Smyrna’s “diamond Word”:
“If this plan or undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them” (Acts 5:38-39).
About 35-40 miles north of Ephesus, the ancient city of Smyrna could trace its history back to Alexander the Great and beyond. A major seaport, it vied with Ephesus and Pergamum as the leading city of Asia. Its name may reflect its great trade in myrrh.
With a significant Jewish population, John of Patmos ( “JP”) worshiped in that Synagogue as a Jewish Christian (a “Messianic Jew”). Why does he call it a “Synagogue of Satan?”
That Synagogue originally followed the advice the great Pharisee, Gamaliel I. Shortly after Pentecost he had told the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, “Keep away from these men (the early Christians, especially the Apostles Peter and John), and leave them alone. If this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it. You may even find yourselves fighting against God” (Acts 5:38-39).
Later on, the Smyrna Synagogue followed the lead of Gamaliel II. After the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in 70 A.D., this second Gamaliel inserted a “blessing” into the great Jewish prayer that Jesus himself would have prayed –the Amidah (the 18 blessings). Targeting the messianic Jews (Christians) and the Essenes (Dead Sea scrolls), it prayed, “for such ‘sectarians’ may there be no hope.”
JP and other Christians had been tossed out of that Synagogue. They lost not only a place of worship, but business connections, family, maybe even a place to live. (A good picture of how much early Jewish Christians feared such a Synagogue rejection can be found in John’s Gospel, chapter nine.). Jesus himself predicted all this, “An hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God” (John 16:2).
What is Jesus’ Gospel response to JP and those other beleaguered Jewish Christians in Smyrna? “I have said this to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage, for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Gamaliel I’s advice has helped me in dealings with people or situations (such as homosexuality many years ago) I did not understand or who threatened me. The peace I find in Jesus has come when I followed Gamaliel I’s advice. Psalm 46 helps, too -- “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10).