Revelation
2:12 "To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the
words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword"
The church
in Pergamum is both praised and rebuked, because they allowed the false
doctrines of the Nicolaitans to infiltrate their teachings.
[1]Pergamum, located in the west of
what is now Asiatic Turkey, occupied a commanding position near the seaward end
of the broad valley of the Caicus about 45 miles north of Smyrna and about 20
miles from the Aegean Sea. The modern village of Bergama, Turkey, now covers
part of the ancient site.
Pergamum
had once been the capital of the Roman province of Asia, but Caesar Augustus
had made Ephesus the center of the financial and administrative functions for
the province. The city thus boasted a
religious supremacy in the province, though Ephesus became its main commercial
center.
Pergamum
was a university town with a large library of 200,000 volumes given as a gift
from Anthony to Cleopatra. It was a very wealthy city and the center of emperor
worship with many temples and idolatrous practices. This was the place ‘where
Satan’s throne is’ (Rev. 2:13). The phrase has been applied to the complex of
pagan cults, of Zeus, Athena, Dionysus and Asclepius (Esculapius), established
by the Attalid kings, that of Asclepius Soter (the 'savior,' 'healer') being of
special importance. These cults are illustrative of the religious history of
Pergamum, and Jesus' accusation that Pergamum is "Satan’s throne"
indicates the level of idolatry that was practiced there, such as emperor
worship. This was where the worship of the divine emperor had been made the
touchstone of civic loyalty under Domitian.
Here was
the magnificent temple of Esculapius, a pagan god whose idol was in the form of
a serpent. The inhabitants were known as the chief temple keepers of Asia. When
the Babylonian cult of the Magians was driven out of Babylon, they found a
haven in Pergamum.
It marked
a crisis for the church in Asia. Antipas who is called, "my faithful
witness" (v. 13), is probably cited as a representative (probably the
first to be put to death by the Roman state) of those who were brought to
judgment and executed there for their faith.
The title
of the Magian high priest was "Chief Bridge Builder" meaning the one
who spans the gap between mortals and Satan and his hosts. In Latin this title
was written Pontifex Maximus, the title now used by the Pope. This title
goes all the way back to Babylon and the beginnings of the mother-child cult
under Nimrod of Genesis 10 and his wife Sumerimus. Later, Julius Caesar was
elected Pontifex Maximus and when he became Emperor, he became the supreme
civil and religious ruler and head of Rome politically and religiously with all
the power and functions of the Babylonian pontiff.
Today a
small village called Bergama is located here with a Christian testimony which
continued into modern times. This church may depict the history of the church
from the time of Constantine until the rise of the papacy from the time of
Constantine onward.
In this
hostile environment the church receives Jesus' praise for holding fast to his
name and not denying their faith in him, even in the days of Antipas, who was
killed for his faith. The congregation had tasted martyrdom for Antipas had
paid the ultimate price to maintain his testimony and in so doing he became the
reflection of Jesus, the preeminently "faithful witness."
I Timothy 6:11 - 16 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and
pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12Fight
the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were
called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13In
the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while
testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14to
keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ, 15which God will bring about in his own time--God, the
blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16who
alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen
or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
Revelation
2:12 "To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words
of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword."
In this
third letter to the church in Pergamum, the third of the seven of Asia, in the
order of its geographical sequence, Jesus identifies himself as the one with
the "sharp, double-edged sword."
In Revelation 1:16 John related to us how he saw Jesus as the one with
the double-edged sword coming out of his mouth. Now Jesus says that it is He
who is writing to the church in Pergamum.
Revelation
2:13 I know where you live--where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true
to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas,
my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city--where Satan lives.
The
circumstances of Antipas' death are veiled in mystery, but it was apparently
related to the presence of "Satan's throne" in the city. The persecution of Christians instigated by
emperor Nero was limited to Rome and its environs. Three decades later Domitian conferred upon himself the title
"our lord and our god," but even then no empirewide policy mandated
the execution of Christians.
