A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): If you're a regular listener to A Daily Walk, you'll recall we've just begun a study of Revelation. Today's message from Pastor John Randall is centered on the Lord's message to the church in Smyrna, found in Revelation chapter two.

You know, pain is never fun to experience or even talk about, but pain, both physical and emotional, is inevitable. The church in Smyrna was suffering a barrage of persecution and tribulation, yet the Lord reminds them not to be fearful but rather be faithful.

That's an important word for Christians today as well. Persecution and hard times will visit each of us throughout our lives, but we should be faithful through it all.

John Randall: You know, the Apostle Paul wrote about this in Philippians chapter three. He said, "I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and I count them as rubbish, trash, garbage in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ. There's nothing that compares to knowing Christ."

And although the church in Smyrna was poor monetarily, Jesus said they were rich spiritually. The economic onlookers would say they're poor, but Jesus said no, according to my economy, they are wealthy in Christ. Often material objects can be acquired and maintained at the expense of true spiritual riches.

Someone said that the church of the first three centuries was marked by material poverty and spiritual power, but the churches of our day may be marked by material prosperity and spiritual weakness. The church in Smyrna was troubled, they were poor, they were persecuted. In verse nine, it says, "I know the blasphemy"—notice this—"of those who say that they are Jews and are not, they're actually of the synagogue of Satan."

In addition to the abject poverty that was partly due to the persecution and the boycott of the workers who were believers, this church had to endure persecution not only from pagans but from pretenders. The community that surrounded them afflicted them because of their stand for Christ.

The Apostle Paul had to endure much of the same kind of persecution. Although his ministry and the churches that he started—many of his letters that he wrote in the New Testament were addressing the very problems of his enemies that created in all the churches that he started.

Listen, this group that Jesus mentions that was harassing the believers were those who trusted in their national heritage to secure their eternal salvation. They felt because they were associated with a particular group that they were set. Friend, listen carefully: affiliation does not secure salvation. You need to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ if you want to see heaven and have your sins forgiven.

Jesus classifies the actions of these persecutors as blasphemous. Jesus said they say they are, but in actuality, they aren't. Jesus said they say they are, but they aren't. I think of what Jesus said—sobering words, Matthew chapter seven. Listen carefully to this friend, Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven."

In fact, many, Jesus said, will say to me in that day, "Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied in your name? Haven't we cast out demons in your name? Haven't we done many wonders in your name?" and then I will declare to them, "I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness."

Do you see the difference? They say "Lord, Lord," but their life denies the Lord. They say "Lord, you're the Lord of my life," but they deny it in disobedience to him as Lord. They say one thing, they say another, and Jesus has something to say about it. Jesus not only points out that they were blasphemous, but this is pretty heavy: he points out their church affiliation; they went to the synagogue of Satan. Which church do you go to? I go to Satan's synagogue down the street. Really? Wow, that's a scary church to be a part of.

Listen, Satan has his own churches, his own membership. Those that were teaching contrary to scripture, Jesus calls that a church of Satan. And what are some of the teachings of such a congregation? Here's two major false doctrines that go along with the church of Satan.

Number one, they deny the deity of Jesus Christ. That's a direct contrast to what Jesus said and demonstrated concerning himself. And there are groups out there who claim to be Christian that deny the deity of Jesus Christ, and I want you to know they're not an actual church according to the Bible.

Anybody that denies the deity of Jesus Christ does not know Jesus. They're not a believer. I don't care what else they say, I don't care what kind of sticker they have, I don't care how many times they go to church. You deny the deity of Jesus Christ, you deny his word, you deny who he is, you're not a believer.

But the second thing is they dismiss the way to salvation. They say that you can get to heaven anyway you want. That's straight out of the synagogue of Satan. You can work it, you can do good deeds. Oh, friend, the Bible says contrary to that. It says by grace you're saved through faith, it's a gift of God.

If you could get to heaven by being a good person, then Jesus Christ died in vain. There would be no reason for his death, there'd be no reason for his suffering. The fact that he had to come and suffer and die in our place shows us the fact that we needed a savior. You can't get to heaven any other way than through the blood of Christ, than through responding to Christ in salvation. He is the way, the only way.

