Ook die Christene in Smirna is gedurende die regering van Marcus Aurelius gruwelik vervolg. Baie is gegésel en met vuur gemartel en vir die wilde diere gegooi, maar hulle het getrou gebly tot in die dood. Hulle standvastigheid het die volk se woede nog meer gaande gemaak. Eindelik is die negentigjarige biskop, Polycarpus, as hul slagoffer uitgekies.
Saam met Ignatius het Polycarpus die voorreg gehad om ’n leerling van die apostel Johannes te wees. Wat hy daar geleer het, het hy vir meer as 70 jaar in sy gemeente verkondig. Toe hy verneem het dat die woedende volk sy hoof eis, het hy homself met liggaam en siel aan die genade van God oorgegee. Op dringende versoek van sy gemeente het hy die wyk geneem na ’n nabygeleë dorp, waar hy met vriende die tyd in gebed deurgebring het. Drie dae voor sy gevangeneming het hy ’n gesig gesien dat sy kussing verbrand. Hy het dit as ’n goddelike openbaring beskou, en aan sy vriende gesé: “Ek sal lewend verbrand word.”
The early church was hated by the society and government of the Roman Empire for various reasons, such as the refusal of Christians to sacrifice to the gods. The Empire went through many phases of demanding that the Christians sacrifice — which meant denying their faith — or be killed. The earliest attacks claimed the lives of many of the apostles.
This text is the story, from around 160 AD, of the martyrdom of Polycarp, the Bishop of the church in Smyrna, a city in Asia Minor (modern Izmir in Turkey) devoted to Roman worship. The account is in the form of a letter from eye-witnesses to other churches in the area. It is the earliest chronicle of a martyrdom outside the New Testament.
Polycarp was an old man, at least 86 (see part 10), and probably the last surviving person to have known an apostle, having been a disciple of St. John. This was one reason he was greatly revered as a teacher and church leader. One interesting feature of the letter is that the writer is very conscious of how Polycarp’s death followed the pattern of Christ’s. As you read it, look for parallels between this story and the Easter story in the gospels.
Smirna is tans Izmir. Dit was omrent 40 myl noord van Efese aan die weskus van Klein Asië.
Smirna beteken “Bitterheid”, want dit beteken “mirre” (Engels: “myrrh”). Die werkwoord is “marar” wat beteken “to be bitter or strong”. Mirre was ‘n spesery wat baie waardevol was. Dit was ook ‘n bestanddeel van die afgesonderde salfolie wat Moses moes maak (Ex. 30:22 – 25) en JaHUsha was wyn met mirre aangebied toe Hy gekruisig is (Mark. 15:23). Ook word lyke met mirre gebalsem (Joh. 19:39).
Mirre was dus altyd geassosieer met “bitter” omstandighede, iets wat die gemeente van Smirna goed mee bekend was. JaHUsha bemoedig hulle omdat hy ook gemartel en gedood was, maar die dood oorwin het.
The area of Old Smyrna near Bayrakl across the bay from the present Izmir was inhabited during the first half of the third millennium B.C.
About 600 B.C. Alyattes, the father of Croesus of Sardis, conquered and destroyed Smyrna. For nearly three hundred years, all through the classical Greek period, Smyrna remained a mere village or group of several small villages. Then it was awakened to glory and prosperity by Alexander the Great. The story goes that Alexander, soon after he came to the throne of Macedonia, defeated the Persians at Granicus about forty-five kilometers south of the Dardanelles. Pausing in Smyrna on his way to fresh victories at Sardis, Miletus, and Halicarnassus (Bodrum), he was out hunting on Mt. Pagus (KadifekaIesi) and slept near the sanctuary of the goddess Nemesis. She appeared to him in a dream and told him to move the people of Smyrna across the bay to the land below the hill which would make an excellent fortified citadel.
