Well, we want to say Shabbat Shalom to everyone. Welcome to the Bible classes of the Holy Scriptures and Israel. We thank the Lord for the opportunity He gives us to learn from His Word. We need His grace and His help as we go over this very important book of Revelation, and, and we are now in chapter two, Revelation chapter two, and in the second letter, that the glorified Messiah wrote to the church in, in Asia Minor, and this time, to the church of Smyrna. So we will just pray together, and then we will read the portion from the word of God. Let's ask the Lord to bless us. Our God and our Father, help us as we learn together from your, from your precious word. Bless your word to our hearts. You know how we need help from thee to understand your scripture.

We ask that we, as, as learners, will seek to find your will as we learn from the word of God together. We commit ourselves to you for this meeting, and we ask it in the name of Yeshua, Jesus, our Lord and our Messiah. Amen. Amen. So let's just, brothers and sisters, open in the Word of God to Revelation chapter 2, and I would like to read in Revelation chapter 2, verses 8, 9, 10, and 11. Very few verses for this church of Smyrna, that the letter was written by the Lord, and let's see if we'll be able to cover this and with the help of the Lord. So we read in chapter 2, Revelation 2, verse 8. And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write, These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich, and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not.

But are the synagogue of Satan. 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 the crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. And I'm stopping here with this verse eleven of this second chapter. This is the second letter, this is the second letter that the glorified Christ, Mashiach, Messiah, is asking John, Yochanan, to write now, as, John is on the island of Patmos.

John, being on the island of Patmos, according to chapter, one and verse nine, he was banished to the island of Patmos because he testified to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua HaMashiach. He was sharing the message of the gospel, he was sharing the word of God, he was presenting the person of the Lord Jesus, he was teaching his word, and because he was ministering the word of God, he was banished by the emperor to the island of Patmos.

And to remind you that the island of Patmos was a place that really the, those that were punished by the emperors were, were banished there to the island of Patmos. And the island of Patmos is in present day Turkey, in, in these, in days of, in, I'm sorry, present day Greece, and from Greece, as the, the, as John was there, he received that amazing book of Revelation. Now, as he received that book of Revelation, we have already covered the first chapter and the first seven verses of chapter two, and in this, this section that we have covered so far, we have learned that the Lord is now in glory after his resurrection and ascension, and about ninety-five, ninety-six A.D., John, Yohanan, was the last apostle that remained alive, and he was used by the glorified Christ, Mashiach, Messiah, he was used by him to receive this amazing book of Revelation, and he was called to write this down, the events that will take place.

Throughout church history and beyond. Just to remind you that in chapter one and verse nineteen we have the division of the book of Revelation. Write the things which thou hast seen, that's the vision of Revelation one. And the things which are, this has to do with chapter two and chapter three, present day church age. And the things which shall be hereafter, these are the things that will take place after the church age will come to an end, the church will be taken and raptured, and then the days of tribulation will come, and ultimately Israel's restoration, the establish of the Messianic kingdom, and ultimately the eternal state that is found at the end of the book of Revelation. So now as the John was there, the Lord told him, if you remember in chapter one and verse eleven, he said to John, he said, I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book.

And then he says, send it unto the seven churches, which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. So John was called to write what the Lord Jesus the Messiah gave him and to send that to these seven churches. The number seven in scripture oftentimes speaks of fullness and completeness and a full number and while these seven letters were written to the seven assemblies in Asia Minor, actually the whole book of Revelation was to be sent to these seven local assemblies. And you notice the order in which we have them, these seven churches are located now in Turkey, ancient Asia Minor, and these seven churches are named for us, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Now to remind you, someone must have come, a representative from every local church somehow had to receive these, the whole book of Revelation, including the seven churches that were written to the believers in Asia Minor, and somehow Yochanan ben Zavdai, to remind you that he was a fisherman from Galilee, a simple man that the Lord raised to become the apostle that was used by the Lord Jesus the Messiah to be the apostle of affection.

He was the one that leaned on Jesus' breast at the Passover, at Pesach, and he was now used by the Lord to send these letters. Somehow, there was a representative that came, he's called an angel of the church of, must have come or somehow he must have handed to a seven local individuals and they would carry the book of revelation to all these seven churches, seven assemblies. Just remember brothers and sisters, when we say churches, we don't mean bricks and cement and wood, we mean believers. Church is a composition of those that are called out ones, the called out ones.

