The Seven Churches or The Seven Church Ages
The Angel of the Church of Smyrna
(Part 1 of 4)
Verse 8 — The salutation.
- And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
Verse 9 — The persecution.
- I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
This is a church which is greatly persecuted by the Romans. Without any doubt, persecution will separate “the wheat from the chaff.” No one willingly will suffer for something in which he has no faith or convictions. That is the common nature of all flesh, animals included. But when a Saviour pulls a person from the fires of Hell and gives them eternal life and love, death and suffering is the next step to the reward of the next new life in an eternal perfect world. Thousands of these Christians eagerly stepped into their new life through the gates of persecution.
Unfortunately for the persecutors, their judgment will be worsened by their acts of violence towards God’s people. That isn’t to say that if they convert to Christianity and accept the same fate they meted out to others, then they will also be saved by grace as so many others who were convicted by the testimony of their victims.
Smyrna was a very prosperous city and those who gamed the system as did the pagans and counterfeit Jews also prospered. The system, of course, denied to the Christian what it made freely available to others which rendered poverty to the Christian. Only the Christian realizes that his life is but vapor that passes away shortly and then he is in Heaven forever. So it mattered little that he had a scarcity of this world’s coin because he was investing for his “retirement” in Heaven, not on a fragile world that soon passes away. Apparently most of these Christians had established sufficient treasures in Heaven with their works that Jesus said that they were rich.
- But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
- For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
- Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
A number of Bible Believers think that the Roman Catholic Church is who the Lord is referring to because of their obsession with Jerusalem and the numerous Crusades that they sent there to take control of it. However the RCC hasn’t claimed to be Jewish even though they have stolen many of the Lord’s promises to them.
So the investigation into this mystery continues. The problem with many mysteries is that much of history has been forgotten which is needful for a solution. Making the task even more difficult are those who have revised history to their particular narrative. About the only thing that you can trust is the King James Bible itself when conflicting facts are uncovered.
The mystery begins with Israel falling away from the Lord and greatly offending Him with their idolatrous practices. A long story greatly shortened, the Lord caused Israel to be deported or carried away into Assyria and foreigners to be imported “from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim” to take possession of Samaria. This was a common practice in that day among kings to reduce rebellion in their subject lands.
For reasons not clearly understood, the Lord seemed to want the foreigners in Samaria to assume the Jewish identity by sending lions among them to wreak havoc. Or maybe it was a curse to anyone who lived in Israel’s Promised Land who didn’t fear the God of it. Whatever is the case, relief was found when the foreigners brought back one of the deported priests who “taught them how they should fear the LORD,” thus convincing the foreigners to assume some of Jewish ways to their advantage.
However when the Babylonian Captivity ended and Israel was restored by King Cyrus’s decree in 457 BC, these new Samaritans weren’t moving out and they were despised by the real Jews for blending paganism and Judaism and referred to them derisively as “proselytes by lions” — meaning that these foreigners never would have converted to Judaism except for the lions. The Samaritans in turn lost no love for the real Jews and a real enmity existed between these two factions.
- In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.
- And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.
- Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.
- And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.
- Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
- In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
- For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
- And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
- And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
- And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
- And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:
- For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.
- Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
- Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
- And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.
- And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
- And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
- Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
- Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
- And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
- For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.
- For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
- Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.
- And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
- And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
- Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.
- Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.
- Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
- And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
- And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
- So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
- They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
- Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
- With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:
- But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.
- And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.
- And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.
- But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
- Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.
- So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.
The Samaritans claimed that they were the true Israel who were descendants of the "Ten Lost Tribes" taken into Assyrian captivity. They had their own sacred precinct on Mount Gerizim and claimed that it was the original sanctuary. Moreover, they claimed that their version of the Pentateuch was the original and that the Jews had a falsified text produced by Ezra during the Babylonian exile.
Both Jewish and Samaritan religious leaders taught that it was wrong to have any contact with the opposite group, and neither was to enter each other’s territories or even to speak to one another. During the New Testament period, the tensions were exploited by Roman authorities as they likewise had done between rival tribal factions elsewhere, and Josephus reports numerous violent confrontations between Jews and Samaritans throughout the first half of the first century.
According to historian Lawrence Schiffman, throughout the Persian Period, Judeans and Samaritans fought periodically with one another. The Samaritans were a blend of all kinds of people—made up of Israelites who were not exiled when the Northern Kingdom was destroyed in 722 BCE—of various different nationalities whom the Assyrians had resettled in the area. The Assyrians did this as an attempt to ensure that Israel’s national dream could not come true.
