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2 – When Life Goes Bad - Revelation 2:8-11
Have you ever heard the saying, “No good deed goes unpunished?” I know it is not always true,
but it certainly seems like it, especially when you are the one trying to do the good deeds, only to have
them backfire on you!
Why is it that often when we try so hard to do what is right and godly, that we get rewarded with
hatefulness and rejection? Once again, it is not all the time, but it seems to be.
Sometimes Holy Spirit convicts your heart about a matter that needs to be addressed. You
obediently do what the Word of God requires, and then you get slammed! Has that ever happened to
anyone here but me?
There are times you decided to stand up for Christ, to bear a strong witness and declare your faith,
only to have your faithfulness followed by being ostracized, labeled a fanatic, or hurt.
What do you do when your faithfulness seems to be rewarded by suffering? You do what is right,
and get pummeled for it! What do you do?
As you watch TV, you see those ads that depict hungry, sick children around the world, orphans or
abandoned kids, that appeal to your sense of charity and your heart of love … when you see those, do you
ever wonder, “God, why? Why do innocent kids like that suffer?”
You hear reports of Christians being targeted, persecuted, and even executed in other countries,
and you wonder, “God, why? Why do godly people get beaten, raped and murdered while the godless go
free?”
But then, you don’t have to go to a third world country to see such misery. In the mountains of
Appalachia neglect, hunger, and abuse are commonplace. The need for medicine, education, and food is at
our front door.
As I pondered what those realities, it struck me that the horror stories of life are the same
everywhere. Despite the very great cultural differences between East and West and between North and
South, the needs of the human heart are the same wherever you go. The problems of life are the same
everywhere. There are times when life goes bad for all of us … even if you are living a godly life.
It seems a worldwide truth that innocent lives get crushed, that godly people get trampled, and we
wonder, “Why, God?”
That is what Jesus’ letter to Smyrna is all about! This letter (Revelation 2:8-11) helps us think
biblically about the struggles of life, especially those struggles that come because of our Christian faith.
Here is a church made up on people whose behavior matched their belief. They were consistent
and bold in their witness, godly in doctrine and pure in lifestyle … but they suffered for it. I don’t mean
they were made uncomfortable … they suffered because they were faithful to Jesus!
I sometimes wonder if that is why we don’t want our lives that measure up to our faith? Maybe we
are afraid we will suffer persecution if we live out our faith. Maybe we are afraid that God will not keep
all the bad away if we live out our convictions. I don’t know!
But this letter has some insights we need to ponder. LET’S READ!
If you travel about 40 miles north of Ephesus (where we were in our study last week), you will
come to a natural harbor that in the first century was home to the city of Smyrna. Today Smyrna is called
Izmir, a leading city in modern Turkey. Because of its location and its beauty, Smyrna was known as the
“Ornament of Asia.”
In AD 26 a competition was held to determine which city would win the right to build a temple for
Caesar worship. Smyrna won that contest and took great pride in its loyalty to Rome. Surrounding the hill
that dominated the cityscape one could find temples to various pagan deities, but the central temple was
devoted to Caesar.
It was also home to many of the Roman games, our modern day Olympics. In Smyrna athletes
competed, and some won the honor of wearing the victors garland on their heads.
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Over time a number of Jews migrated to Smyrna and became an important part of the business
scene. They bought and sold goods bound for Rome to the west and Persia to the east.
As Caesar worship grew, once a year the loyal citizens of Smyrna were required to publicly
declare their loyalty to Caesar. Usually this occurred when they paid their annual taxes. While at the tax
table, they would place a pinch of incense in a heated bowl and as the smoke ascended they would say,
“Caesar is Lord.”
Because of this practice, Christians in Smyrna found themselves under unrelenting pressure. When
that time of year came around to pay taxes and salute Caesar, believers would faithfully pay their taxes
but no faithful Christian could ever say, “Caesar is Lord.”
