Church at Smyrna - Revelation 2:8-11
Revelation 2:8-11 · Kurt Katzorke · Feb 8, 2009
Revelation (2009), No. 06
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926123364343

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Alright, so that is kind of the characteristic for the church at Smyrna here. They really are the church that's being persecuted, or that is going to be persecuted. As we look at our handout here, the city of Smyrna is modern-day Izmir, which is in Turkey. Actually, all of the seven churches are in Turkey.

It was a major seaport in the Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located about 40 miles northwest of Ephesus. It was about 75 miles from Pergamon. It was known for its beauty in the ancient world and some of its coins read, the first of Asia in beauty and size. Smyrna was in constant rivalry with nearby Ephesus and Pergamum for commerce and kind of just the prestige of the best city in the area.

It was also the first city to build a temple to the goddess Roma. which was actually going to really tie into some of the things that we'll look at this morning as far as persecution and what people would be persecuted for. And in the end of our story here this morning, what caused a believer in the area to be martyred.

The church in Smyrna, we don't know specifically how the church in Smyrna was founded. In all probability, it was founded by Paul during his third evangelistic journey. And we get this idea from Acts 19 where we read, all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. So that's where we get the idea of Paul planting the church there in Smyrna.

Smyrna had a Jewish community that was organized as a synagogue. And about the time of the writing of the Book of Revelation and decades thereafter, the Jewish community showed particular hostility towards Christians. Another thing about the Jews there in Smyrna is they definitely seemed to have some pretty big influence over how the city was run. Either the businesses, the commerce, the just things that were going on in the city there, the Jewish community had a pretty good influence on the city of Smyrna.

Polycarp, a disciple of John, who served as the bishop in Samaria, was martyred in 155 AD. And the Jews of this area played a prominent role in his death. So we'll see kind of a theme with this chapter, or with these verses here, of persecution, in particular from Jews.

Yes? Is Polycarp somebody that today we have in the writings? Actually, yes, he does have some surviving writings, yes. A letter to the, I believe it's the Philippians, actually, that we do have some of his surviving writings, yes. And then one of his disciples, we have lots of his, well, if you want to see, one of the men he taught, we have lots of his writings as well.

And I don't remember his name. It starts with an I, but I don't remember how to, I don't remember exactly what it is. I think that's right, yeah. If you pop his name into Google, you'll find all sorts of stuff. What pops up on Wikipedia seems to be fairly unbiased. The historical dates are accurate and it gives some good information about the writings that survive and things of that order. He was the bishop there in the second century. All right, so let's hop into the verses here. And so I'll just read them real quick. And to the angel at the church of Smyrna write, these things says the first and the last who was dead and came to life.

I know your works, tribulation and poverty, but you are rich. And I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested and you will have tribulation of 10 days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you a 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.

Now, I know there were some questions last week about why write to the angel, and I want to avoid those one more week. We'll get into that another week. So if we can hold off on any questions that we have there, let's just focus on what is being written to the church. But we will cover the angel questions, just not this week.

So the first phrase there, the first and the last, is a title from Isaiah for Jehovah God himself. By using this title, Christ is claiming his deity, that there is nothing outside of him, not even time, and his sovereignty. To me it's really interesting that Christ would use a claim of his everlasting nature to a city with heavy Jewish influence. In John chapter 8, never mind verse 51, but go to verse 52, we read about Jesus talking to the Jews. It says, The Jews said to him, Now we know that you have a demon.

Abraham is dead, and the prophets. And you say, If anyone keeps my word, he shall never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead, and the prophets are dead? Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered them, if I honor myself, my honor is nothing if it is my father who honors me, of whom you say that he is your God. Yet you have not known him, but I know him. And if I say I do not know him, I shall be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word.

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and was glad. Then the Jews said to him, Are you not fifty years old? And have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. You can see that in chapter 8 there of John, he's really making a claim to his everlasting nature. Talking about, if anyone keeps my word, they shall never taste death.

That gives a very specific view of everlasting life into the future. And then he says, before Abraham was, I am. So that goes all the way back into eternity. So he's making a claim all the way back into eternity and all the way into eternity. Both directions. He's saying, I am eternal. And that really ticked the Jews off. Because he's saying, you're claiming to be God. God's the only one who's eternal. and you're claiming to be eternal. So it really rubbed him the wrong way.