Open. 2:1 Skryf aan die engel van die gemeente in Éfese: Dít sê Hy wat die sewe sterre in sy regterhand hou, wat wandel tussen die sewe goue kandelaars: Open. 2:2 Ek ken jou werke en jou arbeid en jou lydsaamheid, en dat jy slegte mense nie kan verdra nie; en dat jy dié op die proef gestel het wat sê dat hulle apostels is en dit nie is nie, en hulle leuenaars bevind het; Open. 2:3 en dat jy verdra het en lydsaamheid besit, en ter wille van my Naam gearbei en nie moeg geword het nie. Open. 2:4 Maar Ek het teen jou dat jy jou eerste liefde verlaat het. Open. 2:5 Onthou dan waarvandaan jy uitgeval het, en bekeer jou en doen die eerste werke. Anders kom Ek gou na jou toe en sal jou kandelaar van sy plek verwyder as jy jou nie bekeer nie. Open. 2:6 Maar dit het jy, dat jy die werke van die Nikolaïete haat, wat Ek ook haat. Open. 2:7 Wie ‘n oor het, laat hom hoor wat die Gees aan die gemeentes sê. Aan hom wat oorwin, sal Ek gee om te eet van die boom van die lewe wat binne in die paradys van God is.
JaHUsha se woorde aan die gemeente in Efese spreek ook boekdele vir ons vandag. Elkeen van ons het ‘n oor, en daarom behoort ons, net soos die ander ses gemeentes, ook te luister na wat die Gees aan die gemeente te Efese gesê het. Luister gerus hoe JaHUsha ons almal so goed ken dat Hy tien dinge noem waarin Hy ons prys vir alles wat ons vir Hom doen. Maar daar was EEN ding wat Hy teen die gemeente van Efese gehad het, en ons wat ‘n oor het, moet hoor wat JaHUsha ook vir ons hierin sê …
Hierdie DVD is vervaardig deur Kerugma Produksies, ‘n geloofsonderneming wat daarna streef om die evangelie van Jesus Christus deur middel van hoë gehalte media produkte te versprei. Vir meer inligting besoek gerus http://www.kerugma.org
Neil Olwagen – Die Sewe Gemeentes van Openbaring 2 & 3 – Aan die Kerk van Jesus Christus in Efese
Efese is ‘n baie indrukwekkende argeologiese plek in Turkye. Dit is waarskynlik nie later nie as die tiende eeu v. C. deur die Grieke gekoloniseer en hulle het hulle eie godin, naamlik Artemis, saam met hulle na Efese gebring met die gevolg dat die godin Artemis en haar tempel vir meer as ‘n duisend jaar lank ‘n fokuspunt was in Efese.
Ephesus is probably the most impressive archeological site in Turkey. lt must have been colonized by the Greeks not later than the tenth century B.C. although Lydians and Carians occupied the site earlier. The Greeks brought their own goddess Artemis, with them to Ephesus. For over a thousand years this goddess with her temple provided a focal point for the rich religious, economic, and cultural life of her worshippers.
YaHUsha was charged with blasphemy when He acknowledged that He was the Son of Elohim.
John 10:36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of Elohim?
To understand why, we need to go back in time to understand more about the background of the era in which YaHUsha was sent as the Anointed of Elohim.
As the Son of Elohim, he was sent also as the Son of Man to confront the Roman Kingdom which was a Kingdom of men.
Matt. 26:63 But YaHUsha kept his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living Elohim, that thou tell us whether thou be the Anointed, the Son of Elohim.
Matt. 26:64 YaHUsha saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Matt. 26:65 Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard His blasphemy.
The Kingdom which YaHUsha came to announce as the Son of Elohim, was in DIRECT OPPOSITION to the Government of the day where the Emperor was worshipped as ‘the son of god’.
For more understanding about the history and setup of those times, watch this video of the Fig Tree Ministries …
There is not much doubt that the author of the Book of Revelation is the beloved apostle John, who was one of the first disciples of YaHUsha. The content and tone of his letters are partly responsible for him being called the Apostle of love.
However, in his gospel much more attention is paid to the controversies that YaHUsha had with the Pharisees, than in any of the other three gospels. John is the most hated evangelist in the eyes of the Jews, almost as hated as Paul.
In his letters he is the only one who directly uses the term “anti-messiah” for those who claimed that YaHUsha was not the Son of Elohim who appeared in the flesh with an earthly body (2 John 1:7 – 10).
