The Letter to the Church in Pergamum –13 January 2012
by Sister Lee Bee Ching
Introduction
(v12 – v14)
The ancient city of Pergamum lies just outside the
modern city of Bergama. Pergamum
was famous for its library, second only in size to the library of Alexandria in
Egypt. It was a grand city, famous for its temples and had a magnificent temple
for Zeus. They also worshipped Athena, Dionysos and particularly Asklepios, the
god of healing. Asklepios had a rod with snakes on it, which till today, is the
symbol of the medical profession. Pergamum was thus famous for being a centre
for idolatry. That’s why Jesus said in v13, Pergamum is where Satan has his
throne, here is where Satan lived. And just like in Ephesus and Smyrna, emperor
worship is also practised here. Roman citizens were required to worship the emperor,
once a year, and declare him as Lord. The citizen was then given a certificate
valid for 1 year, which allowed him to worship whatever god or gods he
preferred.
Jesus’
Praise (v13)
Just like in Ephesus and Smyrna,
Christians in Pergamum were being persecuted because of their refusal to
worship the emperor. Jesus mentions Antipas as His faithful witness. Antipas
was killed for refusing to deny Jesus as his only lord. In a place such as
Pergamum, where most people worshipped many gods, they didn’t understand why,
if this Christian god Jesus can be their god (the more, the merrier), Christians
won’t accept other gods as their god too.
Jesus’
Complaints (v14 – v15)
Balak, the king of Moab, had hired
Balaam to curse the Israelites, while they were in the desert (Numbers 22-25:3).
Since God only allowed Balaam to bless the Israelites, he couldn’t curse them.
No curse, no reward from Balak. Because of greed, Balaam taught Balak how to
entrap the Israelites, as implied by Num 31:16. ‘Come, I teach you. Open up
bars with beautiful women. Sell food and drink at a low price. The Israelite
men will come and eat and drink. They’ll get drunk and your women will lead
them to sin. Quickly, they will fall to you.’ In the same way, there were some
in the church of Pergamum who were trying to lead others to sin by getting them
involved in idolatry and immorality. The Nicolaitans may have been mixing the Christian faith with idolatry
and temple prostitution. They may have taught falsely about Christian freedom
and that the physical body is not important. So, they said it’s ok for
believers to engage in sexual immorality and to sin freely because of grace. But
unlike the Ephesian church, the church in Pergamum didn’t seem to be able to
tell the difference between the fake, wrong teaching and the genuine, correct
teaching. Or else, why would Jesus find some who followed these sinful teaching?
When Satan couldn’t force the Christians in Pergamum
to deny Jesus through persecution, he tried another tactic – false teaching,
seducing Christians to follow the world’s ways. Even today, Satan is doing this
(Col 2:8). We need to avoid deceptive philosophy which depends on basic
principles of the world. The world tells us it’s a dog eat dog world, it’s survival
of the fittest. If you’re weak, too bad! But Jesus said in Matt 5:5 (the
Beatitudes) “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth”. Which one
do you think is the truth?
Also, there were misuse of Biblical principles. Those in
Pergamum who were following the teaching of Balaam and the Nicolaitans, they
were using scripture wrongly. They picked verses that suited them and left out
verses that give the verses the correct context. They used (Rom 5:20b) to
justify themselves, but left out the verses that what followed, (Rom 6:1-2).
They also picked (Rom 6:14b) but didn’t mention (Rom 6:15) and the fact that
Paul said we should no longer be slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness
leading to holiness.
In this letter, Jesus is concerned that we should
believe in Him and know the truth about Him. In Ephesus, they knew the truth,
but lacked love. In Pergamum, maybe they were trying to overlook false teaching
out of love. But love and knowledge of the truth must be in balance (Phil 1:9).
We are to grow in love and knowledge, able to discern what is best.
Discernment
is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong;
rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right. - Charles Spurgeon.
How
do you tell the difference between right and almost right? Here are 3 simple
ways:
1. Read the bible, the word of
God.
