What if the greatest danger to the church isn’t destruction, but destruction? This was the experience of the church in Smyrna; the church in Smyrna shows us that we need to love Christ supremely, even unto death, to function as priests to God, to discern Satan’s subtle strategies, and to remain pure; the church in Smyrna was the suffering church; in Revelation 2:8–9, the Lord’s word to Smyrna opens with His identity as the One who died and lived again, a word full of comfort for a church undergoing intense persecution; this church represents the period from the end of the apostolic age in the second century to the early fourth century, when believers faced harsh Roman persecution; but more than a historical moment, Smyrna shows us what happens when Satan attacks the church, not just outwardly through persecution, but inwardly through subtle replacements for Christ and the church; Paul warned in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan, for we are not ignorant, because Satan’s work always aims to replace Christ and paralyze the church; in Smyrna, Satan used two strategies, the first was outward persecution—the saints were imprisoned, tortured, and martyred, and history records ten waves of Roman persecution, many Christians have since died for their faith; Watchman Nee, a twentieth-century Chinese Christian teacher and author, was imprisoned and eventually killed for his faith, his last words were, Christ is the Son of God who died for the redemption of sinners and resurrected after three days, this is the greatest truth in the universe, I die because of my belief in Christ; the second part of Satan’s twofold strategy is inward infiltration—what Satan couldn’t kill by violence, he tried to corrupt by infiltrating the church with ritualistic elements, this became more dangerous than persecution itself and was deeply damaging; what replaced Christ was the law, or external rules instead of the law of life, and earthly blessings, or the prosperity gospel instead of the law of life, instead of Christ Himself as our blessing; what replaced the church was the temple, or the physical place of worship instead of Christ and the church as God’s spiritual dwelling, and a professional priesthood instead of every member functioning; these four pillars—the law, material blessing, temple, priesthood—became Satan’s tools to distract the believers from Christ and neutralize the church, and he’s still using these tools today; we need to see both of these strategies clearly so that we’re not ignorant of Satan’s schemes; the church in Smyrna reminds us that persecution doesn’t stop the church, it strengthens her, but inward corruption can neutralize her function and testimony; Satan’s goal today remains the same—to distract us from Christ’s life and to replace the church, the Body of Christ, with forms, rituals, and substitutes; may we all learn from the church in Smyrna to love Christ supremely, to function as priests to God, to discern Satan’s subtle strategies, and to remain pure; tune in next week where we’ll talk about the church in Pergamos, or the worldly church.
