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I’m going to invite you to the book of Revelation. Chapter two is where we’re at together today. Revelation chapter two. As a church, we don’t care about stepping into two wild and crazy passages of the Bible, and Revelation is certainly one of those. We thought, you know what? This is an election season. Why not go into the craziest book we can think of? And that is certainly the book of of Revelation. And, you know, a lot of people, when they come to this book, I find some people come to this book fearful in some of the things that are described here. But one of the things I’ve tried to encourage you in as a church is that’s not the reason the book of Revelation has been written. You know, I kind of joke a little bit about this when we’ve, as we’ve started Revelation together, that one of the things I think that the American church especially needs to do when we get to heaven and we see Jesus face to face, is we all need to gather together, and we need to just apologize to the Lord for the way that we’ve treated this book. This is this is, I think, one of the most beautiful books in all of the Bible. In fact, I think it’s the most beautiful book in all of Scripture. And what’s incredible about this book, when you really come to study it, is recognizing this is not a book that’s intended to strike fear in your heart as God’s people.
This is a book that’s intended to lead us into worship of the Lord. And the way John does this is beautiful. Um, he goes back into the Old Testament, and he takes from these Hebrew pool of images of of how God has communicated in the past. And he shows us in the New Testament, in the book of Revelation, how God has been faithful to fulfill what he’s promised to us. Oftentimes, we look at the book of Revelation. So many people think that this book is predominantly this prophetic book that’s declaring things that are that are all going to happen one day in the future. But what you discover when you read the book of Revelation is John’s not predicting a lot of the future. What John’s actually doing, he’s going back through the Old Testament, and he’s taking images that the Old Testament prophets have used, and he’s showing how God has been faithful to fulfill everything that he said he would, so that we, as God’s people would move forward faithfully in him in worship, knowing that he has all this under control. That while Babylon continues to fall, that these world systems will come before us and promise us, you know, all these, these wonderful things that what often what happens is they can’t deliver on their promises. But God has continued to be faithful. And while Babylon falls over and over again, the goodness of who God is can be made known in our lives.
And so rather than move forward into the future in fear, we move forward in the future, in faith and in worship of our God who is victorious. And when you read the book of Revelation, what’s important for us to remember is that we often times mistake God’s Word when we immediately look for application rather than proper interpretation. And what I mean is every book of the Bible, when you go to study it, you need to answer the question, what did this passage mean for the people there? And then before we relate it to us in the here and now, that’s where people get especially in danger. In the book of Revelation, there’s this, this literary genre is considered apocalyptic. This is not a common literary genre for us today. We don’t go to the bookstore and ask, you know, where’s your apocalyptic section? That’s not that’s not a common literary genre that we read today. And because of that, we misapply what Scripture says to us in this passage by by trying to make direct application without first making a proper interpretation. What did God mean to the first century in which this was written? When when John talks about these different images, he’s not looking into the future, but rather he’s going back into the Old Testament, drawing from images that the Hebrew people were familiar with, to relate it to where the people were today.
And so for us to understand the book of Revelation, well, we need to go back and understand what it meant to the to the first century and really have a more holistic understanding of the Old Testament. And in so doing, we start to see this beautiful picture that John is describing to us, and the faithfulness of God, and how he has fulfilled his promises to us as as his people. And this becomes especially true in the two churches that we’re going to look at today. We’re going to look at the church of Smyrna and Pergamum. Starting in in verse eight, we’re going to look at Smyrna actually last, but then we’re going to jump to to Pergamum in verse 12. And, and we look at these two churches we’re going to discover is these particular two churches are going through tremendous persecution and adversity. And they’re facing this, I think, on two fronts. They’re facing this politically through the empires. They’re being pressured to bow to to Caesar. And they’re also facing this through worldly temptations that are being thrown at them. And they’re left with a question, what are you going to decide? In fact, historically, when you look at the pressure placed on these two churches, we’re going to look at the very end how how this pressure continued on into the second century and beyond. But these two churches faced tremendous hardship because of their faith in Christ. And yet what you discover in church history is that they remained faithful and to the point when you see what these churches have gone through, you might even look at this and think, well, look, you guys just need to tap out, right? Like, you’ve gone through so much, why would you continue to endure? Or maybe we could ask the question, how in the world did you continue to endure? And when you look at these two particular churches, I want us first to look at the the church of Pergamum for us to understand what these churches are going through.