Now, as we are moving along now, as the seven, as the whole book of Revelation was written, now he's specifically writing seven letters in chapter two and chapter three of Revelation that the Messiah, Christ, asked John to write these words in a book and to send them to them, and he had something to say to every local church in Asia Minor. Now, just to remind you, these seven letters, Jesus the Messiah, who is the glorified head of the church, is pointing in these seven letters, he's pointing to the spiritual condition of each one of these seven local churches. Then he's admonishing each one, and ultimately he's correcting that which is wrong. And you know, there's wrong in each one of us.

And each one of us need to be corrected and instructed. Each one of us need grace and help from the Lord in order to be a blessing to the household of faith. And so these letters are also speaking to each and every one of us to search our hearts and to ask the Lord to help us so we will be able to serve Him better. And so just to remind you that each one of these seven churches has a meaning and you remember these beloved brothers and sisters I just want to mention that that Ephesus means desirable. Esmirna means come from the word myrrh speaks of bitterness and more and suffering. Pergamos or Pergamon means thoroughly married. In Hebrew nasui beisodiyut.

Thyatira means continual sacrifice, korban mitmashech. Then Sardis means those that have escaped, ele shenimletu, we will talk about each one of them. Philadelphia, of course, we know, come from the word phileo, brotherly love, ahavat achim. And then, of course, Laodicea simply speaks of people's rule, shilton anashim. So you have desirable, in Hebrew ratzui. Myrrh, or Smyrna, in myrrh, bitterness, in Hebrew mar, mor. Pergamos, thoroughly marriage, in Hebrew nasui beisodiyut. Thyatira, continuous sacrifice, korban mitmashech. And then, Sardis, those that have escaped, ele shenimletu, and ultimately Philadelphia, brotherly love, ahavat achim, and Laodicea, the people rule, shilton anashim. And every one of these beloved brothers and sisters of these seven churches are real assemblies, real churches located in real cities in Asia Minor. And every one of them gives us a message.

When we studied the letter that was written to the Ephesian assembly, they had some desirable spiritual condition. We have learned about it in the first seven verses of chapter two, but they also, beloved brothers and sisters, these seven churches represent a long period of church history. And every one of these seven churches pointing to a certain period of time of church history, and I, and I just wanted to point this to you as well, beloved brothers and sisters, I just wanted to mention this once again, because these seven local, churches with these seven names represented a certain age in church history as well. I'm, I'm going, I'm repeating over what I've already said in, in early, in early meetings, but I think it is good to remind us that Ephesus represented the first hundred years of the church age. It is, the, from 30 AD to about 100 AD. Then Smyrna represented the second period of time in church history, from about 100 AD to about 313 AD.

And then thirdly, Pergamos, from 313 to 600 AD. Then we have Thyatira representing the age in the part of the church age from about 600 AD to about 1517 AD. And then Sardis represent an age or period of time in the church history from about 1517 to about 1700 AD. And Philadelphia representing the period of time of church history from about 1700 to 1800 where there was brotherly love and there was awakening of the preaching of the gospel and many came to know the Lord but the end, the Laodicean age, or period of time of church history, represent the people rule, the Lord is outside of the assembly, and it takes us from the present day, we might say from about 1800 AD to the time that the assembly, the true heavenly company, the true assembly, the church will be taken, at the rapture to heaven to meet the Lord in the air, and then we will have the tribulation period.

Israel is here on earth, the world is still on earth, Israel will be refined and will ultimately be restored, the messianic kingdom will be established, and ultimately the reign of the Messiah and the eternal order as we will study at the end of the book of Revelation. Well, we are now in the second letter, that the Apostle John was writing by the word of the Lord to the church that is called Smyrna. I want you just to notice a little bit on the outline as we are studying this together. First of all, I'm reading this, notice that, the Lord is continuing in a very same structure as he have done it before, and he's writing, he says, and unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write. This is verse eight. Notice, unto the angel, now the word for angels, angelos in the Greek, in Hebrew, malach, malach, that's where we have in Hebrew the word malachi, you know, malachi, malachi, malachi, malachi my messenger.

We find in the book of Malachi, the book of Malachi, three times, beloved brothers and sisters, that the word Malachi or Malachi is mentioned, or my messenger is mentioned. One time it's applied to the prophet himself, Malachi. Another time it's applied to the Levites who are messengers of the Lord, also called the messengers, Malachai, servants. And ultimately it's also mentioning about the Lord Jesus the Messiah. He is the messenger of the new covenant, the one who would ultimately come. It's the Hebrew Malachi simply means my messenger. Well, Angelos, unto the angel, unto the messenger of the church in Smyrna, write. Apparently, that representing the spiritual element, the spiritual leadership of any local assembly. In the context of our study, in Revelation 2 and verse 8, it speaks of the messenger. The spiritual leader, or we can say really, because we have to be, to have plurality of leadership in any local assembly, here is a letter that was written to the spiritual leadership of the church in the city that is called Smyrna.

