Revelation 2

 

Revelation 2:12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write ,‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of

Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.

“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 to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” ’

The description of Christ that is selected is that which articulates His judicial authority. It sees Him as judge, it sees Him as executioner. What is it that is the sword coming out of His mouth? Perhaps Hebrews 4:12 says it well, “For the Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword.” It is the Word of God coming out of His mouth that is like a two-edged sword.

The Commendation

You held fast to my name at Satan’s throne.

“Where Satan has his throne”

Satan had set up his enterprise there ,it could refer to the emperor worship which was set up there, the worship of Caesar which then flows out pervasively through the whole Roman Empire, the first city to build a temple to Caesar. It could refer to the magnificent altar to Zeus. Zeus was sort of the head of the Pantheon, the supreme god. And one of the wonders of the world, this magnificent altar to Zeus, the largest most famous altar in the world was there. It was shaped like a huge throne. It looked like a throne and it was set on the Acropolis, the highest place.

There was also a temple to Asclepius there , Asclepius was the god of healing and of a number of other things. in the first century inevitably the popularity of Asclepius was bound up with the Devil himself, the Serpent,

Whatever it is, it has at some point in the recent past aroused enough trouble for Christians that they faced already one outbreak of persecution which had gotten to at least one death.

The church at Pergamos was in a very pagan atmosphere, completely perverse to Christian testimony. Satan’s got his operations all over the world but he’s got his throne there. That’s quite an amazing statement. His throne is not in hell, it’s in this world. This is the field of his operation. Hell is the place of his incarceration, this is the place of his operation.

In Smyrna they had a synagogue of Satan, But here is the very throne of Satan. The synagogue of Satan, was perverted Judaism. The throne of Satan was this Gentile base of false religions.

So when you hear that Asklepios was there, the serpent god, that sounds Satanic. When you know that Zeus was there and big upon the hill looming over the whole place was an altar to this false god, you know that Satan was there. And when you know they were worshiping the Caesars, you know that Satan was there. And when you put it all together, certainly this is Satan’s throne.

The Complaint

Yet even so, Christ says, “I’ve got something against you.” Basically what he has against this church, is the church has not been disciplined in what it allows in the realm of teaching.

In particular, you have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam. You also have some Nicolaitans there.

The Compromise

If you look back at what happened in the history of the church, you can understand this kind of thing. If you look at the sweeping history of Christianity in the western world, you will see churches that became worldly and what happened to them. say from the year 300 to 600 and you see that under the Roman Empire under the direction of Constantine in those early years, the church married the world.

Christ compares such practices to those of Balaam, who encouraged Israel to sin through engaging in idolatry and immorality (Num. 25:1–3; 31:16). Balaam’s name became a biblical catchword for false teachers who for financial gain sought to influence God’s people to engage in ungodly practices (Deut. 23:4; Neh. 13:2; 2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11).

The doctrine of Balaam is the teaching that the people of God can inter marry with the heathen and thus will become what the heathen are. There were some people in this church saying it’s okay to inter marry, inter mingle with the pagan system. We are not to be separate, we are not to be aliens, we’re to inter marry with unbelievers, we’re to get involved in life around us, mixing the old patterns, the old morals

2 Corinthians 6 where Paul says, “What fellowship has light with darkness, what concord has Christ with Belial? Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” But here there were some people in the church saying you can be a Christian

The Pergamum church has this against them, that they don’t hate the practices of the Nicolaitans. This is not saying that the church ought to open up a barrage of persecution against some other group. The point is, rather, that this church is allowing this other group inside the church as church. it’s an undisciplined church from the point of view of teaching.

Balaam’s promotion of food offered to idols means promotion of syncretism, in which God’s people were lured into participating in the cults of other deities.

More to the point are the sorts of occasions where the meat was specifically known to have been sacrificed for a pagan deity, such as free food doled out at pagan festivals and dining in an idol’s temple (1 Cor. 8:10; m. A.Z. 2:3; 3:4), or, more likely for Christians here, participating in a guild banquet.

One of the most difficult forms of this temptation may have been its challenge to the Christians’ livelihood by denying their ability to participate in trade guilds.

If you’ve got problems with these people, what you do is be friendly to them. Send in your most charming young women. Send in your handsomest young men. Head for intermarriage. Head for compromised religion. Offer them opportunities to serve in your pagan temples.

