly
a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel, and there come in also
a poor man in vile raiment, and so forth. And we're told in the
margin that the word assembly is literally the word synagogue. Synagogue is a Greek word, and
that's the very word that is used there if it had been transliterated
as we find with the word Baptist, or baptized in the New Testament.
The word baptize is not translated. If it was to be translated it
would come through as the word did, but it's simply transliterated. It's brought over from the Greek
into our English. Well, this word that's translated
as assembly, had that have simply been transliterated, we would
read their synagogue. If they come onto your synagogue,
a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel and so forth. Clearly,
the early church organized itself in terms of what they were familiar
with in the way of synagogues. And so, when we read here of
a synagogue of Satan, then we say they are Jews and are not,
but are the synagogue of Satan. Can we not understand it as Dr.
Gill suggests or says it should be understood in terms of those
who professed the name of the Lord Jesus Christ but were not
the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. They only made a profession
and nothing more than a profession. They were not true possessors
of the grace of God, they had the appearance of being the people
of God, but their lives were really a sham. We know that there
were those in the early churches who were Judaizers, who wanted
to bring the Christian believers under the law of Moses, and we
know that it is Paul himself who is raised up to speak against
these men. who want to bring Gentile believers
into the bondage of the law, particularly, of course, in his
letter to the Galatians, he deals with these individuals. In Galatians chapter 1 and there
at verse 6, And seven, he says, I marvel that ye are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some
that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Who are
they? They are these Judaizers who
want to bring believers in some sense or other under the law
And so throughout this epistle we find Paul speaking against
these legalists. In chapter 5 he says, And fast
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that
he is debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of none,
of no effect unto you. Whosoever you are justified by
the law, ye are fallen from grace. And it was these Christian legalists,
if we might call them Christian, who were perverting the Word
of God, and they were persecuting the true believers. And it's these that Paul, in
his epistles, as I say, and particularly in that letter to the Galatians,
writes against time and time again, and it was ever so, there
was persecution. Remember how he goes back in
the fourth chapter of Galatians to those two sons that were born
to Abraham. It is written that Abraham had
two sons, one by a bond-mate and the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bond-woman
was born after the flesh, that is, Ishmael who was born to Hagar,
But he of the free woman was by promise, that is, Isaac, who
was the son of Sarah. And then he says later, verse
29, As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him
that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. There is this persecution even
amongst those in the church. And this is the point that is
being made here, I say. The blasphemy of them which say
they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. We're
not simply to understand it in terms of those who were literal
Jews, ethnic Israel, who were persecutors of early Christian
believers. But there were those who had
crept into the churches. They were in the Church of Galatia.
and they were evidently there in the church at Smyrna. And they were persecutors of
those who were the true children of God. And such, you see, are
spoken of in the most severe terms. Strong language is used. They are spoken of here as the
synagogue of Satan. the synagogue of satan, I know
the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but
are the synagogue of satan the true believer in contrast is
not just one who makes a profession but the true believer is one
who is a real possessor of the grace of God one who sees that
all his salvation is to be found in Christ, in Christ's person,
in Christ's worth, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, that he that glorieth, all that
in glory in the Lord, sees no place for the works of the flesh,
sees no place for any fleshly works of any description, He
is altogether dependent upon the grace of God. And that people,
the true church, the true synagogue of God, must be a separated people. Those are very striking words,
are they not, that the Apostle speaks in the 11th chapter of
1 Corinthians when he says there must be also heresies among that
they which are approved may be made manifest. He's speaking
to the church at Corrin. He's speaking to a church quite
clearly and he says there must, there must also be heresies or
as the margin says, schisms among you that they that are approved
may be made manifest. Now God's people have to be a
separated people. We know that the ministry of
the Lord Jesus Christ was a separating ministry. There was division
among the Jews, time and again, because of Him, because of His
sayings. And that word of reassurance that's given to the Prophet Jeremiah,
if thou take forth the precious from the vial, thou shalt be
as my mouth. All God's people, you see, they
are persecuted. And where does the persecution
come from? It's strange, is it not? It comes, of course, from
those without. We see it in the early church,
it came from those who were Jews, but there were those Judaizers
who had crept into the church, who were also persecuting. This is the lot of the people
of God. They find their life to be a
strange life. From sinner and from saint he
meets with many a blow. His own bad heart creates him
smart, which none but God can know. That's the experience of
the child of God. Persecuted by sinners, those
without... Persecuted by those who call
themselves saints, those within. They're outcasts. That's a remarkable
hymn, 223. In some ways I suppose it's not
one that's suitable for public worship. But many of the hymns,
though they might not be suitable for singing in public worship,
they're useful for our private reading, our private meditation. And 223 is a remarkable hymn.
