<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Guilherme Borda

Courage in Christ

It's an honor to be here at Evan Hope to get into the Word of God with you.

I would like to invite you to interact a little bit before we dive into the text.

And if you know the song, I invite you to join.

Dear God, guide us as we go to Read and study your word now.

May we be open to hear you and to be led by you.

And may we be grounded in the scriptures.

Guide us is what we ask in the name of Jesus.

I invite you to open your Bibles to Revelation, the last book of the Bible, chapter 2, verses 8 to 11.

On these 4 verses we find the message of Jesus Christ to the church of Smyrna.

It's part of the section of the messages to the 7 churches found in Revelation 2 and 3.

This 1 is the second church, is the church of Smyrna.

And the Lord sent this message through his disciple, apostle John, who was in exile in Patmos.

And the Lord then gave this message to John and to the angel of the church in Smyrna, write, These things says the first and the last who was dead and came to life.

I know your works, tribulation and poverty but you are rich and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer.

Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have tribulation 10 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 shall not be hurt by the second death.

The text begins, and to the church in Smyrna writes, these things says the first and the last Who died and came to life.

In each of those 7 messages to the churches, Jesus introduces himself in a different way.

Here he introduces himself to the church in Smyrna as the first and the last.

We also see elsewhere in the book the expression the Alpha and Omega.

The first and the last and then he says who was dead and came to life.

In these references to His death on the cross and resurrection.

His death for them, for the church in Smyrna.

His death for humanity, that if they will accept His sacrifice, they may be reconciled to God and they may have eternal life and his resurrection in Jesus they can find an exemplar par excellence of what he means to be faithful until death and Encouragement that the death of the faithful is not the final chapter the death of the faithful is not the final chapter.

The death of the faithful is not the whole story.

It's only part of it because there's hope in resurrection.

So in Jesus they can find an exemplar of faithfulness until death and encouragement that even if they die for Jesus that's not the end.

So this 1 who died for them and the 1 that the grave could not contain, the 1 that death could not keep holding to him, but came to life, he then speaks to them.

He not only died for them and resurrected, but doesn't know them personally.

He knows that things are not easy for the Christians in Smyrna.

Yes, the Christians were in the first century in delicate social circumstances.

But then, right after acknowledging that he knows their poverty.

This is what I like to refer to as an apocalyptic perspective.

There is a contrast very often and you find that in the book of Revelation between appearance and reality, between an earthly perspective and a heavenly, an apocalyptic perspective informed by revelation.

Jesus, his piercing eyes that nothing can be hidden from, he sees beneath what the human eye can see.

He knows that yes, they are materially poor, but they are spiritually rich.

We find here the opposite of what we find in the Church of Laodicea, that they thought they were rich, but they were poor.

Very often, we see things the very opposite way that God sees them.

Then we need to go back and over again to the scriptures and pray that the Lord will enlighten us according to his ways, that he will reveal to us how we are to see the world, how we are to see people, and how we are to see ourselves before him.

That we may see things in a way that aligns with the way that he does.

He knows they are poor, but they are rich.

At the same time, he also knows the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

This is similar, well, this expression, synagogue of Satan, occurs later as well in a message from another church.

It also reminds me of Jesus' interaction in John chapter 8, where these people are giving him a hard time and he makes them know that they're children of the devil.

Now how are we supposed to interpret this?

That he knows the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

Now 1 possible way to read this is that this refers to people who profess to be followers of God, maybe followers of Jesus, but they're not quite.

But I think the most likely thing that is behind these words is that there are Jews in that area that are slandering the Christians.

The word, the Greek word translated here is blasphemy.

And yes, we're used to use the word blasphemy with reference to God as people, in a way, slander God.

But the word can also be legitimately translated as slander.

I think the most likely thing here is that to add to the already delicate social circumstances of the Christians in Smyrna, there are those people who say they are followers of the God of Abraham, who say that they are heirs of the promises given to Abraham, but they slender those who are through Jesus, whether they are Jews or Gentiles, who are through Jesus heirs of Abraham as well, children of Abraham, heirs of the promise, full members of the family of God.

So Jesus knows what they're going through.

That is not left unseen, unnoticed by Jesus' all-seeing eyes.

He knows what they're going through and he himself has gone through that too.

He has gone through the pain of being slandered by those who profess to be the people of God.

He knows what it is to deal with those who say they belong in the assembly of God but they're an assembly of the devil.

He knows that very well because he faced it.

He was slandered during his trial, he was slandered during his ministry, but he remained faithful.

Because you know when you're following God, if you want to remain faithful to him, you need to focus on your duty rather than your rights.

Your duty is under your control by God's grace and power.

Now I'm not saying that our rights are irrelevant or not important.

What I'm saying is They should not be our focus for our lives if our goal is to be faithful to Christ.

Because when we associate with Jesus, we become the object of the hatred of the world.

But our focus are not on our rights, but our duty to Jesus.

Now these people that they know, that Jesus knows what their situation is and he also knows their future.

He tells them, do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer.

He doesn't say do not fear things will get better.

He says do not fear the things which you are about to suffer.

Do not fear the suffering that you're about to experience.

Things are tough and they will continue to be tough.

Back to Menu

Courage in Christ

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

ASI 2011 Plenary Meetings

Be Courageous

41m

Final Events

05 The Little Time of Trouble

1h 13m

The Tides of Change Part 1

53m

From Failure to Faith: Assurance of Salvation

54m

Above and Beyond: Keys To Personal Revival And a Lifestyle of Vibrant Living in Christ!

6. Called to Above and Beyond Surrender

1h 12m

Risk and Redemption

Risk and Redemption: Stand and Deliver

49m

Dying Daily

42m

The Fear of God: How to Stand for God

33m

When the Serpent Bites

55m

There is Hope

A Level Above Forgiveness

47m

Sound Doctrine