The Final Decade Before The End by Ed. Stevens

Page 108

107 Paul left the area [after AD 57-58]. Smyrna was a major city in Asia, and it would be hard to believe that no converts were made there until decades later, even though “almost all the other cities in Asia” had churches planted among them at this time. Polycarp does imply that there was no church in Smyrna at the time Paul was boasting about the generosity of the Philippians (in AD 57-58). Polycarp said, “we knew [God] not as yet.” That certainly seems to mean that the church had not yet been established in Smyrna at the time Paul boasted about the Philippians. Polycarp says the Smyrneans did not know God yet at that time (AD 57-58). If Polycarp can be trusted here, it means that the church in Smyrna could not have been established during the three years while Paul was in Ephesus on his third journey (AD 54-57), nor while Paul was boasting about the Philippians to the Corinthians and Romans (AD 57-58). But it does not rule out the possibility of the Smyrna church being established shortly afterwards (mid-tolate 58). One of Paul’s fellow workers could have gone to Smyrna and established the church there anytime after Paul finished his third journey and headed to Jerusalem (mid-58 AD). Even if the church in Smyrna was not established until late 58, it still allows almost four years of church development time before John wrote the Apocalypse (in late 62). That is plenty of time for the church to be planted there and be suffering “tribulation, poverty, and blasphemy” by the time Revelation was written (Rev. 2:9). Below we have included an article from Don Preston’s excellent book entitled, Who Is This Babylon? Don deals with this same issue about the founding date of the church in Smyrna. He does an excellent job of refuting the arguments of the futurist Mark Hitchcock. There are several other indications in these letters to the seven churches (Rev. 2-3) that the Apocalypse was written at a time before the Neronic persecution and before the destruction of Jerusalem when the Jews had the freedom and opportunity to persecute the Christians: (“synagogue of Satan”, “come and bow down before you”, “tribulation ten days”, “great tribulation” about to come, etc.). We need to be more familiar with these two chapters of Revelation (chapters 2 and 3), in order to determine whether it fits better in a before-70 timeframe, or in an after-70 timeframe. In Rev 2-3 we can see what things were like for those seven churches of Asia just before the Neronic persecution struck in AD 64. We will also look more closely at all seven churches, trying to discover what happened to them during the Neronic persecution and afterwards.

Don Preston’s Article. “Revelation 2:9 Smyrna: Did It Exist at an Early Date?” Found in the book: Who Is This Babylon? (pp. 12-13) One of the seemingly strongest objections to an early date of Revelation is the claim that the church at Smyrna did not even exist during Paul’s ministry, i.e., during the early 60’s. Hitchcock cites Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, that “the Smyrneans did not know the Lord during the time Paul was ministering.” [Mark Hitchcock, “The Stake in the Heart: the AD 95 Date of Revelation,” chapter 6 in Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice’s book: The End Times Controversy, Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 2003. p. 147] Now this sounds impressive. However, what does the Bible have to say? Acts 19:10 recounts Paul’s ministry in Corinth, where he ministered for two years. Luke says, “all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” There are two things to consider here. First, it is well known that Paul always emphasized evangelism in the major metropolitan centers. His philosophy seemed to be that if the gospel was planted in these major centers, that it would naturally spread to the outlying regions. It should go without saying that Smyrna was a major city in Asia, and would have been the focus of this kind of directed, if not personal, evangelism. Second, the emphatic declaration that “all of Asia” had heard the gospel cannot be discounted, nor can one argue from silence, saying that since Smyrna is not mentioned that it is not included.


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Articles inside

They were not expecting to be left behind not even knowing it happened

14min
pages 271-274

BIBLIOGRAPHY

5min
pages 281-284

Aug 66 – Cessation of Sacrifices for the Romans and all Gentiles

7min
pages 263-264

Aug 66 – Josephus returned from Rome

4min
page 261

Apr 66 – Abomination of Desolation (“Jerusalem encompassed by armies”

8min
pages 247-248

Questions About Pella and the Rapture

3min
page 249

Pentecost and Wheat Harvest Typology

3min
page 256

Neronic persecution was the great tribulation (upon the church

3min
page 251

What Did the Priests Experience?

3min
page 257

Apr 66 – Eleazar, the Man of Lawlessness?

