Revelation after John's presentation and vision begins a sequence of seven letters to seven churches in Asia (today in Turkey). These letters are of vital importance to the churches not only of that time, but to the churches of all ages; The second letter was to the church of Smyrna
This city was the product of Greek colonization that took place approximately four centuries before Jesus. Therefore, it was a city that was profoundly Greek in its worldview and culture. This city was also one of the first cities to receive the title of “imperial neocrat,” that is, it received this title as authorization from Rome to transform that city into a place of worship for the emperor outside of Rome, Tiberius and later Hadrian.
Therefore, there was an extreme appeal of the inhabitants in adoration and worship of the Roman emperor; And the citizens made that confession that the emperor was the lord, he was the absolute despot, with implications that came from the political world to the spiritual one, that he was like a divinity;
And in this city, which was a true pantheon, as if the cult of the emperor were not enough, this city was the birthplace of Dionysus, whoever has studied a little about Greek mythology knows what that is. The myth of Dionysus, a “god” who was said to have died and then returned to life, settled in the collective unconscious of that community; and myth serves as an archetypal construction, that is, the collective of the community constructs myths even if they are unconscious of their own drives and desires;
And with that said and fixed, Jesus comes and dictates the letter to John and sends it to the church in Smyrna, and begins the letter by saying:
“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These things says the First and the Last, who was dead and came to life.”(Rev 2.8)
Jesus presents himself by deconstructing everything that the city knew as culture, behavior, consciousness and unconsciousness. In a place where the emperor is absolute, He truly presents himself as being the only absolute, that is, in a city where there was a strong appeal to the cult of the emperor, it relates to the power of the emperor.
And not only that, but it follows: “…who was dead and came to life again.” In a place where the emperor is absolute he says: “Look, the absolute is me.” Regarding this myth of Dionysus, I want to say one thing: “I am the one who was dead and came back to life; and this is not a myth, it is a fact.”
The emperor has gone, Dionysus dies. And everyone knows that death has no power over you, because I am the one who rose from the dead.
These statements were loaded with extraordinary strength because they dismantled and deconstructed myths.
We can all build “our myths”, everything that is relative and we make it absolute can be a “cult of the emperor”. The circumstances of life, even though we are affected by them, are in fact all relative; Life is relative, life is ambiguous, that is why we cry and smile at what affects us today, which may become an object of laughter tomorrow; The problem is that we say: “What affected me is absolute, what affected me is the end, what affected me is beyond repair…” Only in Him is the first and the last answer, because only He is the first and the last.
And for that reason alone, he is the only one who can say, according to the text below:
“I know your tribulation, your poverty, but you are rich…” (Rev 2.9)
I know, I know... Don't think you're alone, I'll come, I'll discern.
This is what this “I know” means. It is not just a knowing of someone who knows but does not intervene, His statement is a theistic statement, not a deistic one. Deism is the idea that God made, set up the machine, the system, and then left it, and the thing works on its own. No! God created, knows, and is present. He is not silent. And He intervenes. He says: “I know”, And when he says he knows he is saying: “I will act in favor; I am present.”
This text may be normal for us in this century, but for the time that deconstructed the entire consciousness of that city, it was like a bomb dropped in their midst. However, today we do not have pantheons like architectural constructions, nor do we worship our politicians, but we run many risks of living an extremely relative life, thinking that everything is absolute about us... But whoever has ears to hear, let him hear: Only Jesus is absolute, therefore he knows, discerns, decides and intervenes in your life.