The following is a sermon transcript from our Sunday Service at The Rock Church in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Each week, we gather to worship, learn from God’s Word, and grow together. This transcript is provided as a free resource to encourage and equip you in your walk with Christ. While you’re welcome to read and share this content for personal use, we kindly ask that it not be redistributed or published elsewhere without prior written consent from The Rock Church.
Introduction: Setting the Scene
So we are in Revelation chapter 2, 8 through 11, as Duncan read just a few moments ago. I have been walking through the churches of Asia, the letters to the churches of Asia in Revelation chapter 2 and 3. There are seven churches.
And when you look at the seven churches of Asia, located in Asia Minor, this is around southern Turkey, you can see that as John is receiving this revelation on the island of Patmos, he himself going through trials, going through being separated from the church that he loved, having served in Ephesus, most likely while encouraging them in 1 John through 3 John.
We see John receiving this revelation from the island of Patmos, which is probably about 50, 60 miles off the coast of Ephesus, which would be in the southwest part of Turkey, Asia Minor.
And when you look at the seven letters, you see that there’s an actual geographical flow to the letters, which makes sense. He’s on a route. There’s a delivery route that’s taking place here.
And so the first church, Ephesus, verses 1 through 7, you see that John, as he’s receiving this revelation and he’s going to this first church, it would be the closest church from Patmos. So whoever this would have been delivered to, to then send to the churches—whether that’s this angel, the messenger, or the preacher of each of these churches, the pastor, the elders of these churches who are receiving this letter and then taking this message from Christ to the churches.
There’s a general trend of geographical and then also structural. So as he’s writing this, if you enjoy literature and you enjoy seeing the structures in literature and you read these seven letters, you see that the seven letters are actually written in a chiastic structure.
And maybe that’s a term that you’re unfamiliar with. Pastor Ben, as he’s studying scriptures, we see chiasms all through the scriptures. And these are beautiful sandwiches, right? I love coming up here and eating cheesesteaks and hoagies, and that’s what we’re in right now. We’re in a delicious cheesesteak.
You’ve got your roll on the outside, and the roll is going to kind of set the framework. But in the middle, where all the goodness is, the meat and the Cooper Sharp, that’s where the primary topic or the emphasis needs to be placed on what the teacher is trying to teach us.
And for the seven letters to the seven churches of Asia, right now you would look at Smyrna kind of being the cheese around the meat. I know now we kind of spread cheese all through the meat. It used to be… meat on the inside, cheese on the outside, and then the bread.
And so Smyrna, which would be parallel to the Church of Philadelphia, are two churches that were going through a great deal of suffering and struggle. And in the structure of these letters, oftentimes there’s a recognition of the things that they’re doing—whether that’s good or bad—and then the things that need correction, and then the hope moving forward, and also kind of this presentation of Christ, the revelation of Christ.
For the churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia, there really isn’t anything ill spoken of these churches. These churches are just deeply persecuted churches.
In the center of this sandwich, you have these unfaithful churches that are dealing with idolatry, sexual sin, dealing with compromise to the culture. And so the emphasis of this is to have the churches endure.
The witnesses of this, the faithful witnesses to the endurance of the church, is Smyrna and Philadelphia.
The churches that are representing churches that are sliding are both Ephesus and Laodicea on the outskirts, the bread of the sandwich. You have Ephesus that’s lost its first love, and then you have Laodicea on the other side, which is now lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. I’d spew you from my mouth.
And so we can learn so much from these churches that are enduring. And so my desire was to present to you Smyrna, because I think that this gives us a good illustration of a church that is on mission, a church that is living in a place that is difficult, not easy—dealing with religious persecution, political persecution, struggles within, geopolitical issues, they’re dealing with economic issues—all of these things that are pressing in on this church, yet they remain faithful and they are desiring to endure for the glory that awaits.
Reading of the Text
So let’s look at Revelation 2:8–11 again as we read these scriptures:
“…and to the angel of the church in Smyrna write the words of the first and last who died and came to life.”
Verse 2.
Verse 3.
“Be faithful unto 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.”
“The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.”
Point 1: Look Upon Christ, Who Is the First and the Last
So, our first point that we will be looking at is to look upon Christ, who is the first and the last.
This view of Christ being the first and the last comes from texts in Isaiah 41 through 48 as we see that God is the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end; that through Him all things are created; by Him all things are created; for Him all things are created—because He is the first.
