TEXT: Revelation 2:12-17

SUBJECT: The Seven Churches #3: Pergamos

Today, with God’s blessing, we’ll move on in our study of The Seven Churches. The ‘seven churches’ were just that—disciples of Christ gathered in seven cities of Asia Minor toward the end of the First Century.

Many have taken the number seven symbolically to refer to either the Church Universal, or to every local church in every place and time. This is the right thing to do, I believe, as long as we also remember there really were seven churches in Asia, and that our Lord spoke to them directly. In other words, these are not fictional letters written to ‘church types’, but real letters sent to real churches.

While not denying the literal meaning of the Bible, some have taken the Seven Churches to refer to Seven Ages of the Church. The Early Church—they say—was like the Church in Ephesus. Today’s Church is like Laodicea. And so on. I do not accept this interpretation for three reasons:

• We don’t know where we are in Church History. In 1520, Martin Luther was sure he was in the last days. Four hundred years later, B.B. Warfield thought the Church was still in its infancy. Who was right? We have no way to tell, because to know where you are on the timeline, you’ve got to know where the line starts (which we do), and where it ends (which we don’t).

• All seven churches existed at the same time. Yet they were all decidedly different. Two got nothing but praise, one got nothing but blame, and the others got some of both! The First Century, therefore, was not the Age of Ephesus, the Age of Smyrna, the Age of Pergamos, and so on, but the age of all the above—and four others!

• All the virtues and the vices of the First Century Church are still with us, and will be until the Church Militant becomes the Church Triumphant. In other words, until the Church in the world becomes the Church in heaven.

Thus far, we’ve looked at two of the Seven Churches. The first was more good than bad; the second was all good; and now we come to Pergamos which is more bad than good.

For most of the history of writing, spelling was not standardized. I saw the Tyndale Bible some years ago, and I had to laugh when I found charity spelled four different ways--on one page! This explains why some Bibles say, Pergamos and others Pergamum, with other documents naming the city, Pergamon! In any event, it’s the same place, a big city on the West Coast of Asia Minor and famous for two great temples.

The first was raised in honor of Aesculapius, the god of healing. Whether you’ve heard his name or not, you know of whom I speak. He’s that snake on a pole you often see at doctor’s offices, in hospitals, on ambulances, and so on.

The second Temple was dedicated to Emperor worship; chiseled into its stone face were the words, To the Divine Augustus and the goddess Roma.

This may seem to be sermon filler, mere information, but not really useful. In fact, it is of great importance because the two Temples are in direct opposition to the Gospel and the Church. Who is the Great Physician? For years Pergamos had said, … and by whom? The Bible doesn’t say, but if you look carefully at a map and at Paul’s Second Missionary Journey, you’ll see he must have passed through the town on his way back to Antioch. He may have dropped a few Gospel seeds there, and under the blessing of God, a Church sprang up from them. If this is true, the church is perhaps forty to fifty years old when the Letter was sent to it.

Speaking of ‘the Letter’, it was dictated by our Lord who styles Himself,

Before you run for your concordance to see how the term is used elsewhere in the Bible, what’s the first impression it leaves on you? How does a double-edged blade as sharp as a razor make you feel? It makes me a little nervous. And, if man of war is brandishing it, I’m more than a little nervous, because now, it’s not only a threat to slice my finger, but to cut off my head!

This is just the effect our Lord is looking for! He wants the church to remember who He is. Is He the Prince of Peace? Yes He is, but that’s not all He is: The Lord is a Man of War the Israelites sang on crossing the Red Sea. Many other verses put Him in the same light. Isaiah 63:1 is often quoted, but frequently misunderstood.

The usual answer is Christ. And it’s a right answer as well. But how were His garments stained? We say they were stained with blood—and that too is correct. But whose blood? The expected answer is His own. But that’s not what the Bible says, Isaiah 63:2-6,

The Lord’s clothing is as stained as a man’s who just treaded out a vat full of grapes. The stain, however, is not grape juice, but blood, and not His own blood, but the blood of His enemies—treading them down—He says—in His own anger and fury!

This is how our Lord identifies Himself to the Church of Pergamos, as a Man ready for War. And, unless they repent, He’s going to war…with them.

Before He moves in on them, however, He takes a long look at them to see if they deserve His punishment or not. He’s not a pirate, attacking the innocent, but a Judge imposing justice on the guilty.

What does He make of Pergamos? He sees some good in the church.

These are ‘good works’ they’ve done and are still doing. All of the good works are good, of course, but some really stand out. They did not deny [the] faith, and one of them, a man called Antipas, died for confessing His Lordship. The Church’s witness for Christ was solid.

