The letter to the Messianic congregation in Smyrna included a warning that persecution was coming. This devotional reading looks at why they would be experiencing the persecution and how they were expected to handle it.
Nuggets
- Audio Man offered encouragement for those enduring the coming tribulation.
- But they were still going to get persecution.
- The purpose of persecution is to test our faith.
- We are to be faithful always — even until death.
- Our obedience to God is rewarded with the crown of life.
- Believers of Smyrna were told to not only endure the tribulations but also to conquer them.
We started looking at the letter to the Messianic congregation at Smyrna in the last devotion. They received only a on commendation (yay them!), so we had to break that in the middle.
Let’s jump back on.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the The Letters to the Congregations series
You’ve Got This!
“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: 10 ESV)
Audio Man offered encouragement for those enduring the coming tribulation.
Do not Fear
While there is no condemnation listed, the heads-up on what was going to happen is bad enough. (And don’t we sometimes think testing is punishment?).
Jesus didn’t want them unduly concerned about it. He flat out told them not to be afraid – not beforehand and not during.
How many times does it say in God’s Word that we shouldn’t fear? A lot.
God knows there will be scary things in this life. He isn’t discounting our feelings. He is comforting us that He will be right there with us.
That is why the phrase be not should have probably been translated become not. It is easy to instantly become afraid. It is our choice whether we are going to camp out there or get over it.
Jesus wants us to get over it and cast our cares on Him. “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (I Pet. 5: 7 ESV).
The Devil Will Throw Some into Prison
But they were still going to get persecution.
None of them – or us – would want to find ourselves in a first-century prison. It being underground would get to me. I have trouble on dull, gloomy days when I can look outside the window. Constant darkness would have me going bonkers.
Probably because the prisons were crowed, a prisoner would have roomies – where they would probably meet their new BFF since they were chained together in groups. The large number of people in a confined space would probably lead to it being filthy. True, being underground may factor into that, also.
Mealtime was not high on the prison guard’s agenda. Food was either provided by family and friends or charity.
One thing that is different from our prison system today is that prisoners were incarcerated before trial, not as punishment after. This treatment was given to encourage the prisoner to confess to their crimes.
That is to what the congregation at Smyrna had to look forward.
We shouldn’t be surprised that we will experience persecution. Jesus said we would. “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” (II Tim. 3: 12 ESV).
Why are we so surprised? Satan — the devil — doesn’t need to mount persecution against us unless we are following God. He’s not going to persecute someone who is not.
Some may think that there is no way that Satan is going to be doing anything against us. It can be him; but many times, he uses someone else to do his dirty work. The false preachers in Smyrna, according to Mackennal’s research of historical documents, were indeed other Jews.
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That means we have to constantly be on guard. Someone may be masquerading as a friend — but not be.
We have to watching our thinking. Those masquerading are no less guilty because “the devil made me do it.” That doesn’t happen. It was their choice to throw in with Satan.
Ooo, baby. Thomas made a good observation. He wrote, “Religion — not godliness — is at once his shrine and his instrument. It was religion that put to death the Son of God Himself.
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We think religion is that for which we are striving. No.
God doesn’t want meaningless rituals. He doesn’t want us doing the do’s and not doing the don’ts just to check off the list in order to have fire insurance.
What God is looking for here is our understanding of His revelations to us. We are to understand so that we align our will with His. We do this because of our love for Him.
That You May be Tested
The purpose of persecution is to test our faith.
God uses the persecution to validate our words are more than just that. He is looking for our words to reflect our true beliefs and our way of life.
Go back to Satan being the one persecuting us. His purpose for the persecution is to attack God. It really isn’t aimed at us.
We are just the vehicle Satan uses to swipe at God.
Hyatt made a great statement. He reminded us that Satan gets confused when he sees our faith and patience during our suffering.
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Satan can’t understand why we don’t take the easy way out and deny God. You would think he would know what is waiting for us in Heaven.
Ten Days
I don’t know if we can take the ten days literally or not. The number 10 referred to a completed cycle. In other words, the Smyrna believers would be persecuted until the testing was over.
- “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (II Tim. 4: 8 ESV).
- “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (Jas. 1: 12 ESV).
Scholars are divided on whether that is a short time or long time. Well, it was probably relative.
We might think it was short. The people of Smyrna probably felt it was long when they were going through it.
Then again, the tribulation was short compared to eternity. Mackennal said that the timing was all up to the First and the Last.
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Remember, God is the First and the Last. “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty’” (Rev. 1: 8 ESV).
This has to be God. Even Jesus didn’t know timing. “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Mt. 24: 36 ESV).
Extreme Persecution and Reward
Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2: 10 ESV)
Be Faithful unto Death
We are to be faithful always — even until death.
Timing really doesn’t matter.
Yes, sometimes death is the end result. We don’t get a pass from hard things just because we are disciples.
The deaths of those congregation members at Smyrna would not have been pretty. Think about the mocking that Jesus withstood. While the Jews wouldn’t have been accusing them of being the Messiah, they would still be mocking them for believing in Him.
Even at the point of death, we must be faithful.
What must we do to be faithful? Entwistle told us.
- ·Genuinely put our trust in Jesus and not engage in hypocrisy.
- Constantly devote ourselves to being obedient to Him.
- Engage in consistent and persistent effort through repentance to obey God’s laws and commandments.
- Exhibit courage when we experience trials and tribulations.
- Endure to the end.
