The Persecution of the Synagogue of Satan

Now, let's turn to our Bibles, Revelation.

We're in the book of Revelation, chapter 2, verses 8 to 11.

Revelation 2:8–11

Short but very powerful and punchy passage, Revelation chapter 2, verses 8 to 11.

Revelation 2:8–11

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Heavenly Father, address us from your Word again so that our lives are defined and directed

not by the course of this world but by the foundation of your Word.

Enlarge our vision of Jesus once again as the one who has conquered death,

who has the keys to death and Hades, who is alive forevermore,

so that we as your disciples do not fear, but instead are faithful unto death.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Please stand for the reading of God's Word from Revelation chapter 2, verses 8 to 11.

Revelation 2:8–11

Amen.

And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write,

the words of the first and the last who died and came to life.

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.

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.

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.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

If we're not serious enough about our faith to die for Jesus,

then we are not serious enough.

This is not some radical extremist talk from Sean.

This is what Jesus says in this main exhortation of this passage.

Be faithful unto death.

There's a lot of wars going around in the world right now,

and think of all the soldiers who have died in wars throughout human history

for the sake of their king or their general or their country or their family.

If even unbelievers can do that,

should we do less as Christian soldiers,

as soldiers of Christ Jesus, as 2 Timothy 2 says.

And I don't want us to think that this is a lofty, unattainable standard.

This is the normal standard for the Christian,

because Jesus said in Matthew 16, 25,

for whoever would save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for Jesus' sake will find it.

So how can we live that way?

Revelation 2, 8, 11 teaches us how.

It teaches us that by looking to Jesus,

who died and came to life,

we too must endure persecution and be faithful unto death.

And I'm once again going to follow the overarching structure

of these seven letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3

by first looking at the recipient to the angel of the church in Smyrna,

and then the author, the words of the first and the last who died and came to life,

and then the evaluation of Jesus of this church,

and then his exhortation to the church,

and then his invitation,

finally his promise of rewards for those who do endure and conquer.

So let's look at the recipient of this letter.

This letter is addressed to the angel of the church in Smyrna.

Once again, the letter is addressed to the heavenly representative of this earthly church

to show that there is a real vital connection

between what's going on here in our church even now

and what's going on in the throne room of God in heaven.

Though the church is on earth,

it is an eternal and heavenly reality,

and each church, no matter how small,

every local church has the listening ears

and the watching eyes of the Lord God himself upon them.

Smyrna, along with Philadelphia,

are two churches that hear only commendation

and no correction from Jesus among the seven churches.

I hope we can be a church like that.

Smyrna is the second church on the list.

Philadelphia is the second to last church on the list.

They match each other in their content as well

in that they only receive commendation,

and they also are facing persecution

from the synagogue of Satan, as Jesus calls them,

which is a reference to wicked Jews.

And the first church on the list,

Ephesus, that we looked at last week

also matched the last church on the list, Laodicea,

because they are both on the verge

of losing their very identity as a Christian church.

So there's kind of this matching structure,

mirroring structure of these seven letters.

And the middle three churches all receive

a mixture of commendation and correction.

They're all struggling with different levels,

degrees of compromise with false teaching

and idolatry and immorality.

And the overall effect of this structure,

by putting the struggling churches

right in the middle, in the center,

and the really, really struggling churches

right at the beginning and at the end,

John is here conveying to us

in the structure of the seven letters

that by and large, the capital C church,

the universal church, in this life,

in this broken world, are struggling.

Struggle is a normal part of the church's life.

Only two out of the seven churches

receive only commendation.

But Jesus is nonetheless among all of those churches,

all of those lampstands,

tending to them to make sure

that the light of the gospel does not go out.

And in our passage today,

Jesus is concerned with Smyrna.

Smyrna was a major city in ancient Asia Minor.

It's where the city Ismail is today

in modern-day Turkey.

It was a major city on the western coast,

about 40 miles north of Ephesus.

And according to the Annals,

which is a work of history written by a Roman

named during the reign of Tiberius to that of Nero,

it was written by a historian named Tacitus.

