Smyrna: The Suffering Church

Part 1

Revelation 2:8-11
“⁸ “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

   These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. ⁹ I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.

¹¹ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.” - NIV

Tonight we are looking at the second letter that was addressed to 7 churches. I want to share a little bit about the back ground of this church. I believe when you have an understanding of what is happening at the time of when Scripture is written it opens up the Word of God and allows us to get a better grasp as to what is being said and what God is trying to tell us today.

Smyrna the City

This letter to the church called Smyrna (which literally meant “myrrh” which was a fragrant spice – I will get to that later) which was founded by Paul during his first missionary trip somewhere between 53AD and 56 AD. There are a few things to take note here: 1^st – this is the shortest of the 7 letters written to the churches and 2^nd – Jesus gives no negative criticism only positive commendations unlike the church of Ephesus which we talked about the last two weeks. It was located about 40 miles north of Ephesus and, as you can see in this slide, would have been the next stop a first century “postman” would make in his rounds to deliver these seven letters.

Back then it was said that of all the cities in Asia, this particular stop on the postal route—Smyrna—was the loveliest. Some had referred to it as the “Flower of Asia” and some called it the “Crown of Asia”. Its center was a high hill and around the summit of the hill was a ring of beautiful temples—temples dedicated to the false gods of the day—a ring of temples that made the hill look kind of like a huge head with a crown on top.

Smyrna was a beautiful city and was planned to be built that way. It had been destroyed twice before and when they rebuilt it they did it with style. It had large wide streets with beautifully designed pathways made of patterns. It was a booming city with a huge library, in fact it is said the Homer was born there and this city had the largest theaters in all of Asia Minor. When it was destroyed then rebuilt to this magnificent city people had dubbed it the “city of life” because it had come back from the dead so to speak.

One thing that we must understand is that this city, Smyrna, was very loyal to Rome. And this was widely known. In fact, Cicero once said, “Smyrna is one of our most faithful and most ancient allies.” The people of Smyrna were very proud of the fact they were a part of the Roman Empire. They were not some city that was overlooked. Rome knew who they were. Patriotism ran high in those broad cobble-stoned streets! To give you an idea how patriotic they were—in the Asian campaign against Mithradates in 88 B.C. things had gone badly with Rome—so badly that the soldiers of Rome were suffering from hunger and cold. It is said that when the people of Smyrna heard this, they sent food—but these citizens also stripped off their own clothes to send them to the Roman soldiers. Now that is dedication!

Their reverence for Rome was so strong that in 195B.C. Smyrna was the first city in the world to erect a temple to the “goddess Roma” a temple for the worship of the spirit of Rome. What an honor this city had received that they were the first to build a temple for Rome.

At the end of the first century Smyrna had about 250,000 residents—and a large portion of them were Jews—Jews who were eager to do two things. 1^st - they wanted to please Rome because you see, Rome had exempted them from Caesar worship. 2^nd - The only thing they were more eager to do than to please Rome—was to give the Christians—or the “Nazarenes” a hard time. They called them “Nazarenes” because they followed Jesus of Nazareth.

Now, in the beginning, emperor worship was nothing more than a spontaneous demonstration of gratitude to Rome. It became LAW to worship the emperor—and if any city was to take this kind of law seriously it would be a city like Smyrna that had such a love affair with the Roman Empire. So—understand—once a year—every person had to burn a pinch of incense and say three words, “Caesar is lord” out loud. When they did this they received a certificate—a certificate that was required to get a job and make a living.

With that now we have a better understanding of the Scripture. Let’s look at the first part of that passage.

Letter to Smyrna

Revelation 2:8
“⁸ “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. ⁹ I know your afflictions…” – NIV

We understand that these letter were written to the pastors or the messengers at each of these churches. They were then to pass this on to the congregation. Here Jesus is stating in verse 9 “I know your afflictions”. This word affliction or tribulation as some translations say is a forceful word. It literally means “a pressing, pressing together, pressure”. But this isn’t the type of pressure that you may face on a day to day basis. No, this type of pressure was so severe and intense, so strong it is compared to taking a man and telling him to lie down on the ground to be executed by placing a heavy rock over the top of him where the weight would be so strong that it would literally squeeze the life out him. This is the type of pressure that the Christians in Smyrna were experiencing every day. We think we have it hard here in America. We think our problems are bad.

I read an illustration that kind relates to this type of pressure.

