[ZNPaaneah]

This section Matthew 16-18 is the first mention of the church in the Bible, in the NT, and by the Lord Jesus. It gives us the key principles.

We saw a very direct correlation between where Matthew 18 ends and where the church in Ephesus leaves their first love.

Now with Smyrna we see a direct correlation between the reference to Satan in Matthew 16.

8 And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

These things saith the first and the last, who was dead, and lived again: 9 I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer: behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.

We have a "synagogue of Satan" -- that is the building where the Jews meet to worship and study the word. It is a two faced situation, they "say they are Jews" but they lie. And this lie is a blasphemy. It means they insult God and show contempt for God.

In addition to the continuation of Satan's attempt to create a false church we see the necessity of following the Lord to the cross, a second very strong correlation with Matthew 16.

So in this two faced blasphemous situation you have one group who says they are the chosen ones, and they have the best name for their building. The blasphemy is that they insult God, or the people of God. Also they show contempt for the work of Christ on the cross as our only foundation.

Based on the context I believe this is a common occurrence. In any city you will have the "poor" and "suffering" saints who are in fact rich, needing to be strengthened to endure the coming tribulation. You will also have the phony saints who give themselves great names that they are the chosen ones of God, yet they disrespect the Body of Christ, insulting God's redeemed, and they show contempt for the blood of Christ as our only foundation. The only thing they have is a great name for the building they meet in.

Just like the type of the tabernacle. the boundary is being faithful unto death, not the name of the building you meet in. The name of the building is a phony, blasphemous "boundary" of the church created by Satan in order to avoid the cross of Christ.