Revelation 2:11 11Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will never ever be hurt by the second death.
This short letter ends with the same admonition as the others, calling for careful listening and appropriate response. Jesus used the same phrase in the Gospels (Mark 4:9, 23), but here adds the idea of the Spirit speaking to the churches. God created ears to hear. The word that the Smyrnas needed to hear would come not simply to their ears, though this book would likely have been read out loud to them, but more significantly, it needed to come to their hearts, where they would make the important decisions of faith.
The Holy Spirit is the one who would speak into their lives the words of this letter. The Holy Spirit brings conviction (John 16:8-11), and for the Smyrnans, this would be experienced as encouragement to overcome their suffering. The forces of evil try to stamp out Christianity. Persecution exists where the true gospel is preached because unbelievers follow the way of Satan into the darkness, which does not like to be exposed by the light.
Those who stay true, even to the point of death, will overcome the second death. Our ability to overcome is based on Jesus’ victory over death (2:8). The second death is described in more detail in 20:14 and 21:8. It refers to the eternal separation from God, who is the source of life. What this death actually entails, annihilation or punishment, is debated. This warning should cause any sincere and thoughtful person to re-evaluate life and one’s choices about Jesus. People can mock him now and face this eternal death. They could experience praise and acceptance from culture, or they could accept him and praise him now, which might mean experiencing suffering, with the result of eternal life.