This is never easy, but in Pergamos it was doubly hard to stand up for Christ in the world. Why? Because Pergamos was the devil’s home and his royal palace. They lived, our Lord said, where Satan dwells. This probably refers to the Temple of Aesculapius, the snake-god. It’s ironic that the pagan symbol for Healing is the Jewish and Christian symbol for Satan. If it wasn’t bad enough to live in the devil’s house, they also lived before his Throne. I think this points to Caesar’s Temple. He claims to rule the world, but in fact, he’s no ruler at all, but a puppet of hell. If any place in the world lies in the wicked one, it’s Pergamos!

Under intense pressure the church did not crack. No one denied Christ, or took the oath, Caesar is Lord.

Jesus Christ took note of this, and praised them for their courage and patience.

If He’s happy with the stand they took for Him in the world, He’s not so pleased with the compromise they’ve made in the church. If you visited the church you’d think their enemy was Rome and the pagan power it wielded. But you’d be wrong; their true enemy came from within the church; it wasn’t persecution, but loose morals.

Notice the abrupt change of tone—I know your works [your courage, your martyrdom, even]…but I have a few things against you.

Some people in the church held to Balaam’s doctrine. Now, who was Balaam? He’s a man you find way back near the beginning of the Bible, Numbers 22-24 to be exact, with a scattering of references later. He was a prophet who offered his services to the highest bidder.

One day, Balak, the king of Moab hired him to curse Israel, and promised to pay richly him if he would. He wanted to—believe me, Balaam wanted to—but God wouldn’t let him. Three times he tried to curse the Lord’s People, and three times God turned his curses into blessings.

The king was very, very mad, but Balaam was a resourceful man. If he couldn’t get Israel into trouble with the Lord, maybe they would do it for him. And so, he advised Balak to find the prettiest girls in Moab, send them over to the camp of Israel, and seduce the men to worship their gods, who by the way, strongly approved of fornication! The plan worked splendidly--until God killed twenty-four thousand fornicating Jews!

This is the doctrine of Balaam is not a formal doctrine, so much, as a kind of practical looseness. It’s the belief that you can be both a Christian and a fornicator or, to broaden it out, that you can serve two masters—Christ and the world.

But the Lord is a jealous God and commands you to choose. Will you serve Him (however imperfectly) or will you serve something else? The believers in Pergamos were tempted to serve idols and fornication, but maybe these are not your temptations. For you, it may be a grudge you’ve been nursing for years. Or the love of money. Or pride. Or self-righteousness. Or plain old selfishness. These have been your gods, and you’ve tried to combine them with the True God. But He won’t have a part of you, He wants the whole thing. And so, to these fence-straddlers, He has only one word: Repent.

Recognize the compromises they’ve made, confess them to the Lord, turn away from them, and turn to Him for mercy and renewal.

Repentance is always hard, especially if the bad habits have been in place for a long time, and quitting them is going to make you unpopular and put you in trouble with the law.

To help them repent, He issues a serious and urgent warning. If they don’t, He says,

Underline the word, ‘quickly’. The Lord is patient with sinners, slow the wrath, the Bible says. But don’t ever identify His patience with leisure to repent. The only safe and sure time to repent is now. You have this moment, but you may not have the next one. This is not a scare tactic, but a simple fact:

We’re used to hearing these word spoken at unbelievers—and they should be. But the warning in our text is sent to the church, to people who profess faith in Christ. If unbelievers need to repent right this minute, so do believers!

So let’s get at it.

This would be a grim way to end His Letter, and so our Lord adds one more thing to it, and a wonderful thing it is. He adds a promise to the ones who repent,

What’s the hidden manna? Manna was the bread God rained down on Israel for forty years, to sustain them in the wilderness. But that manna was all over the place and plain for anyone to see—if he got up early enough! The hidden manna was the manna that was put in gold pot and placed in the Ark of the Covenant. To eat that manna means communion with God. It means you’re welcome in the Holy Presence and you’re welcome to stay, because unlike the High Priest, you’re not sprinkling the blood and getting out as fast as you can, but you’re sitting down and having a meal with God! A meal that never ends!

What about this white stone with a name on it? Commentators are split on this, and frankly, I don’t know what to make of the white stone. But I think I understand the name on it. It recalls God’s re-naming of men. Abram, which means ‘father’ becomes Abraham which means ‘father of many or great father’. Jacob, which means con man becomes Israel which means a Prince with God. Simon, which means a dove, become Peter, which means the rock. These are not vanity changes, as if a Gertrude changed her name to Elizabeth (pardon me if your mother was named Gertrude!).

The name changes signified a change in character or in status. We come to the Lord with common names, signifying nothing but our commonness, and He gives us new names, names worthy of the saints. This means acceptance and an honored place in the Kingdom. Prince Michael, Queen Gladys, His Majesty Norm! These are the secret names He gives us, secret for now, but one day, they will be known to and celebrated by all men and angels!

It is easier to compromise with the world than to reject it. But reject it we must, because the Lord will have no worldly disciples, and His true followers will be honored beyond our wildest dreams.

So let us repent of our worldliness and cleave to Christ only.