And then we’re going to make direct application for us through the church of Smyrna. We’ll back up from Pergamum and go back to Smyrna and just ask the question, how do you really remain faithful in the midst of adversity and adversity? Provides a wonderful opportunity for us as God’s people. You know, I don’t think that it’s something that you need to say, make my life hard just for the sake of being hard. But adversity helps us understand what what what our faith is truly rooted in, because a faith that has not been tested cannot be trusted. But it’s when your faith in Christ has truly made sacrifice that you begin to see the genuineness of your faith. Because anyone can say, I’m a Christian when it’s easy to say you’re a Christian, but it’s when when your faith has been tested, or when there’s sacrifice involved and the genuineness of your pursuit of Jesus, that you start to see how genuine that faith truly is.
And I reminded us sometime in this book of Revelation that when you one of the interesting things about persecution on God’s people, if you look at the God’s universal church today, parts of the world where Christianity is growing are the parts where they’re also facing some of the worst. Persecution and persecution has this way of causing God’s people to dive deeper into who Christ is and what that means for them, and because that that pressure upon them causes them to dive deeper into Jesus, that that the thing that that people are using to try to spur people away from Christ actually becomes the catalyst to deepen their relationship with God. And you see this with historically with the church of of Pergamum and Smyrna. And this is where I want to begin. I really just want to paint a picture of the the church of Pergamum and what they went through. And in verse 12 you start to see how this unfolds in the description that’s given. Um, when you read Revelation chapter first, three chapters, remember Revelation one, it really outlines for us this identity of who God is. And then in Revelation two and three, it takes this identity of God, components of that identity of God described in chapter one. And for each of the churches that it writes to which are seven churches, it begins every introduction with that identity of God, a component of God’s identity related to the churches based on what they’re going through.
And in verse 12, we start with that identity for the church of Pergamum. You know, when we read about these seven churches, I told you, you know, these seven churches, God could have picked any of any church. And and it’s kind of interesting, the churches that he picked. But I think each of these churches kind of holistically represent God’s universal church throughout time. And the different struggles that God’s people have faced and different things that we go through within as, as God’s people and in these particular churches. Church two, two and three that we’re looking at today were discovering that they face some of the some of the worst persecution of God’s people. And in verse 12 it says this. And to the angel of the church in Pergamum, write the words of him who was or excuse me, who has the sharp two edged sword? So what? What he wants the church to, to recognize is while they’re facing pressure from the world around them, the one that’s really in control is the Lord. And his sword is not dull on either side. It’s constantly talked about the the sword of the Lord throughout the New Testament. Hebrews chapter four. When it talks about the sword of the Lord, it tells you it’s able to divide asunder the the joint from the marrows, the spiritual from the physical meaning.
Sometimes when we’re living our lives, the world looks somewhat convoluted. You can’t always tell people’s motives. There’s sort of this gray area to all that, because we aren’t the Holy Spirit. We don’t always know what’s happening internal in people’s lives. But what it’s saying in this passage is that there is no mistake with God. That God is able to divide that perfectly. He knows the intent of the heart masterfully, and with his sword, he’s he’s able to bring his justice and his judgment, his his power and his punishment. And so depending on which side that you fall, you’ll see that as a sort of hope or a sort of of executing punishment against those who are opposed to him. But but what he ultimately wants his people to see is that he is in control, and he has the power to deliver what he has promised. And so this, this idea of the sword is the sword of deliverance for God’s people. And he goes on in verse 13 and says, I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yeah, that’s that’s a pretty bad place for, for real estate. Like if you own that kind of real estate, you need to sell and move. I think unless God tells you directly, no, I want you here. That is not the kind of place that you dwell. Up until this point, I always thought that’s where Lakers fans were, you know.
