Revelation 2:11 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Revelation 2:11

Comments

Are we inclined to listen, or are we inclined to be drawn away to worldly interests and things? This is the sense of the first part of these words, words to Smyrna. Bunyan’s Mr By-Ends said that he would never strive against wind and tide as a Christian, but he liked his religion in silver slippers. That is sometimes how we are tempted. Take it easy. Just live a comfortable life in the world. Don’t be one of those people who struggles to do things for the Lord and to serve him. Mr By-Ends, Bunyan tells us came from the city of Fair-speech. That is the trouble when we relax back and we are not faithful to God: our speech is just hollow and meaningless. The second death is the final judgement. It is spoken of again in chapter 20 of this book. John does not mention the corresponding event each time he refers to them, but we assume them. There is a first resurrection, and there is a second resurrection; there is a first death, and there is a second death. The first death is when we die physically. The first resurrection takes place at the same time for believers only, when we are translated to heaven. We are Christians; when we die, our disembodied soul goes to the paradise of Christ to be with him. It has its roots in the new birth, when we are said to be ‘raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:5-6). The second resurrection is the physical resurrection of the righteous and the wicked which will take place at the return of Christ (John 5:29), and the second death is the final judgment when the lost are consigned body and soul to hell for ever. The promise here is that he who overcomes by faith will never experience this second death. Those who are true believers, who fight against sin by the help of God and do not succumb to worldliness, are will most certainly escape the final judgement.

Application

‘He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death’ – literally it is, ‘he who conquers’. There are those who teach that sanctification is by faith. The idea is that in the same way that justification is by faith alone, so sanctification is by faith alone. It is true: I can only be saved, only born again by faith, in Jesus Christ and putting my trust in what he has done on Calvary’s cross. But when it comes to advancing in the Christian life, gaining holiness, being sanctified, we certainly depend upon God and the power of the Spirit, but we have a battle to fight too. We must strive against our sin, resist it. When unwanted tempers and bad feelings or thoughts come up within us, we are to make the maximum effort to suppress them, and overcome them. We are to pray that emergency prayer to God to help us by the Spirit and he will. How many of us are tempted in that direction? Listen to Christ, says the letter from Christ. Examine your life. Detach yourself from earthly comforts and worldly ambitions. It is the conqueror here who shall not be hurt of the second death.

The martyr may have to face death, but by faith he can be sure that he will be delivered from the most awful aspect of death, the second death. This is that part of death for which there is no remedy. Those who seek to escape the first death by unfaithfulness to Christ, will not escape either the first or the second death in the end. Christ promises immunity from the worst aspect of death. Here is the ultimate trial of faith. Here is the river that must be crossed at the end of life’s journey. The martyr is ready to give up this life for Christ’s sake, for he knows he must lose it anyway. He rests upon the promise; nothing more is needed. The Spirit of God has held firm many through the trials of martyrdom by strengthening them with this promise.

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Revelation 2:11 Commentary and Bible Study