Book of Revelation Explained 7: Church in Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11)

the end of time as we know it is rapidly approaching the great battle Armageddon is upon us how will this final chapter I'll play out fine days man as documented in the book of Revelation turn with me if you would to the book of Revelation chapter 2 verse number 8 it says unto the Angel of the church in Smyrna write the letter to the church in Smyrna now as I told you in our last service the names of the churches are very significant they're significant because the meaning of each church name describes the main characteristic of the period of church history that particular church represents now let me say this in a different way to make sure that you understand what I'm trying to say here there are seven churches that are listed in the book of Revelation in chapters 2 and 3 those seven churches correspond to the seven periods of church history what that means is that each church represents a specific period of church history now if you bought our book and you have the chart in there just pull that out and you can go along with me the Church of Ephesus represents the early church also known as the Apostolic period the Church of Smyrna represents the persecution period Pergamus represents the time of Constantine that's when Christianity was embraced and when it was embraced it became the state religion Sarda or Thyer Tyra represents the Middle Ages that was when the Catholic Church actually was established and rose up Sardis represents the Reformation period Philadelphia represents the period of church history known as the missionary church in fact if you study church history that's a very exciting time because it covers the 18th and 19th century and if you're familiar with that time there were great revivals and the church was on fire for Jesus Christ and we were sending missionaries all over the world to present the gospel of Jesus Christ and now you have Laodicea it's the last church that's mentioned and it represents the modern era a time of growing apostasy before the return of Jesus Christ and we're seeing that in our churches today so as you can see the messages to the seven churches were prophetical they 4-toed the seven periods of church history but the point that I'm trying to make is this the name of each church describes the main characteristics of the church period it represents now does that make sense good if it doesn't just go yeah it does all right so what does Smyrna mean well Smyrna is the Greek word former if you remember myrrh was one of the gifts that the wise men gave to the baby Jesus do you remember that hopefully you read the Christmas story every year and you remember that the wise men came we kind of pictured that there were only three of them but we don't know how many there were but the reason we picture three is because three gifts were given gold frankincense and myrrh right look with me if you would in the book of Matthew chapter 2 verses 10 through 11 this is when they saw the star talking about the wise men they were filled with joy they entered the house and they saw the child with his mother Mary and they bowed down and they worshiped him then they opened their treasure chest and they gave him gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh now I want you to underline the word myrrh guess what Greek word it is Smyrna if you were to write it out it's Sigma mu epsilon Rho nu alpha that's Smyrna now how many of you know what myrrh is well myrrh is this reddish-brown resinous material it's actually the dried sap from the Murrah tree it comes out of the tree as a pale yellow liquid but it hardens into this reddish brown mass now in ancient times it was very very expensive in fact it was worth more than its weight in gold and it was five times more expensive than frankincense but the reason it was so expensive is because the Mary only grows in Yemen Somalia and Ethiopia did you know that so they had to travel abroad to get this myrrh and to bring it back now myrrh had a variety of uses because of its fragrance it was used to make perfume it was used to make incense it was the primary ingredient in the anointing oil that God commanded Moses to make in the book of Exodus chapter 30 verse number 23 through 33 in fact if you want to you can turn there later and read all about it but myrrh was the primary ingredient ingredient it was predominantly used to prepare the dead for burial the Egyptians used it to embalm the Pharaohs it was so expensive that common people were not embalmed with this in Egypt only the pharaohs were but here's what's interesting the Jews also used it as part of the preparation process for burial if you were wealthier you had much money then this was what was used to prepare your body for a burial in fact myrrh was used to prepare Jesus body for burial when he was taken down from the cross did you know that that's right look with me in the book of John chapter 19 let's read verses 38 through 40 says later Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus but secretly because he feared the Jews with Pilate sperm his permission he came and he took the body away he was accompanied by Nicodemus the man who had visited Jesus at night Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes about 75 pounds taking Jesus body the two of them wrapped it with the spices in strips of linen this was in accordance with the Jewish burial customs