Letters to the 7 Churches: Smyrna - Revelation 2:8-11 | Pastor Daniel Reese

Welcome to 563 Church, where with Pastor Daniel

Rees, we'll be exploring Revelation chapter 2

Revelation 2:8–11

verse 8 -11. Jesus praises the persecuted church

in Smyrna for their faith and spiritual richness

despite their poverty and suffering. He warns

them not to fear imminent imprisonment and tribulation,

which will be brief, urging them to remain faithful,

even unto death. The ultimate reward for those

who conquer is the crown of life and immunity

from the second death. If you have your Bibles,

Revelation chapter 2 is where we're going to

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

be this morning. Last week we started a new series

on the seven churches that are found in the book

of Revelation in chapters 2 and 3. of Revelation,

we get these short little memos that Jesus gives

to John. These seven churches that are referenced

in the book of Revelation are located in what

is modern day Turkey. And many of those ruins

of these churches can be toured today. Last week,

we looked at the church in Ephesus, which was

started by Paul during his third missionary journey.

Now, if you were not here last week, Jesus commends

that church. by referencing some things that

they were doing really, really well. They were

growing in their knowledge of God. That's a good

thing. They were able to spot evil and not tolerate

it. That's a good thing. And they were faithful.

They did not grow weary. Those are good things.

But then Jesus says, of all that is good, all

that is good, but I have this one thing against

you. And if you don't get back to what you were

doing at first, then I'm going to remove your

land. Now, the lampstand is a symbol of the church

when the Holy Spirit is active and working in

the church. If the lampstand is removed, then

what Jesus is saying is that you might function

as the church, but the Holy Spirit would not

be present there. Now, for those of you unaware,

that's bad news. Because it's not the church

that transforms lives. It's the Spirit of God

It's not the preaching that brings salvation

It is the work of the Holy Spirit speaking to

our hearts and bringing conviction every church

Should have a desire for the Spirit of God to

be actively working in that church If he is not

there, then you might have a great building,

you might have a building full of people, but

it is nothing more than a social club that meets

on Sunday mornings. What Ephesus had done really

well at the beginning of their existence was

they had a foundation of repentance and confession.

But as time went on, as they got more into the

routine, they forgot that it was in those moments

of honesty and realness where the Lord began

to prevail mightily. Revival is preceded by confession

and repentance. If we don't build our culture

here at Cornerstone on those elements, And we

begin to portray a sense of false identity by

pretending that we are better than we are. We

will not be all that God has for us. It won't

function. The even greater risk is that he will

remove his spirit from this place, like so many

other churches have experienced in the past.

Today we're gonna look at the second of the seven

churches by seeing what Jesus has to say to the

church in Smyrna. So if you have our Bibles,

let's read beginning in verse eight from chapter

two. If you're willing and able, I'd love for

you to stand as I read the words of the Lord

to this church. Remember this is red letter,

this is Jesus speaking, verse eight, 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 10 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

Let's pray father. I pray that as we look at

this church as we look at the words of your son

That we will be transformed by them I Pray that

you speak to our hearts this morning open our

open our hearts to understand what this verse

means for us And I ask all these things in Jesus'

name, amen. Now, you might notice a difference

in this letter than the one we covered last week.

This letter is somewhat encouraging because he

doesn't have anything against them. He doesn't

say, hey, you're doing all these things really

well, but you better get this one thing straightened

out, or something bad's gonna happen. That's

not what happened in this letter. The main theme

of this letter to Smyrna is persecution. We will

see why, and we'll understand Smyrna a little

better as we go through this thing. But like

so many other cities, Smyrna has a rich history

that ends badly. In its time, Smyrna was one

of the best seaports in the world. It was the

closest port to Athens, which was the gateway

to the rest of Europe, and so it was pivotal

to trade and travel. It was an important city

full of great architecture, beautiful gardens,

and thriving businesses. However, Smyrna was

actually destroyed in 600 BC. And it was left

as this small, humble village where there really

wasn't much going on. But a few hundred years

later, a guy by the name of Alexander the Great

rebuilt it and made it better than it ever was

before. It was literally a city that was dead

and had come back to life. and the people of

Smyrna, they took great pride in that reality.