Lord, pity outcasts, vile and base, the poor dependents on
thy grace, whom men disturb as call, by sinner and by saint
withstood, for these too bad, for those too good, condemned
or shunned by all," says Joseph Hart. That's the lot of the people
of God. They are a peculiar people in
that sense. And here in the church at Smyrna,
I know thy works, says Christ, and tribulation and poverty,
but thou art rich, and I know the blasphemy of them which say
they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear
none of those things which thou shalt suffer." All God's people,
they are so often misrepresented, even those who would profess
the name of Christ don't understand them. And so they are reassured by
God, fear none of those things, which thou shalt suffer. Behold,
the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may
be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto
death, and I will give thee the crown of life. These people,
of course, in that day and generation, knew a very real persecution.
John was experiencing it. As I said, that was the reason
why he was there. Exiled on the Isle of Patmos,
cut off from all fellowship with his fellow believers. And so
he receives his gracious visitation from God. He is given this revelation. of Jesus Christ, which God gave
unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come
to pass. And we're told he sent and signified
it by his angel unto his servant John. How the Lord God was mindful
of him. But I say again, God's people
are a suffering people. They're a suffering people. And
they suffer not only from those who are obviously the opponents
of the gospel of Christ, but there are those who can come
in, those who seek to creep in, those legalists, the Judaizers,
spoken of here as the synagogue of Satan. But in the second place,
in the second place we see where these people find their comfort. Well, where is it that their
consolation proceeds from? It is from their Savior. And
it is from Him who is ever always a sovereign Savior. What does He say? That little
parenthesis in verse 9, But thou art rich. I know thy works, and
tribulation, and poverty, but thou art rich, and their riches
center, I say, all together in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what
can we observe here with regards to Christ? Well, we see Christ
as a purpose in the sufferings that are the lot of his people.
Christ has a purpose to fulfill. And we observe three things.
That the sufferings are not universal. Now what do we mean by that?
All God's children will be tried and tested in various ways, but
they will not all find themselves being tried and tested at one
and the same time. Look at the language that's used
in verse 10. Behold, it says the devil shall
cast some of you into prison." Now he doesn't say here, the
devil shall cast all of you. I realize that the word some
is in italics, which indicates, of course, that it's been introduced
in the translation. It's not the translation of a
word that's there in the original, it's what the faithful translators
of our authorized version have brought in to bring out the true
meaning of what is being said and it is a right addition. It
literally says the devil shall cast of you shall cast of you
that doesn't mean everyone that means of you, some of you the sufferings then are not universal
The Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign. He deals with his people in that
way of divine sovereignty. He is sovereign, of course, in
all his dealings with his creatures. We see it, of course, in the
great decree of salvation. When God made choice of his people,
We have the opposite side of that, which is the fearful doctrine
of reprobation. He chooses some, he passes over
others. He doesn't choose all. It's some
who are chosen, others are passed over. But also when God deals
with his people, he is still a sovereign. And so we have it
here, the devil shall cast of you, some of you, into prison. The sufferings are not universal. Nor are these sufferings perpetual. They are not those sufferings
that continue forever. It says, again in verse 10, Ye
shall have tribulation ten days. Verse 9, I know thy works and
tribulation. God knows it all. and he has
appointed a period for the sufferings of his people. Now, we don't
need to speculate with regards to what 10 days means. How long a period is it? Is it
a literal 10 days? I think not. We know that the
book of the Revelation is a symbolic book, as we see, and we've already
quoted the words from the opening verse, How these things were
sent and signified by his angel unto his servant John. In other
words, signified indicates that the book is full of signs and
symbols. And we know that when we come
into the body of the Revelation. There are remarkable things.
