Letter to the Church in Pergamum
Rev. 2:12-17
As we begin our study and draw some application to present day, let’s look back historically to get an idea what was happening 19 centuries ago. We find that Pergamum was the capital of Asia, and had been the capital city of Asia for almost 400 years. Pergamum was the first city of Asia to openly support the imperial cult or emperor worship, and therefore was considered the chief seat. Smyrna, had won the honor over 11 other cities to build a temple to worship Emperor Tiberias. Emperor worship became a test of one's loyalty to Rome, and those not participating in the official cult were labeled with high treason, followed by execution. Christians faced great pressure to attend feasts in honor of the gods and eat meat sacrificed to idols at these feasts. To refuse an invitation could cost you your job and business in the trade guild (the union of the day), which meant, you would not have a livelihood to feed your family.
"Pergamum regarded itself as the custodian of the Greek way of life and of Greek worship." One of the many Greek gods which was worshipped in Pergamum was Zeus, and a great altar was constructed for Zeus which was 40ft. high, standing on a projected rock ledge of the acropolis, and from hundreds of feet below looked like a great throne sitting on the hillside.
Culturally, Pergamum was known for its famous library containing over 200,000 parchments, second only to the library of Alexandria. The city became a learning center where knowledge was accumulated, applied, and articulated to others.
In Revelation 2:12-17, we come to the town of Pergamum and see one of the most corrupted churches in the first century. The believers at Pergamum held fast to their faith and witness for Christ, even though they lived in one of Satan’s strongholds (Revelation 2:13). Satan had moved in next door to the church at Pergamum, yet the believers dug in and held their ground. If only they hadn’t compromised theologically they would go down in history as a shining example of how believers thrive in a godless culture.
We should not miss the good words Christ has to say about this church (Rev. 2:13).
When Jesus says that Satan had his “throne” there, He meant that Satan had found a place where he could exercise diabolical influence over an entire region. Through some combination of idol-worship and sensual pleasure, Satan held sway over that city. It was a region covered with a dark cloud of evil.
As we look to the Scripture in verse 12, I want you to see the title Jesus uses to refer to Himself. Please notice with all seven of the churches, Jesus chooses to use specific titles which would have significance for the Christians in these seven cities and the circumstances they were facing. In this case - Jesus describes Himself as the One who has the sharp two-edged sword. Now why would that be significant to the Christians in Pergamum?
The proconsul of Asia possessed unlimited imperium—which included ius gladii, or “the right of the sword.” When an emperor permitted a governor to wear a sword, the Roman proconsul could execute anyone who disobeyed his orders (see Tacitus, Histories, 3.68; Dio Cassius, Roman History, 53.13.6-7 & 53.14.5). This deadly and powerful “right of the sword” commanded the obedience of Pergamene citizens. Capital punishment cases did not have to be referred to Rome. The proconsul in Pergamum decided who lived and who died.
By this title, Jesus reminds His followers that He has the sharp two-edged sword, that He will have the last word when it comes to judgment for eternity's sake. Jesus is sending a word of encouragement by telling His faithful disciples that earthly power and judgment is transient, but what is decided in heaven lasts forever. “ My sword has the final say and I will judge those who judge you.?”
Then in verse 13, Jesus comments that He knows where the Christians dwell, He knows where they live, where they choose to stay amidst great opposition. It is the place of Satan's throne. Now whatever Satan's throne stands for, we can be sure it stands for a center of evil practices, something that was anti-Christ.
Whether Satan’s throne referred to the 40ft. altar of Zeus, or the fact Pergamum was a chief seat for emperor worship in Asia, which was a tremendous danger to Christians who believed Jesus was Lord not Caesar, the fact remains, the Christians hung in there where evil practices were central - and that would not be easy to deal with.
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Even though there was the great threat to conform to emperor worship, the Christians at Pergamum held fast to their faith, they did not deny their Lord even when it meant death, as it was with Antipas in v.13. For what greater test could there be of an individual's faithfulness and loyalty to a cause than to die for it?
Church tradition tells the story of Antipas. According to Tertullian - Antipas was brought before a statue of Caesar and he was told to swear that Caesar was God. But Antipas boldly proclaimed that Jesus alone was the Lord, and that there was no other God but He. The Roman official exclaimed, "Antipas, don't you know that the whole world is against you?" To which he replied, "Then Antipas is against the whole world!" Antipas was then put inside a brass bull which was heated with fire until he was roasted to death.
