John penned this letter to commend its recipients for their endurance of persecution and poverty for the sake of Jesus Christ. He also did so to exhort them to be fearless and faithful even to death. Whereas the Ephesian church needed to return to past conditions, this one needed to persevere in what was characteristic of it in the present.
Smyrna was also a seaport on the Aegean Sea. It stood about 40 miles north of Ephesus. Late in the first century it was a large wealthy city with a population of about 100,000. It still thrives today as Izmir with a population of about 200,000.
Jesus Christ described Himself here as the eternal One who died and experienced resurrection. "Smyrna"means "bitter."The Greek word translates the Hebrew mor, myrrh, a fragrant perfume used in embalming dead bodies (cf. Matt. 2:11; John 19:39). It becomes very fragrant when someone crushes it. These believers would have found encouragement that even though the prospect of death threatened them resurrection and eternal life with Christ were certain. Smyrna had died as a city on several occasions because of invasions and earthquakes, but it had risen again to new life because the residents had rebuilt it. In Smyrna many residents worshipped a goddess named Cybele whom they regarded as the personification of the yearly rejuvenation of nature. Her devotees claimed that she arose from the dead every spring.
Jesus Christ knew the afflictions (lit. pressures) these Christians were experiencing as a result of their testimony for Him including abject poverty. Evidently their persecutors were cutting off some of their incomes. Notwithstanding their physical poverty the Christians in Smyrna were rich spiritually. Evidently some of the persecutors were Jews who slandered the Christians (cf. Acts 18:12-17) and cursed Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 26:11). They apparently claimed to be committed to God but were not. They came out of Satan's camp (cf. Acts 14:19; 17:5-8, 13).
"At the martyrdom of Polycarp at Smyrna in 168, these Jews eagerly assisted by gathering on the Sabbathwood and fagots for the fire in which he was burned."94
Jesus Christ had no rebuke for these saints. Evidently in their trials they had remained pure in belief and behavior. In the first century the enemies of Christians leveled six slanderous accusations against them: cannibalism, lust and immorality, breaking up homes, atheism, political disloyalty, and incendiarism.95
These persecuted Christians did not need to fear their adversaries or death since they would live forever with Jesus Christ. "Behold"signals an oracular declaration (cf. 2:22; 3:8, 9, 20).96The devil would incite their foes to imprison some of them shortly having received permission from God to do so (cf. Job 1). This would be a trial (Gr. peirasthete) that Satan would use to try to entice them to depart from the Lord.
"Under the Roman legal system imprisonment was usually not a punishment in itself; rather it was used either as a means of coercion to compel obedience to an order issued by a magistrate or else as a place to temporarily restrain the prisoner before execution . . . . Here it appears that imprisonment, viewed as a period of testing, is primarily for the purpose of coercion."97
The "ten days"of trouble may refer to a period of relatively brief duration, specifically the "days"of persecution under 10 Roman emperors (cf. Gen. 24:55; Num. 11:19, 14:22; 1 Sam. 1:8; Neh. 5:18; Job 19:3; Jer. 42:7; Dan. 1:12; Acts 25:6).98Other interpreters view the days as symbolic of years,99or a longer period of time (e.g., complete tribulation),100or a short, limited time.101However, John probably intended us to interpret this period as 10 literal 24-hour days that lay in the near future of the original recipients of this letter.102There is nothing in the text that provides a clue that we should take this number in a figurative sense.
The citizens of Smyrna had a reputation for being faithful to the emperor because of their previous acts of fidelity to him. The crown of life is probably the fullness of eternal life as a reward (cf. 1 Cor. 9:25; 1 Thess. 2:19; 2 Tim. 4:6-8; Heb. 2:9; James 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4; Rev. 4:4). This appears to be a victor's crown (Gr. stephanos) given for enduring the trials and tests of life even to the point of death without denying Christ. It is not the gift of eternal life but the fullness of that life (cf. John 10:10, et al.). The person who endures these trials will receive the crown of life after Jesus Christ has approved him or her. This approval will take place when the Lord evaluates that believer's works at the judgment seat of Christ (1 Cor. 3:13). He will award the crown at this judgment (1 Cor. 3:14).103
The Greeks called Smyrna "the crown of Asia Minor"because of its beauty as a city. Moreover every year a few city administrators, rulers, and priests received a crown of leaves for their faithfulness to their duties.
Christians will not (a double negative in Greek: "not in any way") suffer injury or harm (Gr. adikethe) by the "second death."The second death is eternal separation from God. It follows the first death, which is separation of the soul from the body.
"It is not annihilation, but conscious unending punishment."104
"By litotes this [promise] intimates a superlative triumph over the second death. But since the second death is actual banishment from the presence and life of God (Rev. 20:14-15), the litotes also intimates a splendid experience of the divine life and presence."105
The point of the Lord's promise is that those who remain faithful will experience eternal life to the utmost in the life to come. The first death might hurt them briefly, but the second death would not hurt them at all.106
Historically the church experienced intense persecution during the postapostolic era until Constantine elevated Christianity to the official religion of the Roman Empire. As mentioned before, some interpreters have correlated the 10 days of persecution (v. 10) with 10 periods of persecution instigated by 10 Roman emperors between A.D. 54 (Nero) and A.D. 284 (Diocletian).107
