The Worldly Church (Revelation 2:12-17)
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Introduction to Pergamum.
Introduction to Pergamum.
Pergamum is an interesting city, as it has the longest history of the seven cities that are addressed here.
It was founded as the capitol city of a kingdom that was there before Rome.
This “capital” status remained the same, as it was the Roman seat of power in this particular province, much like Caesarea was in the Judean Province.
The last king of this Asian kingdom, gave the kingdom to Rome in his will.
in 133 B.C.
It was well-known for its vast library, having over 200,000 volumes.
It was only rivaled by the library of Alexandria.
In fact, there is a couple of legends about this prolific rivalry.
Apparently the king of Pergamum sought to bring the head librarian from Alexandria to Pergamum to run the library.
The Egyptians found out, and didn’t let the librarian leave, and this stopped exporting Papyrus to Pergamum.
Because of that Pergamum said they invented Parchment from animal skins.
Apparently Mark Antony, sent this entire library to Cleopatra as a gift.
We have talked about Emperor worship in the last couple of letters, and nothing is new here. Pergamum seemed to love Worshiping Caesar, as they had 3 different Temples to Caesars: Augustus, Trajan, and Severus.
Not only did they worship Caesar, they had four different pagan temples to the gods: Zeus, Athena, Asklepios, and Dionysos.
This city still exists today in Turkey, known as Bergama.
Christ’s Depiction (v. 12)
Christ’s Depiction (v. 12)
In 2:12, we see that Jesus is pictured with the “sharp, two-edged sword.”
We saw in 1:16, that this points to His authoritative voice in the church.
What He says goes! Not what the pastor says, not what tradition says, not what society says, Christ’s authoritative word goes.
This is also His voice of judgment:
We’ll see later on, that He threatens the use of the sword against the Church.
Later, in Revelation 19:15, “And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may STRIKE DOWN THE NATIONS, and He will RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON; and HE TREADS THE WINE PRESS OF THE WRATH OF THE RAGE OF GOD, the Almighty,” Christ’s sword is used as judgment against the nations.
Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have an account to give.”
From this passage we see that nothing is hidden from His judgment.
Christ’s Commendation & Condemnation (vv. 13-15)
Christ’s Commendation & Condemnation (vv. 13-15)
Commendation (Revelation 2:13).
Commendation (Revelation 2:13).
Here we see that Jesus knows where the church at Pergamum is dwelling: “Where Satan’s throne is”.
This could mean several things:
It was the “captial” of all Caesar worship.
It held the Temple of Zeus, the king of the Greek gods.
I personally believe that, yes it is these things, but also Pergamum acted as the base of Satanic operations.
Satan is not omnipresent, nor is He all-powerful or all-knowing, this means he has to actually be some place, and he is directing his demons to do what he wants them to do.
in Ephesians, we saw that there is somewhat of a hierarchical system of governance among the demons. Ephesians 6:11-12 “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Because of that, in the Bible, Satan seems to have a headquarters of operations.
Daniel 10:13.
Ezekiel 28:1-19. Talks about the King of Tyre, but also references him as though he were an angel and in the Garden of Eden at the beginning of time.
This does not mean that we are meant to know where Satan’s base of operations is, but it does remind us that Spiritual Warfare is real, and we need to use the Armor that Christ has provided us to battle.
Jesus commends them for their faithfulness even though they dwell in the middle of it all!
There faithfulness to Christ remained even after Antipas, likely their pastor, was killed for the faith.
A couple of traditions passed down about his death:
He died in a Brazen bull
A bronze bull that is hollow. They put him inside, and then set it over a fire, essentially roasting him alive.
He was offered as a sacrifice at one of the alters to the pagan gods.
Condemnation (Revelation 2:14, 15).
Condemnation (Revelation 2:14, 15).
There is a teachings that this church was tempted to follow:
The teaching of Balaam.
This is an allusion to the Old Testament, namely Numbers 22-25, and this account where a prophet is hired to curse the People of Israel.
God doesn’t let him curse Israel the three times that he tries, God supernaturally intervenes and makes him bless them.
However, instead of cursing them, Balaam give Balak a idea to cause the Israelites to stumble , and we see that this happened in Numbers 25.
Essentially they were seduced by the Midianite women to worship the Midianite gods.
Because of their sin, the 24,000 who followed this seduction were killed to purify/discipline the camp of Israel.
Jesus uses this as an example to how the Church at Pergamum was seduced into following the false teaching of the Nicolaitans.
This is seen by the “so you also have...” He connects what happened with the Israelites with what was happening with the Church, here.
We’ve seen this before in our lesson the Ephesian church: Revelation 2:6.
Remember, the Nicolaitans were syncretists, where they combined Christianity with the idol worship around them. (Likely the pagan idol worship orgies).
Notice that the Ephesian church hated the deeds.
Here, in Pergamum, they were tolerating the false TEACHING.
This shows how both doctrine and deeds are connected. We live what we believe.
We don’t need to become like the world to win the world.
Christ’s Course of Action (v. 16)
Christ’s Course of Action (v. 16)
Christ’s course of action is that the entire church needs to repent of their tolerating this false teaching and syncretistic worship.
If they don’t, He warns them that He is coming to them to make war. He is bringing judgment against His Church.
We, as members and attenders need to take sin and doctrine seriously.
This is why Paul tells us to the deal with sin swiftly in 1 Corinthians 5:6-7.
This is why Paul tells Timothy to “take pains” with his teaching and holiness, because he would ensure the salvation of those who hear him, because they will not be led astray
1 Timothy 4:15-16 “Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”
The Call to Heed (v. 17)
The Call to Heed (v. 17)
We are called to “wake up” and take heed what is being revealed.
No longer to have hard hearts, we are called to respond favorably, and follow suit with the repentance being commanded by Christ.
The Overcomer’s Reward:
Hidden Manna.
Just as God provided manna from heaven for food in the wilderness, God has provided nourishment, namely salvation, for the true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
the person whose faith in solely in Christ, not in the things of this world, will be nourished.
No unbeliever can take part of this bread. They may have “religious experiences” but they will never obtain true salvation if they combine Christ with the things of this world.
John 6:51.
Victors Invitation.
Truly, it is quite difficult to know what this stone is. This is the only scriptural reference to something like this, so it seems that it was a part of the culture of the late 1st Century.
There are a couple of thoughts here:
John MacArthur notes in his study bible, “When an athlete won in the games, he was often given, as part of his prize, a white stone which was an admission pass to the winners celebration. This may picture the moment when the overcomer will receive his ticket to the eternal victory celebration in heaven. New name is a personal message from Christ to the ones He loves, which serves as their admission pass into eternal glory. It is so personal that only the person who receives it will know what it is.”
Often, when gladiators, who were slaves and had been given slave names, won in the arena, they would be given their freedom and a new name. They could begin their new life, and they would have official record of it somehow.
Either way, those who overcome are promised a glorious future.