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Look closely here, though. “Be faithful unto death …” (Rev. 2: 10 ESV) was not a lengthy insistence on how we are commanded to be faithful.
Yes, it is very important that we are faithful. But it isn’t a demand.
It was an appeal.
God isn’t a dictator. He doesn’t force us to pledge allegiance to Him. He asks us to submit ourselves to Him.
Remember, we individually have to make a choice to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus (Lk. 9: 23 ESV). We have to choose to follow all God’s doctrines.
We can neither learn about Him nor from Him if we do not make that conscious decision. Salvation does not happen by osmosis.
We can never think that Jesus is looking for our faith to have fits and starts. Our faith must be constant.
- “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (II Tim. 4:7 ESV).
- “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (I Cor. 15: 58 ESV).
Yes, this faithfulness has to be until the end of the trial. It also must be until the end of our lives. We are to be faithful until death.
Crown of Life
Our obedience to God is rewarded with the crown of life.
We like to think of the crown as that jeweled thing that gets placed on our heads. It is a symbol of royalty and prestige.
Harvey described a crown like this. He wrote, “A crown is the highest object of earthly ambition and the possession of it the loftiest pinnacle of worldly glory — to obtain it, no toils, struggles, or sacrifices are deemed too great.”
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Our focus shouldn’t be on the earthy definition. Several places in God’s Word talks about what the crown of life really means.
- “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (Jas. 1: 12 ESV).
- “And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory” (I Pet. 5: 4 ESV).
- “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (II Tim. 4: 8 ESV).
Look at Cox’s take on what it is. What if the crown of life is a victorious life with our perfected — mature — character?
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We are striving for the mature faith and character. Isn’t that the reward for the walk?
Think about it. Yes, we are made in God’s image, but we also have a sinful nature. So, there is this kind of split personality in each of us.
These two personalities do not play nicely together. In fact, they are at odds with each other.
Isn’t that the opposite of what we tend to want at times? We want our personalities to along so we can have calm, quiet lives.
God doesn’t want us to compromise with the sinful personality within us. He doesn’t want us to ignore it or bargain with it.
God wants our sinful nature cut out of us.
The way that happens is that we go through trials and persecutions. These trials are refining us.
Only by enduring do we cultivate the perfected, mature character that we are to have. This happens in the sanctification process, which is a refining procedure.
We talked about that last year in our Finding Jesus through Spiritual Worship series. Here are some bullet points from there.
- There is verification for the requirement of our refining.
- Changing is all about switching from the old creature to the new creation.
- The goal is to remove the impurities and make us/the metals pure.
We are refined in our trials and persecutions.
Cox took the meaning of the crown of life a step forward. He contended that the crown of life is a life of self-control.
I like that explanation. We’ve long said that God wants us to be sober-minded, having an element of self-control.
That life of sober self-control is rewarded when Jesus Himself gives us a crown.
However impure mankind is, God is always looking to refine us. That can only start when we accept His offer of salvation.
The bottom line is we need refining because we have sinned. God offers us salvation and a process through which we can be refined.
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We are refined in our trials and persecutions.
Cox took the meaning of the crown of life a step forward. He contended that the crown of life is a life of self-control.
I like that explanation. We’ve long said that God wants us to be sober-minded, having an element of self-control.
That life of sober self-control is rewarded when Jesus Himself gives us a crown.
Getting the Best of Persecution
"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’” (Rev. 2: 11 ESV)
Believers of Smyrna were told to not only endure the tribulations but also to conquer them.
The One Who Conquers
Our attitude matters when we are experiencing trials. Are we content in whatever situation God puts us in, or are we kicking and screaming for whatever reason?
We are told to patiently endure. We’ve talked lot about enduring.
That is how we conquer.
Second Death
Yes, enduring might include physical death, but enduring cements our eternal life – escaping spiritual death.
The first death is bad enough. We can become the one suffering from a debilitating disease. It leads to our physical death.
More importantly, we do not want it to be considered our spiritual condition. We want to miss the spiritual death.
Making the Connections
Mackennal recognized the discipline that the Messianic congregation at Smyrna possessed. We need discipline to survive the persecution.
I really like the caution Mackennal gave us. He wrote,
“We think sometimes of the vast, immeasurable future and its stupendous possibilities. And we think that the burden is laid on us, in a few short years, to prepare ourselves for it all. No wonder that thus thinking we are appalled, and that we forbode new disasters in our probation, ending, perhaps, in a second death. But we are wrong. It is not what we take with us, in attainments or even experience, which will determine our fitness for that future, but the men we are.”
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It isn’t about us. The works we do are inconsequential.
What is important is our character.
That is why we don’t need commendations. What we do isn’t as important as who we are.
How Do We Apply This?
- Be faithful to Jesus until He calls us home.
- Establish a good foundation for eternal life by seeking God.
- Seek Jesus’ help in times of tribulations.
- Be courageous and faithful when facing tribulations.
- Remain faithful to God, His truth, and His Word.
- Be devoted to remaining constant in our faith.
- Understand that God is looking for our efforts in following Him — not our enjoyment of our lives — as that is where our reward lies.
- Remain true to Christ.
Miss the second death by ABCDing. - Understand that, though all will die physically, we all will live eternally — some in Paradise, and some in torment.
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Father God. We want our character to be like Yours. Only then can we escape the second death. Help us to daily grow closer to You. Amen.
What do you think?
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