In this insightful episode of Hope for Today, we delve into the historical and spiritual significance of Smyrna, a city stand-out for its faithfulness and resistance to the imposing demands of a world strayed from God’s path. Discover how the heritage of this city, once a thriving seat of emperor worship, became a powerful testament to Christian faith. As we revisit the trials of early believers, their courage offers timeless inspiration for modern Christians facing spiritual challenges. Listen in as David Hawking brings clarity and relevance to these ancient teachings, encouraging believers to hold true to their faith amid
At a recent conference on those who call themselves global futurists, a speaker said at that conference held here in Los Angeles, the major problem impeding our progress are fundamental Christians who believe the Bible is God’s word. These people are the real problem in society, keeping us from advancing to the objectives of the new world order. I want to say I accept that badge willingly, and I am glad to be a part of those who oppose you.
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This is Hope for Today with David Hawking. The letter to the church in Smyrna that we see in Revelation 2, verses 8-11 is unlike any other. There’s no corrections and no rebuke to the church, just a call to stand strong, strong in the face of satanic opposition. Jesus sees their suffering. He knows their poverty, and he calls them rich. He warns of prison, even death, and yet he says, do not fear. Well, today, David Hawking begins our study in Revelation 2, 8 through 11, a message not just for them, but for you, for me, and every believer who’s ever asked the question, is standing firm really worth it? We’ll open your Bible to Revelation chapter 2, and in just a moment we’ll have day one of Satanic Opposition. First, have we got a resource for you. Matt, what’s it all about?
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A most helpful tool we have for you is my dad’s original sermon notes, his outlines for the messages in our current radio series, Through Revelation.
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Matthew’s study notes provide key points, references, and an outline that will help listeners keep track along with David and get the most out of our daily study time here on radio and online for the series.
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The Revelation Sermon Notes are just $10 by download or PDF CD. Call us in Canada at 1-888-75-BIBLE. In the U.S., call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE. And Bible by the Numbers is 242-242.
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And also please know that your resource purchase or donation right now will help the ministries of Hope for Today and make you a co-laborer in the work with us. Please start by praying for Hope for Today. Boy, we sure cherish that, don’t we, Matt? Amen. And give if God lays the work on your heart. You can get your copy of David’s Revelation study notes by calling 800-75-BIBLE, that’s in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Bible is 24253. Or you can purchase and download at DavidHawking.org, the Revelation series sermon notes. All right, here’s David.
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We come to the second chapter. message to the churches. First to Ephesus and the subject was neglected priorities. You have left your first love. The second church message is to the church in Smyrna and the subject, a very serious and important one, satanic opposition. Satanic opposition. It starts at verse 8 of chapter 2 and goes down to verse 11, so follow along as I read these four verses. Revelation 2, 8 to 11. And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write, These things saith the first and the last who is dead and is alive. I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 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. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Will you join me, please, in prayer? Father in heaven, what a joy it is to come and sing your praises and to worship you from our hearts. Lord, you’re the God of all comfort and all power. You’re the God of peace. You’re the God of forgiveness. You’re the God of grace and mercy. It is your character, Father, to be gracious unto your children. You’re ever mindful that we are but dust. Father, we know that none of us are worthy. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. And we recognize, Father, our unworthiness We recognize, Father, our need of standing in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and him alone. And we thank you, Lord, for your care and compassion and concern for us. As evidenced by your message to the church at Smyrna, you know what we’re going through. And Lord, I thank you that in the midst of our trials, we can know your peace. You tell us to count it all joy when we fall into various trials and temptations, knowing that the trying of our faith is working patience, patience, experience, and experience hope that never makes a shame. Thank you for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. And Lord, we know that some of us are discouraged, defeated, Absolutely not knowing where to turn or where to go next. Lord, I’m thankful to you that you know the way that we take. You know the end from the beginning. You know us better than we know ourselves. Oh God, we pray that we might really know the one who is being revealed in this great book of Revelation, our Lord Jesus Christ. May we fall at his feet and worship him again. And cry out, my Lord and my God, as Thomas did of old. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He’s our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. And it’s in his name that we pray. Amen. I mentioned the joy of visiting the seven churches of Revelation, and it certainly is an eye-opener. We gave you a number of indications of that in our last message together. Smyrna is another example. Smyrna is a modern city on the coast of western Turkey, on the Aegean Sea. Today it’s called Izmir, and it has over 200,000 inhabitants. It’s not a small city. And it’s a beautiful city, a seaport town, and it was beautiful in the day in which John wrote. Let me tell you a little bit about Smyrna because I think it’s fundamental to understanding the message that we’ve entitled Satanic Opposition. The Romans called this city the beauty of Asia, and they also referred to it as a city of life and strength. It’s about 35 miles north of Ephesus, a beautiful drive. It’s a seaport, as I mentioned. It’s a beautiful-looking city, even from the sea. I’ve been on a boat, a cruise ship that has gone by the front of Smyrna, and looking back on that city in the hills is indeed a beautiful sight. It’s still prospering today. In 195 BC, so this puts it quite a bit ahead of our… historical background here of chapter 2, for that was written about 90 to 95 AD. But in 195 BC, they erected a temple to the goddess of Rome and supported the Roman Republic. Now remember, the empire doesn’t start until 30 BC under Augustus Caesar on the Pax Romana, the Roman peace that dominated the entire world. Caesar Augustus, by the way, was Octavian. Those of you who’ve either seen in a movie or read a book about Cleopatra and Mark Anthony and Julius Caesar and Octavian, Octavian was the least likely to succeed. He was kind of wimpish and was a homosexual, but Octavian, because of maneuvering and a little political intrigue, winds up being Rome’s greatest emperor, Augustus Caesar. And so in 195 BC, Smyrna, a long time before Augustus was on the throne, erected a temple simply to the goddess of Rome. They became dedicated to the Roman Republic, which had started back about 705 BC and didn’t become an empire, as I said, until about 30 BC. So they were loyal even when Rome was not in full control. Smyrna became a seat of emperor worship. And in 26 AD, when several cities were competing for the honor of building a temple to Emperor Tiberius, Smyrna was given that privilege. So it gives you an idea of kind of the history backlog of loyalty to Rome. It has an interesting archaeological fact about it. It has a theater that seats over 20,000 people from the time of John. Now, they had a very famous street in Smyrna called the Golden Street. It’s interesting, in heaven we’re told the streets are of gold. But Smyrna had a golden street. It started at the seaport and went all the way up to the Acropolis, which is on top of Mount Pegas, which is there in Smyrna. And let me just tell you what was along that street at the time John wrote this letter. Right at the seaport, when you just got off the boat, the first thing you’d see is this beautiful, luxurious temple to the goddess Cybele. Further up the road, as you continue on your journey, you come to a gorgeous temple that they tell us was really something to see, a temple to Apollo, the god of war. You go on a little further and you come to a very famous temple that was at Pergamos called the Temple of Aesculapius, who was the god of healing and was pictured by a serpent. Beyond that, you will come to a monument to Homer. Yes, the same Homer who wrote all those works in Greek history. He was from Smyrna. And finally, you’ll come up on the top to a giant temple to Zeus, who is the chief god of the Greek pantheon, and that’d be sitting on the Acropolis or on the mountain, which is called Mount Pegasus. Alexander the Great and his successors were so impressed with this city, they wanted to rebuild it as the model city and to make it the most beautiful city in the world. So even at the time of John, it is prosperous, it is beautiful, it is stunning to see it from the sea and to observe its golden street and all of these luxurious temples. There was also a large colony of Jews who lived there and they had considerable influence on the civic authorities. Years later, after the writing of this letter to the church at Smyrna, these same Jews joined with Gentiles to form a mob and call for the death of the pastor of the church in Smyrna, whose name was Polycarp. And he was a disciple of the apostle John, literally sat at his feet and learned from him. Two church historians and fathers called Tertullian and Irenaeus tell us that Polycarp was a bishop at the time of this letter, which is very interesting. That John not only discipled him, but appointed him to that task. Now this letter is about suffering and persecution. And some of you probably know the story, but on February 22nd, 166 A.D., Polycarp was burned at the stake as an old man nearing 100 years old. He spoke of serving the Lord for 86 years. In fact, his famous statement has been recorded and is in a lot of books on this matter. Polycarp said as they were burning him to the stake and demanding that he say Caesar is Lord and renounce his belief that Jesus is Lord, he said, this old man, 86 years I have served him and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my king who loved me so? Bring on the flames. Well, Rome thought they would be done with Christianity, hardly. What they had to do as a result of Polycarp’s testimony is they had to martyr and slaughter and