The Synagogue of Satan & The Letter to Smyrna

This is a continuation of our series on the Seven Letters to the Seven Churches. We have already covered the first letter to the Jewish church in Ephesus.

Today, we’re covering the letter to Smyrna, which is filled with phenomenal spiritual content.

Rev 2:8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; Rev 2:9 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. Rev 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

The History of Smyrna

Smith’s Bible Dictionary pointed out that Smyrna means myrrh. You know frankincense and myrrh? In the Song of Solomon, we learn that myrrh was a product of the land of Canaan mentioned in Exo. 30:23 as one of the ingredients of the “oil of holy ointment.” In Est. 2:12, this was used in the purification of women. Many OT verses talk about myrrh being used by women as perfume. Myrrh was also used for embalming, which is to help preserve a corpse from decay. This was done to Jesus using myrrh after His death.

The city of Smyrna is situated on the Aegean Sea, about 40 miles north of Ephesus, and founded by Alexander the Great. Rev 2:8 told us, “And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive” which is again a callback to the vision of Christ in chapter 1 and what He said of Himself. The Lord said in vs. 11 of chapter one, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. He would repeat that point in vs. 17. In vs. 18, He also says beautifully in Rev 1:18, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

In other words, “I was once indeed dead, but now I live and I shall live forevermore.” His resurrection guarantees the fulfillment of not only every promise to Israel but also every judgment upon the world in the Tribulation. So the Lord here reiterates His death and resurrection in the opening of His letter to the synagogue in the city named after myrrh, which is used for the preservation of dead bodies and was also used on Christ. Myrrh preserves the body for a time, but God preserved the life of His Son forever.

No Spiritual Concerns

This one of two letters in which the Lord had zero spiritual concerns about the assembly. Can you believe that? No spiritual concerns! The other exceptional church was in Philadelphia. But these Jewish saints in Smyrna were beloved and faithful. They struggled mightily enduring the persecution of false brethren.

The Lord says in Rev 2:9, “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.”

He first says here, I know thy works, which He says to all seven of these Jewish churches. They may feel like they are far from home and alone in all their struggles, but the Lord reassures them that He knows them personally and He knows their works. He loves what they’re doing. Then, poverty.

Why are these saints in poverty? Many of these saints may have followed Jesus during His Earthly ministry and obeyed His instructions when He told them to sell all they had and give it all to the poor, as He told the rich young man (Matt. 19:21).

1. They may have also been in poverty because of Pentecost when they gave up all their possessions and had all things common (Acts 4:32).
2. They may have been in poverty simply because the economic conditions in Smyrna at the time may have been incredibly poor.
3. OR they may have been in poverty as a result of persecution.

Yet, poverty will also be a reality for the Tribulation saints who will read these letters and evaluate themselves in light of what’s said to those seven churches. All Tribulation saints will face deep poverty because of the third seal judgment, one of the horsemen of the apocalypse, the rider of the black horse who will bring famine to the earth, so much so that Rev. 6:5-6 says that it will take nearly an entire day’s wages to merely purchase a couple loaves of bread.

We’ve been seeing a lot of headlines about food supply chain shortages and a lot of predictions about tough times ahead. So the question we may ask is, “If we encounter famine, will that carry over into the Tribulation to ultimately become a fulfillment of prophecy?” I say no, because famine in the Tribulation will be a direct result of the third seal judgment by the rider of the black horse.

Yet, the Lord would state that despite their current poverty, thou art rich. For us in grace, we would make a contrast of being physically poor vs. being spiritually rich, and we’d often turn to 2 Cor. 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Now it’s true that the riches of being in Christ is to be blessed with all spiritual blessings. But I suspect that verse has in mind also the idea of our inheritance, that Christ left all His glory and wealth to become poor so that we can become rich with Him, rich in eternal life, rich in glory, and wealthy beyond comprehension because we will inherit everything from God with Christ. Even though we haven’t joined the Lord and obtained our inheritance yet, in God’s mind, this is already a done deal.

I suspect the Lord may have had this same kind of contrast in mind when He told the poverty-stricken saints in Smyrna that they are already rich. This wasn’t just about spiritual blessings, which will for them be abundant just as it was for the Jewish believers after the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, but this was also about their inheritance of the kingdom. What they are getting in the kingdom was already a done deal and they are in God’s eyes already rich.

You might recall that the Lord had this same kind of contrast in mind when He preached the Beatitudes. He said in Luk. 6:20, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. You have that contrast of their lack in this life compared to their abundance in the life to come in the kingdom. James also wrote in Jas. 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? You may be poor now and only rich in faith but because of that faith, you’ll be unbelievably wealthy when His kingdom comes down to this Earth.

Look again at Rev 2:9 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. Just as it was true after Pentecost, so it will be true during the Tribulation. In God’s eyes, you are not a true Jew if you have no faith in Christ. And all these unbelieving Jews at the time spoke blasphemy, which are irreverent words against God. Their words were blasphemous because they spoke against Christ. They hypocritically affirm that they’re Jews when they are not because of their lack of faith in Christ.