this is the way they always did it so whenever the Jew smelled the odor of myrrh what do you think they thought of death I want you to understand when the Jews smelled myrrh they thought of death so myrrh came to symbolize death now in order for myrrh to emit its fragrance it had to be crushed in fact if you picked up a piece of myrrh and you tried to smell it you wouldn't depict or you wouldn't detect any odor you wouldn't be able to smell the odor because it has to be crushed in order to in minutes odor but when you crushed it it would emit a very sweet strong odor and it's very important because the Church of Smyrna represents the period of persecution the period of church history for more than five million Christians were martyred five million Christians were martyred listen to what H Ironside wrote in his commentary myrrh is a perfect description of this period of church history for when the church was crushed beneath the iron heel of pagan Rome it never gave out such a sweet fragrance to God as in those two centuries of almost constant martyrdom he also wrote this when God's people were being crushed like myrrh what a sweet odor of devotion what fragrance of Christian love drifted up to the very throne of God now if you notice the description of Jesus that's given in verse number 8 is very appropriate when you consider the intense persecution that the Church of Smyrna was going through Jesus is referred to in verse number 8 as the light the first and the last which was dead and is now alive now this is meant to be an encouragement a reminder that the Lord Himself faced persecution now why was Jesus persecuted he was persecuted because of us he didn't come and he didn't act like all the other Jews he came to set us free he didn't come to put upon us a heavy yoke he came to release us from this heavy yoke and and for us to experience liberty and so for us he faced persecution and he was also put to death by his enemies but he was triumphant when he was resurrected in glory that's something that every person he's going through persecution needs to be reminded of Jesus is the first and Jesus is the last he was before the beginning of time and he will always be there at the end of time of course we understand there's eternity and there is no end in time but Jesus will always be there and he'll be there with you he was put to death but he triumphed it triumphed over death and he was resurrected to live for all of eternity and whenever you're facing persecution you need a revelation of Jesus who Jesus is not only what he is now but what he went through in order to attain what he is and to attain what we have now look at verse number 9 says I know thy works tribulation and poverty the Church of Smyrna was experiencing tremendous persecution at the time that this was written and I'm going to explain why in just a minute so I want you just to put a hold on that for a second now as a result of this persecution most of the Christians in Smyrna were poor now when I say poor I mean they were dirt poor that's why it's translated as poverty you see the Greeks had two words for poor pen ace and Patoka but okiya see if I can say that right you try to pronounce with a P and a T at the same time it's Patoka now pen ace means you have the necessities you don't have any luxury items but you do have the necessities you have food you have clothing you have shelter you just don't have any extras now some of you who are older you went through that generation that didn't have very much you know my father-in-law he was kind of a child of the depression as a result of that he never throws anything away because he remembers being poor but I get to talking about him he would qualify as pin ace because they did have food they did have clothing and they did have shelter that he didn't have any luxuries or extras now for some of you in the younger generation it means you don't have an iPhone you just stuck with an old-fashioned cell phone right but I want you to understand you don't understand what pen ace means but it means you don't you don't have the luxuries but you do have the necessities now Pat okiya means you don't have anything you're homeless the only thing you own is the clothes that's on your back and you don't know where your next meal is coming from that's what Pataki Amin's and that's the Greek word that's used in verse number nine most of the Christians since murder were stripped of their home and of their possessions and all they had were the clothes on their back and Jesus says I know your poverty he knows that they don't have anything you know Jesus has empathy because there were times when he didn't have anything and there were times when it was all there but Jesus understands now the reason that the Christians is furn or poor is because of persecution not because of a lack of faith I know some faith faith teachers teach you know you don't have to be poor and that's true in the sense that prosperity is part of the Covenant I believe that the Bible teaches that but I also understand that sometimes there are circumstances that prohibit us from receiving the Covenant blessings and persecution happens to be one of those circumstances and all the faith in the world won't change that in fact it's their faith that led them to be martyred it was their faith that led them to stand up because for most of these people who were martyred the reason they were martyred is because they wouldn't do what they