And the early church of the first century, man, they withstood faithfully the false teachings that were being accepted in so many places then and even so many places today. They were persecuted, and there was a time in church history and even at the present time when the church is being persecuted.

In fact, Christians continue to be the most persecuted group around the globe. You might not hear much about it, it may not be reported in the mainstream media like many other things, but nonetheless, it's happening. It's happening. Our brothers, our sisters who would love to do what we're doing right now—just gathered with Bibles open, worshipping alongside of God's people who would love just this kind of an opportunity—listen, they're being persecuted, imprisoned, separated from their families and many martyred for their faith.

But listen carefully: although the church is being persecuted, they're unable to suppress their faith. Christianity still is growing rapidly beneath the surface. And you know why? Because the blood of the martyrs still remains the seed of the church, and Jesus said that the gates of hell itself cannot prevail against the church.

In the midst of all of this the church here had to endure. Listen, Jesus gives them divine counsel, he gives them encouragement. Listen to what Jesus said in verse ten: "Do not fear." That may be a word for somebody here today. Do not fear.

So many people afraid right now. Jesus saying to this church being suppressed and persecuted, "Don't be afraid. Stop doing that." God hasn't given you a spirit of fear but of power and of love and a sound mind. We live in a culture, in a world, in a society, and you can see them, they are governed by fear. They are overcome by it. It affects everything they do, where they go, what they wear, what they put on their face, etc. You understand.

People are afraid today and I'm not saying that to be disrespectful, I'm just saying it's a reality. People are fearful today, but the people of God need to be people of faith. We lead by example.

And in the midst of all the church had to do, listen to what Jesus said to it. He said, "Don't fear any of those things which you are about to suffer." He said, "The devil is about to throw some of you into prison and you're going to be tested, you're going to have tribulation ten days, but be faithful unto death and I'll give you the crown of life."

Many believers in the first century, they were thrown into prison. Jesus said here the devil is behind it. He's the author of persecution. Did you know right now in China that there are believers who are being put in camps and they're being brainwashed, Christian believers being persecuted for their faith in Christ in China?

And yet the church continues to grow in China right now. Pray for those believers. Remember them in your prayers, our brethren who are suffering for Christ's sake in a persecuted communist country like China.

It says here the devil was throwing them into prison and they would have tribulation for ten days. Now again, when you go to the book of Revelation, a lot of people want to give their insight into, well, what do you mean by ten days? Some people say that it speaks of specific periods of persecution throughout church history.

Some scholars suggest that the ten days refers to the last ten years of the age from 303 AD to 312, during which the church suffered at the hands of Diocletian the fourth. Others say ten days is just an expression of speech, not to be taken literally; it's just a normal expression for a short time. Here's what I know for sure: it says ten days.

But here's what I also know: Jesus said in the midst of whatever amount of time that you're suffering or enduring hardship, he says something here and this is what you want to take note of: "Be faithful." That's what it comes down to. Regardless of the timeframe, regardless of how long it lasts, it's not going to last forever and in the interim of time, we need to remain faithful.

Listen, are we remaining faithful in the midst of what's going on right now? Is Jesus going to be able to find people who remain faithful? Because listen friends, what we want one day, we want to hear him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." That's what we want to hear. That's what we're longing for, so we want to remain faithful in the midst of anything that's going on at the present time.

And this is what the church was enduring and Jesus said, "Listen, I know about it. Be faithful. Don't quit. Don't stop. Don't give up just because it's hard, just because it's difficult. Don't stop." To those who were not fearful but faithful—oh, this is good—look at this promise, it's unbelievable.

Verse ten, Jesus said, "And I will give you the crown of life." The crown of life. What Jesus says to this church is important. He says, "I'm going to give you the crown of life," but I also want you to make note of something that you might overlook, and that is not only what Jesus says about them but what Jesus doesn't say about them.

There's not one word here to this church of rebuke or correction. Not one. All he has is the promise of a crown and the encouragement to be faithful unto death.

