Smyrna (Izmir)

The second of the seven churches to receive a letter from John. Smyrna was a prosperous commercial center in the Roman province of Asia. The city was located on the western coast of Asia Minor, about 35 miles north of Ephesus on the road between Ephesus and Pergamum. It was the natural port of an ancient trade route through the Hermus valley, which continued eastward through central Asia Minor. The river of the Hermus valley flowed into the Gulf of Smyrna.

The lands around Smyrna were fertile and productive. These factors combined to make Smyrna a major center of trade by sea and by land.

The city won favor with Rome as a faithful ally even before the Roman Empire. Cicero called it “the most faithful of our allies.” Smyrna sided with the Republic in the conflict between Rome and Seleucia in 195 B.C., and in the war between Rome and Mithridates (88 B.C.). Thus, the emperors of Rome protected Smyrna and contributed heavily to its development.

Throughout the empire Smyrna was known for its beauty and for the magnificence of its public buildings. Strabo called it the “most beautiful of all” the cities along the coast. Its roads were paved and at right angles, although they lacked underground drainage (Strabo, 14.1.37). The city had a theater that seated about 20,000 people, a gymnasium, a stadium, a library, and many other public buildings. Smyrna was a center of learning and claimed to be the birthplace of Homer.23 Its population in the days of Paul is estimated at about 100,000.

The bishop of Smyrna, Polycarp, was martyred in A.D. 155 after serving Christ 86 years. He was burned alive, confessing he was a Christian and refusing to renounce his faith. “Smyrna was the last stronghold of Christianity in Asia Minor, and even now is called by the Turks ‘Infidel Smyrna’”. Extensive excavations of Smyrna have not been possible, mostly because the modern city covers the ancient.

Smyrna (Bible Study)

Rev. 1:11. Smyrna was one of the seven churches of Asia to receive a letter from John the Revelator.
Rev. 2:8-11. “The church in Smyrna is about to suffer persecution. Let her endure it boldly, for it cannot hurt her true life”
Acts 19:10. The gospel probably reached Smyrna in the days of Paul’s third missionary journey, when Ephesus was the base of his activities.
Rev. 2:9. Smyrna was an active commercial center, although the church was poor. It was opposed by Jews who were Jews in name only. “By their enmity to God’s will and word, these men, Jews by race, had forfeited their position of privilege, and had become as bad as Gentiles. It is implied that it is the Christian church in Smyrna which has succeeded to the privilege”
Rev. 2:10-11. The Church would be persecuted, and prison was to be the lot of some of its members. The Christians who remained faithful would receive the “crown of life.” In a city renowned for its prosperity, the church was told: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who conquers shall not be hurt by the second death.” These were “the words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.”

Revelation 2:8-11
8: And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
9: I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
10: Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
11: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.