were told to do all they had to do we're going to find out is to burn a pinch of incense and say Caesar is Lord but they couldn't do it that's all they had to do and they could have kept their home they could have kept their possessions and they would have maintained their life they couldn't do that so we need to understand that many times faith doesn't bring you all these blessings you think sometimes faith brings persecution but I'm getting ahead of myself I want to get there yet let's get back to their poverty and why they were poor the reason the Christians in Smyrna rapport is because they were being persecuted to the point that many of them were being imprisoned now once they were in prison and not just to be tried but they were imprisoned to the point that some type of penalty was going to be carried out all of their possessions were being confiscated those who weren't imprisoned were then having to share what they had with their brothers and sisters in Christ but we need to understand that they were trying to keep a very low profile when you go through this period of church history now further alone past this time when the letter was written literally the Christians had to hide out they had to worship and the catacombs they had to meet in secret places in fact we know the symbol for Christianity is the fish right do you know how that developed that was a secret code for people to find out whether you were Christian or not when you met a person and you were talking you'd be up there and you'd be talking to them and you take your footing you do this and you step back and you begin to talk with them if they were a Christian they would step up and they would take their foot on the opposite side and they would do like that and you saw the symbol of the which meant there are Christian and then you could begin to share what you wanted to share about Jesus Christ but they went through this intense persecution and the people at many times tried to keep a very low profile but even though they were physically poor Jesus said that they were rich they might not have had physical riches but they had spiritual riches you see the persecution actually brought the Church of Smyrna closer to God and in fact the church never grew more than in this period of persecution at that point the Christian the Christianity grew and they couldn't contain it I truly believe that one of the reasons that Satan quit using men to persecute the church is because he realized if I continue to do this everyone's going to become a Christian though they just thought hey let's embrace it let's bring them inside but I'm getting ahead of myself the tribulation they were we're facing force them to depend upon God to seek God's face and as a result they developed this very strong relationship with God and they became rich spiritually now let me explain why the Christians in Smyrna were being persecuted at the time when the Christians from the other churches weren't being persecuted now I want you to think about this Ephesus is only 35 miles south of Smyrna they're both harbor cities and Smyrna is just 35 35 to 40 miles north of Ephesus but the Christians in Ephesus weren't being persecuted at this time the Christians in Philadelphia and fire Tyra and Laodicea they're all in this area but they're not being persecuted only the Christians in the Church of Smyrna is being persecuted why well it all has to do with the history of Smyrna if you understand the history of Smyrna you understand why the Christians in the Church of Smyrna was being persecuted you see Smyrna was destroyed in 586 BC and it wasn't rebuilt into until 290 BC and it was rebuilt to a model city in fact when Alexander the Great went through he decided that smyrna needed to be rebuilt now of course he died before it did but the person after him that took over he said let's rebuild it but he didn't want to rebuild it until they actually planned it all out so Smyrna was actually one of the very few planned cities in the ancient world in other words it was totally planned out before construction ever started it boasted a famous Stadium a library and the largest public theater in all of Asia Minor did you know that in a New Testament times and had a population of about 200,000 now this is where it gets very interesting before the Roman Empire spread over Asia there was a struggle for supremacy between Rome and the Carthaginian Empire how many of you remember the Carthaginian Empire its kind of northern Africa it was basically the dominant one before Rome came in now this struggle for supremacy lasted for about 265 BC to around 146 BC when Rome finally destroyed them and they became the super world power now during this time this time where there was the struggle going on almost every city in Asia remained neutral and the reason they remained neutral is because they wanted to see who was going to be the top dog who was gonna rise to the top or they sided with the Carthaginians now why would they do that well they were the ones in power at the time and how many of you know you go with the proven winner I mean let's be honest we look out for number one and the way we look out for number one is we just sit there and watch and then whoever looks like they're gonna be the top dog that's who we decide to we're gonna go with right but not Smyrna Smyrna placed herself on the side of Rome in in 260 as soon as it was built they decided they were going to to side with Rome and in 