This post is Day 12 in a series of studies about “Revelation 1-3”. I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.

Feel free to comment below with your own thoughts about each verse and how you will be acting on each thought. Also, if you haven’t yet signed up to receive the notifications of new studies, you can do that today. (The form is at the bottom of the page).

Revelation 1-3 – Day 12

In many places, believers are being persecuted daily because of their faith in Jesus. We pray for those who suffer and we praise God that He is with us through every form of suffering. But what is the 10 days given in these verses as the time of the suffering?

Revelation 2:10-11

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

The Thought

How would you feel today if God spoke to you and said to not fear whatever disaster was coming soon? That is enough to cause many of us to be seriously fearful! Is the thought of a victor’s crown sufficient to calm our fears?

In much of the world, believers are being persecuted daily because of their faith in Jesus. How hard that must be! We pray for those who suffer and we praise God that He is with us through every form of suffering.

But what is the 10 days given in these verses as the time of the suffering? Smyrna was in an area not too far from Ephesus. There were temples dedicated to 6 different pagan gods. So we can imagine that there was a lot of anger against those who were turning from worship of those gods and becoming followers of Christ. Many were imprisoned, but whether that was a literal 10 days or just a general statement, we do not know.

Action

Pray today for the suffering church, and for those like in Smyrna, are imprisoned, beaten, or lose their jobs because of their faith.

There are many organisations across the world who collect funds and encourage others to give and to pray for those places. Consider giving to them today.

Praise God for the missionaries He has inspired to travel to other countries to share His love.

For a full list of online studies available on this site, please click here.

If there is a subject you would like to see on this site, please use the comment section below or drop us an email (there’s a link at the very top of the page). We can’t promise to cover them all, and our studies are usually prepared a month or two in advance, so please be patient.

For a full list of physical resources available through this site, please click here.