John later went to live in Ephesus, was then banned to Patmos where he was in the Spirit on this specific day, YaHUaH’s day, when he received the Revelation of YaHUsha (Rev. 1:1 -2). He was banned because Christianity was not acceptable in a regime where the Emperor was to be worshipped as “god” together with heathen gods and goddesses.
In the past Christians were also persecuted by Nero, but it was limited to Rome for a very short time because Nero blamed the Christians for the great fire in the city. Tradition has it that it were the Jews behind the throne who put that story in the half-mad Nero’s head.
It is unlikely that John’s persecution was during Emperor Nero’s reign as he was on Patmos and the persecution under Nero only took place in Rome, while those under Domitian extended much wider. This persecution came from the people, in the sense that the Jews were the instigators at first.
This therefore places the most probable period for the emergence of the Book of Revelation in the reign of Emperor Domitian 81—96 A.D., as it must also be after 70 A.D.
John received specific messages to be delivered to the Seven Assemblies in Asia Minor. What follows is a quotation from: ‘Byblical sites in Turkey’ by Everett C. Blake & Anna G. Edmonds …
“The Seven Churches mentioned in The Revelation of John have long held a unique place among the sites to be visited in Asia Minor.
The places are well-known; all are close to lzmir and can be reached easily by public or private transportation. It is possible that the cities are named in the order of a regular circuit made by a messenger for the churches. Each is within a two or three day trip of the one before by horseback, given good travelling conditions; the longest stretch is the last leg between Laodicea and Ephesus. The seven could be visited in the order they are addressed without much retracing of one’s steps.
Three are still living cities: Smyrna (lzmir), Philadelphia (Alasehir), and Thyatira (Akhisar). Bergama is just to the side of Pergamum; Goncali is below the hills of Laodicea, and the village of Sartmustafa is close to Sardis.
Three, Ephesus, Thyatira, and Laodicea, are mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament. Of the seven, Ephesus gives the visitor today the fullest sense of a complex, bustling metropolis at the turn of the Christian area.
ln the Roman Empire at certain periods of the first century, all citizens were required to worship past and present emperors and also Roma, the female personification of Rome.
Since most of the earliest Christians had been Jews and since Jews were exempt from bowing to Roman gods, these first Christians were also exempt. But as Christianity spread among the Gentiles, most Christians by the end of that century were not Jews. The religion of Jesus by then had become separate from Judaism. As pressure on the followers of Jesus to worship the Roman gods increased, more and more Christians were unable to bear the persecution and so fell away from their faith.
Because of this the best evidence for the date of the writing of Revelation points to the last year or two of the reign of Domitian (81-96 A.D.) when persecution both in Rome and in the eastern provinces was not infrequent.
John, as the author of Revelation, seems to have written expecting that his work will be read aloud, not only in the seven churches he addressed but also throughout the area. He intended to be understood by the congregations as he also seems to have understood details in each of their backgrounds: the gleaming sun god of Thyatira, the famous ointment of Laodicea.
His purpose was to prevent the disintegration of Christianity by clarifying and sharpening the alternatives facing Christians then: the choices of worshipping Caesar or God.
He promised that, although the powers of evil are now in control of human affairs, God will intervene and overcome them to the glory of His name and the salvation of the faithful.
John wished to make Christian martyrdom surpassingly attractive and the eternal punishment of paganism or apostacism irrefutable.”
Christians were persecuted because there were now Two Kingdoms that collided with each other: The earthly Kingdoms of Human Dominions versus the Kingdom of Heaven which YaHUsha came to establish (Mark. 1:14 – 15).
Mark. 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, YaHUsha came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of Elohim,
Mark. 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of Elohim is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Though the Kingdom of Heaven started small at first, it was expanding and Satan as the Adversary of Elohim and His Kingdom tried to destroy what was happening. The collision of the Two Kingdoms was prophesied in Nebuchadnezzar‘s dream about the Image which was hit with the Stone from the Mountain (Dan. 2:36 – 49).
So John was sent to reprimand and encourage these new assemblies who were living cells of the Kingdom of Elohim. His letters to them serve as messages from Elohim to us in our time too.
To help us to understand the time in which the seven assemblies originated and what they experienced, we are attaching two videos to watch, the first one is of the Fig Tree Ministries and the last one is of Our Daily Bread.
Torah of Messiah / Messias se Torah 