A Deeper Dive Into the Book of Revelation - Part 59
**The Messenger **
“To the angel (divine messenger) of the church in Smyrna write: …”—Revelation 2:8 (AMP)
Following the approximate timeline given by William Branham, the Smyrnaean Church Age began around the year 170 AD and lasted until around 312 AD when the Roman emperor Constantine began to show favor to Christianity. During this time, Polycarp was a bishop of the church in Smyrna. Polycarp had been discipled by the Apostle John, and he had opportunities to talk with others who had seen Jesus.
The ministry of Polycarp helped to guide and influence Irenaeus, who is most likely the “angel,” or messenger of the Smyrnaean Church Age. Irenaeus was born in Smyrna to a Christian family around 125 AD. As a mature Christian leader, he served as Bishop of Lyon in what is now France.
Irenaeus filled the roles of pastor and missionary in His service to Christ, but he is probably best known for his firm defense of the Gospel in his writings.
During the Smyrnaean Age, a false gospel arose and gained many followers. This false gospel was known as Gnosticism. Irenaeus exposed this error for what it was in the writings that he called *On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis. *These volumes are better known by the title Against Heresies.
Irenaeus also made the case for the authenticity of the four Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The fact that we have all four of these Gospels included in our Bibles today—and no more than four Gospels—may be due in large part to the influence of Irenaeus.
Jesus Reveals Himself
“These are the words of the First and the Last [absolute Deity, the Son of God] who died and came to life [again]”—Revelation 2:8 (AMP)
The Smyrnaean Church Age was a time of intense persecution. Even in this opening statement from the Lord, He speaks of death and resurrection. Those are themes in this letter because it is written to many people who would be called on to lay down their lives as martyrs in the service of Christ and the Gospel.
The name “Smyrna” means “myrrh.” Myrrh was used as an anointing oil to prepare people for burial. After Jesus died, Nicodemus brought 100 pounds of myrrh and aloes to prepare the body of Jesus to be placed in the tomb. (See John 19:39.)
Encouragement and Preparation
The Church in Smyrna received no words of correction from the Lord. This letter seems to have a more somber tone than the letters to the other churches. For the believers in Smyrna, Jesus shares words of praise and encouragement for their willingness to suffer for His sake. In these words, Jesus is also preparing these believers to face death as martyrs for His sake.
“I know your suffering and your poverty (but you are rich)”—Revelation 2:9 (AMP)
Here, Jesus comforts and encourages the believers of Smyrna. In the midst of the great suffering they were enduring, Jesus spoke to them and said, “I know what you’re going through.” This is a reminder to all of us that in our darkest days, Jesus is there with us. He knows everything that we have gone through, and He will be with us in everything that we face in the future. He never leaves us or forsakes us.
Many of these believers suffered the loss of their property and possessions as part of the persecutions of that time. Jesus encourages them in the midst of their great poverty with an eternal truth. Though they may have suffered the loss of everything they owned, they are truly wealthy with rich rewards that can never be taken away.
As Paul wrote,
“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ”—Philippians 3:8 (NKJV)
But the loss of property is only the beginnings of the sufferings awaiting these believers of the Smyrnaean Church Age.
“Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer.”—Revelation 2:10 (NKJV)
Jesus is about to tell these believers what they will be called on to suffer for His sake, but before He does that, He tells them not to fear any of those things. This was more than a word of encouragement. With these words, Jesus imparted grace that was needed for these believers to face these sufferings faithfully without fear.
Secular movies about Christian persecution during this age often depict the Christians cowering in fear as they were thrown to the lions in the arena. But that is not the way it happened. When you read the accounts of the Christian martyrs like Polycarp, Perpetua, Blandina, and many others, you realize that they demonstrated supernatural faith, boldness, and bravery as they willingly offered up their lives in the cause of Christ. Unbelievers—and sometimes even their own persecutors—converted to Christianity after witnessing the deaths of these faithful martyrs.
“Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”—Revelation 2:10 (NASB)
Here, Jesus tells these faithful believers that some of them will be imprisoned, and some will die for the cause of Christ and the Gospel. Jesus also tells them that the devil is responsible for this unjust persecution, but Jesus does not tell them that He will rescue them from these persecutions. Instead, Jesus tells them to be faithful until death.
Just as we are told in Scripture how long the Great Tribulation will last at the end of the Church Age, Jesus tells these Smyrnaean believers how long their intense tribulation will last. This ten-day period that Jesus refers to may actually have been ten years, but it could also refer to ten campaigns of intense persecution that targeted the Christians during the Smyrnaean Church Age.