And you know, dear beloved brothers and sisters, that the, the name Smyrna is mentioned here, very interesting name, because the word Smyrna is coming from the word, mor, in Hebrew, mor, bitter. Apparently, in church history, this local church, local assembly, have experienced much persecution and bitterness and suffering because of their faith in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Lord Yeshua HaMashiach. And so, here you notice again that by mentioning the name of that particular church in the city of Smyrna, in chapter two verse eight, we find out that the Lord is by, by using the name, is you might say, expressing before them the fact that he knows what they are going through.

Smyrna speaks of mar, of bitterness, and it tells us that this local assembly have experienced suffering and bitterness. In fact, this church of Smyrna represent the persecution, a church, it is a persecuted assembly in the city of Smyrna. Today the name of the city is Izmir. You have people that at least profess to know the Lord, the Lord knows his own, they are everywhere, and it is today called, the city is called Izmir, and during the time when John was writing this letter, he wrote it to a church that suffered much, and I want you for a moment just to turn with me to Exodus chapter 30, and I just wanted to know that the word, it comes from the Hebrew word mor, and in Exodus chapter 30 and verse 23, we learn that this special substance that produces a bitter substance was used for the anointing oil of the priests and the temple and the tabernacle in days of old.

Notice I just read one verse in Exodus chapter 30 and verse 23, where we do read, notice that, Take thou also unto thee principal spices. And he said, notice the first thing that they are to take is mar. In Hebrew it's called mor, here it says in English myrrh, and mor is a bitter substance. And that bitter substance you acquire by beating of the that special tree that the the whatever comes out of this tree you beat it and it is a a substance that is very bitter.

It was used in addition to the cinnamon and sweet calamus and acacia and olive oil together it is mixed and it becomes as it says in verse twenty five of Exodus chapter thirty thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment. An ointment compound after the art of the apothecary this is like specially made it shall be an holy anointed anointing oil. So the the the myrrh was used to be part of the making of the ointment to, to anoint the, the, the tabernacle, the, the, the priests, and, and so on, and so on. It's a bitter substance, and it's also very interesting, because when we read Matthew chapter two, when the wise men came from the east, they brought these gifts to the Mashiach, to the Messiah, and Bethlehem, and you remember one of these gifts that they gave was more, was more, and, and this more represent the sufferings of the Lord Jesus the Messiah.

You remember they gave him also a frankincense, and, and so on, and that is representing before us the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah and his uniqueness. I just want to read that verse in Matthew chapter two, and it says to us in verse, eleven, they gave the gift to the child, gold represent his deity, frankincense represent his perfect humanity, and the myrrh, the myrrh represent his suffering and death of the Messiah, according to Matthew chapter 2 and verse 11. Now again, to remind you that it reminds us of the suffering of the Lord Jesus himself. And this church in Smyrna is representing, beloved brothers and sisters, a suffering, a local assembly who suffered for the name of the Lord. You know, we read in 1 Peter, in chapter 2 and verse 18 onwards, of the fact that sometime God's people would experience a suffering. You remember what it said for this is thankworthy, this is 1 Peter 2 19, if a man for conscience towards God, endure grief and suffering wrongfully.

For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently, but if when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. So apparently, beloved brothers and sisters, this local assembly in Asia Minor that is called here Smyrna, really representing a church that has suffered, that more speak of their suffering. And you know, beloved brothers and sisters, of course, we are privileged to live in a country that we still have liberties and privileges, but you see, in the early days of the church age, the believers in Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, suffered tremendously, suffered tremendously because of their faith in Christ, the faith in the Mashiach. And so, you can see now that the Lord Jesus the Messiah is writing this letter to this local assembly, and I would like to suggest, beloved brothers and sisters, that in every period of time of church history, there is always somewhere in the world believers that experience suffering, including today.

Some local churches in perhaps in a communist country or in a country of maybe Islamic world where they cannot have the privileges that you and I have still today, they suffer. And you have local churches that suffer in many, many places throughout the world. And so this church representing a suffering assembly that have suffered by others as they seek to follow the Lord. Now, after we find out the location, and we heard about this location in verse 8a, you notice in verse 8b, there is a description of the Messiah. And you notice this, beloved brothers and sisters, this is a pattern that we have throughout the whole, chapter two and chapter three. The Mashiach, Christ, give a description of himself.