So I think it's interesting that in a city with a heavy Jewish influence, he does the same thing. He makes a claim of his everlasting, his eternal nature, which I think really would be something that the believers in Smyrna would know about him, they would preach it about him, and it would tick the Jews off in the city there as well. So yeah, obviously it enraged the Jews of Jesus' day and undoubtedly would have done the same some 70 to 80 years later there in the city of Smyrna. Our next phrase, who was dead and has come to life, would be very comforting for the believer in Smyrna who is about to be told that they will soon face persecution. Another thing that it is, it's an appeal to the eternal position in Christ who has conquered death. excuse me, an appeal to the believers' eternal position in Christ who has conquered death. The church at Smyrna had access to the letters of the New Testament.

We get that from Colossians 4.16 and would have been And the believers would have identified with the verses of the letters of the New Testament and the believers' placement into the death, burial and resurrection, ascension and seeding, which we get from Ephesians 1.20. So really this is This is a comforting phrase for the believers who are going to face persecution, and some of them even to the point of death. But Christ has conquered death, and their eternal position is with Him in the heavenlies.

Their condition might end up being really bad, but He's saying, I'm appealing to your position, not your condition. Any questions or comments on verse 8? Alright, we'll hop on to verse 9 there. I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich than the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. I know your tribulation and your poverty.

The word tribulation is the same word used in John 16.33, and the same root word. Last week we looked at 2 Corinthians, those verses where he's talking about being persecuted but not in despair.

We looked at those verses last week, and it's the same root word that's used in 2 Corinthians 4.8. And it means pressure that is crushing. And it's interesting there in 2 Corinthians, let me turn there with the same root word.

He says, and this is the New King James version, we are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. So he's saying that, I mean, the word itself means, means pressure that is crushing. Pressure that is crushing but not crushed. And what keeps you from being crushed is the life of Jesus, obviously, the eternal position that you have.

So I think it's a really interesting word that he uses there. We see it some other places in scripture. Obviously that root word there used in 2 Corinthians where he's talking about being persecuted, pressed on every side but not crushed. So very interesting use of that word, especially when you put it in context of how it's used other places in the Bible. Another point to make, this word tribulation does not refer to the tribulation, which is a time which the Christians will not have a part in. The word poverty means the condition of one destitute of riches and abundance.

Now remember what we said about the Jews had a heavy influence over the city of Smyrna. Believers in the city had apparently lost jobs and were having their businesses boycotted. So this is something that we gather from these verses. The Jews in the city were making an effort to deprive Christians of material support.

So they're having a hard time with money, finances. They're having a hard time with their businesses running correctly. They're just really having a hard time with material goods that they need to get by in life. You know, destitute, impoverished, is the idea that that word carries. And Jesus says, but you are rich. So how could they be impoverished and be rich? They got a bailout. They got a bailout. A stimulus check, yes.

Well, material versus spiritual. It's another call from your condition is crummy. You don't have the material things, but let's remember your position. Your condition might not be great. You might not have a lot going on right now as far as the material things of this world, but your position, the class that we taught last year, the 34 Divine Riches of God's Grace, you know, just an abundance. He's saying that they're destitute with things of this world, but they have a great abundance.

The word in Ephesians 3.8, the unfathomable riches of Christ. Unfathomable is a Greek word that means past finding out, unsearchable, not to be tracked. It's like if you went into your bank account and there's just zeros that don't stop, you know, before the decimal point. Just, you can't even fit it all on the screen. That's how rich you are in your position.

So, kind of a theme that I see in these verses for these believers who are about to be persecuted is, your condition is not going to be that great, but let's focus on your position. Let's focus on who you are in me. So our next phrase there, the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Now, the first thing that we should do here is these verses over the years have been used for supporting anti-Semitism.

That's not Christlike. Anti-Semitism is not Christlike. It doesn't line up with the love or purpose of God. What is Christlike, and kind of like what we saw last week, is disdain for teaching that rejects God's love, purpose, and direction. Just like the Nicolaitans last week, the disdain is for the teaching, not the person. So just like we saw last week, God doesn't hate the person, He hates the teaching.

The word blasphemy stands out to me here. That word just, when I read these verses, it really jumps out at me. And the definition of the word is impious or reproachful speech, injurious to divine majesty. It was for blasphemy that the Jews wanted to kill Jesus.

I mean, that's what we just saw in John chapter 8, was Christ's claim to His deity, and the Jews hated that. They wanted Him dead for it. And in the end, it was for that charge that Christ was crucified. And here, this word just really jumps out at me, because here Jesus turns the tables and calls those who do not recognize him as God as the impious, the reproachful to his divine majesty. I mean, to me, that's just wow. Here's these people who, that was the reason they killed him, was because of his claims to deity. And he turns it right around on them and says, you're the blasphemous ones because you don't recognize me as God.

