Revelation 2:8-11 And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things said the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;… I. A PERSONAL FAITHFULNESS. "Thou." 1. Individual attention to, and steadfastness in, our own particular work. The mode and circumstances of the testimony different. Philip's part different from Sephen's, Paul's from Peter's, and so forth. But individual faithfulness the common characteristic of all true witnesses. 2. Personal also in respect of the one object of faith. He served not merely "a cause," but the Lord, his own loved and adored Master in heaven. II. A PERMANENT FAITHFULNESS. The faith is persistent unto the end, through all sufferings, opposition, temptation, death itself. Not "fits and starts," but a steady, onward course (2 Timothy 4:7; 1 Corinthians 15:58). III. A PERFECTED FAITHFULNESS. The faithfulness is perfected at last, and this perfection is "the crown of life." (Bp. W. S. Smith.) Parallel Verses KJV: And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; |
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