Cruel joke from Jesus? Hypocrisy? Or Grace?

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Tart
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Cruel joke from Jesus? Hypocrisy? Or Grace?

Post #1

Post by Tart »

The letter To the Church in Smyrna in Revelations 2

It says
To the Church in Smyrna
8 “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9 I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 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.

11 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.
Was this really a curse from Jesus, calling this man rich while he believed he was poor? First time i read it, i read it as a complement... But now, this may very well be words from Jesus as a wrong, calling this guy rich... What is this poor man to do? Is he a hypocrite for thinking he is poor? Why put an exclamation on it? How depressing for this guy...

Makes you wonder?

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Post #2

Post by Overcomer »

He's saying that they may be physically poor and afflicted, but they are rich spiritually since they have Jesus. So he was indeed saying something good about the church at Smyrna.

https://www.gotquestions.org/church-in-Smyrna.html

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