Smyrna and Pergamum

Smyrna - “Myrrh”

Smyrna means myrrh, which is often associated with death and embalming. Using the historical-prophetic interpretation, this church becomes the fitting symbol to represent the second period of church history. That of the bloody Roman persecution from about AD 100 to 313.

Revelation 2:8–11 ESV

8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. 9 “ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

Immediately Jesus uses His title of the first and the last, who died and came to life, a fitting reminder for the suffering church. And a fitting reminder for any believer or church out there that can identify with severe persecution. Although Jesus died a violent death, He lives because of the resurrection. So too, although many of these believers in this age of the church would die violent deaths, they too would live again by way of the resurrection.

Christ died at the hands of persecutors. People who were convinced they were doing a work of God. And Jesus reminded His followers before His death, that the world hated Him, so don’t be surprised if you’re faithful to follow Him that the world will hate you as well.

This brings us to verse 9. The words of comfort. Jesus knows of the tribulation and poverty.

This is a great reminder for all of us. Jesus knows. I mean just tell that to someone the next time they share with you the hardships they are going through. Jesus knows. IF anyone knows, He does.

Tribulation and Poverty have no impact on God’s view of this church - they are RICH. According to the world’s standards, they no doubt were outcasts, Jesus Freaks, poor. But does it really matter what ANYBODY thinks about you in light of what God thinks and says about you?

We can even do this to ourselves. Let our circumstances get the best of us, and start to believe that our worth has something to do with this unfortunate circumstance that I’m in. The bible tells us that a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his posessions

Luke 12:13–21 ESV

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

On the contrary, the bible tells us that those who are poor in spirit - theirs is the kingdom of heaven, those persecuted for righteousness sake - theirs is the kingdom of heaven as well

1 Corinthians 1:26–29 ESV

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Hebrews 4 tells us that Jesus is our High Priest who can relate with us, having been tempted like us but without sin, and Hebrews 5 tells us He learned obedience through the things that He suffered.

Similar to Jesus, as I mentioned a moment ago, the church at Smyrna received persecution from those who ‘say they are Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan.’ Throughout church history, the most severe persecution has often come from religionists.

Normally, with the outlines of these letters, we would now get into the rebuke. But Smyrna is one of the two churches out of the seven that does not contain a rebuke from the Lord. Smyrna’s suffering, though extremely difficult, certainly had helped keep the believers pure in their faith and conduct.

v 10, the exhortation. First, they are told not to fear the things they are about to suffer. Endurance is the word for any believer experiencing suffering.

They are then warned about a 10 day period of persecution that would come from the hand of satan. The safe interpretation of this verse would be that there was a literal 10 days of persecution that this church went through in a local situation. We simply lack the historical confirmation.

Now from other interpretational standpoints, some have believed that the 10 days represent 10 different roman emperors who officially persecuted the church in that time frame of ad 96-313.

However, in the book of the Revelation, time zones referenced are quite literal, whether they be days, months, or years. Therefore it’s best to hold on to that approach and take this as a literal ten day period the church at Smyrna suffered through.

The third part of the exhortation is to be faithful unto death, for the death of a martyr secures the crown of life

We have the promise there in verse 11 for the overcomer, which will not be touched by the 2nd death. the 2nd death is hell, the lake of fire. the total and final extinction of the utterly wicked. For the believer, specifically here the one who overcomes persecution, the 2nd death has no power.

All men die. But to die in the second death is to die eternally. This promise reminds me of Jesus’ words to His followers during His earthly ministry,

Matthew 10:28 ESV

28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Pergamum - ‘Thoroughly Married’

Revelation 2:12–17 ESV

12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. 13 “ ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. 15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’

Pergamum means ‘thoroughly married’, was a major city of idolatry, one idol was in the form of a serpent (maybe ‘Satan’s throne reference?)

From a historical-prophetic standpoint, this is the church of the age of Constantine, which saw the church married to the state. In 313, Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire.