He writes that Smyrna was one of the 11 cities

in the Roman Empire that was vying for the honor

of becoming the host city of a new temple

dedicated to Caesar and to Roman religion.

So much like how cities nowadays vie

or compete for the privilege of hosting

the Olympic Games or the World Cup

because it's lucrative for them culturally,

economically, it increases their prestige as a city.

So in a similar way,

Smyrna was in the running,

competing for their dubious honor

of having this pagan temple

dedicated to Caesar and to Roman religion.

And one of Smyrna's chief claims,

their main arguments for why they should be chosen

was that they were the first city

in the Roman Empire

to build a temple in honor of Rome.

This was in Asia Minor.

And this was apparently a convincing argument

because the Roman Senate did award Smyrna

the second temple dedicated to Roman religion

and to Caesar.

And so this historical context is important

because it shows us just how prominent

the emperor cult was in Smyrna,

the worship of Roman religion was in Smyrna,

and how much hostility Christians would have faced

for refusing to join their pagan worship

and for refusing to bow down before Caesar

and the idols of Caesar

and confessing him as their lord.

They were deemed an affront

to the patronage of the Greco-Roman gods,

and they were seen as an unpatriotic bunch

that threatened the Roman civic order.

As a derogatory term,

the Romans referred to Christians as atheists

because they refused to worship the Roman gods.

So it is not surprising

that how Jesus identifies himself

in the second half of verse 8.

As I mentioned last week,

the phrase,

the words of,

is more literally translated,

thus says.

So it's the Old Testament formula

for introducing the words of God himself.

Thus says the Lord.

Jesus is speaking here with full divine authority.

And the description of Jesus himself

harkens back to the glorious vision

we saw earlier in Revelation 1, 17 to 18,

where Jesus said,

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.

In saying that he is the first and the last,

Jesus is identifying himself

with the Ancient of Days,

the Lord God,

who describes himself in chapter 1, verse 8,

as the Alpha and the Omega.

It explained to us

that Alpha is the first letter

in the Greek alphabet.

Omega is the last letter.

And so together,

they represent the first and the last.

It represents God's sovereignty

over all,

all of history,

and in all time.

The risen Jesus Christ

is the second person

of the triune Godhead.

He is the first and the last.

And if Jesus is the first,

that means Jesus is the sovereign Lord

over the earliest history

history that we can imagine.

I mean,

we had,

I think,

the men's,

during the men's retreat

this past weekend,

one of the icebreaker questions was,

what's the earliest memory

you have of your father?

Whatever the earliest memory

of the most ancient

and oldest creatures

in the world might be,

Jesus was there before that.

Whatever the oldest thing

you can imagine

might be in creation,

Jesus was there before that

because he's the first.

He was in the beginning

with God

and he,

the word was God,

as John 1 says.

That means he has seen it all.

But Jesus is also

the last word.

When all the kings

and the kingdoms

and the nations

and institutions

have passed away,

Jesus will remain.

Every Roman emperor

from the times

of the early church,

Nero,

Domitian,

others have all faded away.

But Jesus remains

forever.

He is the last.

And that's helpful for us

because that means

no matter how messed up

your past is,

no matter how sordid

your history,

no matter how dark

your past was in the past,

Jesus is sovereign over it.

He's the first.

He was there.

And no matter how uncertain

your future might be,

you can also rest assured

that Jesus is the last.

He is sovereign.

There's no gap

in Jesus' knowledge

and there's no gap

in his rule.

And this is meant

to be a comfort

to the suffering church

in Smyrna.

Jesus also reminds them

that he is the one

who died and came to life.

And Jesus is emphasizing

that because

the church in Smyrna

is facing persecution

and they need to be faithful

unto death.

Jesus is not telling

the Christian Smyrna

to go where he hasn't

himself already gone.

Jesus has already been

faithful unto death.

He died and came to life.

And now Jesus is reassuring them,

don't be afraid of dying.

I've already died

and I have risen.

As Jesus said early

in Revelation 118,

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.

Throughout human history,

no man and no woman

has ever been able

to reopen the doors of death

once it has been shut.

