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| Ruins of ancient Smyrna |
The Smyrnan church’s tribulation and poverty resulted from physical and economic assaults, which will be symbolized in the beast that attacks the saints and makes submission to his “mark” the condition for enjoying the prosperity of his evil empire (Rev. 13:7, 16-17). This church’s affliction was instigated by slanderous accusations brought by “those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan” (2:9; 3:9). Though ethnically descended from Israel’s patriarchs, the opponents actions show that they are not God’s people but Satan’s synagogue. God shows covenant faithfulness to families through the generations, but in the last analysis the people of God are defined Christocentrically, not genealogically. The issue is not birth from the flesh but birth from the Spirit (John 3:6), just as the circumcision that marks God’s people is not a fleshly surgery but a cleansing of the heart by the Spirit (Rom. 2:28-29; cf. Phil. 3:2-3). Gentiles, once not a people, have been called to become “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God’s own possession” (1 Peter 2:9-10; 1:18). Titles that once set Israel apart (Exod. 19:5-6) now belong to all who belong to Jesus, who abide in him as branches in the true vine, bearing fruit pleasing to the Father (John 15:1-8; Isa. 5:1-7).
Dennis E. Johnson, Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation (p. 74)
"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." ~ Saint Paul (Romans 2:28-29)
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