Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Revelation! - "Written To Us, About Us or For Us?" - Lesson 9 - The Letter to Smyrna - 06.10.15


Ruins of the Athena Temple in Smyrna - Image Courtesy Wikipedia
 
1.      Smyrna was ______ miles north of Ephesus on the west coast of Asia. She was founded ca. 1,000 B.C. as a G__________ colony.  Destroyed in 600 B.C., she was magnificently rebuilt in _________ B.C.  She was described as “the O___________, the C___________ and the F___________ of Asia.”  Lucian referred to her F_____________ as the streets were laid out to carry the prevailing W__________ winds.  It is said that these winds made Smyrna “as fresh as a grove of T__________.”  She was blessed with a D___________ port which served the end of the main T_______  route that ran through all of Lydia and Phrygia.  Smyrna was a F_________ city without any Roman army presence.  They had always S_____________ Rome regardless.  Smyrna was the very first place where Rome itself was W____________ as a G______________.  She was called Roma.  A temple to her honor was erected in Smyrna in ________ B.C.  This became during the reign of A_____________ the epicenter of E______________ worship.  There was here one of the largest of all T____________, seating ____________.  It was here that a mob of both P __________ and J________ burnt P______________ at the stake in 195.  Smyrna was a great Roman city but the P____________________ of the church of Christ.  This is why that she is forever known as the “S_____________ Church.” – Source: J. T. Marlin, The Seven Churches of Asia
2.      According to Hailey in Revelation – An Introduction and Commentary, Mt. Pagas sits in the city and the A___________ sat on top, giving the illusion of a C__________ from the magnificent harbor.  Smyrna exported more goods than any city in Asia save E____________.  A temple to the dead Emperor T____________ was built in Smyrna.  Smyrna claimed to the “The First.”  “First in B___________, First in L______________ and First in L___________.”  Jesus, however, asserts that HE, not Smyrna is F_____________!
3.      This statement in 2.8 is also stated in ____________.
4.      The W___________ of Smyrna is contrasted by the P____________ of the church.
5.      The L____________ of Smyrna to R____________ is contrasted by the L___________ of this church to C________________.
6.      The worship of the R_____________ and L____________ Christ is contrasted with the worship of D____________ E_________________.
7.      Jesus is now coming along this persecuted church to offer C______________
a.      Hebrews 2.18 _________________________________________________
b.      Hebrews 4.15 _________________________________________________
c.       Romans 15.4 __________________________________________________
d.      II Corinthians 1.3 – 4 __________________________________________
8.      What does Jesus say He knows about the church of Christ at Smyrna?
9.      In addition to the persecution of the Romans, what other group threatened the church?
10.  Per Webster 1828, blasphemy means: “An indignity offered to God by words or writing; reproachful, contemptuous or irreverent words uttered impiously against Jehovah.  Blasphemy is an injury offered to God, by denying that which is due and belonging to him, or attributing to him that which is not agreeable to his nature.”
11.  Strong says that blasphemy is “…a railing, vilification, evil speaking (against God).”
12.  This word is often rendered in the TR by a no longer used word, calumny.  Webster 1828 defines calumny as: “Slander; false accusation of a crime or offense, knowingly or maliciously made or reported, to the injury of another; false representation of facts reproachful to another, made by design, and with knowledge of its falsehood; sometimes followed by on.”
13.  The TR also defines this word often as “harm – averment.”  This averment is an archaic legal term meaning to “assert or verify in court.”  Blasphemy, therefore is literally “swearing harm to God.”
14.  According to our text, what is the consequence of Jewish blasphemy?  Who, therefore, is the real Jew and who is not?
a.      John 8.44 ______________________________________________________
b.      Romans 2.28 – 29 ________________________________________________


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