Date: 2025-01-24

AO: 3rd-f

Q: Bishop

PAX: Schnitzel, Yogi (Florence), Sharpie, Web, Frodo, Pinto, Bishop

FNGs: None

COUNT: 7

Revelation 2:8-11

True moments of fear

– Personal example

Historical background:

1. Location of Smyrna

1. Second largest and reportedly, the most beautiful city in Provincial Asia

2. Only city of the seven receiving letters still in existence today.

3. About 35 miles north of Ephesus.

1. Worship of the Emperor

1. Largely symbolic early on. It’s not that you had to worship the emperor as “THE god,” in fact he was one of many. But this was a test of loyalty.

2. One of the first two cities in Rome to officially recognize emperor worship.

1. The Jewish Exception

1. Because Jews were famously mono-theistic in the ancient world, the Romans gave them an exemption to this law.

1. The synagogue of Satan (vs. 9)

1. Jewish people, who had an exception to Emperor worship, were telling the Romans that these “Christians” had no part in Judaism. Thus, they were subject to Roman punishment.

2. Christians refused to bend the knee. Jews were actively reporting Christians to the Romans. In many cases, they were Jewish Christians.

3. This persecution would lead to imprisonment, and often death.

1. Example from Pliny

Let’s look at what Jesus was saying to them first, then we’ll consider what it means for us.

1. Jesus begins by reminding them that He was dead, but came to life.

1. Discussion

1. Jesus tells that he knows them, and things are not always as they seem (vs. 9)

1. I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (BUT YOU ARE RICH)

1. Genesis 16: El Roi, the God who sees

2. Mark 12:41-44: Jesus…watched the crowd

1. What seemed to be true in these stories, and what was really true?

1. Jesus gives two commands:

1. Be faithful

2. Do not be afraid

3. The story of Polycarp:

1. “Eighty and six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong.”

2. “How then can I blaspheme my King and Savior? You threaten me with a fire that burns for a season, and after a little while is quenched; but you are ignorant of the fire of everlasting punishment that is prepared for the wicked.”

Against this backdrop, what can we take from this today?

We may not see physical persecution today (yet), but what do we experience? We experience the “death” that surrounds us due to the fall in the Garden of Eden.

1. The concept of Death with a capital D, and death with a lowercase: We experience death with a lowercase d every time we notice something isn’t the way God intended. This is true with personal relationships, politics, or whatever you have going on in your life. This death is part of the fall of the world, the natural bent toward sinfulness.

1. Every time we lose our temper with our wives and say something we should not say, we experience death.

2. Every time we are mistreated, misunderstood, slandered, or mocked, we experience death.

3. These moments invite us to remember these truths:

1. Jesus was dead, but came to life again. He is bringing life from death.

1. Jesus is making all things new. (Revelation 21:5)

2. He will redeem it all.

1. Jesus sees you, He sees us, and He sees what we cannot see.

2. Be faithful, and do not be afraid.

1. Joshua 1:8 – Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Some discussion questions:

1. What are some things you fear?

2. What is a moment of “death” you struggle with.