Even in examples

of the reanimations

of dead people

in Old Testament

that you see

when the prophets

raised people from the dead,

it's temporary reanimation.

It's not a resurrection,

a full resurrection

because they will die again.

Nobody can reopen

the doors of death

once it shuts

except for Jesus.

Jesus defeated death.

He was raised

from the dead

and he's alive

forevermore.

He has the keys

to the doors of death

and Hades

and that means

that the door

can never be shone on him.

And he is our Lord.

That means we do not

need to fear death

because Jesus has the keys.

In order for us

to obey the later exhortations

in verse 10

to not fear

and to be faithful unto death,

we need to know

that Jesus is the one

who died

and came to life.

In order not to fear death,

we have to fear Jesus.

We need to have

an appropriately big

and high view of Jesus

because that's

the only time

when we will have no fear

in the face of death.

The key to Christian courage

in the face of persecution

and death

is knowing that Jesus

is the one

who has conquered death.

So that's the recipient

and the author

of this letter.

Now we get to the third part,

Jesus' evaluation

of the church in Smyrna.

He says in verse 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.

Once again,

we hear those two comforting words

of Jesus,

I know.

Jesus knows the tribulation

of the church in Smyrna.

He knows the hardships

that they are facing

and enduring.

Sometimes in the midst

of suffering and heartache,

we just want someone

to know

what we're going through.

We just want someone

to understand.

And Jesus assures us

he knows.

When we are snubbed

and downtrodden,

Jesus knows.

When we are discriminated against

because of our faith

and allegiance to Jesus

in the workplace,

at school,

Jesus knows.

When we are overlooked

because of our

Christian convictions,

when we are falsely accused

or ridiculed by people

because we believe

what the Bible actually says,

Jesus knows.

We are people

who are known

and loved

by our Savior.

And Jesus knows

the true reality of things.

The church in Smyrna

suffered from poverty.

Their earthly poverty

is likely connected

to the fact

that there was persecution.

the worship of the Roman emperor

was so deeply embedded

in the culture

of Asia Minor

at the time

that it would have been

virtually impossible

for someone

to climb

the socioeconomic ladder

without compromising

and worshiping

the emperor.

To refuse to participate

would mean

being labeled

and being ostracized

as an unpatriotic

and nonconformist

as a threat

to the civic order.

You would lose

networking opportunities.

You would lose opportunities

to make an impression.

You would offend

the powers that be,

people who are in charge

of giving out posts

and positions.

So it's not surprising

that the church in Smyrna

was impoverished.

And this is not uncommon

in parts of the world

where there's intense persecution

against Christians

to lose their jobs,

fired for no reason whatsoever

than the fact

that they go to church

every Sunday.

It's not as obvious

in our context,

but in subtle ways,

Christians here,

even here,

can face some economic pressure

because of their faith.

more and more stories

are popping up

throughout the country

of Christian teachers

in public schools

getting fired

for believing

that God has created

human beings

either as male or female

and for refusing

to use a student's

preferred pronoun

or for informing

that student's parent

about his or her

gender identity

in school.

A Christian mail carrier

named Gerald Groff

just won a unanimous decision

at the Supreme Court

a few months ago,

June 2023,

but he was previously fired,

and that's why

he went to court,

by the U.S. Postal Service

for refusing to work

Sunday shifts

because he was saying

that Sunday is reserved

for worship

and for church.

Though it's harder

to measure,

several of our own

church members

in academia

have suspected

that the way

they expressed

their Christian faith

in their personal statements

and or in their

diversity, equity,

and inclusion statements,

which are often

mandatory nowadays

in academic applications,

negatively affected

their faculty applications,

their chances.

I know that these are

comparatively speaking

to some of the persecution

that people,

Christians throughout the world

are facing,

small,

but they can nonetheless

be real economic pressures.

And when that happens,

we can take comfort

in knowing that Jesus

knows our poverty.

And not only does Jesus

know our poverty,

he also assures us,

you are rich.

As Christians,

we might be poor on earth,

but we are rich in heaven

because as heirs of God

in Christ,

we have an inheritance

that is imperishable

and undefiled

and unfading

kept in heaven for us.

