Revelation 2:12-17
Notes
Transcript
The church on Satan’s porch
The church on Satan’s porch
Today we're going to talk about the church At Pergamum, this Is a very unique church and it’s an interesting church
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Revelation 2:12–17 (NLT)
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.
A couple of things before we get started Pergamum is the third church Of the seven that are written to
In its dispensation or time period in church history Is the time period of Constantine In this time. It was known for the intermingling Of Pagan fast and rituals that were converted into Christian Holidays and festivals. Being a Christian was more about denouncing paganism than about true surrender to Christ.
Again this is my eschatology and how it lays out Not can argue with people just how I look at it Feel free to come in and chat with me about it.
Revelation 2:12a (NLT)
12 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum.
Overview of the city of Pergamum
Overview of the city of Pergamum
We don’t know much about how this church was started
We know that according to Act 16:7-8
7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.
And so is possible that during this time Of Paul’s Being redirected by the spirit of Christ That He had somehow come in contact With the people in this area and the church had been started
This church was located about 100 miles from Ephesus Smyrna not being halfway in between
It was one of the churches On the way Through the mail route Of Asia minor.
Pergamum was not A Port city It was located about 15 miles inland from the Aegean Sea.
And it was not a city that was on any major trade.
But Pergamum was the capital of Asia minor And was considered to be its greatest city.
By the time this letter is penned by John It had been the capital city of Asia minor For 250 years
One of the things that made Pergamum So great Was its huge library It contained over 200,000 handwritten volumes Second only to the library at Alexandria
This collection was so vast that Mark Anthony actually sent it To Queen Cleopatra As a gift
One of the kings of Pergamum tried to lure the librarian of Alexandria away So the Pharaoh stop all sales of Papyrus To Pergamum Even though they are the ones that made the use of papyrus extremely popular.
So in response, Pergamum invented Parchment Which uses animal skin Instead of Papyrus reads.
The famous physician Galen was Born in Pergamum and practiced Medicine in Pergamum His fame was only to be outdone by Hippocrates (Where we get the Hippocratic oath from)
Pergamum was an important center of worship in the Greco-Roman world, Temples that were dedicated to Athena, Asklepios, Dionysos, and Zeus.
But the most popular Worship in this town That overshadowed all the other deities Was Perineum's devotion to the cult worship of Emperor Pergamum Built the first Temple Devoted to Emperor worship in Asia In 29 A.D. In honor of Emperor Augustine.
The city became the center of Emperor worship in the Providence More so than any other city In Asia minor
Revelation 2:12b (NLT)
12 This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword:
A little side notes This verse here Denotes something really interesting Jesus wants us to understand That he Wields the sword This letter Is literally John writing down everything Jesus tells him To write down.
Just like a computer Doesn’t do the writing It’s a tool For you to use to write that’s what John is Taking place
1. Encouragement For the church of Pergamum.
1. Encouragement For the church of Pergamum.
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.
The names of each church Matters, God wants this and his church to be thoroughly married and not partially married
“thoroughly married.”
Like a told you this church Is on Satan’s porch The word actually says Satan’s throne Others could mean lots of different things
Antipas, who suffered martyrdom for his witness. Nothing more is known of Antipas, yet this gives us a small hint of what occurred in the local Church at Pergamum. His name means “against all” and Indicates that he stood against all satanic worship. The war against their faith was being inspired by satanic opposition.
Many give you a quick overview
Some identify Satan’s throne As being The magnification Of Zeus in Pergamum they had this huge altar to Zeus It was gigantic The structure is a monumental colonnaded court in the form of a horseshoe, 120 by 112 feet. The podium of the altar was over 18 feet high.
It also could have been the Throne of Satan because of The god Asklepios He was known as the god of healing It’s where we get our Medical symbol of a snake wrapped around a staff That comes from this Roman god of healing People would lay down in the temple And allow these non-venomous snakes to crawl all over them hoping that the healing of this god The snake god Would heal them. That much Leap from the serpent of old Who deceived Adam and Eve in the garden
It could also be the throne of Satan Because of the Overwhelming amount of Emperor worship that took place Here was Unlike Any other the Christians would have had to pledge their allegiance once A year In other cities. Here they would’ve had to pledge their allegiance multiple times a year Maybe even every week. Which would’ve put the Christians there in constant fear for their life.