For those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, there can be no other gods, no competition for His
position … Jesus ALONE is Lord! Thus believers in Jesus found themselves unpopular, continually
criticized and often ostracized. As we will see, that put the Christians at a distinct disadvantage.
As such they were often excluded from the trade guilds, not allowed to buy and sell merchandise,
and most lost property. Many of their “human rights” were violated and withdrawn.
We should note that Smyrna is one of only two churches in Revelation 2-3 for which our Lord has
nothing negative to say (the other is Philadelphia). The silence of our Lord is striking when you consider
His harsh words for other nearby churches. It is not because of any false sympathy that keeps our Lord
from rebuking them. A deeper reality is at work here.
Their suffering had made them strong. It had stripped them of everything except Jesus Himself.
For them, belief was translated into daily behavior. Here was a church obviously in trouble. Their enemies
clearly had the upper hand. Seeing the beleaguered believers of Smyrna, Christ has nothing negative to
say.
This little letter tells us something about this church and much more about the Lord Himself. For
the moment let us pass over His self-description in verse 8 and consider what we know about Jesus from
His message to the suffering saints of Smyrna. Through these brief words, we will find much to
encourage us in our own struggles.
I. Jesus knows your trouble - “I know your afflictions” (v. 8).
There is a myth that is held dearly among believers. The myth is that, once you give your life to
Jesus, everything is going to be great. You are going to be blessed. You are going to be free from all kinds
of temptations and fears. You are going to be prosperous. Everything is going to be good with you.
That is more than a myth … it is a satanic LIE!
Have you ever taken time to see what Jesus says in the Bible about suffering?
- Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you
will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (Jn. 16:33)
- “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:27)
Remember that the cross way a symbol of immense suffering. Jesus was saying that suffering is a way of
life.
- In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for
righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:10)
- As a matter of fact, Jesus taught there would even be persecution in our families. “Do not think
that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a
man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-inlaw’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than
Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who
does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he
who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matt. 10:34-39) That doesn’t sound like a family picnic, does
it?
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So where do folks come up with the fable that everything will be great if they get saved? It is a lie
from the great deceiver himself. He doesn’t want anyone saved, but if he can’t keep a person from being
saved he will keep him confused about what it means to be saved.
See, if Satan can convince you that God is responsible for making your life great: you always pass
the test, win the girl/guy of your dreams, get that job, etc. If he can convince you that once you are saved
that God is responsible to keeping all the bad away: the car never falls apart, the baby never gets sick,
loved ones never die, etc. If he can convince you of that, then what happens when bad stuff happens in
your life? You give up on God and walk away from Him. See, if Satan can’t keep you from getting saved,
he wants to keep you from having a love relationship with God. If he can do that, he cripples the Christian
and causes him/her to backslide and fall away from their devotion to Christ.
But in this letter Jesus is saying plainly, “I know you are suffering for righteousness sake!” He
knows! Don’t think for a moment that He doesn’t know where you are, or what you are going through.
Don’t think for a moment that He doesn’t care!
The word “afflictions” or “tribulations” does not describe the ordinary troubles of life. It refers
rather to what we might call catastrophic things that happen to us. Horrible things! Indescribably hurt! In
other contexts it was used of a man being crushed by a massive boulder. When the sky falls in around us,
when all hope is lost, when darkness surrounds us and the enemy closes in, Jesus says, “I know your
afflictions.” “I know what you are going through!”
When I read that sentence, I think of the suffering believers today living in Muslim lands or those
brave Christians facing attacks from angry Hindu mobs in India or the saints in Nigeria who are hacked to
death by fanatics.
These things happen every day around the world. It has been so since the beginning and it still true
today. But Jesus says right here in black and white … “I know! I know what life is like when you are
living godly but being persecuted! I know!”
But that is not all!
II. Jesus knows your poverty - “I know … your poverty - yet you are rich!” (v. 9)
These words are literal, not symbolic. Christians in Smyrna evidently were at the lowest rungs of
the economic ladder. If they once had been rich in worldly goods, those days were long past. No doubt
many had lost their jobs in the trade-guilds because they would not say, “Caesar is Lord."
