THE REVELATION OF JESUS
PERGAMUM - THE COMPROMISING CHURCH
Revelation 2: 12-17
The inland city of Pergamum was located about fifty-five miles north of Smyrna, along the fertile valley of the Caicus River. It was built on the southern slope of a hill that rises almost one thousand feet from the surrounding plain that provided both breathtaking scenery and military security. Today the modern city of Bergama sits at the foot of this hill
Pergamum (which means citadel in Greek) held the official honor of being the provincial capital of Roman Asia. Ephesus and Smyrna also claimed this title.
Among it’s notable features were its beauty and wealth, it’s library of nearly two hundred thousand volumes (second only to Alexandria), it’s famous sculptures, its temples to Dionysus, Zeus, Athena, Asclepius and Demeter and the three temples to the emperor cult.
(NOTE: The people of Pergamum loved books so much they invented parchment, a way of using animal skins as paper).
Two main religions flourished, the worship of Dionysus, the god of kings, symbolized by the bull. And Asclepius, the savior god of healing, represented by two snakes inner twined around a pole.
Pergamum practiced careful city zoning. The poor lived at the foot of the mountain; the next level was the business district; above that the rich lived in their villas; finally at the top were the important public buildings and temples.
In the lower part of the city was the famous temple to Asclepion. A complex of several buildings served as a combination temple-hospital. Patients came from all over the world expecting to be healed by the god Asclepius.
This great city has another characteristic, Satan has his throne there. We’ll get to that in a minute
Characteristic vs 12
Jesus emphasizes to the believers of Pergamum that he has the sharp, double-edged sword. Through out Revelation the sword symbolizes God’s word. Here, Jesus’ word has the power to judge and conquer his enemies.
The Roman proconsul exercised the power of the sword from his judgment seat in Pergamum. His word held life and death for those before him. He had the power of persecution, but not ultimate power. Only Christ has total power over everything.
This word brought comfort to those who were faithful to Jesus and fear to the Balaamites and the Nicolaitans.
Compliment vs 13
Twice our Lord notes the presence of Satan in the city where these believers lived. The original significance of the throne of Satan is not totally clear. Some scholars believe that the following interpretation to a large degree is representative of the truth.
Satan has a kingdom; Babylon has from earliest times been considered the capital of this kingdom. Idolatry gained its start in Babylon through Nimrod and his mother. As long as Babylon was a dominant power, it made an excellent headquarters for the enemy’s attack on men. It is highly probable that as Babylon declined Satan looked for a new city, choosing Pergamum because of its strong idolatrous religions.
I have entered cities with no gospel witness. The cloud of oppression hangs like a chocking fog. No doubt these were the conditions under which the church at Pergamum was faithfully preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The throne of Satan could also refer to the huge altar to Zeus that overlooked the city. In Smyrna the synagogue of Satan was Jewish, in Pergamum it could be pagan.
Any way you look at it, the devil had used his stronghold in this city to make life miserable for the Christians. One member of the congregation, a faithful witness known as Antipas had made the great sacrifice of being put to death.
While believers in other places might have buckled in the face of such pressure, Christ complimented the believers who did not renounce your faith in me.
Many within the Christian family feel it would be easier to live in some other city where people are more sympathetic to Christianity. They want a convenient Christianity.
The Christian life is not an escape, but conquest. Believers with great conviction willingly stand alone. They will face down any foe. Some will go to the point of death for their Lord.
i.e. many of you have served in the military, willing to give your life for our country. How much more should we be willing to lay it down for Jesus!
Our witness can be costly. It may mean that we live as an outcast of society because we don’t buy into the values of our society. One reason the church has little power is that its hard to tell the difference between the church and the world. Is there conviction today that makes the church distinct from the world?
Criticism vs 14-15
The church at Pergamum apparently had the opposite problem of the Ephesian church. Rather than testing and rejecting false teachers, they had accepted people who hold to the teaching of Balaam. They had coped with the external threat of persecution, but did not deal with the threat from within the church. Satan had infiltrated the church and his servants had introduced destructive heresies.
The story of Balaam, the false prophet, and Balak, king of Moab, is told in Numbers 22-24. The false prophet and the king failed in their direct attempt to curse the Israelites. Balaam wanted money for his religious services.
i.e. Balaam is the perfect example of “every man has his price.”
When he could not curse Israel, Balaam told Balak, “if you cannot curse these people, then corrupt them, then God will have to correct them. If God corrects them then their numbers will diminish and their threat to your kingdom.
