Please Heavenly
Father, bless us right now as we seek to read, and keep the prophecies in this
book of Revelation, given to us by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior through
His servant, John.
*******
Daniel and
Revelation - by Uriah Smith-
Rev. 2-
Verse
8 And unto the angel
of the church in Smyrna write;
These things saith
the First and the Last, which was dead, and is alive;
9 I know thy works,
and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich)
and I know the blasphemy of them which say
they are Jews, and are not,
but are the synagogue of Satan.
10 Fear none of
those things which thou shalt suffer:
behold, the devil
shall cast some of you into prison,
that ye may be
tried;
and ye shall have
tribulation ten days:
be thou faithful
unto death,
and I will give thee
a crown of life.
11 He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;
He that overcometh
shall not be hurt of the second death.
The Church of
Smyrna.--
It will be noticed
that the Lord introduces Himself to each church by mentioning some of His
characteristics which show Him to be peculiarly fitted to bear to them the
testimony which He utters.
To the Smyrna
church, about to pass through the fiery ordeal of persecution, He reveals
Himself as one who was dead, but is now alive.
If they should be
called to seal their testimony with their blood, they were to remember that the
eyes of One were upon them who had shared the same fate, but had triumphed over
death, and was able to bring them up from a martyr's grave.
Poverty and
Riches.--
"I know thy . .
. poverty," says Christ to them, "but thou art rich."
Strange paradox this
may seem at first. But who are the truly rich in this world?--Those who are
"rich in faith" and "heirs of the kingdom."
The wealth of this world, for which men so
eagerly strive, and so often barter away present happiness and future endless
life,
Page 369
is "coin not
current in heaven." One writer has well said, "There is many a rich
poor man, and many a poor rich man."
"Say They Are
Jews, and Are Not."--That the term Jew is not here used in a literal
sense, is very evident.
It denotes some
character which was approved by the gospel standard. Paul's language will make
this point plain. He says: "He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly;
neither is that circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in
the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God." Romans 2: 28, 29.
Again he says:
"For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel; neither, because they
are the seed of Abraham, are they all children." Romans 9: 6, 7
In Galatians 3: 28,
29, Paul further tells us that in Christ there are no such outward distinctions
as Jew or Greek; but if we are Christ's, then are we "Abraham's seed"
(in the true sense), and heirs according to the promise.
To say, as some do,
that the term Jews is never applied to Christians, is to contradict all these
inspired declarations of Paul, and the testimony of the faithful and true
Witness to the Smyrna church. Some were hypocritically pretending to be Jews in
this Christian sense, when they possessed none of the necessary
characteristics. Such were of the synagogue of Satan.
Tribulation Ten
Days.--As this message is prophetic, the time mentioned in it must also be
regarded as prophetic. Since a prophetic day stands for a literal years, the
ten days would denote ten years. It is a noticeable fact that the last and most
bloody of the ten great persecutions of the Christian church continued just ten
years, from A.D. 303 to 313, beginning under Diocletian.
It would be
difficult to make an application of this language on the ground that these
messages are not prophetic; for in that case only ten literal days could be
meant. It would not seem improbable that a persecution of only ten days, or
only a single church, would be made a matter of prophecy; and no mention of any
such case of limited persecution can be found.
Page 371
Again, apply this
persecution to any of the notable ones of that period, and how could it be
spoken of as the fate of one church alone? All the churches suffered in them.
Where, then, would be the propriety of singling out one particular group, to
the exclusion of the others, as being the only one involved in such a calamity?
The
Admonition.--"Be thou faithful unto death." Some have endeavored to
base a criticism on the use of the word "unto," instead of
"until," as though the idea of time was not involved. But the
original word, achri, here rendered "unto," signifies primarily
"until." NO argument, however, can be drawn from this for
consciousness in death. The vital point for that argument is still lacking, for
it is not affirmed that the crown of life is bestowed immediately at death. We
must consequently look to other scriptures to learn when the crown of life is
given; and other scriptures inform us fully.
Paul declares that
this crown is to be given at the day of Christ's appearing (2 Timothy 4: 8); at
the last trump (1 Corinthians 15: 51-54); when the Lord shall Himself descend
from heaven (1 Thessalonians 4: 16, 17); when the Chief Shepherd shall appear,
says Peter (1 Peter 5: 4); at the resurrection of the just, says Christ (Luke
14: 14); and when He shall return to take His people to the mansions prepared
for them, that they may ever be with Him (John 14: 3). "Be thou faithful
until death," and having been thus faithful, when the time comes that the
saints of God are rewarded, you shall received a crown of life.
The Promise to the
Overcomer.--"He shall not be hurt of the second death." Is not the
language Christ here uses a good comment upon what He taught His disciples when
He said, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell"? Matthew 10: 28. The Smyrna church members might be put to death
here, but the future life which was to be given them, man could not take away,
and God would not. Hence they were to fear not those who could kill the body,
fear
Page 372
none of the things
which they should suffer, for their eternal existence was assured.