That was that’s if you want to know where that throne is. But but apparently it was in Pergamum, right? I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name. And you did not deny my faith. Even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was killed among you where Satan dwells. So? So here’s what he’s saying to the church of Pergamum. And Pergamum was known. He was in the area of Asia, which we talked about a couple of weeks ago with the introduction of Ephesus, that Asia during this time period isn’t Asia as we know it today, which is an entire continent. This was really the more it was the area of Turkey, or maybe the country of Turkey. Um, Asia was this this area where all the seven churches were found and the, the probably the, the, the most recognized town in all of this region would have been Pergamum. And in Pergamum they had several temples dedicated to false gods. They had temples dedicated to to do. Excuse me. To to Zeus and to Dionysus and to Athena. Um, these these well known temples that people would go to, to, to worship. In fact, there were many people in these towns whose livelihood came from crafting images to these false gods. Uh, one of these false gods that was in the town was a the god Asclepius. Asclepius, which is the serpent god or the god of healing.
And I think in this passage, what what John is doing is he’s tying the idea of a serpent, this, this false god, this God of healing to the representation of Satan. Because the the temple dedicated to this god was well known. And so he’s using that imagery to say to the church, look, I know your dwelling, even to the point where where Satan’s throne is literally in your presence, this, this, this false god that people are bowing down to. In fact, um, one of the last great emperors who persecuted Christians was the emperor of Diocletian. And Diocletian ordered these these Christian stonecutters to to create a a statue dedicated to this particular false god. And the Christians refused. And so Diocletian ordered all of those Christians to be martyred. Uh, these these Christians faced tremendous persecution. And in fact, one of the temples that they had in this region of Pergamum was dedicated to Emperor worship. And in about 30 BC, uh, Pergamum became the the first city in Rome who resurrected a temple in order to worship Rome’s emperors. And they went on from there. And they built two other temples dedicated to emperors. Uh, during the reign of of Domitian, Domitian ordered that one day a year everyone had to pay homage to the emperors in worship, and the Christians would refuse, and when they refused, they faced martyrdom. Some. One of the most famous Christians we talked about in the city of Ephesus, who was a pastor in, in, in Smyrna, was a man by the name of Polycarp.
Polycarp refused to bow in worship to the emperor, and because of that it led to his death. And in his mid 80s he was dragged before the emperor, and they told him to recant his faith and bow down. And Polycarp refused, and he was taken to the stake, burned, and he was stabbed with a sword. He was the pastor of one of these churches that we’re going to read about today, in addition to, to Polycarp, who was killed during the mission. Another individual named Antipas were taught in church history, who’s mentioned here in verse 13. And Antipas refused to bow down to the emperors. And because of that, Domitian had him ordered to be brought into the Brass bull. If you know anything about the. During this time period, one of the forms of torture they had was they created a brass ball that was hollow. They would throw people inside. They would set a fire under that brass ball and burn you alive. And according to church history, met his martyrdom that way. So here is this church facing tremendous persecution, political power weighing over them to bow the knee to to what Rome says. And not just political pressure. There was also worldly temptation. It goes on in verse 14 and says, but I have. God saying this, I have a few things against you.
You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. So he’s saying, while they’re also while they’re facing this political pressure, here comes this worldly temptation. And he compares this temptation to the days of Balaam, which, if you’re not familiar with the story, it comes from numbers 25 and chapter 31. And Balaam was called upon by Balak to put a curse on Israel. And three times Balaam tried, but he wasn’t successful. And so finally he came up with this plan, that the way that he would draw Israel away from the Lord was to lead them into temptation after false gods, and so they would invite them into the worship of these false gods. And the way that they would draw them in was through young women that would tempt the men into the worship of these false gods. And so you have this idea of this, this, this sexual temptation coming into the church, which will deal with the idea of, of sexual temptation more when we talk about the next, next church here at the end of Revelation chapter two.
But, but, but I want you to see through this church the way that they’re facing pressure upon them politically, from from the government and also through the world, the temptation put upon them. It’s not much different than what we experienced today as as God’s people. And he relates this to the teaching of the nicolaitans in verse 15. You know, there’s not a lot historically known about the nicolaitans, in fact. And when you read the New Testament, you find the nicolaitans are really only mentioned twice, and the two times it’s mentioned is here in chapter two of Revelation. It was mentioned to you once with the church of Ephesus, who who denied the teaching of the Nicolaitans. And now it’s mentioned here in the church of Pergamum, who’s allowed the teaching of the Nicolaitans to be among their midst. Um, the Nicolaitans we don’t really know entirely what was taught about them, but you can kind of extrapolate from from what’s being said here, what they might have permitted. And so what we’re seeing is this, this teaching of honoring some sort of false deity or false god, false way of living. And through that, it’s bringing some sort of sexual temptation or perversion among the church. And so they have permitted this. What you’re seeing in this story is that the church has permitted this, that the world around them is trying to get them to, to move away from the truth of what God says and rather embrace other world systems.
