It’s OK
June 27, 2021
Preached by Ben Bechtel
Scripture Reading
Revelation 2:8-11
8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.
9 “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
If you’ve been on social media or watched the news in the last two weeks, then you have probably come across a particular audition video for the show America’s Got Talent with Simon Cowell and others. This video showed Jane Marczewski, known as Nightbirde, performing her song “It’s OK” for the judges, which captivated people around the country. It’s not her singing primarily though, that has captured the hearts of many—it’s her story. Jane has suffered through three bouts of cancer in the last 5 years in her breasts, spine, and liver. On top of all of that, her husband divorced her last year. This all resulted in her having a catatonic breakdown, which left her in crippling physical pain, hardly able to speak and move for three months. Yet, amid all that, there she was on our TV’s singing a song she wrote entitled “It’s OK.” It’s OK? How in the world can she say that? Even more important for us, how could we ever say it’s OK when faced with similar circumstances?
There are two possible ways to say it’s OK in the face of suffering like this. The first way says it’s ok, meaning that things will turn around and I will be able to defy my suffering and enjoy life. This way of saying it’s OK is sheer optimism, a raw belief that everything will work out in the end. But what happens when the cancer comes back stronger? Or when the depression won’t lift? Or when the money doesn’t come through? This sheer optimism is not based upon anything sturdy. If this is the reason why you say it’s OK, then you won’t last long when suffering strikes.
The other way to say it’s OK in the face of suffering is to say it’s OK, meaning no matter what happens to me in this life, I have a hope stronger than this life that tells me it will be OK. This way of saying it’s OK is more than defiant optimism because it is rooted in something outside the changing tides of our circumstances.
As we approach the address to the church in Smyrna this morning, Jesus draws near to bring comfort. This is one of only two out of the seven addresses in which there is no rebuke for the church. To this church beginning to suffer, and on the precipice of even greater suffering, Jesus comes to them, as he comes to us, to say it’s OK.
1. The Setting (v. 9)
Now, last week Noah told us that Ephesus was like Las Vegas in terms of its size and philosophy of life. Smyrna was also a large city, comparable to Ephesus in terms of size and influence. Smyrna was known as a city for its unique loyalty to the Roman Empire and her emperor. In fact, back in 195 B.C., before Rome had ascended to the status of a world empire, the people of Smyrna gave their allegiance to Rome. They were also one of the first cities to build an altar of worship to Caesar and were the center of his cult of worship. This was a town charged with a religious fervor for their country and for its leader.
It is into this context that Jesus speaks these words in verse 9:
I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
When I was in middle school, I went to the Philadelphia Eagles training camp with some of my friends. Being an avid Steelers fan at the time, and it being the year right after the Steelers won the Super Bowl, I decided to deck myself out in Steelers gear. That was a mistake. You see, I wore my Steelers gear all the time in the neutral territory of Harrisburg without a thought. However, at Eagles camp I realized very quickly by judging looks and rude comments that it was not a safe place to wear my Steelers gear. I was in the belly of the beast identifying with the enemy.
In Smyrna at the time of the writing of this letter Christians were facing persecution, poverty, and slander by the Jewish people. After Jesus’s resurrection, Christians maintained relative protection in the Roman empire to worship as they pleased, because they were viewed as a Jewish sect with the same protections the Jewish people had to worship God and not sacrifice to Caesar. We saw in our study of Acts how the Jewish people often opposed the Christian church by giving them over to the Romans or by trying to frame them for various crimes. That is likely the same thing happening here to the Christians in Smyrna: due to Jewish slander the Christians are beginning to feel serious cultural pressure and persecution for their refusal to worship Caesar. On top of that, Christians likely could not engage in many lines of work because so much of the industry of the city was tied into the worship of Caesar, hence their poverty. The church was beginning to feel like it was in enemy territory, like they were in the belly of the beast identifying with an enemy of Caesar, the Lord Jesus.
2. The Challenge (v. 10)
With that context in mind, let’s turn now to the clear commands that Jesus gives to his church in verse 10:
10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Do you see that dual command of Jesus to the churches in the light of their suffering? Do not fear and be faithful. But notice also that the suffering they are commanded not to fear is not just present suffering but future suffering as well. You see, while the situation was already uncomfortable for the church at Smyrna it was about to get a whole lot worse. As it says here in verse 10, some of them were about to be thrown in prison, likely as a stopover on the way to execution. The most famous example of a Christian martyr in Smyrna is Polycarp, who was the bishop of the church in Smyrna from AD 115 until his execution in AD 156. Jesus looks this church in the eye and tells them the truth: your suffering is about to get a lot worse.
