On Revelation 2:8 focuses on the church in Smyrna, representing a period of intense persecution in church history. It highlights Christ's message to this suffering church, emphasizing His identity as the First and Last, who was dead and is alive, offering comfort and strength. The message details the types of suffering faced by the Smyrnan believers, including poverty, imprisonment, and religious persecution from those claiming to be Jews but belonging to the 'synagogue of Satan.' The core lesson is to remain faithful unto death, with the promise of receiving a crown of life, illustrating that persecution, while severe, ultimately strengthens the church and testifies to Christ's enduring power.
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So we'll read again tonight in the book of Revelation chapter two. The book of Revelation chapter two. And we'll read verse eight. And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna writes, These things are the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. I know thy works and tribulation and poverty. but are rich. And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer.
Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said unto the churches. He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death. Yesterday morning we started to look at these seven churches of Asia. And what we have in mind during the week is to take each night one of these churches and try to point out some of the features in it. We have been trying to point out that what we get here, we believe, is a divine church history.
Not only do we get some practical things connected with certain New Testament assemblies that were in existence in the first century, but we do believe that we get here, from God's standpoint, a prophetic outline of the whole history of the church. Now, yesterday morning, we were looking at the vision of Christ in Revelation chapter one. John at this time was suffering persecution, rather pathetic to think of an old man about a hundred years of age, on a little island, completely isolated, and suffering on account of his testimony for the Lord. But you know always, in a position like that, God has always some comfort and health to those that pass through circumstances like that.
And the Lord Jesus appeared to him, given a marvelous vision. And what he saw was the risen, ascended Christ, walking in the midst of seven golden lampstands. Now what we were trying to point out yesterday, both morning and evening, is what we get here is a picture of the whole dispensation from Pentecost right through to the rapture, when the Lord Jesus shall come back again for his church. And what I have in mind during the week is to give a little outline of church history. First of all, speaking of some practical things connected with each one of these churches, and then trying to give an outline of what has happened during the almost two thousand years that the church has been here upon earth.
At last night we were looking at Ephesus, and we were pointing out that what we got there is a little delineation, a little picture of early apostolic days. The name that we wanted to put upon it was the Apostolic Church. and particularly in the last decade of the first century. There are some things that the Lord Jesus has to say about that church, some things concerning commendation. They certainly were to be commended for their work and their labor and their patience, but there was something dreadfully wrong. Right at the commencement here the Lord has to take them to task, and I said, I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love.
Now, in any particular movement of the Holy Spirit of God, you'll generally find that it starts off with love to God and love to his people. If we would take the time tonight to go over some of the movements of the Holy Spirit of God during the whole of this dispensation, the dispensation of the church, you would generally find that it starts off with a man. God raises up an individual, some outstanding character, and God uses that individual in revival blessing to his church. But it always has a tendency, say, to degenerate into a movement. First of all, a man. And then a movement. And then the next thing you get is a monument.
Now, practically every movement of the Holy Spirit of God, that is the way it has started and the way it has ended. I'm not going to occupy time tonight in developing that. But if you would think of practically every religious denomination in Christians on today, It generally started off with some outstanding individual that God really blessed, raised them up and blessed them, and that they were used in blessing. But as time has gone on, it is generally degenerated into a movement on what we see today in every part of Christendom is the remains of what was once an outstanding work of God. Now, over the commencement here of church history, we get this tendency.
We find that the church at Ephesus, it commenced. with a wonderful work of grace. The man that was principally responsible for it was the Apostle Paul. But last night we were pointing out that before that there was a godly couple, Aquilian Priscilla, who formed the beachhead at Ephesus. You remember there was a large temple there, the Temple of Diana. And it was one of the seven wonders of the world. On the very first opposition that the church had in Ephesus, it came from a religious source. It came not only from a religious source, but a pagan religious source. And the saints were very severely persecuted at that time.