To me, that word is just huge in that sentence. The phrase, a synagogue of Satan, shows the synagogue in Smyrna was being used by Satan and was under his control. So this isn't like some symbolic phrase for something else that it's not. It just means Satan was using the synagogue. It was under his control. I believe we covered it last week. Satan used this Jewish synagogue religion to pressure believers to fall back under law to fit into a system of man-made rules and ordinances, or just to chastise believers for not knuckling under this system.

Just constant pressure from these people. You need to follow these laws. You new believers that are coming in that are Gentiles, you need to be circumcised and you need to follow the dietary restrictions and you need to do this. And the bottom line is, no, we just need to have faith in Christ and who He is.

But that's what this synagogue of Satan is referring to is the fact that the The synagogue in the city there was really under Satan's control. Satan is using it to pressure these believers. Any questions or comments on verse 9? Spiritual terrorists are those who teach things that are not correct.

Yeah, I've heard that phrase used a couple times before as well. Yeah, absolutely. I guess it's something that is kind of a cultural reference. Terrorism is something that we can all sort of identify with. I would view that as a cultural phrase to define these teachers to kind of give your mind an idea of what they're doing.

So agnosticism would almost fall into the same category as blasphemy. except one is on acceptance of the deity, where the other one is speaking out against the deity, right? Well, anything that doesn't recognize God for who He is is blasphemy. Whether it be saying that He doesn't exist, or I don't know if He exists, or whatever the case may be, or if you're flat out saying, you could say, sure He exists, and I don't like Him. There's lots of different ways that that word could be applied. or even worshipping other gods, or recognizing other gods. Absolutely. Alright, so verse 10.

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you a crown of life." So, I mean, you guys are going to face some fierce tribulation with crushing pressure.

I've already told you that. Matter of fact, you're already going through some of it. You're going to go without money, material goods. You're going to struggle to provide for your family. Oh, and one more thing here. Prison time is on the way. So you guys ready for all this? I mean, their condition, that's pretty poor as far as the condition of a believer can go. I've never dealt with those things. For my family's sake, I hope I never have to deal with those things. But, I mean, that's what he's telling them.

Your condition is really going to be rough. And yet, in the midst of all these pressures, Christ says, do not fear what you are about to suffer. And the word for fear here is the word where we get our word, phobia, it carries an idea of running away with fear, fleeing from what you set out to do. So, I mean, you're so afraid that you're just going to run away from it. Never mind this. Never mind my purpose that God has for me. Never mind that. I am going to run away. And Christ says, don't do that. Don't fear it. And Christ has a purpose for all this. He has a purpose for all these tribulations, these pressures that these believers are going to face.

And it's so that you will be tested. The word tested means to try, make trial of, for the purpose of ascertaining one's quantity, or what one thinks, or how one will behave. So you're going to go through all these things so that we see how you behave. We see how you respond.

Next he says you will have tribulation for 10 days. This 10 days phrase has been speculated to mean 10 persecutions under Rome, the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a short period of time, a long period of time. It's been speculated to mean lots of different things and what we've decided is 10 days means 10 days.

Last Christ says, be faithful until death and I will give you a crown of life. imagery that is used throughout the New Testament, symbolic, and really something cultural that the people of the New Testament era would have understood. And there's five different crowns that are promised in scripture. There's the victor's crown, soul winner's crown, the rapture lover's crown, elder's crown for service, and what we see here is the martyr's crown. We don't need to go into those in a terrible amount of depth. You're welcome to read the verses that are there for them.

But obviously, crowns were a great cultural reference for the writers of the New Testament. They signified the highest reward that an athlete could win. They were synonymous with events that required great training and endurance in order to be successful. And they were also something that the readers of the New Testament would have easily understood.

So like we talk about spiritual terrorism, they used the phrase crowns like that. It was a cultural phrase that made great sense to them. In Smyrna, the Acropolis on Mount Pegasus was often described by ancient writers as the crown of the city. So a further little insight into how the people in Smyrna would have viewed this crown. So when we add up all the things we just talked about here in this verse, we see the believer in Smyrna is going to face some tough stuff. Situations most believers will encounter, yet highly unlikely to such a degree. Crushing tribulation, loss of money, materials, false teaching, blaspheming of Christ, and even prison. Satan is really going to be going after these believers hard.