Their hatred of these saint brings to mind Joh 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. Joh 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. Joh 16:3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. This was literally fulfilled after Pentecost and led by Saul of Tarsus, and their hatred of believers in Christ made them all members of the synagogue of Satan, which is a wonderfully memorable piece of writing.

The Synagogue of Satan

We actually have churches of Satan in America, but in Rev. 2, the Lord is speaking not literally but spiritually. The unbelieving Jews are members of Satan’s church, not God’s. This, for me, hearkens back to John 8, the whole chapter, an epic showdown between Christ and the Pharisees, and He would ultimately tell them, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” Satan wasn’t literally their father, but he was spiritually speaking, because Satan was guiding them as a father would a son.

That showdown was epic. He told the Pharisees if they continued in His Word, they would be His disciples indeed. They argued that they were Abraham’s seed and that they had never been in bondage to any man, which is ridiculous, because they had for centuries been in bondage to the four great Gentile world empires, Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and now Rome, and spiritually, they were still in bondage to sin and the Satanic system.

So Jesus told them that instead of having Abraham as their father, the Devil is their father. This goes to the very heart of why they rejected Christ. The lost sheep of the house of Israel were by their faithlessness lost in darkness, in bondage to sin, and enslaved within the satanic system whose ruler is Satan. Thus, the Lord could say in all authority, “Ye do the deeds of your father… If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me… Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” He would go on to say about Satan in vs. 44, “He was a murderer from the beginning [of the creation of the world], and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” These Pharisees were murderous in intent and impervious to truth just like Satan himself. They were not the true spiritual ancestors of Abraham, as they claimed, because of their hatred of Jesus, their refusal to listen to truth, and their lack of faith. They refused to accept the truths they heard and the miracles they had seen. They had been misled by Satan himself. They lived in a world of lies, distortion, and falseness. Truth was a foreign language to them. The darkness could not comprehend the great light shining in their faces.

I would suggest as well that the phrase, synagogue of Satan, hearkens back to the parable of the wheat and tares in Matt. 13. The “tares” in that parable are called “the children of the wicked one” (Matt. 13:38). So one of the big takeaways for the Tribulation saints who will be reading this letter is just how deadly the unbelieving Jews are. They’re not your friends. They’re not family. They’re members of the synagogue of Satan and children of the wicked one.

Rev 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

The first thing the Lord says here is “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer”. During the Lord’s earthly ministry when He spoke to His disciples, He would often make a connection between fear of this world and lack of faith. You might recall in Matt. 8. the Lord and the disciples were on a ship. There was a terrible storm. The Lord slept through it. The disciples woke Him and said, We perish! And the Lord said, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” (Matt. 8:26). Then He calmed the storm. For the disciples, fear was evidence of lack of faith because they could always rely on His intervention. If you’re going to fear anything, it should be God Himself.

You might recall how the Lord said in Mat. 10:28, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Fear can be misplaced. The only proper fear is to have a deep reverence to God and everything He is capable of doing. The writer of Hebrews would say in Heb. 13:6 “So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Hebrews is a new covenant book, a book that argues to live by faith apart from the law and with a view to the new covenant to come. The Tribulation saints will be reading this book with great anticipation of what’s to come when it’s over, which means they should have no fear in the Tribulation because they can rely on God’s intervention to protect them, or if they die, they can rest in the fact that He will preserve their soul unto His heavenly kingdom.

The Tribulation saints reading this letter to Smyrna will also know they should Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. They will know that they can boldly proclaim as the writer of Hebrews, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”

The apostle John also made a connection between love and fear. He wrote in 1 Jn. 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. Deep verse! To be made perfect in love, to have grown spiritually such that all the attributes of love are living out of you also inevitably releases you from all fear, because, if His love abides in you and you operate with a perfect love to God and to all men, you would naturally have no fear. What would you have reason to be fearful of? There’s no fear of death, because you know you have nothing to fear beyond the grave. Love that is full, complete, delivers the mind from fear. If love exists in you in its absolute, perfect state, then you would naturally be free from all fear of all things in this world.

The next thing the Lord saysis that “the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Their being cast into prison was literal for the church of Smyrna at the time and for the Tribulation saints (Matt. 24:9). For example, at the midway point, at the Abomination of Desolation, when the antichrist enters the temple, he’ll send Gentile armies out to capture and kill all the Jews. They’re told to run for the hills. But some will be captured. But if they’re believers, if they’re faithfully obeying the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, they’ll have no reason to fear. They’ll have a special unction by the Spirit in which they’ll be given the words to speak that no man will be able to argue against, and they’ll be released without one hair of their head being damaged (Luke 21:12-18).

Then the Lord says, “be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” He’s not saying that if you’re faithful unto death, then you’ll get eternal life. The crown of life is a reward given for faithfulness until death whenever that may be. The only other reference to the crown of life is Jas. 1:12, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” This is a reward for faithfulness enduring all the trials and temptations of this life.