195 BC it became the first city in the ancient world to actually build a temple in honor of de Roma the deity of Rome the personification of Rome as a goddess in an ad 25 they actually built a ten to the emperor tiberius and they instituted Emperor worship now this is before it was actually demanded in fact how many of you know that Tiberius did not want Emperor worship so you had ten cities that were trying to win his favor and they all just decided they wanted to build a temple to him and he said no only one's going to do it and he allowed Smyrna to do it and Smyrna went one step further they decided that they were going to institute Emperor worship so the deification of Rome and the worship of Caesar and Asia actually began in Smyrna now eventually it spread throughout the whole entire Roman Empire but that was much later but Emperor worship in Asia began in Smyrna now if you remember John was exiled to the island of Patmos while Domon our mission was the Emperor do you remember that and according to Iranian he was granted amnesty when Domitian died but when the book of Revelation was written the mission was the Emperor now gifts which Emperor made the decree to institute Emperor worship you got it da mission good-o da mission so once a year all the Roman citizens were required to appear before the city magistrate to burn a pinch of incense to the Godhead of Caesar and to confess that Caesar is Lord now after you did that you could go worship any God or goddess that you wanted to as long as it didn't undermine Rome now in most cities in Asia the decree wasn't really enforced even though that decree went out the city magistrates had more than enough to do now what's the magistrate means those who would enforce the law and so they had so much to do they would go okay whoever wants to be loyal we want to make sure that we look like we're doing this but you didn't really have to do it he didn't have to do it in Ephesus you didn't have to do it in Philadelphia you didn't have to do it in pergamus you didn't have to do it in all these others but not Smyrna because they were loyal to Rome and they were very proud that they had started this and this part of so they were zealots of Rome so once a year everyone in the Empire had to appear before the magistrates to burn a pinch of incense to the Godhead of Caesar and to confess that Caesar is Lord and Smyrna is the only city of the seven that enforced it vigorously everyone in the city was expected to do it with one exception there was one group that was exempt from having to do that what group was it Jews the Jews were exempt because of all the problems that happen and they had actually gone to Rome into the Caesars they had petitioned and they tried to explain we are very zealous people after our God and you need to understand something we are a monotheistic faith in other words we believe in one God the Lord our God is one God therefore we cannot say that Caesar is Lord you need to understand that and you're gonna create an uprising throughout all the Roman Empire they said well we understand that we're not trying to do that what we're trying to do is keep this unity I'll tell you what everyone must do it but the Jews so they were not only given the right to practice their religion but they were exempt from appearing before the city magistrate to confess that Caesar is Lord now in the 80s and I don't mean the 1980s you know we hear the 80s I'm talking about the 80s ad all right the Jews had excommunicated the Christians now if you remember in Paul's writings Paul would go to the synagogue and he would begin to explain all of the prophecies that foretold Jesus Christ and him having to die on the cross and being resurrected and we read that through the book of Acts and we see that in all the Pauline epistles but by this time Paul is dead so it was Peter they were killed during Nero's reign all right so as a result of that what we're finding is the Christians were not welcome they were finally excommunicated from the synagogue's and the Jews wanted nothing to do with them in fact they thought of them as heretics why because the Lord our God is one God now even though Ashima talks about the Lord our God is one God plural and singular in fact when you read the book of Genesis the Lord God said let's make man in our image but the Bible is always taught that there's one God but it's a Trinity but didn't see that even though they said it they did all that so they got upset with Christians because they said that Jesus is God and so they thought of them as heretics so the Christians were not exempt from the command to worship the Emperor why because they were not considered to be Jews so they were commanded to appear before the city magistrate and to burn a pinch of incense to the Godhead of Caesar and to confess of Jesus or to confess that Caesar is Lord but they couldn't do it why because Caesar is not Lord Jesus is Lord and that's why they were being persecuted and at the time revelation was written Smyrna was strictly enforcing Emperor worship because the mission had decreed it and they were the ones that were the first ones on the scene to actually implement it but the other cities weren't now eventually Emperor worship was enforced throughout the entire Roman Empire and Christians everywhere were persecuted that's why they estimate that over five million Christians were persecuted in that period between 100 and 313 and a period of 213 years they