For each one of these churches, Jesus references Himself with a title found back in the first chapter of the book, for this church, the description of Jesus is one of judgement exercised by the Word of God.

v13 the church is commended for not denying the faith. One of the faithful members is mentioned here, Antipas, who apparently was martyred, and of whom we know nothing more about. What we do know is Antipas’ name means ‘against all’, this may indicate that he along with other faithful members of the church were against all of the idolatry in Pergamum.

The war against their faith was in the midst of idolatry, even satanic worship. This church is said to be dwelling where Satan’s throne is, which may be a reference to the temple of Esculapius, the serpent son, who was worshiped.

Interestingly enough, this false god was sought after for healing, it was believed Esculapius had the power to raise from the dead, and therefore took the form of a serpent, which molts.

we can see in many instances how satan tries to counterfeit God. The trinity is one example, we have the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Did you know there is an unholy trinity? Revelation 13 describes 3 beings, consisting of Satan, the Anti Christ, and the False Prophet.

Further study has even led many scholars to believe a mock resurrection takes place to deceive many into worshiping the anti christ

Revelation 13:3–4 ESV

3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. 4 And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

Also important to note that the false prophet (2nd beast) counterfeit to the Holy Spirit is described as very capable of signs and wonders

Revelation 13:12–14 ESV

12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. 13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

This is good time to refer back to the Holy Spirit’s warning through Paul

2 Corinthians 11:13–15 ESV

13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

we then proceed to the condemnation found in v.14-15. First, the church at pergamum is condemned for tolerating the teaching of Balaam.

Balaam was a prophet in the OT found found in Num. 22-24......

Balak king of Moab hired him to curse, 4 times balaam blessed as God used his mouth.

Since the initial plan to curse failed, balaam used a different tactic to aid balak which would force God to curse Israel Himself through their intermarrying and idolatry. Thus the females of moab and midian enticed the jewish men sexually, which led to enticing them spiritually as well. This plan worked, Israel was cursed, and many died in a plague.

The teaching of Balaam was an encouragement of corruption through intermarriage resulting in idolatry. Now what’s interesting is to remember the meaning of the name pergamum - thoroughly married.

Now as I mentioned before, the historically prophetic interpretation has this church in the age of constantine, when the church became married to the state. Once this happened, people all over the Roman Empire could be baptized and call themselves “christian”, and add Jesus to the worship of the many other ‘gods’.

This, of course, is false conversion, but the marriage of the church and state allowed people to start intermarrying into the true church without any actual conversion or rebirth by the Holy Spirit. This is how you have individuals claiming Christianity because they were baptized, or because ‘it’s the religion of the state’, because i’m white and american, therefore i’m christian, right?

All of these false converts that were then allowed to basically permeate the church would then bring their false gods, idolatry, and paganism with them, corrupting and defiling the true church. Truth then gets watered down slowly over time, and people become more concerned about being politically correct than they do about standing for truth no matter the opposition.

This is what planted the seed that would later develop the Roman Catholic Church, so the condemnation is just. Any tolerance of doctrines or practices that forsake the Word of God and take glory away from Jesus Christ shouldn’t be touched with a nine foot pole.

Galatians 1:8 ESV

8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

In v15, they are then condemned for tolerating the teachings of the Nicolaitans. This is the same group that ephesus was commended for not tolerating, pergamum is condemned for tolerating.

Real quick I just want to make sure we understand something, because some people believe love means tolerance. Remove this thought from your minds. Love does NOT mean never having to say sorry. Love is not a tolerance of wickedness. the church at corinth had this against them as well, you’ll remember when Paul wrote to them about the young man who was in an intimate relationship with his step-mother.

1 Corinthians 5:1–6 ESV

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. 6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

These church leaders were actually boasting about how tolerant they were! You see the pattern here? The only thing this tolerance would have led to would have been the rest of the pure bride of Christ being defiled, led astray, leavened. Thankfully, the leadership heeded Paul’s wisdom by the Holy Spirit, and kicked this dude out of the church. This ultimately led to his repentance and restoration we can read about in 2 cor. 2.5-11

Now this name Nikao-laos literally means to conquer the people. It was during this period of the church where distinction began to emerge between the clergy (church leadership) and the laity (church but not in leadership). This rebuke is again because this church at Pergamum was tolerating this false and destructive teaching

Of course, Jesus has every right for this rebuke as well, because we know that Jesus’ perspective on leadership versus the world’s was a sharp contrast, one that was even tough for his disciples to grasp at first.