Jesus also gives these believers His reasons for not rescuing them out of this intense persecution. This persecution will serve to test these believers and to perfect their spiritual maturity. James describes this in his epistle:
“Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.”—James 1:2-4 (AMP)
Paul says it this way:
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”—Romans 8:18 (NKJV)
Also, Jesus assures these believers that great rewards await them after they endure these extreme trials. These believers understood that if they were willing to lay down their lives as martyrs for the cause of Christ and the Gospel that they would be richly rewarded and honored as Overcomers in the Kingdom of God. In fact, we are told in Hebrews that some believers even refused to be released from their persecutions so that they might gain greater eternal rewards and higher places of authority and responsibility in the Kingdom of God!
“There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.”—Hebrews 11:35 (NIV)
The devil had orchestrated all of these severe persecutions against these Smyrnaean believers, but by laying down their lives for Christ, these believers would overcome the devil and all of the evil that he had planned against them.
“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.”—Revelation 12:11 (NASB)
When Jesus laid down His life for us, His life was given as a seed that would later yield a great harvest of souls.
In overcoming the devil through their deaths, these faithful martyrs of the Smyrnaean Age also became seeds of a great harvest of souls that would arise in the ages after them.
The Synagogue of Satan
“and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.”—Revelation 2:9 (KJV)
This second letter corresponds to the second parable of Matthew 13. The parable of the Wheat and the Tares speaks of these false brethren being planted by Satan himself.
“Jesus gave them another parable [to consider], saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds [resembling wheat] among the wheat, and went away. So when the plants sprouted and formed grain, the weeds appeared also. The servants of the owner came to him and said, “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then how does it have weeds in it?” He replied to them, “An enemy has done this.”’”—Matthew 13:24-28 (AMP)
In His interpretation of this parable, Jesus made it clear that weeds (or tares) are literally children of Satan himself.
“The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and [as for] the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the weeds are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil”—Matthew 13:37-39 (AMP)
It was during this age that the heresies of Gnosticism rose to prominence among many Jewish leaders. Some Gnostics even called themselves Christians. The word Gnosticism means “having knowledge.” It is a false gospel that has its roots in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, not the Tree of Life.
And since the cross of Christ, a true Jew in the eyes of God is not just a person who is born into a family with a Jewish bloodline.
“For he is not a [real] Jew who is only one outwardly, nor is [true] circumcision something external and physical. But **he is a Jew who is one inwardly; **and [true] circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by [the fulfillment of] the letter [of the Law]. His praise is not from men, but from God.”—Romans 2:28-29 (AMP)
Irenaeus and other sons and daughters of the Kingdom stood firmly against this Synagogue of Satan and the blasphemies that these tares tried to bring into the Church.
To the Overcomer
As He did with each of these seven messages, Jesus closed this message to Smyrna with a call to the individual believer within the church whose ear was attuned to the voice of his Master.
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”—Revelation 2:11 (NKJV)
This entire message focused on issues of life and death for these believers in the Smyrnaean Church Age. Many of these believers would face death because of their faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ message to these believers is perfect in every way. It lays out what is ahead of them. It encourages and strengthens them, imparting boldness and courage to face severe tribulation and persecution. And here, in this promise to the individual who overcomes the devil and his persecution by suffering and possibly dying for the name and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus promises that he shall not be hurt by the second death.
Jesus tells us, His followers, that physical death is not something to be feared. Instead, we should fear dying in a condition that is not right with God.
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”—Matthew 10:28 (NKJV)
The second death is the Lake of Fire, as we are told near the end of Revelation when the final judgments are described.
“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”—Revelation 20:14 (KJV)
“But as for the cowards and unbelieving and abominable [who are devoid of character and personal integrity and practice or tolerate immorality], and murderers, and sorcerers [with intoxicating drugs], and idolaters and occultists [who practice and teach false religions], and all the liars [who knowingly deceive and twist truth], their part will be in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”—Revelation 21:8 AMP
For the one who overcomes, death is not something to fear. Death is the gateway to a glorious eternity of indescribable rewards. The second death is no concern for the overcomer. It cannot touch him.
“Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.”—Revelation 20:6 (ESV)
Many of us have never faced severe persecution like what the believers in Smyrna faced. We may have never thought seriously about laying down our lives as martyrs for the cause of Christ. But even in our age of comfort and luxury, we can live each day as Overcomers by laying down our lives in service to Christ and to our brothers and sisters. May God grant us His grace each day to live the lives of martyrs, giving our lives to serve God and others.
“Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends.”—John 15:13 (NASB)
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live’”— John 11:25 (ESV)
**Reference: **
Branham, W. M. (2005). An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages. Voice of God Recordings. (PDF)
Davis, P. K. (2016a, November 1). Webinar 62-”The Smyrnaen Church-Age of Martyrdom”. WhiteDove Ministries with Paul Keith and Amy Davis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZORpEu6rul0
Davis, P. K. (2016b, December 6). Webinar 63 - “Revelation 2: 8-11 — The Crown of Life.” WhiteDove Ministries with Paul Keith and Amy Davis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ0dMgHPDRg
