The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 80

have done their all, and nothing is left more that they ®D. .dQ, and .tl~ey shall h~ve gone to their own place, I shall remain, an4. of my kingdom there s~l be no end. Therefore, remember, the eternal God is thy Refuge, and underneat~ thee are the ever- lasting arms." "Wr.ich was dead;" i.e. "I have entered into.all tlia.t can by Sllf possibility be before you. I, of my own will, went down into the pain and darkness of death; I know all about it, 0 my people,and know how you fe~l; for I was in all points tried like as you are. And I entered into death that I miglit be the better able to help you. And see, I live I Sin and hell dia their worst against me, but, behold, I am 'alive for evermore.'" When the apostle saw the vision of his Lord, and fell at his feet as dead, it was this same word, this same august Name of the Lord, ~hat lifted him up again. And it was t-0 do the same for the depressed and despollding Qburch at Smyrna. And next : 2. His knowledge, so P\lrfect and complete, .of t4eJQ. and all that concerned them. "I know thy works," he tells them, and then he goes on to give them details which showed the fulness of his knowledge. An.d that whi.Qh they could not but believe, for the proof of it was before their eyes, WO!J.ld help them to believe in bis knowledge when it affirmed what as yet was very far from being evident to them. He said to them, " Thou art rich." He, then, knew of trea1;1ure- store of good which they did not; of recompense of reward so vast that their present poverty should be all forgotten. And he knew that all the accusations of their enemies ~ere not true, as, perhaps, sometimes, in their. more misgiving moods, they had half feared some of them might be, and were in consequence staggered beneath them. :U.ut now he came and deQla.red them to be not true, but "blasphemies." They need trouble themselves, therefore, no more a.bout them. And he knew the. future as well as the present; what the devil, through his willing workmen, would do to them. He li;new it "'11; knew why he would do it-" that they might be tempted," not tried, but seduced, and made to deny their Lord. He saw through it all, and now told them of it to brace them more firmly for the struggle before them. And he knew that the struggle, though sharp, should as certainly be sh.ort. 1' Ten c4ys," he says, as we say., " A mere nine days' wonder;" by which we mean a merely passing, temporary, brief thing. So their trial should be so short that it should hardly have begun before it was ended. And should some of them be condemned to die, as they would be, let them.beJaithful iight up to that point, and death should prove to them the goal of, the ;race, where they si.wuld find their Lord, the Judge, waiting :with .the crown of victory in•his hand, reaching forth to bestow it upon them, , And this is how further the Lor,d cheers theJ,n, by- 3. The glorious prize he promises them, Thi,..t prize was life ; ,the crown was the life; the life etemal, blessed, holy, for ever .with the Lord., So /;hat ,the 1D-Ome»t.the. heJlds- man's axe, or the ~me of. fire, or the fangs of .fierce beasts,, put &IJ. e,nd to the poor ~roubled life they now had, that mom(lllt tl:je Lord shpuld give tbem, in place of it, ~his cromi of the eternal life. So that even death could only do them goQd, and as to ,he second death, most assuredly-such is the force of the Greek~that should do them 110 harm; that . which should be the overwhelming horror of .Christ's enemies sbould not even come nigh unto them, the. ovel"C!}ming ones, but life, eternal life, ,life with their Lord for ever, that should be theirs. Oh, is not all th.ir! ~ "sursum cords" radeed? And it is but the type of what the .aame. ever-rble~ Lord will .ever .do. Hence he says, " ;He that hath an ear, let him hear," . Well,, theJl, ~y tried anp.. tempted brother, mind that you hear. And you, godly.working Ill/ID in 11hop or f.actory, witlt a P;ultitude of mocking mates, who well-nigh. wear yCIUl' ijfe OJ1t.,with their ungodly ways I and· you, dear boys or girls at school, who h!lve, to l"llll; the gauntlet of ~neers t~et stab, and taunts thiµ; .to~ent your vpry soul ; ll-nd whoB90ver you Il)ay •be, child of God, that has to bear tribulation for Christ ;:-Y~U have.ears to hear; ,them do hear, for Christ meant this word for ,vu.~. O.