Letters to Ephesus & Smyrna

Today on Renewing Your Mind and if you are faithful even if you have to be faithful unto death, suffering persecution from other religions and persecution from the civil government. You will receive the eternal crown of life. That's the real encouragement we continue our look at Revelation that a new series by Dr. W. Robert. It's called blessed them. It may seem like an odd title for a study about a book which contains so much mystery to be certain there are parts of Revelation that are difficult to understand, but we can draw great hope and encouragement from even the most difficult circumstances in our opening lectures together. We've been looking a fair bit that literary structure elements of how the book is put together, we will be doing that as much as we go along but we have to look out till one more literary structure which those of you have been around with some my teaching new would inevitably come up at some point and that's finally we have found a chiasm in the book of the Revelation enough you don't know what a chiasm is that's okay I'm here for you.

That word chiasm is derived from the Greek word Chi and the Greek symbol for Chi is in acts and the reason it's called a chiasm is because the two sides of what's going on in a chiasm are related to one another. I don't think that's the most helpful way of conceptualizing it up for me.

I like to call the literary form a sort of pyramid it goes up one side there's a central point and then it goes down in a parallel way of the other side and this was a very popular literary form in the ancient world. You find a lot of it in the Psalms, but we found it in the book of Deuteronomy when we study the book of Deuteronomy and were going to see it from time to time in various ways here and as I said to a certain extent the structure of a literary document helps us see its meaning and will see that here so Greg Biel in his wonderful big commentary on the book of the Revelation said that the letters are arranged scholastically and I first glance, it may not seem all that useful for us to know, but it does it does begin to give us a sense of the literary relationship of the letters to one another so as he pointed out the letters are arranged in a way that helps us see the first letter and the last letter are quite critical letters where the churches are threatened with having their lampstand removed and then the second letter and the sixth letter are to the churches that are not criticized at all but just commended for the way their living and then the central three letters are a mixed bag of rebuke and commendation not as severe as to the first and seventh so you do see there's this kind of literary structure where you have the we might say the bad churches beginning and ending and then the good churches above that and on the mixed churches at the top. So this structure helps us see our relationship and helps us see the planning that went into it and then once you start to see chiasm's anywhere.

Then you begin to see them everywhere which may or may not be a good thing. But the minute we see these letters are arranged. Chi*late.

The thought must come to us that surely are to come to you or these cycles arrange coyotes to and actually discover they are and will talk about that more as we go along but cycle one is about the church suffering and enduring and cycle seven is about the church vindicated cycle two is about the righteous suffering then cycle six is in some ways about the righteous delivered from suffering. Cycle three is about the wicked suffering and history, and cycle five is about the wicked judged at the end of history and then cycle for is the sort of top of the pyramid and sure enough cycle for is kind of the center point of the book and the point at which the whole history of the church is looked at as a struggle that is severe, but in which Christ is victorious at the end so will be no tests at the end of this lecture so you have to remember all of this now, but it's anticipating how again the structure of this book is going to help us get its meaning, and particularly help us to see the pastoral dimension the blessing dimension of this book for us. So with that in mind, at least a little bit in mind, we turn to the letters themselves.

We've looked at the introduction of the letters. Now we can begin to look a little bit at the letters themselves, and I thought it might be a little bit helpful to talk briefly about the geographical relationship of the letter writer to these seven churches. All of these churches are historical sites that can still be visited in Asia minor in Turkey today. All of them are still functioning cities except for emphasis.

And yet emphasis is almost a functioning city. There are so many tourists that visit there regularly so these churches are not symbols. They were real historical cities that occupied real geographical territory and were we might say on the kind of mark.

If you look at the map of Turkey today. These churches would form a kind of arc and there were ancient roads that connected them so setting up these churches in this order is also related to their geographical relationship to one another and the ease with which this written document might've passed from one another. So John may even have had in his mind the letters will first go to Ephesus and then be passed on to the other churches so John is on the island of Patmos, which is about 35 miles off the coast of modern Turkey, and occasionally it can be visited.

Although I think Marcy told me that he visited once in a ship that he was not at all sure would remain afloat for 35 miles and when he got there. Discover the wasn't a great deal to see so the closest major city would've been Ephesus and John knew Ephesus well tradition holds that he is buried in Ephesus, how reliable that tradition is always sort of questionable but you can visit the grave of John in Ephesus, whether he's in there or not remains to be seen at the last day, but said he had a close relationship with Ephesus. There's no doubt about that.