But their love did burn brightly. One thing I didn't mention at all last night was the fact that in the epistle to the Ephesians, twenty times we get the word love mentioned. Ten times it's used as a verb. And ten times it's used as a noun. If there's one thing that the apostle emphasizes again and again in that great epistle, the epistle to the Ephesians, we read about love, love, love, love. It's absolutely saturated with it from beginning to end. It's mentioned practically in every chapter on twenty times in the six chapters we get love mentioned. But here, thirty years later, when this epistle here is written to the church, you notice that that love has deteriorated.
And the Lord has to say to the church, Thou hast led thy first love. There's nothing more delightful or more beautiful to see a company of believers in their first love. There's something so nice and so beautiful about it. And I don't think that there's anything more pathetic than to see people carrying on services, just a kind of a routine. It is deteriorated. The love has evaporated. And the result is that the God has to take them to task on account of their condition. Now this is what characterized those early days of church history. the first church here at Ephesus their love had deteriorated and the Lord said unless they repented and got back and did the first works he would remove the candlestick out of its place just the other day I was reading a book by Sir William Ramsey it's a book on the seven churches and this is what he said there was a traveler some years ago went over to that area in Turkey that is where these seven churches were located and when they when he got there When he came to the room of the city, he said he found two things.
He said, one was a rubble, just a lot of rubble and a bog. A lot of rubble and a bog. There wasn't a single Christian there. The candlestick had been removed. The church testimony had completely deteriorated and had evaporated. It was gone. There was nothing left. And the Lord said, unless you get back and do the first works, I remove the candlestick out of its way. And that is actually what happened at Ephesus. Now I think that all of us, we should be very careful that we look at the warning that we get here in Ephesus and be sure that this great virtue, love to God and love to his dear people, may burn brightly in our hearts today.
And to keep that first love, keep it burning brightly. Some have talked about the third generation. If you turn over to the book of Judgy, you'll find that it's a book of the third generation. You know, sometimes I've tried to test myself by this. My father and mother were believers before I was born. My grandparents were too. The very earliest thing I can remember about my grandparents, they were Presbyterians. But really, God is even. Born again, people. And I can remember sitting on their knees, on my grandmother's knees, and she taught me the twenty-third Psalm. just as far back as I can remember anything.
And then my father and mother, before I was born, they heard the simple gospel of God's grace. And then they started to meet in a simple fashion, just the way that we do here, gathering together on the Lord's day morning to remember the Lord, for the breaking of bread. And the simple gospel of God's grace being preached, how the people need to be born again, how that they need to be regenerated, my dear mother. When she was just a girl, seventeen years of age, she suffered severely for what she believed. I don't want to talk so much about myself tonight, but as far as I'm concerned, I never suffered anything for what I believed. I was brought up in it.
My father and mother were Christians before I was born, and I belonged to the third generation. Now there are certain tendencies on certain warnings given in the Word of God to the third generation. And I think that what we get here in Ephesus, we get here the second generation. Thirty years after the assembly had been formed, they had left their first love. And you generally find that there always is a tendency to deteriorate and to go down, down, down. And it's one thing that we need to be very careful about today. It's that early love that characterized those early believers should characterize you and me. I would not like to be among the third generation today that just grow right back against that my grandparents left.
You know, it's one thing. I feel so sorry about the day. As young people who grew up among us, who have never suffered anything for what they believe. They were brought up in a Christian home. They have learned these things, I suppose, at their mother's knees. But as far as suffering, anything far as it is concerned, they have never passed that way. And sometimes they are liable just to give it up as quickly. Now that is the warning that we get here. Get back to the first work. Get back to the first love. And this is the lesson that we find in this early apostolic church. Now what I want to speak about just for a little while tonight is the second one. And here is the second period of church history. We get it in Smyrna.
Now I believe that what we get here is a period of persecution in church history. And more particularly before our younger folks tonight, I want to give a little outline. of the history of persecution in the church. And I want to illustrate what I want to say from the words that are used here about Smyrna, the second church. I believe that Ephesus gives us an outline of apostolic Christianity. There was a period from about AD seventy through to three hundred and thirteen, about two hundred and fifty years when the church was very severely persecuted. And at that period I want to speak about tonight. Now, looking at the church itself here at Ephesus, there are one or two little things I want to point out just in passage.
