Revelation 2:11

Revelation 2:11. For the first clause of this verse, comp. what has been said on Revelation 2:7.

He that over-cometh shall in no wise be hurt of the second death. For the ‘second death,' comp. chaps. Revelation 20:6; Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:8, the only other passages where the expression occurs. It is in obvious contrast with the ‘life' of Revelation 2:8; Revelation 2:10. The expression is taken from the Jewish theology, and denotes the death that follows judgment.

The distinguishing feature of the Epistle to Smyrna seems to be the rise of persecution against the followers of Jesus, and their faithfulness in meeting it; while in the next Epistle, that to Pergamos, we shall see persecution in all its fury culminating. If so, we have the very progress once indicated by our Lord Himself in His last discourse to His disciples, ‘Every branch that beareth fruit, He cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit' (John 15:2). The lessons taught to the church at Symrna may well have been present to the soul of Polycarp, Bishop of that see, in his hour of agony, and may have powerfully contributed to sustain that glorious martyr, who was so eminently ‘faithful unto death.'