estimate over 5 million Christians were martyred martyred but at this time when revelation was written smarta was the only city of the seven that was actually enforcing it now look back at verse number nine 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 you see smarta had a very large Jewish population in fact they had more Jews there than they probably did in the other cities and as I start a stated before but Jesus were the only ones who were exempt from having to appear before the city magistrate to confess that Caesar is Lord and because they had rejected Jesus the Messiah they considered Christians to be heretics and as I said in the 80s they excommunicated them from the synagogues so in the late 90s guess what they started doing they started turning Christians in to the local authorities for not worshiping the Emperor so the Lord called these Jews a synagogue of Satan and thus it in the word synagogue is the right word and let me explain why the word synagogue comes from two words it comes from the prefix une which means together and the root were to go which means to bring now when you combine these two words it literally means to bring together in other words to a symbol so a synagogue was a place for the Jews to assemble now originally the purpose of assembling was to do what to worship God but he says you haven't a symbol to worship God because that's not what they were doing when they assembled the Jews were assembling in order to concoct their blasphemies and to plan their assaults on the Christians now what blasphemies were they speaking well some of the blasphemies that they were saying about the Christians as they claimed that Christians were cannibals I mean even heard that the reason they claimed that Christians were cannibals is because Chris has participated in this thing called the Lord's Supper and they would break the body which they said was the body of the Lord the bread and they would drink the blood and therefore they said well they believe that they're eating the body of their Lord they believe they're drinking the blood they're cannibals they also claimed the manifestations of the spirits were done by the power of Beelzebub now what did Jesus tell us when he was performing miracles they said the reason you're able to perform these miracles is because you're doing by the power of Beelzebub in other words the power of the devil and Jesus said hey if they claim this about me they're gonna say this about you and they did when they saw all these wonderful manifestations of the Spirit in other words people were being healed and the spiritual gifts are being operated in you had people that were coming around and saying the way that they're able to do that is by the power of the devil so they would report the Christians to the authorities and they would accuse them of sedition of rebellion they would say things like this Christians talk of another Kingdom they don't support the kingdom of Rome they support another Kingdom that's why they won't say this Caesar is Lord we don't say the Caesar is Lord because we only believe in one God but they don't say the Caesar is Lord because they believe in another kingdom and so they were literally doing Satan's work they were literally a synagogue of Satan because when they came together at income voice of God that came together to try and plot and how we could turn these Christians in now not being anti-semitic all you have to do is rechristen history all you have to do is go back and read even extra-curricular book or a outside of the Bible you can find out that this is this is so true and by their actions they were proving that they were not Jews and what do I mean by that does everyone know what a Jew is I know you think you do but let me ask you this what does the word Jew mean anyone the word Jew is translated from the Greek word you die you die yas is derived from the root word you da now in English we transliterate that as Judah Judah is Judah which means to be praised and that's what the word Jew means it means to be praised now here's where it gets interesting the Jews actually taught in their synagogues that the man who keeps the law is to be praised the man who keeps the law is a Jew so they would strive to keep the law and to be praised by man for doing so so if you were to ask a Jew what does it mean to be Jewish in Paul's day this is what he would have told you to be Jewish one must obey God and be circumcised and one must obey the law of God that man is to be praised that man is a true Jew he is a Jew da to be praised now the greatest commandment is what in the entire law what's the greatest commandment to love the Lord your God with all your soul with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind we know that because it's in the New Testament Jesus said but here's what's interesting the Pharisees believed that - that was the greatest commandment what's the second that's liken to the first love your neighbor as your Wow oh by their actions they proved that they weren't Jews they prove that they weren't keeping the law by purposely persecuting the Christians they were breaking the law they weren't loving their neighbor as their self they were doing just the opposite what they said you was supposed to do that's why Jesus said I know the blasphemy of them and what were their blasphemies the Blasius would that Jesus is not Lord that he wasn't resurrected they stole the body that did that he is an