Revelation #6 End Times Dilemma: Persecution and Poverty
Revelation #6 End Times Dilemma: Persecution and Poverty
We
discovered in the message Jesus sent to the church in Ephesus that you can be
doctrinally correct but relationally wrong. The engine that pulls the train of
orthodoxy, doctrine, social stands, policy, program, and facility, the engine
is love. Without love, you’re not going
anywhere no matter how good all the other cars in the train are. Choose to be a
lover who reaches out and befriends others.
John is
instructed to write to the congregation located in the city of Smyrna. Smyrna today goes by the name Izmir which you
will find in Turkey, a port city on the Aegean Sea. As it is today Smyrna was a beautiful city
when John wrote. It was another trade hub, it was intensely Roman. The coins of
the city were imprinted with the words “First of Asia in beauty and size.”
There was a sports stadium, a library, and the largest public theater in all of
Asia. It was said to be the birthplace
of the Greek poet Homer who is credited for writing the Iliad and the Odyssey. Curving up the face of Mount Pagus was the famed
street of gold that from the harbor looked like a necklace adorning the
mountain. At each end of the golden road was a temple, one for the city’s
patron deity and one for Zeus. The city won the right to build a temple for the
emperor Tiberius, so it was also a center for the imperial cult, the worshiping
of the emperor as a god. The city was also home to a large number of Jews.
[Mounce, p. 91] Smyrna is a very
prosperous city.
Historians
are not sure who planted the church, but given its proximity to Ephesus, about
35 miles to the south, scholars are inclined to think that the Apostle Paul had
some influence in getting the church started.
The
Christians in Smyrna are dealing with oppression and persecution. It’s very
hard to be a believer in this city, everyone seems to be out to get you.
Rev
2:8-11 (MSG)
8 Write
this to Smyrna, to the Angel of the church. The Beginning and Ending, the First
and Final One, the Once Dead and Then Come Alive, speaks:
9
"I can see your pain and poverty—constant pain, dire poverty—but I also
see your wealth. And I hear the lie in the claims of those who pretend to be
good Jews, who in fact belong to Satan's crowd.
10
"Fear nothing in the things you're about to suffer—but stay on guard! Fear
nothing! The Devil is about to throw you in jail for a time of testing—ten
days. It won't last forever.
"Don't
quit, even if it costs you your life. Stay there believing. I have a Life-Crown
sized and ready for you.
11
"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing
through the churches. Christ-conquerors are safe from Devil-death."
Jesus
introduces Himself to the congregation as the one who is the start of all
things and in which all things will find the conclusion. Jesus
is the one who was executed to complete His mission but then raised from the
dead. Here again, we have Jesus' example
of tribulation leading to triumph. Jesus
endured the worst, apparent powerlessness, that resulted in the best, real
power, real power that makes it possible for those who bend their knee to Jesus
to be forgiven of their sins, reconciled to God, empowered to live an exemplary
life, and who will follow Jesus in a resurrection from death.
This is
the gospel. Whoever believes in Jesus,
that He is the way, the truth, and the life, the one who by his blood made
atonement for all our sins, that we can become right with God, with Self, and
with Others, that we can live our lives to the full. The path of salvation is open to all who will
bend their knee to the Lordship of Christ. Have you done so, the outsider and
outcast becoming the insider and the beloved?
Have you done so, the loveless becoming the loved and lover?
Romans
10:13 (NIV)
"Everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Jesus
will turn your messes into masterpieces as you determine to make His teachings
the way you live your life. If you make that life-long commitment to be a
disciple of Jesus, let me know, I want to encourage you in your faith.
Greetings
from the Once Dead and then Alive. This
is a greeting of encouragement to people who are struggling with prejudice and
bigotry. This is a greeting that reminds the reader that Jesus walked through
death but overcame it, so as you follow Jesus you also will walk through death
and overcome it.
Jesus
is the one amid the lampstand that represents the churches, Jesus holds the
angel of the churches in his right hand.
This means Jesus is intimately aware of the circumstances of His people.
"I
can see your pain and poverty—constant pain, dire poverty—but I also see your
wealth.
This
chronic pain and poverty was because of persecution. If we consider that when Paul first came to a
city he started preaching in the synagogues it is safe to think that this also
happened in Smyrna. The proclamation
that Jesus is the Messiah seemed always to meet with a mixed reception. There would be those who believed the message,
those who rejected the message, and those who said it was their duty to stamp
out the message. History reveals that the Jewish community was well integrated
into the Roman culture. “We find them,
for instance, contributing 10,000 denarii for the beautification of the city. [10,000
denarii is about 30,000 dollars] It is clear that in Smyrna they were especially
hostile to the Christian Church, no doubt because it was from them and from
those interested in Judaism that Christianity drew many of its converts”(Barclay's
Daily Study Bible (NT). The Jews were not only losing people to this new cult
but to those opposed it, the claim that Jesus was the Messiah was blasphemy. It was insanity to think you could find favor
with God without being circumcised and keeping the rest of the Law, let alone
the Jesus as Messiah not meeting with Jewish expectations.
The
Romans on the other hand would consider these Christ followers to be atheists.
