And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not; but are the synagogue of Satan. (Rev. 2:9b)
It is time to discuss this part of the passage in a bit more detail.
An excerpt from a letter concerning the Martyrdom of Polycarp, seen in the previous posting, revealed to us the involvement of the Jews; particularly their help in building the fire with which Polycarp, the Christian bishop of the church at Smyrna, was to be burned alive at the stake for refusing to worship Caesar:
"The crowd collected wood and bundles of sticks from the shops and public baths. The Jews, as usual, were keen to help."
What an indictment to be recorded for all history! Helping to stoke a fire to burn a man alive just because he was a believer in Jesus Christ and would worship no one other than the one true God. The same God that the Jews themselves proclaimed to worship, but obviously these particular Jews worshiped Caesar as well, another god, or they would not have been alive to help build Polycarp's fire.
When Jesus makes this declaration to John the Revelator and says that these Jews "say they are Jews, and are not" there is something that Jesus wants His followers, those who read the Book of Revelation, to understand.
These Jews at Smyrna did not do such an evil thing just because they were Jews. In other words, evil wasn't done just because they were born into a Jewish family, and therefore a Jew. And we are not ever instructed by Jesus to condemn the Jewish race for the death of Christ, anymore than it would be right to condemn all Jews for the death of Polycarp. The guilt lies only with those Jews whose hearts are not circumcised, no matter whether their body is physically circumcised or not. That could be Jew or that could be Gentile. In fact, it was both Jews and Gentiles, uncircumcised in heart, who killed Jesus and later all the martyrs that followed Jesus in death, including Polycarp. But there are many other Jews, and Gentiles, whose hearts have been circumcised and are living in righteousness by faith, obedient to the law written on their circumcised hearts.
Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law [as did the household of the Gentile centurion Cornelius], shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God....Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. (Romans 2:26-29; 3:30)
This is only an excerpt from the Letter to the Romans written by Paul, a Jew, to the believers in Christ, both Jew and Gentile, who made up the church in Rome. The purpose of the letter was to help those believers understand that physical circumcision of the flesh was not necessary to be justified by God [seeing it is one God, which shall justify]. To become physically circumcised, as a Gentile, was to trust in the letter of the law to show oneself as righteous, rather than to trust in Jesus for justification with the Father and to then live in the Spirit of the law doing works of righteousness.
Paul was not condemning the law, nor was he condemning anyone's obedience to the law. He was, however, condemning anyone who trusts in the letter of the law for justification with God. It is faith alone that justifies a man in the eyes of God. Faith of the circumcised, and faith of the uncircumcised, equally. It is faith alone; because faith alone allows the grace of God to circumcise our hearts, making us obedient children of the one true God, our Father who is in heaven.
Thus, we Gentiles become Jews by heart circumcision (1), even as the Jews who had faith were true Jews because of circumcision of their hearts. Paul does not say that Jews become Gentiles when they have faith in God. He does say, however, that we Gentiles [in particular those he was writing to in the church at Rome] become Jews, "inward Jews" you might say rather than outward Jews, children of God, by our faith...faith that leads to acts of righteousness otherwise known as obedience to the law of God which now is written fully on our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
When our hearts are circumcised, we are all Jews. And the law that is written on our hearts will line up with the Law of Moses, for it is from the same unchanging God and Father.
So, in this letter to the church at Smyrna, Jesus says they say they are Jews, and are not. In other words, they are liars of the faith, rather than believers by faith.
He then calls them the synagogue of Satan; in other words, a false and deceptive congregation giving a distorted and abominable representation of the God they claim to be led by, or through whom they claim to be doing all of their perverse and evil acts.
Remember Jesus calling certain scribes and Pharisees children of Satan?
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)
The devil, Satan, was a murderer from the beginning; murdering faith and obedience in Eve and Adam, murdering Abel through his brother Cain, and so on. The lusts (in other words, the blood lusts and all other kinds of lust) of Satan will be done by those who belong to Satan; and those who belong to him are identified as liars. Liars of the faith, such as these Jews who call themselves Jews but are not. Liars such as Gentile Christians who call themselves faithful believers, but do not trust God. And all of these liars make up the synagogue of Satan.
Jesus closes the letter to the church at Smyrna with this encouragement:
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. (Rev. 2:11)
In searching the scriptures for understanding of the second death, I found three other uses of that specific terminology, besides this particular passage in Rev. 2:11:
It is time to discuss this part of the passage in a bit more detail.
An excerpt from a letter concerning the Martyrdom of Polycarp, seen in the previous posting, revealed to us the involvement of the Jews; particularly their help in building the fire with which Polycarp, the Christian bishop of the church at Smyrna, was to be burned alive at the stake for refusing to worship Caesar:
"The crowd collected wood and bundles of sticks from the shops and public baths. The Jews, as usual, were keen to help."