As Jesus taught us,

we do not seek

as Christians

to lay up for ourselves

treasures on earth

where wrath and moths

destroy

and where thieves

break in and steal.

Rather,

we seek to store up

our treasures in heaven

where moths and rust

do not destroy

and where thieves

do not break in and steal.

So whether you are investing

in stocks

or bonds

or gold

or in the U.S. dollar

or in Bitcoin,

I'm sure some of you guys

have it,

I know you do.

Our world's currencies,

all of them,

every single one of them

will lose all of their value

when we die.

Every single one.

You will not have

a single value.

All those who accumulate

wealth here on earth

are stockpiling

an expiring currency.

But as Christians,

we have our eyes

set on eternity

and we are storing up

heavenly riches

and we have to remember

that our lives here on earth

is just a blip

in light of eternity.

So even if we are poor here,

it's temporary,

it's momentary

compared to the riches

that we will enjoy forever.

So don't be disheartened

that you are poor,

especially if you become poor

because of your allegiance

to Jesus.

Remember that you are

actually rich,

richer than any of your friends

or peers

or people on the Fortune 500 list

can imagine.

It's better to be like the church

in Smyrna

that's poor materially

but rich spiritually

than to be like the church

in Laodicea

which we'll see later

in Revelation 3

which is rich materially

but poor spiritually.

The Christians in Smyrna

were also suffering poverty,

not only poverty

but also the slander

of those who say

that they are Jews

and are not

but are synagogue of Satan.

Instead of recognizing

Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah,

many Jews sadly rejected Jesus

and in turn

slandered the Christians.

We see many examples

of this throughout

the book of Acts.

In Acts 13

when Paul's ministry

attracts large crowds

in Antioch and Pisidia,

the Jews are filled

with jealousy

and they begin

to contradict everything

that Paul is saying.

They start to revile him.

They even go so far

as to incite

the political leaders

of the city

to stir up persecution

against Paul and Barnabas.

In Acts 14

in Iconium

when a great number

of both Jews and Greeks

come to saving faith

in Jesus

because of Paul

and Barnabas' ministry,

it says that

the unbelieving Jews

stirred up the Gentiles

and poisoned their minds

against the brothers.

In Lystra,

in Acts 14, 19

the Jews opposed Paul,

persuade the crowds

to stone Paul

and leave him for dead.

In Thessalonica

and Acts 17,

once again,

the Jews get jealous

of Paul and Silas

and then they incite

a rabble

to form a mob

and to set the city

up in an uproar

and they accuse

Paul and Silas

of acting against

the decrees of Caesar

saying that there is

another king,

Jesus.

That last instance

is a good example

of how the Jews

may have slandered

the Christians

in Smyrna.

Even though faithful Jews

also refused

to worship the Roman gods

because of their antiquity

and because of their

long-term presence

within the Roman Empire,

the Jews were tolerated

by the Roman authorities.

They let the Jews,

instead of making sacrifices

to Caesar as God,

they let him just offer

sacrifices to him

as an emperor

to honor him

and so they kind of

let them slide

in some ways

even though some Jews

were syncretistic

and were idolatrous.

And so the Romans,

because they saw Christians

as arising from the Jews

because he was born out

of the Jewish synagogues

and the earliest Christians

were all Jews,

they naturally saw Christianity

as a Jewish sect

because they proclaimed

the Jewish Messiah.

But it was all too easy

for the Jews

than to turn around

and disavow those Christians

and say,

oh no,

actually those guys,

they're not Jews.

They're not one of us.

They're dangerous.

Here's a newfangled religion.

They don't honor Caesar

like we do.

They proclaim Jesus as king.

They're a threat

to the Roman Empire,

to Caesar himself.

This is a false accusation,

of course,

because Jesus explicitly said

his kingdom is not

of this world.

He said,

render unto Caesar

what is Caesar,

render unto God

what is God's.

We're taught

in 1 Peter 2.17

to honor the emperor.

We're taught

in Romans 13

to be subject

to the governing authorities,

not to rebel against them.