Throughout the city were all these statues declaring

that we are the city that was dead and that came

back to life. You can tour those remnants even

today. It was that theme, that pride that Jesus

relates to when he's riding to this church. that

he is the first and the last, that it was him

that was dead and came back to life. That's how

he starts this letter. Now, during this time,

when this revelation is being given to John,

the city of Smyrna is loyal to the Romans. In

fact, it was there that the first temple was

built to the Roman Emperor Tiberius, and Smyrna

was the first city that accepted Caesar worship.

And so every year throughout the entire empire,

including Smyrna, they had to burn incense in

the temple and declare that Caesar is Lord. Because

in the Roman Empire, The emperor was viewed as

a god and it was demanded of the citizens that

he be worshiped. So because of the culture that

was prevalent throughout the city of Smyrna,

the Christians at this particular church were

persecuted. Now I think we need to spend some

time understanding exactly what that means when

we talk about persecution because the reality

is most of us don't or have not experienced what

these people have experienced. Because when we

think of persecution in our culture, we might

think of being made fun of for being religious

or being ridiculed by others for our belief in

Jesus. Maybe we have a difficult time sharing

about how Jesus has changed our lives because

we are worried about what other people are going

to think of us. When Jesus says, I know your

tribulations, he's not talking about being laughed

at. He's not talking about being shunned from

the family Christmas party. The word that he

uses literally means to crush or to apply heavy

pressure. It would be the same word that's used

to describe a wine press or an oil press. The

grapes and the olives would be put into these

presses to be crushed until all of their juices

flowed out of them. Another way this word was

used was used to describe a form of torture that

was being used during this time period. Imagine

a person just laying on the ground flat on their

back and slowly more and more weight would be

placed on their chest until eventually their

bodies were crushed under the weight of it. It

was a slow and painful way to die. So when Jesus

says, I know your tribulations, he's not referencing

some set packs in spreading the gospel. This

was far greater than interruptions in the routine.

While the Christians in Smyrna faced a brutal

opposition that led to physical torture and death.

That is what Jesus is referencing. This is why

Smyrna, the church in Smyrna is labeled as the

persecuted church. because if they refused to

worship Caesar, it was an act of defiance that

was punished by death. So when you didn't show

up to the temple to burn incense to Tiberius,

they came looking for you because to them, loyalty

to the empire was of great importance. In that

environment, it would be extremely difficult

to win new converts to the gospel. This is not

a church that has people just lining up to be

a part of it. But not only were they persecuted

for not worshiping Caesar, Jesus also makes reference

to their poverty because he calls them a poor

church. Now there are a couple words that are

used in the New Testament to describe poverty.

One of those words just simply means needy. It

carries the idea of living hand to mouth. Not

really sure where your next meal is going to

come from. It's that idea. The word that Jesus

uses is a different word that actually means

the worst possible state of poverty imaginable.

This is a body of believers. who have had all

the material wealth and possessions stripped

away from them. Now, if that were to happen to

us, there's a good chance that we could get back

on our feet. Maybe we move to another town and

we start over. We get a new job. We start off

by, like college students, and all we have is

ramen noodles to eat. There's nothing wrong with

that. I've lived off it. We still enjoy them

occasionally. But that's all you have. Maybe

you're not able to buy a house and so you're

living in this cramped apartment for a little

while until you get enough saved up to get a

bigger place and maybe eventually buy a house

and just keep on going. But you have to keep

in mind again, Smyrna is not the land of opportunity

that you and I live in today. They are living

in a place where if you proclaimed faith in Jesus,

you were basically given a scarlet letter J.

for Jesus to wear on your clothes. And if you

were recognized in the city of Smyrna as a believer,

it was forbidden by Roman law to buy anything

from you. But even if you were able to gather

some cash, it was illegal to sell to you. It

was a hopeless place to live if you follow Jesus.

Now, hopefully that gives you an idea of what

Jesus was referring to when he mentions tribulations,

when he mentions difficulties. But we see that

those who, we see that those aren't the only

things that the church is dealing with because

at the end of verse nine, we see that they are

also dealing with some hypocritical Jews who

were actually being used by Satan. These are

people who professed with their mouth to be followers

of God. They were associated with the church

in some way. They probably came to their services.

They knew all the right answers in Sunday school.

They gave some of their money and overall they

looked like they were people that loved Jesus.

But we read that they actually belonged to the

synagogue of Satan. That is the greatest threat

to the church. It isn't outside forces, it isn't

the government, but it is actually people who

are inside of it. They attend regularly, but

they are actually enemy agents working against

the things of God. They divide the people of

God against each other. They make the work of

the church more difficult than it needs to be.