Now it’s showing Christ, who is truly man, is truly God. And that is being demonstrated in this perfect revelation of Christ.
Many of us growing up in the church always looked at the book of Revelation almost as if it was like a newspaper, trying to find through the lens of Revelation how to interpret what exactly is happening on Fox News at this moment. Right? And that’s great, but that really is not the intention of the book of Revelation.
The book of Revelation was for real historical churches that were really going through great amounts of persecution and needed a firm revelation of Christ—as we need this morning.
And so the best thing that we can do as we walk away from looking and examining these texts is for us to walk away with a greater revelation of who Christ is.
And that is exactly what Jesus is speaking to the church here.
He is showing them right from the beginning who He is, who I am. I am the first and the last, the first of creation, the first fruits of the resurrection. And I am also the last.
Christ’s Transcendence, Omnipotence, and Resurrection
So as we think about his transcendence, as we think about the idea of Jesus being beyond anything we can comprehend or compare against, that in him there are no ends. All the amens are found in Christ.
That in Him revealing Himself as the first and the last, it is ultimately to bring comfort—that as they feel the sense of the weight of the persecution that they are in right now, that the reality of their myopic view as they feel their pain under the microscope is: there is one who transcends their pain, who is the first and last, who knew all things, who is all things to the church.
And so this is focusing in on his omnipotence, his power, his sovereignty, his preexistence to all things here. And so ultimately, it’s going to point where we see that culminated in his now death and resurrection.
He says to the angel of the church in Smyrna, like I said earlier, most likely to an elder of the church in Smyrna, write the words.
Now, this is what is beautiful to us, okay? In the world of missions, there’s a lot of emphasis on contextualization. That’s another big word. Contextualization is observing the culture and looking for ways to convey truth in culturally appropriate ways.
And oftentimes, in the world of missions, especially if we have a low view of God’s word, we may contextualize in ways where it’s outside of what God’s word has prescribed for the structure of the church, for the preaching of the gospel.
And so we wonder why churches all around the globe are struggling with the prosperity gospel. We wonder why pastors are in Africa, in South America, in Asia, and even now in our own country that are from the pulpits telling you that the best thing that comes from being saved in Christ is your wealth, and you to have health.
And that’s common now in all areas of missions.
But as Christ is speaking to the angel, the church in Smyrna, and he says, write the words of the first and the last. These words matter. These words are what the church is shaped upon. These words are what the church endures upon.
And so when we come to God’s word, we need to see not only the authority of God’s word and being submitted to God’s word, but also its sufficiency.
That this word is sufficient for the church then and it’s sufficient for us this morning.
And so he says to the church in Smyrna, write the words of the first and the last:
“…who died and came to life.”
So our Savior, he died upon the cross, he was placed in the tomb, and on the third day he rose. And then this was eyewitnessed by over 500, as we would read in 1 Corinthians 15.
And so this witness to the resurrection, this testimony that was given to the church, that the church would be then built upon. This would be what the prophets and the apostles would establish that would become the foundation of the church.
The reality, the truth of the death and resurrection of the one who is the first and the last is what all of this is built upon.
So if this is missed, the rest of the enduring is lost. There is no enduring outside of enduring in the one who died and rose again.
We are very individualistic in our current culture. We are U.S. Americans and we like to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. We are Ford built tough. Like that’s who we are. We love that posture and we feel self-sufficient in those things.
But the reality is, is sufficiency in ourselves leads to further destruction and moving away from true worship and true endurance. It’s really dependent upon the one who died and came to life.
Point 2: The Intimacy of Christ — “I Know Your Tribulation”
And so as we see the fact that Christ is calling us to look upon Him, the One who is the first, the last, the One who died and rose again, we now transition into the second point of the intimacy of Christ.
We are with a Savior who is intimate with His people. He knows us.
And it says here right in verse 9:
“I know your tribulation and your poverty.”
And so immediately he is well acquainted with their difficulties. He is well acquainted with their pain, their struggles. He’s well acquainted with their poverty, their slander that they are enduring.
And so as he says this idea of their poverty, but you are rich, is the fact that the church of Smyrna during this time, most likely towards the end of the first century, probably this was written maybe around 90, 95 AD.
