Covering the Truth

John’s second letter goes to the angel of the church of Smyrna, which also sat in modern-day Turkey. The city that it’s named after was a center for Emperor worship, which created immense pressure on its Christian congregation, who refused to worship the Roman Emperor. Many of its members were martyred. The name Smyrna is derived from the word myrrh, which was a fragrance often used in burials.

Jesus had this to say about them:

8 “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.

“Titles, titles, titles, you know the damn words.”

9 I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich!

Come on, beautiful. Why are you so shy? You’re gorgeous! The only thing Jesus seems to have against this church is, that they don’t know what they have. Their perception of themselves is wonky. They do not know the depth of his love for them. We are all similarly blinded, at times. Perhaps a poem will help us find the proper perspective?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day’s most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use in my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnet 43.

If 42 is the answer to life, the universe, and everything, then Sonnet 43 describes the depth of love we should feel for it – all of it. Some people would have us hate the world. They say Heaven is better, but Heaven is inside us, and we are in the world. Plus, we should remember that “God so loved the world.”

For many of us, John 3:16 is our favorite passage, it’s just that we put too much focus on the second part of it, and not enough on the rest. Yes, God sent His only begotten son, but let’s not forget that we are the world he was sent for. God sent him, because He loves us. The world is His creation. He does not hate His creations. He loves them. They are His children.

Some of us want to gatekeep, because John 3:16 also says, “that whosever believeth in him shall not perish, but have ever lasting life.” We think nonbelievers will be kept out of Heaven. In a way, that’s true. Heaven is here, inside us. If we turn our backs on the love of our lives, then we will not be in Heaven, enjoying that lovely dinner for two. We’ll get the silent treatment, but it will be self-inflicted. It is always us who turns away. God is in the world, all around us. He is omnipresent, which means he’s even in Hell, or jail, sitting right beside us.

For the more prideful of us, that means we have the only seat at the table, or that seating is limited to just the people we think are worthy. The truth is, if we didn’t think that Jesus was superior to us, if we actually took a long hard look at his criminal record, we might not even think he was worthy.

And similarly, if we could see ourselves the way others see us, we probably wouldn’t understand why we are on the guest list, either.

Some of us think we’re poor, because we know we’re not worthy. Others of us think we’re poor because we haven’t had our moment, yet. This love letter to the Church of Smyrna is reminding us that our perspective is off. The whole world is worthy of God’s love, simply because He’s giving it to us. It isn’t something we need to earn. He loves us in ways that even Elizabeth Barrett Browning couldn’t imagine. In His eyes, we are more than suitable for His son. We were made for him, and he for us.

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

Satan is called the Father of Lies. It took a few epiphanies for me to realize exactly what that means. There is a Jewish myth that says that Lucifer hid the more terrifying parts of God, so that the rest of the Heavenly Host could move a little closer to Him. You see, according to that myth, there is a place in Heaven where the body of God sits. The angels, being immortal and requiring neither food nor drink, have nothing better to do all day, but hang around that awesome Presence, soaking up Its glory.

But the truth of God’s power is… unnerving. The angels will only go as close as they think they can, safely. Lucifer, being the brightest of them, sees God more clearly than the rest. He loves God. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. He loves Him so much, that he wants to be just like Him. He wants to be God. Is that such a bad thing? I think not.

But it’s not just God that Lucifer loves. He loves the Heavenly Host, as well. He loves them so much, that he doesn’t want them to be afraid. So, he covers the scarier bits of God, with his own body. He hides parts of God. That is why he is called the Father of Lies. He does not tell the truth about the Almighty.

In truth, I think Father of Lies is a misnomer. He should be called the Father of Omissions, because he does not lie about God, he just omits certain parts. I suppose he is lying, simply because he thinks he can be God. In that way, the Father of lies fits him. He is lying to himself, just like we often lie to ourselves, when we puff ourselves up, or cast ourselves down. We can’t be God, either, at least not by ourselves. See, we’re marrying into the family. Our intended is a part of God, and he’s inviting us to join him. Since marriage unites two people into one, it makes sense that if he is God, we will also be God. Don’t worry, Lucifer will be there, too. God loves all of His creations. They are all a part of Him, just as children are a part of their parents, and Lucifer is a child of God.

It needs to be noted that Revelation is a path. The things we believe at its beginning, are not the same as those we believe at the end. We change, because over time, it changes us. As more and more is revealed to us, our perceptions and beliefs transform. At this stage in the game, many of us don’t feel like we’re a part of God. As we walk further, that should change. We are only a fiancé, until we are a bride. We are all strangers at the table, until we’re part of the family.

Recall that I told you that Jews, in the book of Revelation, refer to people who carry a certain trait. They are ritualistic. They love formulas. Perhaps you love formulas, too? I do. The congregants of the Church of Smyrna love rituals, as much as the next guy, only some of their guys are lying, like Lucifer. They’re lying to themselves, and their fellow church members. They’re going through the motions, but they don’t really mean it, or understand it. They are fakers. Don’t judge them too harshly. We are all fakers, at times. Don’t forget to love them, or you might find yourself kicked out of Smyrna, right back to Ephesus. We’re making headway, on our revelation journey. Let’s not take a step back.

