The Church at Smyrna—“Myrrh”

(Approximately A.D. 100 – 325)

              “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, ‘These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life: 

The church is called to be the bride of Christ as well as an army. As we approach the end of this age, we will begin to take on more of the nature and demeanor of both. This is hard for many to understand because the bride is to be feminine, and the martial nature of an army is more masculine. However, we will take on both of these natures at the same time, and it will greatly strengthen the health and effectiveness of the body of Christ.

Last week, I mentioned the dream I had in which I saw a cloud of death sweeping the earth. To escape this cloud, I had to enter a house, which I knew was the house of the Lord. When I got to the door, even though I knew I had the key to the house, I could not find it quickly enough, and the dream ended with me frozen in panic. This week, I want to discuss this key and how it relates to us finding our proper place in the body of Christ.

As I have repeated, this study is intended to be a broad perspective that connects history to prophecy, the past to the present to the future. When I was a new Christian more than thirty-five years ago, I felt compelled to study church history. I wanted to understand what God had done so that I could better understand what He is doing now and perceive what He is going to do. After thirty-five years of such study, I know I still only see in part, but I do now have a grid or paradigm for current events from which the unfolding future tends to make sense.

In Galatians 5:20 the next "work of the flesh" noted is "outbursts of anger." Today we would call this "losing your temper" or "going ballistic." Losing control of our anger is a work of the flesh, and like all works of the flesh it will be used as an open door or a "gate of hell" by the devil. Our rage will hurt other people, as well as their respect for us.

Last week we began to address how the judgment of God begins with His own people (see I Peter 4:17). He could not judge the world for the things that His own people are doing, so there must be a purging and cleansing of His people. The Lord promised that He would remove the tares from among His people. Of this we can be assured.

Last week we began our study of the four basic purposes for which God created man. They are:

1. to have fellowship with Him,
2. to cultivate the garden,
3. to be fruitful and multiply, and
4. to rule over the earth and all that is in it.

We are well into some of the most interesting, challenging, and dangerous times in human history, and will continue to experience them daily. In order to survive, much less prevail in the times ahead, we must start to perceive the future more clearly, and take proactive steps to be prepared.

The goal of this part of our study on the kingdom is to become better stewards of what our King has entrusted to us. As we have also addressed the last couple of weeks, sometimes spiritual fruit can be hard to measure, but not impossible. However, before we cover how we might judge our spiritual investments in more depth, let's go back to the management of our resources in the natural—especially the money we are entrusted with.

     One of the great questions is how people can read the same Scriptures and derive different conclusions, or even doctrines, from them. We have likely all said things that someone would interpret the exact opposite of what we meant, and this happens to the Lord and His Words as well. One question many have is: Why would the Lord allow biblical prophecies to sometimes be so ambiguous or seemingly conflict the way that they do?