Revelation 2:8-11
~19 minutes
💭 Consider this: How/when are you most tempted to become unfaithful to God? What does it mean for you, personally, to be faithful to God in your calling/s? Be as specific as possible.
TRANSCRIPT
I greet all of you in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Our text for this morning's message is taken from Revelation 2:8-11.
Today, we celebrate our 38th anniversary, which means 38 years have come and gone. There are many things that have transpired, many things we have done, as well as failed to do. Many things we have done successfully, as well as poorly, as a church. What will the Lord say to us when we meet Him? Will He commend us, or will He rebuke us?
In the Book of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, there were seven churches. They were historical churches, which means they existed almost 2,000 years ago. And they were symbolic because they represented the churches throughout history. Some of those churches received both commendation and rebuke; others received only rebuke. There were two churches that received only commendations, and they were Philadelphia and Smyrna.
The church in Smyrna was being persecuted tremendously, but despite going through great suffering they remained faithful. It was a pure church. Dear friend, whatever is done cannot be undone; whatever has passed is past. We want to move forward to be a church, a family, an individual that will only receive commendation from our Lord. This is what we want to learn from our message as we consider the church in Smyrna.
God has a purpose in all things, including allowing suffering, afflictions, problems and troubles into our lives. Sometimes He uses trials to purify His church so that all the people remaining in the church are pure, committed Christians. There were not many hypocrites in those days because the people were not ready to lose their lives for something they did not believe in. If they were not true believers they would not claim to be Christians, because by professing to be Christians they might lose their lives.
Once, there was a pastor from one of the liberal Western countries and a pastor from one of the Eastern countries under the communist regime.
The Western pastor said, ‘In my church, many profess to be believers but it is very difficult to ascertain whether they truly believe or not.’
The Eastern pastor replied, ‘In my church, everyone who professes his faith truly believes.’
The Western pastor asked, ‘How do you know?’
He replied, ‘Well, in my church, in my country, if a person professes to be a believer he will be persecuted. He may be put into prison or even killed. Nobody wants to go through that unless he truly believes.’
It was the same situation in the church in Smyrna. The people truly believed and they were persecuted. Perhaps the days ahead of us will be filled with much trials, tribulations and troubles. Let us learn from the church in Smyrna that you and I will truly believe in – who we believe in - the Lord Jesus Christ. That you and I will remain faithful even unto death and when we see Him face to face, we will receive only commendation.
The title of our message is: ‘Be Thou Faithful Unto Death.’
I. The Divine Encouragement
The first spiritual lesson we want to learn is ‘The Divine Encouragement’. So let us begin with Revelation 2:8, "And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive".
Who is the one who is the first and the last - who was dead and is alive? He is none other than Jesus Christ. In Revelation 1:8, Jesus says, "I am Alpha and Omega" - Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet - "The beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come." In Revelation 1:18, Jesus said, "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."
The author of the Book of Revelation was the Apostle John. He was not the one writing to the church per se. The real author was our Lord Jesus Christ. So it was not John writing about his own opinions; he was relating direct information from the mouth of Jesus Christ. Christ was the one who wrote the letter; he, John, was just an instrument in delivering the message.
If the Prime Minister of Australia writes you a letter, perhaps you will be very encouraged and concerned about the content of the letter. However, it is just a letter written by a mere human being. This letter written to the church was penned not by an ordinary person – He was the One Living and True God, the Everlasting Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was writing to a suffering church and He was telling them, ‘I know exactly what you are going through because I was once put to death. I know you may be worried about persecution and death. Well, do not worry; I have been there. I am the Son of Man who came and suffered. I was crucified and died but death could not consume me, because on the third day I rose again from the dead. I am the resurrection and the life.’
To a suffering church, this was tremendous encouragement. When Jesus said, ‘I was dead and am alive,’ the people were suffering and knew they might die. And Jesus was telling them, ‘Well I suffered and died but look, I came out the other side of the grave and I am alive. And because I live, ye shall live also.’ Indeed, one day you and I have to die but death is not the end of everything. Because just as Jesus was risen from the dead, our bodies will be raised from the grave to be united with our souls in a glorified body. And we will live forever and ever in the mansion that He has gone to prepare for us. Do you believe in that?