Nevertheless, those steeped in Rome's civil religion, especially Asians
accustomed to deified monarchs, would view with suspicion anyone who declined
to honor the emperor as lord and god.
Such
simmering suspicion could boil over into mob violence or arbitrary bureaucratic
decisions to teach such troublemakers a lesson in loyalty. When Satan flexed his strength on the site
of his throne, silencing Antipas' witness by bloodshed, the church stood fast.
Revelation
2:14, 15 Nevertheless, I have a few
things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam,
who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to
idols and by committing sexual immorality. Revelation 2:15 Likewise you also
have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
After
commending them for their perseverance even at the murder of Antipas, Jesus
takes them to task because they tolerated destructive doctrines in their midst.
While
standing against Satan's frontal assault the church had let a dangerous enemy
slip through the back door, so to speak:
The Nicolaitans. During Israel's wilderness wandering, God had prevented
the prophet Balaam from cursing the Israelites, as we have read in Numbers 22,
so Balaam found a subtler avenue of ambush, advising Balaak to send Moabite
women to seduce the Israelite men. Great alienation from God occurred and great
punishment was inflicted upon Israel because of their lack of faith in
God. Now the Nicolaitans at Pergamum
were replicating Balaam's strategy, luring Christians into sexual and spiritual
infidelity.
Early
Christians, who converted from paganism, were particularly susceptible to the
confusion preached by the Nicolaitans regarding food sacrificed to idols and
inappropriate sexual conduct. The
church at Corinth, across the Aegean Sea from Asia, also needed instruction on
sexual issues and food offered to idols.
Let's read some of the passages in Paul's letter to that church
regarding this very same issue. One
will recognize that the language is as fitting today as it was then.
I Corinthians 5:1 - 13, 6:12 - 20 It is actually reported that
there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even
among pagans: A man has his father's wife. 2And you are proud!
Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your
fellowship the man who did this? 3Even though I am not physically
present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one
who did this, just as if I were present. 4When you are assembled in
the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our
Lord Jesus is present, 5Hand this man over to Satan, so that the
sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
6Your
boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the
whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a
new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has
been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the
old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast,
the bread of sincerity and truth. 9I have written you in my letter
not to associate with sexually immoral people-10not at all meaning
the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or
idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.
11But
now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself
a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a
drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12What
business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge
those inside? 13God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked
man from among you."
6:12"Everything
is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything
is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything. 13"Food
for the stomach and the stomach for food"--but God will destroy them both.
The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for
the body. 14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he
will raise us also. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members
of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with
a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that he who unites himself
with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will
become one flesh."
I Corinthians 6:17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one
with him in spirit. 18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a
man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own
body. 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy
Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20You
were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Although
food offered to idols doesn't defile it, as we know from what Scripture teaches
us in
I Corinthians 8:4 - 6 and 10:25, 26 So then, about eating food
sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and
that there is no God but one. 5For even if there are so-called gods,
whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and
many "lords"), 6Yet for us there is but one God, the
Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one
Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. 10:25Eat
anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26for,
"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."
The social
context, however, can turn the innocent act of eating into a serious sin,
either by sending mixed signals or even by sharing the table of demons at
banquets in honor of pagan deities. It
is, therefore, a matter of the heart of the believer and not any authority of
the pagan belief that is at stake here.
I Corinthians 8:7 -But not everyone knows this. Some people
are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it
as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is
defiled. 8But food
does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better
if we do. 9Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom
does not become a stumbling block to the weak, 10 For if anyone with
a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple,
won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols. 11So this weak brother, for whom
Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12When you sin against
your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against
Christ. 13Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into
sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.
I Corinthians 10:24 Nobody should seek his own good, but the good
of others.
I Corinthians 10:27 If
some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put
before you without raising questions of conscience. 28But if anyone
says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat
it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake-29the
other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged
by another's conscience? 30If I take part in the meal with
thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? 31So
whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32Do
not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God-33even
as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but
the good of many, so that they may be saved.