Finally, we have in Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches (we covered that last week); He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

First, let’s define second death. John defines it for us in Rev 20:14 talking about the Great White Throne judgment, which is a judgment upon all unbelievers after the 1,000-year reign of Christ, and John writes, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” The first death is the death of the body. The second death is for unbelievers who stand before God in judgment. They are eternally separated from God and cast into the Lake of Fire to be tormented forever. That’s the second death.

When unbelievers die today, they go to Hell, which is deep inside the Earth where they’re tormented while awaiting their final judgment before God at the Great White Throne after the Lord’s 1,000-year reign. Once the kingdom is over, the unbelievers will be called out of Hell. They’ll be judged according to their works and then cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the end of all judgment, the closing of the heavenly books related to all mankind, and it’s also the moment in which death and hell itself are also abolished forever.

I know some would use Rev. 2:11 to make the case that the Tribulation is a works-based form of salvation. They would say He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death means that one has to overcome in order to obtain eternal life. Let’s define again the overcomers.

Who are the Overcomers?

These are Tribulation saints who overcome Satan by faithfully obeying the Lord all the way to the end, whether it’s the end of the Tribulation or the end of their lives. Last week, we looked at Rev 12:11 “And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” I still think that’s as perfect a definition of the overcomers as you’re going to find. They overcame Satan by the blood of the lamb. Their faith in Christ has already washed them of all their sins. Plus, they overcome by faithfully obeying the Lord all the way to the end, whether it’s the end of the Tribulation or the end of their lives. They care more about obedience to the Lord than saving their own lives.

What is the key to overcoming the Tribulation? Faith. You cannot overcome without faith. What is the key to obtaining justification for all the kingdom saints? Faith. What is the gospel that will be preached during the Tribulation? The Lord told us in the Olivet Discourse. Mat 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” How did someone get saved under the gospel of the kingdom? Faith in Christ as the Messiah. Joh 3:18, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Believe what? That Christ is going to die and be raised again as a payment for all sin? No, they were to believe that Christ was all He said He was, the Messiah, the Son of God. I also cannot help but be reminded of 1 John 5:4-5. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”

That was the reality of their justification during the Lord’s time and this will also be the reality of their justification during the Tribulation. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

The fact that the Lord said, He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death only supports and reinforces the overwhelming evidence that salvation in the Tribulation is faith alone in Christ alone. And all the believing Tribulation saints will have eternal security. Remember how Jude wrote in the first verse of his letter that all the saints are “preserved in Jesus Christ.” John opens the book of Revelation with a proclamation of grace and peace from the entire triune Godhead. Grace and peace wasn’t about the circumstances they’d be going through. Grace and peace was about their standing before God. You cannot be in a state of grace and peace with God without being justified and if you’re justified you have eternal security.

John also in the first chapter spoke of Jesus and wrote (vs. 5), “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood… If all their sins are already washed by His blood, they are not only justified by faith, but they can never become unwashed. They can never lose that perfect work that was already accomplished for them at Calvary. In other words, they can never lose their salvation. And then John writes (vs. 6), “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” The fact that they will become kings and priests in the Lord’s 1,000-year kingdom is already a done deal because they have been justified by their faith and washed by His blood. Now it’s just a matter of obeying the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to stay in His divine protection through all the judgments and persecution until they ultimately overcome the Tribulation whether it’s to the end of their lives or surviving until His Second Coming. Then they’ll be richly rewarded.

Notice alsohow the end of this letter connects to the beginning of this letter. At the end we read of the crown of life and not being hurt of the second death, but at the beginning, the Lord says, These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive. The way one avoids the second death and obtains the crown of life is a living faith in the One who already conquered death.

Consider this. In the OT, you’re given a high-level view of things that happen in the Tribulation, but if you want to know how to endure, if you want to know how to get saved, if you want to know how to actually overcome the Tribulation and be richly rewarded by God Himself, then you have no choice but to turn to the words of Christ during His earthly ministry, especially the Olivet Discourse. You also have no choice but to turn to the writings of His disciples in the Hebrew epistles, as well as His disciple John and the book of Revelation. Otherwise, you won’t have a clue. As a Jew, you may know some things about the Tribulation from the OT, but if you want to know how to actually overcome the Tribulation, you have no choice but to turn to Christ and the writings of His disciples. For example, as a Jew, you might know about the Abomination of Desolation, because it’s in Dan. 11:32 and 12:11. But if you want to know the details and how to survive it, you have no choice but to turn to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially the Olivet Discourse. He tells you what to do to survive it.

Conclusion

So the question for the Jews, and all the world, will be – what do you believe about Jesus Christ? Because if you’re an unbeliever and you choose to remain an unbeliever throughout the entire Tribulation, you will die one way or another in those seven years. If you don’t die from all the wars and famine and judgements during the Tribulation, then you will die either at the Lord’s Second Coming or you will be cast into Hell when He judges the nations. And if you’re a Jew, you had better come to a saving faith in Christ and know His words before the Abomination of Desolation takes place, or you will die. Overcome or die the second death and the only way you can overcome is faith in Christ. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?