Well, as I said, we're going
to talk about the persecuted church of Jesus Christ. This
is the second part of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and
3. We talked about the church at
Ephesus. And again, I emphasize that what I believe these churches
represent are problems, and part of this is problems that the
church, the true church, where the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace is preached, where Christ is truly exalted
according to the word, not a false gospel, but the true church where
the gospel is preached, problems we'll have to face and things
that we're told to avoid and pray that the Lord will keep
us from. In Ephesus, we talked about it, how he said they'd
lost their first love. Here is the church at Smyrna,
a place called Smyrna. Look at verse 8, he says, unto
the angel, the messenger. I've talked about that, how some
commentators believe that that's talking about something like
a guardian angel, but I believe it's talking about the messenger,
the pastor, the elder of the church in Smyrna. The name Smyrna
comes from the word myrrh. You know gold, frankincense,
and myrrh? You're familiar with that? And
myrrh was used as a perfume and often used to anoint a dead body. That's what they used. And myrrh
is a symbol of suffering. That's what it is in the Bible. The church at Smyrna was a church
who was suffering persecution because of the gospel. And like
every Gentile city, any notable city, every Gentile city, it
was a bastion of idolatry. And you can read about that in
your lesson. But listen to how the Lord addresses
them. Unto the angel, the messenger
of the church in Smyrna write, these things saith the first
and the last. And that's a common term that
Christ uses for himself. It speaks of his deity. Remember
he said, I'm the alpha and the omega. That's the first letter
of the Greek alphabet and the last. It's almost like he's saying
I'm the first word and the last word. God spoke. That settles
it. God's Word settles it. This is the Word of God. And
it speaks of Christ as the Word of God. Christ as the ultimate
communication of God. In beginning was the Word. The
Word was with God. The Word was God. The Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. And he says, I'm the first and
the last, the authority that he has, I'm he which was dead
and is alive. He died, he was buried, he arose. Those are the historical facts
of the gospel. And what he's doing, he's showing
this church that is going through persecution that even if they,
he's emphasizing and assuring them that even if they are persecuted
unto death, Don't fret because there is a resurrection. And
the resurrection of our bodies, the resurrection, our glorious
resurrection, is founded upon the righteousness that Jesus
Christ established, which was the ground of his own resurrection.
You see, his death was a victory. His death was the putting away
of all our sins. He satisfied the justice of God
and enabled God to be just and justify. He established the perfect
everlasting righteousness whereby God is enabled to justify sinners
like us. And that righteousness secures
our salvation. That righteousness demands our
salvation. It's the guarantee of everything.
His resurrection is the guarantee of our resurrection. You remember
Paul dealt with that in 1 Corinthians 15 when the resurrection of the
church, the resurrection of believers was challenged by false preachers.
And that's what he was doing. He said there was some who came
along and claimed to be Christian and said, well, there's no resurrection
of the dead. And he said, well, if there's
no resurrection of the dead, then that means Christ is not
risen. Because his resurrection is the guarantee of our resurrection.
You can't have one without the other. So if Christ arose, and
you remember that's in 1 Corinthians 15 when he called him the firstfruits.
That's a reference back into the agricultural society of the
Jews under the old covenant. And remember the firstfruits
were to be given to God and the firstfruits was the, if the firstfruits
were good in the first harvest, that was sort of a guarantee
that the whole crop would be good. And Christ being the first
fruits says the whole crop, that's his people, that will be resurrected
because righteousness demands life. Sin demands death. Our sin imputed to him demanded
his death. And he did die. That was no fake. It was no hoax. He did die. He
was buried, and he is alive. He rose from the dead. So that's
the whole foundation of what he's going to say here. So he
says, look at verse 9. He says, I know thy works, taking
notice of their works. And again, to emphasize this,
that's not works aimed at salvation. It's not works aimed at making
ourselves righteous. These are the works of grace.
And he says, here's what works he's talking about. Tribulation.