That’s what happened, and eventually Balaam was destroyed.

What is almost certainly going on here, therefore, is some teaching voice in the church, maybe a segment of the church, openly advocating less discipline within the church and much more compromise with alien teaching from outside, until eventually God’s wrath is threatening the whole church.

It’s possible, in the name of love, in the name of truth, in the name of Jesus’ example, to be so airy-fairy in our commitment to what the Bible actually says about salvation or about truth or heaven and how you get there or who Jesus is that at the end of the day you can have all kinds of people with a teaching voice in the church who are, in fact, corrupting the church.

The Correction

The church is warned to repent of its attitude of leniency and toleration of the sin present. If they do not take action to eliminate the evil, the Lord is determined that he will personally “make war against them” with the sword of his mouth. Just what action he will take is not indicated, but he leaves no doubt as to his ability to handle the situation that has developed. “He that hath an ear, let him hear.…”

15–16 Because of such idolatrous influences, Christ now comes to the church to fight against such error in its midst. It is interesting to note that Balaam was originally threatened with the sword in the angel’s hand if he continued to oppose Israel (Num. 22:23, 31) and was eventually killed by the sword for his evil-doing (Num. 31:8).

The false teachers will face the same fate as Balaam unless they repent,. In the days of Balaam, the judgment fell on many in Israel (Num. 25:9, where twenty-four thousand died in the plague) for their failure to judge the idolaters.

He says, “If you don’t get rid of those false apostles, when I come will there be trouble. You haven’t seen anything yet. You’re responsible for getting rid of them. If you don’t, when I come I will get rid of them.”

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes …” Now here in this context overcoming means continuing in what you’re doing that’s good, but also overcoming in this laxity over doctrine. Isn’t that clear? “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 Reward

What’s the hidden manna? He says I’ll give you the hidden manna.

Just as Israel received manna from heaven as its food, for the true believer He says I’ll give you Jesus Christ. I’ll give you the true bread, the spiritual bread from heaven which the world doesn’t see,

Then He says, “And I’ll give him a white stone.”

there’s an interesting little historical note, when a victor won in the games, whatever great games were being held, it was not uncommon for the victor to be given as part of his prize a white stone. And the white stone was his admission pass into the festival that was held following the games for all the victors. Could it be that the overcomer will receive the ticket to the eternal victory in heaven?

And then He says, “And a new name written on the stone

If they can overcome their sin of toleration and execute discipline on both groups, Christ promises them an inheritance. The reward promised for those in Pergamum who are faithful is threefold: they will receive some of the hidden manna, and they will also receive a white stone, and this stone has a new name written on it. The hidden manna refers to the food (now not visible) to be consummately consumed at the marriage supper of the Lamb (19:9) and thus represents fellowship with Christ. The reference to the manna as hidden means that it will be revealed to God’s people at the end of time, and possibly beginning at death. Though there is no tangible evidence of this promise which can be seen, overcomers must place their hope in the unseen word of God (cf. Hebrews 11).

It is to be contrasted with the food sacrificed to idols, which may be consumed now but will exclude participation in the eternal feast later. Jesus warned the Jews not to look back to the manna given through Moses, but to look instead to Himself as the true bread from heaven (John 6:32–33).

The idea of the manna may have arisen because of the preceding meditation on Israel’s confrontation with Balaam in their wilderness journeying: Israel should have relied on God’s heavenly food for their sustenance rather than partaking of

REFLECTION ON 2:12–17

Christ comes to the church at Pergamum with a measure of correction, yet first He brings them encouragement for their faithfulness in general. How important is it to observe this order when we need to bring a shortcoming to someone’s attention?

Are we aware of the demonic strongholds which may exist in our own community? What is the appropriate response to them?

On toleration and the pressure to compromise. What are the kinds of spiritual compromise which might bring us or our church under God’s judgment?

On God judging churches. Christ comes to the church at Pergamum with a sword which He will use to make war against it if necessary. How could this be related to what we know of Christ’s mercy and compassion? What does it mean for God to come in judgment against His own people?

Do we as Christians live in a sufficient measure of holy fear that such a thing might happen to us?

The Apocalypse of John has pastoral relevance in any context where Christian assimilation into a culture with a non-Christian ethos is an issue.

We should be careful to distinguish between appropriate interaction with culture and compromise with it.