According to the Jewish version of events, when the Judean exile ended in 539 BCE and the exiles began returning home from Babylon, Samaritans found their former homeland of the north populated by other people who claimed the land as their own and Jerusalem, their former glorious capital, in ruins. The inhabitants worshiped the Pagan gods, but when the then-sparsely populated areas became infested with dangerous wild beasts, they appealed to the king of Assyria for Israelite priests to instruct them on how to worship the “God of that country.” The result was a syncretistic religion, in which national groups worshiped the Israelite God, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.
Fake Jews Are Slain by Lions in Samaria
These “counterfeit Jews” are very shrewd people who take advantage of every opportunity to improve their lot in life and prosper, even at the expense of others. Later on in another church period there’s another whole country of people known then as Khazars who also become “Jews” for personal gain, not conviction. Quick to capitalize on misfortunes, these counterfeit “Jews” would inform against Christians when it would afford them a reward of their property. Such treasonous acts earned them the distinction of being affiliated with Satan.
The national identity of Jews doesn’t matter as much as their spiritual status. Anyone who doesn’t hear and believes God’s word has the devil for a father which would make that person a member of the “Synagogue of Satan” by virtue of the fact that if that person doesn’t belong to God, then he belongs to Satan.
- Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
- Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
- Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
- And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
- Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
- He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
In this “Dispensation of Grace,” also known as the “Church Age,” there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile when it comes to salvation, for Christians are adopted by Grace into the Jews’ salvation. Logically if circumcision can be undone by breaking the law of righteousness, then keeping the law of righteousness makes the uncircumcised circumcised. What God looks upon is not the outward show of circumcision but the inward and spiritual circumcision of the heart. Therefore a true Jew now in the church age is one that is spiritually circumcised and knows God as his Father and hears Him.
However “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through” those who falsely call themselves “Jews, God’s chosen people” or even “Christians” when they cause God to be associated by the world with their crimes of all sorts when they don’t even know God.
- Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
- And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;
- And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
- An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
- Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
- Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
- Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
- For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
- For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
- Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
- And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
- For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
- But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
- In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
- For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
- There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
- And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
What manner of blasphemy were these counterfeit Jews guilty of using? Referring to the legal dictionary below, any “attribute to God that which is contrary to his nature” is regarded as blasphemy.
The malicious or wanton reproach of God, either written or oral. In English Law, the offense of speaking disparaging words about God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, or the Book of Common Prayer with the intent to undermine religious beliefs and promote contempt and hatred for the church as well as general immorality. In U.S. law, any maliciously intended written or oral accusation made against God or religion with the purpose of dishonoring the divine majesty and alienating mankind from the love and reverence of God. Blasphemy is a common-law offense and also an offense by statute in certain jurisdictions. It must be uttered in the presence of another person or persons or published in order to be an offense. Mere use of profanity is not considered blasphemy.
Blasphemy statutes are rarely, if ever, enforced today.
BLASPHEMY, crim. law. To attribute to God that which is contrary to his nature, and does not belong to him, and to deny what does or it is a false reflection uttered with a malicious, design of reviling God. Elym's Pref. to vol. 8, St. Tr.
The great sin or blasphemy that these counterfeit Jews had done was to “attribute to God that which is contrary to his nature” by claiming that God had chosen them “to be a special people unto himself, above all people” and that God not only loved them but that God was keeping an oath which He had sworn to their fathers. Totally false and to implicate God into their forgery is to make God a liar which He cannot do!
- For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
- The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
- But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
- God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
It should be noted at this point in discussing “blasphemy” that there is one blasphemy that “shall not be forgiven unto men” and that is “blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.” How would someone blaspheme the Holy Ghost? The Scriptures tell us that the “Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit.” If anyone was to claim that the Holy Ghost directed him to commit a crime, thus accusing the Holy Ghost of bearing a false witness or blaming the Holy Ghost for something that Satan had said or directed — that would probably constitute an unforgivable sin. The purpose of such a terrible sin would be to discredit the Work and Ministry of the Holy Ghost, and put It on an equal par with the devil himself.
- Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
- And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
- The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
- And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Jesus had already established that those Jews who claimed God as their Father and would not hear God’s words were not of God but of their father the devil. (John 8:44 above) The counterfeit Jews are still making the same claim today and Jesus identifies them as the same satanic group that they were two thousand years ago — “the synagogue of Satan.”
Most people think that churches and synagogues are buildings where adherents go to worship, but that’s not true. A church is never a building and neither is a synagogue. They both are a group of people comprising a church or a synagogue. But the world will go on thinking and believing that the two are buildings which, if they were business organizations; it would be true since the building is the visible “face” of the organization.
Verse 10 — The exhortation.
- Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
- And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
- For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
The “ten days” referred to here are generally regarded as ten Roman persecutions which will be outlined following. There will be two accounts — the first will be a somewhat sanitized account that is commonly found today (www.religionfacts.com) or not at all in some cases, and the second will be quoted directly from the voluminous writings of John Foxe in 1563 who had researched the sufferings of Christians even as they were happening in some cases.