As in other regions, the Christians at Pergamum were tempted to compromise in their faith in order to enjoy the benefits of Roman citizenship. The Roman government tolerated any religious practice that also recognized and worshipped the emperor as deity. The choice facing the church was remaining faithful and suffering the cultural and economic consequences, or compromising his or her faith in order to work and prosper.
Now coming to verse 2: 14,15 the Christian church at Pergamum had a problem that can be stated with two questions.
(1) What happens to a church in its desire to be so loving, and accepting the false doctrines and teachings of a few members of its fellowship, that it loses it basic foundational beliefs? Or
(2) what happens to a church that does not correct false teaching by some of its fellowship , but permits it to remain and expand its ideas unchecked?
God wants us to be pure in doctrine, He wants us to study his word, discuss it with each other, be able to recognise false teaching and to deal with it. When we look at the letters to the churches at Ephesus and Smyrna, we find no indication of compromise, and, in fact, the letter to the church at Smyrna recognizes (and commends) the suffering they chose to endure rather than worship false gods.
The church in Pergamum in its desire to be compassionate, was facing a predicament that I think all churches face today. How do we as the church, the body of Christ, balance a loving, open attitude towards others, give guidance and direction, while maintaining our doctrinal purity ? Or to put it another way “Does pure doctrines matter?
The word translated “doctrine” means “instruction, especially as it applies to lifestyle application.” In other words, doctrine is teaching imparted by an authoritative source. In the Bible, the word always refers to spiritually related fields of study. The Bible says of itself that it is “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). We are to be careful about what we believe and present as truth. First Timothy 4:16 says, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
Biblical doctrine helps us understand the will of God for our lives. Biblical doctrine teaches us the nature and the character of God (Psalm 90:2; 97:2; John 4:24), the path of salvation through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9; Romans 10:9–10), instruction for the church (1 Corinthians 14:26; Titus 2:1–10), and God’s standard of holiness for our lives (1 Peter 1:14–17; 1 Corinthians 6:18–20). When we accept the Bible as God’s Word to us (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20–21), we have a solid foundation for our doctrine. There can be disagreement within the body of Christ over secondary points of doctrine, such as eschatology, church organization, or the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But truly biblical doctrine is that which incorporates the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) and draws conclusions based on that which seems most closely aligned with the character of our unchanging God (Numbers 23:19; Hebrews 13:8).
However, the Bible is not always the foundation upon which people or churches build their doctrinal statements. Our sinful natures do not easily submit to God’s decrees, so we often pick and choose the parts of the Bible we are comfortable with and discard the rest. Or we replace what God says with a man-made doctrine or tradition. This is nothing new. Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7; cf. Isaiah 29:13). False doctrine was rampant in New Testament times, and the Scriptures tell us it will continue (Matthew 7:15; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1). Second Timothy 4:3 says, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
The Bible gives stern warning to those who would teach false or incomplete doctrine simply because it is more compatible with man’s ideas. First Timothy 6:3–4 says, “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.” The apostle Paul wrote harsh words about perverting the gospel with false doctrine: “Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”(Galatians 1:7–9).
How does someone remain true to what they believe about Christ and the Bible and walk a holy walk with God while lovingly reaching out to others who want to be accepted without judgment. Or, do we as a church need to become so willing to love others that we will accept any belief system and practice and incorporate that under the broad umbrella called Christianity?
Recall the story of woman caught in adultery placed before Jesus to trap Him (John 8). Jesus shows compassion and forgiveness - but He also tells the woman: “From now on sin no more.” He spoke the truth in love.
To lose our doctrines, what we believe as a church, would make us” a canteen without water” . We would look good and useful on the outside, but have nothing to offer the thirsty on the inside. .
The church is the visual display of Christ—or the body of Christ—in the world today. What the world thinks of the church determines what the world thinks of Christ. That is why in the opening chapter of the Revelation, you see the picture of Christ standing in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, representing seven of the churches in Asia Minor. Christ is inspecting the condition of each of the churches, but He is not checking out the buildings. He is evaluating the spiritual condition of those who make up the church—you and I.