How
are we going to know the truth if we don’t read God’s word? St John of
Chrysostom said, “This is what has ruined everything, your thinking that this
reading of Scripture is for monks only, when you need it more than they do.
Those who are placed in the world and who receive wounds everyday have the most
need of medicine.” Get to know God intimately. Then you can usually see through
any fakes because you know the "real thing" so well. William Shakespeare said, “Even the Devil can quote
scripture to suit his purposes.” And the Devil did quote scripture, in Matt 4,
when he tempted Jesus in the desert. And Jesus fought off the Devil with the
most effective weapon – the word of God. When reading a verse, consider the
surrounding verses and the book in which the verse appears. It is also good to
look at the historical setting of the verse and the book in which it appears.
2. If in doubt, ask.
Ostwald Chambers said, “Doubt
is not always a sign that a man is wrong; it may be a sign that he is
thinking.” So, if you’re not sure of the meaning of certain verses, (James
1:5), (Ps 119:125). You should also refer to other verses in scripture that
deal with the same or similar topics. Many Bibles have footnotes with different
verses that are related to the subject of the verse you are reading. It is also
helpful to read different bible translations of the verse, and a few bible
commentaries. Different bible translations give different perspectives that
help us understand the meaning of the verse. Different bible commentaries may
have different opinions. It would be the same as hearing what 3 witnesses to a
car accident say, when each saw the accident from different views. When their
testimonies are collected and compared, we often get a fuller view of the
accident. The same goes for Bible commentaries.
3. Obey the word of God.
(Luke
16:10 – whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.)
If we can be trusted to obey what we already know, God will show us more about
Himself. The thing about the word of God is that we can’t pick and choose what
we want to believe and put into practise. We can’t just say – I want my sins to
be forgiven and go to heaven, but I don’t want to give up everything and carry
my cross. Or God forgive my sins but don’t tell me to forgive my enemies.
Jesus’
Encouragement (v16)
Jesus tells the church in Pergamum what they should
do, and the warning if they refuse to do so (v16). Repent, turn back to the
correct path. Jesus says I will fight against them, the ones spreading false
teaching and those who refuse to repent. He will fight with the sword of my
mouth. This refers to John’s vision in Rev 1:16. The sword of Jesus’ mouth is
the word of God. The word of God, which gives us comfort, will, one day, be
used as judgement on those who refuse to believe, and refuse to repent. Jesus
also used the word of God to fight off the devil when He was tempted in the
wilderness. Num 31:8 tells us that Balaam, the one who taught the Moabites how
to lead the Israelites to sin, was killed with the sword.
(v17) – the promised reward for those who overcomes,
those who remain faithful to Jesus. Hidden manna refers to Jesus. He may be
said to be “hidden” because He is no longer visible since His return to heaven.
(John 6:48-51) Jesus is the true manna which gives eternal life. As for the white
stone, commentaries are not sure what it stands for. It could be the Urim and
Thummim, sacred stones cast to determine a yes or no answer from God. Or it
could represent the stone tablet of the law. Remember that the 10 commandments
were written on stone. As the overcomer honoured God’s word and His will, Jesus
assures him that he will receive ultimate knowledge of God and His will. There
are 2 possibilities concerning this new name written on the stone. It could be
a new name given to the overcomer. Just like Abram was given the new name
Abraham, a new name could be given to the overcomer to show an important change
in status for the believer or describing a new inheritance of the believer. The
new name could also refer to God’s name. Throughout Scripture, names show the
character of the person having the name. So, the new name may reveal God’s
character, just as (1 Cor 13:12 – Now I know in part, then I shall know fully,
even as I am fully known.)
Conclusion
It is sad that Pergamum, even though it had an impressive library, the people there did not know the truth. History confirms they did not take the word of the Master seriously. And today not much of the ancient city remains. The
letter to Pergamum can be summed up by (2 Pet 3:17b-18). It is interesting that
the book of Revelations starts with a blessing to all those who read it (Rev
1:3) and ends with a warning (Rev 22:18-19). Jesus’ sword, the word of God, is
a sharp double-edged sword. May we always handle it with care and due respect.