That's trouble. That's trial. He said poverty. Why would he say poverty? Well,
some of these, because of their witness of the gospel in that
community, in this city, lost their jobs. They lost their means
of support. You have to understand in this
culture, just like in Ephesus, in all these cities, Corinth
was the same way. That idol worship, and usually
in these cities there was a great temple to a false god. I think in Smyrna, I've got this
in your lesson, but no, it may have been the next one, Pergamon,
but I can't remember, but like in Ephesus there was a big temple
to the Greek god Artemis or Diana, the Roman name for her. In one
of them there was another to Zeus, and another one, I think
in Smyrna, I think it was Smyrna, but I may be wrong about that,
but you read the lesson, I think I got it right in your lesson.
There was a big temple, and usually the economy of the city revolved
around that temple. People making idols, people buying
and selling things, and so a lot of times when a person was brought
to be a believer, then they lost their job. Or if they witnessed
they lost their means of support, so they went into poverty. He
said, I know what you're going through, Christ is saying. But
in parenthesis there in verse nine, he says, but thou art rich. What was he talking about? Well,
he's talking about spiritually. He's talking about our standing
in Christ. The reality of what we are in
Christ makes us rich in the blessings of grace. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We have
an inheritance, the scripture says, that cannot even be valued.
that can't be taken away, that can't be corrupted. So what he's
assuring them, based upon his death, burial, and resurrection,
based on the righteousness that he's established, that that's
a guarantee of not only our living forever with him in glory, but
it's also a guarantee of our wealth in him, our spiritual
wealth. That we have all things that
God has for us in Christ, and we're rich. And look at verse
nine, again, he says, I know the blasphemy. You know what
blasphemy is? That's false accusations, false
doctrine, things that attack the nature and character of God
in Christ. I know the blasphemy of them
which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of
Satan. And apparently what he's talking
about there is the Jewish segment of those who persecuted them.
The church back then in these cities and Jews were scattered
out throughout the Gentile world and they had synagogues in those.
So you remember Paul in his missionary journeys, one of the first things
that he normally did, he went to the synagogue and that's where
he began to preach the gospel. And we know that some of the
most severe persecutions came from unbelieving Jews, even Jews
who said they were Christian. The first, I call it the first
Sovereign Grace Conference, which was mentioned in Acts chapter
15, was because of false Jewish professors trying to bring the
Gentile believers under the law of circumcision. And you remember
what happened, you can read about that in Acts chapter 15. But
what, and the language here is so clear, it may seem harsh to
some, but he's saying they claim to be Jews, and a lot of times
they thought, well, that gave them a step up in the kingdom
of God, even as a Christian. They'd say, well, you know, that's
why they tell the Gentiles, you know, well, we know you're saved
by grace, but if you really want to be saved, you really want
to be righteous, you've got to be circumcised. The Jews had
some kind of a higher, closer to God type situation. And of
course, the Lord here says, look, they're false professors. They're
actually the synagogue of Satan. You remember in John chapter
8 when he was talking to the Pharisees? And he said, in verse
44, you're of your father the devil. That's what he's talking
about here. What they're doing is they're
denying Christ. And so, who are the true Jews according to the
Bible? I've got a list of these scriptures
in your lesson here. But always think about Romans
2, 28 and 29, where he talked about he is a Jew which is one
inwardly, not outwardly. Circumcision is that of the heart,
not of the flesh. If we're believers in Jesus Christ,
we're spiritual Jews. That is, we are spiritual Israel.
And we can talk about that even more, but I don't have time to
go into all of it. But now look at verse 10. He says, fear none
of those things which thou shalt suffer. Now that doesn't mean
that we don't hurt. We don't sorrow. I mean, if somebody
comes after us physically, that's something, you know. I mean,
we have a natural fear of that and a natural desire for self-preservation. But he's talking about our standing
in Christ. And what the world does to us
in any way, whether they just have a bad opinion of us, or
whether they come after us physically does not change our standing
in Christ, one iota. And we don't have to fear that.