Just as
Paul commanded, "flee from idolatry," he also commanded that we
"flee from immorality."
Dabbling with idolatry or immorality denies that we belong to Jesus, our
jealous husband who tolerates no rivals, because our bodies are temples of the
Holy Spirit, who is in us and who we received from God. We were bought at a
price and should, therefore, honor God with our bodies.
Although
only some of the congregation at Pergamum adhered to the Nicolaitan error, the
whole church had to repent because the church discipline was lacking,
tolerating the error among some of them.
In terms of these errors, Jesus warned the church to exercise a zero
tolerance policy, for the sake of the church and for those who strayed.
Revelation
2:16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight
against them with the sword of my mouth.
Let's
spend a brief moment on this commandment to repent. The Lord calls the church
to repentance with a sharp warning of judgment with the sword out of His mouth,
indicating that the judgment is based on the truth of His Word. Remember, the
sword symbolically represents the two-fold ability of the Word of God to
separate believers from the world while at the same time condemning the world
for its sin. It was the sword of salvation and deliverance as well as the sword
of death.
Worldly
thinking must be dealt with positively and quickly or it eats into our lives
individually and corporately.
I Corinthians 5:7 - 11 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a
new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has
been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the
old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast,
the bread of sincerity and truth. 9I have written you in my letter
not to associate with sexually immoral people-10not at all meaning
the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or
idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But
now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself
a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a
drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
These
passages defined exactly the charge that Jesus had against the church in
Pergamum, that they tolerated the influence of the Nicolaitans.
Like
cancer, worldliness eats deeply into our viewpoint of life and what we expect
from it. This impacts our values, and then our priorities and pursuits. And
while we may begin to recognize much of its presence and seek to root it out,
some of its remnants often remain below the surface, hidden like barnacles
below the waterline on a ship.
The Lord
counsels the church to repent. The verb "repent" is here an active
aorist imperative in the Greek text which carries with it an element of
urgency. It calls for an immediate response, one designed to arrest the
direction in which the church was going. The word here used for repent means
literally "to change the mind." It
is one of those generic terms that must be understood within the context
in which it is found just as the word 'deliverance' in Philippians 1:19 in which
the Greek swthria, means "salvation, deliverance, or preservation".
In both
the Old and New Testaments, repentance means 'to change one's mind' but the
question must be asked whether it refers to a mere intellectual assent to
something different or is there more to it. Biblical repentance involves not
only changing one's mind intellectually, but it also demands a change of heart
resulting in a change of behavior.
Repentance
is used in Scripture in at least three ways:
Matthew 21:28 - 30 …There
was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work
today in the vineyard.' 29'I will not,' he answered, but later he
changed his mind and went. 30Then the father went to the other son
and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go.
These passages deal with repentance, a change of mind, with a real
result, but it has nothing to do with salvation. For real repentance to be
effective, a change of heart should be the result.
Acts 2:38, 39 Peter
replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all
who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."
Acts 5:31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and
Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.
Ephesians 1:7, 8 In him we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8that
he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
First, we acknowledge our sinfulness and inability to save
ourselves, and then (the other side of the coin) we turn to Christ in faith as
the only means of salvation.
The Issue:
Either we repent of our worldliness, acknowledge its presence and evil and
commit to moving in a godly direction, or we face divine discipline and the
loss of our light-bearing capacity—our very purpose for existence as a church.
It appears they did. A Christian church has continued into modern times in the
modern city of Bergama.
The
Solution: The Christian needs to live in the Word, the two-edged sword, which
penetrates and transforms us by the renewing of the mind with the mind of
Christ.
Romans 12:1, 2 Therefore,
I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do
not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's
will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
I Corinthians 2:14 - 16 The man without the Spirit does not accept
the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him,
and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The
spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject
to any man's judgment: 16"For who has known the mind of the
Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
This
includes keeping our focus on eternal treasures.
Matthew 6:19, 21 "Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal, 20but store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do
not break in and steal, 21for where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also."