And the first thing is that this word, Myrna, I believe is a very definite lesson in the meaning of the name. It means myr. Now, myr was always used, either as a cosmetic or else it was used for embalming the dead. It was one of those things that was used in the early years of church history. And right back in the Old Testament, it's always associated with death. And it's always associated with slavery. This is the meaning of the word Smyrna. And I think that gives a little indication of what was going on in the church at this time. It was a period of suffering. They tell me that myrna was a pain in rather a remarkable way.
It was a little shrub that grew in the desert. Now if you get myrrh, the shrub was pierced with some sharp instrument. And the sap that came from that little shrub, it had viewed it from the bark, just like tears from an eye, or like blood dripping from a vein. And then it hardened as it came out from the bark. That was the way it was obtained. The bark was pierced, and as it was pierced, and the light, or that sharp instrument was drawn, just like tears or blood from a vein. this mirror, this pure mirror that was used as frank incense, that was used in the Old Testament for embalming the dead or else as a perfume, this is the way it was obtained.
But when we think of it, it gives us a lovely picture here of what is going on in the church at Smyrna. By the way, the only one of these cities that are still in existence today is Smyrna. If you would take a map and look at the map of Turkey, you'll find that Smyrna still exists. it exists under a different name. There are about three hundred thousand people in the city today, and it's the only place in that part of the Middle East where you'll find a Christian church. It's still in existence today. And they say that there are quite a lot, about one-third of the population in Smyrna is still, still does profess the Christian faith. It's the only one of these seven churches that are still in existence, and where you'll find life, Christianity today.
You know, persecution, that never hurts anybody. Now this that we find here in Smyrna, it gives a little outline of the days of persecution in the church. Now notice the way the Lord Jesus is presented to them. On to the angel of the church in Smyrna writes, These things set the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. You know, these words must have been a tremendous comfort to these persecuted, suffering Christians at that time. He is the first and he is the last. He is absolutely superior and beyond time and circumstance. Before the persecution started, he was there. And after the persecution is over, he'll be still there.
There's a lovely little word in the epistle of the Hebrews that I often think about. And it's this. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Well, thank God, these three periods, he's there all the time. In the past, in the present, and in the future. It may seem rather ridiculous here in Durham and North Carolina to talk about persecution tonight, but as we go on tonight, I want to point out some things that have happened in my life. We spent nearly forty years over in Africa, and again and again we used to warn the Christians over there of what might happen. I never thought it would happen, but for many years we tried to warn them and we tried to prepare them.
I never agreed in those days, years ago, When we were speaking about these things of persecution to the people of God, I never dreamed that those dear saints ever would go the way that they have gone. It ever would have suffered what they have suffered. Before we're through tonight, I want to give you some details connected with it. And I want to say this, beloved friends, tonight. Sitting right here in Durham and North Carolina, there's no persecution on the horizon as far as we can see. There's nothing but peace and fire. And I believe we should be thankful and grateful to God for it. The liberties that we enjoy today here in North America, in this beloved country, I believe we should appreciate it. But mind you, life is not over yet.
And I believe, as it comes toward the end of the dispensation, I believe that just before the coming of the Lord, there will be a widespread wave of persecution right around the world. Now, let me say this. I do not believe that the church will go through the Great Tribulation. I don't believe that at all. I believe we'll be lifted out of it. But the day in which we live, there are large areas of the world's population are being persecuted. Some of them are in prison. Some of them have lost their lives. And while we may enjoy peace and quietness here in this very highly favored land, I don't know what will happen before the Lord will come. And I may be speaking to some here tonight that before you're through, you may have to pass this way.
And what I want to do tonight is to try to prepare you. I'm trying to show the principles that we find in the Word of God concerning suffering and persecution and how we'll be able to do through it and be faithful and loyal to Christ, no matter what the future holds. And so the Lord Jesus here, in presenting himself to the church of Smyrna, he said, I am the first and the last. Now to me that is the life. Absolutely above and beyond time and circumstances, he is the first and he also will be the last. And then the second term here connected with the person of Christ is he said, which was dead and is alive. What these saints were going to go through this period of persecution, he said, I was dead and now I am alive.