What an indictment to be recorded for all history! Helping to stoke a fire to burn a man alive just because he was a believer in Jesus Christ and would worship no one other than the one true God. The same God that the Jews themselves proclaimed to worship, but obviously these particular Jews worshiped Caesar as well, another god, or they would not have been alive to help build Polycarp's fire.
When Jesus makes this declaration to John the Revelator and says that these Jews "say they are Jews, and are not" there is something that Jesus wants His followers, those who read the Book of Revelation, to understand.
These Jews at Smyrna did not do such an evil thing just because they were Jews. In other words, evil wasn't done just because they were born into a Jewish family, and therefore a Jew. And we are not ever instructed by Jesus to condemn the Jewish race for the death of Christ, anymore than it would be right to condemn all Jews for the death of Polycarp. The guilt lies only with those Jews whose hearts are not circumcised, no matter whether their body is physically circumcised or not. That could be Jew or that could be Gentile. In fact, it was both Jews and Gentiles, uncircumcised in heart, who killed Jesus and later all the martyrs that followed Jesus in death, including Polycarp. But there are many other Jews, and Gentiles, whose hearts have been circumcised and are living in righteousness by faith, obedient to the law written on their circumcised hearts.
Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law [as did the household of the Gentile centurion Cornelius], shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God....Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. (Romans 2:26-29; 3:30)
This is only an excerpt from the Letter to the Romans written by Paul, a Jew, to the believers in Christ, both Jew and Gentile, who made up the church in Rome. The purpose of the letter was to help those believers understand that physical circumcision of the flesh was not necessary to be justified by God [seeing it is one God, which shall justify]. To become physically circumcised, as a Gentile, was to trust in the letter of the law to show oneself as righteous, rather than to trust in Jesus for justification with the Father and to then live in the Spirit of the law doing works of righteousness.
Paul was not condemning the law, nor was he condemning anyone's obedience to the law. He was, however, condemning anyone who trusts in the letter of the law for justification with God. It is faith alone that justifies a man in the eyes of God. Faith of the circumcised, and faith of the uncircumcised, equally. It is faith alone; because faith alone allows the grace of God to circumcise our hearts, making us obedient children of the one true God, our Father who is in heaven.
Thus, we Gentiles become Jews by heart circumcision (1), even as the Jews who had faith were true Jews because of circumcision of their hearts. Paul does not say that Jews become Gentiles when they have faith in God. He does say, however, that we Gentiles [in particular those he was writing to in the church at Rome] become Jews, "inward Jews" you might say rather than outward Jews, children of God, by our faith...faith that leads to acts of righteousness otherwise known as obedience to the law of God which now is written fully on our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
When our hearts are circumcised, we are all Jews. And the law that is written on our hearts will line up with the Law of Moses, for it is from the same unchanging God and Father.
So, in this letter to the church at Smyrna, Jesus says they say they are Jews, and are not. In other words, they are liars of the faith, rather than believers by faith.
He then calls them the synagogue of Satan; in other words, a false and deceptive congregation giving a distorted and abominable representation of the God they claim to be led by, or through whom they claim to be doing all of their perverse and evil acts.
Remember Jesus calling certain scribes and Pharisees children of Satan?
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)
The devil, Satan, was a murderer from the beginning; murdering faith and obedience in Eve and Adam, murdering Abel through his brother Cain, and so on. The lusts (in other words, the blood lusts and all other kinds of lust) of Satan will be done by those who belong to Satan; and those who belong to him are identified as liars. Liars of the faith, such as these Jews who call themselves Jews but are not. Liars such as Gentile Christians who call themselves faithful believers, but do not trust God. And all of these liars make up the synagogue of Satan.
Jesus closes the letter to the church at Smyrna with this encouragement:
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. (Rev. 2:11)
In searching the scriptures for understanding of the second death, I found three other uses of that specific terminology, besides this particular passage in Rev. 2:11:
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Rev. 20:6)
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (Rev. 20:14)
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Rev. 21:8)
Thus, the second death is identified as being that which happens to those who are fearful, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolators, and ALL liars: thy will be cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. And that is known as the second death. These folks will have died a first physical death, and then will become part of the judgment called the second death.
But the second death has no power over those who:
-are not fearful because they trust God in ALL things, knowing that He is sovereign
-are believers who trust that ONLY through Jesus Christ are they justified before the Father and able to call themselves children of God
-are holy as God is holy, living in obedience to His law, rather than rebellious and performing abominable [the definition of abominable is: abhorrent, detestable, full of stench, polluted] actions contrary to the will of a holy God
-are not murderers, even in their imaginations
-are not given to sexual immorality; sexual immorality is any physical intimacy outside of the sanctity of the marriage covenant
-have no involvement in witchcraft, including fortune tellers, horoscopes, illegal drug use, etc.
