Revelation’s Commentary – The Seven churches – Part I

Verses 1:20 through 2:24

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The Church at Pergamum:

 

Revelation 2:12   “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the (deadly)sharp, double-edged sword (that comes from His mouth).

 

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.

 

Revelation 2:14   Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the (lies)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 (lies) teaching of the Nicolaitans. 

 

Revelation 2:16   Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them (who teach these things) with the sword of my mouth.

 

Revelation 2:17   He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him that overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written upon it, known only to him who receives it.”

 

Commentary:

 

When Jesus spoke these words, Pergamum was the cultural and religious center of Asia. Pergamum was an old, highly respected city. At one time, Pergamum had been the Roman capital of Asia. Worship of the Roman Emperors began at Pergamum. The city had many pagan temples and Eastern Mysticism was very popular in Pergamum. Pergamum was a big city and had a large class of educated and wealthy people.

 

In His message to the church at Pergamum, Jesus twice said that Satan had his throne in Pergamumbecause as a city, Pergamum was the undisputed queen of false religion. Pergamum was the ivory tower of false religion for Asia and naturally, its citizens hated the followers of Jesus who condemned their carnal ways. 

 

Jesus noted this hatred when He mentioned the death of faithful Antipas. The hatred toward Christians explains in part, why some Christians in Pergamum were willing to make so many compromises with the devil. The Christian church at Pergamum had members who saw nothing wrong with sexual immorality nor the eating of foods sacrificed to idols.

 

Jesus referred to Balaam because Balaam was an Old Testament prophet who agreed to put a curse on Israel for a tidy sum of money. However, when Balaam attempted to speak curses, God put blessing in his mouth instead. Finally, an exasperated Balaam told King Balak (the enemy of Israel who had hired Balaam) that Israel could only be defeated if Israel offended God. This could be easily done by enticing the young men of Israel into sexual immorality.         

 

After hearing this, King Balak invited the young men of Israel to “party.” He sent scores of beautiful whores into Israel bearing gifts and through them, he enticed the young men of Israel into eating food offered to idols, and then into sexual immorality. (Numbers 25) God’s wrath broke out on Israel and 24,000 Israelites were killed. Balaam didn’t have to kill a single person. The parallel here is that the devil brought “a truck-load of sexually immoral” people into the church at Pergamum to rob the church of its Godly connection and thus, its strength. The devil knows that when our connection with Jesus is broken through sin, we have no power to overcome his sophistry. (1 Corinthians 5:11)

 

You may recall that the apostles had imposed four specific rules upon Gentile converts at the first general conference of the Christian church in A.D. 49. At the first meeting the apostle James said, “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.” (Acts 15:19,20)

 

When Jesus spoke to the church at Pergamum, He affirmed the Spirit-led decision of the apostles by threatening to destroy the sexually immoral church in Pergamum unless they repented. The words of Jesus are not fuzzy and they leave no wiggle room. Jesus forbade sexual immorality and the eating of food offered to idols. Eating polluted by idols was a superstitious ritual that was supposed to give the consumer the powers of the God who had blessed the food.

 

Today, this is not a big problem. But, in ancient times, it was a big problem. The devil had merged this superstitious pagan practice wit the words of Jesus to create a distortion of the Lord’s Supper. (Keep in mind that it wasn’t necessarily the food that was the problem, it was the superstitious beliefs that went with the food that was the problem.

1 Corinthians 8:4) 

 

When Jesus was on Earth He said, “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:54-58)

 

Jesus made these remarks within the context of eating the Passover Feast. The Passover Lamb (the flesh) eaten at the feast represented ‘the spotless life” that was given up to pay the penalty fro sin. The wine represented His blood, and the bread represented His broken body. (Luke 22:19)

 

Thus, the observance of the Lord’s Supper became corrupted, mingled with the common practice of eating foods offered to idols. The devil used superstition to distort the words of Jesus to justify eating foods offered to idols. Very clever.

 

Jesus also mentioned that some Christians in Pergamum had accepted the teaching of Nicholas. This should come as a surprise because Pergamum was a very influential center of Gnostic training. The Gnostics treated Scriptures as though they were allegorical. In other words, the Gnostics put a layer of “fuzzy logic” between the Word of God and its obvious meaning so ordinary people could not be confident about the meaning of God’s Word (that is, it became difficult or impossible to know right from wrong.).

 

This had been (and continue to be) one of the devil’s best tools fro leading Christians astray. How many times have you heard it said, “The Bible does not mean what it says?” Or even worse, how many times have you heard a Bible passage quoted out of its context? When lay people begin to believe the lie that “ordinary people cannot understand God’s Word,” the devil has gained control of the church. 

 

There is no substitute for “a plain thus saith the Lord.” Jesus was furious with the clergy in Pergamum because they had accepted the lies of Nicholas. Leaders who had the respect and trust of the laymen were leading the laymen astray. Jesus said, “Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and fight against “the clergy” with the sword of my mouth.”

 

In His closing remarks to Pergamum, Jesus offered a special reward to those who would overcome the devil’s deceptions. Jesus said, “To him that overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna (pure food), I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.”

 

Currently, manna, the food of angels is not available to us. The term “hidden manna” probably refers to the pot of manna that was kept hidden in the Ark of the Covenant. Unlike ordinary bread, manna is a perfect food, full of vitality.

 

The white stone Jesus promised will be a very precious stone indeed because it will have the inscription of a secret God-given name on it. This secret name will serve as a password enabling the over comer to enter into God’s throne room. Think about it. Every over comer will be able to enter into God’s awesome presence to hear truth-full answers to his questions.

 

Contrast this privilege with the Gnostic’s pursuit of so-called “higher knowledge” that leads to darkness and separation from God. The secret password on the white stone will open the door to light and truth. I cannot think of anything better than having the privilege going before the Father’s presence to personally ask a few questions!

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