You’ve Got Mail: Pergamum
Scott Bayles, preacher
First Christian Church, Rosiclare, IL
For those of you just joining us, we’ve spent the past couple of weeks camped in the Book of Revelation. Rather than trudging through the more puzzling prophetic passages, though, we’ve been pouring over the more practical pages of John’s Revelation—specifically, we’ve been reading other churches’ mail. One envelope at a time, we’ve been unfolding the seven letters from the Son of God to the seven churches of Asia. Although these seven letters weren’t addressed to us, they do address the cares, concerns, and crises faced by ours and countless other churches throughout the centuries.
We’ve already investigated the letters to the churches in Ephesus and Smyrna. “After leaving Smyrna, a letter carrier traveled along the coast of the Aegean Sea for about forty miles. Then the road turned northeast along the Caicus River. About ten miles inland stood the impressive city of Pergamum, built on a hill one thousand feet above the surrounding countryside, creating a natural fortress. Rivaling Ephesus as the leading city in the region, Pergamum had become the capital of the province of Asia and the center of Asian culture. It was proud of its links with Rome.” Here’s what Jesus had to say to the Christians living in Pergamum:
“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword: I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city. But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.” (Revelation 2:12-17 NLT)
Just like the first two letters, Jesus begins the letter to Pergamum by giving his credentials.
• CREDENTIALS
In the letter to the church in Ephesus, Jesus described himself as the one who holds the seven stars and walks among the seven gold lampstands—an encouraging image, reminding the church that he is with them. To Smyrna, he says that he if the First and the Last, the God of all creation who knows the beginning from the end. But to the church in Pergamum, Jesus provides a much more foreboding image. He describes himself as: “the one with the sharp two-edged sword” (vs. 12 NLT).
This imagery, just as with several of the letters, comes directly out of the first chapter of Revelation when John beholds the glory of Jesus. There John said, “When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man… and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth” (Revelation 1:13-15 NLT).
Now, before try to picture Jesus walking around heaven with a broadsword hanging out of his mouth, understand that this wasn’t meant literally. Rather, John’s description of Jesus is pregnant with metaphors, symbols, and other colorful imagery. This particular image is probably drawn from the book of Hebrews, which says: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12 NIV).
You see, just as the sword was a symbol of Rome’s authority and judgment, Jesus’ double-edged sword represents his ultimate authority and judgment over the world and his church. And notice that he doesn’t hold the sword in his hand; rather, it protrudes from his mouth, indicating that it is by his words that mankind will be judged. Jesus put it this way: “Anyone who hears my words and does not obey them, I do not judge, because I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for those who refuse to believe in me and do not accept my words. The word I have taught will be their judge on the last day” (John 12:47-48 NCV).
In other words, the words, commands and teachings of Jesus form the dividing line of humanity. There are those who accept his words, believe his words, obey his words and there are those who don’t. Jesus was reminding the believers of this ancient city, and us by extension, that when Christ comes again his words will be the standard by which all humanity will be judged.
In a world of noise, the only real voice of truth is the voice of Jesus. The red-lettered words within the leather-bound pages of your Bible are the most import words ever spoken or ever recorded. The voice of Jesus is the voice of the eternal God. As John Macarthur says, “This is the voice of sovereign power, the voice of supreme authority, the very voice that will one day command the dead to come forth from the graves.” Out of all the voices calling out to me, I will choose to listen and believe the voice of Truth. If we want to experience eternal life, then we need to listen to his voice and live by his words, because, as Jesus said, “the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63 NLT).
That’s quite an introduction, I think. For those in Pergamum who had been listening to him, it may have been reassuring; but for those who hadn’t, it would have been frightening. Now, after giving his credentials, Jesus gives a quick compliment to the Pergamum believers.
• COMPLIMENT
He says, “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me…” (vs. 13). The church in Pergamum was committed. Scholars are divided as to why Jesus refers to Pergamum as the “city where Satan has his throne.” It could have been for any number of reasons.
Pergamum boasted an extensive and influential imperial cult devoted to the worship of Caesar. They built the very first temple dedicated to emperor worship as early as 29 B.C. in honor of Augustus Caesar. Pergamum was also an important center of worship for four of the primary Greco-Roman gods and goddesses—Athena, Dionysus, Asklepios, and Zeus. Some connect “Satan’s Throne” specifically with the worship of Asklepios who was a serpent god. Live snakes were left to slither freely throughout the temple of Asklepios. Worshippers believed that if one of these snakes bit them, they would be blessed by Asklepios. Since Satan is referred to in Revelation as the “serpent of old,” there certainly could be a connection.
I tend to think that “Satan’s throne” is more of a reference to the Altar of Zeus, however. Zeus was the “King” of the pantheon of Greco-Roman mythology and, as such, represented all the gods of myth. More importantly, the Altar of Zeus, which included an immense colonnade (sort of like an outdoor worship hall), centered around an imposing monument that incorporated an 18 foot tall altar and a sculpture of Zeus proudly sitting upon his throne.
