Messianic Perspectives

Liz Aiello: Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctively first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Aiello. Today, Dr. Gary Hedrick is teaching on the mystery of the seven churches in Revelation, chapters two and three.

I'll be back at the close of the program to tell you about two special resources we're making available during this series, so be sure to have a pencil and paper ready. Now, with today's study, here is Dr. Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: All right, thank you, and welcome listening friend to another edition of the program. We're glad you're with us today as we continue this series of studies on the mystery of the seven churches. Today we're picking it up in verse nine of Revelation chapter two, where the Lord is speaking to the church at Smyrna.

He says, "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, but thou art rich." You see, you can be materially and financially poor, and yet be rich spiritually. Conversely, you can have all of the material wealth in the world and still be spiritually miserable.

Howard Hughes was an example of that. He had so much money he didn't know how much he had, but he was so unhappy he just withered away and died. And in spite of their poverty, the Lord told the believers at Smyrna that they were rich. Then he goes on, "And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan."

Now that's a very interesting statement because it tells us that the Messianic community, or the church, faced many of the same dangers 2,000 years ago that it does today. In this case, there were Gentiles who were adopting Jewish practices, placing themselves under the Jewish law, observing Jewish traditions. Their places of worship were even called synagogues.

Of course, it's easy to see how that could happen. The early Christians, just like Christians today, had a strong affinity for the Jewish people and for Israel, so they were particularly vulnerable to being pulled into a sort of Messianic pseudo-Judaism. Basically, it would be just like traditional Judaism, except for the fact that these would be people who professed faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

And the problem was that they were teaching blasphemy. "I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and are not." Now what sort of blasphemy was it? Well, he doesn't say, but we have a pretty good idea of what it was because these people in Revelation 2 were very much like the Judaizers in the book of Galatians.

And what's blasphemous about their theology is that it says Christ and his atonement are not sufficient for our salvation. You see, to them, it was Christ plus the Torah, Christ plus the law, Christ plus circumcision, Christ plus the sacrifices, Christ plus the traditions, Christ plus works.

That's what's blasphemous about it because New Testament salvation is Christ and him alone. It's Jesus Christ, listen, Jesus Christ plus nothing, minus nothing. Whenever you hear someone say that you're saved by faith in Christ plus something, plus circumcision, plus church membership, plus baptism, whatever it is, they're barking up the wrong tree.

You'd better get on your Nikes and run as fast as you can the other way. Listen, any system of theology that says the shedding of Christ's sacrificial blood on Calvary's tree was not sufficient for your salvation and mine is blasphemous. Read Romans 10 sometime where the Apostle Paul contrasts the righteousness which comes by works and the righteousness which comes by faith.

It's one or the other. You can't have it both ways. Have you ever seen a Messianic synagogue where most of the people were Gentiles and where they follow the traditions of Judaism and the only difference really is that they believe Jesus is the Messiah? In some of these places you have to be circumcised and essentially convert to Judaism in order to join the congregation.

Well, our Lord Yeshua takes a dim view of such synagogues, doesn't he? He says it's blasphemy for Gentiles to try to act like Jews and to place themselves under the legalistic requirements of the old covenant. He wants us to walk in the freedom and liberty of the new covenant where God's laws are written in our hearts, not on tables of stone, and where we come boldly into the presence of God because Yeshua's righteousness has been imputed to us.

You see, under the old covenant, they didn't have bold access like we do. Whenever the high priest went beyond the second veil into the holy of holies, he didn't know if he was going to come out alive because if there was any uncleanness, any unconfessed sin, the Shekinah would strike him down. That's why they had bells sewn to his garment and a rope tied around his ankle.

As long as they could hear the jingling of the bells, they knew he was still moving, even though they couldn't see him. And if he was struck dead, they could use the rope to pull the body out without someone else having to go in. Every time the priest entered the holy of holies under the old covenant, he was taking his life in his hands.

That's why Hebrews 4:16 says that under the new covenant, we come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That Greek word that's translated boldly literally means free and fearless confidence. Listen, if you could somehow be transported back in time 3,000 years to the days of the ancient temple where the Shekinah glory of Almighty God dwelt over the mercy seat in the holy of holies, did you know that as a new covenant believer, a New Testament believer, you could do something that no one else on earth could do?