If we're in Christ, then the scripture tells us that we're
secure for heaven's glory. And we have a righteousness that
answers the demands of his justice, whatever they accuse us of, however
they attack us. And you know persecution comes
in different forms and different ways. Every true believer is
persecuted in some way to some degree at some time. We have
been blessed to live in a time where we cannot be persecuted
at least physically or hindered physically from preaching the
gospel by the government. because we have a constitution
that guarantees us religious freedom. I've heard a lot of
people talking about this week how, well, can that be taken
away? And it could be. The church at
Smyrna, they didn't have that freedom. Sometimes these churches
were left alone, but a lot of times they weren't. Sometimes
the Roman government would come in and persecute them. They say
that the pastor of this church, and you know, when you read church
history and you try to connect it with the Bible, you know,
historically, sometimes it gets a little fuzzy there. You can a lot of times connect
things doctrinally, but the church history says the pastor of this
church was killed because he wouldn't bow to Caesar. That
may have been true. We know that other believers
were killed because of that. And you hear stories about the
Emperor Nero, who was just a perverted man who went after Christians
and put them in the arena and all of that. You've heard about
all that. Well, we've been blessed, haven't we? We can meet here this morning
without fear from the government today. And we thank God for that. And I hope it continues throughout
our lifetime, and if the Lord doesn't come back throughout
our children and our grandchildren, I hope it continues until he
comes again. But it may not. But here's the
key, verse 10. Fear none of those things which
thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast
some of you in prison. Some of you are going to go to
jail. Remember Christ talked about in Matthew 25 about his
brethren. You know, when they were in prison,
you came and visited me and that you've done this to the least
of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. He says that
you may be tried. You're going to be tested and
you're going to be brought up on trial. You know, Christ told
his disciples, he said, they're going to bring you before the
tribunals, before the courts, and you're going to have to give
an account. Incidentally, you remember in the book of Acts,
I think it's chapter three, when they brought Peter and James
and John up for preaching the gospel, and they said, and this
was the Jewish Sanhedrin, and they said, now we've told you
not to preach in the name of Jesus Christ. We've told you
not to preach in this name. And you remember what Peter said?
Well, he says, whether it is better for us to obey God or
to obey you, you judge. In other words, we're going to
obey God. Another thing that's significant about that in Acts
chapter 3, and this is real significant. They had healed a man. That's
what happened. They had healed a man, and they
preached the gospel, and when they were brought up before the
Sanhedrin, they asked them this question. The court asked them
this question. In whose name did you do this? Now, Peter spoke
up. And he could have said, well,
we did it in the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And you know what? He would have
told the truth if he'd have said that. That's true. But he didn't
say that. He said, we did it in the name
of Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified. Same truth, all right? But it hit home. You see, what
was he doing there? Was he just trying to be mean?
No, he was trying to hit them where they were as far as what
their problem. Their problem wasn't that they
openly denied the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their problem
was they denied Jesus Christ as the Lord, our righteousness.
So that's significant. But as I said, now here we get
to the 10 days. He says, you shall have tribulation
ten days. He says, be thou faithful unto
death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Well, when you get into
the book of Revelation, the numbers sometimes can be a problem for
a lot of people. You know, as you go through,
you'll see a lot of different numbers. You'll see The number that comes up that
people argue over the most is the term thousand, thousand-year
reign, all of that. Of course, I'm not getting into
all that today. We'll get into it when we come
to it. A lot of times it's thousands, plural. Incidentally, a thousand
was a Hebrew way of just speaking of an indefinite number of time. You you hear the word six the
number six six six six the number seven is significant in revelation
144,000 you'll hear all these all right I Believe these numbers
are symbolic All right, there are a lot of people who say well
now these numbers are literal that mean that ten days there
And that means a literal ten days All right, there's a lot
of people who say that and Most commentators, even non-gospel
commentators, do not believe this is a literal 10 days. But
here's a problem, all right? Some people say, well, now this
number here's not literal, but now that number over there is
literal. But they have no valid rule of
interpretation as to decide which is which. What do I believe? I believe they're all symbolic.
