Jesus once said that if the world hates Him, it will also hate His followers. We’re seeing that demonstrated across the globe, especially in some countries under Islamic rule. I speak of church and town burnings, imprisonment, torture, rape, beheadings, etc. I speak also of the political and cultural attacks on Christianity here in this and other western countries.

Jesus also told us, in so many words, that just because one becomes a Christian, life doesn’t all of a sudden become a bed of roses. Expect persecution. Expect suffering. Expect burdens. When it happens because of our faith, it is in line with carrying our cross and following Jesus. In this fallen world, Christians are not immune nor insulated from life’s dire circumstances and situations. But, on the flip side, those acts, trials and tribulations can indeed be a help in forming Christian character.

That’s how it is today, and so was it the same when Jesus addressed the church members in Smyrna. At that time, they were declared an illegitimate religious group. And if they didn’t comply with mandatory Roman emperor worship, they were under the threat of imprisonment and death.

They were also surrounded by a hostile Jewish population. In the Smyrna message, those Jews were considered agents of the devil. Jesus referred to them as not God’s people, but as slanderers who inhabited the synagogue of Satan (Rev. 2: 9). They accused the Christians of being atheists, cannibals, and disloyal to the Roman government. And of course, that only incited the Roman authorities to persecute the Smyrna church even more.

Jesus introduces Himself to the church, in Revelation 2: 8, as the first and last, the One who was dead and came to life. He does this to identify with the church, reminding it of His suffering and death. Because He is the resurrected, victorious Lord, He remains as the only one who can help the church; not only in its affliction, but in its poverty too.

You see, even though, Smyrna was a beautiful and prosperous center of trade, science, and medicine, the Smyrna Christians had almost nothing at all due to the constant persecution. But what Jesus told them about their poverty is a truth for Christians throughout the ages. He told them “But you are rich.” He had in mind the fact that by His grace, He had become poor, that we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8: 9).

Jesus, of course, wasn’t speaking of material riches, as some preachers today would have us believe. He was referring to spiritual riches like faith, patience, humility, grace, temperance, courage, love. That is something to keep in mind whether one’s church or individual life is materially poor, wealthy, or in between. In any and all circumstances, the only achievement really that matters is only gained through Christ who strengthens us.

Jesus’ counsel to Smyrna and to us is to not fear the suffering that this life can bring. For He, having overcome, is in control. There is nothing, I mean nothing, that can separate us from His love. Therefore, He wants us to know that it is important, crucial in fact, that we keep our eyes not on the temporary, but on what really matters – the eternal reward. “Remain faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.” That’s a promise from Jesus. Bank on it!