If someone stands in the island of Patmos and look at the Northeastern direction the seven cities, where the associated seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation will appear in the clockwise direction in modern Turkey starting with Ephesus. Smyrna is the second city next to Ephesus in the clockwise direction. A city which was built by Alexander the Great in the 4 century, which showed great allegiance to the Roman kingdom and their principle of emperor worship. It was known for its commercial activities due to its port and internal road connections. The city is renamed as Izmir and still exists in modern Turkey.
The seven cities and their current names are marked in the below map.
The Jews had immunity to Roman emperor worship under the Roman Kingdom as they believe in Jehovah the one God. But they had made sure even the Christians are excluded from the immunity they have obtained. As the city of Smyrna wanted to show its loyalty to Roman emperor, it resulted in great persecution for the Christians, who also believed in one trinitarian God.
The Church received its share of commendation from our Lord for the position they took to stand up for Christ in spite of their affliction, poverty and the opposition from local Jews (Rev 2:9). The Lord clearly warns them of their future persecution and expects the church to continue its faithful journey even to the point of death.
There is clear evidence of greater persecution in Smyrna as the Church leader like Polycarp was burnt alive for not showing allegiance to Roman imperial worship. Well, there are many nations today where the situation is no different from Smyrna. The people of those nation continue to stand up for God in spite of all the persecution they go through. The people in the free land are expected to pray for them to hold on to their faith as they go through the persecution.
Somebody said the Christian life is a mixture of Crosses and Roses. There is no option given to pick up only roses and leave the crosses for somebody. But there is a promise that Christ will be with all of us both during the times of Roses as well as during the times of Crosses. He took the cross first and suffered before asking us to be part of the great call to receive the victors crown.
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