And Jesus says they do it all by slander. It

is actually the word used for blasphemy. It's

important to remember that the name Satan means

accuser. And so those that work for him will

bring accusations against the people of God.

Now that doesn't mean they worship Satan. It

doesn't mean they're following Satan. It just

means that they are being used by him. That's

the goal of the enemy. To destroy the work of

God that he is doing through the churches. It

is Christianity. It's the message of the gospel.

It's the work of the church and its leaders that

are being slandered. The beliefs and practices

of the church were being twisted and distorted

Which in turn made others actually hate the church

they hated the message of the gospel They hated

the message of Jesus and and they didn't want

anything to do with it This is what this church

is dealing with now. I'm sure we've all heard

stories like that Where people have heard rumors

about a church and they believe them and so they

won't ever go there That's what Smyrna is dealing

with. Jesus told his disciples to remember his

sacrifice by taking communion. So people slandered

that and they twisted it. They said, well, the

church is just a bunch of cannibals. They were

accused of all kinds of sexual sins because the

emphasis that was put on love. They were disloyal

to Rome because they refused to worship Caesar.

So they were called atheists. Lies were made

up about them whenever anything went wrong. So

the people in the region actually hated the Christians.

That was the reality for this church, crushing

opposition, extreme poverty, lies constantly

being told about them. Many of them were about

to be thrown into prison and tested even more,

but Jesus tells them to remain faithful. I know

all this is horrible going on around you, but

remain faithful. And through that, this church

persevered. And the only question that I can

ask, because I was studying that this week, is

how? How? What in the world would give them the

courage to deal with that? And when I ask that

question, I have to put myself in that position.

I have to put myself in the Church of Smyrna.

Would I be able to persevere if everything I

owned was stripped away from me? I'm unable to

buy or sell anything. I have people that I worship

with that are slandering my name. There's this

constant threat of being thrown into prison.

Would I be able to remain faithful to Jesus in

the midst of all of that? What would you do if

every time you walked out of your house, people

were waiting to beat you down? just because of

who you are and what you believe. There was always

a nervousness about being arrested or taken to

jail. And then while you're in jail, your home

is taken over, your stuff is sold at auction,

your cars are repossessed. What would you do

if the people that you worship next to began

making all kinds of slanderous accusations about

you? and tear down your character through gossip

and lies. We have to ask ourselves those questions

because that is the reality that the people of

Smyrna were dealing with on a daily basis. Their

fellow brothers and sisters were being slaughtered

for the same beliefs that you and I have. We

have to be certain of our belief in Jesus. We

have to trust that His plans are what's best

for us. Now here in America right now, I don't

think we at all have that kind of persecution.

Will that day come? Absolutely. But as of right

now, I don't think it's here. But you do need

to be aware that the enemy has a thousand other

ways to crush your spirit. The church in Smyrna

experienced it, and yet it says they were victorious.

So I think we need to spend some time looking

at ways that we too can be victorious over the

enemy so that we too can receive the crown of

life. Now throughout these four verses, I see

three statements that Jesus gives to the believers

in Smyrna. These three promises are a guarantee

that we will have victory over the attacks of

the enemy. We see the first statement in verse

nine. Jesus says, You are living in poverty,

but you are rich. You are living in poverty,

but you are rich. They might not have a lot of

physical property. They might not have a lot

of physical possessions, but they were rich in

the grace and knowledge of Jesus. They had a

trust in God's sovereign plan and they knew in

their heart of hearts that God was going to see

them through. Do you have the same trust? Now

this might be a little hard to hear, but don't

worry. That's my intention. I want to challenge

you on what that phrase means. You are rich.

Because when we think of rich, we think of money.

But so many of us are slaves to money. So my

question is, who is your God? And which God do

you trust? I hear comments frequently about not

having enough money to tithe. If I give money

to the church, then I'm not gonna be able to

feed my family. If I give money to the church,

then I won't be able to make my car payment.

I don't see the need because the church seems

to have so much already. Listen, I've been there.

I've said those things. What we are saying when

we withhold our money from the Lord. is that

we don't trust that God is going to take care

of us and we can do a better job. When we fail

to return to God what is rightfully His, we're

not trusting that He will provide what we need

and therefore we work harder and work longer

so that we can build up a bigger nest egg for

our security. Now I have no idea who ties in

this church and who doesn't. idea. But here's

what I do know. I know that the average household

income in the Quad Cities is $85 ,000. I know

some of you make more than that average and some

of you make less. That's why it's an average.