that are set before us. And certainly the numbers are
symbolic numbers. And I don't want to speculate
with regards to precisely the period of time that we're to
understand by this reference to 10 days. Suffice it to say
simply this, that it is a set period of time. That's as much
as we need to know, is it not, that God has set a period of
time that God is sovereign. The sufferings will not continue
forever. No, we are told that the time
and ten maybe is suggesting a perfect period of time. Not one moment
too long, not one moment too short. just precisely as God
saw fit to appoint. We can think of the words of
Peter, writing in his first epistle, in the first chapter, where he
speaks of the sufferings of the people of God. He says, Now for
a season ye are in heaviness through manifold temptation. But how lovely the language is
and the preciseness of the language that the apostle is inspired
to use as he makes that statement there in that opening chapter
of his first epistle, now for a season. And the strength of
the language, now, it means just now. And it's for a season. It's just for a little period. a short while just a season now
for a season if need be he says it's only as it's necessary as
the needs be if needs be you are in heaviness through manifold
temptations so the Lord you see is that one who is sovereign
in regards to all of the sufferings that come into the lives of his
children, into the experiences of his church. Whatever trials
might come from out or from within, the Lord himself has ordained
and appointed precisely how long these trials are to last. And so we have it here in verse
10. Ye shall have tribulation ten
days. And then also we can observe
with regards to the Lord's purpose in these sufferings, that whilst
they are not universal, not all are experiencing them at the
same time, and whilst they are not perpetual, they're also not
sent to destroy. They're not sent to destroy. We were considering that verse
in Malachi 3.6 this morning. concerning the children of Jacob,
not being consumed. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. And so these sufferings
do not consume, that ye may be tried, it says. Here in verse 10, that in order
that ye may be tried. It's a trial. The flame shall
not hurt them. My only design is thy dross to
consume and thy gold to refine. Oh God, you see, is that one
who has a gracious purpose in view. I know the thoughts that
I think towards you, he says to Israel. as they are taken
into exile, as they find themselves languishing in Babylon in captivity. I know the thoughts that I think
towards you. Thoughts of peace and not of
evil, he says, to give you unexpected end. There will be an end. There
will be an end as a purpose. What he's got doing with his
people there in exile, why he's purging them. They were such
an idolatrous people. but they were purged of all their
idols when they were there in Babylon they were delivered of
all that idolatry and God knew what he was doing or doesn't
Job say much the same? he knoweth the way that I take
when he has tried me I shall come forth as gold he knows the
way he knows and he is not seeking the destruction of his people
but he is purging his people, purifying his people and he says
here, be thou faithful unto death well here is the call of God
to his people that they are to be found faithful that they are
to be those who in the midst of all these trials and troubles
are trusting In Him, He that overcometh, we read in verse
11, shall not be hurt of the second death, or that fight that
overcomes you. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh
the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, says
John, even our fight. Be thou faithful. This is God's
call to his people that he has a purpose to fulfill in all that
is appointed in the way of sufferings to the church and to this church
at Pergamos and he will accomplish his good will and pleasure in
them. He will make them that church
that is a pure church. But then, besides the purpose
of the Savior in the midst of all these sufferings, we also
see here His gracious word of promise. And what a word of promise
it is. Fear none of those things which
thou shalt suffer. All God's people are not to be
afraid. As I said, we find those gracious,
fear not, scattered throughout the book of the prophet Isaiah. And they're there, as we said,
for a purpose because God's people are prone to be afraid. We are
so often a fearful people. We feel it, we're a little flock.
We're just a handful. and even those who profess the
name of Christ so often they misunderstand us and misrepresent
us and even persecute us but he says fear not little flock
it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom I will give thee a crown of life
he says and look at the one who is speaking these words What
does he say at the beginning of verse 9? I know. I know thy
works, and tribulation, and poverty, but thou art rich, and I know.
And again, the words there, the second I know is introduced,
it's interpolated, it's brought in by the translator, but it's
right to be there, because he doesn't only know his people,
he knows their enemies, he knows all things. He is that God who
is the Eternal One. He knows the end from the beginning. And see then how He can speak
of Himself as He addresses His Church. These things says the
first and the last which was dead and is alive. He is the
Eternal One. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who
is speaking. And the Lord Jesus Christ, did
he not descend into hell, descend into Hades? Is he not risen again
from the dead? Oh, here is one who knows all
things, and he knows all things, not only because he is God, but
he knows all things when we consider him as God manifest in the flesh,
and all that he experienced. So a son yet learned the obedience
by the things that he suffered, says the Apostle. O the Lord,
you see, is one who knows, and is able therefore to minister
so graciously to his people. Remember John's experience here
in the opening chapter, when he sees the glorified Christ.
He tells us verse 17, When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead,
and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not,
I am the first and the last. You see, it's the same one who
speaks here to Smyrna in verse 8. These things set the first
and the last. And so to John, fear not, I am
the first and the last, I am he that liveth and was dead.
And again we have it here in verse 8, which was dead and is
alive. And behold, I am alive forevermore,
Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. Or this one, you
see, is that one who is the true riches of his people, the Church. He is such a good and such a
gracious Savior. I will give thee a crown of life,
he says. And he's able to do it, is he
not? He has given His people a crown,
a crown of life. Again there, in the opening chapter
of verse 6, "...hath made us kings and priests unto God and
His Father." We have a crown, we're kings, and we're kingly
priests. And so He speaks His kind and
gracious words, these encouraging words to his suffering people,
to his suffering church. I know thy works and tribulation
and poverty, but thou art rich, and I know the blasphemy of them
which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of
Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold,
the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may
be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto
death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Now we read, for our scripture reading, Psalm
44, and he speaks, does he not, the psalm of that flock of slaughter,
the people of God. And it's interesting how At the
end of that great 8th chapter in Romans, Paul actually refers
to the 44th Psalm, when he says in verse 36, as it is written,
For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted
as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, In all these things we are
more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so this word you see, to
the suffering church of God, I know thy works in tribulation
and poverty, but thou art rich." Oh friends, might we be brought
increasingly to see where those riches stand. They're found only in the person
and the work of our God and Savior, even the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. and might he therefore be to
us our all and our in all.