Church at Smyrna - Part 1
Being Faithful Unto Death
Revelation 2:8-11
We will now begin to look at the 2nd church in Revelation, Smyrna, which was located near the city of Ephesus. Here is what Jesus said to these Christ-followers…
Revelation 2:8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. 9 “‘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. 10 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 ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
Jesus and the City
The Gospels Accounts
As we look at this 2nd church, let’s begin by thinking about the cities and villages in the world.
In looking at the life of Christ in the 4 Gospels, one thing for certain that is revealed is that Jesus loved the cities and villages of Israel and we know that this extends to churches in our day.
Why did He and what is the Biblical evidence of His love for the cities?
The Why of the Evidence
The why is that they were full of people & He had come He came to seek and save the lost. In many of these cities in Israel, the most amazing things that have ever taken place in the history of the world happened.
The What of the Evidence
The how He showed His love for them is what He did in the midst of them. Here is evidence of what He did to show His love…Matthew 9:35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
Notice that Jesus did two things…
(1) Ministered to them by Meeting their Physical Needs and Afflictions
(2) Ministered to them by Meeting their Spiritual Needs by Proclaiming the Gospel
The main reason the cities were His focus was that they became “centers” for His primary task of proclaiming the Gospel. On such instance that allows to see His purpose for the city is…Mark 1:38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
The ministry aim of Jesus was that Biblical Truth about the Father, the Spirit and Himself would be spoken in their streets, established in homes, and into every corner of the city. As He proclaimed the Gospel, it often led to salvation, healing, restoration, etc. The foundation of all of that ministry came out of the aim of taking the Gospel into the cities and villages – all significant ministry flows out of this one great task of proclaiming the Gospel.
Let’s see the mention of the cities in the New Testament…
The Gospels
The four Gospel writers mention 22 specific cities, yet both Mark and Matthew mention that Jesus went through all the towns and villages.
Acts Accounts
In reading the book of Acts, its pages reveal that Christ’s followers took the Gospel to the cities of the world. They embraced what Jesus said in these two texts…
Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
As one comes to the last verse of Luke’s account of the 1st Century Church, 54 specific cities and villages are mentioned throughout Israel and the Western part of that world.
Epistles
The New Testament consists of a total of 27 individual pieces that we call “books”, and in 19 of the 27, we see that they were written to individual gathered congregations in cities. The missionaries and church planters valued the cities and villages as well.
Revelation
Revelation 1:4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Revelation 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
In Revelation 2-3, Jesus has 7 different messages to 7 churches located in 7 cities in Asia Minor. The theme of the New Testament is the Words of Jesus and the Words about Jesus were meant to be given to the church to shape her in all ways pleasing to God and to impact the people in cities.
Bottomline…
The Cities and villages of the world
mattered to Jesus and with His followers.
With that in mind, we come to day to our 2nd City in Revelation and it is a fascinating one to examine.
Church in Smyrna – Revelation 2:8a
Just as with the other letters in Revelation 2-3, Jesus speaks first to the pastor, “the angel” of the church in Smyrna. This pastor is being called by Jesus to carry out all of the words of Revelation that were to be read and followed according to what we read in…
Revelation 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. His call from Jesus would be to get the church to embrace these words & get them into the hearts and minds of the church under his care. Incidentally, the shortest message of the 7 churches is this one to Smyrna.
The City of Smyrna’s Characteristics
Beauty
The cities of our world often push their greatness as they affirm they are the greater city over another one. The first 3 cities of Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamum were just like this as they fought to be known as the greater city of the three. Evidence of this is found on ancient coins in Smyrna where they stamped on their coins this phrase…"first city of Asia in size and beauty" (Ramsay 1904:255). It was indeed a great city of great architectural prowess and beauty.
Location and Population of Smyrna
You could find Smyrna traveling 35 miles north of Ephesus and when you arrived, one would find a city of wealth with a population of over 100,000. Though smaller in population than Ephesus, it was still a prominent city of the first century. In its history, it was not always called Smyrna, it had been inhabited for 3,000 years. The modern Turkish city of Izmir is modern day city of Smyrna and today it is Turkey’s 3rd most populated city.
Here are some pictures of ancient Smyrna and the city today...
In Ancient times, it was destroyed a couple of times by earthquakes and after the first major quake, the city was rebuilt by the Greeks under the leadership of those who succeeded Alexander the Great. A few years before Christ was born, the city was brought to its knees again by another quake and was once again rebuilt to be a place of cultural and economic greatness. It possessed a safe harbor, where ships from all over the world came to buy and sell goods.
Master Planned City
Among the other factors that made the city of Smyrna unique include that it was a planned city. Most cities of that day just sprang up without any kind of design. Smyrna and its streets were planned down to the last detail as it had great architectural minds.
Free City
Smyrna was unique in that it was a free city where they governed themselves, yet at the same time they were one of the most faithful cities in the whole Roman Empire. They vauled their connection to Rome and the citizens loved & supported Rome. In 95BC the citizens of Smyrna learned that the Roman soldiers had no winter clothing, lacked food and were freezing, so the citizens took the clothes off their back, gathered food and sent it to the army.
The Product of Myrrh
The name Smyrna actually came from one of their most produced commerce items of the region, which was myrrh. Myrrh came from a shrub-like tree that produced a bitter gum and when the leaves were crushed, they gave forth a very fragrant great smelling odor. This led to Myrrh being used as a fragrance and an embalming agent for the dead right before they were buried.
Religious Life
Because of what they did in taking care of army, the city was awarded the honor of building a new temple that was to be dedicated for the worship of Tiberius Caesar. It was a very religious city with many temples dedicated to the pantheon of gods and goddesses they worshipped. One could find temples dedicated to Zeus, Cybele, Asklepios, Apollo, and Aphrodite, among many others in various places throughout the city. So magnificent was this city and rich, from the Temple of Zeus to the Temple of Cybele, you could literally walk on a street of gold. In the midst of all of these pagan religions, the city also had a strong Jewish community living there.
The Hidden Darkness of Smyrna
This church was likely started by the Apostle Paul, just not recorded in Acts, or it is possible that believers from nearby Ephesus started this work in the city.
Hidden in the midst of the beauty of the city, there was a darkness lurking in its shadows – they hated Jesus almost unlike any other place in Asia Minor. In the history of the world, you see this a lot in places of great historical beauty, there is a great hatred of the church and Christ that exists.
Outward beauty cannot hide the truth of a place as the work of satan dominated the city. Yet, in the midst of this strong work of satan, a strong and thriving Christian church was thriving as it lived under extreme persecution.
We will see great beauty and tenderness of Jesus as He comes to them with His words and His presence so they will be comforted in very hard days. He tells them that even though they appear to be so weak and poor, they were in fact, rich beyond imagination. They had something the world could not offer, touch or destroy.
Over the next 200 years from 100AD-312AD, the church throughout the world would suffer greatly under much persecution by the hand of the Emperors in Rome. Smyrna would become a prophetic picture of what would happen to the church for 200 years and even in our days.
Both practically and personally, there is a word here for all of us who have or will ever suffer for the glory of Jesus’ name.
I praise God for the persecuted church, for they teach us much about the kind of faith life I am used to – one where I am rarely challenged to be more than just living in safety and comfort.
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