Letters to the Churches Week 3 - Smyrna | Sunday Service 4/26/26
Smyrna was a city of wealth, trade, and deep loyalty to Rome. In 195 BC Smyrna built a temple to Roma, the goddess of Rome. Theirs was a city for whom Emperor worship was central, in AD 12 a temple was built to honor the Emperor Tiberias and during Domitian’s time (A.D. 81-96) it was a requirement for every Roman citizen to give worship, allegiance, and loyalty to Rome’s emperors. For a Christian to give allegiance solely to God alone would be unacceptable and punishable by death. The temptation to compromise would be great, wouldn’t it? At the yearly feast, why not just say the words to the Roman officials without actually meaning them? Is it so wrong to call Ceasor ‘Lord’ – what are words anyway? It’s what is in the heart that matters, right? When facing poverty, hardship, and death these rationalizations would sound convincing.
Though living in this wealthy city, Jesus tells us that the Christians there were poor. It appears their commitment to declaring *Jesus only* as Lord has cost them. To this suffering church, Jesus reminds them of His deity (I am the first and the last) and His conquering of death. He has seen their suffering – they are not alone or unknown in all that they have been facing. What comfort these words must have been!
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To keep the gospel in the forefront as we read these letters, we invite you to memorize Revelation 12:11:
“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”
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Prepare for this week’s teaching by reading Revelation 2:8-11 with Isaiah 44:6