You know, it's a lovely thing to think, that the Lord Jesus himself has passed this way. He's not speaking about something that he doesn't know. He has experienced death. He looks right through to the bitter end. On that death, even the death of the cross, he has suffered. He knows what it is, and therefore he's able to sympathize. The only person who's able to sympathize, unable to give the help and succor that's needed is someone who has passed that way themselves. Anything else is mere talk. And I do want to say tonight, beloved friends, this is an awful lot of theorizing today. People giving out something that they've learned in the book or learned of a blackboard. That will never help anybody.
It may fill your head with knowledge. But the only way that one can learn anything is in the school of suffering. And when a man is passed that way himself, then he's able to pass it on and it can be a help and a blessing to those with whom he comes in contact. Now here's the Savior himself. He said, I was dead. I passed that way. I was dead. And now I'm alive. And here in resurrection par, he seeks these words of encouragement to his dear people. Now this is what he says. I know thy word. Tribulation. poverty, but thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy of they which say they are Jews and are not but do lie. But that are not but are the synagogue of Satan.
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, and ye shall be that you may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. These are marvelous words. I want you to notice the source of some of the persecution of these people who are going to pass through. Now, first of all, we'll read here about poverty. And then we'll read about prison. And then we'll read about tribulation. You know, again, sometimes in talking to people in this country about poverty, people who are poor, poverty-stricken, it may just seem absolute theorizing.
But you know, these dear saints, They had practically lost everything. Some years ago, I met a missionary coming out of Cuba. Say, does it happen today? It does. A brother well known, possibly that some who are here tonight, one of those honored servants of God that lived for a lifetime in Cuba, when he was leaving the country, the final indignity to which he was subjected was this. He had been in the Lord's service nearly forty years. And he had to leave his home. He had to leave everything behind. And as we were coming through the gate to get on the plane, when they were being expelled from the country, the final indignity was the officer said, You can't take your both rings.
Say to his wife, You can't take both rings with you. She was wearing an engagement ring, and she also had her wedding band. And just before she went on the plane, the final indignity was she was taken off the plane. and taken into the washroom. And her husband whispered to her, he said, give them your wedding band. Give them your wedding band. It hadn't been off her hand for over thirty-five years. And they had to take her into the washroom and use soap. And after a good deal of manipulation, they were able to take the wedding ring off. And they had to hand it over to an immigration officer before they left. They left the country with the clothes that they were standing up in, and that was the final indignity. I met them just a short time afterwards, days after they had left.
They had lost absolutely everything. Is it possible a day for people to be poor, as a result of persecution, to lose all the material wealth? Well, I believe it is. There are many of God's people, even the day, are suffering in that way. Two years ago, I was in Portugal. There's a brother over there called Viriatis Obra. I had the privilege of spending six weeks with him. in the ministry of the word. I felt it an honor and a privilege that he would invite me to go over there. I hadn't been in Portugal for forty-three years. I spent a year there in the study of the Portuguese language in nineteen twenty-three. And Brother Sobrow, he invited me to go back.
He had arranged six weeks of meetings for me. We had a meeting every night for six weeks and a conference every Sunday. And that dear man, in twenty-five years he has founded thirty-three assemblies. That's one of the finest pieces of work I've ever seen. Now, it's not superficial. That work is completely indigenous. It's autonomous. And these assemblies, they're over there going along very nicely today. And God is raising up gifts among them. But what I wanted to say was this. One evening, when I was at a meeting in the north of Portugal, there was a dear man there who had a grocery store. And of course... When the gospel came to the place, he had never heard the gospel in his life.
He was a Roman Catholic. He came to the meeting. And in a remarkable way, God came in and saved him. Now after he was saved, persecution going on all the time. And by the way, Brother Sobral has been in prison. He has been stalled. He has been knocked about and abused in a way that I can't describe tonight. But that dear fellow, as soon as he professed to be a Christian... The priest came around and advised the people not to go into his store. And inside of a month, a very prosperous little business that he had on that plan, it was practically right. Nobody came into the store. And at the end of two months, he had a sale up and get out. And he was going around trying to find work in the little town where he had been born, where everybody knew, but he couldn't find work.