Now they were poor. Now they were outcasts. To these poverty-stricken Christians, Christ says,
“But you are rich!”
Is he mocking them? It all depends on how we value time versus eternity. If this life is all that
matters, then the words of Jesus are nothing more than pious nonsense. What good is it to say, “You are
rich!” to those who are starving? If this life is all that matters, then the words of Jesus are nothing more
than pious nonsense. It all depends.
No man who knows Jesus is ever truly poor.
No man without Jesus is ever truly rich.
So what shall we say of someone like Steve Jobs, the brilliant co-founder of Apple, the man whose
inventions changed the world? As I typed these words on my MacBook Air, I have an iPhone in my
pocket. A few feet away I have an iPad. Millions of people download millions of songs from iTunes. We
store our data in the iCloud. We update Facebook and Twitter using Apple technology. All of it stems
from the creative genius of Steve Jobs who after his recent death left behind a multi-billion dollar fortune.
Even while confessing our technological debt to Steve Jobs, let me point out the phrase “left
behind.” He left it all behind. Steve Jobs left it all behind.
All those Mac computers don’t matter now.
All those iPhones do him no good.
All that money is no longer his.
Steve Jobs has passed from this life where he was revered into another realm where he must
answer to the God who made him. I make no pronouncements on his eternal destiny except to note that in
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all the praise for his justly celebrated accomplishments, no one has offered the slightest reason to think
that he was a Christian. What I am saying is that his riches doesn’t matter to him now!
But this passage is not talking about the rich and famous. Quite the opposite! We are talking about
how we often suffer economically, and especially when we suffer because we are doing what is right.
Jesus knows your poverty - and He knows your riches too.
I can’t help but wonder if we know as much about our riches as we do about our poverty? We
seem to focus a lot more on what we do NOT have instead of what all we DO have.
Jesus sees your faith lived out in hard times. He notes the prayers you pray through your tears. He
hears your desperate cries for help. He knows what real poverty and real richness means.
I read a story that illustrates this truth. A rich landowner named Carl often rode around his vast
estate so he could congratulate himself on his great wealth. One day while riding around his estate on his
favorite horse, he saw Hans, an old tenant farmer. Hans was sitting under a tree when Carl rode by.
When Hans say Carl, he said, “I was just thanking God for my food.” Carl protested, “If that is all
I had to eat, I wouldn't feel like giving thanks.”
Hans replied, “God has given me everything I need, and I am thankful for it.”
Then the old farmer added, “It is strange you should come by today because I had a dream last
night. In my dream a voice told me, 'The richest man in the valley will die tonight.' I don't know what it
means, but I thought I ought to tell you.”
Carl snorted, “Dreams are nonsense,” and galloped away, but he could not forget Hans' words:
“The richest man in the valley will die tonight.”
He was obviously the richest man in the valley, so the statement of the foolish peasant troubled
him. He invited his doctor to his house that evening. Carl told the doctor what Hans had said. After a
thorough examination, the doctor told the wealthy landowner, “Carl, you are as strong and healthy as a
horse. There is no way you are going to die tonight.”
Nevertheless, for assurance, the doctor stayed the night with Carl, and they played cards through
the night. The doctor left the next morning and Carl apologized for becoming so upset over the old man's
dream.
At about nine o'clock, a messenger arrived at Carl's door. “What is it?” Carl demanded.
The messenger explained, “It's about old Hans. He died last night in his sleep.”
Indeed, the richest man in the valley had died that night … but it was not Carl.
Oddly enough, those hated Christians in Smyrna were the richest people in town. Years ago I
heard it put this way: You’ll never know if Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have. When Jesus
is all you have, then you will discover that Jesus is all you need.