One of the strangest reasons pagan society was so prejudiced against Christians was that they were regarded as atheists because Christians refused to worship any of the pagan gods, in much the same way as Christians regard the pagans as atheists for not honoring and worshipping the one and only true God. Christians were also suspected of cannibalism, incest, orgies, and all sorts of immorality because of pagan ignorance regarding the Communion tradition and Christian charity and love for one another.
The Roman Empire looked upon Christians from a business or empire point of view. The state supported any social activity like religion that promoted unity and loyalty to the state — a religious attitude called piety. Instead of piety, the state under Pliny viewed Christianity as a “superstition taken to extravagant lengths” — something alien in a negative sense that was opposed to ancient customs.
The state and its people alike believed that proper “piety” to the Roman gods helped to sustain the well-being of the cities and their people and that neglect of the old gods who had made Rome strong would cause bad things to happen to their empire.
How can people not be in every way impious and atheistic who have apostatized from the customs of our ancestors through which every nation and city is sustained? ... What else are they than fighters against God? {10}
{10} Robert L. Wilkin, “The Piety of the Persecutors.” Christian History, Issue 27 (Vol. XI, No. 3), p. 19. Porphyry.
Persecution in the early church occurred sporadically almost since the beginning, but it was first sanctioned by the government under Nero. In 64 AD, a great fire ravaged Rome. Nero took the opportunity provided by the destruction to rebuild the city in the Greek style and begin building a large palace for himself. People began speculating that Nero had set the fire himself in order to indulge his aesthetic tastes in the reconstruction so, according to Tacitus’ Annals and Suetonius’ Nero, the eccentric emperor blamed the Christians for the fire in an effort to divert attention from himself. Nero was quite insane, and is reported to have tortured Christians with great cruelties for his own enjoyment. According to the Roman historian Tacitus:
Besides being put to death they [the Christians] were made to serve as objects of amusement; they were clad in the hides of beasts and torn to death by dogs; others were crucified, others set on fire to serve to illuminate the night when daylight failed. Nero had thrown open his grounds for the display, and was putting on a show in the circus, where he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or drove about in his chariot. All this gave rise to a feeling of pity, even toward men whose guilt merited the most exemplary punishment; for it was felt that they were being destroyed not for the public good but to satisfy the cruelty of an individual. {13} Despite these extreme cruelties, Nero’s persecution was local and short-lived. However, it was the first official persecution and marked the first time the government distinguished Christians from Jews. Tertullian referred to persecution of Christians as institutum Neronianum, an institution of Nero.{14} After Nero, it became a capital crime to be a Christian, although pardon was always available if one publicly condemned Christ and sacrificed to the gods.{15}
{13} Henry Bettenson and Chris Maunder, eds., Documents of the Christian Church, 3rd. ed. (Oxford UP, 1999), p. 2.
{14} Tertullian, Ad nat., 1.7.
{15} “Nero.” Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 2005. “Christianity.” Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 2005.
The first persecution of the Church took place in the year 67, under Nero, the sixth emperor of Rome. This monarch reigned for the space of five years, with tolerable credit to himself, but then gave way to the greatest extravagancy of temper, and to the most atrocious barbarities. Among other diabolical whims, he ordered that the city of Rome should be set on fire, which order was executed by his officers, guards, and servants. While the imperial city was in flames, he went up to the tower of Macaenas, played upon his harp, sung the song of the burning of Troy, and openly declared that ‘he wished the ruin of all things before his death.’ Besides the noble pile, called the Circus, many other palaces and houses were consumed; several thousand perished in the flames, were smothered in the smoke, or buried beneath the ruins.
This dreadful conflagration continued nine days; when Nero, finding that his conduct was greatly blamed, and a severe odium cast upon him, determined to lay the whole upon the Christians, at once to excuse himself, and have an opportunity of glutting his sight with new cruelties. This was the occasion of the first persecution; and the barbarities exercised on the Christians were such as even excited the commiseration of the Romans themselves. Nero even refined upon cruelty, and contrived all manner of punishments for the Christians that the most infernal imagination could design. In particular, he had some sewed up in skins of wild beasts, and then worried by dogs until they expired; and others dressed in shirts made stiff with wax, fixed to axletrees, and set on fire in his gardens, in order to illuminate them. This persecution was general throughout the whole Roman Empire; but it rather increased than diminished the spirit of Christianity. In the course of it, St. Paul and St. Peter were martyred.
To their names may be added, Erastus, chamberlain of Corinth; Aristarchus, the Macedonian, and Trophimus, an Ephesians, converted by St. Paul, and fellow-laborer with him, Joseph, commonly called Barsabas, and Ananias, bishop of Damascus; each of the Seventy.