8 ¶ And unto the angel of the
church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was
dead, and is alive; 9 I know thy works,
and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of
them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
10 Fear none of those things which thou
shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may
be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of life. 11
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
Smyrna was another wealthy city in
the Roman province of Asia, now the country of Turkey. The church, at this
time, was poor in the context of the great wealth around it. Persecution
against Christians was rampant. The reference to, “them which say they are
Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan,” has been used to refer to
the strong Jewish population that fought the growth of Christianity there.
Polycarp, student of John, and bishop of Smyrna was burnt to death there and
supposedly the Jews’ fury was so great they violated the Sabbath to gather wood
to burn him.(2)
However, there is another
explanation that concerns we Christians directly. All throughout Christian
history there have been major church organizations that have declared that all
of the promises to the Jews have been transferred to them and that God is done
with the Jews. This is called Replacement Theology and has the Christian church
populated with false Apostles, Nicolaitan priests, and churchmen declaring that
the church is indeed, “the Israel of God,” of Galatians 6:16, but not in the
affirmation of a label that confirms what makes us God’s people, as in
Galatians, but in an institutional transfer that strips the Jews of any future
redemption and grants the church organization with physical properties that go
against other statements in the Bible. For instance, the weapons of our warfare
are not physical or carnal (2Corinthians 10:4) and that the Kingdom of God is
invisible and within us (Luke 17:20,21).
The reference to, “tribulation ten
days,” could be a reference to the ten great persecutions of Christians or the
references in history to ten great persecutions might be reading back into this
verse ten of the persecutions against Christians. There were at least ten great
persecutions and many more, localized ones before the church and state were
united under the Emperor Constantine, at which point the institutional church
became a persecutor itself, which is always the case with state-churches.
If they did not renounce their
faith, they would receive a crown of life, which goes to the persecuted who die
in their faith, never rejecting Christ, as many Christians in the Middle East,
Asia, and Africa are faced with even today.
The second death is defined as;
Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy
is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath
no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with
him a thousand years.
Re velation 20:14 And death and
hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Revelation 21:8 But the fearful,
and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and
sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
When we are born again we can only
die one time, in our flesh. When we reject Christ we will die a second time
when we are cast into the lake of fire into which death and hell are thrown.
Christ commends these churches’
works, labor, patience, poverty, and rejection of evil.
(2) Merrill F. Unger, Archaeology and the New Testament, (Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing, 1962), 281-2.
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