Most of us have a hard time figuring this out. But because the Christians at Smyrna were so poor,
they learned early on that Jesus really is all you need. That’s why Jesus says, “But you are rich!” No man
is poor who has learned to depend on Christ alone.
The point this letter makes is that Jesus knows … He knows our troubles and He knows our
poverty. These folks were living out their faith day in and day out, and doing that caused them to be
severely persecuted. They were determined that their behavior would match their belief … but they were
impoverished because of it. But Jesus knew! He knew the trouble they were in. He knew that their
faithfulness has led to severe poverty. He was not blind to their plight.
III. Jesus knows your enemies - “I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are
a synagogue of Satan” (v. 9).
Who are these people who are called a “synagogue of Satan?” This fearful description applies to
those Jews in Smyrna who had joined forces with the pagans to accuse the Christians of treason against
Rome.
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Now this was really the pot calling the kettle black! If they were truly Jews, they would not offer
incense to Caesar either! They would align themselves with the Church and refuse. Many true Jews did.
However, there have always been those who are culturally God fearers but in reality are no
different from the rest of the world. The Jews who aligned themselves with Rome where Jewish in
ancestry only, but not in genuine worship or obedience. They had a cultural faith only; one that was easily
relinquished to expediency. They reasoned, “Better to offer a pinch of incense on the altar and say,
“Caesar is Lord” than to be ostracized and kicked out of the trade guilds. Better to be rich and well
thought of than to be poor and persecuted.”
In taking sides against the church of Jesus, they were in effect taking sides against the Lord
Himself. God does not take lightly those who attack his children.
We should note right here that religion itself remains the greatest obstacle to the spread of the
gospel. Religion blinds a man to his need of God because it leads him to think that he can contribute
something to his own salvation. But there is nothing that you or I can add to what Jesus has done on the
Cross and through the Empty Tomb. To seek to add anything is to belittle His sacrifice.
Millions of people have a religion based on such superstition. They put their trust in some outward
factor as their hope for heaven. Such people will someday be sadly disappointed.
Others trust in inherited religion: “Daddy was a deacon. Momma was a Sunday School teacher.”
They act as if salvation is inherited like you inherit the color of your eyes.
It doesn’t work that way. No one else can believe for you. You have to believe for yourself if you
want to go to heaven.
Still today religion remains the greatest obstacle to the spread of the gospel.
Never be surprised when religious people hate you. They hated Jesus too. Then they crucified him.
Once again this letter reminds us that Jesus knows! He knows what happens to His children who
are steadfastly matching their belief with their behavior. He knew their troubles, He knew their poverty,
and He knew their enemies.
IV. To those who are persecuted, poor and under attack, Jesus says, “Do not fear.” –
“Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in
prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days” (v. 10).
We find much to instruct us in this verse. First, our Lord has perfect knowledge of all that is about
to happen to us. What surprises us does not surprise Him.
Second, the Lord sometimes allows the devil to attack us severely. How exactly did the devil put
some of the believers in jail? No doubt he stirred up the Jews to collaborate with the pagans to incite
animosity so that the Christians ended up in jail, having no way to refute the false accusations made
against them.
Once again, what surprises us does not surprise Him. I don’t fully understand this, but sometimes
in the providence of God, He allows His beloved children to suffer for His Name’s sake.
Third, the Lord limits our sufferings. Jesus tells the church that the severe persecution will last for
“ten days.” Some of us may think, “That doesn’t sound so bad.” Let’s see how you feel after you have
been fired from your job, beaten senseless, your house plundered, your wife abused, and your children
physically attacked … all in the same week. Will it seem such a short time to you then?
I remember our Rachel lived for only eight days, but that short time felt like an eternity!
Some of you hearing my words have been in the furnace of affliction far longer than ten days. For
some it is more like ten years. For others it seems like a lifetime.
I freely confess that I cannot explain why some people seem to suffer much more than others.
While it is true that “into each life some rain must fall,” some folks seem to have a perpetual monsoon
pouring down upon them. After thinking about this for many years, I have concluded that all our
speculations are just that—idle speculations that do not help us much at all.