He actually had to leave the country and go elsewhere before he was able to get a job where he could earn his living in an honorable way. Do you think it's possible for people to be poor? Poverty? Oh, we don't know much about it. God has been wonderfully kind to us on this land, but I know in many parts of the world today there's God's dear people. The first thing that they run into when persecution strikes is poverty. Now the next thing here is prison. Do you believe it's possible for a man to be put in prison on account of his faith in Christ? Or we could tell stories tonight about China behind the Iron Curtain. I could tell stories tonight about Russia. over there in that land.
We're not going to tell those stories tonight, but things that we know. In many parts of the world today, many of God's dear saints have been put in jail. Under suffering have been there for years. Now there's a man, possibly his name is well known to many of us here tonight, his name is Watchman Me. Now let me say in passing, I don't believe everything that Watchman Me teaches, but I do respect the man for the fact that he has been in jail for a long period of time on account of his faith in Mr. Christ. Whether he's alive at all or not today, we don't know. But he's a real sincere believer. And he has been behind prison bars over in that land for quite a long period of time. Before the communistic takeover in China, there were literally hundreds of little assemblies in Christian churches throughout the interior of China.
And as far as we know today, there's not a single one in existence, not one. And what is the reason? Persecution. Oh, here we find them in prison. And then we find another source of persecution here is what is called the synagogue of Satan. Now, what is that? Well, here were Jews. People who said they were Jews, and they weren't really Jews at all. They weren't real Jews. The synagogue of Satan here is a religious persecution that took place under which many of these dear saints were suffering. Now these are the three sources of suffering here at Smyrna. First of all, poverty. They had lost everything. And then secondly, prison. And then we find here tribulation.
They were going through severe, severe persecution on account of their faithfulness to Christ. But the exhortation is, these are faithful unto death. And I will give thee the crown of life. Now just a word or two about persecution, the overall picture concerning persecution. When we look at church history, there are three main periods of persecution. There's some things about it that I would like to avoid tonight. But any man who knows anything at all about what is going on in church history, he at least has to be faithful and give a faithful account of what has happened. And I believe if ever there was a day when these things need to be expanded just as clearly and bluntly and plainly as certain as the day in which we live.
For the first period of persecution, in church history we get it in the Acts of the Apostles, and it came from the Pharisees. You remember the first man who lost his life, who was the first martyr. The man who laid down his life first was Stephen. Or who was it who killed him? It was the representatives of religion. It was the religious persecution it came from the Pharisees. And that dear man, I believe, who is pictured for us in one of the parables of a messenger that was sent after the Lord, after he had been crucified and gone up to heaven, he finally sent his servant to them. He was the final messenger of God to the nation. And Stephen, he stands up like a man, and he expounded the word of God.
And when he faithfully told the people what they had done and crucifying the Messiah, they just couldn't take it. And they took him outside and they stoned him. The first persecution, it came from the Pharisees. From those people who were religionists. That is where it came from. And, beloved friends tonight, the very worst form of persecution right down through church history, it had been religious. You think about that for a moment. It hasn't been pagan. While you pagan persecution, it can be pretty terrible. But the very worst form, the cruelest form of persecution, it has always come from the standpoint of religion. It was the Pharisees. The ones who had crucified the Lord Jesus were the same people who stoned Stephen the dead.
Then you remember James. He was beheaded by the sword. Now the man who was responsible for that was Herod. that came from a political source. On his head was taken off. Do you remember what he had said just a little time previously? He and his brother John came to the Lord and said, we have a certain request of this. The Lord said, now what is it? Well, they said, we would like to sit one on the right hand and one on the left and my kingdom. I think the Lord must have felt a little bit sorry when he heard that. So this is what he said. He said, are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of? And they said, we are able. Now, I don't think at all that either John or James understood the implications of that.
Are you able to drink the cup that I shall drink on? What is the Lord speaking about? He was speaking of that cruel death that he was to die upon the cross. They said, we are able. And the Lord looking into the future, he said, you shall indeed drink of that cup. But it said, One to sit on the right and one to sit on the left is not mine to give. It shall be given to those for whom it is reserved of my father. But the Lord said, You shall drink of that cup. And here the second martyr, the second man to lay down his life. After only six months of Christian testimony, after Pentecost, James lost his life. But he wears the martyr's crown. Now we think of the Acts of the Apostles and these dear men who lost their lives.