Then Smyrna was about 70 miles north of Ephesus. Also on the coast and then Pergamum was another coastal city about 80 miles north of Smyrna so were moving kind of up the coast of Turkey from where the letter would've arrived via. Tyra is about 75 miles southeast of Pergamum. So now were beginning to arc over and back and Sardis is about 35 miles southeast of thio Tyra Philadelphia is about 30 miles south from there, and Laodicea. Another prosperous commercial city is about 70 miles southeast of Philadelphia. So here you have this kind of arc in which this letter were problem was a sales cities in that order were connected by roads.

Ancient roads on which they might have traveled so here we have a picture of a map, a literal map but also we have a literary structure that connects these cities in terms of their spiritual trials.

Their spiritual needs. What is going on in them. So now let's turn at last to the specifics of these letters and we come to that familiar letter of the Ephesians and its it is an intriguing letter and all of these letters are our real letters to real churches with real problems, but there are also occasions for us to pause and think about the Christian life of our congregations and of ourselves as individuals because Ephesus is commended greatly for a number of things.

I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance and you cannot bear with those who are evil but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and I found them to be. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my namesake and you have not grown weary. You know that's really good is that they are doctrinally discerning.

They hold to the truth and they are working hard for the Lord, you would say, wouldn't you, at first glance, what could be better. It appears in the opening of this letter that these are church almost beyond reproach and yet he goes on to say, but I have this against you, that you have abandoned the law of you had at first what's the love they had at first well this is only the second time in the book of the Revelation of the word love is used so it sometimes useful look back for the first use and say how was love used in the first place and we see that in Revelation 1 verse five where John begins his doxology and says to him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood. If the first love is Jesus to them and then to Jesus losing the first love is somehow getting distracted from Jesus and I think it's important to see how John is saying this.

He's not saying if you really just Lord Jesus, you don't have to worry about doctrine or obedience is not saying that he commends them for their sound doctrine and their faithful obedience. But he says being doctrinally sound and morally obedient isn't enough. If you've lost your love for Jesus that has to remain central that has to main remain the core that has to inform everything else about your life as a church and while we live in an age where we sometimes get impatient with people who seem to justify all sorts of bad things by saying the least.

I love Jesus. John is saying not that that is right at all, but that there is a danger.

On the other side where we can invest all our energy in living holy lives in getting our doctrine straight and kind, forgetting about Jesus because Christianity is not ultimately about a principal it's about a person, and so this Ephesian problem is so serious that Jesus threatens them with their lampstand being removed if they lose connection with their life with the source of life. If they lose their first love. And so the sense we could say this letter to the Ephesians is a letter about love. Keep your first love strong while you're doing other commendable things. That's what is said here and then when you do that you'll eat of the tree of life. A picture of close fellowship with Jesus himself. So this is a great letter and encouraging letter one will have to think of and that we have in verse six the statement yet you have this and he returns here to commendation you hate the works of the Nicolai attends.

Now do you hate the works of the Nicolai to secure testing yourself, how goes it between you and the Nicolai attends well. We have no clue. We have no idea. We have no historical record who the Nicolai attends were or what they believed or what they did. Now this is not as surprising perhaps as we might think it is only twice in the whole New Testament we have referenced of the Nicolai here and in the letter to the church in Pergamum and in neither letter. Is there any clarification of who these people work and there is no record outside of the Bible who these people were now in the first place, then it would remind us we don't have to know every detail of everything perfectly, fully for this work still to speak to us. Perhaps it's not too much to say of this reminds us there are groups we need to avoid this is one of them even though we don't know specifically how why we need to avoid them. So we have a letter on love to the church of Ephesus calling them to love and then we have a letter to Smyrna the next church on the route. The next church here in chapter 2 and to the angel of the church in Smyrna write words of the first on the last, who died and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty but you are rich and the slander of those who say they are Jews but are not but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you're about to suffer. Hold the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for 10 days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life, and he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. This is some we can say a letter of life. If Ephesus was a letter of love.

This is the letter of life, promising life to these faithful enduring persecuted suffering. Smyrna and snow criticism of them would not be nice to get a letter from an apostle and have no criticism doesn't mean they're perfect in every way, but that he's writing to encourage them because they're struggling. They haven't hard. He says they're going to be put in prison for 10 days.

This is the first hard time reference that we have in the book of Revelation.

10 days and we don't know for sure whether this is a symbolic time or a literal time once tempted to think that it symbolic in some ways the letter wouldn't even get to Smyrna in 10 days so probably, as with many of the time references in the book of the Revelation. It's to give a kind of general feeling 10 days long but not terribly long.

