Or their Angels in your Church?

Revelation 2:8-11

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

As I was reading about the second church mentioned in Revelation these thoughts came into my mind; each church had an angel assigned to it.  The words recorded are from Jesus Christ, and he is assuring us that he was dead, but that he is now very much alive.  He is telling the Smyrna church that He understands the tribulation and poverty that they are suffering, and yet they are rich; now that just does not seem to work together any more than darkness and light, so what is the message that Jesus wants them and us to understand?

The apostle Paul helped me understand this great truth; “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2Corinthians 5:17)  Since we have this relationship with God as our Father, not based on our actions, but because Jesus reconciled the world by His blood to the Father, we who enter into a relationship with Christ are now sons/daughters of the Creator God, and that is being rich.  Many of us understand the aging process but often we do not understand that in Christ our earth suit is heading to the dirt, but our spirit is being renewed each day; that is what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.  “Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that for out weighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

The enemy of both God and man is the devil, the devil is a created being just as you and I, but before his fall he was an archangel, his sin was pride, he wanted to have his throne above God’s, he wanted to be worshipped, and God tells us that Satan is a liar and a murderer, and the father of both.  Jesus is telling the Smyrna church that “the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested,” never forget the devil had to go to the Father to get access to them and to you, and never forget that God has put a limit to the devil’s temptations, and never forget that the devil knows his time is short, and he is filled with fury, but he has to go through the hand of God to get to you.

The apostle Paul told us the following, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”  That was good council then and it is good council today, because God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice