Wednesday Bible Study: The Seven Letters Part two

 

Rev 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. 

Rev 2:9  "'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. 

Rev 2:10  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. 

Rev 2:11  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.' 

Even as short as this letter is, there's a lot to unpack.  This is the Church of Persecution.  And that should help you realize at least this- the modern application doesn't confine itself to 'one letter, one denomination', no matter how much we might like it to.  Every shade of Christendom has one color of each church in it.

But let's stay in this letter.  You may notice that each letter starts with Christ describing Himself by one of the descriptions John gave in his vision.  Last week, Ephesus started with "The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands."  Which meant to a church struggling to share the word, that Christ yet was in charge of the church leaders, and was with each church.  This time, He is the Christ of  "the first and the last, who died and came to life. "  Here, He is both God and Savior- a concept that would be of great value to a church coming under fire from all around.  And this was definitely that.

This was Polycarp's church, and in his day, there was a heavy Jewish presence.  Now the funny thing is, this was a rich and powerful town; it was the Christians alone who were in poverty.  This was an addition to the persecution, one would suppose.  Do you need money to be rich?  In a while, we'll go to Laodicea, where they are described as thinking themselves rich- but to God they are anything but.  Christ will counsel them to buy gold from Him- to trade their love of money for love of Him.  But this, Smyrna is rich in.

There are three things in this letter that really get our attention.  First, it is one of 2 Churches out of seven the Lord has nothing bad to rebuke them on.  To me, this means that for every prayer we say for those in lands of persecution, for every dollar we give to missions, we should pray that they pray FOR US, because in their 'poverty' they are very rich in this.

Second is the part about the Jews there being a 'synagogue of Satan.'  I think Jesus addressed this Himself in John 8:

Joh 8:42  Jesus said to them, "If God were your (the Pharisees) Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 

Joh 8:43  Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 

Joh 8:44  You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 

It was the Jews that eventually demanded Polycarp's execution, taking up the Roman chant that the Christians were actually 'atheists' for not believing as they did.  

The third thing is that mysterious "ten days" of trial that gets mentioned.  I have seen maybe ten (being funny here) explanations for this.  They include ten years of Roman persecutions, or another version, the 'ten persecutions' of Roman Emperors against the Christians.  Another- and I never really found evidence of it- was that the merry chase that Polycarp led them on from the moment that they decided to kill him to the moment he died, was ten days.  It may well have been.  But I like another concept I found- that ten days (or times) has been consistently used as indicating testing.  It starts in Numbers...

Num 14:21  But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD, 

Num 14:22  none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 

Num 14:23  shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. 

Then, in Daniel and the story of refusing the king's table...

Dan 1:11  Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 

Dan 1:12  "Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. 

Dan 1:13  Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see." 

And again in Jeremiah....

Jer 42:5  Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. 

Jer 42:6  Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God." 

Jer 42:7  At the end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. 

And how about that testing?  Polycarp, it is said, was to be burned at the stake- but Daniel like, the flames couldn't burn him.  With thanks to a very reliable in these matters Catholic Encyclopedia:

It was decided, therefore, to burn him alive. The crowd took it upon itself to collect fuel, "the Jews more especially assisting in this with zeal, as is their wont" (cf. the Martyrdom of Pionius). The fire, "like the sail of a vessel filled by the wind, made a wall round the body" of the martyr, leaving it unscathed. The executioner was ordered to stab him, thereupon, "there came forth a quantity of blood so that it extinguished the fire". 

And has Smyrna known persecution and suffering?  Oh yes.  About 25 years after Polycarp's death, a massive earthquake leveled it.  They rebuilt; in 1402, the Mongol Khan Tamerlane destroyed it and butchered the residents.  They rebuilt; and in 1922 came the shameful massacre of Armenians and Greeks by the Turks, while Allied warships, "without orders to act", refused even to send rescue boats, preferring to watch escapees drown trying to swim to them.  Estimates of that death toll range as high as 125,000.

A gloomy end?  Not quite.  Those who persevere in the face of persecution are promised both the Crown of Life, and that the Second Death (judgment) will never touch them.  I wasn't sure what lesson to draw from this, until I saw a commentator compare this award to that of Ephesus, 'To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.'   Here's the difference:  By doing your duty as an evangelist, sharing the Gospel in your life, you will enjoy the life in Heaven.  In facing persecution, you become ROYALTY in Heaven.