Others who were persecuted. Peter was put in prison. The first persecution is apostolic, and we find it right at the commencement of church history. Now the second one was pagan. And again it would take a long time to speak about pagan persecution. Last night I mentioned the fact that some years ago I was in Rome. Now don't misunderstand me here. When I went over to Rome, I had the slightest inclination to go over to the Vatican and kiss the Pope's reign. I don't say that disrespectfully at all. But that was not my object at all. There were four things that I wanted to see in the Eternal City. It's one of the most remarkable cities in the world. And the first thing that I wanted to see over there was the Arena, the Colosseum.
The second place I wanted to go was the Catacomb. six hundred miles of underground passages that completely honeycomb in six different layers onto the city of Rome. I wanted to go to the catacombs. The third place that I headed for was the Mamertine Prison, the place where the Apostle of the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul, where he was confined. I didn't want to go and see the Mamertine Prison. And the fourth place I wanted to see was the place outside the walls on the Appian Way, where the Apostle Paul was beheaded. I believe the authentic spot. I was only there for two days, but those were the places I wanted to see and that was where I went. I never forget walking into the Coliseum with an Italian lady.
She was conducting a little party. She spoke English very nicely. And in conducting it into the building, she said, you know, this building, it was built. by the Jewish captives that were captured at the siege of Jerusalem in AD seventy and were brought over to Rome. It was the Jewish captives who actually built this place under Titus and Vespasian the Roman Emperor. And she said it held eighty thousand people in the stadium. It's one of the most remarkable and one of the best preserved buildings, edifices in the world today. A remarkable place. And as I walked into that building and actually saw the seat where the Roman Emperor sat while the games were going on in the arena, and for the Roman senators sitting with their targets and in their guns and in the ropes, and where the ordinary people sat on the seats there and looked at what was going on in the arena, it gave me a tremendous feeling of reverence and awe.
The lady said this to us, said, gentlemen, I would like you to remove your hats. said, I almost feel like saying, take off your shoes. Said, the very ground that you're standing on is saturated with human blood. She gave us some of the statistics of many who had lost their lives in those two and a half centuries between AD-seventy and three hundred and thirteen, hundreds of thousands of God's dear people lost their lives in that arena. She said, fifty feet below the surface of the arena, there was evidence of human blood that had been spilled there. The actual cages where the hungry lions were kept, they're still there. You can see them today. The places where they kept the lions.
And right in the center of the arena was the place where many, many men, women, and children, innocent people, they were cut down, not only by the gladiator, but also lost their lives onto the paw of the lions on all kinds of wild beasts. while the Roman Emperor was fiddling, and while Rome was burning, the Christians were accused of doing something that they were completely innocent of, made it over this cracked voice and playing a fiddle. And while he was singing, he ordered the city to be burned down. And while it was burning, to take any... Blame from himself, he blamed the Christians.
And as a result, many of them were taken to that arena and they lost their lives. Some of them were dressed in shirts, dipped in tar, and they were dressed in those shirts. And while the gladiators were fighting in the arena, and sometimes while the races were going on in the stadium, those dear saints, they set them alight. And at night time, they used them as human torches. while these sports and these brutal things were being carried on. Now that went on for a period of two hundred and fifty years. And as I stood in that arena and looked at that ground, I couldn't help but my mind would go back over those years when God's dear saints lost their lives.
And I couldn't help but think of these words, Give our faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. That is Smyrna. Now if I had been in the Colosseum, I went over to the catacomb. Here again I got a tremendous thrill. There are six hundred miles of underground passages underneath the city of Rome. There are little places there where they remember the Lord. The stone seats are still there, and the places where they sat in those early days of Christianity, and with the bread on the cup, remembered the Lord Jesus. When the church had gone underground, it gave me a tremendous thrill to go and sit on those seats and think of those early saints. We wandered down some of the passages. was a light of taper, and I saw some of the tomb.