And during that time, there was a lot of emperor worship. You had an emperor, Domitian, who was reigning during that time after Nero—same posture, desiring to be worshipped as a deity. And there was cultic worship that was happening in the Greco-Roman kingdom.
And during that time, as he’s calling people to worship him, they were giving special grants to the Jewish people as long as they paid taxes to Caesar to have some level of religious freedom in this place.
But during that time, while they’re dealing with religious freedom, and now the Christians are here, the Roman kingdom saw that the Christians were just a sect of Judaism.
And so sometimes they could exist in cities and towns and they were afforded similar abilities as the Jews.
But the Jews despised these Christians. The Jews did not like that they were kind of riding on their coattails and receiving safety while in the midst of Jews themselves feeling the pressures of Rome.
And so sometimes the synagogues there, the Jewish leaders in those areas, through frustration and anger, would ultimately slander the Christians. And they would throw them under the bus and say that these people are cannibalistic. They’re eating flesh and drinking blood. They’re incestual. They’re marrying brothers and sisters. And they’re having all kinds of issues within their sect. They’re not part of us. They’re away from us.
And this would bring on further persecution then of the Christians.
This ultimately is that slander that the church of Smyrna is facing. The church of Smyrna is feeling the pressure of the synagogue turning and slandering them and saying all kinds of evil things.
Understanding the Weight of Slander
We see in Proverbs chapter 26 just what is warned about slander. It says that the words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels. They go down into the inner parts of the body.
Like the glaze covering—not a Dunkin’ Donut—an earthen vessel are fervent lips with an evil heart. Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart.
When he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart. Though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
Whoever digs a pit will fall into it. A stone will come back on him who starts it rolling. A lying tongue hates its victims and flattering mouth works ruin.
So this ultimately is what our Lord sees is happening to the church of Smyrna.
He sees that as they are dealing with the issues of poverty, having many of their resources unavailable to them in their place of being persecuted by the government there, being persecuted by Jews within that area, the slander on the lips of those who are of the synagogue of Satan—He’s feeling and Christ is present with them, acknowledging their pain, acknowledging all that they’re going through.
But He’s not leaving them alone in it. He’s showing them that:
“I know what you’re enduring, and I’m also present in what you’re enduring.”
And this is essential in the church that endures and the church that suffers.
We need to have a greater reality—not just intellectual knowledge—of the fact that He is the first, He is the last. He is the death and the resurrection. We need to have that intellectual knowledge then also change us to a realization that He’s present here with us, with His church now.
And He is intimate with His church.
Christ Knows Their Imprisonment and Their Future Suffering
So He knows what they will endure. He knows that they’re going to endure imprisonment. They’re going to endure death.
And so we see that in these following sections of this verse.
As He says:
“Those who say they are Jews and are not are of the synagogue of Satan.”
Verse 10:
“Do not fear what you’re about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for 10 days you will have tribulation. But be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
So He understands that they are enduring even imprisonment. His knowledge isn’t just in what’s happening now—in the reality of the slander that’s being placed, and the reality of now they are impoverished, they’re poor.
But He also knows what’s coming ahead, and He’s preparing them for what’s coming ahead.
So in Christ’s perfect omniscience, He is sharing with the church in His perfect knowledge that they will be imprisoned.
And this imprisonment isn’t going to be for this exhausted time. He’s using now apocalyptic language, which is symbolic language, of saying it’s going to be for a set period of time—about 10 days. It’ll be long, but not too long.
And He’s sharing with them that you need to endure through this time.
But even for some of you, this may move toward death.
The Call to Faithfulness in Life or Death
But like the Apostle Paul, here Jesus is encouraging them to remain faithful, to endure, knowing that the hope of glory lies ahead.
And we see Paul with that same tenor to the Philippian church as he’s writing to them in Philippians chapter 1.
We see Paul writing to the church of Philippi saying:
“Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but with full courage now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.”
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Paul knew—just as Jesus was encouraging the church of Smyrna—Paul knew that in his imprisonment, in Paul’s imprisonment, as he’s writing letters to the churches, encouraging them to faithfully endure and to be mindful of the work and to strive side by side for the sake of the gospel…
He’s reminded that even in whether life, it’s for Christ—but in death, it’s gain.
That even if I’m to be put to death, I know that ultimately I will be brought to a place where it is just pure gain. No more suffering. No more pain. All of the former things being gone. And now all things being made new in Christ.
Paul knew that.