And the description that we have is taken for all the seven churches from chapter one, verses ten to twenty, from the vision of the glorified Christ, the glorified Mashiach, Who is the king, but in a role of a judge. He's a coming king, but he isn't coming to judge this world. We'll see the tribulation later on from chapter 6 to chapter 19. But he's observing what's going on in the midst of the local assemblies. He knows your heart and mind. He knows our failure. He knows our shortcoming. And he's appealing to us and he want us to be restored to himself and to seek to be a blessing to God's people. You see in the, in the, when we studied the, the first assembly of Ephesus, he says, look, he says, I have something against you. And he said to them that you have left your first love. Oh yes, you have doctrine, you have, you have good works, but your heart affection towards the Lord, you have left it.

See, he's giving an appeal, but is always a description. in When it's come to the church of Ephesus, he said, he that hold the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. He represent, he presented himself with this description. I'm the one that he sees everything that is going on. I'm holding the leadership, and I know what's going on in the assembly, and I'm walking around, and I see what's going on.

And he seeks for all his people to be restored to him and to seek to please him. But now when it's come to the church of Smyrna, in this next verse, verse 8b of Revelation chapter 2, notice the description. The description is different than the description that he gave to of himself to the church at Ephesus. Here in verse 8b we read, and I'm reading that, he said in verse 8b, he says, This thing says he that is the first and the last which was dead and is alive. Now why does he give this description of himself to the church of Smyrna? Well he gave this description of himself to the church of Smyrna because he experienced suffering. The Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, here in this world, he have experienced sufferings, persecution, and ultimate death.

But he died willingly. He laid down his life. He suffered and he died, and he gave himself, as we have read in John 10, therefore doth my father love me. He fulfilled what Isaiah, Yeshayahu, said to the people of Israel prophetically about the sufferings of the Messiah, that he will come to suffer and die. The psalmist of Israel, David, says they pierced prophetically about the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, they pierced my hands and my feet. He died, and he was buried. But notice, he's encouraging them, he says, look, these things says he that is the first and the last, here he speaks about his deity. He's divine, God the Son, but also he which was dead and is alive. Well, if he is the first and the last, speaking about his divine nature, God never dies. But God the Son took human nature with his divine nature, and now as man, he came to this world to become the savior of sinners.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He gave his son to this world that whosoever believeth on him and that his finished work of redemption Whosoever believeth on him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. I just wanted to mention here that in, in the book of Isaiah, if you just read with me Isaiah chapter 45, and you notice what God said of himself, Isaiah chapter 40, 43, notice it says in verse 10, God said of himself, Ye are my witnesses, says the Lord, this is Jehovah, L O R D, capital L O R D, this is Jehovah, and my servant whom, I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am he, before me there was no God form, neither shall after me be, or neither there be after me. God is the first, God is the last, nobody came before him, no one came after him.

In chapter 48 of Isaiah, and verse 12, We do read, and I'm reading, Harkin unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called, I am he, I am the first, and I am the last. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus the Messiah is saying to the church of Smyrna, I am the first and I am the last. He is the divine God, the Son who became a man, and as a man he suffered and died. I was dead, but I'm now alive. When you think about that, beloved brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus came to die.

And who he can identify the most with, people who suffer. And people who ultimately will be killed, many of the believers in the church, in the local city of Smyrna suffered and died. In fact, many believers throughout church history, those who truly believe in the Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, they suffered and many of them died. So here is the encouragement of the risen Messiah now that John saw in a vision in chapter one, as he's in the island of Patmos, the Christ, the Messiah gave him that message to write to the seven local assemblies in Asia Minor, but here he's writing to the assembly in Smyrna. Now let's move along. In verse nine, it's very interesting now, we have the commendation. You remember what, what we learn that the Lord and he's writing these letters.

He always commending, you know, it's so precious. You know, there's almost, there's always something wrong with us to find something wrong. He can find fault in all of us. In fact, out of the seven churches to whom he wrote, two of them he didn't condemn, he only commend, because, not because they were perfect, but because he didn't want to emphasize that which was not so much right there, because they were, they were experiencing persecution.

They are the church in Smyrna, more, more bitterness, suffering, sorrows, and, and persecution of the believers. In that city, in that locality, which represents sufferings of believers, throughout church age, throughout the, the world, in every period of time doing that, last approximately two thousand years of church history. And so he's now commending them. He says, notice what he's telling to them. In this very interesting verse, verse, nine. You see, in verse eight A, we have the location, Smyrna. In verse eight B, we have the description of the Messiah, description of Christ. He is the, the first and the last, he's the one that was dead, and he's now alive. Now, in verse nine, he giving a commendation. And you notice in verse nine, twofold commendation. Verse nine A and verse nine B. In verse nine A, he said, I know, notice thy works, tribulation, poverty. In other words, what he's saying to them, You are suffering, he said, notice I'm going to read this again, I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich.

