Jesus begins his message to the church of Smyrna with the words “I know”. I know what you’re going through. I know your works and struggles and poverty. I know. Sometimes when we’re struggling through circumstances that seem insurmountable it’s comforting to realize that God knows. He understands our struggles, our pain, our efforts. He knows and with knowledge comes something else; the fact that He cares.
The message to the church of Smyrna is one of comfort and assurance. It is Jesus speaking to his beloved as she is pressed down and walking through the fire and telling her to hang in there because He is walking through the fire with her.
Most historians believe that Polycarp was the leading bishop or minister of the church of Smyrna. The message to Smyrna covers the period of time when the Church went through tremendous persecution under the successive Roman Emperors.
When Polycarp was forced to offer incense to the Emperor as a sign of loyalty and fidelity he refused. He was then sentenced to death and was burned at the stake on Mount Pagus around 168 A.D.
Polycarp’s martyrdom was a small taste of the kind of persecution and suffering the church endured. The Smyrnian period of church history extends from about 100 A.D. to 350 A.D. It was during this time that the church suffered the most brutal persecution under the Roman Emperors. Men like Marcus Aurelius, Vespasian, Diocletian, and Domitian were both sadistic and relentless in their pursuit of Christians.
Many Christians were forced to meet in secret during this period of history. Many were burned at the stake or thrown to the wild beasts in arenas across the empire.
Jesus tells them in Revelation 2:10 that they would endure persecution ten days. Sometimes it helps to know that there is an end in sight to whatever awful thing we have been called to endure. In the case of Smyrna, the church during this period went through ten persecutions under Pagan Roman. It was an era of pain and bitterness but it was also an era of both spiritual purity and power.
Though persecuted the church kept her garments pure and spotless. She was pressed down to the grinding wheel of the oppressor but she did not allow her faith to be broken. Though crushed she emanated the sweet fragrance of Jesus' love for the Father and His truth.
Of all the periods of persecution, the worst of all took place over a period of ten years under Emperor Diocletian. This lasted from 303 A.D. to 313 A.D. until Constantine took the Imperial throne.
Unlike the other churches, Smyrna is not given any reproof. She didn’t need any. She was neither complacent nor deficient. Her spiritual experience was rich, her love for Jesus steadfast and sure. The church that suffered the greatest persecution is also the church that was the purest.
