The Church in Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11)

No one really knows how the church in Smyrna commenced, although it is reasonable to assume that it was connected to the period of three years that Paul spent in Ephesus when, according to Luke, all who were in Asia heard the word of the Lord. Smyrna is only thirty-five miles north of Ephesus. Today, Smyrna is called Izmir and it is the third city of Turkey.

Smyrna was a very nice place to live. It was a revived city, the original one having been destroyed in the seventh century BC, with the new one now being about three hundred years old. The destruction had given an opportunity to create a well laid out city, with attractive buildings such as its pagan temples. It was a wealthy city, possessing two harbours, and was the centre of commerce of the surrounding area. The city was marked by its devotion to Rome and the emperor, from whom it received many favours and privileges. Smyrna was noted for its natural beauty – it was called ‘the Queen of the Levant’. But Jesus saw another beauty in it that made it for him one of the most beautiful cities on earth.

 

Smyrna was not a very nice place to live if you were a Christian. The fact that the city officials would implement Roman government rules would ensure that the church would face trouble as a consequence of the emperor’s determination to stamp out Christianity. Further the city was a centre for emperor worship and had built a temple to the Emperor Tiberius. This letter reached the church during a period in which the Emperor Diocletian had made emperor worship compulsory by each citizen having to make an annual affirmation of the emperor’s deity. 

 

Smyrna is famous in church history for the martyrdom of Polycarp, a church father, who was slain in the year 156 at the age of eighty-six. An account of his martyrdom was sent by the church in Smyrna to other churches; in it, it said that he was the twelfth martyr of the church in Smyrna. In all probability, he was a member of the church when this letter was sent by John because Polycarp had been a disciple from his youth, and he would have been about twenty when this letter arrived. 

 

I have no idea regarding the current state of the church in Smyrna. But one author says that in the nineteenth century, the city was called ‘Infidel Smyrna’ by the Turks because of its refusal to abandon the Christian faith. The city had been destroyed and damaged several times over the centuries by invasion and war, but the church there recovered and remained.

 

We can see from this brief letter that the church at that time was facing opposition from two sources. First, the Jews were opposing them; second, the civil authorities were against them (the city was well-known for emperor worship). As we look at the letter, we could describe it as frank and precise. Jesus, in his words to them, tells it as it is. The letter follows the same structure as the other six letters, which means that the first thing that Jesus does is to draw attention to himself.

The description of Jesus (v. 8)

It is possible to say that we cannot understand how someone can be the first and the last. Normally, it would mean that such a person must exist by himself. Even if there were only two people, one of them could not be the first and the last. Moreover, normal understanding would assume that if someone was the first and the last, then whatever he had started would be finished, over. Yet Jesus describes himself in such a manner.

 

Sometimes we like to think of Jesus as only saying simple things. We tend to focus on what we regard as easy to understand. So we might prefer titles such as Jesus is the shepherd. Yet if we know what the Bible says, we will be aware that the kings of Israel were regarded as shepherds of the people. So when Jesus calls himself the shepherd, is he saying that he is the King? I am not going to deal with that question, except to say that it is normal for Jesus to describe himself in ways that are not obvious in their meaning initially.

 

In this description of himself, Jesus reveals that he is both divine and human. His deity is seen in the phrase ‘the first and the last’ and his humanity is stated in the clause ‘who died and came to life’. We have met people who can say a great deal in a few words, but we must acknowledge that what Jesus says about himself in this short self-description is concise, accurate and astonishing. The reality is that no one else in the universe can so describe himself. Here we have a description of a unique person.

 

Jesus is God

When Jesus says that he is the first and the last, it is a similar claim as to when he says that he is the Alpha and the Omega (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet). He is also citing what God says about himself in the Old Testament: ‘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”’ (Isa. 44:6); that is an interesting verse because two divine persons are speaking, with one of them calling himself God’s Redeemer. The other reference is Isaiah 48:12-13: ‘Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last. My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together.’ 

At a basic level, Jesus is saying that he was there at the beginning and that he will be there at the end. Our minds can go to the words of Psalm 102 that are quoted in the Book of Hebrews about Jesus. He is the First in this way: ‘You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.’ He is the Last in this way: ‘they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed.’ Between those divine activities, the psalm says about him, ‘But you are the same, and your years will have no end’ (Heb. 1:10-12).

