Revelation 2:8-11: The Letter to the Church at Smyrna

Introduction

In our last post, we learned about the church at Ephesus, which was found doctrinally pure but which had lost what Christ called its “first love.” The church was commended for its pure doctrine, for recognizing and confronting false teachers and not putting up with evil.

Our Lord wants us to be doctrinally pure. He wants us to study His word, discuss with each other Who He is, what He is like, what He reveals to us about His will. He wants us to recognize false teaching and to confront it, but He also wants us to feel the love for Him that He feels for us: complete commitment; enthusiastic love that puts no one else first; a love that enjoys His presence just because of Who He is; a love that we can know is with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength.

At the end of the last lesson, we listed some things that the letter to Ephesus reveals as God’s will for Christians and for the church:

• To labor for His name’s sake and have patience in the face of trials
• Not to put up with evil
• To recognize false doctrine and reject false teachers
• To persevere in our faith despite temptations and opposition
• To remember your first love: the excitement of and dedication to loving and serving Him
• To do the works we did in the beginning—more than doctrinal correctness, but also to worship, evangelize, love Him, and live for Him.

Today, we want to see what the letter to the church at Smyrna reveals about the church and God’s will.

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.”

Smyrna was an important seaport city on the Aegean Sea, with a population about 250,000. Forty miles northwest of Ephesus, Smyrna was a commercial and trading center. Today, on the site is the Turkish city of Izmir with a population of about two million people.

In 200 B.C., Smyrna allied itself with Rome and became part of the Roman empire. The people of the city were awarded full Roman citizenship (unlike the regions Rome conquered, where the people were ruled by the Romans but did not become citizens). This distinction provided special difficulties for the young Christian church at Smyrna, because worship of the Roman emperor was the official state religion in the Roman empire. Worship of the emperor as a deity was required.

When Rome occupied a territory, such as Israel, a certain concession to local religious practices was granted. Israel was not part of the Roman empire, but was an occupied territory under Roman rule, and emperor worship was not required of the Israelites or the Christians in conquered territories. However, Smyrna was part of the Roman empire, not an occupied territory. A Roman citizen was free to worship other gods, as long as he or she also worshipped the emperor.

Roman citizens were required to burn incense to Caesar as a god and their master and lord, making the emperor, whom the state regarded as the chief or highest Roman god. By worshipping the emperor as a god, the citizen proved loyalty to Caesar and the Roman government, allowing him or her to work, trade, and own property.

To refuse to worship Caesar was treasonous. Those who did not worship Caesar could not take part in the economy and earn a living. They had little status as Roman citizens, were regarded as disloyal, barely tolerated by the government, looked on with suspicion, and persecuted by the government and their own neighbors.

With this as the backdrop, in the opening lines of the letter to the church at Smyrna Christ reassures them that they worship the only God (v.8): “These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life;” The reminder of His status (the First and the Last) stresses His eternal existence and status as only true of God.

He points out that He was dead and came to life, something which no pagan god could claim, proving His claim to be the only God, and, as these Christians knew from the gospels and the epistles of Paul and others, His resurrection was a guarantee of eternal life for His disciples.

In verse 9, the letter also refers to some conditions affecting the church: it was enduring tribulation, meaning intense suffering. They were poverty-stricken because they were not willing to worship Caesar. The Christians were among the poorest of the poor, presumably because they had no means of earning a living, no right to own property, no access to courts, limited protection of the law, and under intense and government-sanctioned persecution—all because they would not worship Caesar.

The temptation must have been great to give in, worship and burn incense to Caesar, and gain the right to live in peace without persecution and work for a living. However, despite their living conditions, Christ reminds them they are rich.

There was a large Jewish population in Smyrna that joined in the persecution of the Christians. Christ’s reference to them as “…those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan…” (v. 9) may be a sign that they, too, worshipped Caesar. There is another possibility, however, found in Paul’s letter to the Galatians: “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (3:29). Jews who rejected Christ were no longer regarded by God as “…Abraham’s seed…” and no longer regarded as chosen of God.

