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.
10. Fear none of ] Read simply Fear not.
those things which thou shalt suffer ] Probably refer primarily to a persecution immediately impending; but they are no doubt meant to apply also to the subsequent persecutions of the Church there, especially to the famous one, under the Antonines, in which Polycarp the Bishop suffered martyrdom, in a.d. 155. It will depend on the date assigned to this Book, whether Polycarp can have been Bishop at the time of this message. It is to be noted that the Jews were specially active in urging his execution, though officially it was the act of the pagan magistrates.
that ye may be tried ] Or, tempted: it is probably rather the Devil’s object in raising the persecution than God’s in permitting it that is meant. Cf. Luk 22:31.
ten days ] Possibly a half proverbial expression for a short time, as we might say “a week or two.” And no doubt the notion of a short and definite time is intended: but from the important significance in this book of definite numbers, and not least of definite measures of time, it is probable that something more is intended too whether that the persecution would last ten years, or what, it would be rash to say.
be thou ] Lit., become not implying that he was not perfectly faithful now, but= “prove thyself,” “quit thyself as.”
a crown of life ] i.e. eternal life as a crown; so St Jas 1:12. The phrase is like “the crown of glory” in 1Pe 5:4, and probably “the crown of righteousness,” 2Ti 4:8. As in the parallel promise, Rev 3:21, the throne is in the fullest sense a royal throne, the crown here is probably a royal crown (so Trench Synonyms), not a mere garland of victory. Throughout this Book the imagery is Jewish not Gentile, and all who are finally redeemed are Kings, Rev 5:12. Both the thrones and the crowns of the elders, Rev 4:4; Rev 4:10, might be ensigns of dignity less than royal, but not the crown of the Rider on the White Horse, Rev 6:3. Moreover the Crown of Thorns for which all the Evangelists use the same word as here was certainly a counterfeit of royalty. On the other hand in Rev 19:12 the King of Kings and Lord of Lords has on His head many diadems, the unmistakeable technical name for royal crowns, and there are diadems on the heads of the Dragon, Rev 12:3, and on the horns of the Beast, Rev 13:1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer – He did not promise them exemption from suffering. He saw that they were about to suffer, and he specifies the manner in which their affliction would occur. But he entreats and commands them not to be afraid. They were to look to the crown of life, and to be comforted with the assurance that if they were faithful unto death, that would be, theirs. We need not dread suffering if we can hear the voice of the Redeemer encouraging us, and if he assures us that in a little while we shall have the crown of life.
Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison – Or, shall cause some of you to be cast into prison. He had just said that their persecutors were of the synagogue of Satan. He here represents Satan, or the devil – another name of the same being – as about to throw them into prison. This would be done undoubtedly by the hands of men, but still Satan was the prime mover, or the instigator in doing it. It was common to cast those who were persecuted into prison. See Act 12:3-4; Act 16:23. It is not said on what pretence, or by what authority, this would be done; but, as John had been banished to Patmos from Ephesus, it is probable that this persecution was raging in the adjacent places, and there is no improbability in supposing that many might be thrown into prison.
That ye may be tried – That the reality of your faith may be subjected to a test to show whether it is genuine. The design in the case is that of the Saviour, though Satan is allowed to do it. It was common in the early periods of the church to suffer religion to be subjected to trial amidst persecutions, in order to show that it was of heavenly origin, and to demonstrate its value in view of the world. This is, indeed, one of the designs of trial at all times, but this seemed eminently desirable when a new system of religion was about to be given to mankind. Compare the notes on 1Pe 1:6-7.
And ye shall have tribulation ten days – A short time; a brief period; a few days. It is possible, indeed, that this might have been literally ten days, but it is much more in accordance with the general character of this book, in regard to numbers, to suppose that the word ten here is used to denote a few. Compare Gen 24:55; 1Sa 25:38; Dan 1:12, Dan 1:14. We are wholly ignorant how long the trial actually lasted; but the assurance was that it would not be long, and they were to allow this thought to cheer and sustain them in their sorrows. Why should not the same thought encourage us now? Affliction in this life, however severe, can be but brief; and in the hope that it will soon end, why should we not bear it without complaining or repining?
Be thou faithful unto death – Implying, perhaps, that though, in regard to the church, the affliction would be brief, yet that it might be fatal to some of them, and they who were thus about to die should remain faithful to their Saviour until the hour of death. In relation to all, whether they were to suffer a violent death or not, the same injunction and the same promise was applicable. It is true of everyone who is a Christian, in whatever manner he is to die, that if he is faithful unto death, a crown of life awaits him. Compare the notes on 2Ti 4:8.
And I will give thee a crown of life – See the notes on Jam 1:12. Compare 1Pe 5:4; 1Co 9:24-27. The promise here is somewhat different from what was made to the faithful in Ephesus Rev 2:7, but the same thing substantially is promised them – happiness hereafter, or an admission into heaven. In the former case it is the peaceful image of those admitted into the scenes of paradise; here it is the triumph of the crowned martyr.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer] This may be addressed particularly to Polycarp, if he was at that time the bishop of this Church. He had much to suffer; and was at last burnt alive at Smyrna, about the year of our Lord 166. We have a very ancient account of his martyrdom, which has been translated by Cave, and is worthy of the reader’s perusal. That account states that the Jews were particularly active in this martyrdom, and brought the fagots, c., by which he was consumed. Such persons must indeed have been of the synagogue of Satan.
Ten days] As the days in this book are what is commonly called prophetic days, each answering to a year, the ten years of tribulation may denote ten years of persecution and this was precisely the duration of the persecution under Diocletian, during which all the Asiatic Churches were grievously afflicted. Others understand the expression as implying frequency and abundance, as it does in other parts of Scripture. Ge 31:7; Ge 31:41: Thou hast changed my wages TEN TIMES; i.e. thou hast frequently changed my wages Nu 14:22: Those men have tempted me now these TEN TIMES; i.e. they have frequently and grievously tempted and sinned against me. Ne 4:12: The Jews that dwelt by them came and said unto us TEN TIMES, i.e. they were frequently coming and informing us, that our adversaries intended to attack us, Job 19:3; These TEN TIMES have ye reproached me; i.e. ye have loaded me with continual reproaches. Da 1:20: In all matters of wisdom, he found them TEN TIMES better than all the magicians; i.e. the king frequently consulted Daniel and his companions, and found them more abundantly informed and wise than all his counsellors.
Some think the shortness of the affliction is here intended, and that the ten days are to be understood as in Terence, Heaut., Act v., scen. 1, ver. 36, Decem dierum vis mi est familia. “I have enjoyed my family but a short time.”
Be thou faithful unto death] Be firm, hold fast the faith, confess Christ to the last, and at all hazards, and thou shalt have a crown of life-thou shalt be crowned with life, have an eternal happy existence, though thou suffer a temporal death. It is said of Polycarp that when brought before the judge, and commanded to abjure and blaspheme Christ, he firmly answered, “Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never did me wrong, how then can I blaspheme my king who hath saved me?” He was then adjudged to the flames, and suffered cheerfully for Christ his Lord and Master.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer; thou art like to suffer yet sharper things than thou hast suffered, the persecutions are but begun; but pluck up a good courage, fear not your enemies, Mat 10:28.
Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison; you shall be cast into prison, by Jews and pagans, who are the devils instruments, and execute his malice against you; which should both encourage you, that your fight is with the common enemy of mankind, and teach you to pity and pray for your persecutors, who are but the devils instruments, whose hearts he hath filled with malice against you.
That ye may be tried; that your faith, love, patience, obedience, may be tried.
And ye shall have tribulation ten days: interpreters are divided about these ten days, what space of time is meant by them; some think the whole time of the ten persecutions, but they lasted above two hundred years; others will have them the ten years of Trajans persecution, from the year 99 to 109. Others observe, that in ten days are two hundred and forty hours, which make up the number of years from 85, when the second persecution began, (under which John at this time was), to 325, when all the persecutions ceased. But to let these fancies go: it is either a certain number put for an uncertain; or, it signifies many days; as in Gen 31:42, Thou hast changed my wages ten times, that is, many times; so 2Sa 19:43 Job 19:3. Or else it signifies a little time, as in Gen 24:55 Amo 5:3; 6:9. If we understand this epistle as only concerning the church of Smyrna at that time, it may signify a small time. If we understand it prophetically, describing the state of all churches, till the pagan persecution ceased, (which was more than two hundred and forty years), ten days signifies a long time.
Be thou faithful unto death, hold fast to thy profession of faith and holiness to the end of thy life here,
and I will give thee a crown of life, and I will give thee eternal life and salvation, which shall be a great reward. It is called a crown of righteousness, 2Ti 4:8.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. Fear none, c.the oldestmanuscripts read, “Fear not those things,” &c.”The Captain of our salvation never keeps back what those whofaithfully witness for Him may have to bear for His name’s sake neverentices recruits by the promise they shall find all things easy andpleasant there” [TRENCH].
devil“theaccuser.” He acted, through Jewish accusers againstChrist and His people. The conflict of the latter was not with mereflesh and blood, but with the rulers of the darkness of this world.
triedwith temptationby “the devil.” The same event is often both a temptationfrom the devil, and a trial from GodGod sifting andwinnowing the man to separate his chaff from his wheat, the devilsifting him in the hope that nothing but chaff will be found in him[TRENCH].
ten daysnot the tenpersecutions from Nero to Diocletian. LYRAexplains ten years on the year-day principle. The shortnessof the duration of the persecution is evidently made the ground ofconsolation. The time of trial shall be short, the duration of yourjoy shall be for ever. Compare the use of “ten days” for ashort time, Gen 24:55; Num 11:19.Ten is the number of the world powers hostile to the Church;compare the ten horns of the beast, Re13:1.
unto deathso as evento endure death for My sake.
crown of life Jas 1:12;2Ti 4:8, “crown ofrighteousness”; 1Pe 5:4,”crown of glory.” The crown is the garland,the mark of a conqueror, or of one rejoicing, or at afeast; but diadem is the mark of a KING.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer,…. God’s people undergo sufferings of various sorts, as the Christians of those times did, scourgings, imprisonment, confiscation of goods, and death itself in various shapes; and these are certain, they shall suffer them; they are all known beforehand to Christ, and he sometimes gives his people previous notice of them, nor should they indulge a slavish fear about them. It is reported of Polycarp, bishop of this church at Smyrna, in a letter written by the church itself n that three days before he suffered, he dreamed his pillow, on which he laid his head, was on fire; upon which, awaking, he said to those that were by him, that he should be burnt for Christ; and when he came to suffer, as he was led along, a voice was heard by the bystanders, Polycarp, be strong, and play the man.