It is difficult, if not impossible, for us to imagine someone or something that has no beginning. When it comes to Jesus, we encounter such a person. He is fully God. What does that say about him? Here are some examples. He never had to learn anything because he is omniscient. He never lacked anything because he is infinite. He never improved in any way because he is perfect. Before God created the universe, Jesus enjoyed eternal fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Then when the creation took place, Jesus was fully involved in all that occurred. After the creation happened, he with the Father and the Holy Spirit was worshipped continually by the heavenly host. He was the King of creation, the ruler of all. Sadly, it was against this King that some of his creatures rebelled against, including the entire human race. Yet he maintained the universe in existence by the power of his word.

 

Obviously, the fact that he is the Son of God means that Jesus is very great, worthy of worship from us and from all other creatures. But strange though it may sound, we cannot stop with his deity. Something extraordinary would take place regarding his person before he would complete his tasks as the First and the Last.

 

Jesus is man

Before he would engage in his activities as the Last, the Son of God would do something truly incredible – he would become a man. This divine action, which involved each of the divine persons, meant that the divine Son humbled himself in order to become a man. He did this by adding a human nature to his divine person at the moment his human nature was conceived in the womb of Mary. Why did he do this? He did it because he was on a mission of mercy, he was on a mission on behalf of God in order to bring spiritual blessings to sinners, including those to whom he later sent this letter.

 

Unlike others who are born, Jesus was born to die. Everyone who is born will die, but all apart from Jesus will die because they are sinners. Jesus would die because he is the Saviour. He became a man, as we know, in order to have a perfect life that would qualify him to be the substitute of sinners. On the cross, he would be a flawless sacrifice and he offered himself in the place of sinners. He was not there as a martyr for a cause or as a victim of circumstances. Rather he was there to pay the penalty that God demanded as the payment of sin. On the cross, he endured the wrath of God, but he endured it lovingly. We can say that on the cross he magnified the law by loving God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength, and his neighbour as himself.

 

The ever-living One entered into death. He dismissed his spirit into the hands of his Father and his body was placed in a tomb by his friends. Three days later, he rose again, but he did not rise merely for himself as a Victor over death. Rather he rose as the first-fruits, the first of an innumerable number who would share his victory. Imagine what the reminder of his resurrection would mean to the Christians in Smyrna who had been told in this letter that they would die for their faith. In an unusual way, they would follow in his steps in that, while they would die, it was certain that they would rise as well. 

 

So this divine title is one of immense encouragement. We don’t only have a Saviour who can create universes. We have a Saviour who can do greater things than that. Nor do we have only a Saviour who could become a man. If that was all that he did, then he would only be a Spectator of our dilemma. But he became a man so that he could die. Instead of being a spectator, he became a Participator and a Rescuer. 

 

In Revelation 1:17-18, Jesus connects this title to his resurrected and exalted state: ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.’ Now he is alive for evermore. Does this title not imply that he is saying, ‘I am from eternity to eternity, and in between I control the whole of time?’

 

Surely, it is worth listening to the words of such a Person. Usually, words come out of our experiences. Each of us says what we say because of what we have known or because of what we might suspect we will go through. How does Jesus speak? He speaks as God and he speaks as man, he speaks according to who he is and what he has done and will yet do. This means that even his short letter to the church in Smyrna is worth listening to very carefully because the One who speaks is describing truly amazing things.

 

The recognition by Jesus (v. 9)

Living as a Christian in the first century had its problems. First, religion had to be authorised. Initially, Christianity had been regarded as a Jewish sect, but that was no longer the case, and the authorities could take steps to punish them. Second, there were trade guilds connected to the temple worship, and those guilds could affect one’s employment if a person was not prepared to join them.

 

The assessment of Jesus at an initial reading may seem full of discouragement because it highlights his awareness of their troubles without doing anything to relieve them. Yet when we look a bit closer at what he says, he indicates that the reverse is true. The opposition and persecution they had endured had brought temporal poverty into their experience, an indication that many of them had lost much of their assets. Despite those losses Jesus assures them that they are rich. What does he mean?

 

Two suggested answers can be given, and there may be more. One is that they had not lost any of their spiritual blessings. In Ephesians 1, Paul reminds his readers that they had been blest with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Those blessings that he mentions in that chapter – election, adoption, redemption, inheritance, and the work of the Spirit in their hearts – were still the privilege of the believers in Smyrna and could not be removed from them. This is an important perspective to have on life with its potential problems, which for us are far less than having to cope with persecution.