And that’s what fueled him in his enduring task to proclaim the gospel to all people.
And this is the same that Jesus is sharing with a suffering, pain-ridden church like Smyrna.
He’s telling them again:
Endure—even through imprisonment, even through death—knowing that ultimately ahead awaits glory.
Point 3: A Common Enemy — The Reality of Spiritual Warfare
We also see in this letter that there is a common enemy. We have a common enemy.
I try not to overemphasize the devil. I try not to overemphasize his power over things, knowing that we are believers and that Christ has conquered sin and death.
But there is still a grave reality to the work of Satan on this earth.
And until ultimately we see glory, we are going to deal with the realities of this wicked enemy.
And so as we looked at these verses, we see already that this synagogue that is marked by slander, that is persecuting the church of Smyrna, is not a synagogue of God—but it is a synagogue of Satan.
We also see that the devil is about to throw some of the members of the church of Smyrna into prison in verse 10.
And so in the face of the church is also the reality of the working of the evil one.
And we see this even in John’s writings to the church of Ephesus in 1 John 5:19:
“We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who is born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”
Praise the Lord.
“But we know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”
So Satan here says, although not able to crush us as believers, not able to kill our souls, the rest of the world lives under the power of the evil one—which is Satan, which is those of the synagogue of Satan here in Smyrna.
Satan as Liar and Murderer
And so the reality of we as believers being sojourners in this world, but still dealing with the realities of struggling through the issues of the fall and being under the power of the evil one for those that are outside of Christ… this is a reality to the church of Smyrna.
We also know that the evil one, Satan, is a liar and a murderer.
John again, writing in the Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 44, would say:
“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desire.
He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
So church, as Smyrna needed to be reminded about who their enemy is…
For centuries, this text here in verse 10 often was used as a very anti-Semitic text. It was a text that Hitler hung his hat upon, looking at “the synagogue of Satan” as a way to now persecute Jews.
But that is not ultimately where John is receiving this revelation from Christ, where the emphasis is placed.
The emphasis is placed upon the evil one.
And so we know as believers from Ephesians 6 that:
“We do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers,
against the authorities,
against the cosmic powers over this present darkness,
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
And this was their reality as well—that they are dealing with an enemy and a backdrop of spiritual warfare that is now impacting the unbelievers to act out upon those who are believers.
The Struggle Within: Our Own Flesh
And so you have this tension of both the pressure and persecution coming from the spiritual warfare, and also just the dealings with the flesh.
That we wrestle against also our own flesh, having to put that to sin and having to put that to death. Because even our own flesh in the face of persecution can creep out.
And oftentimes as our flesh is moving toward a loss of view of the sovereignty of God, what is a natural product of that is fear.
And so you even see here, Jesus graciously warning the church of Smyrna in verse 10:
“Do not fear what is about to happen.”
That even though you will be tested, trust the Lord. Trust the Lord.
The Purpose of Trials — Steadfastness, Maturity, and Joy
We know in James chapter 1, verses 2 through 4:
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
And let steadfastness have its full effect,
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
And so even though you are suffering, even though you are going through great trials, Smyrna, endure.
And know that the testing of your faith is producing an endurance in you, Smyrna, to go and continue proclaiming the gospel—even in the face of imprisonment, even in the face of death—proclaim the gospel to all people.
Because Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 4:17 that:
“This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”
That the moments of affliction, the moments of temporary suffering, the moments of 10 days of being imprisoned, pale in comparison to the eternal weight of glory that lies ahead for the believer today.
The Crown of Life — Reward for the Faithful
And so when we see our Savior encouraging the church of Smyrna to:
“Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life,”
those words should remind the reader of Christ’s words in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:10–12:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you
and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”
“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven,
for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
So Jesus is saying that those who are going through persecution, those who are doing it for the sake of righteousness, for the sake of the kingdom—know that you are blessed.
Church, know that you are blessed even when people revile you and say horrible and utter all kinds of evil things against you.
Church, rejoice and be glad because your reward is so great in heaven.
And that’s what Jesus is encouraging this church with—the fact that:
“Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
Present Pain in the Church — Why Must We Endure?
So as we look at difficulty, tribulation, trials this morning—as I heard prayer requests being shared—there are many of you going through great difficulties right now.
There are many of you that were sitting at Thanksgiving tables with some empty chairs this year, just feeling the weight of loss or feeling the weight of those that you love, that you want close to you, and they’re not able—whether they’re in hospital rooms, whether they were in bed, or whether they have moved on and now are in the grave.
