2nd Church: Smyrna

To the Angel of the Church of Smyrna

Revelation 2:8-11

2.      SMYRNA—PERSECUTED CHURCH (100-313)

PARTICULARLY:
Historical Setting: Smyrna is now the city of Izmir in Turkey, just north of Ephesus. A historical city (home of Homer, writer of the Iliad), Smyrna at the time of John’s writing was a wealthy trading and port city. The church was an extremely important church in early church history, and the “angel” at Smyrna could have been Polycarp who himself was martyred in 155 A.D., after 86 years of serving God.

Name of Smyrna Defined: “Myrrh” is an extract of bitter gum that yields a costly perfume (Ps. 45:8, mentioned seven times in Song of Solomon), used for anointing oil (Ex. 30:23, 25) and anointing the dead (John 19:39). Myrrh is used three times in the New Testament, at Christ's coronation by the magi (Matt. 2:11), at the crucifixion when wine was mixed with bitter myrrh (Mark 15:23) and his burial. Thus Smyrna represents the bitterness of the persecuted church, but also the sweet aroma to God in its faithfulness.

     I.      Christ’s Description (2:8)-The First And The Last, Who Was Dead, And Came To Life

(see also Rev. 1:11, 18) To a church which would be persecuted and suffer tribulation, Christ describes Himself with identification in death and resurrection.

   II.      Commendation (2:8)

1. Tribulation and Poverty

These two descriptions of the church at Smyrna in no way indicate that they are not blessed by God or praised by Christ. On Tribulation, see Matt. 13:20, Acts 14: 21, Romans 5: 1-4, 2 Cor. 1: 3-5. On Poverty see 2 Cor. 8:1

2. Blasphemy of false Jews

Polycarp, the pastor of Smyrna in 155, was condemned with the help of the Jews in Smyrna. The Jews even broke the Sabbath by bringing the wood needed to burn him to death.

  III.      Condemnation - NONE

   IV.      Commands (2:9-10)

1. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer

Millions of Christians were martyred during the first 300 years of the church. Yet still the church thrives. What is our excuse for fear, for failure to witness, for failure to obey God?

2. Be faithful until death and receive the crown of life

The reception of the crown of life is a special blessing and reward of those who have been martyred. Faithfulness to the end, especially in the midst of persecution will be highly esteemed throughout eternity. Contrast that to those who have fallen short of death when they have not seen any persecution.

   V.      Consequences (2:10-11)

1. Some to be thrown into prison by the devil

Do not lose sight that the devil (Gr: diabolos) is alive and well and is the source of our persecution. Satan means adversary in Aramaic and is transliterated to the Greek text. Diabolos means “false accuser” in Greek. Both terms are used throughout Revelation as is “that old serpent” referring to the Garden of Eden and the form he took. He is supernatural, but not divine. He is powerful, yet constrained by God. Even angels do not revile him, not even the arch angel Michael (Jude 1:9)

2. Will be tempted (KJV=tried)

There are trials from God (see 1 Thes. 2:4) with the word dokimazo which means to refine and burn off the dross in order to strengthen our faith (1 Pet. 1:7). It produces patience (James 1:3), hope (“experience” or “character” in Rom. 5:4), and discernment (1 John 4:1). There is tribulation (thlipsis) which the world gives, because of the fallen condition and its rejection of the rule of God (Matt. 13:20). Then there is temptation (KJV=tried v. 10, Gr. periazo). This is the word used when the devil “tempted” Christ (Matt. 4:1). God does not tempt us with evil (James 1:13-14), but He allows it. A variation of the word is used in calling the devil “the tempter” (1 Thes. 3:5) and the hour of temptation (Rev. 3:10).

3. Tribulation ten days.

Whether ten days was a literal occurrence for the church at Smyrna or ten periods (see 10 major persecutions below) during this persecuted church days is up to interpretation. Ten is the completed number for human government and with Constantine as emperor in 313, tribulation of the church by the Roman government ended. However, tribulation continued by pagans and by the church itself.