In Revelation 2:14 and 15, Jesus points to the great weakness of this church: They would not practice church discipline. In the misguided name of love, they refused to cast out those who held the “teaching of Balaam” and the “teaching of the Nicolaitans.” Both phrases evidently refer to the same general tendency. There were some in the church who advocated a loose doctrine and an even looser morality. In the name of being “openminded,” they held that the Christian church should be an exceedingly broad fellowship.
It is very seductive. We all like the idea of the “church of the open door.” Come one, come all, come just as you are.” But when that is pressed too far, the church becomes a mixture of truth and error, purity and impurity, and sooner or later, evil tends to spread so that sin no longer seems very sinful. .Galations 5:9 says “A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. “ The end result is a church that receives both a commendation and a harsh warning from the LordI
That brings us to the Lord’s call in verse 16. Christ takes personal offense when His church harbors immorality in its midst. He threatens to pay a personal visit to Pergamum and fight against the evil teachers.
This verse raises an interesting question. Who exactly is supposed to do the repenting? Certainly the false teachers need to repent. We see that the letter is addressed to the whole church and so the entire church had to repent for tolerating false doctrines by some members of the church.
In the name of “open-mindedness” and “toleration” and even “building common ground,” many churches have subtly compromised the gospel. I believe the Lord Jesus is speaking more to the church itself than to the false teachers. Pastors, elders, deacons, and each one of us must repent.
The church must decide what it wants to be. Jesus warns that if the church doesn’t take strong action, He will do it Himself. Jesus says, “ “Therefore repent! Otherwise, I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” Rev 2:16 [HCSB])
It is not enough to be orthodox in our theology. It is not even enough to have courage in the face of community opposition. We must go beyond that to say that we will not tolerate in the church those who threaten the purity of its testimony to the world.
We cannot help sinners by preaching false doctrines . Christ came to save sinners, but if the church no longer believes in sin, we have nothing to offer to the world. Where sin is winked at or renamed or where the church turns a blind eye to moral compromise in its midst, the church commits spiritual suicide.
This is the message of our Lord to the church at Pergamum, and it is His message to our church today. If people call us narrow-minded, let us take it as a compliment and stay the course. Let’s be as narrow as God’s truth is narrow and as broad as God’s grace is broad! May God help us to stand strong for the gospel in this age of moral compromise!
Here Jesus uses the example of Balaam, who was a notorious Old Testament prophet for hire. His story is found in Numbers 22 and 25. We do not have time to look at it in detail, so let me just refresh your memory on Balaam and Balak. Balak was the king of Moab and he hated Israel. Israel was an enemy. He wanted to destroy Israel. So, he hired this prophet for money to curse Israel. Every time that Balaam tried to curse Israel it would not work. A blessing would come out instead. Finally, he came up with another idea. He had been paid for this and wanted to give his money’s worth. He came up with an idea and went to the king and said what you need to do is to teach your women how to seduce the Israelite men. They will intermarry and they will start worshipping the pagan gods. It worked, and there were indeed negative consequences for Israel as they did that.
Then Jesus talks again about the heresy of the Nicolaitans in verse 15. We read about that first in the letter to Ephesus. We really do not know what their doctrines are but it was a group that Jesus did not like – Rev.2: 6.
So the combined hybrid teaching of both Balaam and the Nicolaitans was that you could compromise your behavior and mix in what the world is doing, yet at the same time, have the reputation of being a lofty, high stronghold of authority and religious superiority.
Spiritual compromise isn't choosing other gods to worship instead of Jesus. It’s trying to include other gods along with our worship of Jesus.
Compromise says, “I know I shouldn’t, but why not?” Compromise chooses to either ignore or belittle judgment that comes upon wrong behavior. You could define spiritual compromise as: Accepting a lower moral standard to live by that lessens or deadens your spiritual effectiveness. In spiritual compromise, you begin by taking a step, then another step and then another step in the direction away from your convictions and eventually toward destruction.
Sin begins in the mind, develops in the heart and comes to fruition in the body. All sin can be traced back to an initial moment of compromise.