 

The second possible meaning is that their troubles were actually bringing them additional spiritual prosperity. Paul reminded the Corinthians that their light afflictions were producing for them an eternal weight of glory. Jesus had told his disciples to lay up treasures in heaven, and one way of doing that is by serving him faithfully even when it is very costly. After all, every loss for Jesus is an investment in his bank. 

 

No doubt, the real challenge that comes to us from such a description is how we assess true wealth. By earthly standards, the Christians in Smyrna were poor; by heavenly standards, they were rich. They were rich in faith; they were rich as heirs of the kingdom. Their treasures were secure in heaven and nothing could reduce their value. Jesus would ensure that would be the case. Paul reminds his readers that the riches of Christ are unsearchable. He does not mean that we cannot start searching, but he does mean that it is not possible to come to an of searching.

 

In his assessment of how things were, Jesus mentions that he is aware that the Jews are slandering his people. He informs them that, in reality, those Jews were not true Jews because a true Jew would serve God. Sadly, they had become opponents of God and had become a gathering who did the will of the devil. In other locations, Jews had reported Christians to the authorities and perhaps that is what they were doing in Smyrna. This was not the first time that Jesus had said this about groups of Jews – he told some who opposed him that they were of their father, the devil (John 8:44). Whatever else can be said about this description, we can see how seriously Jesus took the actions of the Jews in Smyrna.

 

It is possible that the slander of the Jews was connected to their opinion that the Christians did not possess the spiritual blessings that they claimed to have. Christians claimed to be followers of the Messiah, claimed to have forgiveness of their sins, claimed to belong to the family of God, and claimed to have a living hope of being glorified in the presence of Jesus when he would return. The Jews would have stated that such blessings did not exist and that the Christians were liars for claiming to have them. They may even have questioned their motives for saying what they did about Jesus and his kingdom.

 

It is an immense comfort for God’s people to know that Jesus knows the truth of all situations. The Jews in Smyrna could say and do what they wished, yet their accusations would have seemed small in heaven, apart from the fact that Jesus regards what is done against his people as also done against him. He will yet defend his people in Smyrna from everything that was against them when the judgment seat comes.

 

But it is also important to consider in what way Jesus knows their troubles. It could mean that he is sympathetic or empathetic. There is a difference between those responses. I can have sympathy and feel for a man who loses something, but I can only have empathy if I have lost the same thing myself. In empathy, I can stand in their shoes. Jesus is more than sympathetic. He knows our troubles because we are united to him by the Holy Spirit. Even as he said to the persecutor Saul of Tarsus, ‘Why are you persecuting me?’, he could have said to the persecutors in Smyrna, ‘Why are you persecuting me?’ As somebody once said, Jesus knows how to empathise whether it be a headache or a heartache. He has stood in the shoes of his people, he has been there.

 

The exhortation by Jesus (v. 10)

This exhortation by Jesus is a call to his people in Smyrna to suffer in a God-honouring manner. Perhaps they had prayed to be released from their sufferings. It would have been normal for them to have done so. Yet sometimes genuine prayer requests are not answered in the way that the petitioners would like. The words of Jesus give insight into how we should understand opposition to the faith. 

 

The instruction that Jesus gives is that they are not to fear what is about to happen. It is important to recognise that Jesus is not telling them to be stoical and indifferent about their sufferings. Nor is he asking them to pretend that the sufferings are not real. Instead he is informing them that they should have a proper attitude towards them, and he spells out what the correct attitude should be. So how can they have this attitude?

 

First, they should recognise that the devil is behind much of what will take place. He will cause violence to be expressed towards some of them, perhaps towards their leaders. The devil will express his animosity and hatred of God’s people in whatever way he can, and he would do so in Smyrna through violent persecution. It is important to realise that in those days one usually did not go to prison in order to serve a sentence. Instead, one was put in prison because he had been sentenced to be executed. Jesus is telling this church that some of them are going to die for the faith. 

 

Second, there was another reason why those troubles were coming their way and this reason was that God was testing them as to their loyalty and affection for him. Often, the same circumstance can be a test from God and a temptation from the devil. When the church in Smyrna saw some of their number arrested and condemned, they would be tempted to give up and they would be tested to see if they would continue in the faith. The devil would tempt them, and God would test them simultaneously. That dual aspect happens to Christians in all kinds of ways and not just in big events such as persecution.