It could be worse to be in prison the more than 10 days so it it's I think meant to say that's going to be a real imprisonment but not endlessly long imprisonment. And that's a word of encouragement to attend a course is another of those perfect numbers may be part of the meeting is you'll be there, just the amount of time.

God want you to fulfill his purpose, but it's not endless.

It's not a time in which you will be forgotten now as he promises life. He commends them for enduring the persecution of those who say they are Jews and are not but are really the synagogue of Satan. Now this raises the question frequently raised against certain passages in the New Testament. Are they anti-Semitic, and are the reason that that's a very pressing question isn't that in the history of Christian life and faith. There has been anti-Semitism amongst Christians and it's a terrible thing.

There was just a shooting in Power Way, California probably most of you read about. That's only about 10 or 15 miles from where I live it suddenly really comes home when it's geographically close to and it gets us all to think anti-Semitism is a terrible thing, and the truth is, when we look more carefully at this passage. It's really not anti-Semitic at all because what John is really saying here you oppose those who say that they are Jews and are not what's the implication about the implication of that is they are not Jews because where the real Jews.

I can't say that's anti-Semitic to say we are really Jews.

Now you might say if you're Jewish and don't believe in Jesus of this is annoying to claim our name for yourselves, but it's really not anti-Semitic and go.

I think when we cite all Jews that we know please come and join our church. Please come and accept Jesus as Messiah. We would love to have you with us is not anti-Semitic though it may annoy them but it's really not true to say it's anti-Semitic now seem strong when John says they are a synagogue of Satan. Synagogue is a Greek word, not a Hebrew word meaning the gathering together and what he's saying is these people rather than gathering together as the disciples of Jesus have gathered together as the disciples of Satan. And again if we say to somebody or following Satan are not going to like it. That's understandable. But if it's true, it's true, and it doesn't need the lead to hate it should lead to hate it must've made to hate but it leads to true friends very much what Jesus said in John eight is not about your father the devil, and so John here is trying to encourage them that even though they are being opposed by Jews that they might well of hope could support them and almost certainly in the Christian church of Smyrna.

There are converted Jews as well. He's encouraging me to say no. You are the true people of God. That's what's at stake, you who are the true people of God and if you are faithful even if you have to be faithful unto death, suffering persecution from other religions and persecution from the civil government. You will receive the eternal crown of life.

That's the writ encouragement. That's the writ encouragement you will receive the eternal crown of life and you will be numbered amongst those who conquer and cannot be hurt by the second death. Now again we come across phrases that have become probably relatively familiar to us out of the book of the Revelation, but think of the church at Smyrna receiving this letter and hearing about being delivered from the second death and thinking how I wonder what that means now.

Maybe John induced that in the sermon when he visited there. But it causes us to pause and ask what is the second death and course, as we look at the book of the Revelation as a whole, we see that the second death is the final judgment and being cast into hell and implicit in this is don't be afraid of the first death. Don't be afraid of those who might put you to the first death because he can't touch your soul because it's not the ultimate word about you. Don't worry about the first death, or about the second death.

That's the terrible one to face and the that's easier said than done this and it when we actually face death. It's not always so easy when the great things I will restart about Pilgrim's progress is that when Pilgrim gets to the river to pass into the heavenly city that saw him cross the river with great faith and joy in anticipation and some cross with great fear and trepidation and I think bunion is absolute right pastorally. It's not assigned whether faith is real or not. If you find facing death really hard but were called to do is to face that first death with faith whether the word grants us great confidence, or whether we tremble in front. But this passage reminds us that what we really need to fear is the second death. And Jesus promises that he has the key to death and Hades and she will ensure that his people doorman up there and that's a great promise, and encouragement that we find in the second letter.

So here is a letter of a church that real risk emphasis called to love the Smyrna church with great accomplishment promised life and then will turn next time to the church in Pergamum. One of the three churches that is kind of a mixed bag and the that's probably not a phrase John. The bugs will find commendable and condemnable thing someone and enduring hope even in the face of death. We are kept safe in the hands of our faithful Savior. As the apostle Paul declares in first Corinthians 15 thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ you're listening to Renewing Your Mind. I'm Lee Webb, thank you for being with us today. We just heard the fourth lesson in Dr. Robert Guthrie series on Revelation. As we progress through the series were looking at some of the misunderstanding surrounding this book and seeing how it provides us with profound encouragement.

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