The letter to the believers in Smyrna could not be different to those in Ephesus. Jesus speaks not of His authority, as He does to the Ephesians when He speaks of holding the seven stars in His hand and walking amongst the lampstand, instead Jesus speaks of His own suffering and tribulation. Jesus describes himself as the First and Last, and as the one who died and who came to life. To us this might seem obvious – but Jesus knows the situation in Smyrna and speaks comfort into that position. Where the church in Ephesus needed reminding of who that authority a true apostle walks in, the church in Smyrna needed to know that Jesus understood their situation.
Jesus states that He has seen the oppression and persecution that the church in Smyrna had experienced. He also speaks to correct their view of themselves. When we are going through a hard time, when things seem to be going against us, it easy to think of ourselves as at fault. That things are the way they are because God does not love us, because we do not have enough faith. Jesus calls this lie out, telling the believers that rather than being poor they are rich. He also declares that they are not at fault, but that the persecution is because the church in Smyrna is being obedient. This is something that the enemy does not like. When a prophetic minister has a message that people do not want to hear then they will be persecuted – this is just as true in the church as it was under the kings of Israel who put Malachi in prison and threw Jeremiah into a sewer. It is too easy to re-prophesy a word that people like, about a leader who is popular, and even the prophetic will persecute the one who does not speak in harmony but has a different message calling one who they would have as a Cyrus a Nebuchadnezzar and a Belshazzar/Balthazar, or speaking out against the over use of symbolism, finding patterns and “coincidences” where there are none, as Kaballahism (a use of numerology and other occult practices to claim a knowledge revealed by God to a special few). Today this means unfriending on social media, but the prophetic quickly dishonours someone whose message is not what they want to hear. Many prophetic ministers are not on the inside of a prophetic “clique” – despite being known, tested and shown to be speaking God’s words. This is not because they want to be lone rangers, but they are called to be prophets to the prophetic movement and the prophetic movement does not like it when people call them to test their spiritual eyesight and spiritual hearing. After all, we’re the experts on spiritual hearing and spiritual seeing having written books and filled conference halls on the subject. But physical ears can get clogged with wax and need cleaning out, physical eyes get dried and tired and need refreshing, noses get bunged up and eyes become runny and itchy because of hay fever or dust. Just as this happens in the physical it happens in the spiritual, and sometimes we need someone to point out the issue. The build-up of wax is gradual, we do not wake up one day with ears full of wax but if we do not clear the wax out our hearing can suffer. Ear wax is great stuff as it catches the particles that could damage our hearing, but if we don’t clear it away then we can lose what is being protected. Ear wax can become hard and cemented into the ear, needing to be loosened before being removed. The best thing is olive oil. Oil is in Scripture to refer to the anointing of the Lord, but just as olive oil in the ear is not comfortable so when someone is speaking an anointed word, whether a prophetic utterance or a teaching, to unblock our ears so it may feel uncomfortable – though when we test the word or teaching it is in line with Scripture. The next stage of removing the wax, the blockage is the syringing where the nurse uses a syringe to pull out the wax like a vacuum cleaner sucks up dirt. This can be painful but is needed if we are to hear clearly. These prophets to the prophetic movement.
Jesus is not speaking hear of this persecution of the prophetic by the prophetic, but of those who would reject God’s message. Jesus pulls no punches when he describes those persecuting the believers as a “Synagogue of Satan”. These people called themselves Jews but had gone so far from the word of God that they had opened themselves to the devil. This is the closest I can find to the danger of committing the unforgivable sin of “blaspheming the Holy Spirit” that Jesus warned His hearers about when the Pharisees declared His miracles to be the work of Beelzebub – the Prince of Demons. Even then, to those who would hand Him over to the Romans and demand His crucifixion, Jesus did not use such language. When speaking of God’s desire to bring the Jews to Him knowing Christ as the Messiah, Paul does not speak in this way. Neither does Paul speak this way of the Jewish believers who taught that Gentiles had to be circumcised and follow the Mosaic Law to be true believers. While Paul asks the Galatians, who had accepted this teaching, who had bewitched (literally cast a spell upon) them, nowhere does Paul speak this way of those who had persecuted him including attempting to stone him to death.
Jesus then goes onto warn the believers that things were going to get worse. If the persecution was not enough, some would be thrown into prison. Just as He did when He warned Peter that Satan desired to test him, so Jesus warns the church that the devil was going to test them. But with this warning comes hope – there was a set time limit. This would only happen for 10 days. The number 10 occurs a few of times in Scripture, and every book on prophetic symbolism seems to give it a different meaning. We have the 10 plagues visited on Pharaoh and the Egyptians, we have the 10 Commandments. The ten days could reflect either of these or more. All we know is that God has set a time limit on the length of the tribulation. Just as the believers in Smyrna needed to hear so, if we are in a time when we feel set upon from all sides, we need to hear that the testing and the persecution will not last forever.
In this knowing the one who is the Light at the end of storm we have the promise of life. If we are willing to stand on what God has said, even though our reputation is destroyed by slander and gossip, then we have the promise of the crown of Jesus, the crown of the one who is “the life”. And along with this we have the promise of safety. As we stand on the Truth then we find ourselves not only crowned with life but also cocooned by the one who is the Life. While this promise of not being hurt by the second death is for the time when Jesus comes again in glory it is a promise for now as well as then. By learning the safety of dying in Christ we do not need to fear death and we do not need to fear the storms of life. Peace like a river, peace that passes understanding then keeps out hearts and our minds “in Christ Jesus”. We see the storm, the tempest, but while it may affect us in the physical we are unharmed by it. This is not a Pollyanna, Micawber, Life of Brian spirituality of naïve optimism that proclaims we “look at the bright side of life”, but one that is based on knowing the One who has called us is faithful to do as He has promised for His words are true. This faith will be misunderstood and will lead (as with the friends of Job) to its own persecution – but the promise is greater than the persecution.