Lord, I pray you give us ears to hear and eyes to see what you say, Lord, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
This is really awesome because usually when a church does the Footsteps of Paul, they don’t go here. But it was cool because God put it on Steve’s heart, and he goes, We’ve got to do the seven churches of Revelation.
And so tours don’t really come over here, but this is really, really a cool thing to do because we’re going to be able to read the seven letters to the churches for application.
The Bible says, “To the angel of the church of Smyrna, write: These things says the First and the Last, who was dead and came to life.”
That’s important because there was emperor worship here, and they would worship dead emperors. And so He starts off with saying, “Hey, I’m alive.”
We worship a living Savior.
He says, “I know your works, your tribulation, your poverty—but you are rich. And I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not.”
So He knows their poverty, but He’s saying, you’re rich.
What happened here? This was a really, really wealthy city. Really wealthy. They had the Hermus River. They came in here, and they had the port. It was a booming city. But what had happened was that they started to do emperor worship.
It’s interesting—they first started off worshiping statues. It would be like worshiping the Statue of Liberty to show your allegiance to the United States or to Rome. And then they said, “Hey, why don’t we just start worshiping the dead emperors or the dead Caesars?”
They started doing that, and then it progressed into demanding that people worship the Emperor. You had to worship the Emperor who says, “Caesar is god.”
So what they would do is go to the magistrate; they would have some incense, and you’d burn the incense to Caesar. And you would say, “Caesar is god,” and then they would give you a certificate. You did it.
That certificate was like a work permit. You could get a job because you did it, but the Christians wouldn’t do it.
And so what happened was it was a rich city, but He says, “I know your works, your tribulation, your poverty—but you are rich,” because the Christians were really poor here.
They couldn’t work. They were persecuted. They would take their houses. They wouldn’t let them work because they wouldn’t show their allegiance to Caesar.
They had another God—the true and living God.
And so I like what Jesus says: “You’re in poverty, but you’re rich.”
They were storing up treasures in heaven, where moth and rust won’t destroy and thieves won’t break in and steal.
So He says, “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, and test you, and you will have tribulation for ten days.”
David Music says people have all different things to say about ten days. Why don’t we say ten days—it’s just a little while if need be.
“You’ve been grieved by various trials for a little while, that the testing of your faith may be proven right.”
It’s a little while. You don’t remember that when you’re going through tribulation. What He’s saying is—it’s just a little while.
He says that at the end of Peter too, “and after a little while, you’ll be delivered and it’ll be found to the praise, honor, and glory of the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
It’s the fellowship of the suffering, but it’s the power of the resurrection.
When you’re going through the trial, you’re like, “It’s over.” But then all of a sudden, when He delivers you, it’s like—man, the bigger the trial, the bigger the deliverance. The more glory that God gets.
So remember—it’s going to be a little while, and you don’t want to lose hope, right? Because you can lose hope in a trial.
The Bible says the word “hope” in the New Testament is the absolute expectation that something great is going to happen.
So when you’re going through those trials, realize that God’s going to pull through.
We read they were being persecuted until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was rendered in favor of the saints of the Most High, and He gave them the kingdom.
He always works it together for good because we love Him and we’re called according to His purpose.
It says here, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
You know, we’re like, “Man, wouldn’t that be cool to be here and get that letter from John?” Right?
But listen—you’re getting the letter, because if you have ears to hear, this letter is for you. “Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
That’s Steve’s prayer—that on this trip, you will have ears to hear.
Listen—in this letter to this persecuted church, where they were heavily persecuted, it was one of the only two churches (along with Philadelphia) that didn’t receive a rebuke.
Usually, Jesus started it off with some encouragement, and then He would give them the rebuke.
It was funny because on the last trip, I was telling Steve yesterday that we looked out the window and there were these people, and they had these signs that said “Palestine.”
I asked the guide, “Hey, what does that say?”
She said, “You’re not going to like it at all.”
“What does it say?”
And she goes, “It says, ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine should be free.’”
And I go, “Listen, that land doesn’t belong to Palestine. That land belongs to Israel—from the river Euphrates to the sea, all the way from Lebanon to the Nile.”
And she goes, “Oh, that’s it.”
We started getting into it, right? It got a little heated.
And so later at the end of that night, one of the pastors who was leading the trip says, “Brother, can I talk to you?”
And I go, “Oh no, here we go.”
And so he pulled me aside. He did it perfectly, just like Jesus did.
He gave us something great that they did, and then He rebuked them, right?
So he says to me, “Man, I love your zeal. I love the fact that you’re passing out tracts and your words.”
And I thought, here it comes.
“You’re really good. But, you know, I have this against you.”
And I said, “What?”
He said, “You got into it with that lady.”
And I said, “Listen, she was saying the land didn’t belong to Israel. I’ll fight on that hill all day long.”
You know, I love the way that he did that because he encouraged me, then he told me what was bothering him.
And it’s the spirit of meekness.
We became really good friends after that. I humbled myself.
I said, “You’re right, I could have done better. You’re right.” I took the hit.
It was good because then, after that, he’s been texting me, and I saw him at a pastor’s conference. Amen.
So, faithful are the wounds of a friend. You’re right—I might have been a little harsh the way I responded to her. No problem.
If you humble yourself, you get grace.
I love how the Lord does it—He shows them something that they’re doing good, and then He corrects them.
And we need correction.
So when we’re studying these letters to the churches, let us have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Because I need to be corrected, and we all need to be corrected to get on the right path.
So, Lord, we thank you for this place. I’m so thankful we get to come here.
And we know that John was exiled from Ephesus, but it was because he wouldn’t worship the Emperor.
And so we’re never going to take that bait.
We’re going to worship You and You alone, because You’re the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
So Lord, You bless my brothers and sisters on this trip.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
