Hard-Pressed But Steadfast
HARD-PRESSED BUT STEADFAST
REVELATION 2:8-11
The poor church enjoys the riches of no condemnation.
Smyrna was a much smaller town than Ephesus, and so the church there, even though it was probably much smaller, was much more obvious to its neighbors and correspondingly persecuted. As a result they were poor (2:9), probably in numbers, spiritual gifts and possessions, things that often go together. So Jesus reminded them of his victory (2:8), and that they were rich (2:9), for to those who are poor in spirit comes the guarantee of living under the kingly rule of God (Matthew 5:3).
Evidently their chief difficulties came from the local Jews. Satan is the accuser and slanderer, the meaning of diabolos (Devil). They had both accused the church and slandered it (see Acts 13:45,50; 14:2,19; 17:5-8,13; 18:12f.). For the denial that they were really Jews (2:9), see Romans 2:28f. This kind of attitude is too common among Christians when they speak of movements they dislike or reject. We picture them as we feel they should be, and we allow reports to become facts.
Even though it is usual for church histories to describe the nearly 300 years of persecution by the Roman authorities under ten major heads, this does not justify us in equating the church in Smyrna with that of the period of persecution. Probably the significance of the “ten days” (2:10) is that the Lord of the church both gives it over to persecution and so controls the persecutors, that he can foretell the time of its ending before it begins.
Because Christ was raised from the dead, physical death should have no terrors for us, even if it can be very painful. The death to be feared is the second, spiritual death (2:11; see also Matthew 10:28). There are Christians who, though they will not be burnt, will as it were be singed. Probably no one knows the full implication of being saved “but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15). Though there is no suggestion of purgatory in it, it certainly implies more than the loss of one’s lifework.