And as God’s people, it’s the same thing we experience today. I don’t know that we’re necessarily to the degree that Pergamum is experiencing it, but we we certainly face that as God’s people to try to validate every idea that everyone has as if it’s true. Right? Whatever teaching someone might hold to that. Well, yours is true for you, and what’s true for you is true for you. And what’s true for me is true for me. But can’t we all just get along? And as long as you believe something and you believe it with all your heart. That’s all that matters. That’s kind of the the system that’s that’s perpetuated for us today. But it’s not foreign to us as God’s people, that it’s something we’ve been pressured with since the beginning of time to to relinquish where where we’re made in the image of God and for his purpose and by his truth, to embrace other things that aren’t true at all and to validate those things. And and as I say, the same thing to us as God’s people try to remind us of this. And there are lots of people that believe lots of different things in this world, and they believe it sincerely. But just because you believe it sincerely doesn’t doesn’t make it right. You can be sincere and be sincerely wrong. And with all the different religions in the world teaching all kinds of different things about God, they can’t all be true.
They can all be wrong, but they can’t all be true. And so the pursuit of our life being made in the image of God for his purposes should, should not, should not be about anything other than discovering what is true and walking. In light of that, no matter what other people say or don’t say, it doesn’t mean we need to be mean to other people. It doesn’t mean we need to diminish them and their value and their worth. But it does mean we need to elevate the importance of truth, because it helps us discover who we are in light of who he is. And the church of Pergamum is facing this pressure, and we face a similar thing today. But the Lord is is encouraging us in this to to pursue him with all that we are. I mean, the way to kill a church is to, to, to, to begin to teach a lie and then live it out and therefore lose sight of who you truly are. I mean, we, we, we face that each day when we wake up. What is your life going to be about? Buy into the truth or give over to a lie. And as you give over to which path you pursue, it will then dictate how you live and then what you become. But the power of who God’s people are is only discovered as we walk faithfully and the truth of of what God declares to us.
And and I want you to see how he differentiates this in verse 16. Notice what he says in verse 16 about those who embrace a, a teaching that’s contrary to the truth of God. He refers to him in verse 16 as not us, but rather them. He’s saying, look them those I’m trying. He’s saying I’m distinguishing between what God’s people are to hold to and what the nicolaitans are teaching among you, because this is not what God’s people are about, and they belong to something different. There is them and there is you. And God wants you to be distinguished in his truth. As you walk in this world doesn’t mean you be mean to people. It doesn’t mean you need to be rude to people. It doesn’t mean you need to attack people. We don’t fight against people, but rather we fight for people. That’s what the mission God calls us to in this world. But. But to understand the uniqueness of who you are in Christ, and let that light of Jesus shine in you with purity. And so God is encouraging his church in the midst of persecution to continue in that path. And then in verse 17 he says it like this. He ends every one of the the letters to the churches the same. And he begins every one of his letters to these churches the same.
But he says this, he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. And it carries this idea. We talked about this a couple of weeks ago, that he’s looking for those with a heart of humility. Who’s who is ready to embrace what God is saying to them. Remember I told you, when it comes to each of these churches, it’s really like reading a diary entry that God is writing a personal letter to each one of these churches and talking about where things are going well and where they’re struggling. And and this is kind of an uncomfortable thing to do that you should recognize. We should all realize we should not be reading people’s diaries unless they give you permission, or they died and someone made a book out of it, right? Like that’s the only time that you’re allowed to read read a diary. But but in this instance, when God is writing a personal letter to each of these churches. He also wants us to to recognize what he’s saying to each of these churches, not for the purpose of throwing stones at them, but to be reflective in our own heart to ask ourselves, where are we when our lives face adversity? Does the genuineness of our relationship with Christ? Is that made known? A faith that is not tested cannot be trusted. But when you’re cut, do you bleed? Jesus as the goodness of God made known in your life, despite what the world around you might say? Or do you do you embrace it? Do you accept it? Do you treat it as as equal? Do you do you think that that message is just as valid as the truth of who God is? You know what’s what’s guiding you in your life? This is why it says to to all the churches he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.
