Lent Midweek 1, 2025

Text: Revelation 2:8-11

Dear Church,

This letter is from the first and the last. 

I was there in the beginning.  Before this world was made, I am.  Everything there ever was or ever will be comes from me.

And I will be there to the end.  Death was not the end of me, but I came back to life, and nothing, nothing can ever put an end to me.

I will be there on the last day, when the dead are raised, and the world is transformed and made good once more.

And I was there at your beginning.  You are my creation.  I gave you life, and I made you in my image.

And I will be there at your end.  When your eyelids close in death, I will be there to mourn your passing.  And I will shepherd you through the valley of shadow, bringing you to my Father’s house.

Dear Church, 

I know that life is hard.  I know that the world is against you.

That was the case in Smyrna as well.

In Smyrna they called Caesar “god”.  They had a temple built for him there, and they demanded that my people call him “Lord” and burn incense in worship of him.

The Christians of Smyrna resisted, and they suffered.  They knew this false worship was not harmless, but Satanic, and they refused to give in.

Some were slandered.  Some were imprisoned.  Some even died.

Learn from them.  Be inspired by them and by all those who have suffered before you. Be faithful as they were, unto death.

They were poor.  They didn’t have much in terms of money or possessions.  It’s hard to get ahead in life if you’re out of favor with the folks in power.

This may be the case for you, too.  You may look at your rich neighbors in Naperville and wonder why they have so much, and you have so little.  It may not seem like life is fair.

But no matter what is in your bank account, you are rich, as were the Christians of Smyrna.

You have me, and so you have everything.

Don’t compare yourself with your neighbors. 

Don’t place your hope and your trust in worldly goods.

They will fail you.  They will be stolen.  They will break.  They will become obsolete.  They will be exhausted by emergencies, by medical bills, car repairs, and college tuition.

But I will not fail you.

I prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for you. 

I was willing to submit to my Father’s will, to suffer and die for you.

I was betrayed by one of my closest friends for you.

I was faithful even unto death.

Dear Church,

Put your trust in me.  
Yes, you will suffer.  Yes, you will experience tribulation.  Yes, you will die.

But you will only die once.

There is a second death.  There is a death that lasts forever.  There is a death prepared for Satan and His minions that is eternal suffering and separation from God and His goodness.  You often call that second death, “Hell.”

I experienced that Hell for you on the cross. I bore your sins.  I was separated from God.  I died your death for you.

Yes, there will come a time when you die. Your death may be peaceful, at home, in the arms of your loved ones.  Or your death may be violent, at the hands of your enemies.

But if you are faithful in death, if you place your hope and trust in me, and not in earthly rulers, in other gods, or in the things of this world, if you are faithful unto death, I will give you the crown of life.

To the rest of the world, death is a defeat, a loss. 

But to those who have faith in me, death brings victory and life.

Once upon a time, those who won victories, who overcame their adversaries were given a crown to wear.  Those crowns, those wreaths of laurel and olive lasted a few days and faded, along with the memory of their victory.

But the crown I give is life forever.  Death is not a defeat for those who die in faith, because I came to life, I won the victory over death.  I was crowned with thorns then, but I am crowned with glory now.

And you will share in that victory, and in that life that will never end.

Dear Church, 

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Love, 
Jesus.