Christ knows this is happening to his sheep, and he calls them to focus not on their condition, but their position. Focus on what he has revealed to be true of you in Christ. Don't fall back into law or a man-made ruled system. Don't run away in fear. You're being tested to see how you behave. And sure, God's watching, but He's not going to throw you out if you fail. That's not consistent with this character.

And that's something that these verses have also been used to say is, you'll be faithful until death and I will give you a crown of life. What if I'm not faithful? Am I going to lose my salvation? We've already talked about that, and obviously loss of salvation is not something that is consistent with the teachings of the Bible. It's not consistent with God's character. He's not going to work so hard to save you and then toss you out. Bruce, did you have something? Yeah, I've got a question.

I've heard from various people about these crowns. A, what is the purpose of the crowns? And B, it's my understanding that we don't hold on to these crowns anyway. of the tribulation period, they get laid before the feet of Christ. Well, and I think when we talk about, you know, casting our crowns at the feet of Jesus, that's, I don't know if that is specifically referring to these crowns or not. I think, I mean, for me in that passage, the crowns being cast at Jesus' feet is anything that we hold, where we're casting it at the feet of Jesus, it's no longer important.

I think the Greek there for casting is not cast them and lay them there for good, but a repetitive casting. Casting them at his feet is something we continue to do. And so it's not giving them over, we're done with them. The casting them at his feet is something in which we casting at His feet, picturing praise and worship and His worthiness. Continuously. Which puts the crowns in a different light. It's not a we get them and then we give them up and they're gone. They're given to us to glorify Him.

Okay, so like we were talking about here, these believers are going to go through some tough stuff and God doesn't want them to fall back into a law or a man-made system of rules. He doesn't want them to run away in fear. The purpose of all this is you're going to be tested. And even if you fail, God is going to use that failure to grow you, to show you're in need of Him. And oddly enough, He can use your failure for His good. And furthermore, it's not just God who is watching, so is the world. They are watching to see what Christians are all about.

And when tribulation is thwarted with faith, Christ is revealed and His glory is shown through you. That is the true test. That's why there's a martyr's crown. What greater display of Christ than faith to the point of death? Jesus trusted the Father to the point of death and so we should trust Him.

Anything else there on verse 10? Isn't there a verse also something about that the angels are watching or the administration in heaven is observing as well. I can't remember where that's at. I don't remember where it's at either, but there is a verse, and that's something that we have talked about in the past. And yes, the angels are watching. And I think that's something that Verna and I had actually looked at before.

And basically what we saw from that is the angels were watching in amazement almost to the point that they didn't understand. They didn't understand why God was dealing with us in a different manner. Well, since God is omniscient, He knows they are, so they're still learning, right?

Right, exactly. Absolutely. Absolutely. When I read and say about verses like this, I often think of that young girl at the school shooting three years ago, and I ask her, She would live in Jesus Christ and he would just pop, just shot her. Rachel. Rachel. I think, now that is time. The younger she was, she was so committed that she wasn't a martyr. Would I have stopped and thought? Would I have hesitated? What would I have done in that situation? Yeah, I didn't know that story.

Ephesians 3.10 is the passage that talks about the angels are watching us to learn about God's grace. Right. And where is that from?

Ephesians 3.10.

Yeah, and that was the difference because, I mean, would you agree with me that, I mean, he's not extending the same grace to the angels. When you look at Satan, he's fallen and he's done. I mean, it's over. There's no grace for Satan. Which is interesting to me. The angels have no plan of salvation.

We are the living expression of God's grace. And so for the angels to learn about God's grace, they're told to look to us in the church. Yeah, and I mean, just watching an amazement party about God. Why do you think that he would deal with the angels differently than man? For his glory. Angels aren't made in his image. So there's definitely some differences there, but it is interesting that he deals with them differently than he deals with us. Well, positionally, Paul says that someday we will be above the angels. Right.

So that kind of answers part of your question, you know, because of the position. And the other thing that I was going to ask is, or state, and I don't know if I can put this in the right words, but it seems like in America, where we all grow up in the church, It's almost like we feel that we expect to receive God's grace, that it's something that we deserve, that it's something that just should be passed on to us, that, you know, we're so special that we should receive this grace. And we, I don't think, maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but we lose our focus on, kind of like the Ephesus church, we lose our focus on God. You know, we just expect it.