I get it. I know that if we took the average

income and multiplied it by the number of families

that attend here regularly we would have three

times our income that we have now. And I don't

want you to hear this as a call to give. We're

not doing a campaign because the truth of the

matter is if we were giving all back to the Lord

or what is rightfully His, we would never ever

have to do a campaign. This is a call for you

to call for me to check your heart on which God

you trust. This is a call for you to trust the

God who made you. This is a call for you to trust

the God who gives you every breath you have.

By giving back 10 % of your income, you are sowing

a seed in your faith. As time goes on, that faith

will grow. We are promised in the scriptures

that God will supply all of our needs according

to the riches in Christ Jesus. Do you trust that,

or do you trust in your 401k? The church in Smyrna

was rich. They had the grace of God and the assurance

of His provision for their every need. They didn't

have a lot of money, but I would rather be called

rich by the Lord than be called rich by the world.

I didn't come to that conclusion overnight. It

was sowing little seeds and showing that I trust

Him in those things. Now here's the next promise,

it's in verse 10. And he says that you will be

tested for 10 days. Now that doesn't sound good.

That's not encouraging, but I assure you that

it is. Because the testing won't last forever.

It's limited. Maybe you are in one right now.

And my encouragement to you is to remind you

that it won't last forever. Better days are coming.

A breakthrough is coming. A reprieve is coming.

Jesus tells his followers, his disciples in Matthew

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

chapter 24, that things are going to get worse.

When the end of time comes, things are going

to get worse. But the encouraging thing is that

he says that in those days, those days will be

limited. because of his people that have chosen

to trust in him. It's gonna be horrific, but

it's gonna be limited to those who have trusted

in him. Evil will only last for a season. It

will run out of steam. They will get bored. They

will lose interest. It'll move on to something

else sickness is temporary pain is temporary

hopelessness is Temporary God is faithful and

the scripture says that he will only give you

what he knows that you can handle Not what you

think you can handle what he knows you can handle

nothing more He's not gonna give you anything

that you can't handle but even in the midst of

difficult times Remember that the testing of

your faith produces endurance. Now I know this

is not one of those uplifting messages, but at

the same time, maybe for you it is. I don't understand

how the prosperity gospel preachers deal with

a text like this. The Christians in Smyrna were

not healthy, wealthy, and blessed. That they

were not well liked. They were not successful

based on the world's standards. Life was hard.

And life was hard because they refused to renounce

their faith in Jesus. But somehow they had peace.

Their life would have been so much easier if

they said, yeah. Caesar's Lord, I'm good with

that. Their life would have been so much easier.

They could have accumulated wealth. They could

have bought a house. They could have done all

these things. They would no longer be persecuted.

But somehow they didn't do that and they had

peace. Somehow they persisted. Now some of you

may be going through a difficult season. Some

of you may be overtaken by some sort of addiction.

Maybe you're suicidal. Maybe you feel hopeless.

The only encouragement that I can give you is

what is found in the Bible. It's darkest before

the dawn, but joy comes in the morning. With

Jesus as your guiding light, you will be victorious.

With him, it is the only way to endure. The final

promise comes at the end of verse 10 and 11.

He says, be faithful unto death. That's encouraging,

right? 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. Now notice,

it does not say that God's promise to be with

us means that we will survive every trial we

go through. I wish it meant And I think people

live their lives. I wish it meant that we would

be like Superman and would be essentially invincible.

But Jesus doesn't say that. He doesn't say it,

so how could I? The promise that Jesus just made

is that even though we will die in this life,

there remains a crown of life that will never

pass away. We can be certain that there will

be persecution. But more than that, we can be

certain that in the face of persecution, we can

have complete victory. We can overcome it. The

God we serve has promised to never leave us lacking.

That when we give to Him, He will supply all

of our needs. We have victory because we can

be sure that no matter what we face, we never

face it alone. that God is with us through it

all. And he will only give us what we can handle.