-worship only the one true God and have no other gods before Him (including gods of materialism); just as Smyrna experienced, a test will come upon all believers in the end times as well, when the anti-Christ sets himself up to be worshiped as god [And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. (Rev. 16:2); And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (Rev. 19:20)]
-and finally the second death has no power over those who are honest in their testimony of Jesus Christ, who are not liars and deceivers, of the faith.
Believers in Christ whose lives reflect the qualities listed above are the ones whose hearts have been circumcised according to the law of God, rather than having their flesh circumcised, making them children of God, for it is God to whom their testimonies of righteous living bring glory. These are those who have overcome sin and become obedient to the law of God through the grace given to them by faith in Jesus Christ.
But don't believe that the law is done away with, because many believe that circumcision of the heart is a New Testament thing and the New Testament, being a "new covenant" has therefore done away with the law. Circumcision of the heart is not just a New Testament thing and it has not done away with obedience to the law of God. God was telling this to the Israelites long, long ago:
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. (Deut. 10:16)
And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. (Deut. 30:6)
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. (Jer. 4:4)
And it was always spoken to encourage them to turn from evil and begin to do right. Israel, spiritually speaking, is any who are "heart-circumcised." In them, no abominations will be found.
If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.
And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. (Jeremiah 4:1-2)
Footnote: (1) Physical circumcision in itself is not against the law, and is neither a sin, nor a sign of having a lack of faith. It is only trusting in physical circumcision as a sign of justification with God the Father that becomes sin. The same pertains to any law of Moses, whereby we sin if we trust that by being obedient to any or all of the law we have earned justification with the Father. Justification with God has been freely given to us by Jesus Christ alone. All who trust in HIM are justified with the Father. If we reject this free gift, we reject God. Justification through Christ (by faith) is a spiritually legal declaration that we who trust in Christ have been made acceptable to the Father because the demands of the law have been met by His Son Jesus, in whom we trust. We are now free to overcome sin; free to enter into the very throne room of God with our prayers and supplications, whereas before justification we had no right to do so. In justification by grace through faith, God accounts the faithful believer to be righteous according to the righteousness of Jesus, knowing that Jesus Himself has taken up residency in us through the Holy Spirit, and is now leading us into all "works" of righteousness, also known as obedience to the law, as we follow Jesus and His instructions to us through the Holy Spirit; this process is known as sanctification, allowing the believer to walk in holiness as God is holy. Sanctification is distinct from justification, and can only come about after justification by faith in Jesus Christ. Sanctification is "the process of God's grace by which the believer is separated from sin and becomes dedicated to God's righteousness" according to p. 948 of Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary printed in 1986. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Footnote: (1) Physical circumcision in itself is not against the law, and is neither a sin, nor a sign of having a lack of faith. It is only trusting in physical circumcision as a sign of justification with God the Father that becomes sin. The same pertains to any law of Moses, whereby we sin if we trust that by being obedient to any or all of the law we have earned justification with the Father. Justification with God has been freely given to us by Jesus Christ alone. All who trust in HIM are justified with the Father. If we reject this free gift, we reject God. Justification through Christ (by faith) is a spiritually legal declaration that we who trust in Christ have been made acceptable to the Father because the demands of the law have been met by His Son Jesus, in whom we trust. We are now free to overcome sin; free to enter into the very throne room of God with our prayers and supplications, whereas before justification we had no right to do so. In justification by grace through faith, God accounts the faithful believer to be righteous according to the righteousness of Jesus, knowing that Jesus Himself has taken up residency in us through the Holy Spirit, and is now leading us into all "works" of righteousness, also known as obedience to the law, as we follow Jesus and His instructions to us through the Holy Spirit; this process is known as sanctification, allowing the believer to walk in holiness as God is holy. Sanctification is distinct from justification, and can only come about after justification by faith in Jesus Christ. Sanctification is "the process of God's grace by which the believer is separated from sin and becomes dedicated to God's righteousness" according to p. 948 of Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary printed in 1986. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood [justification], we shall be saved [sanctification] from wrath through him. (Romans 5:1-9)
Because of our faith in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross [the blood], we are justified. Now we have hope, where once there was no hope, that by the power of the Holy Spirit [Christ in us] we will be saved from the wrath of God through His grace by the process of sanctification, being separated from all sin and made holy unto God. And I believe that when that process is done, we get to go home! Meanwhile, even as that process continues its work, we have peace with God...our hope of glory...who sees us as righteous according to the law, even as we are being made righteous by walking in the Spirit and not the flesh!
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