"Pergamum" Sermon: Revelation 2:12-17 (manuscript)

 

“Pergamum”

Revelation 2:12-17

November 5, 2023 YouTube

Pergamum. Pergamum is the third church to receive a letter from Jesus in the book of Revelation.

Pergamum was about fifty-five miles north of Smyrna and at the time of John, there were 120,000 people.  All the pagan gods were accepted and worshipped in Pergamum (the seat of Satan).  They had temples to Zeus, Athena, Dionysus, Ceasar Augustus, but the main god of Pergamum was Asclepius – the god of medicine and healing – whose symbol was a snake wrapped around a staff – which continues to be the symbol for medicine and doctors to this day.  Most famously, known for his advances in medicine, Galen was born there.

Pergamum was also a great city of art and literature and had a library of 200,000 books – the library at Alexandria was the only larger one at the time.

          “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

          As we continue to see, Jesus addresses the real, historic minister and church in Pergamum, and what is written applies to all ministers and all churches.  Jesus is the One Who has the two-edged sword.  And we will remember that the two-edged sword is the Word of God.  So, Jesus is He who has and speaks and wields the Word of God to bless and to punish.

“‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

Jesus knows where the Christians of Pergamum dwell.  Jesus knows His people and watches over them as the Good Shepherd.  Not one escapes His notice.  He calls them to Himself and makes them His own.

Jesus knows that they live where Satan’s throne is.  Pergamum is a place where Satan is on his throne, being worshipped in all the temples of the false gods.  God has given him this city to twist and pervert.

However, the Christians of Pergamum held fast to the Name and the salvation of Jesus.  They did not give in to the ridicule and persecution – even if they were persecuted to death for their faith in Jesus for salvation. They didn’t even waver in their faith when Antipas was killed in Pergamum – where Satan dwells. (Unfortunately, we don’t know anything about Antipas, but we can surmise that he was a bold apologist for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He spoke boldly against the worship of idols and told them that only Jesus is God the Savior.)

Can we say that the United States is similarly the throne of Satan – where Satan dwells?  Don’t we see the idolatry of our country all around us?  The worship of false gods – even the worship of gods not existing.  The worship of money, sex, and power for their own sakes.

Do we stand for the Name of Jesus?  For His Power and salvation.  Do we tell others that we believe in the Only True God, Jesus Christ?  Of course, we are not to “bash people over their heads with the Bible,” but do people identify us as believers?  Would they say we don’t do this or that or we do other things, because we are believers in Who Jesus is and what He has done?  And do they know that when we sin against what we know and have been commanded, we repent of our sin?

Are we willing to be hated and mocked and thrown in prison and even put to death in the most horrific way for confessing Jesus as Lord?  That’s not an easy question to give an answer to, is it?  In our minds we may say, “Of course I will stand for Jesus no matter what happens,” but are we prepared for when it does?  Have we prayed for strength and courage and boldness to stand for Jesus amidst where Satan dwells?

Prepare.  It is happening in some places now.  After the author of Hebrews writes about specific men and women of the faith, he writes, “Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:35-38, ESV).  Will we accept this when it happens to us?

The Christians in Pergamum held fast to the Name of Jesus and did not deny the faith.

“But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

The church in Pergamum was not perfect.  The minister and all the Christians in the church were not perfect – and neither are we.  Jesus says He has a few things against the minister and the Christians in the church in Pergamum:  they embraced the teaching of Balaam and the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

That is not to say that the Christians in the church in Pergamum believed these false teachings, but they allowed them to be taught and flourish in the church.  They did not discipline or expel those who were teaching these evil doctrines, they embraced them, they allowed them to become members of the church, thought they didn’t believe – or, at least, embraced sinful teaching as acceptable.  They allowed them to hold offices in the church, though the offices are to be held by strong believers.  They did not denounce sin in the teaching and preaching from the pulpit.  They had come to a point where they believed that love – as they thought this was – was more important that what the Bible said.  “All you need is love.”  “God is love, so I’m not going to tell you you’re wrong – that what you are doing is sin.”

So, what was the problem?

They had embraced the teaching of Balaam.

Balaam was a false prophet that God used to tell the truth and bless Israel.  Balak the King of Moab sent for Balaam and said he would pay him if he would use witchcraft and divination to curse Israel before Balak attacked them.  Balaam agreed, and as he opened his mouth to curse Israel, the words came out blessing Israel, and this happened repeatedly, so Balaam told Balak it wasn’t going to work.  But Balaam had an idea that Balak could carry out:

“While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel” (Numbers 25:1-3, ESV).

Balaam told Balak to prostitute the women of Moab before the Israelite men – get the men of Israel to engage in sexual immorality with Moabite women, and the men will follow the women and worship their god, the Baal of Peor.  And they did, and the Lord punished Israel.

The wording of our text indicates that this may be what the Nicolaitans taught – or that they taught similar things – that everything that the Bible taught about sexual morality was to be put aside in the name of love.  “How can it be wrong when it feels so right?” as the song goes.  “The important thing is love.  It doesn’t matter who or when you have sexual relations with someone – or multiple someone.  What matters is love.”

Paul writes, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (I Corinthians 6:18, ESV).