So what he's saying to them, I know, I see everything that is going on in your midst. I know the works that you are doing, the works has to do, again to remind you, it's not works for salvation, it is works because of their salvation, because they belong to the Lord, so they wanted to serve the Lord, to do the work of the Lord, they wanted to minister the word, to minister to the saints, to do the works of God.

He, they became his, we are all called to be his workmanship, God is using his people to do the work of the Lord. Practical work, spiritual work, the things that God delight to have his people doing for himself and for the people of God. But then he doesn't stop there. He doesn't say only I know your works, but he also noticed he said I know your tribulation.

You see, here's the, the tribulation. Now he doesn't speak here about the tribulation. You know, always we have to be careful as we study the book of Revelation that we don't mix between a period of time that is called the wrath of God, the tribulation. And that has a reference to seven years, period of time, which will take place after the assembly will be taken out of this world. And it will take place here upon this world, upon the face of this world, to do two things, to refine the nation of Israel, who need ultimately to accept Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, and to judge the world ultimately and to bring about a kingdom, the Messian kingdom, the thousand years reign of the Messiah. That was already promised through the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Israel when God says, speaking about the Jacob's trouble. So here when he says, I know your works and tribulation, he doesn't speak here about the great tribulation mentioned in the prophet Jeremiah, but he's speaking about tribulation that all believers do experience in their life.

In fact, let me just read you that verse in Jeremiah 30 and verse 7. Alas, for that day, speaking about specific period of time, is great, so that none is like it, the special, no other day like this, and that day is called, it is even the time of Jacob's. Trouble. In Hebrew it's called tsarat Yaakov. Tsarat Yaakov. But he shall be saved out of it. In other words, Jacob will go through trouble and he will be saved, he will be delivered out of it. I will take him through this trouble and he will deliver out of this trouble, of the Jacob's trouble. But here, beloved brothers and sisters, the Lord is saying through John to the believers in Smyrna, I know your works and I know your tribulation. You remember at the end of chapter 16 of the Gospel of John, Jesus the Messiah said, he said to them, at these things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace, shalom, in the world ye shall have tribulation.

But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. So tribulation is part and parcel of the experience of all believers, although we don't like tribulation, but the local believers in the city of Smyrna experience tribulation. And the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the glorified Christ, he emphasizes, I know it. I know your works, I know your tribulation, but I also know your poverty, apparently because they committed themselves to the Lord, they became poor.

They became poor materially, probably because of persecution. They became very poor because they trusted in the Lord and because those that opposed them have inflicted them, and ultimately they became poor. But you notice he adds here, but thou art rich. They became poor here in this world, but because of their relationship to the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, they actually became rich by virtue of the fact that spiritually they became a rich spiritually, because you know what happened? When everything goes well in our life, and we know that, and there's no problem, we don't seek the Lord, we think that we can do without the Lord, we can do better. You know, it's happened in Israel's history, when things were good, and the nation felt, well, everything is fine, and they set aside the things of God.

And you see, it's happened in church history as well, when things are fine and good, setting aside the things of God, the things of the Lord Jesus. But when there is trouble, we seek to cling to the Lord. You know, Jacob, and when he returned from Laban to the Promised Land, according to the book of Genesis chapter 31, when he was anticipating his brother Esav to come against him and to kill him, there was appeared a man to him there that was the pre-incarnate Messiah, Jesus, the Messiah. And he touched, and he, he was struggling with him until he touched the hollow of his thigh. This man that appeared, pre-incarnate Messiah, touched the hollow of Yaakov's thigh, and Yaakov clinged to him. He said, I will not let you go. Bless me, bless me, bless me.

See, that's what happened when we are in trouble and difficulties and persecution, we turn to whom? To whom shall we turn? Men fail, we all fail, and we can turn to the Lord, and we ask him, Lord, help me. And so while we become, while they were poor, and yet they became spiritually rich. And you see, as we will look forward, you will notice, beloved brothers and sisters, that now here is very difficult kind of statement here in verse 9b, in connection with the commendation. In verse 9b, he's saying, I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Now, this is a very interesting expression. It's mentioned more than once here, those that say that they are Jews and are not. Now, there are various views on that. And many times people are looking at this verse. If you turn with me to Romans chapter two for a moment.

In Romans chapter two, you have this, this verse that the Apostle Paul used in order to explain the fact that all of us are guilty in the death of the Messiah. And at the end of verse of, Romans chapter two, Paul is giving, an, an illustration, and he's speaking, as the two Jewish people are speaking, the context is in chapter two is the, the sinfulness not only of the Gentiles, verses one to sixteen, but the sinfulness of the Jews in verse seventeen to verse twenty-nine. So the context is like speaking, it's like two Jewish people speak to one another, and, the one says, in verse twenty-eight, for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly.

