Prophecy
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The Angel In Smyrna
Again, starting with the letter!
-- Click To Expand/Collapse Bible Verses -- Rev ch2v8-11
Rev 2:8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
Rev 2:9 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.
Rev 2:10 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.
Rev 2:11 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.
(KJV)
Christ once again acknowledges the trial and tribulation under which the angel is to be placed in his circuit; the word is of encouragement that Christ, though surely holy also underwent great tribulation, died and rose again.
The works to come, difficult to bear, are not without riches; for the angel, as a-priori saved is present in the heavenlies with every reward given Him for completing the circuit whole; his is a rich inheritance indeed. What the angel lacks of his inheritance and the breach between the certain knowledge of his God's deliverance, is ready and waiting for him, as the angel's candlestick is now certainly in "his place".
Christ knows the very hardest insult(s) of Satan, and that the angel is yet to encounter it - and also where "Satan has his seat" (the scarlet beast). The angel's fellowship will later become that of the "synagogue of Satan". The angel is not to fear this at all - he will not be hurt of that second death, i.e. the beast with its mark. (Cf. Rev 2:11.)
The devil, casting "some" of the least into prison; removes from the least that inheritance which he has in the heavenlies to result in the least being made to build his "pillar" in the temple of God instead.
Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
(KJV)
The angel will have to accrue broken closures rather than ever retain a full victory. He will instead rely on modal collapse in his circuit (see the book "Seven Eyes Open" (Fourth Edition)). This modal collapse only occurs for the very least, thereby proving and trying him.
That "prison", then, to the angel is that same poverty in the kingdom of God, but he is a-priori rich! I expect "ten times" trial is made on false doctrines in the scarlet beast's image system; doctrines that will prevent him from overcoming and being loosed from that spiritual "captivity". Those ten times are also the "ten kings" in the image system, i.e. pastors teaching false doctrine. The least will overcome with distaste for the doctrine of Nicolaitanes, as Christ so encouraged him in the letter to him (as with the candlestick) in Ephesus.
Yet when the beast and its image is entirely overcome, the angel's life and circuit become a crown (the marriage of the lamb) a proof written, in effect, in creation itself.
It would appear the "synagogue of Satan" cause the least some suffering, blaspheming or "slander".
Again, the winepress may be trod, as even the least of all (of saint and sinner alike), must overcome the scarlet beast system with its image. Having the image system's mark will become a sentence of a "second death". Simple non-attendance as leaving through the "open door" and maintaining some personal faith is required. The least is surely blameless and has not contributed to setting up the image. There will be no grounds for accusation; the angel is to "fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer".
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