We can have victory because we know that evil

will only be allowed for a period of time. And

God will deliver us from whatever may press in

on us. And you and I, we can have certain victory

because we know that even in death, What we inherit

in Christ though the one who for your sake and

mine Took on the weight of sin allowing it to

crush him So it wouldn't crush us For us he suffered

the trials and tribulations of this life So that

through him we could have deliverance from evil

so that we could overcome it Now I struggled

with how to close out this message Maybe some

of these things that these Christians in Smyrna

dealt with, you can relate to. But I doubt any

of us, there's nobody I know of, that has been

imprisoned because of your faith. I personally

don't know anybody, and I don't know if you do,

but I don't know if any of us have lost a loved

one because they were killed for trusting in

Jesus. But I want you to imagine a lump of coal,

a lump of coal buried deep in the earth, subjected

to an unimaginable pressure and heat over countless

years. To the world, it's just a rough, dark

stone. It's unremarkable. It's overlooked often.

Yet under that intense pressure, something extraordinary

happens. That coal... transforms into a diamond,

radiant, enduring. It begins to reflect light.

The church at Smyrna, as we see in Revelation

2, was much like that coal. They faced poverty,

slander, persecution, crushed under the weight

of a world hostile to their faith. Yet through

their suffering, Christ saw them as spiritually

rich, polished by trials that showed their community

what unwavering devotion looked like. This is

the heart of the gospel. That suffering, when

entrusted to Jesus, the first and the last who

died and came back to life becomes a pathway

towards transformation. On the cross, Jesus himself

endured the ultimate suffering, bearing the weight

of our sin, taking the scorn of the world, feeling

the agony of death. Yet through that suffering,

he brought forth redemption. He brought forth

a diamond, turning the darkness of the grave

into the brilliance of the resurrection. Just

as Smyrna's trials refined their faith, our own

trials, our own hardships, whether it be loss

or rejection or pain or whatever it is can be

offered to Christ who transforms them into something

beautiful for his glory. He takes that lump of

coal and he turns it into a diamond. And a diamond

is much more valuable than a lump of coal. I

know this because I've purchased some of them.

I don't think I'd be married if I gave my wife

a coal ring as an engagement gift. So when you

are facing trials, remember the coal and the

diamond. Cling to the promise that Christ is

with you in the furnace, shaping you into his

likeness. As he promised Smyrna, be faithful

unto death, and I will give you the crown of

life. Trust him, for he has overcome, and in

him your suffering will shine with the eternal

light of his love and grace. So as we close,

let us remember Let us remember the foundation

of repentance and confession that was forgotten

at Ephesus. Maybe you've given into the temptation

to not stand for your faith. Maybe that's you.

You can think back to opportunity after opportunity

where you had the opportunity to share your faith

and you chickened out. I think all of us had

that story. Maybe you've been wishy -washy when

it comes to the things of God you you don't take

him serious all the time and as you were reminded

of his sovereign plan and You begin to understand

that he is more faithful than anything you can

have ever experienced Maybe that brings you back

to him Maybe you need to confess and repent of

those things this morning And so as we close

our service this morning, I know this isn't a

funny sermon. I know it's not a uplifting sermon.

I know it's a hard message. But if you gain anything

from it, my hope is that you will remember that

if you will persevere through the hardship, you

will get the crown of life. May your testimony.

be a testimony of God's faithfulness and goodness.

So that the rest of the world doesn't see a lump

of coal, but they see a diamond reflecting the

light of the gospel. May our community see a

church that's devoted to our faith in Jesus.

That it does not change as circumstances change.

It does not change as pressure is put on us.

We remain steady because he is steady. So let

me pray for us and we'll worship one more time.

Father, I pray right now that as we close out

this service, I pray that as we worship, I pray

that you'll speak to us. We pray that every week.

I pray every week that you will speak to our

hearts. And I pray, Father, that when you speak

to our hearts, it's as clear as day. It doesn't

sound like a foreign language. It's not confusing.

It's clear and direct. And so Father, I pray

that your Spirit will speak clearly and directly

to our hearts. Help us be. like Ephesus in the

beginning. Help us walk in confession and repentance.

Help us be like the church in Smyrna, that no

matter what comes against us, we remain faithful

to you because you are faithful to us. And so

Father pray, I pray that you speak and move.

I pray that you transform lives. I pray that

you bring salvation. I pray that you redeem.

I pray, Father, that our lamp stand will never

be removed. Because without you, all of this

is trivial. And so the expectation I have in

this place that I ask you to do is to transform

our lives. I ask all these things in Jesus' name,

amen. Thank you for listening today to 563 Church,

a production of Cornerstone Church, Eldridge,

Iowa. For more information about our church or

just getting right with God, please visit us

at 563church .com. You can also find us on Facebook

and Instagram. Have a great week.