But despite all of this,

the Romans often believed

the slander of the Jews

and Christians

became easy scapegoats.

And recall that

Smyrna is distinguished

for their dedication

to Caesar.

They have two,

not one,

two temples

dedicated to Caesar

and to Rome.

And so the slander

that Christians

refused to worship

Caesar would have been

a very damning critique

for them.

But once again,

Jesus sees past

the appearance of things

and knows the reality

of things.

The church in Smyrna

was poor,

but from God's point of view,

they're rich.

Similarly,

though the Christian

Smyrna have been

disavowed by the Jews,

from God's point of view,

they are the true Jews.

And the Jews

who slander them

are the false Jews.

Jesus calls them

those who say

that they are Jews

and are not,

but are a synagogue

of Satan.

This is not anti-Semitic.

Jesus was an ethnic Jew.

Rather,

this is the penetrating

observation

of the Jewish condition

by the Jewish Messiah.

It's similar to

what Jesus says

in John 8, 44,

that instead of being

children of Abraham

as the Pharisees

claimed to be,

they are actually

children of the devil

because they were lying

and trying to kill Jesus.

And that's what

the devil does.

He lies

and he kills.

The Jews

who slandered

the church in Smyrna

were physical descendants

of Abraham,

but they were not

the spiritual descendants

of Abraham.

And this is a very important

theological point

for understanding

many different parts

of the New Testament.

The promises

that God gave

to the Jews

in the Old Testament

do not belong

to the children

of the flesh,

but rather to the children

of the promise,

as Paul argues

in Romans 9.

It's those who have

faith in Jesus Christ

who are the true

children of Abraham,

and therefore

they are the true Jews.

For it says

in Romans 2, 27 to 28,

no one is a Jew

who is merely one outwardly,

nor is circumcision outward

and physical,

but a Jew is one inwardly,

and circumcision

is a matter of the heart

by the spirit,

not by the letter.

And by this,

I don't mean that God

doesn't have any plans

for ethnic Jew

and for the nation of Israel.

I do believe

he has plans for them

as Romans 11 indicates,

but only those Jews

who put their faith

in Jesus

as the Christ

and the Messiah

and the Savior

of the world

will be saved.

The Christians

in Samyana

were slandered

by their own people,

by their fellow Jews.

And this also happens

to Christians

all over the world.

In the Muslim world

governed by Sharia law

and in many devout

Buddhist and Hindu circles

as well,

converts to Christianity

are disowned

by their own families

and persecuted

by their own tribes.

And throughout history,

many Christians

have also been slandered

and maligned

by other so-called Christians.

Those who belong

to other denominations

who say,

we're the true Christians.

They're the heretical sects.

We don't believe

the kind of fundamentalist

thing that they believe.

But the Lord knows

those who are His.

True Christians

are not necessarily

those who belong

to the most historic denominations

or have nice church buildings.

true Christians

are those who can trace

their spiritual lineage

and their heritage

to Jesus Christ.

So whether you are a Jew

or a Gentile

in terms of your

ethnic ancestry,

true Christians

are those who confess

with their mouth

that Jesus is Lord

and believe in their heart

that He was raised

from the dead.

And according to

Jesus' evaluation,

the church in Smyrna

were faithful Christians

and therefore true Jews.

And that brings us

to the main exhortation

of this letter,

the church in Smyrna

in verse 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 10 days

you will have tribulation.

Be faithful unto death

and I will give you

the crown of life.

There are two main commands here.

Do not fear

and be faithful unto death.

And Jesus tells them

not to fear

even as He's telling them

they're about to suffer.

That's a hard command.

Sometimes for us

we fear

even when there's

just a remote possibility

of suffering.

But Jesus tells them

you're about to suffer.

You're going to certainly suffer

but do not fear.

And He warns them

that the devil

is about to throw

some of them into prison.

This is a helpful thing

to remember

because it's not the devil

that's physically

throwing them into prison.

It's the Romans

who are doing that.

But Jesus ultimately

attributes this

to the devil

because He is

the spiritual ruler

among the sons

of this world.

He's the driving

spiritual influence.