Behold, the devil shall cast [some] of you into prison; which has been the lot of many of the saints, and was of some, even of the faithful ministers of the word in this interval; in which Satan had an hand, instigating their enemies to prevent and stop the progress of the Gospel, and deter others both from preaching and professing it: the end was in the permission of it,
that ye may be tried; that their graces might be tried, their faith, love, zeal, courage, faithfulness, and constancy. Suffering times are trying times, whether men are real Christians or not; whether they have the true grace of God or not; and whether the principles they hold are right and true, and are worth, and will bear suffering for:
and ye shall have tribulation ten days: meaning it may be the ten persecutions under the Roman emperors; the “first” was under Nero, in the year 64 or 66; the “second” was under Domitian, about the year 93; the “third” was under Trojan, in the year 104; the “fourth” was under Hadrian, in the year 125; the “fifth” was under Marcus Antoninus, in the year 151; the “sixth” was under Septimius Severus, in the year 197; the “seventh” was under Maximinus, in the years 235, 236, 237; the “eighth” was under Decius, in the year 250; the “ninth” was under Valerianus, in the year 257; and the “tenth” was under Dioclesian, in the year 303. Austin o reckons the ten persecutions thus: the first by Nero, the second by Domitian, the third by Trojan, the fourth by Antoninus, the fifth by Severus, the sixth by Maximus, the seventh by Decius, the eighth by Valerianus, the ninth by Aurelianus, the tenth by Dioclesian and Maximianus. Others, inasmuch as Nero’s persecution was before this vision, reckon the ten persecutions thus: Domitian, Trojan, M. Antoninus, Verus and Lucius, Severus, Maximinus, Decius, Valerianus, Aurelianus, Dioclesianus, Licinius: the Dioclesian persecution lasted ten years almost throughout: and some think that this last persecution, which held ten years, is here particularly meant, and not without some good reason; since it is usual in prophetic writings, and in this book of the Revelation, to put days for years; so that these ten days may be the ten years the last persecution held, and at which time the period of this church state ended, and that of Pergamos took place.
Be thou faithful unto death: which is an address to the ministers in this interval, to be faithful in preaching the pure and unmixed Gospel of Christ; in a constant administration of the ordinances, as they were delivered; in watching over the souls of men under their care, reproving, exhorting, c. with all longsuffering continuing in the discharge of duty, though in continual danger of death, and though it issued in it. And also to the churches and the members of them, to continue believing in Christ, professing his name, striving for his Gospel, attending on his ordinances, and following him whithersoever he went; though this should expose them to sufferings, even unto death, which it became them cheerfully to undergo: and to which they are encouraged by what follows,
and I will give thee a crown of life; which may refer not only to eternal life, which is so called, Jas 1:12; because of the glory of that state, and its everlasting continuance, and is in the possession and gift of Christ; but to the deliverance of the Christians from persecution, by Constantine; who coming to the imperial crown, that became not only a crown of glory to him, but of life to the church, and was as life from the dead unto the saints: to dead men is promised a crown of life, in allusion to the Gentiles, who crowned their dead p.
n Apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 4. c. 15. o De Civitate Dei, l. 18. c. 52. p Vid. Minut. Felix, p. 42.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Fear not ( ). As in 1:17. Worse things are about to come than poverty and blasphemy, perhaps prison and death, for the devil “is about to cast” ( ), “is going to cast.”
Some of you ( ). Without (some) before , a common idiom as in Rev 3:9; Rev 11:19; Luke 11:49.
That ye may be tried ( ). Purpose clause with and the first aorist passive subjunctive of . John himself is in exile. Peter and John had often been in prison together. James the brother of John, Paul, and Peter had all suffered martyrdom. In 3:10 a general persecution is outlined by .
Ye shall have (). Future active, but some MSS. read (present active subjunctive with hina, “that ye may have”).
Tribulation ten days ( ). “Tribulation of ten days” (or “within ten days”). It is unwise to seek a literal meaning for ten days. Even ten days of suffering might seem an eternity while they lasted.
Be thou faithful ( ). “Keep on becoming faithful” (present middle imperative of ), “keep on proving faithful unto death” (Heb 12:4) as the martyrs have done (Jesus most of all).
The crown of life ( ). See this very image in Jas 1:12, a familiar metaphor in the games at Smyrna and elsewhere in which the prize was a garland. See also 3:11. The crown consists in life (2:7). See Paul’s use of in 1Cor 9:25; 2Tim 4:8.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Fear not [ ] . Lit., fear nothing. For the verb, see on Luk 1:50.
Behold [ ] . The particle dh for certain, which is not rendered, gives a quality of assurance to the prediction.
The Devil [] . See on Mt 4:1. The persecution of the Christians is thus traced to the direct agency of Satan, and not to the offended passions or prejudices of men. Trench observes : “There is nothing more remarkable in the records which have come down to us of the early persecutions, than the sense which the confessors and martyrs and those who afterwards narrate their sufferings and their triumphs entertain and utter, that these great fights of affliction through which they were called to pass, were the immediate work of the Devil.”
Shall cast [ ] . Rev., rightly, is about to cast.
Prison [] . See on Act 5:21.
May be tried [] . Tempted. See on 1Pe 1:7.
Tribulation ten days [ ] . Lit., a tribulation of ten days.
Be thou [] . The exact force of the word cannot be given by a corresponding word in English. Lit., “become thou.” There is to be a succession of trials demanding an increase in the power and a variety in the direction of faith. With reference to these trials, faithfulness is to be not only existent but becoming, developing with new strength and into new applications.
Unto death [ ] . Not faithful until the time of death, but faithful up to a measure which will endure death for Christ ‘s sake. “It is an intensive, not an extensive term.”
A crown [ ] . Rev., rightly, “the crown.” See on 1Pe 5:4; Jas 1:12. Crown is used with a variety of words : crown of righteousness (2Ti 4:8); glory (1Pe 5:4); beauty Isa 61:3, Sept., A. V., glory); pride (Isa 28:1); rejoicing (1Th 2:19). Of life [ ] . The full phrase is the crown of the life : i e., the crown which consists in life eternal. The image is not taken from the Greek games, although Smyrna contained a temple of Olympian Jupiter, and Olympian games were celebrated there. It is the diadem of royalty rather than the garland of victory, though more commonly used in the latter sense. It is not likely that John would use an image from the games, since there was the most violent prejudice against them on the part of Jewish Christians; a prejudice which, on occasions of their celebration, provoked the special ferocity of the pagans against what they regarded as the unpatriotic and unsocial character of Christ ‘s disciples. It was at the demand of the people assembled in the stadium that Polycarp was given up to death. Moreover, it is doubtful whether any symbol in Apoc. is taken from heathenism. The imagery is Jewish.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer,” (me phobou ha melleis paschein) “Do not fear (the) things which you are about to suffer,” as a church, or as individuals, Psa 27:3; Mat 10:28; Joh 14:27; Luk 12:32.
2) “Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, (idou mellei Ballein ho diabolos eks humon eis phulaken) “Behold the Devil is about to cast some of you into prison”; to be forewarned is to be forearmed, prepared against an unexpected shock; Both ill treatment and lying have their diabolical origin in the devil, the accuser, 1Pe 5:8-9.
3) “That ye may be tried,” (hina peirasthete) “In order that you all may be tried or tested; it was then at hand from the pagans, as our Lord had foretold, Joh 15:20-21; Mat 5:11-12. They were tempted to abandon their faith and practice, 1Co 10:13.
14) “And ye shall have tribulation ten days,” (kai heksete thliasin hemeron deka) “And you all will have affliction (for) ten days,” martyrdom for these Christians was at hand, for a short time, no remote thing, 2Ti 3:12; 1Ti 3:3-5; Gen 24:55.
5) “Be thou faithful unto death,” (ginou pistos achri thanatou) “Be thou faithful until (unto the point of) death;” Even to the point of dying for truth, Jas 1:12. The one who endures trials or cruel testings will one day be renewed.
6) “And I will give thee a crown of life,” (kai doso soi ton stephanon tes zoes) “And I will give thee the crown of life;” The crown pertaining or relating to the faithful life of trials he has chosen to endure, 2Ti 4:5-8. Here the loyalty of faith is rewarded.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(10) Fear none of those things.Though Christ proclaimed His yoke to be easy, He also said that His followers must expect tribulation (Joh. 16:33). He never conceals the difficulties or dangers of His service. (See Mat. 10:16-31; Act. 9:16.) So here He proclaims, Behold, the devil shall cast some. . . .
The devil.The LXX. translation gives this name to Satan, regarding him as the accuser. (See Job. 1:6; Zec. 3:1-2; and comp. Rev. 12:10, where he is described as the accuser of the brethren.)
Tried.On the part of the adversary, the intention was that they might be tempted from their allegiance to Christ. The real effect would be that they who endured would come forth tested and approved. The suffering would be for ten days. This is variously explained. Some think it applies to the periods of persecution; others understand it to mean a long persecution of ten years; others take it literally; others again view it as expressing completeness: the test would be thorough. The exhortation, Be thou faithful (even) unto death, seems to favour this last; while the mention of ten days was, perhaps, designed to remind them that the period of trial was limited by Him who knew what they could bear, and would be but a little while when compared with the life with which they would be crowned.
A crown of life.Rather, the crown of life. A crown was given to the priest who presided at the Dionysian Mysteries, which were celebrated with great pomp at Smyrna. A crown was also given at the Olympian Games, which were held at Smyrna. If there is any allusion to either of these, the latter would be the most natural. Some hold, however, the crownthough the word is Stephanos, not diademais rather that of royalty than of victory. It is interesting to note that the narrative which tells of the death of Polycarp closes with words which it is difficult not to believe to be an allusion to this promiseBy his patience he overcame the unrighteous ruler, and received the crown of immortality (Smyrn. Ep.).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Fear none Literally, (Greek,) Fear not what things thou art about to suffer. And this fear not cheers them with three facts: their persecution will be limited to a few, some: to a brief time, ten days: and will be followed by a crown of life. The word some is, indeed, not expressed by the Greek, but is necessarily implied: the Church would not be exterminated: it is not exterminated yet.
Ten days Literally, thou shalt have a persecution of ten days. A variety of unnecessary symbolical interpretations have been given to the ten days. They have been interpreted to predict “the ten persecutions,” which history has been rather strained to make out in order to fulfil that meaning of the text. But if ten general persecutions could be made out, still this text only predicts locally, and for Smyrna alone. Others find a parallelism with the ten commandments; and others, applying the “year-day” principle, find ten years. But the purpose of the whole verse is to express a consoling limitation of the time, as some of you limits the number. Ten days, as a brief round number, occurs in Gen 24:55; Num 11:19; Dan 1:12.
Unto death Even a martyr’s death. The words do not mean during thy life, but to the extremest suffering, even of death.
Crown of life The glorious antithesis of death. Says Trench: “This ‘crown of life,’ always remaining essentially the same, is not the less designated by a rich variety of images. Here, and with St. James, (Jas 1:12,) it is a ‘ crown of life;’ with St. Paul, a ‘crown of righteousness,’ (2Ti 4:8😉 with St. Peter, a ‘crown of glory,’ (1Pe 5:4😉 with Isaiah, a ‘crown of beauty;’ with which compare diadem of beauty; ( Wis 5:7 😉 in the martyrdom of Polycarp, a ‘crown of incorruption;’ with Ignatius, a ‘crown of conflict.’” A crown of life, is life or immortality itself, as a bestowed and crowning endowment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Do not be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold the Devil is about to cast some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life.’
It is noteworthy that Smyrna, the insignificant church, is one of only two not criticised for failure (Philadelphia is the other). Their patient endurance is acknowledged, and as they continue faithful in the persecution to come they will, through death, receive the crown of life. As Jesus died, and is alive again (Rev 2:8), so too will they be. And they will be given the victor’s crown, the crown of life, given to those who love Him (Jas 1:12).
‘The Devil’ (diabolos – ‘one who brings charges with hostile intent’) probably refers to his activity through the Roman authorities, as will be apparent later (chapter 13), combined with the Jews mentioned earlier as members of the Synagogue of Satan, as tools of the Devil. They falsely accuse Christians and are acting as agents for the Devil by ‘accusing the brethren (Rev 12:10).
There is to be a short but intense persecution, instigated by these Jews, which will result in imprisonment and martyrdom for many. ‘Ten days’ means a shortish period with ten signifying ‘a number of’ (compare how Jacob could say ‘you have changed my wages ten times’ (Gen 31:7)). Persecution was often spasmodic, with some incident suddenly raising the tempo, which then continued a short while and finally died down.
Possibly intended by the phrase ‘ten days’ is the idea that God will not allow the persecution to go on longer than He permits. Its time is of a duration fixed by God. More information about such persecution will be given later in Revelation. This again confirms that these churches are to face what is described there. In Dan 1:12 Daniel and his friends are tested for ten days to see if their diet was satisfactory compared with what the Babylonians offered. This may have sprung to mind here with the thought that the ten day test would make these Christians more pure than ever. Compare also how Jeremiah waited before God for ten days when ascertaining what would be the fate of God’s people after Gedaliah had killed the representative of the king of Babylon (Jer 42:7). So ‘ten days’ is seen as a period of waiting and testing.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rev 2:10. Fear none of those things, &c. This chiefly concerns Polycarp, the angel, who is here comforted, and foretold of his future sufferings; but it does not exclude the rest of his flock, who are comprised under the shepherd. His constancy in martyrdom proves that he followed this advice. The next clause concerns chiefly the members of his church; and the event was suitable: for many of them were cast into prison, tormented, exhibited upon the theatre, and thrown to the lions; and the persecution ceased not till Polycarp had, by his death, put an end to it; “who, by his martyrdom, stopped the persecution, putting, as it were, a seal over it,” as they express it in the account of his martyrdom. The ten days signify ten years, according to the usual stile of prophecy; and the greater persecution which the Christian church ever endured, was that under Diocletian, which lasted ten years, and grievously afflicted all the Asiatic, and indeed all the eastern churches. This character can apply to none of the other general persecutions; for none of them lasted so long as ten years. As the commendatory and reproving parts of these epistles exhibit the present state of the churches, so the promissory and threatening parts foretel something of their future condition; and in this sense, and no other, can these epistles be said to be prophetical. It is added, Be thou faithful unto death, &c. Faithful here signifies brave, constant, and patient: our religion being a warfare, words from war are used to express what concerns it. See 2Ti 4:7. Polycarp fully answered their expectation, when, being solicited to apostatize, he said thus: “Eighty-six years have I served him, and he never wronged me: how then can I blaspheme my King, who hath saved me?” Therefore, as soon as he entered the stadium, there came a voice to comfort him, saying, “Be strong, O Polycarp, and shew thyself a man.” That the primitive martyrs had miraculous comfortsand assistances of the Holy Ghost, is fully proved by Mr. Dodwell, Cyprian, Dissert. 12: sect. 42. The crown, as a symbol of reward and encouragement for constancy, is suitable to the notion of martyrdom, as a fight or combat for victory. It implies likewise, that this reward shall partly consist of power and dominion over others; therefore these martyr conquerors are to reign with Christ, ch. Rev 20:4.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 2:10 . In reference to the which is to follow the present (Rev 2:9 ), an exhortation to fearless, faithful perseverance unto death, and a corresponding promise of life, are made. Troubles of many kinds ( plural) impend; especially mentioned is imprisonment [1061] for some of the church, [1062] the chief thing in all the persecutions in which the civil authorities were active, [1063] and a view of the same is disclosed, even unto death for Christ’s sake. [1064] The mention of imprisonment shows, still more than that of death, that the assault of heathen magistrates who, according to Rev 2:9 , were incited by the Jews, is here contemplated. The Lord therefore comprises both forms of antichrist. As the proper author of the afflictions, is therefore mentioned, [1065] the personal first enemy of Christ and his kingdom, [1066] who uses Jews and heathen as his instruments. The significance of the name (slanderer) is not here to be emphasized: [1067] otherwise we should expect in Rev 2:9 ., and in Rev 2:10 .
, . . . Both the temptation and the oppression [1068] belong to the intention of the Devil. Thus the appears not as a divine trial, [1069] but [1070] as a temptation intended on Satan’s part for their ruin, [1071] in connection with which, of course, it must be firmly maintained, [1072] that the Devil’s power is exercised only under the Divine control. [1073] Under this presumption, to the , which as the is entirely dependent on , the is added. For the Lord fixes a limit of duration to the troubles which are to come upon his believers. [1074] Only a few expositors have understood the . of ten actual days, [1075] but even these in the sense that the short period of the calamity is intended as a consolation. But the number is purely of a schematic nature, [1076] and signifies not a long [1077] but a short time. [1078] [See Note XXX., p. 156.] The entire period of the universal tribulation is schematically represented by forty-two months. [1079] The chief misinterpretations are known already by N. de Lyra: that the ten days are ten years, in which are reckoned the persecution under Domitian [1080] and that under Decius; [1081] that the ten persecutions of Christians are meant; [1082] that the ten days correspond to and signify the Ten Commandments, and that the persecution of the entire Church will continue as long as the Ten Commandments are in force, i.e., until the end of the world, etc.
Without any external combination, the admonition follows, which in the limitation . reaches farther than has been thus far represented by the . With reference to the still future maintenance of fidelity, the and not properly stands. [1083]
The promise, having its pledge in the Lord’s own life after death (Rev 2:8 ), has essentially no other meaning than that which is given the victor in Rev 2:11 , as the victory is won only by fidelity unto death.
The which introduces the promise places it in connection with the preceding requirement. [1084]
. . Appositive genitive, [1085] so that life itself appears as the crown. [1086] The expression does not mean here the crown of a king, neither in the sense that the coming kingdom of the faithful is indicated, [1087] nor in this, that the king’s crown designates in general only “something exceedingly precious and glorious;” [1088] but the figure of the victor’s crown [1089] is derived from the games, and in the mouth of the author of the Apocalypse, as well as of the Apostle Paul, [1090] is open to no objection whatever. [1091]
[1061] Incorrectly, Heinr.: ., as a part for the whole, designates misery of every kind.
[1062] , Winer, p. 343.
[1063] Act 12:3 ; Act 16:23 . Ew.
[1064] , Rev 12:11 ; Act 22:4 ; Phi 2:8 ; Heb 12:4 . N. de Lyra, Calov., Heinr., Ew., De Wette, Hengstenb., Ebrard.
[1065] Cf. Rev 2:9 : . . .
[1066] Chs. 12 and 13.
[1067] Against Zll. and Hengstenb.
[1068] See Critical Remarks on the modified var. . According to this, the latter was proclaimed as, in general, only impending.
[1069] “They may be tried in order, that, amidst the greatest dangers, their faith may be tested, and thus they may show their virtue to be complete” (Ew.). Cf. also Grot., Bleek, De Wette.
[1070] Cf. Eichh., Heinr.
[1071] In which the Lord preserves and delivers, Rev 3:10 . Cf. Luk 22:31 .
[1072] Cf. Beng., Hengstenb.
[1073] Mat 4:1 .
[1074] Cf. Mat 9:22 .
[1075] Grot., Herder.
[1076] Klief: “The number of systematic completeness.”
[1077] Beda, C. a Lap., etc., according to Job 19:3 ; Num 14:22 ; 1Sa 1:8 .
[1078] Andr., Alcas., Calov., Heinr., Ew., De Wette. Cf. also Hengstenb., Stern; Gen 24:55 ; Dan 1:12 sqq.; Num 11:19 .
[1079] Rev 13:5 .
[1080] Cluverus, in Calov.
[1081] Vitr.
[1082] As Ebrard infers by regarding the ten days as “a symbol of ten special sections or periods in the persecution.”
[1083] Mat 10:16 ; Mat 24:44 ; Luk 12:40 .
[1084] Luk 11:9 ; Eph 5:14 ; Jas 4:7 . Cf. De Wette, Winer, p. 406.
[1085] Winer, p. 494 sqq.
[1086] Jas 1:12 ; 1Pe 5:4 . De Wette, Hengstenb., etc.
[1087] Zll.
[1088] Hengstenb., according to Isa 62:3 ; Isa 28:3 .
[1089] Cf. Rev 2:11 .
[1090] 2Ti 2:5 ; 2Ti 4:7 sqq.; 1Co 9:24 ; Phi 3:14 .
[1091] Against Hengstenb.
NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
XXX. Rev 2:10 .
So Alford: “The expression is probably used to signify a short and limited time (Gen 24:55 ; Num 11:19 ; Dan 1:12 . See also Num 14:22 ; 1Sa 1:8 ; Job 19:3 ; Act 25:6 ).” Also Trench. Luthardt: “A human measure, so that it is endurable.” Stier: “Whatever may be the fact with regard to these uncertain historical circumstances, the general meaning of this word will assure us that all times of tribulation are measured before the Lord, and that they will be cut short for salvation (Mat 24:22 ).” Plumptre, however, following Bhr’s Symbolik: “The number ten, the representative of completeness, and here, therefore, of persecution carried to its full extent, and lacking nothing that could make it thorough and perfect.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
10 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.
Ver. 10. Fear none of those things ] Quit thy heart of that cowardly passion, and die rather than deny the truth. Put on that resolution, Necesse esse ut eam, non ut vivam, Duty must be done, though I die for it.
Behold, the devil ] viz. By his imps and instruments whom he acts and agitates, Eph 2:2 . But he and his are overruled and limited; for he shall cast some of you, not all of you, into prison, not into hell, that ye may be tried, not destroyed; and this for ten days only, not for any long continuance.
Be thou faithful unto death ] Say as one martyr did, “The heavens shall sooner fall than I will deny my dear Lord;” and as another martyr, “Though you may pluck my heart out of my bowels, yet shall you never pluck the truth out of my heart.”
A crown of life ] A crown without cares, corivals, envy, end. Kings’ crowns are so weighty with cares, that often they make their heads ache. Not so this crown; the joys whereof are without measure or mixture.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
10 .] Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer (in the ways mentioned below. indicates manifold tribulation, as there): behold [ for certain ( gives the tone of present certainty and actuality: see reff. It is in fact originally no more than a shortened form of : see Hartung, Partikellehre, i. 245 ff.) ], the devil (Hengstb. after Zllig, would lay stress here on the import of the name of the great adversary, as connected with the above. But this again would be forced and unnatural, especially after the recent mention of . Of course it is understood from the context, that the devil would act through the hostility of human agents, and among them eminently these Jewish enemies. Trench, in loc., remarks on the reference to the devil, as the primary author of all assaults on the Church, found in the Acts of the ancient martyrs: e. g. the Ep. from the Churches of Lyons and Vienne: the Martyrdom of Polycarp, 3, 17, pp. 1032, 1041: Martyr. Ignat.) is about to oast (some) of you into prison (literally: the constant accompaniment of persecution, Act 12:4 ; Act 16:23 ; not, as Heinr., put for all kinds of misery), that ye may be tried (by temptations to fall away: not, that ye may be proved , “ut fidem suam inter maxima pericula probare eoque consummatam virtutem consummare possint,” as Ewald. This might be the end which Christ had in view in permitting the persecution: but here rather gives the purpose of the agent in the previous clause, ): and ye shall have tribulation ten days (the expression is probably used to signify a short and limited time: so in Gen 24:55 ; Num 11:19 ; Dan 1:12 ; see also Num 14:22 ; 1Sa 1:8 ; Job 19:3 ; Act 25:6 . Wetst. quotes Ter. Adelph. v. 1. 36, “decem dierum vix mihi est familia.” So Arethas in Catena, , . And so, recently, Trench. All kinds of fanciful interpretations have been given: so in Gloss. ord., “Deus suos ad bella mittens Decalogo armat” (another variety of which is, “tribulatio ecclesi durabit quamdiu observatio prceptorum Decalogi, quod est usque ad finem mundi:” so Lyra, altern.): “x. diebus, i. e. toto hoc tempore in quo per septem dies contra tria principalia vitia pugnatur, avaritiam, cupiditatem, vanam gloriam.” Similarly Ansbert. And again, “significatur totum tempus usque ad finem sculi, eo quod omnes numeri sequentes denarium sunt replicationes ipsius et partium suarum.” Lyra introduces “the year-day principle:” “posset etiam aliter salvo meliori judicio exponi, ut per decern dies intelligantur decem anni, secundum illud, Ezech. Rev 4:6 , ‘ Diem pro anno dedi ;’ forte tantum duravit persecutio Smyrnensis ecclesi.” This has been taken up by Cluver. in Calov., Brightmann, al. Bed [27] , Haym [28] , and Joachim understand it of the ten persecutions from Nero to Diocletian: Perer., Ribera, and Corn.-a-lap., “decem, id est, multis, diebus:” Ambr [29] , “quia, licet ista tribulatio pluribus diebus et mensibus duret, decem tamen diebus erit atrocissima:” and recently Ebrard understands the ten days of ten divisions, or periods, in the persecution). Be ( , not , see reff.: new circumstances of trial requiring new kinds and degrees of fidelity; which does not remain as it is, but takes accession) thou (it is quite futile to attempt to distinguish in these Epistles between what is said to the Angel in the singular, and what is said to the Church in the plural. This is shewn by the former part of this verse, . followed by . Only where there is occasion to discriminate, is the plural used: cf. Rev 2:24 f.: but wherever the whole church is spoken of it is in the singular, under the person of its representative angel) faithful unto (reff. not, “ until :” but “ even unto ,” i. e. up to the point or measure of: Let not thy faithfulness stop short of enduring death itself. Cf. Php 2:8 ) death, and (reff.) I will give thee the crown ( ., as being the well-known prize promised to the faithful: as in reff. Trench, in loc., has an interesting note on the question whether this is a diadem of royalty, or a garland of victory: and decides for the former, seeing that the of ch. 5 can only be royal crowns, that the word is employed by all the Evangelists of the “Crown of thorns,” and that the imagery of this book is not any where drawn from Gentile antiquity, but is Jewish throughout) of life (gen. of apposition: the life itself being the crown: see note, and distinction, on 2Ti 4:8 ).
[27] Bede, the Venerable , 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. “E,” mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
[28] Haymo, Bp. of Halberstadt , 841 853
[29] Ambrose, Bp. of Milan , A.D. 374 397
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 2:10 . . , . . . “Thou orderest us to endure, not to love, trials. A man may love to endure, but he does not love what he endures” (Aug. Conf. x. 28). Ill-treatment, as well as misrepresentation, is traced back to a diabolic source, in the common early Christian manner (Weinel, 13 f.). The Imperial authorities ( as in 1Pe 5:8 ), although often instigated by the Jews, had the sole power of inflicting imprisonment, in this case for a refusal to worship the emperor’s image; the prophet here predicts an imminent persecution of this kind (compare Act 9:16 , and above Introd. 6) lasting for a short and limited time ( . see reff., originally due to the rough Semitic division of a month into decades). The local intensity of feeling upon the Imperial cultus may be gathered from the fact that in 23 A.D. Smyrna had secured from Tiberius and the senate, after keen competition, the coveted distinction of possessing the second temple decreed by the province to the Imperial cultus. Hence the struggle anticipated here is desperate ( . .); martyrdom is no remote contingency. Compare Ep. Lugd., where the martyr-crisis is taken as an anticipation of the final persecution ( cf. Rev 3:10 ; Rev 13:7-15 ): “with all his might the adversary assailed us, giving us a hint of what his unbridled advent would be like at the end”; the martyrs “endured nobly all the assaults heaped on them by the mob. They were shouted at, struck, haled about, robbed, stoned, imprisoned; in fact they suffered all that an infuriated mob likes to inflict on enemies and opponents.” Then follows a commandment with promise: (not ), “show thyself” throughout all degrees of trial and in any emergency. It is more than doubtful if this is a subtle local allusion to the loyalty and local patriotism upon which Sardis prided herself and which she had urged as her plea to Tiberius (Tacit. Ann. iv. 56). On the honours subsequently paid to martyrs in Smyrna, cf. Mart. Polyk. xvii. , (also Euseb. H. E. iv. 15. 46, 47), with the contemporary cry of 4 Ezr 8:27 : “Look not at the deeds of the impious but at those who have kept Thy covenants amid affliction” ( i.e. , the martyrs), also the subsequent Christian honour paid by Hermas ( Vis. iii. 1, 2), who reserves the right hand of God for the martyrs who have “suffered for the sake of the Name,” enduring “stripes, imprisonments, great afflictions, crosses, wild beasts”. For , with fut. after imperative, see Eph 5:14 , Jas 4:7 . . . Life , the reward assigned in Rev 2:7 to the triumph of faith is here bestowed upon the loyalty of faith. To hold one’s ground is, under certain circumstances, as trying and creditable as it is under others to win positive successes. The metaphor of . with its royal, sacerdotal, and festal (Son 3:11 , Isa 28:1 , Herm. Sim. viii. 2) associations, would call up civic and athletic honours to the local Christians, the latter owing to the famous games at Smyrna, the former from the fact that . frequently occurs also in inscriptions as = public honour for distinguished service (paid, e.g. , to Demosthenes and Zeno), whilst the yearly appointment of a priest at Eumeneia to the temple of Zeno was termed ( C. B. P. ii. 358). Compare, with the of Rev 3:4 , the sentence in Ep. Lugd. upon the martyrs: , , , and the Greek phrase for noble deeds, (Plut. Pericl. 28).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
none of = not. App-105.
shalt = art about to.
behold. App-133.
devil. See Rev 12:9.
shall = is about to.
that = in order that. Gr. hina.
tried = tested. Compare Mat 10:22; Mat 24:9, Mat 24:10; &c.
days. Not “periods”. Compare Gen 7:4, Gen 7:10. Num 14:33; &c.
be = become.
faithful. App-150.
unto = until. Greek. achri.
death. See Rev 12:11.
a = the.
crown. Greek. Stephanos. See 1Pe 5:4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
10.] Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer (in the ways mentioned below. indicates manifold tribulation, as there): behold [for certain ( gives the tone of present certainty and actuality: see reff. It is in fact originally no more than a shortened form of : see Hartung, Partikellehre, i. 245 ff.) ], the devil (Hengstb. after Zllig, would lay stress here on the import of the name of the great adversary, as connected with the above. But this again would be forced and unnatural, especially after the recent mention of . Of course it is understood from the context, that the devil would act through the hostility of human agents, and among them eminently these Jewish enemies. Trench, in loc., remarks on the reference to the devil, as the primary author of all assaults on the Church, found in the Acts of the ancient martyrs: e. g. the Ep. from the Churches of Lyons and Vienne: the Martyrdom of Polycarp, 3, 17, pp. 1032, 1041: Martyr. Ignat.) is about to oast (some) of you into prison (literally: the constant accompaniment of persecution, Act 12:4; Act 16:23; not, as Heinr., put for all kinds of misery), that ye may be tried (by temptations to fall away: not, that ye may be proved,-ut fidem suam inter maxima pericula probare eoque consummatam virtutem consummare possint, as Ewald. This might be the end which Christ had in view in permitting the persecution: but here rather gives the purpose of the agent in the previous clause, ): and ye shall have tribulation ten days (the expression is probably used to signify a short and limited time: so in Gen 24:55; Num 11:19; Dan 1:12; see also Num 14:22; 1Sa 1:8; Job 19:3; Act 25:6. Wetst. quotes Ter. Adelph. v. 1. 36, decem dierum vix mihi est familia. So Arethas in Catena, , . And so, recently, Trench. All kinds of fanciful interpretations have been given: so in Gloss. ord.,-Deus suos ad bella mittens Decalogo armat (another variety of which is, tribulatio ecclesi durabit quamdiu observatio prceptorum Decalogi, quod est usque ad finem mundi: so Lyra, altern.):-x. diebus, i. e. toto hoc tempore in quo per septem dies contra tria principalia vitia pugnatur, avaritiam, cupiditatem, vanam gloriam. Similarly Ansbert. And again, significatur totum tempus usque ad finem sculi, eo quod omnes numeri sequentes denarium sunt replicationes ipsius et partium suarum. Lyra introduces the year-day principle:-posset etiam aliter salvo meliori judicio exponi, ut per decern dies intelligantur decem anni, secundum illud, Ezech. Rev 4:6, Diem pro anno dedi; forte tantum duravit persecutio Smyrnensis ecclesi. This has been taken up by Cluver. in Calov., Brightmann, al. Bed[27], Haym[28], and Joachim understand it of the ten persecutions from Nero to Diocletian: Perer., Ribera, and Corn.-a-lap., decem, id est, multis, diebus: Ambr[29], quia, licet ista tribulatio pluribus diebus et mensibus duret, decem tamen diebus erit atrocissima: and recently Ebrard understands the ten days of ten divisions, or periods, in the persecution). Be (, not , see reff.: new circumstances of trial requiring new kinds and degrees of fidelity; which does not remain as it is, but takes accession) thou (it is quite futile to attempt to distinguish in these Epistles between what is said to the Angel in the singular, and what is said to the Church in the plural. This is shewn by the former part of this verse,- . followed by . Only where there is occasion to discriminate, is the plural used: cf. Rev 2:24 f.: but wherever the whole church is spoken of it is in the singular, under the person of its representative angel) faithful unto (reff. not, until: but even unto, i. e. up to the point or measure of: Let not thy faithfulness stop short of enduring death itself. Cf. Php 2:8) death, and (reff.) I will give thee the crown ( ., as being the well-known prize promised to the faithful: as in reff. Trench, in loc., has an interesting note on the question whether this is a diadem of royalty, or a garland of victory: and decides for the former, seeing that the of ch. 5 can only be royal crowns,-that the word is employed by all the Evangelists of the Crown of thorns,-and that the imagery of this book is not any where drawn from Gentile antiquity, but is Jewish throughout) of life (gen. of apposition: the life itself being the crown: see note, and distinction, on 2Ti 4:8).
[27] Bede, the Venerable, 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. E, mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
[28] Haymo, Bp. of Halberstadt, 841-853
[29] Ambrose, Bp. of Milan, A.D. 374-397
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rev 2:10. [31] , to cast) Understand, some one, or rather some persons.
[31] ) Others, . More recent writers have obliterated, from a parallelism, the elegant diversity of many passages. See presently ver. 13.-Not. Crit.
Rec. Text has . with B and Syr. But ACh Vulg. Memph. omit .-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fidelity and its Reward
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.Rev 2:10.
1. It was to the believers at Smyrna, or rather to their official representative, to the person who was called the angel of the church there, that this exhortation was sent. It is generally believed that, when the Book of Revelation was written, the angel of the Smyrnean Church was Polycarpthe aged disciple of St. Johnwho, rather than deny his Master, Christ, perished on the scaffold, having made that noble confession which has sounded through all the ages: Eighty and six years have I served my Lord Christ, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?
2. For the Church at Smyrna, the exhortation had a special fitness, inasmuch as it contained a covert allusion to the political history and also to the physical aspect of the city which could not possibly have applied to any other of the places mentioned by St. John in his Apocalypse.
(1) The reference to Smyrnas history is in the words Be thou faithful, which every Christian in the city would understand. The motto was stamped, as it were, on her very stones. Her inhabitants had for centuries been the steady and devoted allies of the Roman people. When not a few of the peoples throughout Asia Minor had sought to weaken the power of the Csars, the Smyrneans had shown not the least desire to do so, but had kept rigidly aloof from all combines or conspiracies. When serious difficulties arose for their trusted friends, the Romans, whose army was suffering from the intense cold and other hardships of a winter campaign against Mithridates, the citizens of Smyrna readily stripped themselves of the garments that they could do without, and dispatched them to the seat of war for the benefit of the Roman soldiers. This signal instance of the fidelity of the Smyrneans was generally known; their reputation for faithfulness was well established. Accordingly, to those of them composing the Church at Smyrna, the exhortation of the Apostle would have the tacit force of a compliment, and would thus at once win their attention to the duty it enjoinedthat just as in civic affairs they had been staunch and true to Csar, so in religious matters they should manifest unfaltering fidelity to Christ.
(2) Again, the words, I will give thee the crown of life, also had a peculiar fitness to Smyrnaa reference which the Christians who resided there could not fail to appreciate. Smyrna has been called the city of life; and its life and brightness are the characteristics that at once impress a visitor. It has been likened in shape to a glorious statue sitting with its feet in the sea. Until within a few years the hill into which the city runs back, and which was likened to the head of the statue, was crowned with the ruins of what had been a magnificent and apparently impregnable castle. This is what was known as the Garland or Crown of Smyrna. One of the great teachers of the place besought the citizens not to be satisfied with a crown of buildings, but to strive to have as its crown pure, patriotic, just and good men. These, he said, are the true garland of a city, its prize, its mark of supremacynot stone walls, but true and pure citizens. In the words, therefore, which St. John addressed to the Christians of Smyrna there was this further compliment. It was as if he said to them, I know that ye are citizens of no mean city, that verily yours is a queen among the cities of the earth, but though you are justly proud of it, let me tell you of a crown fairer than any that the world can show or any that the world can dream ofa crown not of material but of spiritual beautythe crown of life that is for ever, and that is reserved in heaven for all such as, believing in the Lord and serving Him, continue faithful unto death.
I
The Call to Fidelity
Be thou faithful unto death.
1. The Church at Smyrna was in the midst of suffering. Was not that enough? and shall she not be told that her sufferings were drawing to an end, that the night of weeping was gone by, and that the morning of joy was about to dawn? So we might think; but Gods thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His ways as our ways, and we are like children bathing on the shore:
Buried a wave beneath;
The second wave succeeds before
We have had time to breathe.
How often does it happen in the Christians experience that one burden is laid upon another, and that one wave succeeds another, till he seems left desolate and alone upon the earth. Yet even then he has no assurance that his sufferings are at a close. The consolation afforded to him is, not that there shall be a short campaign, but only that, whether long or short, he shall be more than conqueror through Him that loved him.
(1) To us, the words of the text are partly metaphorical; but they had no metaphorical meaning when they were written. The persecution of Nero had told the Christians what they might expect. Death was the least pain which the world against them had in its quiver. They were hunted like the wild beasts of the woods. They were tortured, exposed to the hatred of the crowd who cheered the lion and the wild bull that tore and dragged them to death. Through these physical woes, as well as through the spiritual struggles that we have, the early followers of Christ had to persevere, were they to be faithful. Those who kept the faith were obliged to look agony of body and death in the face. Men who began the Christian race had then to count the cost, and resolve to pay it. They had to give up all, or at least be ready at a moment to give up allhome, friends, wealth, worldly honourand to take Christ instead, and death.
(2) The Christians of Smyrna were about to suffer more heavily than ever; their enemies were apparently to prevail. They were to be cast into prison; and let us remember that the Roman Empire did not imprison for punishment as we do. They would not burden the State with the support of a number of prisoners. Every man who was in prison was there awaiting either his trial or his death. His trial would end in acquittal, or scourging, or fine, or exile, or death. Some of these poor, struggling, much-maligned Christians would be called upon to seal their testimony with their blood. Be thou faithful unto (not until) death is the message, not merely through tribulation and poverty and slander, but up to the point of dying; there is no other way to the crown of life; you must suffer, is Christs message, or else be unfaithful. There is no other way to escape suffering save by being untrue, and the message is, Be thou true and let the devil do his worst.
We, too, in our place and way and measure, may be called upon to suffer in reputation, substance, or even in health and life, for the sake of our absolute fidelity to our Master and His cause. Erasmus confessed that he was not constituted of the stuff of which martyrs are made, and many of us feel a similar misgiving concerning ourselves. But if we resolve to be on the Lords side He will wonderfully strengthen and deliver. The golden-crested wren is one of the tiniest of birds; it is said to weigh only the fifth part of an ounce, and yet, on frailest pinions, it braves hurricanes and crosses northern seas. It often seems in nature as if Omnipotence worked best through frailest organisms; certainly the omnipotence of grace is seen to the greatest advantage in the trembling but resolute saint. Give me the spirit of those who are faithful unto death!1 [Note: W. L. Watkinson, The Gates of Dawn, 311.]
2. To what were the Christians of Smyrna called to be faithfulto a selfish aim, to a political cry, to a cause which offered them material rewards? No, faithful unto death, to goodness, to truth, to purity of life, to an ideal life, invisible, beyond the world; to Christ and to such passionate personal love of Him that it was easier to die in agony than to betray His name; faithful to that spirit of His which loved men even unto death, which forgave enemies, whose work was at all risks to overthrow evil and to die that wrong might die; faithful unto death in the cause of man, which Christ made the cause of God. And for this, what support? All they had is contained in that conception of a mighty spiritual kingdom, of which the head was God in Christ, of which all who loved Him were the body, whether dead or living, for time and earth did not disturb their unbroken communion one with another. They were citizens of an eternal Kingdom. They on earth, beaten, driven, tortured, were not left alone; they were the care of angels, they were watched by all the noble dead with unfaltering interest. They ran their race in the arena of the universe, not uncared for, since every Christian heart was praying for them; not without the sense of higher sympathy, not even without the sense of glory, for out of sight, but in most real existence, a cloud of witnesses encompassed them. Solemn, beautiful faces, solemn with the calm of eternal rest, beautiful with the light of holy triumph, watched them with inspiring eyes, and among them One, the Leader and Perfecter of faith, a form like unto a Son of Man, who Himself had done and suffered for the truthwhose power and life was theirs by prayer, and who spoke ever in their ears, Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.
(1) The word faithful here is from the root which means to be convinced. Fidelity is born of conviction, and conviction must have a groundwork and foundation. What then is this faithfulness that is enjoined? The faithfulness of the saints is the assurance of the faithfulness of Jesus. A deep conviction of His fidelity produces their fidelity. Wherever a man, woman, or child under any circumstances of pain or testing is deeply convinced of the fidelity of Christ, they are immediately and necessarily faithful themselves. It is as though He had said to them, You are going to be cast into prison; the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried. Be faithful; believe still. Live within the limit of a great assurance. Do not question Me; do not doubt Me; depend on Me. The Lord did not mean, Gather yourselves up and go through. He simply meant, Trust Me. He did not intend to advise them to gird up their loins and be determined that they would see the business through. That is ever a poor and sorry way of attempting to pass through times of testing. He meant rather, Trust Me; let Me be your courage. I am alive, and I was dead. I have gone to the limit of this matter. There is no depth I have not fathomed, no darkness I have not penetrated. Be faithful, follow Me, not in the effort of a strenuous determination, but with the ease of a simple trust.
Bishop Collins died whilst on his way in the Messageries Maritimes liner Saghalien from Constantinople to Smyrna, whither he was going to hold a confirmation. Clothed in his purple cassock his body was laid to rest under the marble floor of the nave of the Church of St. John the Evangelist.
There, then, his body lies,in the bosom of that Church of Smyrna, to whose Angel St. John was bidden to write, Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. To the first known Bishop of that Churchperhaps already Bishop when the Apocalypse was writtenthe martyr Ignatius wrote, praising his resolution in God, settled as upon an immovable rock. Be watchful, he added, possessing a spirit that never slumbers. Where work is hardest, great is the gain. The time demands thee. Stand firm like an anvil under the stroke. It is the part of a great athlete to receive blows and to conquer. Study the times, looking for Him who is above time, eternal, invisible, who was made visible for usintangible, impassible, who for us was made passible and for us in every way endured.1 [Note: A. J. Mason, Life of William Edward Collins, 185.]
(2) The great Sender of the message makes the claim. We are bound to Him personally. He asks for our loyalty, our personal loyalty to Him, and in that loyalty we shall conquer; because the Christian life is sustained by faith in a personal life, a personal power, and a personal love. We are not supported by abstractions, by adherence to abstract principles of righteousness and truth. Man requires a living fount of power, something warm with life and love; and such is the support of the Christian life. We are held in our course; we are sustained in all the darkness and the trial and persecution and apparent defeat by cleaving to a great heart that was large enough to sacrifice itself for us, and a great loving, throbbing hand that is strong enough to save us.
As in Westminster Abbey at the coronation of King George v. I saw the Prince of Wales kneeling before his father and uttering the old feudal covenant, I thought of how, in ancient times, the old Saxon retainers used to come to him whom they called their lord, whose lands they held, and used to kneel there before him, and put their hands in his, and to say to him, Dear my Lord, I become liege-man of thine, for life and limb and earthly regard, and I will keep faith and loyalty to thee for life and death, so help me God. And I would to God that we might all in spirit be found kneeling before the Lord of all of us, putting hands of trust in His, and saying to Him with earnestness and sincerity of soul, Dear my Lord, I become liege-man of Thine for life and limb and earthly regard, and I will keep faith and loyalty to Thee for life and death, so help me God.2 [Note: C. Silvester Horne.]
3. Faithfulness is victory. When the world kills off the faithful man because it cannot bend his will and take him away from his loyalty, it is not the man that is defeated; it is the world. The world does its last cowardly act, and therein makes its last confession of impotency. The man has conquered it. It can do nothing with him, and when it puts him to death it admits that it has been defeated by him. The Christian conquered the world when he sang at the stake? The Christian conquered when he could fearlessly stand before the tribunal that condemned him, when he talked of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come until the judge quaked before him? No, do not be misled by appearances: it is the loyal man that conquers, the man that is true to principle, that in a way compels the world to persecute and destroy him, because he is stronger than the world in which he lives. I know that persecution and death are upon thee, but be thou loyal; be thou faithful; thou shalt be victorious, and thou art already victor, in being loyal. The truly strong life is the life that can defy circumstances, that can make every failure a stepping-stone to a nobler resolve, that can maintain its integrity when all the world is against it.
Faithfulness unto death is Gods standard for human life. On this He bases His judgments. As we apply this standard, our views on many things undergo a radical change. We come to see that the thing of value is not speed but endurance. The real hero is not he who makes the fastest schedule but he who lasts the longest. There are those who go up like a rocket and come down like a stick. It is the power to hold on that wins. Great Britains most famous general once said that the difference between the soldiers of his country and those of another was not that the English soldier was braver than other soldiers, but that he was brave five minutes longer. It is endurance that wins the crown.
The thing of value is not achievement but fidelity. It is not what we accomplish but the way we accomplish it. It is our ideals, our principles. It is not success that God looks at, but the struggle. Success is a cheap thing, it is merely relative; but struggle is an affair of eternity, it is a spiritual asset.1 [Note: J. I. Vance, Tendency, 229.]
4. The text does not mean merely, Be faithful until death calls you away. The passage is very frequently quoted with a mistaken meaning, as if it simply meant, Be faithful as long as you live; do not give up while life lasts. But it means far more than that; it means, Be faithful, even though it costs you your life. Be faithful unto prison, be faithful unto persecution, yea, though you be in the presence of the executionerfor faithfulness may entail deathbe faithful up to that highest sacrifice of life itself if necessary on the altar of loyalty to Jesus Christ. Unto death is thus an intensive, not an extensive, term. Christ does not mean, merely, to thy lifes end, contemplating life under aspects of time, but to the sharpest and worst which the enemy can inflict upon thee, even to death itself. Dare and endure, the words would say, the worst that evil men can threaten and inflict, even death itself. It is true that Christian fidelity must continue to the close of life. Our Lords promise is to those who endure to the end, that they shall be saved. He also said that no one, putting his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God. It is true, no soldier of the cross can win the fight, and wear the honour of victor, who turns from the foe in the day of battle. But, as has been said, the text points out not so much the duration as the intensity of our fidelity. It is, Be faithful to the enduring of all trials, privations, sufferings, imprisonments, tortures, even to death itself. Endure everything for Christ, and the crown of life shall be yours.
In ancient heroic story there is one figure of which I often think. It is the figure of the old pilot who was sailing his boat in the crisis of a storm on the great tempestuous gan Sea, and in his extremity he was seen to stand erect and cry, in his old pagan way, Father Neptune, you may sink me if you will, or you may save me if you will, but whatever happens I will keep my rudder true. Everyone can say that. It is not for us to decide our own destinies. It is not for us to say we shall not be over-whelmed by certain storms; it is not for us to say we shall never go under. We do not know how hard the trial is yet to be. But this we can say: Sink me if you will, or save me if you will, but whatever happens I will never drift, I will steer straight, I will keep my rudder true. By Gods grace everyone can do that.1 [Note: C. Silvester Horne.]
While abhorring war, M. Coillard always had the strongest sympathy with the military profession. His mind seemed to move in its imagery. Christianity, as he conceived it, was the march of an ever-victorious army; to him it meant a loyalty, not a philosophy, still less a ceremonial system. He had no other ambition than to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. A French general, he once wrote, told his aide-de-camp that the politeness of a soldier was obedience; and I myself hold that in all circumstances our duty to our Master is fidelity.1 [Note: C. W. Mackintosh, Coillard of the Zambesi, 106.]
She was now in Armenia. The roads were beset by Kurds, who twice attacked her caravan. In one of the wretched hamlets through which she passed, a young Armenian, with whom she spoke about the faith, said to her, We dont know much, but we love the Lord Jesus well enough to die for Him. Here, amongst the Armenians, she realized again what the horrors of this infamous persecution meant for a timid, defenceless people, less manly than the Nestorian Rayahs, in many ways less lovable, but like them, faithful unto death.2 [Note: A. M. Stoddart, The Life of Isabella Bird, 239.]
Be faithful unto death. Christ proffers thee
Crown of a life that draws immortal breath:
To thee He saith, yea, and He saith to me,
Be faithful unto death.
To every living soul that same He saith,
Be faithful:whatsoever else we be,
Let us be faithful challenging His faith.
Tho trouble storm around us like the sea,
Tho hell surge up to scare us and to scathe,
Tho heaven and earth betake themselves to flee,
Be faithful unto death.3 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti, Poetical Works, 277.]
II
The Reward of Fidelity
I will give thee the crown of life.
For this faithfulness what reward is promised? An inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, the crown of life; not the material rewards so commonly and so coarsely promised, not a life of earthly happiness, but the life which is in God and of God; immortal union with Justice, Purity, and Truth; the transformation of all selfishness into love, so full, so great, so undying, that never for one moment, through all eternity, they would think of themselves again.
Some superfine individuals have called the religion of Christ vulgar because it cannot trust to its own intrinsic excellence, but must encourage its supporters by the promise of rewards. But in answer to this objection on the part of exquisitely and delicately made natures, let me say, in the language of one of my old teachers, there is no fear of becoming vulgar in the company of Christ, who not only promised rewards to His followers, but Himself worked and suffered under the spur of reward; for do we not read, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now set down in the majesty of the heavens?1 [Note: H. F. Henderson, The Eye Witnesses of Christ, 144.]
1. The promise is very full and very rich. This crown that He promises is the crown of royalty. It is more. It is the crown of royalty victorious. It is still more. It is the chaplet that adorns the brow of the victor who comes laden with spoils, the crown of royalty, the crown of victory, the crown of added wealth. It is the crown of life, life which reigns because it has won, and reigns moreover in possession of spoils obtained through conflict. The life is the crown. What wondrous light this flings back upon the process! This pressure of tribulation is not accidental and capricious. Out of the tribulation we shall have our triumph. Out of the darkness we shall come to light. That is the whole philosophy of suffering. When presently all the tribulation is passed, and the painful processes of the little while are over, and the last grim pressure ceases, then we shall be crowned with life, then we shall know the meaning of life.
O that thou wouldest understand the great good of Tribulation! This it is which blots out sins, cleanses the soul, and produces Patience: this in Prayer inflames it, enlarges it, and causes it to exercise the most sublime act of Charity; this rejoices the Soul, brings it near to God, causes it to be called, and to enter, into Heaven. This it is which tries the true Servants of God, and renders them wise, valiant, and constant. This it is which makes God hear them with speed. It is this which Annihilates, Refines, and Perfects them: and finally, it is this which of earthly, makes Heavenly Souls, and of human, Divine; transforming them, and uniting them in a wonderful way with the Lords Humanity and Divinity.1 [Note: Michael de Molinos, The Spiritual Guide.]
2. Notice the compensation! Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. What thou sacrificest thou shalt receive again. And that is not all. The life received is not the equivalent of the life that has been given up. The life that is placed on the victors brow is not a duplicate of the life that was laid down on this earth. This poor life laid down is not of so much value after all; at best it soon passes away, and is very superficial and frail. All the glory of it is as grass, and all the goodliness of it as the flower of the field. But the life that is won through the sacrifice of this life is a life eternal, profound, joyous, infinitely great and gloriousa life in some wonderful way like the life of God Himself.
A crown of life.Of what fashion shall such a crown be? St. Paul speaks of an amaranthine crown, contrasting it with earths fading crowns of victory. And later in this Book of Revelation we read of crowns of gold.
We may hope to discern in celestial crowns every adornment of all possible crowns. Gracefulness of leaves, loveliness of flowers, endearment (if I may call it so) of tendrils, permanence of gold, lustre and tints of jewels. Such crowns I hope to see on heads I have venerated and loved here.
Meanwhile, because our dear Lord, flower of humankind and comparable with fine gold (though fine gold sufficeth not to compare with Him), was contented on earth to be crowned with a crown of thorns; let us be patient, contented, thankful, to wait on in hopes of a crown of life and glory.2 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti, The Face of the Deep, 65.]
3. Do not forget the Giver. I will give thee. Jesus Christ is to be the rewarder of men. It is from Him the gift must come, because, after all, it is a gift. We cannot merit it or obtain it in any way except as a free gift. It will no doubt bear some proportion to the life we have lived, and the victories we have won, but, after all, we cannot earn it. It is infinitely more than we could have earned or merited. It was earned on the cross. But whatever our future glory shall be, it must come from Jesus Christ; and all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth.
William Hunter, the martyr apprentice of Brentwood in Essex, was executed at his native village on 26th March 1555. He was allowed to converse with his friends beforehand in the parlour of the Swan Inn. His father prayed that he might continue to the end in the way that he had begun. His mother said she was happy to bear a child who could find in his heart to lose his life for Christs sake. Mother, he answered, for my little pain which I shall suffer, which is but a short braid, Christ hath promised me a crown of joy. May you not be glad of that, mother?1 [Note: J. A. Froude, History of England, v. 507.]
4. Are we counted so capable of faithfulness of heart that God believes we shall despise the rewards of the world in comparison with the spirit of Christ offered to us and the life in it as reward? Is it possible that God believes in us so much as to expect of us faithfulness unto death? Have we truly a Father whose care is our perfection, a Saviour who is watching us daily that we may be freed from sin; and can we, so weak, so much the creatures of impulse, so vain, so wavering, be faithful unto death? It is an inspiring thought that God can believe in us so much. We are not called on to face the lions for our faith. But there are things in life which are deatheven worse than death itself; there are pains as deep as those the martyrs bore which we have to bear in silence, with no encouragement but the voice of God within, and that voice we do not always hear. There are wild contests we have sometimes to wage alone, night after night, day after day, when it seems that the inner conflict must become known to all around us, so vivid is our consciousness of it; and yet we know that there is no help in man for us, that we must conquer (if we conquer) in a solitude of heart which makes life as ghastly as a cruel dream. Then it is something to recall this text, and let the noble words sound in our ears their cry to courage and their promise, Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life!
The sharpest trials of life may not be ours, though few there are who do not touch one or another; but, even without them, there are difficulties enough in ordinary life to try our fidelity to God. When we have to go on day by day, contending with a passionate or a sluggish naturelimiting the one, enkindling the othermeeting small temptations every hour, so that watchfulness must never be relaxed; when no sooner is one wrong-doing laid in the grave than another rises up, so that the sword of life is never in the scabbard; when we know that this will go on for years till death comesthen, not to give way to angry weariness, not to brood over the battle, but to take it frankly as it comes, as part of the days work; to make of high endeavour an inward light which makes the path before us always bright; to conquer the chill of custom and the weight of commonplace, and be inspired always by an inward thought; to pour into life such love of God and man that all things will grow beautiful and worthy to be done; and to look forward, persevering to the last
From well to better, daily self-surpast,
this is to be faithful unto death, and for these things there is the crown of life.
Wherever a mans post is, whether he has chosen it of his own will, or whether he has been placed at it by his commander, there it is his duty to remain and face the danger, without thinking of death, or of any other thing, except dishonour.1 [Note: Plato, The Apology of Socrates, cap. 16 (Churchs trans., p. 56).]
I rejoiced in God, and made my complaint to Him, because He permitted me to undergo such afflictions; yet the recompense was great; for almost always, afterwards, His mercies descended upon me in great abundance. The soul seemed to come forth as gold out of the crucible, most refined, and made glorious to behold, our Lord dwelling within it. These trials afterwards are light, though they once seemed to be unendurable; and the soul longs to undergo them again, if that be more pleasing to our Lord. And though trials and persecutions increase, yet, if we bear them without offending our Lord, rejoicing in suffering for His sake, it will be all the greater gain.2 [Note: The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus (ed. 1911), 278.]
A missionary is seated in the courtyard of an Indian house. In a circle opposite is a native familyhusband, wife, sister, and some children. They are the first-fruits of a years toil in Armur, and have come now for the seal and test of their faithbaptism.
Why do you wish baptism? we asked of them.
Because we belong to Jesus. Did not He die for us? We are His.
But if you are baptized, great trouble will assuredly come. You will be out-casted. When neglected and persecuted by old friends what will you do?
We believe in Him. Will He not help us?
How long will you serve Him?
Glad and spontaneous was the answer from all three: ChachudakaTill death.1 [Note: G. M. Kerr, in The Foreign Field, Dec. 1910.]
Triumphant Love, oh, keep us pure
By Thine own passion to endure,
Till every heart in Thine shall beat
Our Sun, our Shadow from the heat
And no false sun or shade allure!
Let never a dream of hate immure
Our life within its prison secure,
Nor Self its treadmill-round repeat,
Triumphant Love!
If Thou to hardship now enure
The soul, in this lifes overture
To greater music, we entreat
That we, through darkness, death, defeat,
May triumph in Thy triumph sure,
Triumphant Love!2 [Note: Annie Matheson, Maytime Songs, 15.]
Fidelity and its Reward
Literature
Albertson (C. C.), The Gospel According to Christ, 231.
Brooke (S. A.), Sermons, ii. 140.
Brooke (S. A.), The Ship of the Soul, 94.
Brown (C.), Heavenly Visions, 55.
Corlett (J. S.), Christ and the Churches, 45.
Dewey (O.), Works, 227.
Henderson (H. F.), The Eye Witnesses of Christ, 140.
Hodge (C.), Princeton Sermons, 320.
Hyde (T. D.), Sermon Pictures for Busy Preachers, i. 202.
Jellett (H.), Sermons on Special and Festival Occasions, 166.
Little (J.), The Day-Spring, 300.
MacIlveen (J.), Christ and the Christian Life, 161.
Mackenzie (W. B.), in The Home Preacher, 130.
Milligan (W.), The Book of Revelation (Expositors Bible), 46.
Morgan (G. C.), A First Century Message, 57.
Norton (J. N.), Every Sunday, 495.
Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, viii. 185.
Ramsay (W. M.), The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, 251.
Reynolds (H. R.), Notes of the Christian Life, 353.
Scott (J. J.), The Apocalypse, 59.
Swing (D.), Sermons, 138.
Thomas (J.), Myrtle Street Pulpit, iii. 1.
Trench (R. C.), Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia, 110.
Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), vi. (1869), No. 593.
Williams (I.), Sermons on the Epistles and Gospels, iii. 22.
British Congregationalist, June 29, 1911 (C. S. Horne).
Christian World Pulpit, xv. 204 (T. Hammond); xviii. 257 (E. P. Hood); lvii. 230 (H. Moore).
Church of England Pulpit, lxii. 157 (J. D. Forde).
Churchmans Pulpit: Lenten Season, v. 99; Easter Day and Season, vii. 394 (J. Wiseman); Sermons to the Young, xvi. 13 (W. Bruce), 598 (R. G. Soans).
Homiletic Review, lxv. 408 (J. Oliver).
Preachers Magazine, v. 223 (T. Puddicombe).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Fear: Mat 10:22
shalt: Dan 3:16-18, Mat 10:28, Luk 12:4-7
the devil: Rev 12:9-11, Rev 13:2, Rev 13:7, Rev 13:15-17, Luk 21:12, Joh 13:2, Joh 13:27, Eph 2:2, Eph 6:12, 1Pe 5:8
ye shall: Rev 2:9
ten days: Hab 2:3, 1Pe 1:6, 1Pe 1:7
be thou: Rev 12:11, Mat 10:22, Mat 24:13, Mar 8:35, Mar 13:13, Luk 21:16-19, Joh 12:25, Act 20:24, Act 21:13, 2Ti 4:7, 2Ti 4:8
a crown: Rev 3:11, Jam 1:12, 1Pe 5:4
Reciprocal: Gen 3:15 – thou Num 24:14 – I will advertise Deu 3:2 – Fear Deu 20:3 – let not 1Ki 22:27 – Put this fellow Job 2:6 – save Psa 27:3 – war Psa 69:33 – his prisoners Psa 119:112 – the end Psa 125:3 – the rod Pro 28:20 – faithful Isa 35:4 – fear not Jer 20:2 – smote Jer 29:26 – that thou Jer 37:15 – put Lam 3:57 – thou saidst Lam 5:16 – The crown Eze 16:11 – and a Eze 18:24 – All his Eze 48:11 – charge Dan 3:18 – be it Dan 6:10 – as he Dan 11:35 – to try Mat 4:3 – the tempter Mat 5:10 – are Mat 6:13 – lead Mat 10:39 – General Mat 24:9 – shall they Mat 24:12 – the love Mat 25:21 – I will Mar 4:17 – when Mar 8:34 – take Mar 13:9 – take Luk 1:74 – that we Luk 6:23 – your Luk 9:24 – General Luk 11:4 – lead Luk 12:8 – Whosoever Luk 17:33 – General Luk 18:30 – manifold more Joh 8:44 – He was Joh 14:27 – afraid Act 5:18 – General Act 14:22 – we Act 16:23 – they cast Rom 2:7 – patient 1Co 4:17 – faithful 1Co 9:25 – but 1Co 10:13 – hath 2Co 6:5 – imprisonments Gal 6:9 – if Eph 1:1 – which Eph 3:1 – the Phi 1:28 – in Phi 1:30 – the same Col 1:23 – ye continue 1Th 2:18 – Satan 1Th 3:3 – moved 2Ti 2:2 – faithful 2Ti 2:5 – is he Heb 2:14 – the devil Heb 11:36 – bonds Jam 1:2 – divers Rev 1:9 – companion Rev 2:13 – Satan’s Rev 4:4 – crowns Rev 17:14 – and faithful
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 2:10. Imprisonment as a persecution was to be one feature of their tribulation which will be credited to the devil. Ten days is a figurative reference to a series of persecutions that were heaped upon the church under the opposition from the Roman government. This was to become a trial of their faith, and the Lord consoles them with the assurance that they need fear none of those things. Faithful unto death. Even death cannot defraud a true disciple of his reward. Crown of life. A crown is a decoration for being victor over a foe and such a token is worthy those who remain true to the Lord in the presence of death. Their body may die in His service but it will not deprive them of eternal life. (See Luk 12:4.)
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 10
3. “Ye shall have tribulation ten days”–Rev 2:10.
This cannot mean a literal ten days, but rather to the ten persecutors, the number of which is historically factual. As there were five fallen imperial rulers before Nero–from Nero to Diocletian there were ten persecuting emperors. This era of persecution reached its crescendo in Diocletian’s reign of terror, in which he vowed to obliterate the name Christian from the Roman empire.
The indications are too plain for doubt that this ten days tribulation had immediate reference to the era or epoch of the ten persecuting emperors. Their succession is symbolized in Rev 17:8-11, which describe the ebbing and the flowing of the tide of persecution, in the expressions was, is not and yet is. In the verses 10 and 11 the succession of these emperors is so plainly indicated that the mention of them by name could not have been plainer to the members of the churches to whom this code language was addressed. The history of these apocalyptic facts is verified in Gibbon’s History Of The Fall And Decline Of The Roman Empire.
4. “Be thou faithful unto death”–Rev 2:10.