"And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write" - the word ‘angel’ means messenger, a reference to the pastor. So Christ was speaking to the pastor of Smyrna. According to church history, the pastor of Smyrna was a man named Polycarp. He remained as the pastor until his death somewhere around AD 155. Christ had this message for him and He wanted him to relate this message to the entire congregation.
The word ‘Smyrna’ is very interesting. The original Greek word is translated as ‘Myrrh.’ Myrrh was a substance derived from a thorny tree. It could be used as a perfume or ointment. Oftentimes it was spread on the people in religious ceremonies. If you notice, myrrh was used in Christ's birth, Christ's crucifixion, and Christ's burial.
Do you remember when our Lord Jesus was born? There were wise men from the East who came and brought before Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. According to Mark 15:23 when Jesus was crucified on the cross, He was offered wine mixed with myrrh. Those who crucified Him were trying to numb His senses but the Bible says Christ received it not. According to John 19:39, a mixture of myrrh and aloes (about 100 pounds) was used to prepare the body of Christ after He died. So myrrh was present at Christ's birth, death, and burial. Significantly, it was used to refer to the suffering of Jesus Christ.
When our Lord Jesus suffered on the cross, He was offered myrrh. When He had died, His body was embalmed with myrrh. Since myrrh refers to suffering, it is interesting that this church, a suffering church, a persecuted church, was located in Smyrna. Can you imagine? Hundreds of years before God established the church in that city, He already prepared it with the name Smyrna. He knew that this would be a suffering church.
Dear friend, our God is an All-Knowing God. He knows Bethel BP Church even before we decided to call it Bethel. Before the foundation of the world, He knows what you and I will be going through. He knows who would be the members of this church, who would be the ones serving Him in this church. All these years, people have lived and died. People have come and gone. Do you think God does not know? He knows. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
It is a great encouragement to all of us that our God knows everything about us. Man may misunderstand us. They may not know what we do, but our God knows our services, our struggles, our perseverance, our faithfulness - and that is all that matters.
Some people may ask, why did God allow persecutions to come to His church? Another interesting thing about myrrh is that it has to be crushed before it releases any fragrance. The more it is crushed, the more fragrant it becomes. The same thing is true of the church in Smyrna. The more the people were crushed, the sweeter the aroma. The more they were persecuted for Jesus Christ, the more they released the fragrance of their faith and love for Him.
God permitted Satan to trouble the church. The harder the trouble, the more God released the sweet aroma of His grace and mercy. That is our God. It is interesting to see what happens to a believer or a church in times of trouble. They are very much like a child. When a child is hurt or wounded, his normal response would be to run to his mother and explain where it hurts. The mother, who loves the child, will quickly embrace and comfort him. The suffering believer or the church responds in much the same way. The more we are crushed, the more we run to Jesus Christ. Trials can never destroy the church; they only drive us to our Almighty God.
Dear friend, when do you find yourself running to Jesus? When things are bad, right? When your health is failing, when you receive a devastating medical report, when you struggle to pay your bills, when you face adversities and adversaries, when you experience pain and afflictions—that is when you run to your Lord. Perhaps that will encourage us to understand why God will allow trials into our lives. He knows what it takes for you and me to run to Him. If it takes a trial, He will bring that trial so that we will run and cry out to Him and cling onto Him.
If you compare the church in Smyrna with the church in Ephesus, they were totally different. Those people in Ephesus had everything—no problems, no persecution. But what did they lose? Love. The Bible says they left their first love. The church in Smyrna did not lose their love. The more the world hated them, the more they loved Jesus. The more the world persecuted them, the more they ran to Him.
II. The Divine Assurance
So, firstly there is this divine encouragement. Secondly, there's this divine assurance.
Look at the first part of verse 9, "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty (but thou art rich)" - Jesus is a compassionate Saviour and He says ‘I know your works, I know your tribulation, I know your poverty’. What better assurance can we have than the Creator of the heavens and the earth saying to us, ‘I know what you have done. I know what you are going through. I know what situation you are in. I know everything about you. I know you better than you know yourself.’
