I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. (Revelations 2:9-10)
The word ‘Smyrna’ is translated to mean myrrh. Myrrh was a resinous substance used as a perfume. When the wisemen visited the newborn King in Bethlehem, one of the gifts they gave was myrrh. When the body of Jesus was being prepared to be laid in the tomb, it is believed that some of the substances used were myrrh (John 19:39).
Myrrh is extracted from a thorny tree by bleeding the resin through crushing it. At first, myrrh is a waxy gum that easily coagulates. Once harvested, the gum becomes hard and glossy. It can be used as a perfume or to dress wounds.
So this church is a depiction of a sweet perfume and healing church. However, sweet smell and healing is the resultant of a process of stripping away the life out of the thorny tree, crushing the bark to produce a waxy resin. Ouch.
The church had a potential of sweet smell and healing within. But it remained only a potential until the persecution and suffering checked in to release that resin from the bark. The encouragement here is for the church to remain faithful because the process will produce an award winning substance.
The text starts with reference to scarcity and an abundance at the same time. Quite an oxymoron, don’t you think? How can it be that ‘you are poor yet rich’? I have listened to many motivational speakers and this is how they put it, ‘Though you are poor, that is going to change. Though you are in debt, your debts shall be cancelled. Though you are jobless, your job search is coming to an end.’ The terms ‘YOU WILL’ and ‘YOU ARE’ are different. One gives hope for the future, the other is a wake up call for now.
Hang on before you jump out of your seats and declare yourself a millionaire. The church in Smyrna carried wealth just like the thorny tree species that produces myrrh. To others, the tree is just a thorny wild tree blown by the wind and exposed to the elements. To doctors and beauticians, that tree is a multi-million dollar business opportunity.
Life may have blown you like the thorny tree. You have been termed as a wild tree with no value. A shrub that needs to be cleared and burned down to create way for production. All people see in you is manure or mulch or fodder to be used as feed for animals. You have been brushed aside as a non-starter, insignificant, unusable and unwanted. You have accepted those tags and even relegated yourself to a second class citizen. You wake up every morning and dread the worst. Misfortune after another has become your daily dose of vitamin for the day.
God declares that you are rich. But He goes one better and says, the journey from thorny tree to sweet smelling resin, from being pushed to a corner to a victor’s crown, from being cow feed to being dressing wounds and perfuming palaces, there is a pounding process, an extraction. The wealth is in the bark. That bark must be crushed. Crushing is painful. There will be bleeding. Bark will have to die for the resin to be of use.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8:13). The writing is on the wall. You can choose to remain a thorny tree (and die) or you can choose to die and produce myrrh fit for a victor’s crown. The choice is yours. As for me there is no shadow of doubt where my priority lies.
No comments:
Post a Comment