The Rich Little Poor Church Text: Revelation 2:8-11
Introduction: The Aroma of Suffering
We come now to the second of the seven letters, the letter to the church in Smyrna. And as we move from Ephesus to Smyrna, we find a stark contrast. Ephesus was a church that was doctrinally sound, a bulwark against heresy, but it had a terminal case of cold feet. They had left their first love. Smyrna, on the other hand, receives no rebuke from the Lord Jesus. Along with Philadelphia, this is one of two churches that Christ has nothing against. This does not mean they were perfect, but rather that their circumstances had refined them in a peculiar way. They were a church under immense pressure, and that pressure was producing spiritual diamonds.
Smyrna was a wealthy, beautiful port city, fiercely loyal to Rome, and a center for emperor worship. It was also known for its production of myrrh, a fragrant resin used in perfume and for embalming the dead. The name Smyrna itself is related to the word myrrh. To get the fragrance out of myrrh, you have to crush it. This is a fitting metaphor for the church in that city. They were being crushed, and the aroma of their faithfulness was rising to God as a sweet-smelling sacrifice.
This letter is a profound encouragement to all Christians who find themselves in the crucible of suffering. It is a reminder that our Lord is not a distant, disinterested observer. He is intimately acquainted with our trials, and He speaks to us from the authority of His own suffering and victory. For the saints in Smyrna, and for us, the message is this: true wealth is not measured by what you have, but by who you have. And if you have Christ, you have everything, even when everything else is taken away.
The Text
"And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: This is what THE FIRST AND THE LAST, who was dead, and has come to life, says: ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 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 the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will never be hurt by the second death.’"
(Revelation 2:8-11 LSB)
The Conqueror of Death (v. 8)
Jesus begins His letter by identifying Himself in a way that is perfectly tailored to the needs of this suffering church.
"And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: This is what THE FIRST AND THE LAST, who was dead, and has come to life, says:" (Revelation 2:8)
He calls Himself "THE FIRST AND THE LAST." This is a title of absolute deity, drawn straight from Isaiah (Is. 44:6, 48:12). Yahweh, the God of Israel, is the one who is before all things and after all things. He is the Alpha and the Omega. By taking this title, Jesus is making an unambiguous claim to be God. This is crucial. The saints in Smyrna were being pressured to say, "Caesar is Lord." Jesus reminds them that He is the true Lord, the eternal sovereign over all history, including the petty tyrants in Rome.
Then He adds, "who was dead, and has come to life." This is the gospel in miniature. He is not just the eternal God, but the incarnate God who entered into our suffering. He faced the worst that the world, the flesh, and the devil could throw at Him. They killed Him. He was dead. But death could not hold Him. He came to life. This is not just a statement of historical fact; it is a declaration of victory and a promise. He is speaking to a church that is facing the threat of death, and He says, "I have been there. I have met your worst enemy head-on, and I have defeated him." Because He lives, we shall live also. He holds the keys of death and Hades (Rev. 1:18). This means that no Christian can be put to death without His express permission. Our lives are not in the hands of our persecutors; they are in the hands of our resurrected Lord.
The Economics of Heaven (v. 9)
Next, Jesus assures them of His intimate knowledge of their situation, and He redefines their reality from an eternal perspective.
"‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan." (Revelation 2:9)
"I know." These are some of the most comforting words in all of Scripture. He is not an absentee landlord. He knows their "tribulation," the crushing pressure they are under. He knows their "poverty." This was likely economic persecution. Because they would not participate in the idolatrous trade guilds or burn a pinch of incense to Caesar, they were shut out of the marketplace. They were losing their jobs, their businesses, their homes. By the world's standards, they were destitute.
But then Jesus inserts a divine parenthetical: "(but you are rich)." This is the great reversal of the gospel. The world says you are rich if you have an abundance of things. Jesus says you are rich if you have an abundance of Him. Their suffering had stripped them of earthly comforts, but it had driven them to a deeper reliance on Christ, and in Him they possessed "the unfathomable riches of Christ" (Eph. 3:8). This is a word for the American church, which is often materially wealthy but spiritually anemic. We are in constant danger of being the Laodicean church, which said, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," but was in reality "wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked" (Rev. 3:17).