The best example of this sort of compromise in the Bible is Lot. Lot got into an argument with Abraham over the land because they had their own sheep, cattle and farmers, and the land wasn’t big enough for them both. So Abraham was a godly man and said, “Look out onto the land, and choose where you want to dwell.” And Lot looked, and Genesis says that he saw that the land was fertile and pleasing to the eye, so he set out for that land. What land was that? The plains near Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot went out. You would think he would have stayed as far away from Sodom and Gomorrah as possible. But his eye was appeased, and so often it is with our eyes that we see something we want; and we head toward it. We didn’t actually do anything wrong yet, but we are taking a step closer to it, putting ourselves in danger and harm’s way. So his tents were pitched close to Sodom.
The next we read about Lot, he was in Sodom. Not only in sin, but at the city gate, in the most prominent place, fully engulfed in culture, politics and all that Sodom had to offer. He couldn’t get out easily. So much so that Hhs family thought he was joking when he tried to convince them to leave Sodom . That is the most saddening: Your compromise will usually affect others.
Are you already heading down the slippery slope of spiritual compromise? You may need to purpose in your heart not to sin. Or you may need to start heeding the warnings around you and start taking serious what is tempting you. Or perhaps you may need to put safeguards in place to protect your heart and mind. Perhaps someone reading this needs to repent and confess that they have given in to compromise.
The first internal problem was false teaching, but the second internal problem was complacency. They were not confronting the false teachers. They were saying “oh well, you know, we are just going to let them go. We are walking with the Lord. Just let them do what they want to do.” This is a problem because we have a responsibility as believers to not only stand firm on our faith , but we also have a responsibility to defend the faith. These believers in Pergamum however just stood by. They let it happen. They did not do anything and they were still held accountable for not confronting it.
The second is that we would consider the consequences. We see two consequences in this letter. First – conviction. In verse 12, Jesus describes Himself as the one who has the sharp two-edged sword. This description of Jesus Christ refers to the Word of God. In Hebrews 4:12, we are told that
“the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of the soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow; and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (NASB)
It is two-edged in the sense that it is very sharp. It exposes. It judges our innermost thoughts, our motives. It is never dull, never has a dull edge.
If they do not repent, if they do not turn away from the way they have been going and go the opposite way, He is going to come and He is going to judge them. Jesus is not talking about the Second Coming here. He is talking about imminent judgment. This picture depicts Him as a judge, an executioner. Worldly thinking has to be dealt with now, immediately or it eats into our lives subtly and begins to destroy our walk with the Lord. Notice the change in that verse in the pronoun from you to them. I am coming to you quickly and I will make war against them. By using that pronoun, he is referring to that entire church. The entire church is accountable—not just those who are teaching false doctrines or believing false doctrines
In order to (1) stand firm against compromise with the world, we need perceive the problem.(2) We need to consider the consequences and,(3) third, we need to remember the reward. Verse 17,
To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but the one who receives it. (NASB)
He makes three promises here. Actually, two promises and the second promise has two parts. He first promises them some of the hidden manna. We do not really know exactly what this hidden manna is referring to. In the Old Testament, the manna stood for God’s faithfulness to the Israelites to provide and sustain them through the wilderness for years and years. In memorial to God’s faithfulness a portion of that manna was placed in the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies and, thus, hidden. During the Babylonian captivity, the Ark of the Covenant disappeared. We do not know where it is today. It is perhaps still hidden. We need to remember that we have something so much better than what the world has to offer. We have Jesus Christ, the bread of life, the one Who will always sustain us. He will give us all that we need. He is the real manna. He is hidden from sight right now, but one day He will be revealed to us in all His glory. We need a feast from Him and what He provides for us. We do not need a feast from the world. He offers so much more.
The second thing He promises them is a white stone with a new name on it. This is the hardest symbol to interpret in these promises. The white stones were used for a number of purposes.
(1)They were used for an invitation or admission to a banquet. They would take their white stone and that stone would have their name on it and they would present it at the door to get admit into a banquet.
(2)It was also used as an award given to a winner of an athletic contest. You won – here is your white stone.
(3)It was used in the ancient courts for jury verdicts. If you thought somebody was guilty, you put a black stone in the jar. If you thought they were acquitted, you put a white stone in the jar. If there were more white stones than black stones, they were acquitted.
Pergamum represents the church that got married to the world.
1Co 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
