The faith that overcomes… a look at Revelation 2:8-11.
In times of suffering, have you ever longed for someone who could truly understand what you are going through… someone who could genuinely lament alongside you. I remember as a twelve-year-old child, not being able to explain the torment of the cycling worries that were a product of my OCD. My father meant well, but his means of helping was a directive to ‘just stop it’. My mother knew it wasn’t that simple and tried her best to understand, even though she had never experienced anything like it herself. Night after night of lying awake, unable to clear my mind of the cyclone of anxiety, sometimes I thought death would be the only way I would ever have peace and be free of it. Yet, through those sleepless nights, as the thoughts swirled, screaming their what-if’s, I would pray to drown them out. And even as a young child, it was the presence of Him that I felt as I prayed that got me through each night… the rock that held steady amid the crashing waves. At the time, of course, I could never have imagined any purpose for the relentless worries that I battled, but today I see so clearly how God used that time in my life to strengthen me for the real worries that would come later.
In Revelation 2:8-11, Jesus addresses the church in Smyrna. He begins by introducing Himself as “…the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive” (Revelation 2:8 KJV). He has no negative comments or criticisms for this church. His message is one of understanding. He tells them that He is aware of their works and their suffering… their tribulations and poverty. He says, “I know…” (Revelation 2:9). And yet, as He uses the word ‘know’ to indicate His awareness, He is also the One who truly knows from an empathetic stance what this church was enduring. Jesus had walked the earth, showing compassion, healing the sick, performing miracle after miracle, and yet faced ultimate rejection and persecution. He was betrayed, mocked, scourged, spat on, and then suffered a horrific death, nailed to a cross. And as far as poverty, when a certain scribe had asked to follow Him, Jesus replied, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20 KJV).
Therefore, the church in Smyrna can be certain that there isn’t anything they have gone through or will go through that Jesus cannot relate. So even though He goes on to warn them of more persecution to come, His initial introduction stating that He “… was dead, and is alive,” gives Him the rapport and authority to offer them encouragement (Revelation 2:8 KJV). He assures them that if they are “…faithful unto death…,” He will give them “… a crown of life…” (Revelation 2:10 KJV). But how can one endure such harsh persecution, even to the point of death? The author of Hebrews says we should follow the example of Christ as he urges us to “…run with endurance the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2 KJV). Christ knew the purpose of His death and that His death was not final. He died in our place, fully aware that He would be resurrected, which would allow us to spend eternity with Him. Just as Christ saw the outcome, we can endure by knowing that by God’s Grace through faith in Christ, we have eternal life. And as Paul notes on suffering in his letter to the Philippians, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10 KJV).
In addition, Jesus promises, “…He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death” (Revelation 2:11 KJV). What does it mean to be one who overcomes? According to John’s epistle, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5 KJV).
In the midst of suffering, we can be assured that there is One who understands… who sees beneath the layers of skin to the core of our emotions and pain. And because of our faith in Christ as the Son of God who died for our sins and was resurrected so that we could live forever with Him in a relationship with God, we are overcomers.
May we stand strong as overcomers through our faith in Christ.
