The Testimony of an assembly that abides in its first love will be very costly, but because of our Glorified Lord it will be very much ‘worth it!’. [Smyrna, verse 10]
10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
The assembly at Smyrna is not rebuked for having left its first love. In fact, that assembly is not rebuked at all. Instead, those that assemble at Smyrna appear to have been quite willing to face severe persecution for abiding in their first love. As a result, this assembly is promised something wonderful.
The Glorified Lord tells them that they would have ‘tribulation ten days.’ When compared to the promise made by the Glorified Lord in Revelation 20:4, this persecution seems a very small thing.
I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
A thousand years [on the Jewish calendar] would be literally 360,000 days.
Tribulation 10 days, but Reigning with the Glorified Lord 360,000 days[1]
This is what the Glorified Lord is capable of promising His genuine followers. Do we really grasp the enormity of just Who this Glorified Lord really is in twenty-first century churches?
The Glorified Lord hates False Teaching more than we can imagine. [Pergamos, verses 14-15 and Thyatira, verses 20-25]
a. Verse 12- He that hath the sharp two-edged sword
b. Verse 18- He that hath eyes like a flame of fire
c. The Glorified Lord sees all False Teaching and will cut every bit of it entirely away, together with those that embrace it!
The Glorified Lord Identifies three forms of False Teaching that He hates:
a. Verse 14- Mixing Truth with Error, the essential nature of the ‘doctrine of Balaam,’ who taught Balac to lead Israel into combining idolatry with the Truth.
b. Verse 15- Tyrannical Leadership, the essential nature of the ‘doctrine of the Nicolaitans;’ literally “people-conquerors.”[2] This is the exact opposite of the admonition given through Peter [1 Peter 5:2-3] to those that were the overseers of the flock.
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
c. Verse 20ff- Embracing the Seed of the Serpent was the foundational error represented by the false ‘prophetess,’ Jezebel. This False Teaching embodied all that was true of the woman, Jezebel, in the O. T. [a] Defying God’s prophets, [b] Lording it over God’s people, [c] Mixing Truth with error, and [d] Satanic devil worship.[3]
These forms of error that the Glorified Lord identifies as being already present in these assemblies are very serious and could not be tolerated then. Nor can these same forms of false teaching be tolerated [or proliferated] in God’s assemblies today.
[1] The overall message of the book of Hebrews is that Christ is Better. Here we see that He is at least 36,000 times better than any tribulation we may be called upon to face in this world!
[2] See discussion of this same error in Revelation Verse-by-Verse, discussing 2:6.
[3] For the Satanism see Verse 24: …and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak.