In the first week of our study of Revelation, John’s vision took us from Patmos, the inhospitable island to which John had been banished, to the city of Ephesus. This week we visited (in spirit or in the Spirit) Smyrna (40 miles north of Ephesus) and Pergamum (about 60 miles north of Smyrna).

Smyrna claimed, on its coinage, to be “First in Beauty and Size.” By contrast, John’s vision reminds the Christians of Smyrna that Christ is “the first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life.” This description is poignant, since the citizens of Smyrna often expressed their devotion to the Roman emperor by withholding jobs, goods, and any hope of economic security from the Christians who lived among them - and sentenced many of them to death.

The Christians of Smyrna receive an assurance from Christ that “I know your tribulation and your poverty,” that they are rich in the things that matter (the eternal things), and that their faithfulness will result in their being raised as Christ was raised. Their reward will be the crown of life, a victor’s crown that will last forever (contrasted with the customary crown of laurels, which remained beautiful for only a few days).

Although some in our group judged the letter to be very depressing, since it promises hardship, others noted that there is great consolation in being reassured that one’s suffering is not a punishment from God, in being reassured that God intends to redeem our pain (and even our death).

Pergamum was a center of law and learning (its library was second only to that of Alexandria), and it contained temples to many different gods (thus, Christ describes it as the city “where Satan dwells”). Christ extends commendation to Antipas, a martyr, but identifies (discerns with two-edged sword) deceptive and immoral practices among (and apparently tolerated by) the Christians of Pergamum.