Notice how the suffering and persecution of Christians at Smyrna do not exactly demonstrate the western idea of Christianity—culturally stained, preoccupied with wealth, lethargic doctrinally, politically correct, etc.

In this letter, Christ informs that there will be more suffering to come and that some would be imprisoned. In the letter’s context and the conditions in the city, the imprisonment would be because of their faith and refusal to worship Caesar as a god. Their imprisonment would be “…to test you…” (v. 10). The term “test” may also be translated as “tempt.” It is the same word we found in James 1:13-15: “¹³ When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴ but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” The term means the trial of a person’s fidelity, integrity, or virtue; an enticement to sin, whether arising from inner desires or outside circumstances. For the Smyrna Christians, it meant the temptation to turn away from Christ and worship Caesar; which would enable them to be released immediately from prison.

Christ tells them not to fear the things they are about to suffer and that “…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” (v. 10). The persecution and suffering they would endure because of their faith in Christ would be temporary, compared to eternal life with our Lord.

The leader in the church at Smyrna when John wrote the Revelation was a young man named Polycarp. He was in his mid-20s, and he later became bishop of the church, which by the mid-second century A.D. encompassed several congregations in the region.

Polycarp had been discipled by John. In 155 A.D., at the age of 86, Polycarp was in prison and given the choice to deny Jesus and worship Caesar, or burn at the stake. He refused, saying he had served Jesus all his life and would not turn against him now. When the fire at the stake failed to kill him, a Roman soldier killed him with a sword.

The “…crown of life…” (or “…victor’s crown…” in some English translations; v. 10) is a recurring theme in the New Testament as a reward for faithfulness. It is a euphemistic reference to eternal life with God in heaven, which is promised to all authentic Christians. “Be faithful, even to the point of death…” is a familiar theme in the New Testament.

“The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death” (v. 11). This refers to the Christian who, through trials and persecutions, demonstrates his or her faith to be genuine. Mention of “…the second death…” occurs four times in Revelation—here in v. 11, 20:6, 20:14, and 21:8.

The second death is synonymous with the lake of fire (20:14: “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death”). It represents separation from God, the Giver of life, and is called the “…the second death…” because it follows physical death.

Revelation 21:8 explains the second death in the most detail: “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

The second death is reserved for those who have rejected Christ, ani it is not a place believers in Christ should fear.

In Revelation 20:6, the text is taking place in the future period called the Millennium, a future period of 1,000 years during which Christ will reign on earth: “Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.” This verse provides us with three important facts. First, those who die for their faith in Jesus during the Tribulation will later be resurrected to enter the Millennium and live with Him. Second, these martyrs will escape the lake of fire or second death. Third, they will reign with Christ.

Revelation 20:14-15 describes the final, permanent destination of every person not included in the book of life: “¹⁴ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

In summary, the second death is a reference to the lake of fire where those who are separated from God by their sin will dwell for eternity. This judgment was recorded in Scripture as a warning to unbelievers to seek the salvation that Jesus Christ provides. The coming judgment should also challenge believers to share their faith. There is a vast difference between the final destination of those who know Christ and those who do not.

Conclusion

We struggle to imagine the conditions of the Christians in Smyrna, but I can understand the temptation many of them must have felt. Many people there initially drawn to Christ had turned to emperor worship to earn a living, buy food, and just not be hassled by the people and the government, but true believers refused to compromise, despite the hatred toward them, prisons, inability to earn a living, and all the other persecutions they suffered. The Roman authorities considered them traitors and criminals because they worshiped Christ and not Caesar. Perhaps many of them were tested and were imprisoned or executed because of their faith.

We must always remember that our faith and our faithfulness is not just the result of our resolve and our efforts. It is also a gift from God.

The Smyrna Christians have given us a moving example of a people joined to Christ and His saving work and whose faith God sustained through suffering and even death.