Ah…the Book of Revelation.  What a fantastic, mystical, confusing, and controversial book we have to conclude our Scriptural canon.  The writings of the Book of Revelation are so different from what we are used to hearing on a Sunday morning.  And when Kip told me that he had begun a Lenten sermon series on the Book of Revelation, I briefly thought to myself “what have I gotten myself into?”  He even said to me, “I know they don’t teach you much about the Book of Revelation at seminary, so feel free to preach on something else if you like.”  I have to admit, a wave of relief washed over me.  Wouldn’t it be so much easier to preach out of the Gospels, or the Psalms?  It would be less work for me to prepare a sermon from First Corinthians or Jonah, because I am studying them right now in school.  Why not double dip?  But then, I remembered something I have heard over and over – at seminary, in the church, and in fellowship with other believers – and it convicted me.  I can distinctly hear the accented voice of my Sudanese classmate, Paul, telling that class that “Preaching the Gospel is not easy.” 

Telling the Good News of Jesus Christ is challenging.  Throughout the entire New Testament we hear of people being persecuted and oppressed and even killed for sharing the Gospel.  And this was a reality that John, the author of the Book of Revelation, knew all too well.  He himself had been exiled to the Island of Patmos, away from his friends and family and his church community, because he had been preaching the Gospel.  And it was while in exile that he was granted a vision, and told to write it down.  And this is what we have, today, in the Book of Revelation.  Like Pastor Kip mentioned last week, this book is not intended to scare people into belief or to serve as a puzzle, which, once decoded, answers the questions that we have about the end times.  The purpose of the Book of Revelation, of this vision that John was granted, was to serve as truthful encouragement.  And that’s, for me, one of the wonderful things about the Book of Revelation.  It doesn’t sugar coat the evil and the suffering and the terror that we experience in this world.  It doesn’t explain why there is evil.  But it forces us to face that reality.  We read about some things that are pretty scary, but the message of John’s vision is that even in the midst of the terrifying aspects of our lives, God will be with us and guide us through to the end.  This is a message for all of us today, and it was addressed to us through these letters to the seven churches.

Last week, Kip preached about the first letter, the letter that Jesus wrote to the church in Ephesus.  Even this church that was doing so many things right needed some correcting from Jesus.  In their case, it was that they had forgotten their first love – their relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  Good deeds and correct beliefs, thriving Sunday School programs and multiple outreach opportunities, mean nothing without this relationship.  It is not about what we do, but what God has done for us.  And the Ephesians had forgotten this.  So Jesus, through John, reminded them.

Today, we are moving on to the second letter in Revelation – the letter to the church at Smyrna.  Smyrna was located about 40 miles north of Ephesus, in modern-day Turkey.  Although not as major of a city as Ephesus, Smyrna was the imperial center of the surrounding area.  Roman authority was great in those days, and there were many temples and statues dedicated to the pagan gods and the Roman emperor throughout the city.  Smyrna was a city of abundant wealth.  It was along a trade route, and was the safest and most convenient of all the surrounding harbors.  So it is easy to image that this fairly new, relatively small Christian community in Smyrna, faced many obstacles and outside influences as it tried to remain faithful to God.

We see that the Christians in Smyrna have suffered much through Jesus’ words to them.  “I know your affliction and your poverty” Jesus says to them.  Now, as a graduate school student, I feel like I can somehow relate to affliction and poverty.  But this is not what Jesus is talking about.  The word used for “affliction” in the original Greek literally means pressure, or a crushing weight.  So much pressure was being placed on these Christians that, as one writer puts it, their enemies were trying to “crush the Christianity out of them.”  Put enough pressure on them, and they will change.  And the word for “poverty” means not just the inability to have extra things, but rather means absolute poverty, complete destitution.  I don’t think many of us here today have experienced this type of affliction or poverty.

Jesus goes on to say “I know the slander” against you.  Early Christians were accused of many things: being political dissidents and revolutionaries, breaking up families, atheism, polytheism, sexual deviance, and cannibalism.  And these slanderous and hurtful allegations were hurled at them by those in their community who also claimed to be followers of God.  These Christians suffered heinous accusations, crushing pressure, and complete destitution.  Whose faith wouldn’t waver through that?  These Christians were trying to stay as faithful as possible, trying to preach the Good News, amid the despair surrounding their lives.  And Jesus says, “I know.  I understand.  I get it.”

Now, wouldn’t it be nice at this point for Jesus to say something like “but don’t be concerned – it’s almost over.”  Or “Don’t worry – the worst is past.”  Or “Don’t be anxious – those others will stop bothering you now.”  That would be great if that was Jesus’ message.  A nice, easy message.  But that’s not what Jesus has to say.  Instead Jesus says “Don’t fear, don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer.”  How would you like to receive that message?  I know I sure wouldn’t.  But this letter to the church in Smyrna, like the rest of the Book of Revelation, speaks the truth, and it speaks to us as much today as it spoke to its original audience.  It’s not that we might, maybe, possibly face suffering.  It’s that we will.  And it’s coming.

In fact, Jesus tells them that some from their community will be imprisoned in order to be tested by the devil.  Now, for many of us, based upon the American prison system, we have a skewed picture of what imprisonment means, especially in lesser developed countries.  So, to illustrate this point, I would like to read some sections out of the book Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand.  Perhaps some of you know this story.  Wurmbrand, a Romanian, and a former atheist, upon accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior, began working with the underground Christian Church in the 1940s in Romania, which was under Communist rule.  He was imprisoned for over eight years, and in this book he tells his story.  Wurmbrand writes:

I worked in both an official and underground manner until February 29, 1948.  On that beautiful Sunday, on my way to church, I was kidnapped from the street by the secret police . . . .

A van of the secret police stopped in front of me, two men jumped out and pushed me into the vehicle.  I was taken to a prison where I was kept secretly for over eight years.  During that time, no one knew whether I was alive or dead.  My wife was visited by the secret police who posed as released fellow-prisoners.  They told her that they had attended my burial.  She was heartbroken. . . .

The tortures were sometimes horrible.  I prefer not to speak too much about those through which I have passed; it is too painful.  When I do, I cannot sleep at night.