Have you ever felt spiritually dead? Perhaps your faith seems more like going through motions than a vibrant relationship with God. Or maybe you're facing trials that make you question if God is even present. I want to share some powerful truths from Revelation 2:8-11 that might just resurrect your hope and remind you that with Jesus, death—whether spiritual or physical—is never the end of the story.

The Conqueror Who Speaks to Us

In Revelation 2:8, Jesus introduces Himself to the church in Smyrna in a very specific way: "The first and the last, who was dead and has come to life." This isn't just flowery language—it's a powerful reminder that "when God tells you something, when God's talking to you about something, you have to remember that he's talking to us as one who has been victorious. He's the conqueror. He's the one that has conquered every single thing there is out there to conquer."

I love how Jesus describes Himself as "the first and the last." Think about bookends. He says, "I'm the first thing that happened in your life. I'm the last thing that happened in your life... Before you ever came out of your mother's womb, I was there. I had a plan for you. After you die, after you breathe your last breath, I've got a plan for you and I am with you always. Between the beginning and the end, I'm very much involved in your life."

This is what the believers in Smyrna needed to hear because some of them were about to face persecution to the point of death. And it's what we need to hear today: "Whatever happens in our lives and this process that we know as life is presided over by one who knew about all from its inception, and he ultimately controls it all."

A Church in Tribulation but Rich in Spirit

Jesus tells the church in Smyrna, "I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich" (Revelation 2:9). These believers were experiencing intense affliction, distress, and anguish. They were materially poor—not just struggling to pay bills, but truly beggars. Yet Jesus called them rich.

"We understand the concept of being rich as having an abundance of material things. Jesus understood it as something else... You have something this world can't provide. It's something rare, it's something of value."

When you start thinking about your circumstance in life, don't let your assessment end with your external situation. Let it end with who you are inside. Your value isn't determined by your bank account or social status—it's determined by your relationship with Christ.

The Testing of Faith

Jesus warned the believers in Smyrna: "Do not fear what you're about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison... and you will have tribulation for 10 days" (Revelation 2:10). He didn't sugarcoat what was coming. He told them plainly that things would get worse before they got better.

"How do you know what you're made of if you don't encounter challenges? How do you know what you're made of if you don't go through tough times? Any slob can go through good times, but how do you know what you're really, really, really, really made of unless you go through the tough times?"

The apostle Paul put it this way in Romans 8:18: "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." The tough times, the difficult circumstances you're experiencing right now—they are so minuscule compared to the glorious things that God has in store for us. "That's a winning attitude. That truly is a winning attitude that will take you where you need to be and where God wants you to go."

The Call to Faithfulness

Jesus didn't just warn the believers about coming persecution—He gave them a strategy: "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10). This wasn't about repentance for the church in Smyrna; they were already doing what they should have been doing. They just needed to remain faithful as the trials intensified.

And here's a crucial distinction: "This is a faithfulness to God, not the place we call church. Small churches all across America have groups of people who are still together even though those churches are dead. Some of them are more like clubs. God left them long ago, yet they still go through the motions of having church. In stark contrast to being church."

Our faithfulness must be "first, foremost and only to God." Because "if I'm faithful to God, I can't be anything but faithful to my wife. But if I'm not faithful to God, can I perhaps be unfaithful to Debbie?" The same principle applies to all our relationships and responsibilities.

Overcoming the Second Death

Jesus concludes His message with a promise: "The one who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death" (Revelation 2:11). What does it mean to overcome when the church was already doing everything right?

I believe "Jesus in his infinite wisdom and his knowledge and his understanding knew that for some this was going to be a real temptation. And it was going to be a real, real, real struggle." The temptation to abandon faith in the face of persecution would be strong.

But He encourages them: "You got to beat that struggle. You've got to overcome that struggle. Because if you do, you're not going to be hurt by the second death." Those who betray Christ "may die once and then they'll die again. And they're going to be eternally separated from me. But if you can whip this thing, they may take your life away. They may bury you. People may mourn your loss, but you're going to be as alive as you've ever been and then a whole lot more."

Life Application: What Really Matters to God?

As we consider the message to Smyrna, we need to ask ourselves two critical questions:

  1. Does this matter to God? I caught myself obsessing over perfectly aligned chairs in our sanctuary and had to stop and ask: "Does this matter to God? Would God rather see me aligning chairs in the place where we worship? Or would he rather me spend a few moments in prayer with him and talking with him about the seats that are empty?"

  2. What does really matter to God about this work? We can get so caught up in religious activities and traditions that we forget to evaluate whether they truly matter to our Lord.

For each of us, "God calls us to be faithful. Some perhaps need to repent of their unfaithfulness." We need to ask ourselves: "Am I being faithful? Am I being true to who you've made me to be? As a church, are we being faithful to who God has called us to be?"

When we face spiritual deadness—either individually or as a congregation—we have a choice. We can resign ourselves to death, or we can remember that we serve the One "who was dead and has come to life." With Him, resurrection is always possible. So "I challenge you to choose to not think about death. I challenge you to think about life. But life comes with Jesus."

Remember, "if you have Jesus Christ as your personal savior, then that whole thing at the cemetery, that's a bridge... because that person has walked over that bridge and is now in the presence of their savior, Jesus Christ." Death isn't the end—it's just the beginning of true life.