He wants the universal church throughout time to to look at this and and to recognize within their own heart and life, what’s what’s happening in their church, in their community and in their own heart. But as you consider these churches, they face tremendous hardship and persecution because of their faith in Christ. How did they sustain and how were these churches able to endure? I think in Pergamum, simply because Christians would not cut a stone to honor a false god. Diocletian orders them martyred, or Antipas or Polycarp. How are they able to remain faithful? And this is this is what I talk about here today. I want to look at the church of Smyrna, and I want to give you this four reasons why I refuse to quit, or maybe four reasons why we should refuse to quit. And when in Africa, we had a little bit of downtime. It turns out there’s there’s lots of downtime.
Sometimes in Africa you can throw away your watch in some, some instances while you’re there. But we had some downtime, and I remember I was sitting with a pastor and had maybe an hour or so to talk to him, and their church started at the same time as our church. And, you know, we’ve seen God do a beautiful work here. And the way our church has grown and how God is continuing to transform hearts. And it’s been wonderful just to see God’s story written in the hearts of people. And they’re at Rock Hill in just the same thing. Their church is growing and beautiful. To see the story that God’s writing on the hearts of the people there. And I asked one of the pastors, what do you think the has been the number one thing that’s led to your church to be at the place it is today? Like, how is how has God worked this out? And he said something to me that I really appreciated because I feel like if he had asked me the same question, I would have responded the same way. And he talked about one of the struggles that African church faces holistically throughout the continent and then talked about how their church chose to respond. And one of the things, just so you guys know, one of the things that’s really killing the African church right now is the prosperity gospel. It’s the idea of believing, you know, give me a dollar and I’ll make you a millionaire.
And, um, you know, it’s sort of using Jesus like a puppet, right? Like you come to Jesus to get everything that you really wanted and not Christ himself, who should be your treasure and prize. And it’s interesting that to me that people even want to embrace that kind of teaching, because when you think about what Christianity is, it’s following Jesus and following after Jesus, well, Jesus died with nothing. And so why would you think in following after Jesus that that means you’re just going to get rich because you follow Jesus? And he said, and the American church is susceptible to that too, like we in some degrees, try to make church more about entertainment than just seeking Christ and worshiping him. And I’m not saying God’s people shouldn’t have fun. You should be the most joyful people on the planet, right? Like, I think there’s a place to just be celebratory, for sure. And I’m not trying. I’m not trying to be a killjoy or anything like that, but, but but you know, if your faith in Jesus is simply built on this, this, this idea of entertainment, when you’re you come to a position in life where you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place and you need some substance to who you are in light of who Christ is. There needs to be more depth than, than than that, right? And so in talking to him, he said to me, you know, one of the things that we just simply did as a church is rather than follow that path, we started our church and we came to the community and wherever we saw a need, we were just the hands and feet of Jesus.
We met people in their brokenness where whatever it was, whether it was mental, emotional, spiritual, we wanted to be the hands and feet of Christ with with people and minister to them and let them be seen and know that they’re loved and talk to them about Jesus. And through that, God began to transform hearts. And one of the things I really appreciated that is like as I think about our church, can I just over and over again, that’s that’s I think one of the number one things I hear about people that come to ABC is there’s a genuineness to your faith in Jesus that, you know, I had this going on in my life. Someone in the church came and ministered to me, loved on me in that. And and I really saw the hands and feet of Christ there. And because of that, I wanted to come here and belong. And, you know, that may not be your specific story and maybe you might feel missed. And if that is so, I’m sorry for that. But that’s certainly that’s certainly a culture, I think, that we have here, and one that we want to perpetuate and we want depth to who we are.
