Bible Study - Revelation 1-3 Part 9

This week, our focus is on the letter to the church at Pergamum, in Revelation 2:12-17. It begins with the same pattern as the other letters (Revelation 2:12) written to the angel (the messenger, leader) of the church, with words coming from Christ Himself, who has the sharp two-edged sword (in His mouth) as described in the vision given to John in Revelation 1:16.

Jesus says that “He knows where the church at Pergamum dwells” (Revelation 2:13). It is where “Satan’s throne” also is. Pergamum was a legal center of that area of Asia Minor and was filled with temples of false gods and idols. All seven cities to whom John writes had pagan temples, but this city may have been the worst. Already in 29 BC a temple had been built to the “divine emperor” Augustus and the goddess Roma. A prominent cult was that of Aesculapius, the god of healing, whose symbol was a serpent, which reminded Christians of Satan. There was a memorial to Zeus “the savior,” the chief god of the Romans, and Athena, one of the chief goddesses, and many other temples. Which of these was “Satan’s throne?” We don’t know, but maybe it was the combination of all of these places of idolatry and false worship. The early Christians had certainly been taught that “an idol has no real existence and there is no God but one” (1 Corinthians 8:4-5). Satan is definitely involved with idolatry, though, and demons are at work in all this idol worship and food sacrifices to them, and people can be led astray by them (1 Corinthians 10:19-21).

Jesus knows what is going on in Pergamum, though, and has been helping the Christians to “hold fast to His name and never to deny Christ and His faith, even during the time when Antipas, “Christ’s faithful witness” and likely the leader of the church at Pergamum, had been killed “among them,” by the forces of Emperor Diocletian, for not worshipping Diocletian as Lord and God. Jesus Himself is called the greatest “faithful witness” in Revelation 1:5, perfectly doing His Father’s will and shedding His blood, that we might be saved, but Antipas also was willing to die for the Christian faith, and most of the believers in Pergamum kept the faith in these hard times.

Some, however, had drifted away into the false teachings of “Balaam and Balak” and the false teachings of the Nicolaitans that we heard about in Revelation 2:6 and the Ephesian church (Revelation 2:14-15). The story of Balaam was especially important in the Old Testament (Numbers 22ff). A Moabite king, Balak, hired Balaam to put curses on the Israelites, who were threatening their land, but the Lord did not allow Balaam to do so. Balaam instead was able to convince Israelites to have sexual relations with Moabite women, and soon the Israelites were worshipping the Moabite god, Baal, offering sacrifices to Baal, and eating off those sacrifices. Much trouble resulted, and many died of a plague, in God’s judgment for their sins (Numbers 25). In Numbers 31, Balaam and many others were killed, and Moses spoke of the terrible, evil advice that Balaam gave that brought many Israelites into idolatry and sexual immorality. See Numbers 31:16, especially.

Ever after that time, the evil story of Balaam was used as a warning about the dangerous combination of sexual immorality and idolatry, in both the Old and New Testament. See Deuteronomy 23:4, Joshua 13:22 and 24:9-10, Micah 6:4, 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 11, and now this passage in Revelation 2:14. The temptation to sexual immorality, which is a rejection of God’s will,  can lead to more and more rejection and even to rejecting God Himself for false gods and idolatry. That is what was happening with some in the church in Pergamum, along with some who became involved in the false cult of the Nicolaitans, which also involved sexual immorality and unbelief. See Revelation 2:6.

Paul also pointed out that tragic Old Testament events like these were examples for us in New Testament times “not to desire evil as they did,” including idolatry and sexual immorality. See 1 Corinthians 10:6-21. Jesus pointed out, then, that He “had a few things against” the church at Pergamum - particularly that they were not dealing with the idolatry and immorality of some within their own church. These people needed to be confronted and called to repentance, and the people of the church also needed to repent for failing to do anything. Otherwise, the Lord Jesus Himself would need to come and “war against the evil with the sword of His mouth.” (This is pictured as part of the final judgment. See Revelation 19:15-16, 21; but the Lord could bring some judgment sooner. See the words to the Israelites in Jerusalem who kept refusing God and His will until the city was finally destroyed (Jeremiah 21:5-6).)

Again, in Revelation 2:17, Jesus calls all the churches to hear what He is saying to all the churches. Do we have sexual immorality going on in our churches? Do we have idolatry in our churches today - maybe not worship of literal idols but of things that are made more important than our Lord? The call is to repentance. (See also passages like Ezekiel 12:2 and 13:2.)

But then also, Jesus gives great promises, in unusual picture images (Revelation 2:17). “To the one who conquers” through Jesus and faith in His victory for us, Jesus promises to give “hidden manna” and “a while stone with a new name.” In Exodus 16:31-34, when manna was first given to the Israelites, they were to save some to be kept always as a reminder of God’s taking care of the people. In Psalm 78:23-24, this manna is described as “the grain of heaven” and “the bread of the angels.” Jesus, in John 6:47ff, speaks of Himself as the true bread of life, the manna from heaven, and all who believe in Him will have eternal life. He was also preparing for the gift of the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, which helps sustain us for eternal life. The hidden manna is a way of describing that all we need will be taken care of in eternal life, just as the “tree of life” will provide for us, as promised in Revelation 2:7.

We are not exactly sure what the white stone and new name represent. Isaiah 62:2 promises that when the Lord comes, all believers will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. Isaiah 65:15 promises that “the Lord will call His servants by another name.” White is always a symbol for purity and being clean. All those believers pictured in heaven are described as having white robes in Revelation 7:9,13-14. Christ, the Word of God, rides, at the end, on a white horse and “has a name written that no one knows but He Himself,” in Revelation 19:11-13. And the Lord Himself says, at the end, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

All this seems to be a marvelous way of picturing the greatness of the eternal life that will be ours, by God’s grace and the saving work of Christ. We can’t fully understand it all, but we believe it all, through Christ and the Holy Spirit. Read 1 Corinthians 2:7-16 in closing this study.