Be faithful unto death

Jesus's Oracle to the Church at Smyrna

And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: Thus says the First and the Last who was dead and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich!) and the blasphemy from those calling themselves Jews but they are not, but a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look—the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to be tested and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful to death and I will give you the victory garland of life. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will never be harmed by the second death. (Revelation 2:8–11)

Over the years I’ve sat through many sermons, many lectures, many Bible studies, and I’ve had many discussions about the Bible—the inevitable result of my profession. 

I’ve heard a lot of great insights, but a fair share of not so great ones. 

One of the typical not-so-great approaches to the Bible is reading our own history and culture back into the Bible—the Bible is deemed “timeless” in the sense that there is no need to ground its words in history.

But by its very nature (by God’s design) the Bible is grounded in history. 

Any use of the Bible today must somehow be consonant with when it was written and must take those historical circumstances into account when interpreting it.

This bedrock principle is so very pertinent to our text in this post. 

While in Jesus’s first oracle there were some hard critiques for the church at Ephesus (and against other threats), in the passage today the objects of the critique were not the Christians in the church at Smyrna, but the Jews of Smyrna who were persecuting the Christians there.

In this oracle Jesus has nothing negative to say about the church in Smyrna, only praise (just like the church at Philadelphia in Revelation 3)— and like the church in Philadelphia, the external threat comes from the Jews in the city.

This scenario was similar to Paul during his ministry in Turkey and Greece and Roman Palestine (and like Jesus)—the first century Jews in Palestine and throughout the Roman Empire, several millions strong, continuously hounded those whom they regarded as Jewish heretics that worshiped a false messiah as God (i.e. followers of “The Way” aka Christians).

In highlighting the persecution from Jews in the New Testament, it is vitally important that we separate any current issues (in the 20^th and 21^st centuries) with respect to the Jews or any other group from the cultural, religious, social, and political dynamics of the first century. 

We must realize that the conflict rendered by the Jews in the first century was of that time, not today.

That conflict had to do with Judaism itself: was Christianity Judaism or compatible with Judaism? If so was it true? 

Jesus was a Jew, Paul was a Jew, John was a Jew (and every other writer in the NT except for Luke) and many Christians throughout Palestine and the Roman Empire were Jewish. 

But by and large the majority of Jews in the Roman empire, focused in hundreds of synagogues in various cities and towns, rejected the claims that Jesus was their Messiah. 

Further, those first century Jews saw the early Christians as a mortal threat to their religious life and beliefs and sought to harass the Christians out of existence, as though persecution would do the job—time would show it could not.

What was different for Christians of that time (as far as we can tell) was that there was no reciprocal response to the persecution. 

The Christians refused to retaliate, certainly not with violence or even legally, though if taken to court these Jewish Jesus followers spoke the truth about Jesus despite the consequences (see Acts 4–5; 7; 22-26)—I have already mentioned the intimidation against Paul and his companions. 

 Jesus had predicted the persecution and gave all his followers the example of allowing the persecution to play itself out even unto death (see Matthew 5:10–11; 5:38–42; 10:16–20—esp. v. 17, “they will hand you to the [Jewish leadership] council and they will scourge you in their synagogues”—10:28; John 15:18–21; 16:1–4, 33).

Jesus’s trial and crucifixion was the supreme example.

What is more, Jesus understood that the Jews would fully believe that their violence was justified: “an hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think they are rendering service to God” (John 16:2).

When we turn to Jesus’s oracle to Smyrna, the words Jesus spoke are said in light of all the persecution that had occurred and would occur.

Jesus simply spoke reality about the Jewish persecution of the time and about the non-retaliatory response the believers in Smyrna should willingly embrace (“Be faithful to death”).

What happened in the first century and what is happening now in our world today may have similar conflictual dynamics at play, but that’s not a <Jewish problem>, though some would like to make it so. No, our conflicts are a <human> problem. 

Let’s not join others in blaming any one group or even any person.

Instead let’s follow the way of Jesus.

And let’s try to understand this text for what Jesus said—and draw the message it actually speaks rather than reading our own stuff into it (hopefully I will do justice to this intent!).

Here goes.

(continued)

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1. Opening:

And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: Thus says the First and the Last who was dead and came to life (Revelation 2:8)

Smyrna was forty miles or so north of Ephesus, and though likely not as large as Ephesus, very nearly as prominent because of the Roman Emperor worship that took place there. 

Yet the focus in this oracle is on the situation of the Smyrnan Christians: they were in distressed circumstances, both economically, it seems, and religiously.

Jesus thus began his oracle with a statement that related to their circumstances.

Jesus experienced persecution himself and repeated almost exactly what he had told John earlier in the vision: “Do not fear, I am the First and the Last and the Living One and I was dead and behold I am alive forever and ever” (Revelation 1:17–18).

When Jesus said Thus says the First and the Last who was dead and came to life, he was preparing the believers at Smyrna for the dire testing they would face. 

Their confidence in the Eternal One who had faced death and conquered would carry them through.

2. Praise:

I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich!) and the reviling speech from those calling themselves Jews but they are not, but a synagogue of Satan (Revelation 2:9).

Jesus acknowledged three things: the tribulation, the economic circumstances, and the reviling speech of the Jews in Smyrna.

We do not have a clear idea of what tribulation the Christians at Smyrna had gone through, nor why they were poor (though their poverty could have been the result of being shunned for their faith—this appears to be the intent of the “mark of the beast” later on).

Whatever the reason for their poverty, Jesus deemed them as wealthy because of their faithfulness to Him.

As I mentioned in the previous post, what an incredible thought and comfort that Jesus knows us and knows everything we are going through, especially our trials and even poverty.

