(2) The Epistle to the Church in Smyrna, Ch. 2:8‐11
The epistle to the church in Smyrna is Christ’s message to a _suffering_ church, a church which had endured tribulation, poverty, and the blasphemy of the Jews:—“Fear not.... Be thou faithful”. Christ is here described as “the first and the last, who was dead and lived again”, a thought of special consolation for those who were about to be cast into prison in the coming persecution, and many of whom would suffer death—like Christ they would live again. There is, also, a possible allusion in this to the popular myth concerning the death and resurrection of Dionysius, the favorite deity of Smyrna,(335) with which the death and resurrection of Christ, the notable facts of the gospel, are placed in marked contrast. The recognized poverty of the church in such a rich city is remarkable, and it has been suggested that it may have been partly at least the result of pillage by a mob;(336) though more likely the feeling against the gospel in the midst of wealth like that of Smyrna was so strong as to make its message unacceptable to any but the very poor. It will be seen that the church receives no blame in this epistle, but only counsel and encouragement. The ten days of tribulation represent a period that is short but complete in itself, i. e. it has a fixed limit, for ten is the number of completeness. The crown of life promised to the victors is not the royal diadem but the victor’s crown, which is the symbol of life eternal, and is the antithesis of the second death, i. e. of the soul in hell (cf. ch. 20:14; and 21:8). John may have here had in mind the crown often laid upon the head of the dead body of an earthly victor in his funeral procession—a crown of death with which the crown of life is placed in apposition. The second death by which “he that overcometh shall not be hurt”, is the death of the soul—not ceasing to be, but dying to the best in life—the final condemnation which sinners undergo at the judgment. Smyrna is located some forty miles north, and somewhat west, of Ephesus, and was one of the most wealthy, important, and beautiful cities of Asia Minor. It has an unbroken record from the dawn of history to the present day, and now has a population of some two hundred and fifty thousand, and is both rich and prosperous.