We don’t want to just profess Jesus with our lips. We want to we want to live him by our lifestyle, to show that there’s substance to what it means to follow Christ, that there’s something that we want to believe with our life, but we want to emulate it in the way that we live. And you see this in certainly in Africa, but but also in Smyrna and Pergamum. It didn’t matter the circumstances. It didn’t make Jesus untrue. And so in light of that, they wanted to be faithful. So for reasons, for reasons, then why I refuse to quit. Number one, God perfectly meets my needs. God perfectly meets my needs. I’m not going to give these to you very fast. God perfectly meets my needs, and I want to be very careful in saying this because, um, sometimes we hear that and we categorize what we should mean by needs with the word wants. God meets my wants, and I do not mean that. Okay? I think God cares about the things that you want as long as they’re godly things. Um, but there’s a difference between your wants and needs. And let me just remind you, um, when you treat God like a God who meets your wants rather than a God who meets your needs, treating God like a God who meets your wants means that God was made for your purposes. But the truth is, you were made for his purpose.
And what I what I want you to recognize is because God meets your needs. What it’s saying is God created you to complement who he is, right? Not not necessarily the other way around. And one of the things that’s beautiful about recognizing the character of who God is is that you begin to discover in the character of God that you you find your life satisfied in that because you were made to belong to him. This is why when when God writes to the seven churches, he begins with an attribute of who he is for each of those churches. And when he begins with an attribute of who he is, he’s not just picking these attributes out of the dark, he’s picking an attribute of who he who he is that complements the struggle of what the church is facing in that particular moment. And when it came to the church of Pergamum, he was talking about being a sword because they’re facing adversity. And he he wanted them to recognize that he is the true judge, able to deliver justice. And when it comes to the church of Smyrna, look what he says. And to the angel of the church of Smyrna write the words of the first and the last who died and came to life. I mean, this is a very scandalous idea of who God is. What he’s saying is the first and the last that he is encompasses all things.
He is the beginning and end. Everything that exists exists because of his power. He sees it all eternally from beginning. And God is not bound by time. God is not bound by resources. God has created all time, space, and matter. But then what is incredible about that is that he becomes confined to his own creation. It’s saying in this passage to the point that he dies and there is no religion in the world that teaches a God like this, that God becomes so personal that he becomes confined to his own creation, suffering to the point of his own death. But what’s what’s more profound than that is that he overcomes death, that he’s a God of life. And what he’s encouraging the church to is that no matter the struggle that they face, there’s nothing this world can hold over them because he’s defeated it all. He is victorious over sin, Satan and death. And so everything that he says to the church, no matter the pressure of the world, is going to put on them, that they can rest, confident that their future is secure and the power of who God is. So it becomes important for for God’s people at all times to understand the true character of who God is, the nature of who Christ is, because that nature becomes the the very foundation for the hope that we have as God’s people. And so this is what he he’s helping us understand this first point.
God perfectly meets my needs saying I’m not created or excuse me, he’s not created for my purpose, but rather I am created for his purposes. And it’s not until my life is completely surrendered to the greatness of who he is that I begin to discover this. Now, number two, God knows my every struggle. God knows my every struggle. In verse nine, you see this peppering of what this church Smyrna is going through. It says, look, I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich. And the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. And it’s a difficult place to be. They’re certainly going through tribulation, which as God’s people, the New Testament promises your faith in Jesus will lead to that. You will have tribulation. I know sometimes if you maybe you’ve grown up in a particular theological denomination, you might have been taught. And I’m not saying this is wrong. We’ll get to this in the future, but that there’s going to be a great tribulation. But don’t worry if you belong to Jesus because you’re going to be raptured out of that, right? And sometimes because of that, Christians have kind of come away with this mindset that I’m not going to have to go through bad things. But the reality is, Jesus promised, if you follow him, there will be tribulation.
But tribulation becomes this place for us to see the genuineness of our faith. But the church is facing that. They’re facing poverty. No doubt some of these have have lost financial gain because there’s there’s comes this place where because of their faith, they’re put in a position to they can compromise what they believe and do things that honor these false gods, or maybe take a pay cut in order to honor the true God. And so there’s there’s this struggle monetarily in that. And then they’re also being attacked. They’re being slandered. And then there’s even these individuals that claim to be following God, and they’re doing it genuinely. But but the reality is when they when they they what they profess is not aligning with who God is, even though they claim to know the same God as them. So that becomes a very challenging place for them to be. You ever been in a position like that where people tell you they believe the same thing you do, but then when they talk about your Jesus, it’s not the same Jesus. This is what they’re saying. This this place that this church has to live in, the pressure that they’re they’re feeling. Do God knows my every struggle. And he’s he’s identifying those struggles. But here’s here’s the most important phrase I think in this entire verse. Verse nine. Look at this. The first word here, I know this is what God is saying, I know.
