Pergamos - The Compromising Church
Text: Revelation 2:12-17
Introduction: The city of Pergamos was situated 80 miles north of Smyrna twenty miles inland in what is now Western Turkey. In its day it was the capital of Mysia, a Roman province in the NW. of Asia Minor. Unlike the two previous cities we have encountered in our studies of the seven churches, Pergamos was of little commercial significance. It was rather a city of religion and culture. Within its walls you would have found art galleries, gymnasiums, great sports arenas, a 50 000 seater stadium, and a library housing 200 000 volumes which was the envy of the ancient world.
But it wasn’t the arts or the academics or athletics which drew most visitors to the city of Pergamos, it was its religious character. Every year thousands of pilgrims flocked to this city to worship the various deities on display and seek healing , for Pergamos was home to Aescalapius, the Greek god of medicine and healing who was symbolised by a serpent. Indeed the temple housed a living serpent in honour of the god. The presence of Aescalapius was marked by the Aescalapium, an immense area housing the temple, library, a theatre, a porticoed gallery, an amphitheatre, hippodrome and Roman baths.
Did Aescalapius heal? Were there any healing at Pergamos? Indeed there was, for just as today healings are accomplished in places of pagan worship and apostasy so too Aescalapius was accredited with certified healings, in fact large numbers of healings. A dumb man was said to have been given back his speech, a blind girl recovered her sight. History records that one Marcus Aurelius was cured of lung trouble. It was commonly believed that no patient be left uncured, an unlikely record. However, it is true that before you might approach the god for healing your ailment had to be certified as humanly incurable.
Friends, healings and cures prove nothing. The god of this world is well able to produce his own miracles to buoy up falsehood. We must not be duped into believing that a healing, which appears to be a good thing, might not be the vessel of deceit. The devil is very clever, you know! He will do you a little good, if it will lead you into a lot of bad.
Now, let us consider the church which was situated in this hotbed of idolatry and paganism. In vs 12 we read “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges.”
The word Pergamos has within it the same root from which we get the Eng. words for bigamy & polygamy. Of course this was the name of the city, but it was also a fitting name for the church, for here was a church engaged in mixed marriage with the world. It was not on the whole disloyal to Christ, but it was rather a church guilty of bigamy, loving those who hated the Lord. To this church the Lord spoke as “he which hath the sharp sword with two edges.” Of course we know that the two edged sword is a symbol of the Word of God. But there is another element to the imagery which we must not miss.
The sword, in Roman estimation, was the symbol of the highest order of official authority, with which the Proconsul of Asia was invested. The Romans had a saying “jus gladii” which meant the right of the sword, it was equivalent to the power of life & death. When the Lord Jesus spoke of Himself as “he which hath the sharp sword with two edges,” he was making the point that it is He, not Caesar who holds the power of life & death, and it is He who has absolute authority over men. It was in that capacity he addressed the official capital of the Roman province of Mysia.
What then did the Lord have to say to the church at Pergamos? Well, from this letter we find three areas of concern which Jesus addressed. They were;
I. Comfortable In The World. (verse 13)
A. Always the Lord begins by saying “I know.”
1. At Ephesus “I know thy works...”
2. At Smyrna “I know thy tribulation...”
3, At Pergamos “I know where thou dwellest.”
B. And where were they dwelling? They were dwelling where Satan’s seat is.”
1. Friends, that is no place for a Christian to dwell.
C. Of course in a literal sense, the people at Pergamos were involved in snake worship, and we know that Satan is described as “that old serpent, the devil.”
1. So in this regard the Lord describes Pergamos as the city where Satan’s seat (throne) is.
2. But we must not get the idea that Satan’s reign is confined to one place on earth, for we must remember he is the god of this world.
a. His rule is not local, but global, not in hell as the poets a suggest and as the world believes, but on earth governing the world of unbelieving men, troubling the creation, endeavouring to deny God.
3. A church that dwells where Satan reigns is a church which has settled down in the world!
a. And that was the church at Pergamos, a church unprepared to upset the apple cart, unwilling to rock the world’s boat, at home in the world, no longer a witness but now comfortably dwelling in the world and worldliness.
D. Understand, they were not completely apostate.
1. They still professed Christ, they did not deny the faith, but neither were they separate from the world, they were at home in the world.
2. Of course among there number were some who refused to be silenced by home comforts.
3. We read here of Antipas, whom the Lord calls “my faithful martyr.”
a. martyr = witness.
b. There is very little information about Antipas, but we are led to believe from history that he practised dentistry at Pergamos.
c. No doubt he had little time for Aescalapius in that field of medicine, and so he told others of another God, of the true God and Saviour Jesus Christ, he opened his mouth about Jesus, and it cost him his life!.
d. They took Antipas and placed him inside a brass bull, and they lit a fire underneath the bull, and they roasted this faithful Christian alive!!
e. Now notice how Jesus contrasts the courage of Antipas with the compromise of the church.
4. “Even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.”
5. The Pergamos church was dwelling where Satan dwelt, but Antipas died where Satan dwelt.
6. His martyrdom was not only a witness to the Saviour, but a witness to their shame - they were comfortable in the world.
II. Compromising With The World. (Verse 14)
A. You know it is not very long after the Christian feels comfortable in the world that he begins to compromise with the world.
1. Illus: Lot - began by simply “pitching his tent toward Sodom.” But soon we find Lot “dwelt in Sodom” and before we know it he is calling the Sodomites “brethren” and giving his daughters in marriage to them, and getting along quite nicely with the world, because he has compromised all that his uncle Abraham taught him.
2. Pergamite Christians were no different.
3. They had entertained the doctrine of Balaam. And what was the doctrine of Balaam it was the doctrine of compromise.
B. Balaam was an O.T. prophet, unusually he was a gentile.
1. As the Israelites were closing on Jordan and about to cross the river into Moab, the king of Moab, Balak, offered Balaam a sizeable fee to curse Israel.
2. Three times Balaam sought to curse Israel and three times God restrained him & turned the cursing into blessing.
3. Realising he was getting nowhere with his cursings, Balaam changed his tact, and he suggested that the Moabite girls should seduce the Israelite men by inviting them to their idolatrous and immoral feasts.
a. Num 31:16 cp Num 25:1-3
b. Friends, what Balaam could not do by cursing the Israelites, he succeeded in doing by compromising the Israelites.
c. It is not the cursings of the world or its religions which endangers the N.T. church, its compromise with the world and its religions!
d. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” (2 Corinthians 6:17).
C. Balaam should have known better than to do what he did.
1. As he surveyed Israel mingling in the Jordan valley he was compelled by God to utter the principle of separation “Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.”
2. But he was motivated to destroy them, and he succeeded by offering them the poison of compromise.
3. And what motivated him? Money.
a. He made merchandise of the gospel for gain, he prostituted God’s people for gain.
b. See 2 Peter 2:14, 15 & Jude 11.
4. You cannot serve God and mammon.
a. Balaam had God’s word on his mouth, but covetousness in his heart!
b. And many a Christian falls and many a church is corrupted by the same means.
5. We won’t take a clear stand for the gospel for fear that it might affect our pay packet, our position, our prospects, and so it was at Pergamos - they were compromising with the world, mixing the holy with the profane, trying to obtain a happy medium with the world, but that kind of Christianity doesn’t wash with God.
III. Conducting Themselves Like The World. (Verse 16)
A. The Nicolaitanes we have heard mention of already, they had been troubling the church at Ephesus - vs 6
1. Notice that what had been presented as deeds at Ephesus was now doctrine at Pergamos.
2. The Ephesians had tried the Nicolaitanes, they had found them to be liars and hated them with a holy hatred, but the Pergamites did no such thing they tolerated Nicolaitane doctrine, and gave themselves to the vile practices of that philosophy.