You could walk past that curtain, directly into the holy of holies, fall on your knees in front of the ark of the covenant, and say, "Abba, Father," and you wouldn't be struck dead because you have a personal relationship with the God of the universe through his son, Jesus Christ. In fact, the Shekinah presence of God dwells inside you. He's called the Holy Spirit, or in Hebrew, Ruach HaKodesh, the spirit of holiness.

So that's what these believers at Smyrna were facing. The blasphemy of those who said they were Jews, but were not. They were like the Judaizers in Galatia, and their place of worship was not a true Jewish synagogue. It was a synagogue of Satan because it was established by Gentiles who were trying to act like Jews.

Now look at verse 10. He says, "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Now remember, we said that each of these first-century churches is representative of a period of church history.

The first was the Ephesian period, where the church was still zealous and strong enough to resist error, but she had lost her first love. Now here's the Smyrnan period, and the name itself is a clue as to the historical period it represents because the name Smyrna comes from the word myrrh, which was a very costly ancient perfume and ointment with antiseptic properties.

It was used for embalming. When those Magi from the east came to worship the baby Jesus, one of them brought myrrh, signifying that this baby was born to be the Lamb of God and that he would die someday. In fact, the Greek word for myrrh in Matthew 2:11 is Smyrna.

So the Smyrnan period of church history is the age of martyrs, which lasted for a century and a half from about AD 170 to 324. It was a time when many thousands of believers perished at the hands of the Roman Empire. The last and most vicious of the Roman campaigns against the Christians began in AD 303 under the emperor Diocletian.

Diocletian brought to bear against the church of Jesus Christ all of the military and political might of the greatest empire the world had ever known. First, the emperor ordered that all copies of the Christian scriptures should be burned. But the Christians wouldn't give up their copies of the scriptures. They hid them. They met together in underground catacombs to read the scriptures secretly.

Diocletian was enraged, so he issued an edict saying that any Christian caught with a copy of the scriptures should be executed. And he began systematically exterminating Christians, and thousands of them were martyred for their faith. In fact, after only two years, Diocletian had burned so many Bibles and slaughtered so many Christians, he actually thought he had wiped out Christianity.

He had a marble column erected in Rome with a Latin inscription which read "Extincto Nomine Christianorum," or "the name of the Christians has been extinguished." So this was the age of martyrs from about AD 170 to 324. This is not to say that there haven't been martyrs in other periods, like during the Reformation, for example, or even in the 20th century.

But there has never been another time in the history of the church when so many thousands of believers died in such a relatively short period of time. There were ten imperial persecutions, beginning with Nero in AD 64 and ending with Diocletian in AD 305. That may be why the Lord told the church at Smyrna that she would have tribulation for how long? Ten days.

The ten imperial persecutions orchestrated by the government of Rome. By the way, when we take our tour groups to Israel, we always visit that great theater at Caesarea Philippi, where Christians who refused to recant their faith in Jesus Christ were sent out into the arena to be torn apart by wild beasts. You can actually go down and see the underground compartments where they kept the lions in their cages.

Let me tell you something, my friend. As Christians, you and I have a wonderful heritage. Some great men and women of faith have gone before us, being faithful even unto death, and have passed that legacy down to us. Well, that's the church at Smyrna, the persecuted church. Next time we'll look at the church at Pergamus, which was the compromising church. Until then, this is Gary Hedrick saying God bless you. Take care. Bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. If you liked what you heard today, you'll be pleased to know we've taken all of the programs in this series and placed them on one convenient CD entitled The Mystery of the Seven Churches. It's available for your contribution of just six dollars or more to help us keep this program on your station.

Also available is the companion chart, adapted from the original drawn by Clarence Larkin in the early 1900s, entitled The Messages to the Seven Churches Compared with Church History. It's the perfect companion for this series of studies on the mystery of the seven churches. So that's the CD for six dollars and the chart for three dollars, or both for a total of nine dollars.

Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, P.O. Box 345, San Antonio, Texas, 78292. To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397.

And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you? As Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on the mystery of the seven churches right here on Messianic Perspectives.

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