Revelation 2:12-17
Notes
Transcript
12 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword:
13 “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.
14 “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.
15 In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching.
16 Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 “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.
Pergamum is identified as the place where “Satan has his throne”
Possible Reasons Why:
Because of the acropolis in the town
This would contain temples to honor different gods and the Roman Emperor
With this temple structure on a hill it might resemble a footstool or throne
One of the major gods worshipped was Asclepius, the healing god. His symbol was the serpent
See Rev. 20:2
He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years.
where Satan, dragon, devil is described as the serpent
This was the regional seat where court cases were tried
A commentary on the evil of the Roman government
This was the place where Antipas was martyred v.13 (who is declared a “faithful witness”)
Antipas is the ONLY martyr mentioned by name in ALL of Revelation. And, he is given the title “Faithful Witness” which was used for Christ in 1:5.
Whatever the reason might be Jesus/John are highlighting that in Pergamum there is a power at play trying to usurp the true throne of God!
And, in the midst of this the church has remained faithful. What was promised to come to Smyrna has come, in part, to Pergamum. Christ encourages Smyrna to remain faithful in the midst of increased persecution. It seems that for the Pergamum church this has come at least to 1 person; Antipas.
In the midst of this pressure the church seems to have remained strong.
But they are not perfect! The error of their ways - they have bowed down to idols… They have ASSIMILATED into culture. They are 2 faced - declaring that Jesus is Lord, but practicing pagan idolatry.
Although Ephesus is chastised for losing their love, they were able to know dogma, teaching, orthodoxy that kept them from stumbling in the way the church in Pergamum has.
Yet, there is an issue from “Balaam/Nicolatians”.
Balaam told Balak how to entice the Israelites to sin and bring God’s curse upon them.
Numbers 22-24 tells the story of how Balak, King of Moab, tried to get Balaam to curse the Israelites. Balaam continually refused to curse them because he could not curse God’s people.
However, Numbers 25 tells that the people were led astray and received God’s curse.
Numbers 25:1-4
While the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove, some of the men defiled themselves by having sexual relations with local Moabite women. These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, so the Israelites feasted with them and worshiped the gods of Moab. In this way, Israel joined in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the Lord’s anger to blaze against his people.
The Lord issued the following command to Moses: “Seize all the ringleaders and execute them before the Lord in broad daylight, so his fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel.”
“These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the Lord at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the Lord’s people.
Where Balaam couldn’t directly curse, he used the lure of assimilation (seen through sexual immorality) to have God curse the people.
According to Christ, the church in Pergamum has lost its “cutting edge” and is finding it easy to assimilate into the culture.
Is eating meat a problem? (Acts 15:20;29; 1 Cor. 8:1-13; 10:25-31 Rom 14:1-23)
Acts 15:20 (NLT) 20 Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood.
Acts 15:29 (NLT) 29 You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.”
Paul in 1 Cor and Rom declares that meat isn’t the issue, but whether or not our eating offends the conscience of another believer.
You would get meat by either participating in the sacrificial worship, going to someone’s home who had, or by buying meat in the market.
Given the reference to Balaam, it is clear that the church is practicing sexual immorality. In practicing sexual immorality, the church in Pergamum has moved beyond simply eating meat and has assimilated more into the culture/religion of the surrounding areas.
The issue is not meat. It is that the justification used to eat meat seems to have spoiled the church to more fully participate in the mindset, practices, and festivities of the surrounding culture. The church has justified her assimilation BACK into culture and is no longer, like Antipas, standing out against culture.
Christ declares that he will come and use the two-edged sword from his mouth, the only offensive weapon in the letter, to straighten out his failing church. He will come and speak HIS truth into their hearts. The word of God is the sword of the spirit in Ephesians 6:16 and is like a 2 edged sword according to Hebrews 4:12.
This truth is 2 edged so that it can cut through those who are “2 faced”; who declare allegiance to God on one side, but assimilate with the throne of Satan on the other.
But, Christ offers His promise to the victor
Hidden Manna
(reminder of the Exodus where the people were purchased by God’s victory and yet went astray in their sojournings. But, were given God’s provisions along the way). This was also during the time that the people were led astray to bow down to the golden calf (Exodus 33) and when Balaam/Balak enticed the people into idolatry.
God’s provided for his people journeying from victory over Pharoah to the victory of officially setting up his kingdom in the Promised Land - and God promises to provide for us!
A white stone with a new name
The buildings in Pergamum were built with the local black stone. Inscriptions to honor people, or explain the building’ purpose, were put up on white marble. Where, like Antipas, they stood out more clearly against the dark backdrop.
Also, customarily, a stone with a name on it was someone’s “ticket” into a feast.
This stone is tied closely with the victory of Christ (Rev. 19:11-16 esp. v. 12) because of the mention of a new. mysterious name.
12 His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself.
The white stone is our ticket into the Wedding supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9). A ticket we receive for our faithfulness that causes us to stand out against the dark background of our culture; Like Antipas; Like Christ!
These promises portray an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ whereby Christ calls us by our name into the victory dinner and whereby Christ provides for our needs along the way! This is a direct contrast to the false intimacy of sexual immorality and idol worship!
The issue for Pergamum is justifying assimilation. It is finding it easier to appear closer and closer to the mindset of the culture instead of standing out against it like a white stone in front of a black building.
Christ promises an intimate relationship with his faithful church. A relationship where all that is needed to remain faithful is provided (think the Garden of Eden again) to keep us journeying from victory to victory.
The journey is much like the journey the Hebrew people took out of slavery into the promised land.
They journeyed because of God’s victory over Pharoah and their slavery. And, in their journey they were tempted with idolatry , and led astray because of it.
We journey, because of Christ’s victory, out of the slavery of serving Satan’s throne to the fulfilment of Christ’s victory when the Kingdom of God comes (Revelation 21-22 gives us more detail on that!)
God wishes to provide all that we need to remain those who cut against the culture as opposed to those who are cut by the truth of the Words of Christ.
So, our question is; where are we justifying assimilation? Where are we justifying rebellion? Where are we justifying serving the throne of Satan verses kneeling at the Throne of God?
What idols, false gods, false hopes, false intimacies… have we served instead of relying on true hope and true intimacy with Christ?
17 “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.
I will take care of you
And, if you remain victorious, I will welcome you into the wedding supper of the lamb!
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.”
Who don’t give in to culture. Who don’t assimilate. Who don’t bow down to the throne of Satan.
