Revelation 2:8-11 - Homiletics

Smyrna: words of cheer from a reigning Saviour to a suffering Church.

In some respects this letter awakens more interest in the Church to which it was addressed than any other of the seven. Out of the seven Churches, two only are unrebuked. Of these two, Smyrna is one. It is a poor Church, but Jesus calls it rich. It is beset with opposition, but it has the Lord for its Advocate, and is addressed by him in words of cheer and of hope. Not only, however, is this Church interesting to us on account of its high moral and spiritual standing, but also on account of the historical details which are preserved to us concerning it. The Book of Revelation was in all probability written about the year A.D. 96. Under Marcus Aurelius, in the year 168, there was martyred that venerable teacher of the gospel—Polycarp. When he was urged to deny Christ, he said, "Eighty-six years have I served Jesus Christ; he has been a good Master to me all these years, and shall I forsake him now?" Deducting eighty-six years from 168, we come back to the year 82 as the time of Polycarp's conversion. This being so, Polycarp would have been a Christian for fourteen years at the time when this letter was addressed to the Church at Smyrna. Ignatius tells us that in the year 108 he found Polycarp the overseer of the Church there, and Tertullian says that he had been placed in that office by the Apostle John. This being the case, there can be but little doubt that this letter was sent when Polycarp was in office in the Church to which it was addressed; while there can be no reasonable question that he was a prominent sharer in the sufferings which afterwards came upon the believers there. £ We leave to the student the task of showing the striking illustration this letter receives from the history referred to in the footnote, as all the space at our command is required for the strictly homiletic exposition of it. There are no fewer than seven lines of meditation here suggested. We have—

I. A LIVING SAVIOUR OVER ALL . (Verse 8.) To the members of this poor and struggling Church the Lord Jesus presents the fact of his mediatorial dominion to them for their comfort and support. For a struggling Church to see enthroned on high the Son of God as Head and Lord, is "better than life." "The First." Then he was before these changeful scenes began. "The Last." Then he will be after they shall have closed. "Who was dead." Then he understands what it is "to resist unto blood." "And lived." Revixit! Then he has conquered death. He reigns. And as a reigning Saviour he addresses the suffering Church.

II. A LIVING SAVIOUR KNOWING ALL . Other epistles begin, "I know thy works." This and the next begin, "I know thy tribulation." It is possible for a Church so to be placed that activity is out of the question. Endurance may be the only possible form of service. It may be a duty to give up any attempt at sowing or reaping for a while, in order to secure the field on which the harvest must be won. In the old times of persecution, with the Jews, religion was regulated by priestcraft, and among the pagans, by statecraft. Christians knew no priest but Jesus, and no law for the conscience but the law of the truth and the Spirit of God. If for a while the storm would beat about this Church, it would be an unspeakable comfort to hear the voice of Jesus saying, "I know it all." Note: There are some professors now who delight to make a show, and never dream of pleading poverty except when they are asked to give to the cause of God! But here the plea of poverty comes not from the Church; the recognition of that came from the Lord Jesus. This makes all the difference!

III. A LIVING SAVIOUR ESTIMATING ALL . "Thou art rich." These words, as a testimony from the Lord Jesus, speak volumes for the genuineness of the life and for the power of faith and love which were in the Church. "Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?" It is all important that we should learn to see light in God's light—to reckon silver and gold as corruptible things, and to regard faith, love, and the good hope through grace as the only durable riches. Note: Christ values his Churches according to what they are, as well as according to what they do. If their trials are such that all they can do is to bear them, and to wait God's own time—well. So, if in old age Christians find their powers of active service fail them, though they may do less, they may be more. It is not only needful for us to quicken sluggish Christians to activity, it is also needful (and perhaps, in this age of feverish heat and restlessness, even more so) to show to believers that it is by being as well as by doing that they can please, serve, and glorify their Lord. There may be much activity with a very defective inner life. But if the "being" is right, the right "doing" is sure to follow.

IV. A LIVING SAVIOUR FORESEEING ALL . "Ye shall have tribulation"— θλῦψις , tribulatio. In this the devil would have a hand. The persecution of Christians is here regarded as the work of the evil one. Paul's thorn in the flesh was a "messenger of Satan." He wanted to do this or that, but Satan hindered. Satan goes about as a roaring lion. The object was, "that ye may be tried." Satan tries for a bad purpose; God, for a good one. Satan, to destroy the faith; God, to prove and strengthen it. Satan, to put out the fire; God, to make it blaze the more! Note: All this is foreseen by Christ. Not one trial shall befall that is unforeseen and unprovided for by him. He is planning to outwit the evil one, by making his grace so conspicuous in the evil day, that men shall glorify God the more when they see what his grace enables believers to bear.

V. A LIVING SAVIOUR LIMITING ALL . "Ten days." We take the force of this expression to be equivalent to "A little while, and it will be over!"

"Griefs of God's sending all have an ending;

Sunshine will come when the tempest is past."

It is not always that the Churches of God shall be harassed by the enemy. Hostile power shall rage not a moment longer than our heavenly Father shall please.

VI. A LIVING SAVIOUR CHEERING THEM AMID ALL . "Fear not." "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but in me ye shall have peace," "Fear not them which kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do." "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age."

VII. A LIVING SAVIOUR PROMISING LIFE AT THE END OF ALL . "Be . and I will give thee a crown of life ... He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." There is underlying the word "hurt" the notion of injustice, and the phrase is equivalent to "The hand of injustice may strike once," but that is all. It shall be powerless then. "Neither can they die any more." The promise is, however, not merely negative; it is positive. "Life." And surely it must be, as Canon Tristram suggests, £ something more than an accidental circumstance, that out of the seven cities whose Churches are addressed, only those two in which the Churches are unrebuked, viz. Smyrna and Philadelphia, "have retained their importance, their population, and even their Churches in comparative freedom through the trials and vicissitudes of centuries, to the present day;" not, however, without much tribulation. And as it is in the sphere of discipline, so in that of reward. Churches in this life; individuals also in the next; and those believers who have, like the Master, "endured the cross, despising the shame." shall in another state realize the promise, "Where I am there shall also my servant be." They shall have a crown—a crown of life, of glory, of righteousness. These shall be the crown, not merely its characteristics. Life, that lives on and is evermore to be. Glory, that shall be fadeless in its splendour. Righteousness, that shall be spotless in its perfection. The evolution of the spiritual man has infinite ages before it. This age cannot limit its being. This earth has no scope for its growth. As there is a life beyond the present life, so there is a death beyond the present death. He who is born twice can die only once, but he who is born only once will die twice. But if the first death were extinction, a second would be impossible; and if the first death had no notion of extinction in it, so neither may the second. Better, far better, a life of suffering in, with, and for Christ, than to have all possible luxury and no life in Christ! And, by the help of God, we may be "faithful;" and this is all that is required of us. We are but imperfect servants at the best, but we need not be unfaithful. Our position may not be one of ease, but we can be faithful. It is not said, "Well done, good and rich servant;" nor "Well done, good and successful servant;" but "Well done, good and faithful servant." "Ah!" say some, "in such stirring times, methinks it was easy to be faithful. Give me a chance of immortalizing myself by martyrdom, and then—"Ah! how easy it is for distance to throw a romantic glamour over even the sufferings of the past. If they who speak like this had to lie upon a bed of spikes, it would be a severer test than they now deem it. But this is not likely to be required of us. "He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much." A daily fidelity in cross bearing, in small vexations, in little trials, amid the glare and glitter of a deceptive world, and the incessant temptations to desert the standard,—this is what the Master asks for from us. "Be faithful unto death."