We cannot build a house if we do not have a foundation on which to build it. Nor can we gain an understanding of the Revelation of YaHUsha to John unless we have determined its foundation.
What is then the foundation on which we must build to gain an understanding of the Mark of the Beast, because we cannot just start to lay bricks before a good foundation is laid and then say that because “we are limited in what we may and may not do” then links it to “cannot buy or sell” and then decides that something like an injection is now the Mark of the Beast. Such an assumption is not built on any foundation, and the history of the time in which it was written is therefore also not been taken into account.
In A.D. 92, according to tradition, Antipas of Pergamum, a personal disciple of the Apostle John, was roasted to death in a brazen or copper bull during the persecutions of Emperor Domitian.
YaHUsha called Antipas “My faithful witness” in Rev. 2:13. The word “martyr” comes originally from the ancient Greek where it is a legal term for a “witness”, as for someone who would give a testimony in a court of law.
The governor ordered Antipas to offer a sacrifice of wine and incense to a statue of the Roman emperor and declare that the emperor was “lord and god.”
But Antipas refused and if one would reject the divinity of the emperor, then that is the equivalent of rejecting the city of Rome and believers were killed for this. Antipas was thus sentenced to death on the Altar of Zeus.
JaHUsha se woorde aan die gemeente in Smirna spreek ook duidelik tot ons vandag.
Elke brief aan die gemeentes in Openbaring, asook die een aan Smirna, eindig met die woorde: “Wie ‘n oor het, laat hom hoor wat die Gees aan die gemeentes sê.”
Luister gerus na wat JaHUsha aan die gemeente in Smirna gesê het, asook vir ons as Sy gemeente vandag, sodat ons kan oorwin en die kosbare beloftes van ons Meester JaHUsha Messias kan ontvang.
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
The letter to Smyrna was probably written about 60 years before Polycarp’s martyrdom. Poverty, slanders and suffering were the common fate of the followers of YaHUsha in all seven of the Assemblies, and Smyrna was no exception, but it was written to them to be not afraid of suffering for it was promised that it would not last long: “Only be faithful till death, and I will give you the crown of life …. He who is victorious cannot be harmed by the second death” Rev. 2:10 – 11.
These videos of both Our Daily Bread and the Fig Tree Ministries, explain more about the historical and biblical background of Smyrna.
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.
Torah of Messiah / Messias se Torah 