The Synagogue of Satan are those who pretend to be Jews, but are not. Let’s examine that. First off, we’re Christians. Why would we care if people were pretending to be Jews? We’re not Jews. As far as we’re concerned, Jews ignored the message. All the best Jews became Christians. Right? Only the dumb ones stayed behind in the Old Testament.

The thing is, Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian. He didn’t intend to start a new religion, as far as we can tell. He even said he wasn’t here for the Gentiles, just for the Jews. Does that mean we all need to become Jews? Some of the Disciples thought so. They argued about it. They convened a meeting to discuss it, where they argued about it face to face. It was Peter, speaking in the Spirit, who finally settled the matter. He said that even those of them who were raised as Jews, weren’t very good Jews, so why would they expect Gentiles, who knew nothing about being a Jew, to be good Jews? He brought himself, and the others, down to earth. He held up a mirror and said, “We’re not as pretty as we think we are, so why are we judging everyone else by standards we can’t meet?” I’m paraphrasing, of course, but that’s the essence of the Synagogue of Satan, and those who pretend to be Jews, but are not. I think we’ve all found ourselves under that roof, at times.

Any one of us could be called a member of the Synagogue of Satan, if we go to church, and follow all the rituals, and sing all the hymns, and try to convince others that we are just as pious as they are, if not more so. Inside, however, we know the truth. We can hold up our doubts, and let God explain our desire to be seen as ‘Holier than thou’. Chances are, it’s just one of our vanities tripping us up.

To be a good spouse, we need to know that our spouse is not us, and we are not him. We also need to recognize that our foot is not our mouth, and it doesn’t belong in it, either. Let’s try not to trip ourselves up with our pride, for it is our pride that makes us believe we are one thing, when we are obviously another.

We should do our best to love God with all our hearts, and love our neighbor as ourselves, because we’re all in this together. It’s not going to be easy, for any of us.

10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days.

I’ll confess, I don’t understand some of the numbers in Revelation. They made sense to John, I think, but not me. I’m still waiting for the epiphanies that will help me puzzle them out. I do know that being jailed by the devil does not mean the County Sheriff is going to beat down your door and take you into custody.

As I said before, devils love to try us, and love being tried by us. With that in mind, we can see that in this case, the devil who tries us will find us guilty of not being what we say we are. We are identity thieves. When we get to the Church of Philadelphia, you’ll see just whose identity we’re stealing. For now, there is something we can do that will help us bide our time in jail.

Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.

We need to hold what we have. The devil is telling us that we’re not worthy, that we’re too ugly, and that we’re no proper match for the Son of God. He says we’re a pretender to the throne. We know better, because we’ve been assured that we are all of those things, and more. We are wanted. We are loved. We are cherished, not in spite of our scars, but because of them.

Our Spouse is coming for us, and he’s got an abundance of treasure to bail us out with. He’s bringing the family jewels that prove we are his princess. He’ll demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are every bit as perfect as he is. He will show us, and that judge, that our life has incredible value, even the moments we thought were wasted and worthless. That’s the crown he’s bringing us, our life. Every moment of it made us who we are.

11 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.

Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will never hurt us. Accuse us all you want, we know who we are. We lived our lives, you didn’t. We were invited to the dance, not you. You can look down on us, but we know we’re special in someone’s eyes. We won’t suffer a death sentence, because we were already dead once, and Double Jeopardy prevents us from being tried for the same crime twice. Now we’re alive, and the life we have is a precious thing. If not for the wrong roads we wandered down, would we have ever met the man of our dreams?

Words, accusations, scare us, only because we do not accept what they imply about us. The congregants of the Synagogue of Satan don’t want to admit that they are criminals. They don’t want to believe that Jesus was a criminal, or that God could make them suffer to teach them a lesson, but two things are better than one. Two lives are a better gift than one, no matter how perfect the one might seem.

To fall down, then get back up is a two-fold gift, whether you pull yourself up, or someone picks you up. You can learn something about yourself, either way. How can you know up, if there is no down? Life is all about perspective. Its value lies in how you perceive it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you’re going through Hell, keep on going. Eventually the scenery will change.

Have you ever sat in a pew and listened to a reformed drug addict talk about how bad their life was, and how much better it is, now that they’re saved? They are wearing their life like a Victor’s Crown. They overcame, but not without help. Monarchs don’t place crowns on their own heads. The thing is, that addict is still a criminal. There can be no pardon, unless first there is a crime. We need to remember that we are a team. We’re just Bonnie, waiting for Clyde. Our Spouse will not turn his back on us, or let us rot in jail. He knows that our debt to society has already been paid. He’s bringing the receipts.

Jesus died to save all mankind. He was a man, and therefore counted as a member of mankind. He didn’t just die for the crime of blasphemy, either. If you take a close look at his life, you’ll see that he was guilty of all the vanities that plague the rest of us. He brought himself down to earth, so that he could show us the way to Heaven. If you’re not ready to accept that he was a criminal, or if you think that idea is wrong, it’s okay. Hold what you have. The rest of us aren’t behind you, or in front of you. We’re all in the mud, together. We are all blind and dirty and waiting for relief. It’s all good. The flood waters are coming for us all. You’re not playing catchup, or winning the race. We’re all learning at our own pace.