The word ‘know’ here is to know by experience, not by observation. In other words, Jesus knows what we are going through by experience. Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Jesus understands. Because as the Son of God who became the Son of Man, He was subjected to pain, afflictions, struggles, troubles and trials of all sorts. He was hungry, thirsty, tired and sleepy at times. He was subjected to the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, like as we are. The only difference is, He is perfect, without sin. So He knows by experience.
The church in Smyrna was being persecuted for three primary things. Firstly, it was Emperor worship. Two hundred years before Christ was born, about 195 BC, the city of Rome had already become a centre for Emperor worship. Initially, the people started by worshipping Rome and later they worshipped Caesar. Caesar was a god to the people. However, the Christians in Smyrna refused to worship the statue of Caesar. They were faithful. They refused to bow down and were persecuted.
Secondly, the Christians lived in a society that was heavily involved in pagan worship. There were temples, festivals and idols in the thousands. They were everywhere. Just like we have lamp posts along the streets, they had pagan idols along their streets. Again, the Christians in Smyrna refused to bow down to idols and they were ostracised by the society.
Today we may not face the pressure to bow down to the king or to pagan idols, but we do face the pressure to bow down to so many things—whether it be money, material things, enjoyment, entertainment, celebrities, influential people, government officials or other intangible things like the philosophies, ideologies and value systems of this world. God does not want us to bow down to these things. He is the President of our lives and He must always be the centre of our lives.
The real persecution did not come from those who worshipped the Emperor or the idol worshippers. It came from the Jews. Look at the second part of verse 9, "I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan." Christ calls these particular Jews the synagogue of Satan. What does He mean by that? A synagogue is an assembly or a gathering. The Jews once went to the synagogue of God, but that same synagogue was no longer the synagogue of God; it became the synagogue of Satan. Why? Because they rejected the Messiah. If you do not have Jesus Christ in your life and God is not your God, then your master is Satan, whether you are a Jew or a Gentile. It doesn't matter.
Jesus says, ‘I know the blasphemy.’ They were slandering the Christians. They despised Christianity. In the early days of the church, many of the followers of Judaism despised the Christians. For example, the Apostle Paul was a Jew. He hated the Christians. Before he was saved he spent most of his time trying to kill the Christians, thinking that he was doing God a favour. When the people despised the Christians, they despised Christianity. When Christianity is despised, then Christ is despised. And if Christ is despised, then God is blasphemed.
Dear friend, perhaps you have been despised by people who came to know that you were a Christian and because of that, they hated you. Well, do not be offended. They are not against you per se; they are against the God whom you represent. They are against your Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. That is the blasphemy.
III. The Divine Promise
Let us move on to our third point, ‘The Divine Promise’.
Remember, Jesus said, ‘I know thy poverty.’ What kind of poverty was that? The Christians in Smyrna were in a desperate situation. They were persecuted, they lost their jobs, they lost their homes, they were robbed. They had nothing. From a human standpoint, they would have cursed God and died, but they did not. They remained faithful. The harder it became, the more they trusted God. That is why the only church God will honour is the one that is true to His Word and Jesus Christ.
The glory of the church is not in the size or the wealth. It is not this building. It is in the purity. And as the old preachers used to say, if it takes a little persecution and suffering and trial to purify the church, then bring it—and bring it fast.
Notice Christ said, “but thou art rich” (Revelations 2:9), how could they be called rich? What did they have? Laodicea claimed they were rich but God said you were wretched. You can read about that in Revelation 3:17.
Smyrna said, 'We are poor', but God said, 'You are rich.' Rich in what? Rich in love, joy, peace, grace and a faithfulness to the Word of God. Laodicea had none of this. They were wretched. Smyrna had it all and God said, 'You are rich.' They had nothing the world had to offer, but they had everything God had to offer. That is what it means to be rich in the eyes of God.