kill. We were told that the blood flowed down Mount Pegas. They slaughtered 1,500 people at one shot. And a little bit later, they had to slaughter another 800 more of the Christians who were inspired by the example of Polycarp and decided that there was nothing that anyone could do to them that would cause them to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ. They died as martyrs. Interesting that the name of this city in the New Testament, Smyrna, comes from the word myrrh. Myrrh gives off a sweet smell only after it’s crushed. The meaning, therefore, was bitter, and it’s used as an allegory frequently, even in the Bible. And the point is that it refers to the result of suffering and trial. That a sweet smell in the nostrils of God, a sweet aroma comes forth from those who suffer for his name’s sake. If we suffer, the Bible says, we shall reign with him. Now, myrrh is from a balsam herb that you get spices and medicine from. It comes from the resin gum. And it is used also in ancient times as a drug to relieve pain and the agony of people who are dying. You remember in Mark 15, 23, that Jesus on the cross was given myrrh. It was like a drug to alleviate pain. It was also used in embalming. And you’ll remember from John chapter 19, verse 38 to 40, that myrrh was a part of the spices used in the embalming process of the body of Jesus. How fitting. And you’ll also remember that when Jesus was born, and as a young child, possibly close to two years old, when the wise men finally showed up, they brought gold, frankincense, and… How interesting that these wise men from the east would bring the very plant and spice that pictures death. It’s almost prophetically like they understood that he was the king because they brought him gold. He was a priest because they brought the frankincense that was used only in the temple worship to fill the temple with smoke and also to remove the stench of blood that was everywhere by animal sacrifice. It was also a picture of the prayers of God’s people going up to heaven. And they brought frankincense. He was a priest, is a priest. Whoever lives to intercede for us. But they also brought myrrh, indicating that he was going to die. And that indeed he did for our sins. So it’s kind of fascinating just thinking of the name of the city and that this message deals with suffering and statements about death. In the letter to the church at Ephesus, we learned that the first mark of the New Testament church is love for God himself. The second mark from Smyrna is the ability to suffer and endure. which is really a demonstration of how effective and strong our love for the Lord really is. Jesus said in John 15, 18 to 20, “‘If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.'” So don’t be surprised, wrote Peter, at the fiery trials that come to you as though some strange thing has happened. For the Bible teaches that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. That’s what the Bible teaches. Tertullian, the great church historian who witnessed personally many martyrdoms at Rome in his early 20s, he wrote these words. He said, if the Tiber, referring to the Tiber River, if the Tiber has overflowed its banks, if the Nile has remained in its bed, if the sky has been still or the earth been in commotion, if death has made its devastations or famine its afflictions, your cry immediately is, this is the fault of the Christians. All through those early years, Christians were suffering for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Smyrna, as a seat of emperor worship, demanded that every citizen would come once a year and burn incense on a giant altar and proclaim that Caesar is Lord. I’m sorry to tell you that many, many Christians did it. They did it and said, what difference does it make? I don’t really believe it. Let’s just do it, and that way we won’t suffer any problems. But there were hundreds and hundreds of Christians who refused to do it and died for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For Caesar is not Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. Lord of all. So there’s much admonition for all of us, especially in the time in which we live. The truth of the matter is people are dying all over. People are imprisoned for their faith in Jesus Christ. Cultures of the world, many of them are opposed to Christianity and are persecuting Christians today. But I want to say to all of us who live in this North American culture that it is happening here and you know it. The hostility is growing. There are terrible things happening in America right now. And out of all those who call themselves Christians, I seriously doubt that many of them are truly born again. For an example, in the last decade, George Gallup did a poll in which he argued that there were 50 million born-again evangelical Christians in our culture. But about 10 years later, taking the same names and calling them a random sampling in several major cities, discovered that only one out of four knew anything about the major doctrines of salvation. On some estimates from current research, some are saying that the number of true born-again believers who know what the Bible teaches about salvation are as low as 10 to 15 million people. I do not know. I don’t know the accuracy of any of this. All I know is what Jesus said. In the last day, many will say, Lord, Lord, have we not done many wonderful works in your name? Have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not cast out demons in your name? And he will say, depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you. It’s a serious matter.
