TOPIC:“Smyrna - The Loyal Church”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:Revelation 2:8-11
“And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These things saith the
first and the last, who was dead, and is alive” (v. 9)
We come now to the second in a series of seven messages on the seven churches of Asia. Smyrna, the second of the seven churches, is located about forty miles north of Ephesus. Through world trade it became one of the most flourishing cities of ancient times and became known as “the glory of Asia.” This wealthy seaport with its magnificent natural harbor was the birth place of Homer, the great Greek poet, and it had the privilege of having Polycarp as its Christian bishop.
The city of Smyrna is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. The church in Smyrna was severely persecuted in the early days for its refusal to give allegiance to the cult of emperor worship. Though Ephesus has long faded out of existence, Smyrna survived and is today a prosperous commercial seaport of western Turkey with one third of its two hundred thousand people being Christian.
The sympathetic Savior now addresses this suffering church. No correction is needed. No criticism is uttered. No condemnation is recorded. Instead the loving Lord offers comfort and encouragement to the believers of the Smyrna church. He gives His unhesitating praise to the church as it faces severe persecution from those who oppose the Gospel of Christ.
I.
Consider, first of all, the ATTRIBUTES of the RISEN Christ. We read in verse 1: “And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These things saith the first and the last, who was dead, and is alive.”
Here the Apostle John introduces Christ by the use of a double title “the first and the last” and “who was dead, and is alive.” The first title speaks of the eternity of Christ and the other of the resurrection of Christ. The reason why Christ presents Himself this way is because these believers need to be consoled in their sorrow and comforted in their suffering. Who better than Christ, the eternal and resurrected One, who Himself had been rejected, despised, persecuted and put to death, could sympathetically understand what these Christians were going through in their affliction and trials. And this same risen Christ knows about the pain and persecution we face because of our stand for Him.
Regarding the words “the first and the last,” John F. Walvoord, in his commentary, . . .