Be Faithful until death

Rev.2:10, ‘Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.’

 This message to the church of Smyrna starts with the note of acknowledgement and ends with the note of encouragement. There is no warning in this message. Church in Smyrna had gone through much tribulations and through all those, they were molded much to take up challenges with a positive attitude. The Lord acknowledged their works, tribulation and poverty. When He acknowledges anything, it means that they have been done well in His sight. God allowed tribulations and they went through it without withdrawing in the gospel work. God allowed poverty & they went through it without being discouraged in the gospel work.

This church earned a unique acknowledgement certificate of being in poverty and at the same time rich. This is amazing. This clearly puts down the scale of measuring richness. While the world sees the thickness of purse and bank accounts, the Lord sees only the heart. A giving heart is rich in the sight of God even while facing poverty in this world. A poor widow put two coins which are all that she had into the offertory box & the Lord appreciated her before the people who thought were rich.  It’s not what and how much you have that makes you give.  A heart who has determined to give unto the Lord always finds something to give. On the other hand, a heart who has determined not to give never finds anything to give, irrespective of all he or she might be having.  It’s the attitude towards giving that makes us rich or poor in God’s sight.

Tribulations is a part of gospel work and a fruitful Christian life. No child of God is free from it. It is also a testing ground of the church. Anyone who goes though tribulation without loosing the first love for God proves his or her faithfulness towards the Lord. Today as persecution and tribulation is raising in an alarming rate all across nations, lets not be surprised for all these were spoken about by our Lord.  Mathew 10^th chapter talks much about the persecution His disciples would go through. V 22 says,  ^‘And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.’  Jn.15:18,  “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.’  In both these verses, our Lord clearly spoke about the hatred a God’s child would face. When we accept Christ as our Lord and savior, we start walking in the light. But the darkness around us cannot accept us. Those who are in darkness and have not yet received the light of the Lord cannot love those in the light. This is a spiritual war between darkness and the light. The fruitful children of God faces false accusations, blames, hatred for no valid reason. The reason seems to be hidden from the worldly eyes. But all who have received the spiritual aye sight can see it very well. Jesus was hated by the people whom He healed and fed. All 12 apostles were martyrs and the history of church has records of many who were killed, imprisoned, persecuted, beaten up etc. jut for one reason i.e. for standing for the Lord in truth. Persecutions can either build or destroy a life. It depends on how we take it and how we respond to it. Our response determines our destination. Even when the Lord allows persecutions, He makes us hear His voice so that we know the way we ought to walk in. The Lord says three things to the church in Smyrna :

1. ‘Do not fear’ : The fear of tribulation is more painful than the tribulation itself. When we realize that not a single thing happens in our lives without His knowledge and all things are in His control, we experience His love and presence even in the midst of tribulation. Paul and Silas could worship the Lord in the dark smelly prisons, while heavy chains pricked their legs and arms .  ‘Fear’ tears away the faith aspect to such an extent that we might endanger our very salvation. The very words ‘do not fear’ comforts and strengthens the church. Persecution can come to various people in various ways. For some, it might be in the gospel work, while for others, it might be from within the family, work places or even within the so called churches and fellowships. Whatever form it might take, the intention of our Lord is only one i.e. our purification. The only way to endure hatred and persecution is to love them back like Christ did. For this, we need to seek to be filled with His love and Spirit every day of our lives. Only through His Spirit, we can forgive and love as Jesus did.
2. ‘You will have tribulation ten days’ : One day is like thousand years and vice versa for the Lord (2 Pet.3:8). So ‘ten days’ does not point out to exactly ten days. Instead it points to the shortness of the same in comparison to the unending extent of eternity. Here, the Lord asks the church to mold their attitude towards tribulation. It’s so true that the waiting period of a God’s child for deliverance etc. is much challenging and its sad to see many falling away from grace when they are unable to face it any more. Most of us feel that we have waited long enough for our answers and tend to ask ‘Lord why so long?’, ‘ Lord, when ?’ etc. Such an attitude tend to drain us off from the spiritual strength . But here also, the Lord is providing us with a solution. The solution is not the answer itself for which we might be waiting, but the change in our attitude. He asks us to compare the extent of the eternal life in Christ with the duration of tribulation here on earth. Only this attitude can strengthen us to endure the tribulation. 2 Cor.4:17, ‘For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸ while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.’ Note the two comparisons made by apostle Paul between afflictions and eternal life. 1^st -Afflictions are light when seen in the light of exceeding weight of glory. 2^nd -Afflictions are momentary in the light of eternal glory.  That’s why this blessed apostle could claim that nothing could separate him from the love of Christ (Rom.8:35-39). Moreover, he could go further to say that the sufferings of present time are unworthy to be compared with eternal glory (Rom.8:18). Let’s put on this mind of Christ which alone can empower us to endure the sufferings on this earth.
3. ‘Be faithful until death’ : We understand very well that faithfulness is to continue doing things given to us till the end of our lives. But in the verses Mt.25:14-30, we see that the servants who traded their talents and made them double of what they received were called ‘good and faithful servant’. Faithfulness is doing and also growing in the talents given to us. Growth part is what separated the servant who did not trade the one talent he got from the rest of the servants. This church of Smyrna faced lot of persecution, but that could not move them back from the work of the Lord given to them. Faithfulness and persecutions clash each other in the sense that the fear of latter often rub away the sharpness of the previous factor. Faithfulness that way is moving ahead against the flow, which requires exceedingly great power of the Spirit of God which alone can empower us to do so.

The phrase ‘until death’ does not leave a single breath on this earth without Christ. That manifests the Lordship of Christ over our entire life. The thief on the cross saw the death of  Christ on the cross, and he himself died believing that he would go to the paradise with the Lord the same day. What an awesome faith ! The death of bleeding Christ had given birth to a death hoping to live after death with Jesus (Lk.22:42-43). Jn.19:31-33 shows that Christ died ahead of the two thieves on either side. The saved soul saw resurrected Christ in faith , waiting for him as he breathed his last on that cross. This is exactly ‘being faithful until death’. Spirit filled Stephen saw the heaven open and Christ standing on the right hand side of heavenly Father as he was being stoned to death. Acts 7:55 speaks clearly of the manifestation of togetherness of  trinity  during the death of a righteous soul. Stephen was filled with Holy Spirit and he saw  Jesus standing and the heavenly Father sitting in heaven from the earth as he breathed his last. Moreover, the last words that came from the mouth of the saved thief and Stephen were those of prayers, just as in case of Christ Himself. May the last words of our lives be words of prayers. May our last breath witness the sight of togetherness of trinity and hope of Christ waiting for us. This is ‘being faithful until death’….holding on to the hope of eternal life in Christ till the end of our lives.

The faithful persecuted lives end up with crown of life.  The message to Smyrna church ends with the same note for the overcomers as in for all seven churches. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” An overcomer is a good listener. He or she is keen in listening to what the Spirit of the Lord says. A keen listener listens to obey, and not just for the sake of listening. An overcomer is an obedient person. Overcomers shall not be hurt of the 2^nd death. 2^nd death is the eternal separation from the Lord and His presence. It’s the final condemnation to the hell of fire, from where no one has any escape route. It’s so frightening and so scary to be abandoned by our Creator. But dear friends, let not this scene drive us to obedience. Instead, let the love of Christ displayed so marvelously on the cross of Calvary compel us to obey and to be an  faithful overcomer. Let the love of Christ strengthen us to endure persecutions, if allowed in our lives. Let our hearts desire and thirst to understand the depth, width, length and the height of His immeasurable love. May God make each of us an overcomer and thus eat of the tree of life.

 God bless us all

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