The Church at Pergamum
We have been looking as a series at the Seven churches of the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelation
To recap:
The Book of Revelation was written in AD 95 or 96 probably by the Apostle John when banished to the Island of Patmos.
The seven churches of Revelation are
1.) Ephesus Rev 2:1-7
2.) Smyrna Rev. 2:8-11
3.) Pergamum Rev. 2:12-17
4.) Thyatira Rev. 2:18-29
5.) Sardis Rev. 3:1-6
6.) Philadelphia Rev.3:7-13
7.) Laodicea Rev. 3:14-22
All the churches are in about a 100-mile radius of each other.
Why the number seven? The number seven was considered by the people of the time to be the perfect number.
John uses it 54 times in the Book of Revelation. (William Barclay The Daily Study Bible Revised Edition Vol 1 page 28)
The Angel of the Church is I believe the Bishop or the leader of the Church in the particular place
Two weeks ago we looked at the first Church of the Apocalypse- The Church of Ephesus and drew the lesson that we must come back to our first love.
It is good to have a Christian orthodoxy but in the end it the love of Christ that counts
Last week we looked at the Church of Smyrna and drew the lesson that loyalty to Christ is important even if it means we die, as Polycarp the Bishop of Smyrna did in 155 AD in the flames
Today we are looking at the third church of the Apocalypse, the Church at Pergamum
And the catchword today is
“Caesar or Christ
There is no compromise”
But first let us look at the background of the Church at Pergamum
Pergamum was the capital city of the Province of Asia.
It wasn’t on any trade route but was easily defendable. Its position was impressive
It was built on a tall conical hill which dominated the valley of the River Caicus
Sir William Ramsey described it like this
"Beyond all other cities in Asia Minor it gives the traveller the impression of a royal city, the home of authority; the rocky hill on which it stands is so huge and dominates the broad plain of the Caicus so proudly and boldly"
(William Barclay The Daily Study Bible Revelation of John Vol 1 p.87)
Although Pergamum was not the commercial success that Ephesus or Smyrna were , it was the imperial capital and the Roman Governor had "ius gladii", the right of the sword. His headquarters was in Pergamum and he could execute whom he chose to.
Although not as religious as Ephesus or Smyrna, Pergamum was the first city to build a temple to then Emperor Augustus – the first "Caesar worship" temple in Asia.
It also as full of pagan temples the temples of Athena and Zeus being the most prominent.
It is called the throne of Satan because the city of Pergamum was at the heart of Emperor worship enforced by the Roman Consul.
So while the proconsul might have the right of the sword, Jesus is described here as having “the sharp, double-edged sword”
In other words, although the Consul wields the sword, the last word will be with Jesus who wields the double-edged sword (ibid p.90).
You could not sacrifice to Caesar and spit on Christ and still be a Christian.
Who were the Nicolaitans, who are so heavily criticised by Jesus?
William Barclay says:
"We may note that the Nicolaitans and those who hold to the teaching of Balaam were in fact one and the same.
The name Nicolaus the founder of the Nicolaitans is made up of two Greek words "nikan" meaning to conquer and "laos" meaning the people (from which we get the word laity). Balaam can be derived from two Hebrew words "bela" to conquer and "ha’am" the people.
(Ibid p.66)
But first let us look at what the prophet Balaam who is recorded in the book of Numbers taught - to get an idea of what the Nicolaitans were preaching.
Balaam was the prophet who told Balak (the King of the Moabites) that if he wanted to defeat Israel, he could only do this if he got Israel to sin against God’s laws and worship other gods as well as YHWH.
And Balaam suggested to Balak that Balak use the Moabite women to seduce the men of the Israel to worship pagan gods.
Let me read the sad story in Numbers 25:1-5
25 While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods.
The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods.
3 So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the LORD’s anger burned against them.
4 The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the LORD’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
5 So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”
And we read in Numbers 31: 16 that it was Balaam’s advice for the Moabite women to seduce Israel and so cause Israel to lose God’s blessing
Pergamum, like Ephesus and Smyrna had pagan temples with temple prostitutes, and during the various pagan holidays it was normal for the people to engage in fornication and adultery.
You could not join a guild as a Christian because that would involve a meal in a pagan temple
In the Church of Pergamum, there were those in Church who wanted to compromise with the Roman State and pagan festivals.
I could imagine they sugar-coated it by saying something like:
“Well we would only have to make a small compromise occasionally by going into the pagan temples or once a year indulging in Emperor worship to save our lives. Surely, we can ask God to forgive us anyway, as Jesus has died on the Cross for our sins
”
CONCLUSION
So the message from the Third Church of the Apocalypse is “there is no compromise with the world’s gods, be it pagan god or Caesar worship”
So to recap from the last two weeks as well
1. So we learnt from the Church of Ephesus that Christ requires us to go back to our first love for him
2. We learn from the Church of Smyrna that Christ requires absolute loyalty even to the point of death, as indeed Polycarp was prepared to do
3. And we learn from the Church of Pergamum that Christ will broker no compromise with any other God.
And just a thought
What are our new gods today?
Perhaps the greatest is the love of money is the new god of this world which Christ condemns
And Paul says it is the love of money that is the root of all evil.
Paul wrote this:
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10)
Money itself can be neutral if we don’t worship it.
Let us resolve to let nothing come in the way of our love for Jesus and allow nothing to compromise our faith.
We can only do this by staying loyal to Christ as revealed in the scriptures.