It's an application

of the teaching

in Ephesians 6.12

that we as Christians

do not wrestle

against flesh and blood

but against the rulers

and against the authorities

and against the cosmic powers

over this present darkness.

Against the spiritual forces

of evil

in the heavenly places.

So even when people

persecute us

and slander us

and even kill us

our true enemy

is not them

but the devil.

The spiritual forces.

And I'm not saying

that these people

who do evil

are not responsible.

They are responsible

for what they do.

But we need to remember

the demonic influence

behind them.

It's easy

if you're facing

severe persecution

for a long time

to forget this.

To give you an example

Armenian Christians

ethnic Armenians

not theological Armenians

ethnic Armenian Christians

have historically

suffered

much Islamic

persecution.

During the Armenian genocide

in the late 1800s

and the early 1900s

around 1 million Armenians

most of them

professing Christians

were killed

were killed

by the Ottoman Empire.

And just last month

September

the New York Times

journalist

Nicholas Kristof

reported that

there has been

a quiet genocide

happening

among the Armenians

in Azerbaijan

in the Muslim country.

And then on September 20th

this year

Azerbaijan

forcibly seized

the Armenian enclave

there in Azerbaijan

and they displaced

19,000 Armenians

for historically Christians.

19,000 people

all of a sudden

no home

no place.

And when you suffer

so intensely

at the hands of others

it's easy to antagonize them

and hate them

as your enemies.

And there are some

Armenians

who unfortunately

hate Muslims

and hate the Azerbaijani

and have exacted

eye for eye

violent retribution.

but Jesus reminds us here

that our true enemy

is not flesh and blood

but the devil

the spiritual forces

of the heavenly places.

Jesus also tells them

that they will be tested

and have tribulation

for 10 days.

Since the book of Revelation

uses numbers

in highly symbolic ways

this is likely

also not literal

10 days

but symbolic

for a defined

complete period of time.

10 can be a symbol

for completeness.

It's also likely

an allusion

to the 10 days

of testing

that Daniel

and his friends

endured

during their

sojourn

in the Babylonian Empire.

We have already seen

in the first two chapters

that Revelation

often alludes

back to the book of Daniel

so the connection

is likely intentional.

And also

Daniel chapter 1

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

is the only place

in the Old Testament

where a period of testing

for 10 days

is mentioned

and it's mentioned

there three times.

It's emphasized

and repeated.

And so this is actually

a very appropriate

biblical allusion

because just like

the church in Smyrna

facing pressures

and persecution

from the Roman Empire

Daniel and his friends

faced persecution

and pressures

from the Babylonian Empire.

The Romans

demanded that Christians

worship Nero

and Domitian

and other Roman emperors

just as the Babylonians

demanded that Christians

worship Nebuchadnezzar

and Darius

and other Babylonian kings.

The Romans

sacked Jerusalem

and destroyed the temple

in 70 AD

just as the Babylonians

sacked Jerusalem

and destroyed the temple

in 586 BC.

That's why

after 70 AD

the Jewish literature

often

from the time

often refers to Rome

as Babylon

as a kind of

code language

for the epitome

of a wicked city

that is in opposition

to God.

And that's the way

the book of Revelation

refers to use

the word Babylon.

It uses the name

seven times

to refer to the city

that's in opposition

to God.

So in Daniel 1

we see Babylon

King

Babylonian King

Nebuchadnezzar

embark on a

systematic program

to assimilate

the Jewish religion

and culture

into Babylonian

religion and culture.

I think

for some of you guys

who read my

Ask Your Pastors

post on food

and eating

I think

already familiar

with this

he takes

all the furnishings

of the Jewish temple

and then he puts them

in the temple

of his God

the treasury

of his God.

This is his attempt

to assimilate

Jewish religion

and worship

into Babylonian worship

and then he handpicks

some very gifted

Jewish youth

so that they can be

taught the literature

and language

of the Chaldeans

and so that they

could be competent

to stand

in the king's palace

as court officials.

This is the

Babylonian re-education

program

to indoctrinate

and assimilate

the most promising

Jewish youth

into Babylonian culture.