He also knows the "blasphemy" they are enduring. The slander was coming from a specific group: "those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan." This is strong language, and we must understand it correctly. This is not an anti-Semitic statement; it is an anti-unbelief statement. The Apostle Paul, himself a Jew, makes the same point in Romans: "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly... but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit" (Rom. 2:28-29). A true Jew, a true child of Abraham, is one who has the faith of Abraham. These ethnic Jews in Smyrna had rejected their Messiah, Jesus, and were now actively persecuting His followers, likely by reporting them to the Roman authorities as disloyal atheists (because they wouldn't worship the pagan gods). In doing so, they had abandoned their true identity. They were still a synagogue, a gathering, but their father was no longer Abraham, but the devil, the great accuser (John 8:44). They had become a counterfeit covenant community.
A Limited, Purposeful Trial (v. 10)
Jesus then gives them a prophetic warning, a command, and a promise.
"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 the crown of life." (Revelation 2:10)
First, the command: "Do not fear." This is not a suggestion. It is a command based on who He is. Because He has conquered death, they have no reason to fear what men can do to them. Fear is the devil's primary weapon, and faith is our shield. Jesus then tells them what is coming: imprisonment and testing, instigated by the devil. Notice that God is sovereign even over the malice of Satan. The devil is on a leash. He can only do what God permits him to do for His own ultimate purposes. The purpose here is testing, not destruction. God tests His people to refine their faith, like gold in a fire (1 Peter 1:7).
And the trial has a limit: "ten days." Whether this is a literal ten days or a symbolic number representing a short, limited period of intense trial, the point is the same. Their suffering is not open-ended. It has a divinely appointed boundary. God holds the stopwatch. This is a tremendous comfort. Our trials do not last one second longer than God has ordained for our good and His glory.
The call is to "be faithful until death." This means faithfulness to the point of death. The world demands our allegiance, and it will threaten us with death to get it. Jesus demands our allegiance, and He promises us life through death to get it. The choice is clear. And the reward is "the crown of life." This is the victor's crown, the stephanos, given to the winning athlete. It is not a crown of earthly royalty but the prize of eternal life itself, a shared participation in the indestructible life of the resurrected Christ.
The Ultimate Deliverance (v. 11)
The letter concludes with the standard exhortation to hear and a final, glorious promise to the overcomer.
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will never be hurt by the second death.’" (Revelation 2:11)
The call to "hear" is a call to take these words to heart and act on them. This message is not just for Smyrna; it is for all the churches, in all times and places. The promise is for the one who "overcomes." And how do we overcome? John tells us elsewhere: "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith" (1 John 5:4). We overcome not by our own strength, but by clinging in faith to the great Overcomer, Jesus Christ.
The promise is that the overcomer "will never be hurt by the second death." What is the second death? It is the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14). It is eternal separation from God, the final and everlasting punishment for sin. The worst thing our persecutors can do is inflict the first death, the death of the body. But for the believer, this is merely a doorway into the presence of Christ. The first death, for a Christian, is a conquered foe. But the second death is the true and ultimate terror. And Jesus promises that for those who are faithful to Him, the second death has no power, no claim, no sting. They may be crushed like myrrh, but they will not be destroyed. They will pass through the fire of earthly tribulation into the eternal safety of their Father's house.
Conclusion: Faithful Unto Death
The message to Smyrna is a hard one, but it is also a glorious one. It is a call to radical, costly discipleship. It reminds us that the Christian life is not a playground, but a battlefield. We are called to follow a crucified Savior, and we should not be surprised if the path leads through suffering.
But we do not suffer as those who have no hope. We suffer in the hands of a sovereign God who is working all things for our good. We suffer with the assurance that our Lord has gone before us and conquered our greatest enemies. We suffer with the knowledge that our earthly poverty is making us spiritually rich. And we suffer with the promise that if we are faithful to the end, we will receive a crown of life that will never fade away.
Therefore, do not fear. Do not fear the slander of the world. Do not fear economic hardship. Do not fear the threats of those in power. Fear God, who alone can cast both soul and body into hell. Be faithful. Cling to Christ. And you will find that even in the midst of the fire, you are richer than you can possibly imagine, and that the second death can never touch you.