They had taken their eyes off
of Jesus and were looking at their problems. These men and women needed
to be faithful and to be thankful that they could suffer for Jesus Christ.
Suffering for Jesus will reveal what kind of Christian you really are.
Suffering will either cause you to move away from Him or draw you to
Himself in a new and fresh, spiritual way.
Conclusion. So Jesus calls them to suffer for Him. He wants the Christians in Smyrna
to pass the test.
. . . Be faithful until 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
shall not be hurt by the second death.’ (NASB) Rev. 2:10b-11 Jesus wants us to be faithful even until death. He promises us a wreath.
This was an award given to the winning gladiator or “the victor” of
a game in the coliseum. The winner usually also received a prize, so Jesus promised
the winners or the ones who “overcome” a prize. He promised them
that they will enter heaven. We will discover later that the second death is
for those who are in hell and will end up in the Lake of Fire. Some years later, the early church father known as Polycarp became the pastor of
this church. He was a disciple of the apostle John. In about A.D. 86 he died for
Jesus. The early church father Eusebius tells us what happened to him.
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