https://youtu.be/WXCEGvLnORM
Phil 1:29; For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also on behalf of Him to suffer,
Heb 9:27; NET And just as people are appointed once to die once and then to face judgment,
2Cor 4:1-18; Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart,
2 but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake.
6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;
8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12 So death works in us, but life in you.
13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed, therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore we also speak,
14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Psa 23:1-6; (NET) A psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He takes me to lush pastures, he leads me to refreshing water.
3 He restores my strength. He leads me down the right paths for the sake of his reputation.
4 Even when I must walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff reassure me.
5 You prepare a feast before me in plain sight of my enemies. You refresh my head with oil; my cup is completely full.
6 Surely your goodness and faithfulness will pursue me all my days, and I will live in the Lord's house for the rest of my life.
Heb 2:14-15; Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
In our study on Smyrna, the base of the pivot power for the first gentile client nation SPQR. We are in Rev 2:10; that starts with the mandate "not to fear what you are about to suffer"
Last time we noted the final phrase in Rev 2:10; starts out with the connective kai, translated "and." Followed by the future active indicative of the verb didomi, and it means "to give "and I will give."
The predictive future anticipates special blessing and reward at the judgment seat of Christ. The active voice: Jesus Christ as the prince ruler of the Church produces the action of the verb at the judgment seat of Christ.
Every believer receives their evaluation for what they did with logistical grace from the time of salvation to the time of their departure from this life via physical death or the exit resurrection.
Our Lord Jesus Christ from His omniscience does the evaluation. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of eternal blessing and reward above and beyond the possession of a resurrection body for believers who advance to maturity.
Free volition is the issue in the angelic conflict. From salvation you are free to advance to maturity and you are free to fail, so that there will be great inequality in the perfect environment of heaven. Perfect environment always represents the function of freedom and therefore inequality is healthy because it indicates the use of our own free will to succeed or fail.
The dative singular indirect object from the personal pronoun su closes out our exegetical study of this verse. It is translated "to you." The dative of indirect object indicates the mature believers whose advance in God's spiritual power system results in getting great eternal blessing and reward above and beyond the resurrection body.
This is also a dative of advantage. Then we have the accusative singular direct object from the noun stefanos, that can be translated either crown or wreath. When used in its athletic connotation from the Hellenistic culture of the Roman Empire it is a wreath, but when used in its military connotation it has to do with special Roman decorations.
With this we have the descriptive genitive of the noun zoe, translated life. The crown of life is given to the believer who advances to maturity through living in God's spiritual power system by learning and applying Bible doctrine.
The crown of life emphasizes the believer passing the suffering of momentum testing that creates the spiritual power necessary for the believer to advance in power system that God has created for the Christian life.
A complete expanded translation of Rev 2:10; "Do not fear what you are about to suffer: note that the devil is about to cast some of you into prison in order that you may be tested; and you will have special persecution ten times: keep on becoming faithful (residence and function in God's spiritual power system) until death, and I will give to you a crown of life (eternal reward for living inside the spiritual power system)."
The church in Smyrna survived over 1800 years from 50AD to 1922AD. It was completely removed from the region with the relocation of the Greek and Armenian Christians after the Armenian Holocaust better described as the Christian Holocaust that the Mohammedan Turks executed after world war 1.
In 1922 the Greek and Armenian Christian parts of the city were burned down and as many as 200,000 survivors were evacuated from the beach over several weeks and relocated to Greece. In 1923 all of the remaining Christians were relocated to Greece as part of the Treaty of Lausanne, that formally ended the Greco-Turkish War.
The region was taken over by the Muslims and the rebuilt city has been renamed Ismir. At this time there are about a half dozen church buildings in a city of about 2 million people. This is probably as good of an example of the 5th cycle of discipline that we can get in the Church Age.
The last phrase in Rev 2:10 is " I will give you the crown of life." This brings up the conveyance of eternal rewards at the evaluation of the believer aka the judgment seat of Christ so at this point we will take up a study of that evaluation with the doctrine of the judgment seat of Christ.