Dear friend, are you pursuing to be rich in the eyes of the world or to be rich in the eyes of God? One life to live—how are you living this life? The world wants to captivate our attention so that you and I will pursue after what she has to offer: big mansions, fanciful cars, glamorous garments, fine dining, and so forth. There's nothing sinful in those things. But what the problem is, is that it will draw our attention away and it will keep us focused on temporal and physical things, forgetting about spiritual and eternal things.
The world wants you and I to look at the church in terms of dollars and cents. How successful the church is will be determined by how much resources we have; how many members we have. One day when we stand before our Almighty God, He will say something to us. The question is, what will He say? Will He say to us, 'You think you are rich, but you are wretched'? Or will He say, 'You think you are poor, but I say to you, you are rich'?
I pray that all of us will pursue to be rich in the eyes of the Almighty God because that will last forever and ever.
Verse 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" (Revelation 2:10). The devil will throw some of them into prison and bring about severe tribulation ten times over, but Jesus said there’s no need to be afraid. Just be faithful unto death.
Remember, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending. Nothing happens outside His sovereign will. Nothing happens unless He permits, and He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can endure. If we have to die, death is but the instrument to usher us into His presence. When that happens, Jesus says, 'I’m going to reward you with a crown of life because you have remained faithful, you have continued to proclaim my name.' That is a most wonderful promise for every believer who is faithful, even unto death.
Verse 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" (Revelation 2:11). The first death is the physical death. The second death is the eternal death in hell. As ‘Hebrews 9:27’ says, “As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement.”
Believers and unbelievers will experience the first death unless our Lord Jesus comes in the rapture and then you and I will be caught up to meet Him in the clouds. Otherwise, all of us in this room will have to experience death—the first one. Only the unbelievers will experience the second death because they will face the judgement and be sent to eternal damnation. A million upon a million years, the fire still keeps burning in the Lake of Fire.
If you do not overcome, you are going to spend eternity in hell. How can you overcome? 1 John 5:5 says, “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” The only way you can overcome is to believe in Jesus. If you are in danger of the second death, that you will be judged and sent into the eternal Lake of Fire, well take heed. You need to overcome, and the only way you can overcome sin and death is by believing in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me” (John 14:6). He is the only way. If you reject Him, you reject the only way and there will be the second death waiting for you.
This is not a scare tactic; this is the truth. The Bible tells us, 'It is appointed unto men once to die, after this the judgement.' For the believers, we are not afraid of the second death because if we are in Christ, we will not be condemned. We are saved by His precious blood. But we are mindful that we will still have to stand before the Bema Seat of Christ to be judged for our works. So whether our works be gold, silver and precious stones, or just wood, hay and stubble. Gold, silver, and precious stones are of high-quality materials; they are supposed to stand the fire. Wood, hay and stubble will be burned up and will go up in a puff of smoke.
We are concerned about what our Lord Jesus will say about our works, so we do not want to live our lives just going through the motions—'Well, it is Sunday, so I go to church; it is prayer meeting, so I go to church,' but our hearts are not there. We do not want to serve our God with the wrong intentions and motivations. We do not want to live our days doing things that are of no eternal value at all, with no connection to God and His glory. Everything we do, say and think, we want to consider Him. It is for Him and Him alone so that when we stand before Him, our works will be like gold, silver, and precious stones.
We want to remain faithful even unto death, whatever it may be—whether it is by cancer, by accident, by heart attack, by old age or by persecution. We want to remain faithful until the day we die so that we can receive the commendation from our Lord. A moment ago, I said that the pastor of the church in Smyrna was a person called Polycarp. History has left us with an account of the death of Polycarp. It was told that the Jews joined the pagans in persecuting Polycarp because of his Christian faith. They wanted to burn him alive.
Here I have the testimony of Polycarp. Allow me to read for you. Polycarp was betrayed by a slave who was tortured and collapsed. They came to arrest him but even the police captain did not wish to see Polycarp die. On the way to the city, he pleaded with Polycarp, 'Why don’t you just say Caesar is Lord and offer sacrifice and be saved?' But Polycarp said to him, 'Only Jesus Christ is Lord.'