4. Overcomers not hurt by second death.

How appropriate that overcomers are promised this. Second death is defined in Rev. 20:14 as the lake of fire, reserved for Satan and his demons, but also will receive those without Christ (Rev. 20:6, 21:8)

PROPHETICALLY:
Church History Parallel: “The Persecuted Church” (67-313 A.D.)-The churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia are the only two which receive praise and no condemnation from Christ. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs tells of ten “primitive persecutions,” beginning with Nero in 67 and ending in 313 A.D. with Constantine, which some have compared to the 10 days of tribulation. After the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the times of the Gentiles began and God suspended His unique relationship with the Jewish race and solely relates to the church; thus, the Jews become a “synagogue of Satan”. While persecution continues to this day, no other time period so closely matches the description of the church at Smyrna

Polycarp’s martyrdom (as described in a letter from Smyrna to Philomelium)

Polycarp concealed himself in a farm-house and while praying he fell into a trance three days before his capture. He saw his pillow burning with fire and turned and said unto those that were with him, ‘it must needs be that I shall be burned alive’ “.

A great crowd had assembled after hearing of his apprehension. “As Polycarp entered into the Stadium a voice came to him from heaven: ‘Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man’. And no one saw the speaker, but those of our people who were present heard the voice.”

It was to the proconsul, when he urged him to curse Christ, that Polycarp made his celebrated reply: “Fourscore and six years have I served Him, and he has done me no harm. How then can I curse my King that saved me?” When the proconsul had done with the prisoner it was too late to throw him to the beasts, for the sports were closed. It was decided, therefore, to burn him alive. The crowd took it upon itself to collect fuel, “the Jews more especially assisting in this with zeal, as is their wont (want).”

The fire, “like the sail of a vessel filled by the wind, made a wall round the body” of the martyr, leaving it unscathed. The executioner was ordered to stab him, thereupon, “there came forth a quantity of blood so that it extinguished the fire”.

Ten “Primitive Persecutions” as recorded in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (by John Foxe, 1563)

1. Nero, A.D. 67

Nero had Christians sewed up in skins of wild beasts and mauled to death by dogs. He dipped others in wax and lit them on fire in his gardens. Paul and Peter were martyred during this time, along with Erastus of Corinth, Aristarchus (Acts 27:2), Trophimus (Acts 20:4, 21:29, 2 Tim. 4:20), Joseph (Acts 1:23), and Ananias, bishop of Damascus, who was one of the 70 which Christ sent out (Luke 10:1-10), and the baptizer of Paul (Acts 9:10)

2. Domitian, A.D. 81

He crucified Simeon, pastor of Jerusalem, banished John to Patmos, passed a law stating that no Christian should escape punishment unless he renounced his religion. Christians were blamed for famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. Timothy at Ephesus was beaten with clubs in 97 A.D.

3. Trajan, A.D. 108

Pliny the Second wrote that “many thousands” of Christians were being put to death daily. Ignatius, pastor at Antioch after Peter, was killed by wild beasts in Rome. When he came to Smyrna, Ignatius wrote the church at Rome, saying he longed to be martyred. “I care for nothing, of visible or invisible things, so that I may but win Christ. Let fire and the cross, let the companies of wild beasts, let breaking of bones and tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body, and all the malice of the devil, come upon me; be it so, only may I win Christ Jesus!” Alexander, pastor at Rome, was martyred with two deacons and their families. Many were crucified at Mount Ararat; they were crowned with thorns, and had spears thrust into their sides. One pagan named Calocerius saw the martyrdom of two brothers and their great patience despite their torments. In a fit of admiration, he exclaimed, “Great is the God of the Christians!” Just for saying that, he was apprehended and suffered a similar fate.

4. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, A.D. 162

Spectators shuddered with horror at the sight of the persecution of Christians. Some were forced to walk on thorns, nails, and sharp shells. Others were scourged until their sinews and veins lay bare, and after suffering the most excruciating tortures that could be devised, they were destroyed by the most terrible deaths. Germanicus, a young man, was given to wild beasts but because of his courage, several pagans became Christians.

Felicitatis was a devout Christian mother of seven sons. All seven were martyred, her eldest was scourged and pressed to death with weights; Felix and Philip had their brains dashed out with clubs; Silvanus, the fourth, was thrown from a precipice; and the three younger sons, Alexander, Vitalis, and Martial, were beheaded with the same sword that then killed the mother.