There are two different words in the Bible for crown in the ancient Greek language. One is described as the crown that a king wore, a crown of royalty, a diadem. But then there's another kind of crown called the Stephanos, used here. It's a trophy given to a winning athlete. Jesus looks at the Christians of Smyrna and says, "You're a winner. You're a winner. You've been faithful and I'm going to give you a crown. You deserve a trophy because you've been faithful, you've been faithful and there is a crown reserved for you."

Interesting that the Stephanos was also a crown that at times would be worn at a marriage and special celebration. The picture is of Jesus and his bride, each wearing crowns. Our king wears a crown, he has all authority, all power, but he's also reserved a crown for his bride, the bride of Christ.

And as we continue to follow Jesus until the day we die, we will enter into eternity with him, we will receive that crown and at one point we'll take that crown and we'll throw it down at his feet and worship him forevermore.

Paul the apostle said right before his martyrdom in Second Timothy chapter four verse eight, the final letter that he wrote, this is what he said: "Finally"—every one of us is going to have a finally—"finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing." Friend, if you remain faithful, you keep going. Don't quit, don't stop. God's got a reward for you, it's reserved. Nothing can touch it.

In addition to the reward that they would receive, I want you to notice this. Jesus said there is a death that they would escape. This is very important. You will escape the second death. It says, "He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death." You say, "Second death? What's the first death? What is this talking about?"

The second death is described for us in Revelation chapter twenty in verses fourteen and fifteen and this is what it says: "Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."

And then Revelation chapter twenty-one verse eight also comments on the second death and it says this: "The cowardly, the unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars will have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

The Lord is saying to these believers as you remain faithful, even in the midst of suffering, you know what's going to happen? You're going to escape the second death. You won't experience that. This is not part of your story because Jesus died, you shall live.

Listen friend, listen to this: if you have been born once, that is born physically, without being born again, you will die twice—a physical death and a spiritual death. On the other hand, if you are born twice, that is born physically into this world, born again spiritually into Christ, you die once and then you experience glory.

This church was suffering. They were going through hardship, they were going through trials. Jesus said, "I know what you're going through, and because you've remained faithful to me, I'm going to bless, I'm going to carry you, I'm going to reward you."

Folks, did you know that some suffering we bring on ourselves? Did you know that? There's certain suffering that you experience simply because we live in a fallen world. This is a fallen world. This is not the way that God created it initially and it's not the way it's always going to be eternally, but the fact is we live in a fallen world and so we just live in fallen human bodies. At some point, we experience some suffering, you don't escape it. We all experience it to some degree, but some suffering can be brought on by the bad decisions that we make.

We choose to walk away from God, we choose to sin, and then we end up suffering the consequences and we say, "God, how could you?" Actually, it wasn't him, that was you. That was me. That's me making those decisions and some of the suffering that you might be experiencing right now is the collateral damage of one bad decision after another bad decision and sins that you've been walking in and now you're sitting in the midst of that and you're suffering.

What do you do? I'll tell you what you do: you repent of sin, you turn to God, you cry out to him, and he will step into that suffering and he can restore you and heal you and do in your life what you could never do on your own. But you got to turn to him and humble yourself.

And if you do, he promises that he'll help. You know, the Bible tells us that there is a purpose in suffering. For the believer, it says to count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience or endurance and perseverance.

Are you suffering today? Listen, are you suffering simply because we live in a fallen world and you're experiencing these things? That's part of this life. The outward man is perishing, but the inward man is being renewed day by day. God might be allowing things to test you in order to refine you and to refine me to make me more like Jesus, and he uses these things to wean me off of this world, to refine my character, to make me more like Christ.

But then there is the suffering again that's brought on by just consistent disobedience. Maybe there are some of you here today: you've been making decisions not turning toward God, but turning away from God. And you find yourself this morning wrapped up in something that you do not know how to get out of.

It's bleak, it looks like you don't know where to turn, what to do next. What do you do? Again, you cry out to God, you turn your life over to Jesus. Listen, I want to encourage you to turn your life over to Jesus. He can do much more with it than you can.