So they sent the women over to intermarry with Israeli men, which they did, and eat food that had been offered to the idols. This was strictly prohibited by God. So, the Israelites became polluted socially and spiritually.
The teaching of Balaam then encouraged committing sexual immorality. To the believers at Pergamum it probably involved consorting with the temple prostitutes. Paul’s teaching on this subject is clear in 1 Corinthians 5-7. For Christians, sexual relationships are right only within the bonds of marriage.
These false teachers had been teaching a grievous moral error: violation of the marriage bond is quite all right if done in the name of religion. i.e. Jim Jones
Our society today strongly believes in Balaam’s doctrine!
The doctrine of the Nicolaitans had been quenched in Ephesus, but not here. It is closely related to the teaching of Balaam. We do not know exactly what they taught. Scofield’s understanding of the Nicolaitans is the following:
Nicolaitans comes from two root words, nikao, means “to conquer,” and laos, which means people or laity. Scofield believes that this refers to the earliest from or notion of a priestly order or clergy which divided the church (equal brothers) into clergy and laity. i.e. creating a higharchy in the church.
Both the teaching of Balaam and that of the Nicolaitans are clear doctrinal errors. This was syncretism between Christianity, false doctrine and false living.
Scripture clearly instructs us that we are to neither add or subtract from what is written.
Command vs 16
Some believers in Pergamum were tolerating falsehood by teaching that in morals, violation of the conscience or the marriage bond is perfectly all right.
Jesus comes right to the point: REPENT! He will have none of that. They must repent, recognize and forsake their sins, or face the consequence.
The idea that all roads lead to God is false. Christ’s teaching proclaims a doctrine that is distinct from any other religion this world offers. There is only one road to God and that is through Jesus Christ. He is the way the truth and the life, no one can come to the Father except through him. John ?
These church members had become Christ’s enemies. Jesus threatened to unleash among them his awesome power of judgment that was intended to be used only against His enemies. I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
The distinction between you and them is important here. The Balaamites and the Nicolaitans are not a true part of the church, even though they had infiltrated it.
The sword, the word of God, compares with the description of Christ at his second coming in 19:15 in which he strikes down the nations with the sword (word) that comes out of his mouth.
Jesus will not put up with those who tolerate false beliefs. He will shut down churches, organizations and para-church groups that leave the fundamentals of the faith. He will judge them swiftly!
Commitment vs 17
The letter concludes with the ususal he who has an ear...and him who overcomes. The commitment that Jesus makes is double, to eat hidden manna and to receive a white stone with a new name.
Three things marked the heresy at Pergamum, idolatry, immorality, and infidelity. The overcomer kept himself from all three and was greatly rewarded.
The hidden manna and the white stone are two different symbols for eternal life, the first Jewish, the second Gentile.
Moses placed a pot of manna in the ark to remind the Israelites of God’s grace and faithfulness in the wilderness. Accordingly, Jewish teaching held that in the messianic era there would be the restoration of the hidden manna. To those at Pergamum who refused the banquets of the pagan gods, Christ will give the manna of eternal life in His Kingdom.
In ancient law courts white and black stones were used for registering the verdicts of juries. Black for condemnation and white for acquittal. This would mean that the believer is acquitted in God’s sight because of the work of Jesus on the cross.
In John’s time white stones were also used as admission tickets for public events. It could mean that admission to heaven is absolutely sure for the believer in Christ.
The new name...known only to him who receives it is either the name of Christ himself, or the believer’s new name because of his changed character. Jesus has offered himself and the power of his name so that those who have faith in him may overcome.
D.L. Moody tells the story of struggling with God’s will for his life. God had been calling him to do city-wide and nation-wide evangelism. Moody did not want to do that. He fought and fought it. Then one day, walking the streets of New York City he surrendered to God.
An overwhelming sense of the presence of God filled his soul, God Almighty seemed to come very near me. I felt I must be alone.
He hurried back to the house of a friend where he had been staying and asked for a room where he could be alone. He locked the door and fell to the floor. The room was ablaze with God. Moody later wrote that Gad revealed Himself to him, and he had such an experience of His love that he had to ask Him to hold off some. He was alone with God in a nearness, intimacy such as he had never known possible on earth.
Moody hardly ever spoke of that experience, it was to sacred he said. (Pollock, Moody: A biographical Portrait, pp 90-91)
God gave D.L. Moody a taste of the hidden manna, a white stone, and a new name that no man knew other than God.
How hungry for God are you? Do you long for an intimacy with Him?
