The Seven Churches-Pergamum
Introduction: The first two churches mentioned in Revelation 2—Ephesus and Smyrna—were both located near the sea (at least in the time John wrote this book). With Pergamos/Pergamum, the locations become more inland. There are several commentaries and other resources which describe more about the city of Pergamum itself, and they’ll be worth reading. For this message the main thing is that the Lord had established a church in that city.
Pergamum represents a different situation than neither Ephesus nor Smyrna had to deal with, and the Lord is quick to point out what was wrong, while still praising the believers for what they were doing. Full disclosure: this message is based on a sermon I preached at New Hope Baptist Church near Fulton, MO on November 2, 2025 but is not an exact transcription.
Text: Revelation 2:12-17, KJV: 12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; 13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. 14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
1 The Picture of Jesus
As with both of the other two churches so far, the Lord gives these believers in Pergamum a picture of Himself. Here, and for them, He states He has the “sharp sword with two edges”. Now, something we need to remember is that there were two different types and lengths of swords. Simon Peter had one small sword, maybe a kind of glorified “Bowie” knife or, as a fisherman might use, a boning knife. The blade was maybe 18 inches long, as some have observed. It’s interesting the word for Peter’s sword (the one he used to cut off Malchus’ ear, John 18:10) could be defined as a “dirk (https://biblehub.com/greek/3162.htm)”.
In verse 12, though, the Lord uses a very different word. There, as in Rev. 1:16, He says He is holding a “rhomphaia (https://biblehub.com/greek/4501.htm )” or large sword, like a cutlass or saber. Cutlasses, to look at them humorously, are like the swords pirates use when they’re sword-fighting the other guys. Another definition, from the same source, calls this type of sword one that both cuts and pierces, a sword held in both hands to describe dominance.
There’s another reason the Lord is holding that sword, and we’ll look at that in a moment. Before that, though, we’ll need to look at the words of praise the Lord has for these believers.
2 The Words of Praise
As with the other two churches before, the Lord gives a word of praise to these believers in Pergamum. He started off by saying “I know thy works” and that’s a word of encouragement to me. We may never know what they were doing then, and not many others will be aware of what we’re doing today, but we have that assurance: our Lord knows our works.
And that word of praise and encouragement had to mean something to these believers in Pergamum. Besides Stephen (Acts 7), and James (Acts 12), there weren’t very many martyrs who were named. Paul did confess in Acts 26 that he voted to put believers to death but he didn’t name any of them.
All of those people, the martyrs (those who chose to die for their faith rather than deny their faith) were many miles away, and possibly a good number of years had come and gone. But now, the Lord reminds these believers about Antipas, whom He describes as “My faithful martyr”. We don’t know if he was the first, the most recent, the best well known, none of those things, but we’re sure he never denied Jesus, even though, as some older writers said, “. . , he sealed his testimony with his blood.” Faithful Antipas, we remember even today.
There is something else worth mentioning, and that was the reality that Satan had established a “seat” or throne (see https://biblehub.com/greek/2362.htm) right there in Pergamum. Some have commented that this refers to the various idol temples not only in Pergamum but over most of the world, but there may be something even beyond that. To paraphrase John Phillips in his book “Exploring Revelation” observed that this could be a reference to a sort of headquarters because Satan is a created being and can only be in one place at any given time. Something definitely was happening in Pergamum, and if it involved persecution of believers, Satan was likely behind it.
After all, as verse 13 concludes, Satan was dwelling (see https://biblehub.com/greek/2730.htm). Note a strong contrast between the text here and the teachings of our Lord in John 14. Judas (not Iscariot) asked Jesus how He would manifest Himself to the Twelve but not to the world. Jesus replied that He and the Father would “make our abode with him” who loved Them. Here in Pergamum, Satan had established his own dwelling (https://biblehub.com/greek/2730.htm). Apparently Satan decided he liked Pergamum and wanted to stay there for as long as possible.
We’ve already made some steps from praise to problems, so let’s take a look at these problems.
3 The Warning about the Problems
Pergamum had its share of problems, like most churches, but these were different. The greatest problem at Ephesus was that they had left their first love, and Smyrna had to deal with the “synagogue of Satan”. Here in Pergamum, they had already seen Antipas martyred for his faith but that wasn’t all. And the Lord was going to expose and explain it to them.
He first mentioned there were in Pergamum those who held the “doctrine of Balaam”. The “ministry” of Balaam, if we can call it that, is recorded in the Book of Numbers, chapters 22-24. In brief, Balak, king of Moab, was afraid of Israel and asked Balaam to come a long way in order to curse Israel Some aspects of Balaam’s journey are amazing (have any of us ever heard a donkey speak a human language? Didn’t think so.), including the request for curses becoming revelations of blessings.
So far, so good, right?