Well, but there's two extremes there. There's an expectation that it should be ours and there's also an extreme that we don't deserve it and we have to try and earn it. And neither of those make sense. Right. Balance. Again, the balance that's required in a Christian law.

The next verse here is Revelation 2.11. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. So again, the invitation to apply these verses to yourself is used again. He who has an ear, let it hear. The old, if the shoe fits, wear it kind of thing. These verses are here for our application and for us to grow. Then comes the reward for the overcomers. For the church at Smyrna, it is that they will not be hurt by the second death. The second death phrase is used four times in Revelation, this being the first.

Revelation 20.14 and 21.18 explain that the second death is a lake of fire, which is hell. So he's telling us that death, which is our spiritual separation from this body, will come and we will be entirely spared from the flames of hell. So that's what the second death is.

Now, like we talked about last week, we have to remember who the overcomers are. And the overcomers are those who have placed their faith in Christ, and therefore have overcome the world. So it's not something, this again is not a loss of salvation point. If you don't overcome, you're going to be thrown to hell. The fact of the matter is, if you've placed your faith in Christ, you've already overcome, and this is yours. This is true of you.

Polycarp, the bishop mentioned earlier, is such an amazing example of the life of Christ being displayed to the world. He endured the first death and was surely spared the second. Here's the rest of his story. So now again, Polycarp is a bishop of the church in Smyrna. He knew John. He was a disciple of John.

And during this time period here, so we're in the second century AD, about 150, and when Christians refused to burn incest to the emperor of Rome as a god, they were accused of treason and sentenced to die. Polycarp, an elder at the Church of Smyrna, was martyred for this very crime. When the soldiers that were sent for Polycarp came to get him, he asked that they be shown hospitality, something to eat, something to drink. The Roman procouncil commanded him to swear allegiance to Caesar, saying, Swear, and I will set you at liberty.

Reproach Christ. Polycarp replied, for 86 years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my king, who saved me? Further efforts to make him deny his lord failed, and Polycarp was condemned to burn in a stake. When the day came for him to be burned alive, those responsible for burning him wanted to nail him to the stake, but Polycarp protested saying, let me alone as I am, for he who has given me strength to endure the fire will also enable me, without your securing me by nails to a stand, moving me, or moving in the pile. He was then not nailed to the stake, but only tied with his hands behind his back.

And the Jews of the day, which we talked about, had great influence over the city, joined the heathens crying out for his death. He died on Saturday, February 23, 155 AD. Crowds of Jews, those of the synagogue of Satan, broke the Sabbath law by carrying wood for his fire. That's his story.

Now we can see why the words of Christ written through John would be such an encouragement to those about to be martyred in Samaria. When we look at Polycarp here, like we were talking about all day long, that's not a very desirable condition. But Polycarp knew his position in Christ in the heavenly places, and to this day, Polycarp's faith reveals Christ. Reveals the same sort of faith, the same character that was in Christ.

I sort of zip through that and we've got about 10 or 15 minutes left here. So I don't know if there's any questions folks have or maybe I don't have all the answers to why write to an angel, but Vern is here and I'm sure he'd be happy to talk with us about that if that's something you'd like to knock out of the way. What do you think? I can speak to that. Why don't we get that? Because I mean, it's obviously something we're going to deal with for about seven weeks here. So if we want to do that, we could.

Yeah, one of the this issue of the or question of the angels shows up from the very first chapter. Remember the seven stars in his hand are the seven angels or messengers of the churches. And then it shows up here in each of the messages to the churches. So really, from chapter one all the way to the third chapter, it keeps showing up.

The key thing, and this is an issue when the translators go to translate, they have to kind of make some choices of context. Because the word that's translated angels in most of your translations, the word is angolos. That's where we get it anglicized. And then translated angels. But the basic meaning of that word is messengers.

So the point is they are carrying the message. Notice that not a lot is said about these messengers. don't seem to have a lot said about it. But one of the real issues here, one of the questions in the minds of a lot of the people is here we are in an empire where just getting the message or a book of the Bible from one place to the other is starting to get to be at issue. Will it get there? Will the message actually get delivered? And especially as you read, just as we studied here, some of these places are getting some serious persecution. All these cities were on a Roman postal route.

And so one of the possibilities that's been proposed is that a literal human messenger is what is intended. And these messengers, you can imagine them coming from the Isle of Patmos, each with a copy of the Book of Revelation. And the first one gets to Ephesus and the other six keep running. And so here the first one gets to Ephesus and he's got this copy of the Book of Revelation. And then the next six keep going along the postal route there. And the next one goes to the next church, and they go in sequence. And the remainder keep going on until they finally get to Laodicea, the last messenger has reached the destination.

