7: Persecutable in Smyrna

Some history on Smyrna: There is no record of how Christianity came to Smyrna. Like the other Asian cities, Smyrna was probably reached as a result of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus (compare Acts 19:10). Long story, short, Smyrna was only about 35 miles from Ephesus and on the main trade route to and from the province of Asia and the Western Rome. The first three cities (Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamum) were rivals for power and prestige. Smyrna (the modern Izmir) laid claim on its coins to being the “first city of Asia in size and beauty” (Ramsay 1904:255), and it was indeed a city of great natural beauty. Well over a century after Revelation was written, the traveler Apollonius of Tyana urged the Smyrneans “to take pride rather in themselves than in the beauty of their city; for although they had the most beautiful of cities under the sun, and although they had a friendly sea at their doors, which held the springs of the zephyr, nevertheless, it was more pleasing for the city to be crowned with men than with porticoes and pictures, or even with gold in excess of what they needed” (Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 4.7; translation from Loeb Classical Library edition, 1.357). What we know about Smyrna is from a guy named Polycarp. Polycarp was the bishop of Smyrna in the 2^nd century. According to tradition and historical records, he was a disciple of John the Apostle and was ordained by him to be bishop of the church in Smyrna. Polycarp was one of the first Christians to fight against heretics. His most famous work was a letter to the Philippian church discrediting the work of heretics giving Christians a bad name and using the faith in the wrong way. Last thing about Polycarp before we read today’s passage and break it down to how it applies to our life—he lived, ate and breathed Jesus Christ and the gospel. In fact, he was so fierce in his beliefs that he was burned at the stake, as a martyr. The story goes that Polycarp was burned at the stake for refusing to burn incense to the Roman Emperor. But not before he supposedly compiled, edited and published the New Testament and taught the future church leaders, guys like Irenaeus, Ignatius, and Tertullian. Let me tell you Polycarp’s last words before being burned alive:  “Eighty and six years I have served him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and Saviour? Bring forth what thou wilt.” Having said that, let’s pray. Now, let’s go. Revelations 2:8 ⁸ “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. ⁹ I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.¹⁰ Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. ¹¹ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death. So when we read Revelations 2:8-11 we get a sense that John was writing to the church leaders at Smyrna, namely this guy Polycarp. I say that because it foreshadows Polycarp’s life and John ordained the guy. Let’s analyze verse 8. “These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.” Everybody knows that John is talking about Jesus here. Just in case we’re not sure, I’m going to give you Biblical proof. Isaiah 44:6, “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.” John connects “him” who is Jesus and God incarnate, to the idea of the “I am” which is what God refers himself to when speaking to Moses and therefore, the words of God because Jesus is the first born of all creation, and the second Adam, who came to die and rise again giving his believers new life, is this person in verse 8. Here’s the reason why the people in Smyrna should listen to what’s coming next in verse 9 and it’s more implicit proof that this word to them is coming from God and not some crazy person with a hat. 1 Corinthians 15:17-20: ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.  Now, that we’ve proven to the people of Smyrna who is addressing this letter, because the Bible, proves itself and doesn’t need anything else to stand on, therefore, the people of Smyrna will believe that John is writing this to them. Remember the theme seven—representing wholeness, this writing was for the purpose of this church becoming whole, both the church in Smyrna and our church that is reading this two thousand years later. The message to Smyrna accents the contrast between the Roman city and the congregation of Christians who lived there. ⁹ I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! If the city was rich (as Apollonius, the first of many travel guide book writers), the Christian community was poor, yet had its own kind of riches (v. 9). If the city was crowned “with porticoes and pictures, or even with gold in excess of what they needed,” the angel of the church in Smyrna was promised the crown of life (v. 10), or (in the words of another New Testament writer) the crown consisting of the “life that God has promised to those who love him” (Jas 1:12). Verse 9’s application to our lives is undoubtedly very peculiar. There is an inverse relationship between spiritual richness and temporal richness, meaning that if you’re poor monetarily in this age, you’re usually rich spiritually. Jesus makes this analogy with the rich young man who had it all but would never gain entry into the kingdom of heaven. He says in fact, that if you are rich, then going to heaven would be like a camel going through the eye of a needle. What this implies is that there is a dependence factor that we need to be aware of in our lives. Now, I know nobody here is so rich that he or she thinks that they are rich. But we can all agree, even on our thinnest days, we eat pretty well. We’re not dependent on God for anything in terms of sustenance. We might cry about how we cannot afford some things, but most things, if we save and skip a meal or two or a night out on the town every month, we could come to terms to buying it. We’re not hungry or in need, really. I can say because of this, our dependence on God goes down. I mean, it goes way down. So we are spiritually and faithfully poor. Let’s not talk about this in terms of money, but perhaps gadgets and discuss this in terms of manufactured words. We are rich in things or rich in talents or rich in our brains so our dependence becomes of those things and less and less on God. You know what I’m talking about. We can get away with playing to our own areas of dependence and be stripped of being stretched into a working faith from God. This is why churches that don’t have dependence on God and a dependence on their own skills and mastery tend to die off and become irrelevant. This is why people stop coming to church, because they go to second rate college and they think they know a little something about economics and now they can make some little itty bit of money and they don’t need God anymore because they’re not being antagonized like they were in high school and they’re able to drive around in their little Nissan Sentras and Honda Civics—drive a real car man, at least a minivan! What about us tongue lashers? Don’t you love how some of us live and die by the tongue? Is there a reliance on God when we lash out with our mouths. We’re definitely rich there, we’re defending our so called honor and dignity. What did we prove except that we’re no better than the jerk face that slandered us? We definitely proved that there is no difference between God’s children and Satan’s children at this point of the deal. Vice versa now, when people are spiritually rich, and that means that they have much grace, they have strong faith and so much outwardly works that it bleeds out into the populace around them, there is a poorness about them because there is a dependence on Christ for life. That is to say that their focus, their energies, their lifestyles are focused so totally elsewhere that they look impoverished by the world’s standards. Don’t you see how kids dress? How kids act? They are so totally rich in spirit, and dependent that they look impoverished. Let’s keep reading verse 9. I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. The Bible isn’t really politically correct. I’m just going to say that out front. You knew this coming in that I was borderline edgy with very little filter, but the Bible is very clearly just blunt times a thousand. You’ll see this phrase again in a few weeks, but here’s what is going on. Some people in our lives, just as they did back way back when, will say they are believers and then slander you because you stopped depending on the world, so you look like God has failed you and walked away but really God is taking it up a notch spiritually and is doing wonders that you don’t even realize. These people are called straight out “church from hell.” Let’s go to verse 10 because this idea connects to the next. ¹⁰ Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. Let them talk! The Bible says, “Let them try to go screw you over, and I bet you have already been screwed over royally more than once or twice.” Jesus is saying I know you will have a full life time of being screwed over, that’s the “ten days” motif. It’s used in Genesis and in Daniel and illustrates a full time of trials. Jesus says, when that’s over, people will know you’re still alive and being crowned by me [Jesus]. Nowhere were the words be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life, more aptly fulfilled than in the life and death of Polycarp. Let’s wrap this up. ¹¹ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death. Which church are we? Are we rich in things and dependent on those things or are we rich in spirit? Are we the rich in spirit every single day? Or are we poor in spirit? Moreover, how can we become more rich in spirit in the egalitarian city of New York? What does it mean to be live impoverished and in affliction?