And this word know. Here is a word of intimate awareness. God’s not just saying, saying, I see what you’re going through, which he is. And then that’s wonderful. If God sees us in our struggle. It’s saying that you matter to God. He cares enough to know what you’re going through. So? So, God, it’s definitely at minimum saying God sees what you’re going through. But it’s also more than that. It’s saying that God can relate to what you’re going through because he’s already walked the path before you. So it’s this word no is saying God has this intimate knowledge of what they’re experiencing, what they’re experiencing because God himself has experienced it. God relates to you in the midst of adversity that you walk through in life, because Jesus has already walked that path. And so God, God, he holds life in his hands. He’s right there with you and and seeing what you’re going through. And and what’s interesting in this, this phrase, let me give you point number three and I’ll move on. But but with this church, he’s saying, look, this is this is not just superficial talk. This is a personal, relatable God. Point number three God gives us more than the world can offer. God gives us more than the world can offer. And the place that you see that is through this interesting phrase here in verse nine where God, God talks about the tribulation and your poverty. But then he gives this little caveat, but you are rich.
Now that’s that’s kind of a conundrum of terms here, isn’t it? They seem juxtaposed to one another. Either I’m poor or I’m rich. Which one of which one of these am I right? And so he’s saying you’re in poverty, but don’t worry, you’re also rich. How in the world can that be? Can that even be true? Right. And I think the reason the Lord is saying this and maybe, maybe why be a little bit of a struggle for us to understand this? Because in our Western way of thinking, we typically define poverty in one way. And if we think about poverty, we typically mean you don’t have any money, right? We think about poverty in our mind as you don’t have monetary means. And that is a certainly a component of poverty, that you may not have monetary wealth. But but what he’s helping us to understand is, is that is not the only way. In fact, in Christ, there is a far greater way of experiencing the wealth that you have in the Lord. In fact, the world Bank once asked more than six 60,000 poor people in 60 low income countries the question what is poverty? And their answers were surprising to many. They said this poverty wasn’t a lack of money or things. It was humiliation, rejection, shame, powerlessness, having no voice depending on everyone, feeling that no one needs or wants them, hopelessness and an inability to make the future any different.
When it comes to a biblical understanding of poverty, a biblical understanding of poverty deals more with not not necessarily the loss of monetary wealth, but rather a brokenness of relationship. It’s saying to you that there is this brokenness of relationship with God. And because there’s this brokenness of relationship with God, there’s this brokenness of relationship with yourself and understanding who you are. And because there’s this brokenness of relationship with God and understanding who you are, there’s this brokenness of relationship with others, and then this broken and brokenness of relationship in this world that we we suffer in poverty in all of those aspects, that what happened in Eden led to a a spiritual poverty, a psychological poverty, a relational poverty, and a and a stewardship poverty that because of the sin curse on this world, every human being is poor. It’s not just simply a lack of monetary means. In fact, to just define it that way is to miss the scope of how sin has damaged all of us. In fact, in Second Corinthians chapter eight, verse nine, it says this for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor. And so he’s saying, look, Jesus was rich. And it’s not just talking monetarily. He’s rich in the wealth of heaven. And he became poor. And again, it’s not talking about just monetary poverty that that he took on our suffering so that that you, by his poverty might become rich.
Mother Teresa said it like this. And I think she’s got some of the greatest thoughts towards poverty. And this is a peppering of different things, she said. But some of her quotes, we think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The greatest poverty is the poverty of the heart being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody. I think that this is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat. The poverty in the West is much more difficult to solve than the poverty in India. And she often looked at the West as a place to be pitied because of the brokenness that we had. And she went on to to say it like this poverty is not made by God. It is created by you and me. When we don’t share what we have, what he wants us to recognize is that God gives us so much more than this world can offer a new identity, a new relationship, a new purpose, a new understanding of who you are because of who he is. A connection to God that you didn’t have before, which gives you an ultimate hope in Christ. In the Lord. This world cannot take away from you what you have through him. You are wealthy. God gives us more than this world can offer. Let me give you the last point.
