This past Sunday, we looked at Jesus’ letter to the church in Smyrna. Smyrna was a large, wealthy and important city known for its trade and famed for its schools of medicine and science. The words of Jesus to the church in Smyrna in Revelation 2:8-11 offer insight into the life of a first-century congregation, and there are many applications for Christians today.
Jesus starts by acknowledging their trials: “I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich!”
Even though Smyrna was a prominent and wealthy city, the Christians living there suffered afflictions and even abject poverty because they refused to worship Caesar as lord. “All that the Christians had to do was to (annually) burn a pinch of incense, say, ‘Caesar is Lord,’ receive their certificate, and go away and worship as they pleased. But that is precisely what the Christians would not do. They would give no man the name of Lord; that name they would keep for Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. They would not even formally conform.” (Barclay)
In spite of their physical poverty, the church of Smyrna was “rich”; that is, they had spiritual wealth that no one could take away (Matthew 6:20).
This church made a choice to honor and follow Jesus regardless of the consequences.
Sometimes material riches are an obstacle to the Kingdom of God, an obstacle that some do not overcome (Mark 10:23-25). There is nothing wrong with having money and possessions; the trouble is that material things so easily “have” us.
If their afflictions and poverty weren’t enough, Jesus continues His Words to them by adding “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days.”
Oh boy, sometimes when it rains it really pours. Their choice for Jesus will including even greater suffering.
However, Jesus says Do not fear: This is better translated “stop being afraid.” The Christians in Smyrna suffered under persecution, and they were afraid. Sometimes we think that Christians who endure persecution are almost super-human, and we sometimes don’t appreciate the depths of fear they struggle with. There were things which they were about to suffer, and Jesus wanted them ready to stand against those things.
Why couldn’t these Christians in Smyrna just rebuke Satan, and stop the attack? Because God had a purpose in their suffering, and so He allowed it. God uses suffering to purify (1 Peter 1:6-7), to make us like Jesus (Romans 8:17), and to make us truly witnesses of Him.
Through their suffering, God displayed the true riches of the church in Smyrna to everyone, including themselves.
The Christians in Smyrna would be tested, but they passed the test. This church, has no rebuke spoken against it. Only this church among the seven survives today, and it has survived through centuries of persecution.
God is also interested in testing us. We may not have the same opportunity to suffer for Jesus that the Christians in Smyrna had, but we can have their same heart. We may never be in a place to die a martyr’s death, but we can all live a martyr’s life.
Sadly today, many Christians avoid persecution of any kind by conforming so much to the world that they are no longer distinctively Christians. Smyrna passed the test but what about us?
Jesus calls them (and us) to remain faithful in their suffering and makes one final promise: “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Revelation 2:10-11