And here's the thing: look at the fruit of the decisions you've made. You've tried everything else, you did your own thing, you went your own way. Where did that put you? Only you can answer that question. Do you want to stay there or would you like the Lord to turn it around?

Listen, I remember when the Lord turned it around for me. I remember where I was when God got ahold of my heart. I remember the parking lot I was sitting in, the car that I was in, and I remember calling out to God and saying, "God, I'm done. I'm done. I'm done trying to do this my own way. I'm done fighting you. I'm done resisting the Holy Spirit. I'm done creating my own trials."

Lord, I want to turn my life over to you. Will you take me? Will you forgive me? Will you cleanse me? Will you change me? Will you alter my trajectory, the course that I'm on? And I could tell you and testify to this day, thirty plus years later, he did it, he's still doing it, and he could do it for you.

And listen, I was no bargain for the Lord. It wasn't like, "Man, I'm getting a really good deal if I get John." Had nothing to do with it. I had nothing to offer him. And it wasn't until—listen, it wasn't until I came to the end of myself that I realized I came to the beginning of God.

And that's where you've got to come to, friend. You have to come to the end of yourself. If you're like me and you think you're all that, you're not. You got to come to the end of yourself. And when you do, and when you humble yourself and say enough is enough, I don't have the answers, I don't even know the way out, but I know that Jesus is the way.

He's the truth and the life. And today I'm going to turn my life over to him. I'm tired of doing this on my own. Hey, if that's where you're at, that's a great place to be because God works well with humility and brokenness. He doesn't work well with pride and arrogance thinking you can do it on your own.

But the moment you humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, he'll lift you up. Friend, if that's where you are today, in a moment, I'm going to give you an opportunity to get up out of your seat wherever you're seated and come and receive Christ as your savior, to come to the end of you, come to the beginning of Jesus and what he can do in your life and what he wants to do.

You've got what you've done. Why not step into what God has? Now you may be sitting here saying, "Well, I'm not that guy. My life's pretty together. My life's not falling apart. I think I'm doing pretty well." You may be doing well, but how are you going to do for eternity? Are you that confident in your ability or in God's?

Salvation comes through Jesus alone and friend, no matter what your situation is today, you're not too good to come to Christ and you're not too bad either. I'm reasoning with you today: come to Jesus. Come to Jesus like so many people have throughout this last year and have your life radically changed by the Lord.

Amen. Will you pray with me right now? This is the most important moment of our time together. Father, I come before you now in the name of Jesus. Lord, there may be some here, the suffering that they're experiencing is directly related to what they've been going through or decisions they've made.

But Lord, they realize it and they're willing to humble themselves and come to you today to say yes to Jesus, to say yes to salvation, to have their sins forgiven, have the hope of heaven, to have their eternal destiny altered and their life radically changed.

Lord, I pray today that you would draw them by your spirit through the conviction of sin, returning to Jesus and coming to salvation. Lord, for those who have walked away, who have backslidden, who have gone back into the world and know that they are discontent where they are and they're not where they need to be, Lord, would you call them back to return to you?

Lord, only you can do it. Lord, there are people's lives hanging in the balance right here in this moment. Father, do your work by your spirit. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. As we draw today's edition of A Daily Walk to a close, I'll remind you that all of Pastor John Randall's studies in Revelation are available to you online at adailywalk.org, 1place.com, or wherever you get your podcasts, and through the Calvary South OC app.

We'd sure love to connect with you and we appreciate your prayers. Here's our email address where you can send your comments and your prayer requests: adailywalk@gmail.com. That's adailywalk@gmail.com. Maybe you're looking for a devotional to go through here in 2026. We've picked out a good one from Oswald Chambers called My Utmost For His Highest.

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And speaking of devotionals, have you checked out the Daily Walk devotional? These short videos are released each day at adailywalk.org and are both edifying and encouraging. Next time on A Daily Walk, we'll hear about the compromising church and the Lord's message to them. Come back for that as Pastor John Randall returns to Revelation.