Understanding Revelation Through Real Letters

We're in week two of a series tackling the first three chapters of the book of Revelation—that big, scary book at the back of your Bible. Whenever we talk about Revelation, people tend to split into two camps: those ready to dive into all the symbolism, and those who'd rather talk about anything else.

Here's the good news: the first three chapters of Revelation are by far the most straightforward. That's because they are simply seven real letters written by Jesus himself to seven real churches in seven real cities in the first-century world. Jesus wrote these letters to challenge, sometimes rebuke, and always encourage his people.

Our job is simple: we're eavesdropping on letters Jesus wrote almost two thousand years ago, and because he is unchanging, these are still letters he writes to his church today. The letter we're focusing on today was written to the church in a city called Smyrna.

The City of Smyrna

Unlike every other letter in Revelation, Jesus does not rebuke the church in Smyrna. He doesn't say, "I love you, but you need to clean up your act." Why? Because Jesus can read a room, and he knows he's talking to people who are suffering greatly—suffering in his name.

If you walked in today feeling like you're suffering, if you've had a rough go of it lately, this letter was written for you too.

Smyrna still exists today in modern Turkey, now called Izmir. It was an ancient port city, and like most port cities of that era, its entire culture revolved around business and trade. In fact, the name "Smyrna" comes from its number one export: myrrh.

The most important thing to understand about Smyrna is this: being a Christian there was no walk in the park. Faithfulness cost something.

Loyalty to Rome

Smyrna was extraordinarily loyal to the Roman Empire—more so than most cities under Rome's rule. They built temples to the goddess Roma and proclaimed that Caesar was