Two Letters from God Through John

 

Letter to the Persecuted Church of Smyrna

This was a martyred church. They suffered for Christ. 5 million Christians were martyred during this time. Christ reminded them that he also suffered and was triumphant over death.

He commends them for:

For their tribulation. They suffered a lot for Christ under the Roman government.

They're poverty - they were lacking in material possessions but were rich in spiritual wealth. The church in Smyrna consisted of slaves, runaway slaves, X slaves and poor people.

Their blasphemy of those which say they are Jews but in truth belong to satan. The Lord tells them not to fear any of those things. There was a multitude of people going to their death, singing praises to the Lord. John tells them that satan will throw some of them into prison and will have 10 days of suffering. He tells them to be faithful unto death and they were. They will receive crowns of life for eternity. He tells them to listen to God as we should all be still and listen to what God tells us.

The Compromising Church of Pergamum

This was where paganism reigned. Ephesus was a political center, Smyrna the commercial center and Pergamum the religious center.

Jesus Christ had the sharp sword the word of God. It has the answers to man's need and man's sin, which in Pergamum was false religion. Even though satan's throne was in this city, religion was big business. Don't be mistaken, Satan is not in hell yet. He is loose and is the prince of the world, controlling kingdoms and going up and down the earth as a roaring line 1 Peter 5:8. The reason Christ said satan's throne is in Pergamum was because there were heathen temples there. Christ knew the church was in a bad place, but he spoke against them for the doctrine of Balaam, which revealed that God would curse Israel because they were sinners. They taught Balak the way to corrupt Israel was by intermarriage with the Moabite women. This brought in idolatry and fornication. In Ephesus they hated the doctrine of the Nicolaitans but in Pergamum some adopted this doctrine. Christ tells them in John's letter to repent and if they didn't, he would fight them with the word of God. John tells them to listen to the spirit.