The death of this admonition predicted the martyrdom of some of their number. It does not refer to ordinary death as related to the usual span of life, not merely until one dies; it was a warning to them with specific reference to martyrdom. It was an exhortation to be faithful even unto martyrdom, a consequence of loyalty to Christ in the persecutions, and apocalyptic forecast fulfilled in the experiences of these churches in their own time, the trials of the immediate conflict, not prophecies of remote centuries.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 2:10. An exhortation not to fear the things which it was about to suffer. Fresh persecution was immediately to arise. The children of God are not comforted amidst their troubles by the assurance that these are about to pass away. It may often happen, on the contrary, that one wave of tribulation shall only be followed by another. Strength and comfort are to be found in other thoughts. The tribulation to be expected is then further specified. It shall proceed from the devil, a name of Satan chosen with a reference to the calumnies and slanders previously alluded to. Under that name he is the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10; comp. Job 12; Zec 3:1-2). But the devil is not only to slander them. He is about, it is said, to cast some of you into prison, prevailing upon the heathen powers, ever ready to listen to accusations against the Christians, to visit them with this punishment. Further, he is to do this in order that ye may be tried. It is not that they may be proved. God proves His people. Satan tries them; and this trial shall come from his hands, to be the means, if possible, of effecting his Satanic purposes. Their tribulation, they are told, shall be one of ten days (comp. Dan 1:12).
By these words we are neither to understand ten literal days, nor ten years, nor ten separate persecutions stretching over an indefinite period of time. Like all the other numbers in the Apocalypse, the number is symbolical. It denotes completeness, yet not the Divine fulness of the number seven. They are to have tribulation frequent, oft repeated, lasting, it may be, as long as life itself, yet alter all extending only to this present scene, the course of which may be best marked by days that are few and evil (Gen 47:9; Job 8:9; Psa 90:12; comp. 1Pe 1:6).
Be thou faithful unto death, that is, not merely during the whole of life, but even to the extremity, if necessary, of meeting death.
And I will give thee the crown of life, that is, the crown which consists in life (comp. 2Ti 4:8),in life corresponding to the life of Him of whom we have been told in Rev 2:8 that He rose to life. This last consideration ought alone to be sufficient to determine whether we have here the crown of a king or that of a victor in the games. It is not the latter, but the former (comp. chaps, Rev 4:4, Rev 5:10), the crown of the Lord Himself (chap. Rev 14:14; comp. Psa 21:3-4). The use of the word stephanos, not diadema, seems to flow from the fact that the crown spoken of is not the mere emblem of royalty, but of royalty reached through severe contests and glorious victories,its garland crown. So should desert in arms be crowned.
In addition to this, however, we may well include the thought of the Hebrew crown of joy, the crown with which Solomon was crowned in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart (Son 3:11). Yet there, too, we must remember there is the thought that Solomon had won his bride.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Rev 2:10-11. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer Probably by means of the false Jews. Behold This intimates the nearness of the affliction; the devil Who sets all persecutors to work, and those more particularly who persecute the followers of Christ, to imprisonment, torture, and death; shall cast some of you Christians at Smyrna, where, in the first ages, the blood of many martyrs was shed; into prison, that ye may be tried Which God will permit, for the trial of your faith and patience, to your unspeakable advantage, 1Pe 4:12; 1Pe 4:14. And ye shall have tribulation Either in your own persons, or by sympathizing with your brethren; ten days That is, a considerable time: for, as Lowman observes, It is not to be understood literally, which would have been a short time of affliction indeed, and hardly agreeable to such a description of that tribulation as this prophecy seems to have been intended to prepare the church for. Bishop Newton supposes that these ten days mean ten years, according to the usual style of prophecy; and that the persecution of Dioclesian is referred to, which lasted that time, and was the greatest persecution that the primitive church ever endured, most grievously afflicting all the Asian, and indeed all the eastern churches. This persecution, he thinks, and none of the other general persecutions, answers the character here given, none of the others lasting so long as ten years. Be thou faithful Our Lord does not say, till I come, as in the other letters, but unto death Signifying that the angel of the church should quickly after seal his testimony with his blood, fifty years before the martyrdom of St. Polycarp, for whom some have mistaken him. And I will give thee a crown of life The peculiar reward of them who are faithful unto death. He that overcometh That is victorious unto the end; shall not be hurt of the second death Though he may encounter the first death in this world for my sake, he shall not be injured by the second, namely, the lake of fire, the portion of the fearful, who do not overcome, Rev 21:8; but he shall rest in everlasting security and peace, while those who desert the cause of Christ, and renounce their duty, for the preservation of this transitory life, shall be consigned to that state of misery where they shall seek death, but it shall for ever flee from them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 10
The devil, that is, wicked men under the influence of the devil.–Some of you. This and similar expressions show clearly that it was the members of these churches, and not the several presiding officers, who were really addressed in these epistles.–That ye may he tried; that your faith, and patience may be tried.–Ten days; for a short time.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
2:10 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 {8} tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
(8) That is, of ten years. For so commonly both in this book and in Daniel, years are signified by days: that God by this might declare, that the space of time is appointed by him and the same very short. Now because John wrote this book in the end of Domitian the Emperor’s reign, as Justinus and Ireneus do witness, it is altogether necessary that this should be referred to that persecution which was done by the authority of the emperor Trajan: who began to make havock of the Christian church in the tenth year of his reign, as the historians do write: and his bloody persecution continued until Adrian the emperor had succeeded in his stead: The space of which time is precisely ten years, which are here mentioned.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
4. Promise 2:10b-11
The citizens of Smyrna had a reputation for being faithful to the emperor because of their previous acts of fidelity to him. The crown of life is probably the fullness of eternal life as a reward (cf. 1Co 9:25; 1Th 2:19; 2Ti 4:6-8; Heb 2:9; Jas 1:12; 1Pe 5:4; Rev 4:4). This appears to be a victor’s crown (Gr. stephanos) given for enduring the trials and tests of life even to the point of death without denying Christ. It is not the gift of eternal life but the fullness of that life (cf. Joh 10:10, et al.). The person who endures these trials will receive the crown of life after Jesus Christ has approved him or her. This approval will take place when the Lord evaluates that believer’s works at the judgment seat of Christ (1Co 3:13). He will award the crown at this judgment (1Co 3:14). [Note: Aune, p. 167. See Joe L. Wall, Going for the Gold, pp. 128-29, 140-51.]
|
Believers’ Crowns |
|
Title |
Reason |
Reference |
|
An Imperishable Crown |
For leading a disciplined life |
1Co 9:25 |
|
A Crown of Rejoicing |
For evangelism and discipleship |
1Th 2:19 |
|
A Crown of Righteousness |
For loving the Lord’s appearing |
2Ti 4:8 |
|
A Crown of Life |
For enduring trials |
Jas 1:12; |
|
A Crown of Glory |
For shepherding God’s flock faithfully |
1Pe 5:4 |
The Greeks called Smyrna "the crown of Asia Minor" because of its beauty as a city. Moreover every year a few city administrators, rulers, and priests received a crown of leaves for their faithfulness to their duties.
". . . it is noteworthy that Smyrna was famous for its games . . . in which the prize was a garland." [Note: Swete, p. 33.]
Christians will not (a double negative in Greek: "not in any way") suffer injury or harm (Gr. adikethe) by the "second death." The second death is eternal separation from God. It follows the first death, which is separation of the soul from the body.
"It is not annihilation, but conscious unending punishment." [Note: Thomas, Revelation 1-7, p. 174. Cf. A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, 6:303.]
"By litotes this [promise] intimates a superlative triumph over the second death. But since the second death is actual banishment from the presence and life of God (Rev 20:14-15), the litotes also intimates a splendid experience of the divine life and presence." [Note: Zane C. Hodges, The Gospel Under Siege, p. 119. ]
Litotes is a figure of speech in which the writer expresses an affirmative idea through the negation of its opposite. Examples include, "I am not amused" (meaning "I am very annoyed"), "I won’t forget that" (meaning "I’ll remember it"), and "That test was no snap!" (meaning "That was a tough test!"). For some biblical examples, see Act 12:18; Act 15:2; Act 17:4; Act 17:12; Act 19:24; and Act 27:20.
The point of the Lord’s promise is that those who remain faithful will experience eternal life to the utmost in the life to come. The first death might hurt them briefly, but the second death would not hurt them at all. [Note: See idem, "No Small Problem," Grace Evangelical Society News 6:3 (March 1991):4.]
Historically the church experienced intense persecution during the post-apostolic era until Constantine elevated Christianity to the official religion of the Roman Empire. As mentioned before, some interpreters have correlated the 10 days of persecution (Rev 2:10) with 10 periods of persecution instigated by 10 Roman emperors between A.D. 54 (Nero) and A.D. 284 (Diocletian). [Note: E.g., W. A. Spurgeon, The Conquering Christ, p. 28.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
3. Exhortation 2:10a
These persecuted Christians did not need to fear their adversaries or death since they would live forever with Jesus Christ. "Behold" signals an oracular declaration (cf. Rev 2:22; Rev 3:8-9; Rev 3:20). [Note: Thomas, Revelation 1-7, p. 167.] The devil would incite their foes to imprison some of them shortly, having received permission from God to do so (cf. Job 1). This would be a trial (Gr. peirasthete) that Satan would use to try to entice them to depart from the Lord.
"Under the Roman legal system imprisonment was usually not a punishment in itself; rather it was used either as a means of coercion to compel obedience to an order issued by a magistrate or else as a place to temporarily restrain the prisoner before execution . . . . Here it appears that imprisonment, viewed as a period of testing, is primarily for the purpose of coercion." [Note: Aune, p. 166.]
The "ten days" of trouble may refer to a period of relatively brief duration, specifically the "days" of persecution under 10 Roman emperors (cf. Gen 24:55; Num 11:19; Num 14:22; 1Sa 1:8; Neh 5:18; Job 19:3; Jer 42:7; Dan 1:12; Act 25:6). The emperors whom advocates of this view identify are usually Nero, Domition, Trajan, Hadrian, Septimus Severus, Maximin, Decius, Valerian, Aurelian, and Diocletian. [Note: See Thomas, Revelation 1-7, p. 169; and J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible with J. Vernon McGee, 5:906.] However, Ladd claimed that these were not empire-wide persecutions. [Note: Ladd, pp. 8-10.] Other interpreters view the days as symbolic. Some interpret these days as undefined periods of trial. [Note: Beale, p. 243.] Others see them as an undefined period of years. [Note: William Lee, "The Revelation of St. John," in The Holy Bible, 4:481, 520, 532.] Still others take them as some other period of time (e.g., complete tribulation). Of these, some view the days as a longer period of time. [Note: Ray Summers, Worthy Is the Lamb, p. 113; Mounce, p. 94.] Others interpret them as a short, limited time. [Note: Swete, p. 32; Charles, 1:58; Martin Kiddle, The Revelation of St. John, p. 28; Aune, p. 166; Ladd, p. 44.] However, John probably intended us to interpret this period as 10 literal 24-hour days that lay in the near future of the original recipients of this letter. [Note: See Walter Scott, Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, p. 69.] There is nothing in this text that provides a clue that we should take this number in a figurative sense.