They didn’t believe in the gods, instead just one God. The typical slanders thrown at believers
included cannibalism, they ate the flesh and drank the blood of their savior;
an accusation of lust and immorality was leveled as the Christians engaged in
Love Feasts regularly, but the Love Feast was partaking in the Lord’s Supper
and sharing a common meal with the congregation. The Christians were accused of
breaking up families. As we read in 1
Peter when one spouse became of believer there could be high tension in the
home. The Roman citizens would have none of that.
The
scholars also suggest that a majority of believers would have been slaves. The message of the gospel gives individuals
worth and dignity, it was attractive to those society had made property.
There
was discrimination and bigotry. Maged is
a believer who lives in Egypt he told me that as a Christian it was very
difficult to get work because of his faith. So much more so in Smyrna. “In an antagonistic environment it would be
difficult for the Christian to make a living, and thus many were economically
destitute” (Mounce, p.92). The writer of
Hebrews gives us another reason for the economic hardship:
Hebrews
10:33-34 (NIV)
Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult
and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so
treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the
confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better
and lasting possessions.
Your
property could be confiscated because of your belief. You could be thrown in
jail because you refused to recant your faith.
These conditions make it hard to survive financially. The original
language suggests that some believers were economically reduced to the begging
poor.
The
congregation is Symrna was materially poor but spiritually rich. There is no way you can endure this type of
abuse without being empowered by Jesus.
The Apostle James points out that it is the poor who must rely on God
and each other to get by, to have a meal, and a place to sleep, because of this
they draw closer to God and each other out of desperation and God blesses with
the power to endure.
“Has
not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith
and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?”(James 2:5
(NIV).
There
is no extra virtue in being poor. Wealth
gives you the illusion that you can take care of yourself, that’s why Jesus
said it is hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom, poverty strips that lie away
and makes you realize how much more you need God’s presence and power in your
life. It's best to live in a state of dependency and when you have material blessings
to praise God for them.
Jesus
was rejected by His own. Of all the
people in the world, the Jews had the scripture that identified the
Messiah. But the idea of a suffering
slave as Messiah didn’t meet their expectations of a conquering king in the
style and might of King David from their past. In rejecting the gospel they had
gone astray. The Children of Israel are
God’s people who had endured much persecution, now these same people were
persecuting whom the Apostle Paul called the true children of God.
Romans
2:28-29 (MSG)
“Don't you see: It's not the cut of a knife
that makes a Jew. You become a Jew by who you are. It's the mark of God on your
heart, not of a knife on your skin, that makes a Jew.”
You may
not be Jewish by birth, but you have been grafted into that family tree when
you asked Jesus to allow you to be his slave.
Jesus
message continues:
“And I
hear the lie in the claims of those who pretend to be good Jews, who in fact
belong to Satan's crowd.”
These
words contain an interesting argument.
It is suggested that good Jews are those who kept their doctrine and
rituals intact, but having rejected the Messiah, have become adversarial to the
very God they worshipped. The idea then is that they ceased to be God’s chosen
people, being replaced by Christians. The Church carries on the blessings and
responsibilities that were first given to the children of Israel. The disciples
of Jesus became the new Israel. Satan’s
crowd contains all those who reject the Lordship of Jesus.
The
believers are being oppressed by the Jews and the ruling Romans. Many of Jesus'
followers had lost their livelihoods, and their property, even reduced to
begging in the streets. Jesus tells them worse is on the way.
"Fear
nothing in the things you're about to suffer—but stay on guard! Fear nothing!
The Devil is about to throw you in jail for a time of testing—ten days. It
won't last forever.
“The
Message to the persecuted church in Smyrna could not have been welcomed. Who wants to hear that present suffering will
increase to imprisonment and perhaps death, even if it is to be for only a
short time” (Carol Rotz, NBNC Revelation, A Commentary in the Wesleyan
Tradition, p. 69). The time of testing,
ten days, means that this intense persecution will only last a short time. To endure is to validate one's loyalty to
Jesus. To endure means you are tried and tested and come out 100% blood-washed.
Hear
the promise of Jesus to those who endure persecution.
"Don't
quit, even if it costs you your life. Stay there believing. I have a Life-Crown
sized and ready for you.
A Life-
Crown is eternal life. Even though they
kill you, you shall live, for Jesus will raise you on the last day.
11
"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing
through the churches. Christ-conquerors are safe from Devil-death."
Devil death refers to second-order death. First-order death visits you when your
physical body dies. Second-order death, eternal separation from God, is the
destiny of all who have chosen to be an adversary of Christ.
Believers
in Symrna are in a bad spot. They are dealing with intense persecution,
imprisonment, and death all because they bent the knee to Jesus refusing to
recant. Jesus tells the church that this tribulation will pass and that those
who endure will be in the winner’s circle in life eternal.
Two
things you should take to heart.
Riches
and poverty are not signs of God’s blessings or curses. With riches comes
increased responsibility, and with poverty increased dependence on God. Neither are indicators of the quality of
your faith. Both stations allow
testifying to the power of God.
At
times life is so hard, and the adversaries so numerous, that you are tempted to
quit. Call on God to fill you with the
Holy Spirit who will in turn give you the power to endure, to cope, and to
shine, through you manifesting the presence of God to the people in your world.
Jesus' message is don’t quit. Keep on keeping on, trial and tribulation will
only last a short while, and even if they take away everything you have,
everything you love, even if they kill you, Jesus will set all things right at
His return.
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