One of the duties of the church is to discipline members of the church – believers who have taken the step to commit themselves to a local church – not just visitors or attendees.  A major issue in I and II Corinthians is about a man who commits a sexual sin and does not repent of it initially, and Paul’s instruction was that he must be put out of the church until he repents and then be welcomed back into the church when he does. 

The church in Pergamum didn’t want to say the sexual immorality being accepted in the name of love was wrong.  They didn’t want to put those people out who taught it, and those who unrepentantly embraced it.

“Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.

Therefore, repent.  If you have compromised in the way of living that God has set before us – whatever sin that might be – personal, communal, for the “sake” of others – repent – confess your sin, turn around and pledge not to sin like that again.  That is good news for us -- because of Who Jesus is and what He has done, when we sin, we can go to Him and repent and turn around and stop doing what we have been doing, and we can be forgiven.

Jesus says to the church in Pergamum, “You have been allowing people to come into the church – to teach in the church – to influence people in the church – telling them it’s ok to engage in sexual immorality – what God calls sexual immorality – and you have done nothing to protect the Christians in the church or to rebuke and/or expel those false teachers – in the name of love.  But, if you repent and teach the church what God says is sexual immorality – those things God says not to do – that they are sin, and you put out those people who refusing to stop teaching their sinful ways in the church, you will be forgiven.”

What sin does our church not want to have taught and preached?  What sin are we willing to excuse in the name of love?  What sin would we rather spread through the church than keep people out of the pews and the offering plate?  What do we know is forbidden by the Word of God that we turn a blind eye to in our church?

Jesus says He will come with the Sword of the Word of God against those who do not repent for following after these sinful teachings – those who teach the people of God to go astray and embrace sin.

Doctrine – teaching – is important.  It is what God wants us to know and do to be the people He calls us to be.

God tells the church in Pergamum that if they don’t, He will war against them soon with the Sword which is the Word of God.

In the days of Balaam, when the men of Israel whored after the women of Moab, God said, “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the LORD, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.’ And Moses said to the judges of Israel, ‘Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor’” (Numbers 25:4-5, ESV).

Jesus was threatening the church in Pergamum in the same way.  If they didn’t repent and do what was right about these evil people, Jesus would bring judgement against them and church in Pergamum – He would remove their lampstand.

How long will Jesus give our church – our denomination – to repent?

“’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’”

As before, Jesus says that anyone who can hear and will hear what the Holy Spirit says to the churches – Pergamum and the others – let him hear the praise that Jesus gives and the warnings and condemnations He gives.

“The one who conquers” – that is, to the one who is born again – to the true believer – to the true Christian – to the one who believes in Jesus savingly, the Holy Spirit will give him some of the hidden manna.  What is He talking about?

We remember that God fed the people of Israel in the wilderness with manna.  So, the Holy Spirit is saying He will feed true believers in some way.

When Jesus argued with the Pharisees and explained to them that He is the manna – the bread – from Heaven, He said:

“So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven’” (John 6:41, ESV).

“’I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh’” (John 6:51, ESV).

“’This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever’” (John 6:58, ESV).

In the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, we “eat” the flesh of Jesus in the bread – we commune with Him spiritually and are united with Him by His salvation of us, and He provides for us in all that He would have us do and be.

And the Holy Spirit will give the true believer a white stone with a new name on it that only he will know.

Is this a real white stone or is something spiritual being said here?

There were occasions that white and black stones were used in the customs of the day, but here, commentators say that the white stone symbolizes justification, grace, victory, and communion – all of which we have by the merit of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit (Joel Beeke, Revelation, 108-109). 

The white stone that is given to the true believer in Jesus, then, is our salvation and all that we become through our salvation by the work of the Holy Spirit.

As Isaiah prophesies, “The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give” (Isaiah 62:2, ESV).

The new name of the Christians in Pergamum – our new name as believers – is given to us by the work of Jesus.  So, if it is a new name, will I no longer be called Peter?  The changing of the name we live with in this life is probably not what is being changed.  It is more likely along the lines of our now being called sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus.

The church in Pergamum was a church that was faithful to the Name of Jesus and His salvation in the midst of persecution and the city being a bastion of the worship of the false gods of Satan.

Yet, they had allowed false teachers into the church who were getting believers to engage in sin – specifically sexual sin – because they thought that was showing love.  It was not – it was a sin in allowing these people to turn the people to sin. So, they were told to repent, or Jesus would come with the two-edged sword in vengeance.

Finally, Jesus tells them that those who truly believe savingly in Jesus will be made like Him and saved to the uttermost as the Holy Spirit transforms the believer.  Jesus will commune with all true believers through the Lord’s Supper, especially, just as the Israelites in the wilderness ate the manna.  And they will be given a white stone – all the facets of salvation – that lead them to be called the children of God.

Let us be faithful to the Name of Jesus no matter what evil is done against us.  Let us turn out those who would mislead the church and those who are unrepentant – until they repent.  And let us be filled with joy that we have been saved and commune with Jesus and are being changed into who we will forever be in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank You that You and Your Son, Jesus, have sent God the Holy Spirit to indwell us.  Cause Him to strengthen us as we face the wicked and their torment of us.  Give us strength to always stand for Your Word and put out those who would deceive the flock.  Grow us by the Holy Spirit into the men and women You have called us to be and let us look forward in faith as we communion with Jesus in the Lord’s Supper.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.