J Philip Bible Readings

⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

⁹ “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. ¹¹ 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.’

With great fitness our Lord addresses Himself to Smyrna - in the throes of persecution and tasting death for the testimony of Christ - as the First and the Last, Who was dead, and is alive. As the conqueror of death He is able to give them a crown of life. It is this paradox of death and life which explains the seemingly contradictory parenthesis 'but thou art rich' which follows the reference to their tribulation and poverty. How can you be rich when you are poor? The simple answer to this is: Tribulation works! 'Our light affliction', says Paul, 'which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory'. This is why Christ can say to His beleaguered people, 'Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer' (10), for 'these things' will in the sovereign purpose of God be made to work glory for them. The fact is, there is a real sense in which we create our capacity for glory by the things that we suffer for Christ's sake. Our lives are vessels that are being shaped for glory by the way in which we react to the pressures and tensions of Christian experience. Something of this wonderful and awesome principle is seen in the blessed effects it has upon us even in this life. Spurgeon once said 'Suffering enlarges the heart by creating the power to sympathise. We ought to be grateful for occasional griefs if they preserve us from chronic hardheartedness'. We may use Paul's words about godliness (1 Timothy 4:8) in this connection, and say that tribulation and poverty are 'profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come'.