Nebuchadnezzar

also gives

these Jewish youth

new Babylonian names.

They previously

had names

that honored

the Hebrew God

the Ar God

the Lord God

the Yehovah

but now

they give them

new names

that honor

the pagan Babylonian

gods.

And lastly

as part of this

assimilation program

these gifted youth

would be assigned

a daily portion

of the food

that the king ate

and of the wine

that he drank.

This was intended

to give these youth

Jewish youth

a taste

for Babylonian luxury

and to convey

the message

that you are

to be dependent

on me

as king.

I am your patron.

I am your provider.

You are my subject.

You come to me.

You're dependent

on me.

Because people

usually don't bite

the hands

that feed them.

But because

Daniel and his

three friends

were loyal to God

they resist

this assimilation

program

and in order

to maintain

their distinct

Jewish identity

Daniel,

Hananiah,

Mishael,

and Azariah

they referred

to each other

by their Hebrew

names

and they refused

to defile

themselves

with the king's

food.

Instead

they have

vegetables

and water

brought in

separately

so that

they don't

have to depend

on the king's

choice provisions

and they enter

a period of testing

for ten days

to prove

that they can

keep up

with these

other Jewish youth

who are eating

at the king's table

and eating

the king's food

and that they

can be just

as healthy

and fit

to serve

as they are.

And God

cares for Daniel

and his three friends

and at the end

of the ten days

of testing

he says

that they are

better in appearance

and fatter

in flesh

than all the youth

who ate

the king's food

and not only

that at the end

of the Babylonian

assimilation program

it is said

that among

all the gifted

Jewish youths

that were singled

out by the king

none was found

like Daniel

Hananiah

Mishael

and Azariah

and in every

matter of wisdom

and understanding

about which the king

inquired of them

he found them

ten times better

than all the magicians

and enchanters

that were in all

his kingdom.