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But let us rest our soul in this. If Jesus says you will suffer for ten days, no force on earth can
make it last eleven days! It won’t end early, but it won’t go long either. The Lord has determined the time
limit on our trials.
That is why he says, “Fear not.” The Lord knows what He is allowing, and He is the One
allowing it. He will accomplish His purpose concerning us.
V. Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid … rather be faithful.”
“Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second
death” (vv. 10-11).
There is one important fact we must not miss: Jesus never promises to remove the trials of life. He
never says to the church at Smyrna, “Just believe in me and everything will get better.”
Jesus was not a Prosperity Gospel preacher. That heresy has infected the church around the world
and created a generation of Christians who are materialistic, worldly, and spiritually anemic. Because they
have no theology of suffering, they are not ready when suffering comes.
Jesus never says, “Believe in me and I’ll give you an easy life." Rather He says, “Be faithful unto
death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
No doubt many of the believers in Smyrna paid the ultimate price for their faith. Having followed
Jesus in life, they followed Him in death.
I ran across this quote from Max Lucado about what death means to the Christian: In heaven,
we’ll remember the day we died with the same fondness we remember graduation day.
Many contemporary Christians have never heard of a man named Polycarp. The early believers
knew all about him because he was one of the first well-known martyrs of the Christian faith.
In his youth he was a disciple of the Apostle John. For many years he served as Bishop of the
church in Smyrna.
During a wave of persecution in AD 155, when a mob demanded his death, Roman officials tried
to save his life by offering him repeated chances to deny his faith in Christ. He refused each time. When
given one final chance to save his own life, he replied in words that echo across the centuries: “For 86
years I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who has
saved me?”
As the soldiers prepared to nail him to the stake, he refused, saying, “Leave me as I am. For He
who grants me to endure the fire will enable me also to remain on the pyre unmoved, without the security
you desire from nails.”
The fire was lit and Polycarp burned to death. As the flames consumed him, he was heard to pray,
“I thank you, O Lord, that You have deemed me worthy this day and this hour to take up the cross of
Christ with many witnesses.”
When I read his story, I say to myself, “Where do you get men like this?”
I do know that God has his Polycarps all over the world today. They are the brave men and
women who will not bow the knee to Baal, who will not swear allegiance to Caesar, who will not give up
their Christian faith, and who will not return to Islam. They would rather die than surrender what Jesus
has given them.
Of such men and women the world is not worthy. Truly, the “second death” cannot hurt men and
woman like that.
I remember the story of an evangelist who was told he would be killed if he didn’t stop preaching
the gospel. “You can’t threaten me with heaven,” he replied.
Death itself has no power over the believer who remains faithful. We may die - indeed we will die
someday! That’s not the question.
Will we be faithful? That is the question!
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Few of us will be called upon to do what Polycarp did. For most of us the sufferings we endure
will be less dramatic, the pressures more subtle, the temptations harder to spot. But the call from Jesus
remains the same. Fear not! Be faithful!
Heaven is waiting for us. Death may come but it cannot take from us what God has given us. The
world gives fame, and the world takes it away. So be it. We are rich today and poor tomorrow. We have a
job and then we don’t. We are healthy and then cancer strikes. We have a happy family and then it seems
to fall apart. Our friends say they love us and then they disappear.
Do not fear, brothers and sisters! Keep the faith! Heaven is just around the corner!
To those who stand strong in the midst of trials, the best is yet to come. We will receive the
“crown of life” and reign with Jesus forever. The “second death” in hell cannot touch us at all.
Be encouraged, child of God. Buckle up your chinstrap and get back in the game. Don’t run from
the troubles of life. You are richer than you think.
And heaven is just around the corner. Amen.
Here is a church made up on people whose behavior matched their belief … but they suffered for
it. Is that maybe why we don’t want our lives to measure up to our faith? Maybe we will suffer
persecution if we live out our faith.