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We are beginning lesson six this evening and it will is bringing us into the second major division of the book.
We are studying now the things *which are* the things which John has seen and that is the condition of the seven churches in Asia.
These churches are listed in chapters 2 and 3.
There are letters written to each one of the seven churches.
Last week, we studied the first church listed and it was to the church at Ephesus.
We saw the church in Chapter 2:17.
This week we come to the second and third churches, and that is the church Smyrna, and Pergamum.
So turn to Revelation Chapter 2, and look at versus eight through 11.
If you were to leave the city of Ephesus traveling by foot, you would soon come to the city of Smyrna.
*1.
The Destination*
*Smyrna*
1. Lying a little north of Ephesus, on a gulf of the same name.
The original city was destroyed about b.c.
627, and was deserted and laid in ruins for four hundred years.
2. Alexander the Great contemplated its restoration, and his design was carried out after his death.
3. The new city was built a short distance south of the ancient one, and became the finest in Asia Minor, being known as /the/ /glory/ /of/ /Asia/.
4. It was one of the cities which claimed the honor of being Homer's birthplace.
A splendid temple was erected by the Smyrnaeans to his memory, and a cave in the neighborhood of the city was shown where he was said to have composed his poems.
5. Smyrna's fine harbor made it a commercial center; but it was also distinguished for its schools of rhetoric and philosophy.
6.
The city was a seat of the worship of Cybele the Mother of the gods, and of Dionysus or Bacchus.
The city also contained the second temple built by the Romans to accommodate emperor worship.
7. The Inhabitants of the city were very zealous in their religious practices and could easily tolerate the pantheon of gods that were worshiped there.
8. The present day city population consists of about a half a million people.
It was to a small group of Christians meeting in a little town that the letter was addressed.
You will see the message to the church in chapters 2:811
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*The commission for John to write.
*
1.
Last week we concluded that the term angel in the Greek text is means messenger.
2.
Angels are called messengers throughout this book, and it is possible that the angel here is a heavenly being a guardian angel to the church, many people hold this position and meaning indications support that position.
3.
The angel mentioned here could be the human messenger, the mailman who has come from Ephesus with a letter from John is to the Church at Smyrna.
4.
The church in Smyrna, existed in a very materialistic, idolatrous and polytheistic society.
Christians were not held with much regard by the citizens of Smyrna and frequently suffered ostracization, unemployment, and outright persecution.
5. Their position in society, meant that they were poor, and powerless.
6.
A man named Polycarp was the first bishop of its church, which suffered much from persecution, and he was said to have suffered martyrdom in the stadium of the city, a.d.
166.
7. The persecution against the Christians came from two sources.
The Jews and the Roman elements in the city each had reasons to despise believers in Jesus Christ.
8.
This obviously lead to the Christians becoming the objects of intense persecution.
9.
It is interesting to note that the word Smyrna means myrrh that will be significant to our understanding because the essence of myrrh comes as a result of smashing crushing pulverizing a certain herb.
10.
It is from that crushing their came a fragrance that was very valuable.
This fragrance was used in the embalming of bodies in the New Testament.
The fragrance came from the crushing and smashing up of the plant.
11.
So this letter is addressed to the Church of Smyrna.
12.
The letters from Christ who is the first and the last.
a.
The speaks of his sovereignty.
He is the sovereign God .
b.
This suggests the idea of him being the eternal God.
c.
He is above all in the beginning and at the end.
d.
He is the sovereign one write-in to the little despise Church.
13.
John also says he is the one who was dead and has come to life.
*a. *He is the one who became dead.*
Was dead (**ε**̓**γένετο νεκρὸς**)*Lit., /became/ /dead/.
b. *Is alive (**ε**̓**́ζησεν**) *Lit., /lived/.
Rev., properly, /lived/ /again/; the word being used of restoration to life.
See, for a similar usage, Mat_9:18; Joh_5:25.
c. So, it is the resurrected one who is going to be addressing himself to the church at Smyrna.
d.
So let's put these two titles together.
And what we see is the Jesus Christ is the sovereign God, who died and now lives.
14.
What this description says is that the sovereign resurrected god understands their suffering.
a.
He was subject to persecution and tribulation even to the point of death.
Yet he conquered death.
b.
He broke the bonds of death, and is the victor over death and that is surely is designed to bring a comforting message to the Christians at Smyrna.
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*The* *commendation is given to this church in verse nine*
1.
*Tribulation (**θλι**͂**ψιν**) *See on Mat_13:21.
Referring to the persecutions of Jewish and heathen oppressors.
See on /Smyrna/, Rev_2:8.
2. Smyrna was being persecuted the Lord says.
As a result of their persecution they had become poverty-stricken in the strictest sense of the word.
The word John uses to describe their poverty is tremendously emphatic.
3.
They were not just poor, their poverty was abject poverty.
a.
They were losing their homes, they were losing their jobs.
Their resources, their income.
Their reputation, their standing in the community.
b.
They were marginalized, despised falsely accused and lived with injustice of the worst sort.
4. *Rich *In faith and grace.
Compare Jam_2:6, Jam_2:7; 1Ti_6:17, 1Ti_6:18; Luk_12:21; Mat_19:21.
a.
But you were very rich as we know a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses a Christian who loses all is not poor, because he has the riches that can never be taken from him.
5. I know the blasphemy of those that say they are Jews, but are of the synagogue of Satan.
a.
*Blasphemy (**βλασφημίαν**) *See on Mar_7:22.
Not primarily direct blasphemy against God, but reviling at believers.
b.
This blasphemy was coming from those who say they are Jews and are not there probably Judaizers born of Jewish ancestry.
c.
They trace their physical descent from Abraham but did not walk in Abraham's footsteps.
d.
*Jews * Not Christians, as in Phi_3:3; Rom_2:28, Rom_2:29.
i.
Actually Jews by birth, but not spiritually.
The title is not given them by the Spirit, nor by the seer, but by themselves; and none would use that title except such as were Jews by birth and by religion.
ii.
The enmity of the Jews against Christians is a familiar fact to all readers of the book of Acts; and it is a matter of history that their malignity was especially displayed toward the Church of Smyrna.
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