3min
page 246

June 66 – Pentecost - Priests in the Temple heard a multitude of voices

3min
page 255

Apr 66 – Lawlessness Was Increased. (Eleazear’s Lawless Actions

3min
page 245

Apr 66 - This was an attempt to bring idolatrous coinage into the temple

3min
page 244

This attempt to get control of the temple

4min
page 243

Who were those supposed ‘Christians’ in Pella

3min
page 232

Text of the Historical Fulfillments Referenced by Numbers Above

47min
pages 215-228

Matthew 24 Fulfillment Documented (Chart with Reference

14min
pages 207-214

What Did Jesus Promise, What Did They Expect (Chart

4min
pages 204-205

HOW were “these things” fulfilled?

8min
pages 201-203

Explaination of the Chronological Charts Above

6min
pages 199-200

Chronological Arrangement Of The Olivet Discourse

4min
pages 191-198

the Rescue, and the Wrath-Outpouring

2min
page 190

Late 64 – How widespread was the Neronic persecution?

7min
pages 180-181

How the Tribulation Fits into the Olivet Discourse

3min
page 189

Late 64 – Matthias b. Theophilus was appointed High Priest

3min
page 183

The Neronic Persecution and the Great Tribulation (AD 64

3min
page 185

Aug 64 – Was Josephus involved in the plot to kill Christians?

7min
pages 178-179

AD 64 – Correspondence between Paul and Seneca

3min
page 177

Aug 64 – Nero began the Persecution of Christians

6min
pages 175-176

The few remaining went into hiding until the rapture

3min
page 173

June 64 – The Literary Efforts of the Apostles Ceased

3min
page 172

Late 64 – Peter’s Martyrdom in Jerusalem just before the Neronic Persecution

4min
page 169

Comments on Jude and Second Peter

7min
pages 165-166

June 64 – 2 Peter was probably written about the same time as Jude

3min
page 168

Some excellent online resources for Jude and 2 Peter

3min
page 163

Sep 63 – 2 Timothy Written After Paul Was Arrested

7min
pages 156-157

July 63 – Jesus b. Gamaliel was appointed High Priest

3min
page 154

Internal Evidence of 1 Peter for its Date

11min
pages 150-152

Mar 63 – Did Paul visit Jerusalem after his release

3min
page 144

Who was the Courier for Hebrews? (AD 63

3min
page 140

Early Date of Hebrews (AD 62-63

7min
pages 136-137

Why Was Hebrews Written?

7min
pages 138-139

To Whom Was Hebrews Written?

3min
page 135

More Information about Clopas, Symeon, Joseph and Mary

7min
pages 123-124

July 62 – Simeon b. Clopas was appointed Bishop In Place Of James

24min
pages 116-122

Early 63 – Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians Was Written

11min
pages 131-133

2. No Church in Smyrna Before AD 70?

3min
page 103

Don Preston’s Article. “Revelation 2:9 Smyrna: Did It Exist at an Early Date?”

3min
page 108

What Happened to the Seven Churches of Asia?

3min
page 109

The Meaning of Polycarp’s Statement

14min
pages 104-107

1. Laodicea’s Quick Recovery From the Earthquake

6min
pages 101-102

Luke-Acts Written in Rome (AD 61-62

3min
page 75

Two Possible Preterist Solutions

14min
pages 92-95

Apr 62 – Ananus II arrested James and some of his companions

26min
pages 82-88

Here is the story of Jude’s grandsons in Eusebius

3min
page 90

The Identity of Theophilus

7min
pages 77-78

1 John – Two possible dates

4min
page 73

Overview of the Sequence and Dates for John’s Writings

7min
pages 66-67

The Earliest and Best Tradition about John: (external evidence

2min
page 65

AD 61-63 – Paul’s first Roman imprisonment continued for “two full years”

3min
page 61

AD 60 – Earthquake in Laodicea and the Lycus valley

4min
page 57

June 58 – More than forty Jews plotted to kill Paul

7min
pages 50-51

June 58 – Paul arrived in Jerusalem and met with James

7min
pages 46-47

AD 54 – Wars and Rumors

3min
page 40

AD 51-53 – Production of the NT canon was definitely underway

3min
page 38

AD 58-60 – What Kind of Resurrection was Paul preaching?

3min
page 49

AD 52-53 – 2 Thessalonians

3min
page 37

Dating the Gospel of Matthew (AD 31-38

18min
pages 20-24

Galatians: Three Possible Dates (AD 49-55

20min
pages 29-34

Oct 51 – Galatians

3min
page 35

Dating the Gospel of Mark (AD 38-44

7min
pages 25-26

Introduction

11min
pages 16-18

AD 51-52 – 1 Thessalonians

3min
page 36

The Synoptic Problem

6min
pages 27-28
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