Some of the inscriptions on them have left an indelible impression upon my mind. There was a girl eighteen years of age, and on her tomb, she was one of these early martyrs, and on her tomb, there was just simply her name, and her age, eighteen years of age, and below the name was just the one word, and the word was, Hili Sisi Mo. Now, any that understand Latin, or French or Portuguese or Spanish, you know the meaning of the word. The meaning of the word, the word for happy is sally. And the superlative word is salie, supremely happy. Could you imagine anything more beautiful put on a person's tomb, supremely happy?
And that was all that was on the tomb of that dear girl. She had given her life for Christ. And as I looked at it, her name, eighteen years of age. Seli Cicimo, supremely happy. I went down another passage and there was a tomb there of a child. And underneath her name were these words, recently illuminated. I thought that was delightful. Recently illuminated. Of course, written in the old Latin language, the old Roman language, it was the only inscription on the tomb. Now, if I happen to die, I'm not looking for death at all. I'm looking for one that's going to take me up to heaven with him, up to the Father's house.
I'm looking for the Lord's coming. But if I happen to die, I couldn't imagine anything more beautiful to put on my tomb than that. I couldn't imagine anything more significant, supremely happen. And then, recently illuminated, taken under the presence of the Lord. That was the face of the catacomb. These dear things, who passed that way, this was the faith that they had in their heart, and they were taken to be with the Lord. The third place I went to was the Marmortime Prison. We went on into that dark, dank dungeon. And as we looked at that place, I couldn't help but think of a man who sat there many centuries ago, and possibly, dear Dr. Luke. Remember what he said in the last letter that he wrote?
Only Luke is with me. Oh, I love that. Only Luke is with me. He must have been a delightful character. He's called the beloved physician. And there he sits by his side. Only Luke is with me. And he writes. And is this the Timothy? Come. Come quickly. come before winter. And when you come bring that old cloak that I left at Troas, you know, I'm cold here. I want something for my body. Bring the cloak. And the next thing he said, bring the manuscript and the books, the books and the parchment. He wanted something for his body because he was cold. And then he wanted something for his mind. He said, bring the books, bring the parchment. But the third thing he said is, Timothy, come.
Come quickly. Come before winter. I want you. He wanted something for his heart and for his mind, for his spirit. He wanted the companionship of that dear young man. And I thought as I sat and looked at that place, I almost thought I could hear the rattle of a chain. And I could see Dr. Luke sitting here on the apostle with a pen in his hand writing these words. Come, come quickly. Come before winter. And then he wrote these words. The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have kept the... I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth it is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
A short time afterward he was taken out sign, and I love to think of a little party going along the Athenian way. On the one hand, says dear Dr. Lewis. the beloved physician. And on the other hand, there's that young man, his companion of twenty-five years, the older man and the younger man. I love to think that Timothy was there. And there's a glockside the city wall that comes to a place on the Appian Way. And the command of the centurion is, the heart. And he goes upon his knees. There's a flash of a sword. And the little place called the Three Fonzons outside the city of Rome. And then... That word is completed. I am being poured out as a drink offering.
That is the word that he uses. And as a blood flow, God's dear servant lives on his life. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. For we thank God for these men. We only think of them today, it puts iron in her blood. Not only that, but it gives us that faith in one that is able to take us through every difficulty and tribulation and persecution here in this life. Those pagan persecutions. I have thought tonight of speaking through about the persecution of the Dark Middle Ages, but my time is about God. And we'll just leave that to some time later when we're speaking about Pius Hire. So the only thing I want to say is this. In closing, do you think that these days of persecution are finished?
They are not. I have spent nearly forty years in Africa. The last time I was over there, for I spent any time in Angola was in nineteen sixty-one. I never dreamed that those dear men that I had known for thirty-five years, men that I had led to the Lord, A man that we had taught the word of God, that were our dear friends and fellow workers in the gospel. I never thought I would never see them again. I went round and visited them. I had a little prayer meeting, read the word of God, read and prayed with them, and then I did and goodbye. I went on to the coast, got on board a freighter. We were thirty days on board. We came up to Luanda.