In Mississippi there was a boy on a farm and they had a molasses mill. Molasses is made out of cane juice—but first you have to get the juice out of the cane. To do that, they would feed the stalks of cane through a grinder powered by a mule that would walk around the mill. The grinder itself consisted of three or four heavy metal wheels about 12 inches in diameter. These heavy wheels turned side by side and the boy and his brothers would feed those stalks of cane between the metal wheels and the juice would be crushed or squeezed out.

This is what was happening to the members of this church. They were having the life pressed out of them for one reason—because of their loyalty to Christ. Herschel Hobbs says, “they were pressed between a rock and a hard place.” They had the Jews on one side of them and the pagans on the other. In other words the members of this church were catching it from every side. The pagans were giving them a hard time for their refusal to worship the emperor and the Jews were giving them a hard time because they worshiped Jesus as the Messiah—the Son of God.

It’s interesting to note that the word “Smyrna” means “myrrh” which was a fragrant spice—but to get the fragrance out—first this spice had to be crushed. Well—to me this illustrates the fact that the fragrance—or the “richness” of Smyrna’s powerful testimony—came out of the crushing pressure of its suffering.

Jesus said,
Matthew 5:10-12
“¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” - NIV

God says we are blessed when we face the pressure of this world for serving Christ! Just like the church in Smyrna, those Christians were pressed on both sides where they tried to squeeze the life out of them, Jesus Christ. Jews who went against them and the pagans who put pressure on them as well. But God says we are blessed, why? Because it is in those times of “pressure” that God will anoint us with His fragrance. It is in those tough times when we feel so pressed that God allows His anointing to flow through us that everyone around us will know that we are children of the most High!

In the Old Testament they could “smell” the man of God, but first something had to be crushed.

Exodus 30:22-33
“²² Then the LORD said to Moses, ²³ “Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant calamus, ²⁴ 500 shekels of cassia—all according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil. ²⁵ Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil. ²⁶ Then use it to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant law, ²⁷ the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense, ²⁸ the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. ²⁹ You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy.

³⁰ “Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. ³¹ Say to the Israelites, ‘This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come. ³² Do not pour it on anyone else’s body and do not make any other oil using the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred. ³³ Whoever makes perfume like it and puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from their people.” - NIV

This smell was a unique smell. When the high priest would walk by they knew who they were, not just by the way they looked, but the aroma that came off of them as well. They were set apart for the use of God. Sanctified for the Glory of God to do the work of the Lord.

This reminds me of how Jesus is compared to the Rose of Sharon in the Songs of Solomon. You can’t smell the fragrance of the rose until it is crushed. Paul said,

2nd Corinthians 4:8b
“⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed;” – NIV

You see God knows just the right amount of pressure to apply to get the “richeness”, to get the “oil” out of us. You see we are not crushed. Why? Because Jesus was crushed for us.

Isaiah 53:5
“⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;” – NIV

You see when we get pressed on all sides just like the Christians in Smyrna, we can stand strong and allow Christ to flow through us. When we are at our weakest, God is at His strongest in our lives. This is what Paul meant when he said,

2nd Corinthians 12:9-10
“⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – NIV

This is what James meant,
James 1:2-3
“² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” - NIV

What a testimony of the Christians in Smyrna, what a testimony for us as Christians today with all the pressures going on around us! We can endure the hardships because it is no longer we who live but Christ living through us. If God is for us who can be against us!

You see Christ commended them because of the afflictions they were dealing with because they stood their ground when it came to Christ. When it came to Worshipping the Almighty it was all or nothing. They refused to bow to the world’s way of doing things and they whole heartedly bowed to the only King of Kings…Jesus.

I love what Paul says to Timothy. His name means “one who honors God”. Timothy struggled with pressures as well. He was a pastor of a church. In fact he pastored Ephesus. Remember Ephesus? The church struggled with false doctrine in the church, the struggle with the worship that was corrupted, the losing sight of their first love. But more importantly, he was a Disciple of Christ. Paul said to him,

2nd Timothy 2:1-4
“¹ You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ² And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. ³ Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴ No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.” – NIV

Listen, we are all going to suffer from pressures and affliction. Jesus said that we would. It is to be expected.

John 15:18-21
“¹⁸ If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹ They will treat you this way because of my name;” – NIV

The question is when you stand before God will He commend you for standing firm and refusing to give into the pressure around you?