The Church at Smyrna - The Noahic Covenant

 Shema 

8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

Historical Prologue 

• This corresponds to conditions at the end of the Antediluvian Covenant & the beginning of the Aegis Covenant. 

9 “ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich)

• It was a time of tribulation & poverty (an age of toil & sorrow).  Nevertheless, not all was lost. 

• Toil & Sorrow, tribulation & poverty 
• Genesis 6:1 - 7 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 

Nevertheless you are rich 

• Genesis 6:8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

• He was the embodiment of faith, hope, & love in a savage land & time. 

the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

• This corresponds to the conditions on the earth described in 2 Peter 3 & in Jude. 

• 2 Peter 3:2 you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

• Jude 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

• These slanderers arise from both inside & outside the covenant community, claiming to be members in good standing, yet, over time, they do what is right in their own eyes so that every thought & intention of their hearts is only evil continually. 

General & Specific Stipulations 

10 Do not fear what you are about suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 

• This corresponds to God’s command to construct, build, & populate the ark. 

• Genesis 7:1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” 5 And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.

• Rev. 2:10 also corresponds to the LORD’s renewal & expansion of the Covenant of Grace.

• Genesis 9:8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Document Clause & Witnesses

11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

• This (rainbow) is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”