And while we were there, there was a massacre. We were in the harbor at the time on board a Belgian freighter. I'm not going to describe it. I don't think anybody would be able to take it here tonight if I described it in detail what happened. We don't believe in mixing in politics at all or expressing opinions about them. But for some dreadful things happened. I went ashore on the survivors, mail that I know. I had little meetings with them, and they told me some of the details of what had happened at that time. With a breaking heart, we came back and got on board the ship. And in thirty days, we arrived in New York City. Now, just a short time afterwards, some of the men that we had led to Christ over thirty years previously, they were accused, quite unjustly, of being mixed in a plot against certain officials that was completely untrue.
Those dear fellows at night, after they had a little conference, they stayed behind, and they were discussing some questions of discipline. and some evilly disposed minded person went through the officials and told that what they were doing was concocting a plant. They were doing nothing of the kind. They were speaking about questions of discipline in the assembly. They were taken up to the fort and there were questions. And if they didn't give the right answer, they were beaten with clout. There was one young man, I'm not going to mention his name. He helped me for years in translation work. A young man who spoke his languages. most intelligent man, and his ribs were beaten in with clubs. And when he could take nothing, he couldn't take it any longer, he and seven others were lined up on a pit.
All of them had been tortured to try to extract confession from them, and at the end, who was an officer with a revolver, went around, and each man got a bullet in the back of the neck, and he toppled into a pit so that they had dug for them, and that was the way they were executed. A wonder revolver shots were going on. And these men were being sent into eternity, sent into God's presence in that way. So the young boy, I have known him since he was born. His name was Zuzic. And as the revolver shots were ringing up, he stood up like a man and he started to sing. And the hymn that he sang and his beautiful song the language was, Be not dismayed what err besides, God will take care of you.
underneath his wings abide, the wings of his shelter abide, God will take care of you. It's translated into the Song of Languages, and he lifted his head and he started to sing those words. The officer that was responsible for the execution of the other man, he came over and he said, what are you shouting about? Oh, he said, I wasn't shouting. He said, I was just singing. He said, what were you singing? Well, I said, I was singing a hymn of praise to God. He said, what's it about? Well, he said, I've seen my friend being killed, and he said, I presume you're going to do the same with me. And I thought that the best thing to do was just to go into the presence of the Lord with a song of praise upon my lips. The officer was so surprised. He says, what's your name?
He said, my name is Zuzi. That word, it means Joseph. That was his name. He said, my name is Zuzi. Well, he says, you're a man anyway. And he pulled his wallet out of his pocket, and he wrote a little note to the local administrative officer. He said, send this fellow home. He said, at least it's a man. And Zuzi was the only survivor out of that little party that were taken up. The rest of them were executed, and he was the only survivor among them. And he's still there, over there today. Do you know that today in some parts of the country, I'm not here to talk about missionary work, and I'm certainly not here either to glean the details about what is going on. But I do want to say, beloved friend, that what these early saints went through, some of God's dear children, are passing through similar experience today.
It's something that's topical. It's something that's happening in the twentieth century in many parts of the world. And oh, what a joy. What a joy it is that when days of persecution overtake the people of God, there are those that can stand upon their feet and witness to the presence of the risen Christ. I am He that was dead and was alive again. I am the first and I am the last. He had the first word and thank God he will have the last one too. And the lesson of persecution is all we think. Wherever you find persecution, it doesn't do the work of God one little bit of harm. Not a scrap. Wherever you find persecution, that means that the light that burns brightly. There's absolutely no word here of condemnation to Smyrna.
It was all encouragement. It was all commendation from beginning to end. And the little word I want to leave with each one of us here tonight is, Jesus Christo, unto death. and I will give you the crown of life. May God help each one of us to be faithful and loyal to Christ right until the end, whether it be long or short, whether it be pleasant or otherwise, to be faithful to him and truth his word for his name, sir. A little word of prayer. Our God and Father, we draw now in the name of the Lord Jesus, and we thank thee for thy word and the encouragement we find in it. As we look back over the past, Our Father, we thank you for these dear saints that were loyal and faithful and true.