There’s a reality to the pain that we deal with as believers.
And it’s hard for us to say:
“Lord, why? Why is there all of this pain? Why is there all of this struggle?
Why does the church need to keep enduring?
Why can’t we just be saved and move on and just do this well and not have to feel the struggle, the pain, the angst of life?”
And then we look at Christ, the One who died and rose again.
And we see that He was well acquainted with grief.
And not only that—but it pleased the Father to crush the Son on behalf of each of you, on me.
It pleased the Father to crush Him on my behalf.
We see all that He endured on the cross as the crown of thorns was placed upon His head, the nails placed in His wrists and His feet, the spear placed in His side, the lashings He took, the beard that was torn from His face.
We see all that He went through—that we might wake this morning and say:
“Your mercies… they’re new this morning. And You are faithful.”
There’s nothing that our Savior has not endured less than us.
If anything, it is far greater than we could ever, ever imagine.
The suffering that Christ went through—the pain and sorrow that He endured—transcends anything we could ever imagine or comprehend.
All of that to bring us to a place where we are eternal recipients of grace forever and ever.
We get to receive His sovereign grace forever.
Faithful Witness: The Example of Polycarp
So as we see suffering within the church, and we see a church that’s enduring, it’s reflecting and helping to be a witness to a lost and dying world that His grace is worth it. His grace is worth it.
So be faithful.
When we look at faithful testimonies, we see the church of Smyrna—although it had famous men like Homer, who wrote The Odyssey and The Iliad—right after John would come Polycarp.
Some of you are familiar with Polycarp. Polycarp was the elder, the episkopos, the bishop of Smyrna.
And he probably, most likely, at this point when this revelation was given to John, was probably right around the age of 20 when it was given to him.
And so, about four score and six years later, Polycarp would be dragged out into the center of the square, and—because of his faith in Christ and his testimony of the Lord—when they would drag him out, they would ask him to renounce his faith in Christ.
They would say, “Renounce the atheists,” because the Christians then were viewed as atheists because of not holding to the view of the deities of Rome or to worship Caesar.
And so during that time, Polycarp, as he’s fighting against this with proclaiming the gospel, Polycarp is now drug out at the age of 86 into the center of the square.
And they ask him to denounce them—“Denounce the atheists.”
And so he looked around at all of the unbelievers, and he says, “Fine, I’ll denounce the atheists,” looking at literal atheists.
But they said, “No, no, no, no—we want you to denounce Jesus Christ and to worship Caesar.”
And Polycarp’s words were:
“Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong.
How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?”
Polycarp—they would light the fires around him. There are lots of different views and stories about what happened in those flames.
But we know that Polycarp, in the midst of the flames—there’s lots of eyewitnesses to the fact that even in the midst of that—Polycarp is praying and he is proclaiming the gospel, even in the flames.
That even in his final moments of feeling the pain of the flames of the fire burning him and martyring him, he is proclaiming the gospel with his last moments.
He is enduring well.
And I believe that Polycarp would endure well because he would remember these words given to the church of Smyrna. He’d be mindful of the crown of life that would be given to believers.
And this reward of the crown of life would be the reward that was described in James 1 later in verse 12, where ultimately the crown of life is for those who endure persecution, who endure going through deep trials—that they are given this beautiful reward to now worship Christ with.
The One Who Conquers — Not by Strength, But by Christ
It’s to the one who conquers.
And again, this is not a conquering in our own strength. This is not a conquering in our own abilities.
But this is a conquering in Christ—in the One who conquered.
We boast in our weaknesses that His strength might be revealed through the church.
And so ultimately:
The one who conquers is then not hurt by the second death.
“So he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Verse 11:
“The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.”
The second death is the lake of fire. This is hell.
This is a reality for those who do not proclaim Christ as Lord and submit to the Lordship of Christ.
They are not in the beloved.
They have not been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
They had not been chosen before the foundations of the earth.
They have been left dead in their sins and their trespasses.
They cannot proclaim, “By grace I have been saved.”
The result of those who have not conquered, who now go to the lake of hell or the lake of fire, are those who have rejected Christ—who have no desire, who worship themselves and the beast.
They have no view of the first and the last.
They have no view of the One who conquered death and rose from the grave.