Notice this too: who is the agent of the church’s impending suffering? The devil. The same Accuser who animated the Jews to accuse the church before the people of Smyrna also stands behind their imprisonment and execution for the name of Jesus. But he is not the only actor. Look at that little phrase in the middle of verse 10, “that they may be tested.” That is a purpose statement, showing the reason why these Christians will face the suffering of being thrown in prison. That’s interesting. Satan, the great enemy of all who claim the name of Christ, doesn’t want to test the church. He wants to destroy the church. He is a ravaging lion seeking to tear the church of Christ limb from limb (1 Peter 5:8). So, who is the one doing the testing? God himself. You see, God is active in the suffering of this church for his own good purpose, even as it is carried out by the Evil One. He is using this horrible suffering as a time of refinement for his church. Will the church continue to follow Jesus and be further refined, or will they fall away?
Church, I can’t look at you today like Jesus looked at the church at Smyrna and tell you that suffering will get worse in your lifetime. I can’t look at you and say that you will face suffering and persecution specifically because of your Christian witness like this church. We all very well may at some point soon or we may not. However, I can look at you this morning and say with confidence that your faith in Jesus will be tested by trials. The suffering we face in this life may not be directly related to our faith in Jesus, but every trial is an opportunity to show forth our devotion to Jesus and grow in relationship with him. This means that your wayward children are a test. Your illness is a test. Your unshakeable depression is a test. Your financial catastrophe is a test. Oftentimes though, as we are tested by suffering, we are tempted to give up on our Lord Jesus. That is precisely why this letter looks at us as the church and says “do not fear” because suffering is an opportunity to grow deeper in faithfulness to Jesus.
Before we move on to our final point, do you see here how Christianity gives us an honest but purposeful view of suffering? You may hear me say that our suffering is a test and think that this is some cruel, sadistic game set up by God. Christianity teaches that suffering is real and purposeful. Suffering is real, in that it is not an illusion. Christianity crushes the optimistic, it’s OK view of suffering. Suffering is not OK. It is an unwelcome intruder into God’s world but because of human sin, it is present in our world. We can’t run from it and in this life suffering might not let up. Jesus doesn’t guarantee that our lives won’t look like absolute train wrecks by the time we come to our deaths. Our savings could be gone, our children could deny the faith and disown us, and despite being fully forgiven by God the consequences of your sin may still devastate your family. God doesn’t promise that our life circumstances will improve, that things will turn around eventually. Suffering is real.
Suffering is also purposeful. Your suffering is not just a bad draw from the universe which is all any person can say apart from God. Without God, suffering in our lives does not serve a purpose. This leads many to nihilism and despair in the face of suffering. Why continue on, why not give up in the face of horrible, meaningless suffering? Christianity teaches us that God uses suffering as periods of testing to refine his people. God infuses even the most horrific parts of our lives with meaning and purpose in his plan to display his glorious and loving character and make us more resemble the beauty of Jesus. Suffering is real and suffering is purposeful.
3. The Promise (vv. 8, 10b-11)
The question we have not asked yet is how the church can endure through such terrible suffering? Where do we get the resources to remain faithful in testing? Let’s read vv. 10b-11 again:
Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
Jesus comforts his suffering church by giving them a promise to motivate their endurance. This promise comes to us in these verses in two images, that of the crown of life and protection from the second death.
The word translated in verse 10 as crown is the same word used to describe the wreaths that would adorn the heads of the winners of athletic competition back in those days. Think of the Olympic wreaths. Those who endured grueling athletic competition and came out on top received a crown. The image here is of the Christian who endures faithfully in following Christ through this life receiving a crown of victory. The second image, that of the second death, is derived from other Jewish writings around the first century. The second death refers to eternal death, to separation from God forever in hell. Now, in verse 11 in our Bibles it says that the one who conquers “will not be hurt” by the second death. That phrase in the Greek is emphatic. It’s saying the fires of hell will never, ever be able to do a thing to those who suffer faithfully in following Jesus. The powers of death and hell are powerless against the one who endures to the end.