The Nicolaitans laid the ground work that would lead to a priestly order that would further corrupt the church. We can tie the ungodly exaltation of the pope back to these roots.

Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day

Matthew 23:6–11 ESV

6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant.

Clearly, the church in many denomination forms has slipped back into this. It seems man just wants something or someone tangible to worship. Creature and creation rather than the Creator, as the book of Romans tells us.

It’s amazing, because we seen at first Satan’s attempt to extinguish the church through persecution was and always seems to be a failure. Persecution often fans the flame that gets the church fired up and exploding in growth. But, satan is strategic, and I believe he knows that he can do a lot more damage with one demon INSIDE the church than with 1000 outside. His strategy went from violence to alliance, and this is why there are so many warnings against false doctrine in the Word.

The church needs to have control over what is going on INSIDE of her, what teachings are being embraced, Who is being exalted? Who is really being worshiped? If the church would focus on this, then the whole ‘impacting the world’ on the outside will resolve itself, I truly believe.

our exhortation then is found in v16, they are exhorted to repent or be judged.

This has got to be one of my favorite characteristics of GOD. Slow to anger, leaving room for repentance. It’s easy to read these letters to these churches and shake our heads as read the rebukes, like; “how could you guys mess that up or get that wrong?” when reality is, we ought to not only read the WORD to learn historically what happened, but also ask ourselves, “What would you desire to speak to me LORD?”

I’m reading through Jeremiah in my personal time. He was the prophet raised up leading right before the Babylonian captivity. So here he was speaking to these people constantly; “Turn from your wicked ways! The LORD is bringing destruction to this place, repent!” And time and time again the people would not listen, but GOD persisted

Jeremiah 26:2–6 ESV

2 “Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word. 3 It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds. 4 You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, 5 and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.’ ”

Notice His intent for the message in verse 3 there, Please, repent.

2 Peter 3:9 ESV

9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

It is the same message for all men today

Acts 17:30 ESV

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

those words mean everyone and everywhere. And it is in this - repentance - 180 degree turn, God’s kindness and slowness to anger is meant to lead us into this repentance. That is what then gives mankind a chance to experience the forgiveness and love of God.

So, Jesus laid out where this church was off - tolerance of false doctrine, exalting men, and immorality. And then allows them opportunity to repent. What about us, when GOD by His Word or perhaps through one of His servants brings out an area of your life where you are wrong, how do you respond?

I think there’s really only 2 options, like the Pharisees (parable of the wicked tenants)

Mark 12:12 ESV

12 And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.

or like David (you are that man)

2 Samuel 12:13 ESV

13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

Jesus followed the rebuke with the promise in v17, which is 3 fold.

First, to the one who overcomes is promised hidden manna. As you all know, Manna was the miraculous food provided to the children of Israel who left Egypt and wandered in the wilderness. So too, the person who keeps themselves out of the state or world’s pollution, although may be deprived of material pleasantries, God will provide them sustenance.

Second, they are promised a white stone. Now in the ancient world there were two ways a person could receive a white stone. One was when a person was found innocent in a trial, another was when a person was to be received membership into a private club. Both elements can be included in this second promise, the individual that remains faithful will be acquitted of the guilt of this particular church, and also accepted by God

Thirdly, the promise is a new name written on the stone. Oftentimes in scripture, new names are given to individuals after overcoming spiritual obstacles.

Jacob was given the name Israel after having wrestled with God, gen 32.22-32, and abram was given the name abraham along with the covenant of circumcision, gen. 17.1-8

There’s much we can learn from reading these letters to the churches. I pray GOD has shown each one of us our portion.

(Father’s Day gifts!)