They have no desire to endure in Christ.
They want to endure in their own strength.
They want to be worshipers of self.
This is for those who are now marked by the second death.
The Hope of the Believer — Conquer in Christ
But for those who are in Christ, who have by grace been saved, who’ve been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son, who have cried out:
“O wretched sinner that I am—save me. Save me from my sins.
Help me to endure in a lost and dying world.
Help me, God, to be able to proclaim the glorious deeds of Christ to the coming generations.”
For those who have called upon Christ—they are those who conquer.
And those who conquer will not be hurt by the second death.
My prayer for you, Rock, is that you would be those who conquer in Christ.
That you would have your eyes fixed upon the first and the last.
That you would be well acquainted with the intimacy of Christ.
That you’d be aware that He’s present with you now.
He’s present with you as you go home.
He’s present with you in your workplace.
That as you look at your neighbors as you drive home today and you pull into your driveways and you see neighbors that are all around you that need to hear the words of Christ—that need to hear “repent and believe upon Christ”—that you would not, in fear, turn away from that task.
But you would be reminded of that commission placed upon the church, and knowing that:
All power, all authority has been given unto Christ.
Now go—make disciples of all people.
Endure—even to imprisonment, even to death.
Endure—make disciples of all people because He is with you to the end of the age.
He is intimately with you.
He is by the power of the Holy Spirit encouraging you, building you up, strengthening you, giving you the words of life to proclaim to a people.
We live now in a world where right now we don’t face imprisonments and death for proclamation of the gospel. The things that we most sense now is a little level of uncomfortableness or a little level of “this really isn’t for me” and “this feels a little judgy right now.”
And we shy away from it. And we’re fearful to open our lips and to proclaim Christ.
This was a church that was moving toward imprisonment, that was moving toward death.
And you had men like Polycarp that in the flames are looking out at lost, dying people and saying:
“Believe upon Christ, who is saving my soul.
It’s worth it.
It’s worth it.”
And then as you endure, as you feel the pain, the loss of relationships, as you feel the pain in the midst of family members that are struggling and suffering—we can look at them and point them to the One who suffered for them.
And we can graciously put our arms around them and look them in their eyes and say:
“I love you. Because Christ loves me.
I love you. And I’m praying for you.
I am praying for healing for you.
I’m praying for protection for you.
But I’m also praying that you would be the one who conquers and never tastes the second death.”
This is our testimony.
This is what we have.
This is what the churches in Asia needed to hear.
These were historical churches that needed to endure in the midst of great costs.
And this was all about the mission of the church and the mission of God.
That’s what Revelation is for. It’s to stir up a church—not to find an exit, not to find a quick way out of here. It’s to endure and to tell others about all that we have in Christ.
Now, church, believe that. Believe that.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray.
Father, we are thankful as we look at Your words.
We are thankful, God, that we can have the hope of the gospel.
We can know, Lord, that in Christ we can endure.
Lord, not through our own strength, our own abilities, but purely through the work of the Holy Spirit which indwells within us.
We are thankful that it is the Spirit within us that cries out, “Abba, Father.”
We are thankful, Lord, even now in this time—Advent season—where so many are at least aware of the birth of Christ, that this was not just a story about a baby born in a manger, but it was the promised Messiah.
The seed of the woman that would come to crush the head of the serpent.
That would be promised through Abraham.
That would be promised through David.
That would be the one who would fulfill the law.
We are thankful that in the new covenant now we can drink and remember and eat and remember as we are reminded of the work of Christ as He went to the cross and died for our sins, bore our shame, bore our guilt, so that we might have life in Christ.
And so, Lord, I pray that You would take The Rock of South Jersey and encourage this church to be a faithful church.
That they would not function in fear, but God, in confidence in You.
And Lord, that You would do a mighty work here as this church continues to make disciples here in this area of New Jersey and to the ends of the earth.
Father, thank You.
You are worthy of all worship and of all praise.
And we are thankful for the work of the cross, the hope of glory that awaits.
We are thankful, God, that we have that promise.
We pray this in Christ’s name.
Amen.
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The Rock Church in Mount Laurel, New Jersey exists to help people know God, follow Jesus, and make disciples who multiply. Whether you’re new or already part of our church family, we’re here to help you stay connected! Plan your visit to experience a Sunday with us, or download the Church Center App to stay updated, join a group, register for events, and more.