 

Third, they were informed that the period of testing was limited by God. Jesus says that it would last for ten days. Probably, the ten days is not literal, but it is also the case that ten days is a long time when one is persecuted. Circumstances for the church in Smyrna seemed to be out of control, but they were not. God had his hand on the process and the persecution would not last a minute longer than he allowed. So Jesus told them why the persecution was happening and for how long it would last.

 

Fourth, Jesus told them that there is a great reward for faithfulness. What is faithfulness? The word itself tells us that there is a connection between faith and faithfulness even as there is a connection between the two words ‘trust’ and ‘trustworthy’. A faithful person serves God because he trusts in God. He believes what God promises and therefore serves him lovingly. Jesus gives a large promise in order to encourage faithfulness when he mentions that he will give the crown of life to his faithful people.

 

What is the crown of life? There is an allusion to what happened to a person who won a race at the ancient games. Instead of a medal he would be given a garland shaped like a crown. There is probably not a reference to royalty in this description, but to the reward, which is eternal life. At the least, we can see that those who die for Jesus do not lose out because they are immediately given life by Jesus. And surely it is also an incentive to remain loyal to Jesus because he will maintain his loyalty to them.

 

How would those four details help the sufferers in Smyrna? I don’t think that they would automatically help them without the personal application of them to their hearts by the Holy Spirit. But it is also the case that the Holy Spirit would apply the words of Jesus to them. The church in Smyrna was involved in a spiritual conflict, and in that conflict they would receive strength and grace from heaven that would enable them to benefit immensely from the exhortation given to them by the Saviour.

 

The reward of Jesus

As with all the similar rewards mentioned in this set of letters, this one is addressed by the Spirit to all the churches. The believer who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. It is not difficult to work out what the second death is – it is the experience of a lost eternity. The first death may be physical death or spiritual death, but the second death is eternal death. From the words of Jesus, we can see that the second death is conscious because it will bring hurt.

 

We can say a few things about the second death. First, it is deserved because it is the penalty of sin. Second, it is dreadful because it is the endless experience of divine wrath. Third, it is what the gospel delivers us from when we trust in Jesus, the One who suffered on the cross. It does not do any harm to think about the second death, but it will help us to think about it through those three words – deserved, dreadful and delivered. How thankful we should be for Jesus!

 

Application

First, we can think of where those people from Smyrna are now. This letter describes where they were in the last decade of the first century. They were suffering for the faith. Today, they have received the crown of life. Indeed they have experienced it in heaven for almost two thousand years. They lived for Jesus and now their souls live with Jesus. Their future is one of great glory in the presence of God.

 

Second, there is a connection between the name of the city and myrrh. Myrrh, as we know, gives a pleasant fragrance, but before it can do so, it has to be crushed. What a pleasant fragrance this church sent up to heaven when it was crushed! Hopefully, we can still catch something of the fragrance of this church because it has been recorded in the Bible for that purpose. 

 

Third, how do we hold out against strong opposition? The church in Smyrna was under attack from the pagan government and from the religious Jews. They did not have ‘friends’ in the city. The way that they would hold out against their opponents was by having big views of Jesus and his work, and by keeping in mind the great future that belongs to the people of God. 

 

Fourth, we do not need a lot of earthly resources to survive. The Christians in Smyrna had little of this world’s assets. Yet they had a future because Jesus informed them that only some of them would be arrested and killed. It is well-known that usually the churches that suffer for the Lord survive against all the odds. Smyrna had a future because at the time Jesus spoke there was no threat to its lampstand. 

 

Fifth, the devil hates the people of God. We need to remind ourselves that the devil is consistent in this regard. While he cannot touch God, he aims to destroy the church and sometimes the method he favours is persecution. Many churches today are going through the experience that Smyrna endured towards the end of the first century. 

 

Sixth, there is no rebuke made by Jesus about the church in Smyrna, yet she seems to have the church of the seven who suffered the most. Here we are reminded that we cannot judge spirituality by providence. Their losses were not evidence of divine judgement but of their determined devotion to Jesus. It was obvious that they put Jesus first. The day is coming when they will hear him say to them, ‘Well done!’