The letter to the church at Smyrna--2:8-11. 1. “ These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive” --2:8. This sublime language repeats the eternity of the One who addresses this church, whom death could not vanquish, and it was intended for the encouragement of the Smyrna members to follow him even unto death, or martyrdom, with no fear of the consequences.