Neither is the circumcision which is an outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter whose praise, taking us back to Genesis 29 35, whose praise is not of man, but of God. So what Paul is really saying, and John is really kind of helping us here to see, apparently, the believers in Smyrna did suffer by the Jewish community who did not want specifically the Jewish people to believe that Jesus was the Messiah.

And so the true Jews were not only Jews outwardly, but also inwardly, but what's happening here, the Jews in the city of Smyrna persecuted the believers there, and you notice what it says here in verse nine, that they blasphemy of them that say that they are Jews, and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. Now I would like to mention this, that if you would look at church history, especially from the book of Acts, Acts chapter four, Acts chapter five, Acts chapter six, Acts chapter seven, Acts chapter eight, including Acts chapter nine, the Jewish believers, the church which were composed of all Jewish believers of first century, were persecuted by their brethren, because they didn't want them to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. In fact, Shaul Paul, who became the apostle to the, uncircumcision, persecuted his Jewish brethren the most.

He was a Pharisee of Pharisees, and what did he do? He took letter, if you read in Acts chapter nine, he went on his mission to go to Damascus, and there, if you remember, in chapter nine, I just read this verse in Acts chapter nine, he, Saul was a breathing out, threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. He went unto the priests, and a desire of him, letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, that he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. You see, most likely, Jewish people who persecuted believers, most likely they persecuted Jewish people who became believers in Jesus, because they didn't want the Jewish people to come to know that Jesus was the Messiah.

And here we find out that there were those that were called Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. Well, that may be one way to look at it. But there's also another way that I would like to suggest, because this church, and during that time, there was a time that they were beginning of the persecution, the Roman persecution. And we read from, from history that the Romans persecuted the church, in fact, from, we put it for you on the, on the, we, we show it to you that, Smyrna means myrrh, and it's representing the suffering from about 100 AD to 313 AD, where there was Roman emperor persecution of the church.

And that's why you will notice that, that in the next, verses as we are studying here about Smyrna, you will notice that, these believers in Smyrna experienced a persecution of, from the Roman Empire as well. In fact, we do read, listen to this. In, we read that, the Romans who worshiped the emperor as God, in the year 42 BC, Caesar was formally defined as the divine Julius.

And then, and then Caesar Augustus henceforth became the son of God, considered to be a son of God. And therefore, Caesar was God, and the Romans, worshiped the Caesars as God. And the Christians, the believers, worshiping, worshiped Jesus, the Messiah, as the true son of God, or God the son. And so the Romans claimed to be the people of God and persecuted the church in church history from about 100 AD to about 313 AD where the Emperor Constantine, and let me just read you this, in about 313 AD the Emperor Constantine issued an edict of Milan which decriminalized Christianity, faith in Christ, in the Messiah, and decreed that Roman citizens had the liberty of to observe the religion of their choice and their particular mode of worship. That's happening in 313 AD.

The government was still actively persecuting Christians and attempting to destroy all traces of the, of the practices of, of that religion, of that faith, yet Constantine's edict was a radical move towards tolerance, and his death at about 337 AD, Christians occupied major roles in upper, in, in, in Roman, in the Roman government, in the government, in the society of the Roman Empire. Since Constantine gave this edict that Christian, that Christianity can, can be practiced by all who wish to do so. Again, I'm going back to our chapter. I know thy works, verse nine of Hebrews, of Revelation chapter two, your tribulation, your poverty in their locality, but you are really spiritually rich. He said, and I know the blasphemy of them which say that are Jews and are not. Now, also this expression is very interesting. You either a Jew or you are not.

According to 1 Corinthians chapter ten, the apostle Paul said in verse thirty two, he says, give no offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God. Unbelieving Jews are still Jews in the flesh. And John knew it very well, the Lord knew it very well, Paul knew it very well. But the point here, there are those who claim, the term here, those that claim to be Jews claim to be the people of God. But they were not. They were of the synagogue of Satan.

And we can look at it in these two ways. On the one way, Jewish people who should be not only Jews by birth, but Jews by faith in God and in a Messiah, complete Jews, as true as Jewish people who are believing in a Messiah call today, completed Jews. Paul said of himself, I'm a man which am, not was, I'm a man which am a Jew.