These two images together refer to the promise of victorious, triumphant life for the one who endures. Think about the hope this brings us in our suffering. As we stay up late in tears praying for our wayward child, as our bodies waste away to nothing because of an illness, as we pray prayers of lament over the injustice of the world, as we return evil with good even as Christians become more culturally aligned, we are conquering. Through faithful death comes new life.
Friends, we can know that that this promise of life holds true as we look to the One who makes this promise (v. 8):
‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.
That description of Christ in verse 8 ought to sound familiar to many of you. This verse is drawing from the image of Jesus in Revelation 1:17-18 which we looked at together a few weeks ago. Jesus is described there as the one who currently lives, having conquered death and the grave, and promising life to all who follow him. There is one key difference between that image and Jesus in verse 8. Rather than saying he is the living one, Jesus introduces himself as the one who died and came to life. This emphasizes not just his life but his own suffering and death.
You see, Jesus doesn’t command the church at Smyrna to do something he did not do first. Jesus conquered in the face of great suffering by remaining faithful to his Father even unto death. As a result, Jesus rose from the dead and received the crown of life! He passed the test of suffering. Now all of us who follow him in faith through the tests of this life will also conquer and receive the crown of life. We conquer by following the way of the conqueror, by remaining faithful to our God even unto death. Jesus promises us that it will be OK, but not in a purely optimistic sense. Death is still the pathway to life. It will be OK in the sense that we have a hope stronger than this life that not even death can take away. Do not fear but remain faithful in suffering because no suffering, not even death can touch you in Christ.
As I think about Jane Marczewski’s song “It’s OK” I am pretty sure she it with the Christian framework for approaching suffering in mind. She wrote a short piece a few months ago about her suffering entitled “God is on the Bathroom Floor.” Listen to what she writes:
I spent three months propped against the wall. On nights that I could not sleep, I laid in the tub like an insect, staring at my reflection in the shower knob… I rolled up under my robe on the tile. The bathroom floor became my place to hide, where I could scream and be ugly; where I could sob and spit and eventually doze off, happy to be asleep, even with my head on the toilet.
I have had cancer three times now, and I have barely passed thirty…I am God’s downstairs neighbor, banging on the ceiling with a broomstick. I show up at His door every day. Sometimes with songs, sometimes with curses. Sometimes apologies, gifts, questions, demands…I have called Him a cheat and a liar, and I meant it. I have told Him I wanted to die, and I meant it. Tears have become the only prayer I know…
Even on days when I’m not so sick, sometimes I go lay on the mat in the afternoon light to listen for Him. I know it sounds crazy, and I can’t really explain it, but God is in there—even now. I have heard it said that some people can’t see God because they won’t look low enough, and it’s true. Look lower. God is on the bathroom floor.
If you are here this morning and you find yourself on the bathroom floor, struggling to make sense of your suffering and faith in Jesus in the midst of what you are going through, know that Jesus meets you on the bathroom floor. In verse 9 of our text, it says that Jesus knows the suffering, poverty, and slander that the church is facing. One of the worst things someone can say to you while you are hurting is “I know how hard that must be for you” when they haven’t gone through anything remotely similar. You want to scream, “no, you don’t!”
Jesus doesn’t come to you this morning with fake, condescending comfort. He comes as one who has been on the bathroom floor of this world. He felt the weight of human sin, pain, injustice, and suffering on his back on the cross. He knows what it feels like. He will meet you today to offer you life in the midst of death as you turn to him. Look lower, to the depths of human pain and suffering and you will find Jesus there urging you on toward the crown of life.
Church, Jesus urges us all not to fear what might come our way. Each step we take in faithfulness to Christ we receive the promise it’s OK. He has conquered. You are conquering. You will receive the crown of life. Keep going. It’s OK.
Family Discussion Questions
Think about your own life. When you face hard things, what do you tell yourself to assure yourself that things will be ok? Are the things you lean on in those moments grounded in reality or are they just blind hope?
In what ways are you currently being tested through trials? What are these trials revealing to you about your character? How might God be working through them to spur you on in following Jesus?
What are you afraid of having to face in this life? How do the promises of Jesus in verses 10-11 speak to those fears?