Justin, born 103 A.D., was a universal scholar and philosopher, and converted to Christianity at 30 years of age. He wrote an elegant epistle to the Gentiles, witnessed to the Jews, lived in Rome, taught in a public school, and wrote in defense of Christianity. The second apology of Justin gave an enemy of the church an opportunity to prejudice the emperor against Justin, who was apprehended with six other Christians. They refused to sacrifice to the pagan idols and were scourged then beheaded. Foxe wrote that they were “executed with all imaginable severity.”

5. Severus, A.D. 192

Despite the persecution, Christianity thrived. Tertullian, who lived in this age, said that if the Christians had collectively withdrawn themselves from the Roman territories, the empire would have been greatly depopulated.

Irenaeus, pastor of Lyons, succeeded the martyr Pothinus, wrote a tract against heresies, and was beheaded in A.D. 202. Many were martyred in Africa, including Perpetua, a 22 year-old married woman. She and several others were set for execution in the amphitheater. Her friends ran stripped and naked in the gauntlet between the hunters or else be given to wild beasts. They were then thrown to a mad bull, which made his first attack upon Perpetua which stunned but did not kill her. The bull then darted at Felicitas, her friend, and gored her dreadfully; but neither were killed. Finally the executioner had to come and kill them with a sword. The others were killed by the beasts or beheaded or died in prison. All this took place on March 8, 205.

In 222, Cecilia, a young lady of good family in Rome, was married to a gentleman named Valerian. She converted her husband and brother, who were beheaded; and the officer who led them to execution, also converted and suffered the same fate. She was placed naked in a scalding bath, and having continued there a considerable time, her head was struck off with a sword.

6. Maximus, A.D. 235

In Cappadocia, the president, Seremianus, did all he could to exterminate the Christians from that province. Pontianus, bishop of Rome, Anteros, his successor, who collected the stories of the martyrs, Roman senators and all their families were killed. Calepodius, a Christian minister, was thrown into the Tiber River. Martina, a noble and beautiful virgin was killed. Hippolitus was tied to a wild horse, and dragged until he died.

Numerous Christians were slain without trial, and buried indiscriminately in heaps, sometimes fifty or sixty being cast into a pit together, without the least decency. Maximinus died in 238, was succeeded by Gordian, during whose reign, and that of his successor Philip, the church was free from persecution for the space of more than ten years; but in 249, a violent persecution broke out in Alexandria, at the instigation of a pagan priest, without the knowledge of the emperor.

7. Decius, A.D. 249

Decius tried to get rid of all Christians and many errors had crept into the Church. The heathens looked upon the murder of a Christian as a merit to themselves. The martyrs were innumerable. Julian was put into a leather bag, together with a number of serpents and scorpions, and thrown into the sea. Peter, a young man, was beheaded for refusing to sacrifice to Venus, saying, “I am astonished you should sacrifice to an infamous woman, whose debaucheries even your own historian’s record, and whose life consisted of such actions as your laws would punish. No, I shall offer the true God the acceptable sacrifice of praises and prayers.” Optimus, the proconsul of Asia, on hearing this, ordered the prisoner to be stretched upon a wheel, by which all his bones were broken, and then he was sent to be beheaded.

When Nichomachus was ordered to sacrifice to the pagan idols, he replied, “I cannot pay that respect to devils, which is only due to the Almighty.” This speech enraged the proconsul so much that Nichomachus was put to the rack. After enduring the torments for a while, he recanted his faith. As soon as he did, he fell into the greatest agonies, dropped down on the ground, and died. Denisa, a 16 year-old girl watching it all, exclaimed, “O unhappy wretch, why would you buy a moment’s ease at the expense of a miserable eternity!” She then proclaimed her Christianity, and was beheaded.

Trypho and Respicius, two eminent men, were seized as Christians, and imprisoned at Nice. Their feet were pierced with nails; they were dragged through the streets, scourged, torn with iron hooks, scorched with lighted torches, and beheaded, February 1, 251.

Agatha, a Sicilian lady, was rich, pious and beautiful. After she rejected the advances of Quintian, the governor of Sicily, he ordered her to be scourged, burned with red-hot irons, and torn with sharp hooks. Having borne these torments “with admirable fortitude,” she was next laid naked upon live coals, intermingled with glass, and died while being carried back to prison on February 5, 251.

