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UNDERSTANDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD
THE BOOK OF REVELATION - PART 3

16 December 2001

CHAPTER TWO:
The ancient Smyrna located north of Ephesus, was built some three miles inland. It was destroyed by the Lydians about 600 B.C. and never rebuilt. The new city of Smyrna was planned by Alexander the Great, but built by his successors, and moved to the coast. The city became an important sea port and was a rival to Ephesus. In 195 B.C. the city had built a temple to the goddess Roma. In A.D. 26 eleven cities of Asia were competing for the right to build a temple to emperor Tiberius, and the Roman government selected Smyrna. Since Asia was a province of the Roman empire, Smyrna was competing with other cities to be called the first city of Asia.

The Jewish leadership in Smyrna were very hostile to the Christians living there, and they used mob violence and looting to destroy the ability for the Christians to make a living.

As pointed out in Acts 13:42-52; 14:1-6; 17:1-13; there was a well organized Jewish conspiracy to find, attack and destroy all people who had called upon the name of Jesus.

Verse 8: Jesus is fully aware of what is going on in the church of Smyrna, and he is addressing both the angel in charge and the pastor.

Verse 9: It is now clear to the Christians living in Smyrna, that their suffering has not gone unnoticed in heaven. Jesus is also exposing the Cabalistic Jews in Smyrna, who claim to be "real followers of Abraham" but in reality are worshiping the Devil. Most Christians cannot understand this, unless they have been given knowledge of the Jewish writing, the Cabala. God has addressed this previously in the Bible. We will find it in Isaiah 5:11-20; Isaiah 28:14-18 (given by God around 700 B.C.); Jeremiah 11:9-10 (given by God around 627 B.C.); Ezekiel 22:23-31 (given by God around 592 B.C.).

The messiah of the Cabalistic Jews is "the Holy Serpent," and they are identified and blasted by John the Baptist - Matthew 3:1-12- and Jesus himself - Matthew 12:22-34.

It was King Solomon who took the ancient writings of the Cabala and developed them further until it had become the system of the Antichrist. Solomon’s "holy" number was 666, and we will find this in 1 Kings 10:14-20; 11:1-12. All Jewish people living at the time of Christ and the apostles had full knowledge of the existence of the Cabala and its teaching.

Let us now look at Revelation 13:5-8; 16-18. When Jesus told the apostle John to write down the number of the beast, all Jews living at that time knew exactly what it meant. When the apostle John saw the Jewish World Government system in full power during the end times, he was astonished, because the temple had been destroyed together with the city of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and all the Jewish genealogy records destroyed - Revelation  17:1-7

Verse 10: Jesus did not say that He was going to intervene and rescue the Smyrna Christians from persecution, instead he told them to be faithful unto death!

Verse 11: Jesus tells them there will be a special crown of life for those who die for the sake of Jesus.