So that's the key point there. There is, however, I think one thing that does lean this towards being an angel, which is still the same word, angelos, and it means fundamentally messenger. The angels were often given that role by God. God sent them with a message. One that we looked at not too long ago is here's Gabriel coming to Mary. What did he have for Mary? A message, right? And this is frequently what the angels did. The angels in a few places in the Bible are referred to figuratively as scholars.

And one of those would be Job 38.7, where it has to do with the creation.

At the creation, Job 38.7 has the question, Job, were you there when the morning stars sank? When the world was being created? So it actually goes back to the time of creation. You made the right point, and that is the angels were not created like people. And when we die, by the way, we don't become angels. The angels were a separate creation, and they were created with a different character.

If, and I'm increasingly thinking that these are angelic beings that brought the message, if that is the case, and the fact that Christ says these are the stars, are these messengers, that seems to connect up well. The angels, in this case, are simply the messengers to the churches. It's not like, it's not making a statement that like each church has assigned some kind of an angel who watches over them. It's simply conveying a message, if that's the case.

But Here is the point, the message gets there, and at this time that was at issue. Will this letter even get there? Because of the risks, the opposition to the gospel, the hazards to these messengers. And so by the Lord saying in the very first chapter, these messengers are in my hand. He's saying, this message will get there. These who have been given the role and the task of getting this Book of Revelation to each one of these seven churches, they'll get there.

The Lord will make sure of that. I see that as really the ultimate point that he's making. Not so much that we somehow have some angel watching over us as a church body, But the fact is that this message was delivered to each one of the churches. Each church got it. And they got not only the message intended for them, but the entire book. And that's really what it's about.

So couldn't it mean actually both? Because it says in Hebrews that the temple was just a shadow of the reality in heaven. So the angel who carries the message here could just be a shadow or a picture of the angels who God sends to send a message from there, right? Okay, when you're saying both, I'm not quite sure. Well, it could be a picture of how it works in heaven. Okay, and so he's using the word for a messenger in heaven. You could also use it for a messenger on earth doing the same thing.

I'm not quite sure I got what you're trying to say, but certainly I think this is the case. These messengers are carrying this document which was inspired by God. It was God's very intent, through Jesus Christ, that these messengers get the book where it's intended to be delivered. It was not a matter of John writing this down. and then all of a sudden discovering that it never got there, but that it would in fact get there, that each church would receive the message, and that in fact each church did get a message written specifically to them. I think it also has something to do with the overall character of Scripture, and that is It is a work of God that Scripture was preserved for our benefit.

By the time of writing of this book, the Romans had begun their second wave of persecution against the Christians. out of a total of 10. So, I mean, a great series of persecutions. It became ultimately the death penalty to have the New Testament documents in your hands. I mean, it was going to be costly.

With death penalty and the Roman thoroughness of eradication of New Testament documents, that we have them is a miracle in itself. that we have them in huge numbers as hand-written copies is a miracle beyond that. So a part of what I see in this, here's these messengers to the churches, and the Lord's saying, I have these messengers in my hand. It carries with it the bigger picture of scripture altogether, that in spite of intense persecution, we're going to go house to house and find these copies of the New Testament, and we're going to kill everyone who's got one of these. We're going to burn the whole house down if we have to. with that kind of thoroughness, with that kind of severity of treatment, that we have the entire New Testament in copies greater by orders of magnitude, I mean by hundreds and thousands of times, greater than any other ancient document, is pure miracle by itself.

It shows, yes, Christ is holding these messengers who have the New Testament in his hand. And it's evidence of the Lord's work. Work miraculously to deliver the content of what we have. It is phenomenal. It truly is a testimony to God's work through this Word, to preserve it for us. Other questions? Thoughts? Aspirations? I think we're there.

Thank you. Thank you, Father, for this opportunity to gather in a country that exercises religious freedom. I also thank you for this particular church that believes in teaching the essence of Scripture. I thank you for the safe trip for Vern and Bruce to return to us and that their mission was a success. I thank you for the many teachers that you have instilled in this church and their desire to present your word to the people who attend and also through the electronic means of the of the MP3 files.

I ask that you would answer the prayers today unspoken and those unspoken and the same for those through each and every Sunday school class. I just thank you for your son and the grace that you have provided to each and every one of us and I would ask that we all be thankful for the fact that we are able to receive this grace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.