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That’s Bible teacher David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will be back to bring our time in God’s Word to a close, so stay right there. First, Matt and I want to tell you about a wonderful resource that may just completely change the way you think when you hear the name Babylon.
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Matt? In our Revelation series, we will encounter Babylon and Babylonianism. What is Babylon and Babylonianism? Well, Babylon is mentioned 286 times in the Bible, including its origin and early beginnings.
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The first ruler of Babylon was Nimrod. And according to a multitude of legends, Matt, the life story of his wife, Semiramis, gives remarkable insight into what idolatry, immorality, and paganism is all about.
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From her day into our own, the religion of Babylonianism has penetrated all nations according to the Bible, seducing and deceiving as it goes.
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And it will play a prominent destructive role in the end time. And we’re going to see that unfold in this series. In fact, Revelation 17 through 18 gives us fascinating details about Babylonianism, its mystery and its fall.
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And the book of Revelation further pictures its outworking as a prostitute sitting upon a seven-headed beast with ten horns on its seventh head. and the Antichrist apparently arising out of a 10-division confederacy that will control the world.
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And the end goal is the diabolical seduction of the nations and the suppression of the heart and soul of Christian belief and practice.
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Well, this month, Jim, we’re featuring… A special price on my dad’s book, Babylon, Its History and Prophecies. Normally $15, just $10 this month.
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Babylon’s History and Prophecies is a study guide and a commentary on the scriptures addressing Babylonianism.
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Order at davidhocking.org or call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE. In Canada… at 1-888-75-BIBLE. And Bible by the Numbers is 242-53.
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Your resource purchase or your donation will help Hope for Today and make you a co-labor in the ministry with us. Well, and by the way, Matt, if folks have missed any part of today’s message or maybe a recent broadcast and want to hear it again, they can listen online for a limited time at davidhawking.org. Just click on the radio tab and you’ll see all the programs listed there. It’s free, it’s easy, and it’s a wonderful way to stay caught up or to share a powerful message with someone you know who needs to hear it. And by the way, while you’re on the website, take a moment to download one of the free booklets we have on our homepage. While these are powerful encouragement on a variety of topics, and well, you’ll find titles like Does God Truly Love Me? Food for Faith, Your Quest for God, Revival Now. Click on the link, download the booklets. You don’t have to sign up for anything. They’re short, straightforward, and loaded with truth. It’s a wonderful resource. Check it out today, davidhawking.org. And now that the summer is here and folks are putting their budgets together before they head out for that family vacation, we’d like to ask you to consider how you might set aside a special amount to send this way to help continue the ministry of Hope for Today. You know, we’ve mentioned this in the past. Summertime is a very hard time for ministries in general. Giving always takes a hit during the summertime, and hope for today depends on the faithful giving of listeners like you to keep it going strong. Your support helps us reach people who have never heard the gospel, strengthen believers who need the encouragement of God’s word and might feel alone, and equip the church with biblical truth. Now, if you like making that kind of investment into hearts and lives, prayerfully consider becoming a partner with us in ministry through a donation. To give, visit davidhawking.org. You can do it online. Or call us at 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Bible is 242-53. And you can also write to us at Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to us at Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S, 8P1. And thank you for standing with us to proclaim the Word of God clearly, boldly, and without compromise. And thanks for whatever you can do. Once again, here’s David.
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Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed our study of the church in Smyrna. We’re just getting started. It’s chapter 2, verses 8 to 11. Let me read to you verses 10 to 11. It says, “…fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison.” that you may be tried, and you shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Wow. We call this satanic opposition, and don’t kid yourself. The devil and his demonic forces are out to cause trouble in the churches that are trying to walk with the Lord and keep faithful and loyal to the Word of God. I have a little motto for Hope for Today. It’s the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible. That’s the message we need. We need God’s Word. I don’t need the opinions of men. I don’t need to study politics or social enterprises. No, I need to study the Bible, and in this case, the wonderful book of Revelation. And the church at Smyrna, what was going on here? Satanic opposition. And God knew all about it. And there are some who said they were Jews who but they weren’t. They are the synagogue of Satan. Wow. See you next time.
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Well, thank you, David. Next time, David continues looking at this hard-hitting message to the church in Smyrna. Don’t miss it, and be sure to invite a friend to listen along with you, right here on Hope for Today.