So Daniel

and his three friends

endured ten days

of testing

trying to maintain

their distinct identity

as people

who are loyal

to God

and they come out

of that trial period

as people

who are ten times

better

ten times more

effective

than all the wise

men

of the Babylonian

empire

and this is why

they were able

later on

when they're actually

threatened with death

Daniel's three friends

are threatened with

being thrown

into the furnace

Daniel's thrown

into the lion's den

they are faithful

unto death

because they

were faithful

during their testing

to maintain

their distinct identity

you can see now

why this is the

perfect Old Testament

example to allude

to here in Revelation 2

Jesus is exhorting

the church in Smyrna

to follow the example

of Daniel

and his three friends

you will be tested

and for ten days

you will have

tribulation

but do not fear

what you are about

to suffer

I will be with you

the same way

I was with Daniel

and his three friends

maintain your identity

as Christians

and be steadfast

to me

do not worship

the Roman emperor

or their pagan gods

it's far more subtle

for us

but the world's

assimilation program

is still going on

all around us

we are bombarded

with messages

and images

all day long

that seek to make us

conform to the world's

values

and priorities

and ideologies

in the ads

that we see

in the shows

that we watch

in the books

and magazines

that we read

in the newspaper

articles that we read

in the lessons

we are taught

in schools

and the things

that we hear

from our neighbors

it's all over

if you watch

either of

our country's

parties

national conventions

you can very clearly

see

how the political

leaders of our country

try to co-opt

Christianity

to advance

their political agenda

but our ultimate

allegiance

is not to any

earthly ruler

or party

but to King Jesus

we bow our knees

before no one

but King Jesus

and faithfulness

to Jesus

does not guarantee

that the Christians

in Smyrna

will get out

of their imprisonment

and make it out

of their period

of testing alive

because Jesus says

in verse 10

be faithful

unto death

and I will give you

the crown of life

the days of testing

might very well

end in martyrdom

and as Christians

we need to be prepared

for that

because here in the West

we live in

relative comfort

as Christians

it's easy for us

to forget

this call

to discipleship

but I want to

remind you again

of what Jesus said

in Matthew 16

if anyone

will come after me

let him deny himself

and follow me

if anyone does not

carry his cross

and follow me

he's not worthy of me

what does it mean

to carry our cross

cross is an instrument

of death

when we carry

our cross

we're saying

Jesus

I'm going to be

faithful to you

unto death

when Daniel's

three friends

were threatened

with being thrown

into the burning

fiery furnace

for refusing to

bow down

to the golden statue

of King Nebuchadnezzar

they said this

if this be so

our God

whom we serve

is able to deliver us

from the burning

fiery furnace

and he will deliver us

out of your hand

O king

but if not

be it known to you

O king

that we will not

serve your gods

or worship the golden

image that you have

set up

God can deliver us

from the persecution

and from death

and from the furnace

but even if he doesn't

we will not

serve your gods

and we will not

bow down before you

that's the call

to Christian discipleship

the center for the study

of global Christianity

based at Gordon

Commonwealth

Theological Seminary

estimates that more

than 70 million

Christians have died

as martyrs

for their faith

over the last

2,000 years

70 million

more than half

of those martyrs

died not

long time ago

in a far away land

but in the 20th century

under fascist

and communist

regimes

martyrdom has been

the reality

of the church

and of Christians

throughout our history

2nd century

church father

Tertullian

once wrote to those

who are persecuting

the church

quote

we multiply

when you reap us

meaning when you

cut us down

we multiply

when you reap us

the blood

of Christians

is seed

indeed

the blood

of the martyrs

has been

the seed

of the church

brothers and sisters

we have to

remember this

survival

and security

are not

the highest

goals

of our

earthly lives

survival

our highest

goal

is

faithfulness

to Christ

loyalty

to Christ

service

to Christ

love

of Christ

and those

who are

faithful

unto that

Jesus

says

I will

give you

the crown

of life

it's amazing

paradox

right

it's those

who die

for Jesus

who are

going to

get life

the crown

of life

is a

picture

of a

wreath

that

the victor

in the

Olympic games

would receive

it's also

talking about

how

Christians

who are

faithful to

him

to the

end

will

share

in the

reign

of

Christ

in the

rule

of

Christ

because

only kings

wear

crowns

and Jesus

elaborates

in verse

11

the one

who conquers

will not

be hurt

by the

second

death

later

revelation

20

14

tells us

explicitly

that the

second

death

is the

lake

of fire

it's a

reference

to hell

and the

judgment

of God

the wrath

of God

in hell

so let me

ask you

what's the

point

of prolonging

our earthly

lives

for a few

more

measly

years

only to

succumb

to the

second

death

which is

eternal

we as

humans

make so

much

provision

for our

lives

here on

earth

don't we

we try

so hard

to fight

the

ineluctable

progress

of old

age

we use

anti-aging

creams

which I

should use

actually

and I

call them

character

lines

and then

we use

I don't

know

we do

strength

exercises

because we

don't want

to lose

muscle mass

we eat

healthy

food

we dye

our hair

gray hairs

or pluck

them

it's

all fine

but do

you spend

as much

time

thinking

about

the

second

death

for those

of you

who do

not yet

know

Jesus

I want

to ask

you

are you

prepared

for the

second

death

heaven

is real

hell

is real

and it's

only those

who carry

their cross

and follow

Jesus

who will

inherit

eternal

life

Jesus

said in

Matthew

10

20

do not

fear

those

who

kill

the

body

but

cannot

kill

the

soul

rather

fear

him

who

can

destroy

both

soul

and

body

in

hell

are you

gripped

more by

the reality

of the

first

death

than the

second

death

are you

gripped

more by

the fear

of man

than the

fear

of God

the

reason why

we as

Christians

need not

fear

the

second

death

is

because

Jesus

has

conquered

sin

and

death

on our

behalf

it

says

in

Romans

6

23

for

the

wages

of

sin

is

death

but

the

free

gift

of

God

is

eternal

life

in

Christ

Jesus

our

Lord

as

sinners

all

of

us

deserve

death

and

eternal

punishment

in

hell

but

instead

of giving

us

what

we

deserve

God

showed

us

mercy

by

sending

his

only

son

Jesus

Christ

to

pay

the

penalty

for

our

sins

by

dying

on