Through much tribulation—Acts 14:22

With reference to Acts 14:22—Such is the divine speaker who testifies to the excellency of the Smyrnean believers, A.D. 98, or thereabouts. Though in tribulation and poverty, the Spirit said, "Thou art rich." They were, therefore, the type of the approved; for no evil is laid to their charge. They were a congregation of such believers as James says, God has chosen; and he was a very competent judge in the case. "Hearken, my beloved brethren," saith he, "hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of that kingdom, which he hath promised to them that love him?" And as to "the tribulation," Paul says, it is through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). "Blessed the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Blessed they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed they which are persecuted, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens" (Matt. 5:3-10). These were "the consolations of religion," imparted in the instruction of Jesus and the apostles. "The Spirit anointed them to preach the gospel of the kingdom to "the poor in spirit," or, as Isaiah styles them, "the meek" to honest and good-hearted people of childlike disposition (Isai. 61:1; Luke 4:18; Matt. 11:5; 18:3; Luke 8:15). The Smyrneans were such; a poor, meek, persecuted, and richly faithful people. They were "HEIRS of that kingdom," in which they believed; and, as every intelligent person, who is not spoiled by the clerical traditions of the Nikolaitanes, knows, an heir is one who is to obtain possession of a thing after the present possessor dies; so the Smyrneans were not present possessors of the kingdom, but living in hope of some time or other coming into possession of "the kingdoms of this world," when "the Satan," the present and actual possessor of them shall be forcibly ejected. They were heirs of these kingdoms patiently waiting to possess them, when they shall become "the kingdoms of Yahweh and of his Anointed" -- that is, of Jesus and his Brethren, illimitably anointed with the effluence of the Eternal Spirit; and thereby constituted "THE YAHWEH ELOHIM ALMIGHTY;" who, having conquered them in the war of his great and terrible day, shall reign over them during the Aions of the Aions, or the thousand years (Apoc. 11:15; 16:14; 20:4,6).