In any case, life as a Christian wouldn’t have been easy in such an overwhelming pagan and hostile society. In fact, it cost at least one believer his life. Nothing is really known about Antipas besides what Jesus says here. He was a faithful witness who was martyred for his loyalty to Jesus. I don’t know how accurate the information is, but according to early tradition, he was roasted to death inside a brass bull. Even under the threat of agonizing death, Antipas remained loyal to Jesus and refused to deny him. And yet, so many Christians all across the country deny Christ almost daily—maybe not with our words, but with our actions and attitudes.
Someone once said, “The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians—who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
Antipas strikes me as the kind of person who lived his faith out loud. He was a witness. He never hid his love for Christ, never shied away, and never backed down. He continued to share Jesus in spite of violent opposition.
Let me ask you this: If following Jesus became illegal in this country, what evidence would they have against you? How loyal would you be? How loyal are you when you leave here? When you go home? When you go to work? How committed are you to Jesus and his church? While you think about those things, Jesus follows up this compliment with some criticism.
• CRITICISM
Even though Antipas and others were wholly committed to Jesus, they still had some internal problems in the Pergamum church. Jesus said, “I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching.” (vs. 14-15)
Without getting into too much history, Balaam was a spiritualist hired by Balak, a King who was unhappy about Israel crossing his land, to curse the Israelites. God ordered Balaam not to curse them, so when Balak had him pronounce the curse, Balaam blessed them instead because he didn’t want to disobey God. However, he later devised a plan and told the king to send some sexy Moabite women down to the Israelites to entice them. The men would sin sexually with them, marry them, worship the Moabite gods, and thus deny the one true God and lose his favor. It worked.
Now fast forward several centuries to Pergamum and we find some people whose teaching was resulting in the same kind of immorality. The Nicolaitans were named for Nicholas, one of the seven men chosen in Acts 6 as a servant of the church in Jerusalem. They believed that God’s grace was so overwhelmingly abundant that it didn’t matter what evils they perpetrated, God would still forgive them. Based on that belief, their philosophy was to “live it up,” so to speak—the more we sin, the more grace we receive, therefore the more God is glorified. Early church writers are divided as to whether Nicholas actually taught this distorted doctrine or whether this was a perversion of his biblical teaching on grace. I’m inclined to believe the latter. In either case, it had found its way into the Pergamum church and led many of the believers there to participate in pagan festivals and gross sexual immorality.
The most dangerous lies are the ones that are mostly true. That’s what made this doctrine so deadly. Paul dealt with this same issue in his magnum opus on grace—the book of Romans. In Romans 5, Paul summarized his arguments about the all sufficiency of grace with this statement: “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20 ESV). So, you see, on the one hand the Nicolaitans were telling the truth—God’s grace is super abounding! There is no sin you can commit, no matter how vile or strange, that would place you beyond the grasp of our all loving God. His grace is deeper than the deepest ocean and wider than the sea. But, anticipating how some people might abuse God’s grace, Paul opened the next chapter with a question:
Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. (Romans 6:1-4 NLT)
Do you see what Paul is saying? It’s not that there is anything you can do that God’s grace won’t forgive, but any conversion experience that leads you to live a worse life is a false conversion! When we commit our lives to Jesus, visualized through baptism, we put to death our sinful nature (our old way of life) and we are given a new life, a fresh start. In other words, God’s grace ought to change us for the better. This leads us to the final component of Jesus’ letter—his command.
• COMMAND
Immediately following this criticism—this horrible doctrine that they had embraced—Jesus provides the remedy. He commands them, saying, “So change your hearts and lives. If you do not, I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword that comes out of my mouth” (vs. 16 NCV). There is only one word in these sentences that is an imperative—change! What the Nicolaitans and so many others like them down through the centuries didn’t understand was that change is essential to Christian living.
Christians are never commanded to do what comes naturally or to blend in with society. We’re commanded to be different. We’re commanded to deny our sinful nature. We’re commanded to change. And what are we changing into? Paul answers that for us as well: “So all of us who have [turned to the Lord] can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT).
You were created in Christ to become like Christ.
The Nicolatians thought they could be one with Jesus, yet live like they had never known him. It just doesn’t work that way. And yet, American Christianity today has followed in the footsteps of the Nicolatians more than in the footsteps of Christ! All across this country we have led people to Christ, baptized them into Christ and then they spend the rest of their lives living just like the world. Statistics show that abortion is just as prevalent among those who claim to be Christians as it is among those who are not. Divorce is just as prevalent. Sexual immorality is just as prevalent. Folks, these things ought not to be this way!
Change your hearts and lives! We’ve got to change. Turn to Jesus. Receive and reflect his glory. Allow him to cleanse the temple of your heart, to change you from the inside, and to make you more and more like him. His command to them is his command to us—change.
I’ve never really been a fan of Michael Jackson, but there is one song he wrote, that I’ve always like. In it, he sings:
I’m Gonna Make A Change, For Once In My Life
It’s Gonna Feel Real Good, Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .
I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I’m Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change
INVITATION
If you’re ready to make a change, now’s the time. I don’t know where you are in your relationship with God, but whatever changes you need to make—we’re here to help. Trust him, obey him and experience the difference he will make in your life.