The Meaning and the
Time of the Church.--Smyrna signifies "myrrh," fit appellation for
the church of God while passing through the fiery furnace of persecution, and
proving herself a "sweet-smelling savor" unto Him. But we soon reach the
days of Constantine, when the church presents a new phase, rendering a
different name and another message applicable to her history.
According to the
foregoing application, the date of the Smyrna church would be A.D. 100-323.
*******
Revelation Chapter 2
Verses
8 And unto the angel
of the church in Smyrna write;
These things saith
the First and the Last, which was dead, and is alive;
9 I know thy works,
and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich)
and I know the blasphemy of them which say
they are Jews, and are not,
but are the synagogue of Satan.
10 Fear none of
those things which thou shalt suffer:
behold, the devil
shall cast some of you into prison,
that ye may be
tried;
and ye shall have
tribulation ten days:
be thou faithful
unto death,
and I will give thee
a crown of life.
11 He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;
He that overcometh
shall not be hurt of the second death.
Most of us use
wikipedia nowadays, and on wikipedia I was able to find this-
'The Diocletianic or Great
Persecution was
the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman empire.[1] In 303, the Emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series
of edicts rescinding the
legal rights of Christians and demanding that they comply with traditional Roman religious practices. Later edicts targeted
the clergy and ordered all inhabitants to sacrifice to the Roman gods (a policy
known as universal sacrifice). The persecution varied in intensity across the
empire—weakest in Gaul and Britain, where only the first edict was applied, and strongest in
the Eastern provinces. Persecutory laws were nullified by different emperors at
different times, but Constantine and Licinius's Edict of
Milan (313) has traditionally
marked the end of the persecution.[2]
Christians had always
been subject to local discrimination in the empire, but early emperors were
either too reluctant to issue general laws against them or, at least in the 3rd
century (see Crisis of the Third Century), too caught up with
more immediate issues to do so. It was not until the 250s, under the reigns
of Decius and Valerian, that such laws were passed. Under this
legislation, Christians were compelled to sacrifice to Roman gods or face
imprisonment and execution.[3] When Gallienusacceded in 260, he issued the first imperial edict
regarding tolerance toward
Christians,[4] leading to nearly
40 years of peaceful coexistence. Diocletian's
accession in 284 did not mark an immediate reversal of disregard to
Christianity, but it did herald a gradual shift in official attitudes toward
religious minorities. In the first fifteen years of his rule, Diocletian purged
the army of Christians, condemned Manicheans to death, and surrounded himself with
public opponents of Christianity. Diocletian's preference for autocratic
government, combined with his self-image as a restorer of past Roman glory,
presaged the most pervasive persecution in Roman history. In the winter of 302,
Galerius urged Diocletian to begin a general persecution of the Christians.
Diocletian was wary, and asked the oracle of Apollo for guidance. The oracle's reply
was read as an endorsement of Galerius's position, and a general persecution
was called on February 24, 303.
Persecutory policies varied in intensity
across the empire. Where Galerius and Diocletian were avid persecutors,
Constantius was unenthusiastic. Later persecutory edicts, including the calls
for universal sacrifice, were not applied in his domain. His son, Constantine,
on taking the imperial office in 306, restored Christians to full legal
equality and returned property that had been confiscated during the
persecution. In Italy in 306, the usurper Maxentius ousted Maximian's successor Severus, promising full religious toleration. Galerius ended the persecution in the East in 311, but it was resumed in Egypt, Palestine,
and Asia Minor by his successor, Maximinus. Constantine and Licinius, Severus's
successor, signed the Edict of Milan in
313, which offered a more comprehensive acceptance of Christianity than
Galerius's edict had provided. Licinius ousted Maximinus in 313, bringing an
end to persecution in the East.
303AD to 313AD
- Ten years and this is HISTORY!
Can we rightly
divide the word of truth as we use HISTORICAL FACT to comprehend?
10 Fear none of
those things which thou shalt suffer:
behold, the devil
shall cast some of you into prison,
that ye may be
tried;
and ye shall have
tribulation ten days:
be thou faithful
unto death,
and I will give thee
a crown of life.
What an amazing
prophecy! The single greatest period of the most intense killing of Christians
- anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 murdered, martyred while remaining FAITHFUL
unto death!
John wrote this
BEFORE it happened. John was LONG dead by this time, but the words of this
prophecy were not dead, but alive with truth!
And to have the
prophecy to the second church applicable today, we know that our Savior knows
our works, our every action, He knows our every tribulation, our every bit of
poverty. Our Savior comprehends the life we live in the flesh with all its
hardships and He knows how incredibly RICH we can be in the SPIRIT, in HIM even
when we are extremely poor in the ways of the world. This is truth. Our Savior also knows every single person who
claims to be His but aren't. He knows who we truly follow in our heart of
hearts He knows. No, we aren't to fear
all we are called to suffer because we KNOW a crown of life awaits us! That
second death which brings final everlasting destruction upon the wicked will
NOT be felt by those who are HIS and this is our HOPE today, the SAME hope they
had in the past.
May we be found HIS
and not satan's! May we all receive a
crown of life when our Savior returns for us! May we all realize every single
pain we suffer now is truly temporary to eternity with our LORD JESUS CHRIST!
All in HIM, always!
Amen.
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