B. The Nicolaitanes taught that in order to master sensuality, one must know the whole range of it by experience; and that he should abandon himself without reserve to the lusts of the body.
1. After all the body was the body & the spirit was the spirit, so touching the body had no affect upon the spirit!
2. Consequently the Nicolaitanes were licentious in the extreme.
3. What Balaam had instigated in the O.T., the Nicolaitanes advocated in the New.
a. They mixed the carnal with the spiritual.
b. You think people don’t do that today?
(i) Illus: Pastor & his mistress who read Bible together, took off their wedding rings, prayed for forgiveness before and after they committed adultery.
4. Don’t think it can’t be or isn’t done. There may be some of you here today, and you are living another life, a carnal life, indulging in the sins of the flesh and you think no one knows how you are living “I know ...where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is!”
C. Friend when you begin by living comfortably in the world, its but a short step toward making small compromises with the world and before you know it you are conducting your life like the world.
IV. Cleansing Of The World. (Verse 16-17)
A. Understand that when a church fails to judge its own membership or is unable to tackle sin within its ranks, the Lord Jesus is committed to purging it.
1. “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” (1 Corinthians 11:31-32).
B. Notice, however, in vs 16, whilst the Lord urges the church to repent of their compromise with and toleration of evil, He does not say “I will fight against thee” but “against THEM.”
1. The church was his, but the false teachers He disowns and wars against, exposing & condemning them by His Word.
C. To the overcomer, to the faithful among them, and there must have been some, the Lord offers a reward.
1. To eat of the hidden manna.
a. The Lord Jesus is that “Manna which cometh down from heaven.”
b. Those who over came were to be afforded a special fellowship with the Lord in heaven.
2. Given a white stone, and in the stone a new name written.
a. People of Pergamos were familiar with a number of customs involving the use of a white stone.
b. They used a voters urn in which if you approved of a candidate you placed a white stone bearing his name into it & if you disapproved you used a black stone. So the white stone speaks of approval & acceptance.
c. It was also a practice to note good days by placing a white stone into an urn and bad days by placing a black stone in. At the end of life the urn was broken and the stone counted & it was ascertained whether the deceased had lived a happy life or not. So the white stone speaks of happiness.
d. Again in the law courts the members of the court indicated the guilt or innocence of the defendant by holding aloft a white stone or black stone. The white stone speaks of justification.
e. White stones were also used as admission to circuses and places of entertainment. Thus the stone speaks of admission.
f. White stones were given to departing friends, assuring them of a warm welcome upon their return. Thus they spoke of hospitality.
g. A white stone was also awarded to victors of games. Thus they speak of victory.
D. But perhaps the most significant way in which the white stone was used in Pergamos had to do with the sacred feasts held at the temple of Aescalapius.
1. If you were invited to partake of the feast you were given a white stone. The stone bore a name of a pagan god, and this name was held secret by the recipient.
2. In that society, to receive a white stone was an honour. Of course at the feast was meat that had been offered to idols, and since we are told there were some who had consented to the doctrine of Balaam & were eating things sacrificed to idols, it stands to reason that Christian people had been given & received the white stone of Pergamos.
3. But others refused, it meant being outcast, it was social suicide, it was to be misunderstood, accused, * persecuted, but to those overcomers the Lord Jesus said, “Never mind, I have a white stone, with a secret name written upon it & I have reserved it just for you, at my feast!
4. It was a stone of compensation. And there is no sacrifice made upon earth that is not compensated for in heaven.
a. Matthew 19:28-30.
Conclusion: Yes, for those uncompromising overcomers there was to be a white stone. There was a reward picturing their justification before God, and admission into heaven. They were servants approved and accepted. They would be recompensed for their sacrifices and unbending loyalty. They would know the joy & victory of receiving Christ’s white stone. Christian are you dabbling with the world? Are you compromising with the enemy. Are you dwelling where Satan’s seat is? “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18).