The situations may be difficult, but Jesus is right here and he calls us rich because we are inheritors of the vast spiritual riches God has prepared for us.

“Reviling speech (Greek, blasphēmia)” did not imply any sort of physical persecution, but critical words that denounced their loyalty to Jesus. 

It is very possible that, similar to situations with Paul, the Jews of Smyrna had dragged Christians into Roman courts with false charges about not obeying the Emperor.

Thus the “blasphemy” may be courtroom testimony.

This speech came from those calling themselves Jews but they are not, but a synagogue of Satan. 

By some estimates, a million Jews lived in Asia and the surrounding Roman provinces, having migrated there as long ago as the Babylonian exile. 

Many of the cities show evidence of synagogues and prominent or wealthy Jews.

Christians were a small minority.

Some interpreters claim the Jews spoken of here were former Jews, but Jesus was likely referring to actual Jews who by their accusatory speech showed themselves spiritually to be anything but true Jews (see Paul’s take on this idea in Romans 2:25–29). 

When Jesus called the Jews “a synagogue of Satan” in this oracle, he cited the accuser, Satan, whose very nature is to revile and accuse (see Job 1, Zechariah 3, Jude 9, Revelation 12:10). 

And as those who reviled or blasphemed the followers of Jesus, the Jews of Smyrna were imitating the devil as accuser (and fulfilling Jesus’s words in John 8:44: You are from your father, the devil). 

They showed their character (not their eternal destiny) by their speech.

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I will reiterate once again: though this behavior was from the Jews, it was not limited to Jews, and Jews as a whole should never be held culpable for the actions of other Jews, especially in the past! The same can be said for any group of people perpetrating evil, as appears to be the case by pagans in Pergamum. Those in other places or in succeeding generations do not bear the guilt of those who committed the original actions—they have enough to bear themselves.

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3. Exhortation and promise:

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look—the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to be tested and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful to death and I will grant you the victory garland of Life (Revelation 2:10).

Whatever tribulation the Christians of Smyrna had gone through already, things were about to worsen—at least from an earthly perspective.

Jesus told them to prepare to suffer some more and to follow Him who had died—even to death, if necessary.

Implicit in Jesus’s exhortation was the foundational principle of non-violence: to respond with any sort of revenge, retaliation, or violence would be to join the world’s game of blame and reciprocal violence.

As “Sermon on the Mount” Jesus followers, they and we are those who rejoice in whatever the world throws at us without throwing it back.

The Tribulation?

An issue that lurks every time the term “tribulation” is used is the so-called “Great Tribulation,” mentioned only once in the Bible—Revelation 7:14. Though I will take it up later, the phrase cannot bear the weight of the “Left Behind” theology of the Pretribulation-Premillenial-Dispensational approach to the Bible, and Revelation in particular. At this point in my understanding, this “great tribulation” is that which results in the death of Christians who have gone through persecution—exactly what Jesus spoke of here.

Notice that behind all of the persecution were the machinations of Satan—the Devil—who refused to accept the victory of Jesus over the powers and death in his crucifixion and resurrection.

Prison itself was not for punishment—that usually entailed slavery, exile, or execution—but for holding until trial, or for intimidation to bring about obedience to the powers and authorities.

Jesus was saying “Don’t give in! Don’t give up! Stay faithful to Me and to your confession!”

The result of such faithfulness was far more valuable than this physical existence.

“The victory garland of Life (Greek: ton stephanon tēs zōēs) represented eternal life. A stephanon was usually a live garland of foliage woven into a crown given to the victor of an athletic event or battle. 

Sometimes these were gold or silver garlands imitating leaves.

Later in Revelation 4, we see the twenty-four elders surrounding the throne of God casting their gold victory garlands before the throne, so this is likely the garland we are to imagine.

Whatever we may be going through, especially for the name of Jesus, the promise is the same: Stay faithful and Jesus will reward you with Life.

(cont.)

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4. Call to listen:

The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

In the previous post I took up the words The one who has an ear, let him hear.

The second part of this phrase is ... what the Spirit says …

With this phrase we encounter once again the Trinitarian theology of Revelation.

Jesus spoke the oracles, but the speaker is also the Spirit. Throughout most of Revelation the Spirit is referred to as “the Seven Spirits.” Seven referred to the all seeing and ever present Spirit. In a sense we see the Seven Spirits played out in Revelation 2–3 with the seven-fold repetition of “what the Spirit says.”

5. The Reward:

The one who conquers will never be harmed by the second death (Revelation 2:8–11).

This is actually the second reward offered to the Smyrnan Christians!

It is like unto the first, though.

In the first, if they were faithful to death, they would receive eternal life (“the victory garland of Life”).

In this final statement they were promised that the second death—the final judgment (spoken about in Revelation 20)—would not touch or harm them.

Conclusion:

This second oracle could be taken as bittersweet.

The rewards are great, but so is the suffering.

The Bible never promised or promises that we, his people, will not suffer or be persecuted for his name.

What the church at Smyrna went through then has been repeated throughout almost two thousand years (and the people of God long before).

But suffering for Jesus’s sake will result in a great reward.

Our task is to prepare for what may come by strengthening our faith and to approach every day, not with worry, but with resolve and hope that Jesus will give us everything we need to persevere, even to death.

Thanks for reading. See you later.

Observations on the Greek Text of Revelation (and Audio Version!)

(A shout-out to Michael G. who suggested I make an interlinear translation of each item I comment on—great suggestion! I had to make it side-by-side for the format to work on phones.)

1. ὃς ἐγένετο νεκρὸς who was dead

   καὶ ἔζησεν and came to life. (Rev. 2:8)

This is one of the many “odd” Greek formulations in Revelation.