8. Valerian, A.D. 257

Valerian began persecuting the church in April, 257. The martyrs that fell in this persecution were innumerable, and their tortures and deaths as various as painful. At Utica, 300 Christians were placed round a burning limekiln. A pan of coals and incense was being prepared and they were commanded either to sacrifice to Jupiter, or to be thrown into the kiln. Unanimously refusing, they bravely jumped into the pit, and immediately suffocated.

Fructuosus, bishop in Spain, and his two deacons were burnt. Alexander, Malchus, and Priscus of Palestine, and a woman voluntarily admitted to being Christians and were devoured by tigers. Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda, three virgins of Tuburga, had gall and vinegar given them to drink, were then severely scourged, tormented on a gibbet, rubbed with lime, scorched on a gridiron, worried by wild beasts, and at length beheaded.

Valerian, who had persecuted the Christians, was taken prisoner by Sapor, emperor of Persia, and treated him with unexampled indignity, making him kneel down as the meanest slave, and treading upon him as a footstool when he mounted his horse. After seven years in this abject state of slavery, he caused his eyes to be put out, though he was then eighty-three years of age. His body was flayed alive, rubbed with salt, before he died.

In 260, Gallienus, the son of Valerian, succeeded him, and during his reign (a few martyrs excepted) the Church enjoyed peace for some years.

9. Aurelian, A.D. 274

Felix, bishop of Rome, was the first martyr to Aurelian’s petulancy, being beheaded on the December 22, 274. Agapetus, a young gentleman, who sold his estate, and gave the money to the poor, was seized as a Christian, tortured, and then beheaded.  Two twins, natives of Rome, were martyred by being tied to posts, and having their feet pierced with nails. After remaining in this situation for a day and a night, their sufferings were put an end to by thrusting lances through their bodies. Zoe, the wife of the jailer, who had the care of the martyrs, was also converted, and hung upon a tree, with a fire of straw lighted under her. When her body was taken down, it was thrown into a river, with a large stone tied to it to sink it.

In 286, a legion of all Christian soldiers refused to sacrifice or take the oaths. Maximian ordered the legion to be decimated. Every tenth man was selected and killed by the sword. Those who remained alive still refused, and a second decimation took place, and every tenth man was put to death.

10. Diocletian, A.D. 303

Sebastian was taken to a field and was shot to death with arrows. Christians attempting to bury him saw he was still alive and upon his recovery went to emperor as he was going to a pagan temple, and reprehended him for his various cruelties and unreasonable prejudices against Christianity. Diocletian ordered Sebastian to be beaten to death and was thrown into a sewer. In the same persecution, one Christian, Vitus, was offered up by his pagan father as a sacrifice to idols.

Another martyr named Victor prayed for patience while stretched on the rack,. After the executioners grew tired with inflicting torments on him, he went to the dungeon and converted his jailers. The emperor ordered them to be beheaded. Victor was then again put to the rack, unmercifully beaten with batons, and again sent to prison. A third time he persevered and a small altar was brought in and he was commanded to offer incense. He boldly stepped forward, and with his foot overthrew both altar and idol. Maximian ordered the foot with which he had kicked the altar to be immediately cut off. Victor was thrown into a mill, and crushed to pieces with the stones in 303.

Romanus, a native of Palestine, was deacon of the church of Caesarea at the time Diocletian started his persecution. He was condemned for his faith at Antioch, then scourged and put to the rack. After that, his body was torn with hooks, his flesh cut with knives, his face scarified, his teeth beaten from their sockets, and his hair plucked up by the roots. He was ordered to be strangled on Nov. 17, 303.

PERSONALLY

One of the most convicting verses of Scriptures in the New Testament is 2 Timothy 3:12, "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution". The Smyrna Church calls us to examine ourselves and see if are experiencing persecution or avoiding it because we do not desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.

Do you desire to witness? Do you desire to pray privately and publicly? Do you seek to not only read, but apply God's Word to your lives? 

After reading the ten "days" of persecution experienced prophetically, I don't know of anyone who could say they desire to live godly lives like the martyrs listed above. 

PERVASIVELY

Around the world today, there are numerous locations where the church is persecuted. Since this article is long enough, pray for the persecuted church as you look at the following chart from Open Doors.