“Suffering for being a Christian” … that very thought seems so “foreign” to many of us Christians. But that so-called sense of security could change more quickly that we realize.
Throughout history Christians have always suffered for Jesus’ sake. Read Paul here … Acts 14:22 … Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through MUCH TRIBULATION enter into the kingdom of God.
2 Timothy 3:12 … Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall SUFFER persecution.
(Yes tribulation, but not The Tribulation!)
Now John writes, but quoting Jesus … Revelation 3:10 … Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will KEEP thee FROM the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. “The Hour of Temptation” our Lord just mentioned could very well be the seven-year Tribulation!
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The Text, Revelation 2:8-11 …
8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; 9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 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. 11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
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The Bible says so much about suffering for our faith …
2 Corinthians 4:17 … For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory …
1 Peter 4:12-13 … Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1 Peter 1:6-7 … Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ …
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Jesus and “myrrh!” (No wonder He is so “drawn” to the Smyrna Christians! Not a single word of criticism for this persecuted body of Believers!)
Psalm 45:8 … All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
Song of Solomon 1:13 … A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.
Song of Solomon 5:5 … I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.
Song of Solomon 5:13 … His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
Matthew 2:11 … And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
John 19:39 … And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. (To anoint Jesus’ dead Body, temporarily dead! He is risen!)
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Jesus, the First and the Last, is here claiming full Deity with His Father …
Isaiah 41:4 … Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
Isaiah 44:6 … Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Isaiah 48:12 … Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
The Almighty, Overarching God! (None above Him!)
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One more fact …
The Book of Revelation has 27 Allusions to Daniel, the Book, the Prophecy! (According to one scholar!)
Now the video Class …
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
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