And the other way to look at that is that there were people who claiming to be the people of God, the term Jews, the people of God, but they were really not. And that applied to the Roman Empire. Now you can see how it is connected with the next verses. And so now as we move along, and you can see it in the next verses, beloved brothers and sisters, in verses, verse 10, he there, by the way, he's passing over condemnation, he doesn't condemn them whatsoever, because he's encouraging these believers in, in Smyrna, because they suffered, they were persecuted, and they were, had tribulation, they were poor, but they were spiritually rich, so he does not condemn them, if there was anything wrong there, and I'm sure there is wrong in everyone, in every local church, but he pass over that, he doesn't condemn them, but he's now giving them a, a, an exhortation, after he gave a commendation, now he gives them an exhortation in verse 10, and that is also very, very beautiful, listen to what he tells them in verse 10, we, and then we only have verses 10 and 11, he said to them in verse 10, fear not.

He said of those things which thou shalt suffer, behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried or tested, and ye shall have tribulation ten days. But be thou faithful even or unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. Now notice, beloved brothers and sisters, in the exhortation, he's passing over condemnation, he doesn't condemn them, but he telling them, A, first of all, do not fear of the suffering that ye are, that are about to come upon you. You are going to experience suffering. Secondly, he's telling the devil that is Satan will cast you into prison to be tested. In other words, you in your locality, the believers in, in Smyrna, in Mor, in Mar, they will experience, Satan will cast them into prison. Apparently, they will be cast into prison, and you will experience trouble for, the third thing he's saying to them, for ten days.

And then he tells them, but be faithful, and I will give you the crown of life. Now, again, we can very easily connect it with the years of the persecution of the church doing from 100 AD to about 313 or 303 AD, where Christianity or Christians, and I would say, what we say Christians, we don't mean professing Christian, we mean true believers in Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, were experiencing tribulation, not only for those ten days, maybe those ten were ten literal days in the locality of, of Smyrna, and they were put in prison, but there were ten emperors in the Roman Empire, there were more than ten, but there were specific ten emperors that inflicted the most persecution on the Christians, on the Meshichim, the believers in the Lord Jesus the Messiah, and just to give you their name, the first one was Nero, in about fifty four to sixty four, sixty four, sixty eight A.D.

The second one was Domitian. From about sixty eight to ninety six A D. And Domitian was the one who banished the apostle Yohanan who is now receiving the, the, the letter, the letters from the Lord, the book of Revelation from the glorified Christ, the glorified Messiah. He was banished by Domitian to the island that is called Patmos.

The third one was a Trajan that is from about 98 to 117 AD. The fourth one was under the, Hadrian from about 117 to 138 AD. The fifth emperor was Antoninus and from 139 to 161 AD. The sixth one was, Septimius Severus from 193 to 211 AD. The seventh one was under Maximinus in 235 AD to 238 AD. The eighth one, that emperor that inflicted a persecution on the believers of the, of the church, of the assembly was Decius and from 249 to 251. The Ninth one was Valerianus from 253 to 260, and the last one was Diocletian, well from about 303, and maybe a little bit onward to 305 AD. Ten emperor persecution, Roman persecution, that was inflicted upon the church in these days from about 100 AD all the way to about 303 AD until 313 AD when the emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which decriminalized Christianity, faith in Christ, faith in the Messiah, and decreed that Roman citizen had the liberty to observe the religion of their choice.

So when it's speaking about, you see the connection here, beloved brothers and sisters, in its locality it may have a specific, verses 9 and 10, speaking about the fact that there will be the Jewish community did not want the believers in its locality to, and especially Jewish people, to come to know the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, and they persecuted the church in their locality, in their days, but the connection between verse 9 and 10, they are called the synagogue of Satan, and verse 10, don't fear when the suffering that you're going through, because the devil shall cast some of you into prison, and that ye may be tested, and ye shall have tribulation for ten days. It may be ten days in their locality, but the ten days represent also the specific ten, ten Emperors that inflicted on the believers, on Christianity, on Christians, tribulation during this age from about sixty-four to about three hundred three, up till the time where, later on the, the next emperor, Constantine, have issued that edict.

Now notice what he says at the end of verse ten. At the end of verse ten, it says, he says, be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. This is encouraging the believers there and telling them, I will give you the crown of life. You be faithful, be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. That crown of life is also mentioned, if you turn with me to the book of James, in chapter one, James chapter one, and there we read in verse, twelve, and I'm gonna read this verse, James chapter one and verse twelve, we do read, blessed is the man that endureth testing.

For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him. And apparently, the believers there in this city love the Lord and experience this tribulation in their locality. And anyone in this world ye shall have tribulation. This world is filled with animosity against God and animosity against God's people, and in fact, it's not only that the Christian experience persecution by the emperors, but the Jewish, Israel the Jewish people have experienced as well. Why? Because there is a link.