But Balaam gave Balak one clear way to cause Israel to sin and receive God’s judgment and the results are in Numbers 25. We read there that over 20,000 Israelites bowed down to or worshiped an idol but paid with their lives. The seed that started it all, though, came from Balaam (Numbers 31:16). Now it seemed that some of his disciples, for lack of a better term, were following the same example
Yet the Lord wasn’t done pointing out the problems. Besides those who held the “doctrine of Balaam”, as bad as that was, there was another group whom we’ve heard of before. These were the Nicolaitans, and we first met with some of them in Ephesus. We’re not told anything about how this group got started, but some think they began with Nicolas of Antioch, a Gentile proselyte or convert to Judaism, who was also one of the original seven deacons (Acts 6). We’ll never know here on this earth if that was the case or not.
The reality, though, is that the word itself is almost scary, or ominous, as some feel. Literally translated, it means “to conquer the people” and that desire, that lust, that yearning for power and control has plagued humanity for about as long as there have been people! I mean, look at the early Church: Jesus Himself had returned to Heaven (Acts 1) and the only “leaders” were the Apostles. And nowhere did the Apostles demand worship, tribute, reverence, or anything else: in fact, as one radio Bible teacher explained, they had no money to give to a beggar! The lame man in Acts 3 asked Peter and John for alms, but Peter said, “I don’t have any money to give you, but I’ll share what I do have” and raised the man onto his feet!
That, however, was in the past and by now there seemed to be, beginning at Ephesus and now firmly in place at Pergamum those who held the doctrines of the Nicolaitans. A number of commentators observed that Ephesus had the deeds but Pergamum had those who held a doctrine. We’re never told exactly what those doctrines were, but if the Lord hated it or them, it’s a clear sign we should not approve of it either. Again paraphrasing John Phillips in “Exploring Revelation”, there appeared to be two sides of the same coin: relaxing standards in living while placing restrictions on leadership.
There has been a distinction between “clergy” and “laity” for many years, but that wasn’t always so, especially in the Church’s early days. Naturally there needs to be human leadership, but the good kind is best: the kind where the leaders watch for the led. Too many times that wasn’t so.
We don’t want to stop with the problems, though. The Lord offers a prescription so now let’s see what He says to these believers.
4 The Writing of a Prescription
In view of the problems there at Pergamum, the Lord tells it like it is and commands them to repent. Let it be reminded that repentance means to first change one’s mind and then, ideally, change one’s actions. The clearest form of repentance stems from changing one’s mind from “I want to follow Satan (in so many words)” to “I want to follow Jesus”. Certainly the Lord knows who is sincere, meaning what they say and do, and He definitely knows who’s lying about it.
So now, this seems to be a direct approach to all three groups claiming to be Christ-followers in Pergamum: the genuinely saved believer who needs to repent of his or her sins (like me and all of us), then the followers of Balaam, to stop doing and following the doctrine of Balaam, and third, the Nicolaitans, whose doctrine/s the Lord hated. If He hates something, so should we! Remember, this is the doctrine or teaching that the Lord hates; never those who follow them. After all, didn’t all of us follow some kind of erroneous teaching before we became believers?
There is a warning, though, if those who need to repent won’t. The Lord says, “If you don’t repent, I’ll come quickly and fight against them with the sword (same word as in verse 12) of My mouth.” Remember, that sword is a large, two-edged sword, designed for power and for punishment, depending on the situation.
Wouldn’t repentance, and making things right with God, be better than remaining in false doctrine and being not right with Him? The Lord has a few more things to add to this message.
Conclusion and promise of rewards
Even in Pergamum, where two different but, maybe, complementary false doctrines seemed to be going along smoothly, there were those genuine believers who wanted to do and be right with the Lord. He gave them a promise; two, actually: first, the right to “hidden manna”, and each one who overcame (the situation?) would also receive a white stone with a new name written on it.
Manna of course speaks of the food Israel received from the Lord fresh every day except the Sabbath (Exodus 16:4-35). This food stopped once Israel crossed the Jordan and set foot in Canaan (Joshua 5:12). Jesus mentioned manna a number of times during His earthly ministry but it’s safe to say nobody had eaten literal or real manna for many years. But whatever this manna may be, hidden or otherwise, it’s going to be a gift or reward from our Father to us!
And the white stone? There are a lot of opinions about this one. Those in Pergamum would have known exactly what it was and what it meant even if we do not. Likewise, the new name on the stone? These days, we may only wonder; but one day, we’ll know for sure.
Another thing we’ll know for sure is that if we do not overcome, in other words remain in the false doctrines of the Balaam-followers, the Nicolaitans, or anyone else, we’ll never get that true reward of manna, a new stone, and a new name.
So in a word of conclusion, may we remember that false prophets, like Balaam, and false teachings have been around for many years—and they’re still here today, but we can and should be aware of these. Jesus told the unbelieving Jews in John 5:39, “Search the Scriptures!” and that’s something we should do every day! Knowing the truth keeps us from falling into error.
My prayer for all of us is that we’ll repent of our sins, and remember that the Lord has great rewards for us who remain faithful to Him! Don’t give up!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