imposter he knows the blasphemies of them which say they are Jews and are not but are the synagogue of Satan verse 10 there are none of those things which thou thou shalt suffer behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and ye shall have tribulation 10 days be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life now Jesus told the Christians in Smyrna don't be afraid now that's easy for us to do here in America in this time how many of you afraid of being a Christian if you're afraid of being a Christian in America in this time it's only because you're afraid of maybe being ridiculed or someone teasing you it's not because you're afraid that your possessions are going to be stripped from you it's not because you're afraid that your life is going to be taking but you need to understand something when death is knocking on your door it's hard not to be afraid you see at the time that this was written you only went to prison for one of three reasons either for divine authority and then you were shipped off to a place like the island of Patmos to work in the mines or number two to hold you for trial in other words and in fact Paul was many times held for trial so he went to prison and he was under house arrest because they didn't have the prisons like we think of that make sense and so he was waiting for trial or number three you were to be held until you were executed you just didn't have the prisons like you do today if you went to prison it meant one of two things was probably going to happen either number one you were going to be severely punished or number two you were going to be executed but Jesus told them don't be afraid not because he was going to get them out of it but because the worst thing that could happen is your life could be taken that's what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 10 verse 28 he says don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body they cannot touch your soul fear only God who can destroy both soul and body in hell I have to be honest with you if I was facing persecution I don't know how comforting that would be don't be afraid those who can kill you they can't touch your soul be afraid of those of the person who can not only kill your body but kill your soul but the truth is that's wise words jesus said be faithful unto death and I shall give you a crown of life in other words he said you need to look for your reward or look to your reward when you're being persecuted now I want you to notice that Jesus warns them that they will have tribulation for ten days did you notice that look back at verse number ten for none of those things which doubt she'll suffer behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and ye shall have tribulation ten days be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life now people this is prophetical thou shall have tribulation ten days he's telling them what's going to happen during this period of persecution they will have tribulation ten days what does that mean well the word days doesn't refer to individual days it refers to a period of time in a person's life sometimes it refers to the lifespan of a person let me give you an example of that look in Genesis chapter 5 I'm going to read verse number 8 and verse number 11 and all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died and all the days of eNOS were 905 years and he died so when it says the days of Seth he's talking about his lifespan alright now sometimes days refer to the period of time that a person Authority would reign let me give an example of that look with me if you would in the book of Matthew chapter 2 verse number 1 it says now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod what does it mean in the day of Herod it means in the days that Herod rained alright so when Jesus said you will have tribulation ten days he didn't mean that the persecution would only last for ten individual days what he meant was that there would be ten Emperor's that would persecute them and that's exactly what happened the persecution of the church lasted throughout the days of ten Emperor's it started with Nero and it ended with Diocletian you had Nero in fact Nero actually started the persecution this is when Paul and and Peter were were crucified upside down and and beheaded and that type of thing but the reason that they were martyred is because Nero actually burned the city down and so what happened was he wanted to rebuild Rome because it was a glorious enough and he looked at all the slums that they had it wasn't a very pretty city and thought you know they won't let me tear it down the Senate won't so what he did is he said if they won't let me tear it down I'll tell you what I can do burn it down so he sent people out and in disguise and he hadn't burnt down and I mean Rome burned and he was so happy and that's why I'd always depicts him you know he's just laughing and dancing because it was burning down he's gonna get a chance to rebuild it but what he didn't count on was the Senate said Nero is responsible for this and they were upset and they were gonna only overthrowing that he's going to be put to death as on his way to the Senate to defend himself he comes up with this brilliant idea let's blame the Christians and so Nero blames the Christians and so in the days of Nero here's the first days there's going to be ten of them that's when the persecution actually began and so all of a sudden you start with