I believe every one of these numbers are symbolic. And the
number 10, the number, you know what the number 10 in the Bible
symbolizes? It symbolizes divine perfection
of law, of term. Like there's 10 commandments,
for example. And it symbolizes divine perfection,
showing that whatever period of time the church on earth goes
through this persecution, at the end of it, it's over. That's
what it means. That's what the number 10 means.
That's it. There's nothing else. And it's a short period of time.
And I believe that's what the number 10 represents. I don't
believe it's a literal 10 days. Historically, this church went
through persecution more than 10 days. It was a matter of years. It means a short time. No, it means a temporary period
of time that will be completed here on this earth. That's what
it means. It means a temporary period of time that will be completed
here on earth and it will never come back again. In other words,
that time's fulfilled, that time's done here on this earth. And it may seem like a long time.
But in God's scheme of things, it's a short time. That's what
I believe it means. But again, you will find some
who say, well, it means more than that. But one of the things
that I've found a reference to on the 10 days is back in the
book of Daniel, chapter one. And I've got this listed in your
lesson. You don't have to turn there now, but when you study
it, In Daniel 10, chapter 1, verses 12 through 14, Daniel
and seven others that were with him asked to endure a ten-day
time of testing to demonstrate to the Babylonians that Daniel
and these others had God's blessings. So it was a ten-day time of testing. And so what I think, what I believe
it is, it's symbolic of a short period of time. Again, now it
could be years, so, you know, that seems long to us, but now,
in other words, what God's saying, I believe in the 10 days, it's
gonna happen, it'll be completed, and then it'll be over. In other
words, this isn't something that's gonna last and last and last
and last. It's gonna have its end. And
here's what he says. Look there, you see the colon
after the 10 days? You see that? Usually, what the King James
translators thought when they put those colons in is, well,
now he's going to explain what he means. Well, look at it. Be
thou faithful unto death. Persevere in the faith. Now,
we know that we only do that by the grace of God. We don't
do it under our own power. And he said, I'll give thee a
crown of life. And the crown of life is eternal life earned
for us in Christ. It's not a crown we earn. or
even deserve, and that's what the crown of life is. So, you're
going to live forever, he's saying. You're going to go through some
persecution. They'll put you in prison, and you'll have tribulation
ten days, but that's a divinely appointed period of time that
will have an end. It'll be completed. It'll be
perfected in that sense, and then you'll die and you'll have
a crown of life. So, that's my take on it. And I don't see any other way
that it makes sense. But if you interpret scripture
with scripture, I believe that's what it's talking about. Well,
he concludes his letter to the Church of Smyrna the same way
he concludes all the other letters, verse 11. He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. These letters are only gonna
be heard and obeyed by those who have been born again by the
Spirit, aren't they? This is spiritual ears. That's what we say when we preach
the gospel. If you got an ear to hear, then
hear it. Christ said, blessed are your
ears for they hear, blessed are your eyes for they see. But the
way he ends, the way he identifies himself in each letter is appropriate
to their situation. And it's like when he opened
this letter, he said, I'm the first and the last. Somebody's
persecuting you. The Supreme Court last week. And you know what everybody says?
Well, there's no higher court. that we can appeal to. Oh, yes,
there is. And the Supreme Court, just like
every other person, is gonna be answerable to the highest
court, and that's the court of God, His justice. He's the highest court. So the
Supreme Court is not the first word, and they're certainly not
the last word. Christ is. And the Bible tells us that we're
all gonna be judged according to His righteousness, isn't that
right? And those who stand in Christ, having his righteousness
imputed, here's what he says. He says, he that overcometh,
how do we overcome? By looking to Christ, the author
and the finisher of our faith, shall not be heard of the second
death. What is the second death? That's
eternal death. That's eternal damnation. You're
gonna talk about that later on in the book of Revelation. In
other words, this physical death that we go through, that's not
the only death. There's a second death. We're
going this body's going to die physically the body's dead because
of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness So those
who stand in Christ have overcome and we will not experience eternal
damnation and death the second day But those who stand outside
of Christ shall experience that won't they so he that hath ears
to hear let him hear what the Spirit say all right