When he entered the arena, the judge gave him the choice of cursing the name of Christ and making a sacrifice to Caesar - or death. 'Eighty-six years have I served Him,' said Polycarp, 'and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who has saved me?' The judge threatened him with burning and Polycarp replied, 'You threaten me with a fire that burns for a time and is quickly quenched, but you do not know the fire that awaits the wicked in the judgement and in everlasting punishment. Why are you waiting? Come, do what you will.'
So the crowd came bringing the ropes and wood for the fire, even though they were breaking the Sabbath law by carrying such burdens. As they were binding him to the stake, Polycarp said to them, 'Leave me as I am, for He who gives me the power to endure the fire will also grant me to remain in the flames unmoved, even without the security you give by the ropes.' So they left him untied in the flames and Polycarp died for Christ. Even unto death, he remained faithful.
Remember at the beginning, Jesus said “And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write” (Revelation 2:8). He was telling the Apostle John, 'write this letter to the pastor of Smyrna and these are My words’. And Polycarp took it to heart—the divine encouragement, the divine assurance, and the divine promise. He took it to heart and he applied it to his life—'Be thou faithful unto death.'
Dear friend, we also want to listen just like Polycarp. These words are also meant for you and me. As Jesus said, 'Write this to the church. This is My divine encouragement, 'I was dead and am alive. I know what you're going through; I've been there. I suffered and died but I came out the other side of the Cross. Because I live you shall live also. Don’t be afraid.'
The divine assurance: 'I know what you are going through. I know everything you have done. I know what situation you are in. I know everything about you.'
The divine promise: Troubles may come, trials, sufferings, sicknesses, afflictions—whatever. 'Be thou faithful unto death; just look to Me and when the time comes for Me to call you, then I will give you My commendation, My reward, the Crown of Life.' Our Lord Jesus will say, 'Well done Bethel BP Church. Well done, my faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.' This is what we desire to hear.
So let us not waste our days, months or years doing things that are of no eternal value. We want to live our days meaningfully for the glory of our God who has saved us. We do not just want to sing 'How Great Thou Art' or 'Great Is Thy Faithfulness,' but we do not respond by living a life that glorifies that Faithful God. We want to live a life waiting and waiting to hear this commendation: 'Well done.' That day will come. May the Lord find us faithful. A blessed 38th anniversary.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank Thee for enabling us to consider this passage in Revelation 2:8-11. Indeed, Thy words are true. The instructions that Thou hast given to the church in Smyrna almost 2,000 years ago are still relevant for us today. Thy Word is alive; Thy Word is the thing we need as we live our days on this Earth. As a church, as a family, as an individual, we want to live in such a way that we will receive no rebuke, only commendation. And how can we do that? By remembering Thy divine encouragement, by remembering Thy divine assurance, as well as Thy divine promise.
So, as we move forward in the days, months and years ahead of us, as our Lord Jesus will tarry in His return, we want to live such a life - be thou faithful unto death. Until the day we draw our last breath, we want to be faithful to Thee. May Thou empower us by Thy Spirit. Bless our church so that we will all live such a life to the glory of Thy precious name. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
THE BOOK OF REVELATIONMessage 1: Living with First LoveMessage 1: Living with First LoveRevelation 2:1-7
Be Thou Faithful Unto DeathBe Thou Faithful Unto DeathRevelation 2:8-11
Message 2: Living with FaithfulnessMessage 2: Living with FaithfulnessRevelation 2:8-11
Message 3: Living in Doctrinal PurityMessage 3: Living in Doctrinal PurityRevelation 2:12-17
Message 4: Living in Moral PurityMessage 4: Living in Moral PurityRevelation 2:18-29
Message 5: Living in WatchfulnessMessage 5: Living in WatchfulnessRevelation 3:1-6
Message 6: Living for Global MissionsMessage 6: Living for Global MissionsRevelation 3:7-13
Message 7: Living with CommitmentMessage 7: Living with CommitmentRevelation 3:14-22
What Will Jesus Say to Bethel?What Will Jesus Say to Bethel?Revelation 3:14-22