God promises a greater future. God promises us a greater future. And I need to say this fast. But at the very end of Revelation, you see this, this picture he tells you, do not fear what you are about to suffer. This world cannot take away from you what you ultimately have in Jesus. And he goes on in verse into verse ten and verse 17 describes what that is. Let me read the end of verse ten? Don’t skip to verse 17. He says, I give you the crown of life in verse 17. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, to the one who conquers. I will give some of the hidden manna, and will give a white stone which which has a new name written on the stone, that no one can keep, or no one knows except the one who receives it. Let me just tell you what these things are. I got to summarize this. But the crown of life, the hidden manna, the white stone, the new name. This all has to do with your future hope in Christ. And this crown. The Bible talks about many crowns. People think that they’re literal crowns. Sometimes. I do not think they’re literal crowns. They’re the crown of victory in the gospel. And in these days, when someone competed and they won the competition, they were given a wreath, a crown to celebrate that victory.
And God has taken that image and saying, for you that are faithful in Jesus, that you’ll finish that race victorious and you’ll have that crown of celebration. The idea of the manna, the white stone is, is a stone to bring that athlete, who competed in one successfully to a banquet to celebrate their victory, and on it is a special name. Which name has to do with identity. And so what he’s saying is you’re brought to a special banquet with that wreath of victory, with a new identity because of what Christ has done in this hidden manna. If you remember the manna in the Old Testament, it was taken and put in the ark of the covenant, and it’s the ark of the covenant is where the presence of God is. And so this, this, this image of being in the presence of God to celebrate with victory that new identity that you have in Christ. It’s that hope that we have in the Lord. And this is this is exactly what you see in the church of Smyrna and the church of Pergamum. And I’ll give you these, this illustrations and, and I’ll close these these images are all second century pictures and it’s representation specifically of all. Each one of these pictures are connected to the church of Smyrna. Um, the top left is a man by the name of Ignatius. Ignatius, because he refused to bow to the emperor, was ordered by Trajan to be taken to Rome and eaten alive by animals.
And that’s where the the image is, showing a lion and a dog chewing him apart. But Ignatius, when he was taken to Rome under Trajan, he was brought before Trajan, the emperor, and told to bow. He refuses. And when? When Trajan tells him to be taken away, Ignatius thanks the Lord, and Trajan looks over to Secretary and says, write this down. Christians are insane. They they know they’re about to be torn apart and whether they’re happy about it. And Ignatius goes on, and while he’s taken to on to Rome, he writes letters in Smyrna to, to to six different churches and to Polycarp. Polycarp was a leading pastor in Smyrna. So he writes a letter to the church of Smyrna. He writes it to other churches. He writes a letter to Polycarp. Polycarp we looked at in the church of Ephesus. He he was burned alive because of his faith in Christ. And he was speared with a stabbed with a sword. As he burned, Polycarp gave his life as the pastor in Smyrna. Refusing to bow before he passed away, he raised up a young man within his church known as Pothinus or excuse me. Pontius was sent from Smyrna to to a church in Lyons as the pastor, and he too refused to bow to the Emperor, and he and 47 members of his church were taken to Rome, and they were martyred for their faith.
Pothinus was was beaten by a mob, and he was thrown into this cage in that bottom left corner, which is the size of a dishwasher, and he was left there for two days, crammed into that space until he passed away. And he was in his 70s when he was abused, tortured and thrown in here. And one of the ladies that was a part of his congregation was a young woman named Blandina. And she’s pictured on the bottom right. Blandina said that entire day endured torture more than anyone else. She endured torture, so much so that the ones that were torturing her commented on how fatigued they were just from the torture they gave her. But at the end of her life, they said she looked with joy to the future that she had in Christ. I mean, this church endured incredible adversity. How in the world were they able to do that? They knew God perfectly met their needs. That God knew every one of their struggles. That what God would give them was far more than the world could offer. And that God gave them a better promise and a greater future in who he was. Church, how important it becomes that when the world pressures you, and political systems around you tempt you, that our life draw deeper and deeper into Jesus.