And these believers were faithful Even after The martyrdom of Their pastor tradition says was Burned alive in Brass bowl.
So these Christians have been through a lot And they stayed faithful And Jesus is encouraging them For their faithfulness.
But And again Wherever you see but’s in the Bible Brace yourself.
2. Concern For the church of Pergamum
2. Concern For the church of Pergamum
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.
Heresy Balaam
We know what the teaching of Balaam You can find it Numbers 22-25 It’s basically teaching the merging of Pagan ideas With Christian beliefs Now it’s not that the whole church Had Given into this and she said they were allowing people Who held to this belief To have a voice in their church.
It was a teaching of compromise It’s the inner marrying or intermingling Of Pagan and Christian And Chris Does not like compromise He wants us to be faithful Sold out For him.
Mark 8:34–35 (NLT)
34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
We had to stay focused On Christ Christ is the goal
The next heresy
The heresy of the Nicolaitans
Here is the Doctrine that the Group in Ephesus had rejected Here in Pergamum This church Has allowed people who Believe this doctrine to exist in the church And have a voice.
This is not my opinion These Opinions are coming from Jesus directly And we need to understand that he cares about doctrinal opinion When it’s being voiced in the church.
Were not talking about fringe doctrines Were talking about taking the doctrine of grace to another level
They were eating meat sacrificed to idols
Now that doesn’t sound like a big deal to us in our Western modern context but is a big deal to them because what was happening is they were going into the temples to get their meat And we're falling into
All kinds of sexual immorality drunkenness things that went along with being in the temple.
When you struggle with the sin You shouldn’t be messing around with that sin thinking you are going to be able to Overcoming
The church has been warned by the apostles in Acts 15:22-29 That they were not supposed to do this Yet The disregarded and still argue with people as if it was still up for debate Same argument the words of God argue anything
3. How to apply this to my life
3. How to apply this to my life
Again like I said couple of weeks ago Nick how do I apply This to my everyday life My Bills getting paid my kids being crazy.
The first thing I have to ask is What are we putting our trust in are we putting our trust In the world system Are we putting our trust in the things that are fading away Because in the Encouragement to this church Jesus says something very interesting.
Revelation 2:17 (NLT)
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.
Jesus first says that he understands that There’s going to be lost in our life there may be friends and there may be acquaintances and there may be things in our life that we have to cut loose We may even have to set aside The worship of our children which is prominent in our culture today.
But it is better Two Have ears to hear The things that God is speaking Then it is to because in sin And Move further and further away from the things of God.
How does this help us in our everyday life”
Revelation 2:17b (NLT)
17 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.
Jesus will sustain just like he Did the children of Israel in the desert they had no means of providing for themselves but God gave them what they needed because there close did not Whether And he gave them everything they needed to survive.
Now of people in this situation at this time where we are talking about life-and-death Can turn away and turn to Jesus how much more should Living in the country in the time that I live in. For most of us, the greatest thing we are going to Encounter is the rejection of our friends.
The white stone : A look at their context
One way was when a person was found innocent in a trial; he was given a white stone as a symbol of acquittal.
Another way was when a person was going into the membership of a private club; he would be given a white stone, which was a symbol of his acceptance
Another custom was awarding white stones to the victor's athletic. A white stone, inscribed with the athlete’s name, served as his ticket to a special awards banquet.
Christ has promised the overcomes (Accepted Christ and Persevered through persecution) entrance to the eternal victory celebration in heaven.
John 14:1–3 (NLT)
1 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.
Jesus does not promise that her life will be free of trouble What he promises us s that he sees us He hears us and he cares
This world is not our home This is a broken world with a lot of broken promises But there will come a day where we will enter to a place where there is no more pain When there’s no more sorrow There’s no more anger and bitterness But it will be like the party went to That you never wanted to leave And you won’t have to.
The peace of God comes From knowing the one Losing control of everything Peace is not dictated By Circumstances It’s dictated by the thing we put our trust.