The Jews are God's earthly people, the church is God's heavenly people, and sadly, the world have inflicted persecution both upon the Jews as well as upon the true church, the Christians. And then we can see, beloved brothers and sisters, now, as we move along, and we're just going to go to the, to the final verse, as the Lord promised them the crown of life, that means that there we see the crown. There are many crowns are mentioned in the word of God that are spoken in the scripture.

And this is a crown, a Stephanos crown of victory. It is a crown of victory. When they victoriously continue to follow the Lord. And brothers and sisters, we don't like a tribulation. We don't like persecution. But here we learn of the fact that although in this world there will be persecution, but be of good cheer. Yeshua said, I have overcome the world. The Lord will sustain, will encourage, will strengthen his own people. And that's what he's saying here to the believers here at the city of Smyrna. Now finally, just in conclusion, we have verse 11. And in verse 11, we have a promise to the overcomer, a promise to the overcomer. And so let me read this verse.

He says here in verse eleven, He that hath an ear, do you have a hear, a ear, he says, and you notice what he's saying, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto, notice, not only unto Smyrna, or the church in Smyrna, but unto the churches plural. In other words, he's speaking this to all believers in each locality of every city, town, province, state, and country in this world. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit, this is the Holy Spirit of God, is saying unto the assemblies, the churches. He that hath an ear.

Let me tell, he said, let him hear what the, what the Spirit's saying unto the churches, to the assemblies. And now notice what he's saying again. Just like he said in verse seven, he's speaking to the overcomers. To remind you, beloved brothers and sisters, that every true believer in the Lord Jesus the Messiah, he or she are overcomer positionally. First John five tells us, who is he that overcome the world? Or what is it that overcometh the world? Even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Yeshua, that Jesus is the Son of God. Every true believer is an overcomer positionally.

He belong, or he she belong to the Lord, they will never separate any separation from the Lord. But here it's not only the to overcome, because the believers are already overcomer positionally, but here in verse eleven it says, he that overcometh, this is overcoming the condition in, in Smyrna, the condition of persecution and sufferings and harm and being poor. He says overcoming that condition and rising still up, continuing to follow the Lord, there is an overcomer practically. There's an overcoming practically. You see, all of us who are believers are already overcomer positionally because we have accepted the Lord Jesus as our Lord and our Savior, as our Messiah. But to overcome practically, and not to, not to be dismayed, to continue to follow the Lord, we need the grace of God.

We need the grace of God. They needed the grace of God. And so he's encouraging them, the Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, in conclusion, he's encouraging them and he gives them a promise. He that overcometh, he's saying to them, he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. You remember he began by saying, I am he that died and is alive.

So for the second death has to do not so much with physical death, but with eternal death. All those that belong to the Lord Jesus the Messiah, they are eternally His, but they will never be separated from Him. This second death is mentioned in Revelation 20 and verse 6, and Revelation 21 and verse 8. Let me just read you these verses in conclusion. Revelation 20 and verse 6, Revelation 21 and verse 8. In Revelation 20 and verse 6, blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection.

On such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests unto God and of Christ, and shall reign with him for a thousand years. Chapter 21 and verse 8, But the fearful and the unbelieving and the abominable and the murderers and the whoremongers and the sorcerers and the idolaters and all the liars, they shall have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone, which is the second death. The second death is the eternal separation from the Lord.

He that overcometh. Revelation 2 and verse 11. He shall not be hurt of the second death. How wonderful to know that those of us that belong to the Lord, we will never be, will be hurt by the second death, but the Lord is calling the believers in, in Smyrna and every one of us to seek his help to overcome the condition that existed in Smyrna. Smyrna, in Smyrna we see satanic opposition. We learn from Smyrna satanic opposition to the things of God throughout church history.

But the believers are overcomers and they will never be separated from the Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah. They will never experience the second death which is separation. Well praise God for this assurance beloved friend. Well may the Lord bless us and help us as we continue to study together the, the book of Revelation, specifically chapter two and chapter three, in connection with the seven letters that were written by the glorified Messiah to the seven assemblies in Asia Minor. This time we have covered the letter that was written to the church of Smyrna. Well, may the Lord bless His word, may the Lord bless us all, and encourage our hearts. Let's just pray together, and we will conclude with this meeting for today.

Our God and our Father, we just want to thank you for your word, thank you for the encouragement that the Lord Jesus the Messiah encouraging us all. We pray for those that suffer today, wherever they are, we ask for strength and encouragement to them all. Give grace, we pray, Abba, Father, for we ask it in Yeshua's name. Amen. God bless you, my dear friend, until the next time, we say Shabbat Shalom. Shalom, shalom.