Nero and you end with Diocletian so you have niro dah' mission Trajan Marcus Aurelius septimus severus Maximus Desi's valerian aurelion and doc leash at Diocletian now after Diocletian Constantine became the Emperor and he embraced Christianity and when he embraced Christianity Christianity became the state religion so all of the sudden we're going to find out next week that the persecution ends and now we go into a new church period and there's going to be a letter that's written to the church of Pergamus pergamus represents a state Church it has its own problems we're going to look at that next week but it's amazing that Jesus could tell them just how long this period of persecution would be people it's freakish when you study when this was written and how this was carried out but you know what it tells me you have to be a fool not to believe in God he's laid this out now let's look at the promise turn with me if you would to verse number 11 he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches he that overcomes shall not be heard of the second death what is the second death it's the lake of fire the final eternal death look at Revelation chapter 20 verse number 14 through 15 then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire this lake of fire is the second death this lake of fire is the second death if you're thrown into the lake of fire you're going to experience the second death and anyone whose name was not found recorded in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire now what he's telling us is those who overcome they will not have to suffer the second death and the reason that this was an encouragement is because Jesus was telling them I'm not going to get you out of this persecution I'm sorry you might have to go through it and you might have to face the first death but I promise you to those who overcome to those who confess this Jesus is Lord and will not bow and say the Caesar is Lord they might take your body but they won't touch your soul and you need to understand to him I will give a crown of life in other words you're going to receive the martyrs crown we're gonna find out as we go through the book of Revelation but there's a group of martyrs now this group of martyrs is not the group that went through this period I'm sorry if you've been taught that even taught wrong but there will be a group of martyrs who will have to go through the same thing but for different reasons the group of martyrs that we're gonna find in the book of Revelation are those who missed the rapture they weren't prepared when Jesus came as a result they had to go through the tribulation but they refused to take the mark and they had to become like the Christians did back during Emperor worship instead of saying that the Antichrist is God they said we can't sue that there's only one God it's got Almighty and His Son Jesus Christ and as a result of that they will be martyred now because they missed the resurrection their body there's going to have to be another resurrection we'll get to that we studied the Book of Daniel we're tie all this in together but they're going to be behind the strongest and how long Lord how long does this take because they've experienced the first death - but they won't have to expensive experience the second death and they will receive the martyrs crown the crown of life I have good news for us we're not in that period of time there are churches all over the world today that are the Church of China they're experiencing persecution how many of you were with us five years ago when we asked the church in Tulsa there was made up of Iranians to come and minister in our church and I started telling us their pastor did he had just gotten out of Iran but he'd been held in prison been beaten thought it was going to be executed and he talked about how they would have to hold services in Iran literally they would have to make sure they weren't being followed and getting different taxis and go different ways until finally they would get there and there would always be someone that would turn them in he was always going to prison and finally in a way he knew he's going to live as if he got out of Iran there are churches today and remember I told you there's also a practical application some churches today still fit into this this message is to them and if you're not prepared when Jesus Christ returns and you have to go through the tribulation this message will be for you what Jesus is going to tell you is for those who overcome who don't give in they will receive the crown of life we are so glad you have joined us for this study of the book of Revelation we want to invite you to this in-depth study every Wednesday night at cornerstone fellowship 7:18 Pendleton Street for more information give us a call or visit our website

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Keywords: revelation explained, revelations explained, the book of revelation explained, the book of revelation explained bible study, revelations explained bible, in depth study of the book of revelation, in depth study of revelation, how to study the book of revelation, the book of revelation, revelation 2021, end times 2021, when does the rapture happen, End Times Question & Answer with, pastor allen nolan, Allen nolan, allen nolan daniel, apostle john, the resurrection of jesus

Id: HEnY1RcthnM

Length: 40min 46sec (2446 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 30 2019