I Peter 1:10 - 12 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who
spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the
greatest care, 11trying to find out the time and circumstances to
which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the
sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12It was
revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke
of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel
to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these
things.
The
alternative is divine discipline on the basis of that same Word, which, if
neglected, results in our discipline according to the warnings and principles
of Scripture
John 15:1, 2 "I am
the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every
branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he
prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."
Hebrews 12:4 - 8 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet
resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have
forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son,
do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he
rebukes you 6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he
punishes everyone he accepts as a son." 7Endure hardship as
discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his
father. 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline),
then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
Revelation
2:16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight
against them with the sword of my mouth.
The church
must confront the Nicolaitans as Scripture teaches us in,
II Timothy 2:25, 26 Those who oppose [the servant of the Lord] he
must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading
them to a knowledge of the truth, 26and that they will come to their
senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do
his will.
If they do
not repent, the Lord will come quickly to make war against the Nicolaitans with
the sword of his mouth.
Not all of
the promises and threats of Jesus' coming in Revelation refer to the Second
Coming. Here Jesus is not saying that
his bodily return to earth will come soon if the Nicolaitans fail to repent,
but will be postponed if they turn around.
Rather,
since Jesus already walks among the lampstands, he will come quickly by
intervening in the church's life through his providential control of events and
the work of his Spirit to call the Nicolaitans to account. And not only the Nicolaitans, but all the
enemies of the church. When the Corinthian church abused the Lord's Supper, the
result was illness and death in the congregation. Providential instruments of discipline are motivated by Christ's
love and are directed to the good of the church because,
29
…anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and
drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak
and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged
ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by
the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the
world. (I Corinthians 11:29 - 32).
Similar
visitations of purifying judgment would come to the church at Pergamum unless
they repent and apply church discipline.
It is the same with us today.
Revelation
2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of
the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on
it, known only to him who receives it.
The
familiar ending again admonished the congregation to have an open mind, open
ears and allow the word of God to enter their perception. Here the victor is
promised of the hidden manna, a reference to the manna that sustained the
Israelites in the desert. The victor will also receive a white stone with a new
name written on it known only to the one who receives it.
In
Pergamum the victor is the believer who not only stands fast in the face of
external pressure where Satan's throne is, but also resists temptations to
conform for the sake of personal convenience.
Revelation portrays the church's sojourn on earth as a journey in the
wilderness just as Israel had sojourned in the desert, living off the manna
given by God to sustain them.
Moses knew
that the manna received in the desert pointed beyond itself, teaching that man
does not live by bread alone but man lives by everything that proceeds out of
the mouth of the Lord, as we read in,
Deuteronomy 8:3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then
feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach
you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the
mouth of the LORD.
Matthew 4:4 Jesus
answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every
word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
John 6:31 - 35 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it
is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' 32Jesus said to
them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread
from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For
the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the
world." 34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us
this bread." 35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of
life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will
never be thirsty."
Jesus
announced that the manna pointed to his sacrificed body as the true bread out
of heaven. Though the church's
circumstances seem as desolate as a desert, Jesus sustains it by this word,
revealing himself.
The white
stone points to the climax of the church's pilgrimage. In the ancient world white stones were used
for various purposes, such as to deliver judgment in which a black stone was
given to the accused indicating judgment and a white stone indicating
acquittal. In Revelation the name that
the stone bears is more important than the connotations of its color. Only the
recipient knows the name, just as only the one who rides the white horse, knows
the name of the Word of God. The name
is a shared secret between the Lord and the recipient, blending mystery and
disclosure.
The
victor's new name could be his transformed identity in Christ, as the renaming
of Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel, Saul to Paul, and of Simon to Peter
signaled their transformation by God's power and grace.
To us who
hold fast his name, Jesus gives a new name to mark us as his property and to
reshape our identity to fit his perfection.
Romans 8:29, 30 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be
conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he
called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
[1] Reworked from material from Biblical Foundation Studies and Triumph of the Lamb, A commentary on Revelation by Dennis E. Johnson