Revelation 2:12-17

Notes compiled from my Bible Study group, based on Dr. Chuck Missler's seminars.


The Letter to the Church at Pergamos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvq-T3D59PU
http://www.god.tv/node/4316


7 Elements of the Letter tot he Church of Pergamos


1. Name of the Church: Pergamos
Per: mixed, objectionable, inappropriate (e.g., perverted)
Gamos: marriage
Pergamos: mixed/objectionable/inappropriate marriage


2. Title of Christ Chosen
“These things saith be which hath the sharp sword with two edges” (Revelation 2:12)
The Word of God is the sharp sword with two edges, the remedy for Pergamos’s main problem


3. Commendation
- held fast God’s name
- did not deny God’s faith


4. Concern
- held the doctrine of Balaam
- held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, a deed rejected by the Church of Ephesus (but obviously adopted by Pergamos)



Nicolaitans
- A 1st centry sect abusing the liberty in Christ
- Nicao = conquer, overcome, rule; Laos = Laity, people
- The use of clergical stature or position to rule over the laity. This is hated by Jesus, who best demonstrated His love for His people by washing their feet (John 13)
- The “deeds” that Ephesus had rejected ahd became the “doctrine” at Pergamos



5. Exhortation
“Repent; or else I will coe unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth” (Revelation 2:14-16)


6. Close
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Revelation 2:17)


7. Promise to the Overcomer [1 John 5:4-5 defines the “overcomer”]
- to eat of the hidden manna (Revelation 2:17), i.e., Jesus
- to be given a white stone, in which a new name is written (Revelation 2:17)


Balaam’s advice to Balak relate to the theme of this letter. The Church of Pergamos was the "married church," the church that jeopardized the Word of God for the world, and Balaam used his God-given gift for financial gains, aka by giving in to the world.


About Balaam
- Gentile prophet
- Soothsayer (Joshua 13:22)
- Hired by Balak, King of Moab (one of Israel’s enemies)
- Balak hired Balaam to curse the Israelites
- Rebuked by his donkey (Numbers 22)
- Refused to curse Israel (Numbers 23, 24)
- Taught Balak how to defeat Israel: corrupt Israel by enticing the young Israelite men to fornicate with Moabite women (Numbers 31:16)


Error of Balaam
- He sacrificed eternal riches for temporal gain (Jude 11)
The Way of Balaam
- Balaam was a “hireling,” someone who made a “market” for his gift, someone who used his gift for financial profit (2 Peter 2:15)


Doctrine of Balaam
Spiritual unchastity; marriage with the world (Revelation 2:14)


Zeus’s birth place
- Pergamos
- Altar of Zeus stands on a foundation 125 ft by 115 ft over 50 ft high, set in a colonnaded enclosure (Revelation 2:13)


Origin of the Legend of Aesculapius
- Legend of Aesculapius originally emerged from the brazen serpent of Moses, which had healing powers (Numbers 21:8, 9)
- This symbolism was explained by Jesus in John 3:14
- The staff was destroyed by Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18:4 because people idolized the staff, an object representing God's work, as opposed to God, the CREATOR of the object


Snake = sin
Brass = judgment
Snake around brass = Sin being judged


Difference between the symbol of one snake around a pole and two snakes wrapped around a pole
One snake = medicine
Two-headed snake = commerce


- The Greeks later depicted Aesculapius holding Hermes’ staff (the Caduceus)
- The Caduceus was a staff with a two-headed snakes
- The Caduceus was the official emblem of Pergamos
- Hermes was the god of commerce (not medicine)


Satan's Character
- murderer (John 8:44)
- deceiver (revelation 12:9; 2 Corinthians 11:3)
- liar (John 8:44)
- sinner (1 John 3:8)


Satan's Domain
- vast demonic kingdom (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 12:7)
- world system (1 John 5:19)
- There is locality of Satan and his demons; i.e., Satan cannot be present in all places at once (Daniel 10; Revelation 9:14, 16:12)




Satan's Titles
- Adversary (1 Timothy 5:14; 1 Peter 5:8)
- Accuser of the Brethren (Revelation 12:10)
- God of this World (2 Corinthians 4:4)
- Prince of the Power of the Air (Ephesians 2:2)
- The Spirit that Now Works in the Children of Disobedience (Ephesians 2:2)
- The Enemy that Sowed Tares (Matthew 13:39)
- The Wicked One (throughout the Bible)


Manna
- Hebrew for “What is it?”
- The Israelites collected manna daily for 6 days a week only for 40 years; this was sustenance provided by God (Exodus 18)
- Manna is described poetically in the Bible:
1. “food from heaven “ and “bread of the might” (Psalms 78, 105)
2. “I am the Bread of Life” = Jesus, the hidden manna (John 6:26-58)


Nimrod
- Founded the original Babylonian religion, which is identical to Phaethon or Aesculapius
- This religion eventually developed into the worship of his widow Semiramis and his posthumous son, Tammuz


Tammuz
- Son of Nimrod and Semiramis
- Associated with the sun god


Semiramis & Tammuz of Babylon
= Ashtoreth & Tammus of Phoenicia
= Isis & Horus of Egypt
= Aphrodite & Eros of Greece
= Venus & Cupid of Rome


In the Roman empire, under Theodosius’s rule (378-395 AD), Christianity was declared as a state religion. This is a period of time where scholars say is the marriage between the Church and the World, because it brought Roman pagans who had ambitions to rule, heathenism, and pomp into the church (Rome has always been largely paganistic).


Perverted Marriage
- Heathenism was Christianized (pagan temples became Christian churches; heathen festivals were converted into Christina ones)
- Pagan priests slipped into office as Christian priests
- Many changes were mostly nomenclature, i.e., not real
- What persecution couldn't accomplish in Smyrna, marriage to world did to Pergamos. That is, Satan's plan to kill off Christians or to discourage them from spreading the Word didn't work. And so, he changed his attack plan: Pollute Christians with the world.


Applications of the Letter to the Church of Pergamos


1. Local
http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/pergamon.asp


- Pergamos was the also known as the city of the serpent
- Pergamos was locaed 48 miles north of Smyrna


Ephesus: the great political center
Smyrna: the great commercial center
Pergamos: the great religious center


- Although not the seat of imperial and judicial authority, Pergamos became the center of the official religion of emperor worship – The 1st temple of this cult was erected at Pergamos in 27 BC


- Under Vespasian and his successors, it became a test of one’s loyalty if one would or would not offer incense to the statue of the emperor (see The Letter to Ephesus)


2. Admonitory (to all churches)
- Purify ambassadorship; avoid spiritual immorality; remain spiritual chaste -- “Hold fast to my name,” Jesus said to Pergamos


3. Personal (homiletics)
The people of Pergamos were spiritually compromised: the Israelite men would become physically compromised by fornicating with Moabite women and become spiritually compromised by adopting the idol gods of the Moabites


4. Prophetic


Pergamos is the Married Church




Background Reading


Numbers 22 (The Story of Balaam)


Num 22:12
And God said to Balaam, You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.


When God refused Balaam's two requests to go with Balak, He used the Hebrew wordd "lo lo loh," or in English, "not not not" or "no no no". So, God was pretty clear that He did not want Balaam to curse Israel.


Second, when the men came to Balaam, and Balaam came to God a second time God said this:


Num 22:20-21
And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, If the men come to call you, rise up, go with them. But still, the word which I shall say to you, that you shall do. And Balaam rose up in the morning and saddled his donkey, and went with the rulers of Moab.


There is no mention of the men coming for Balaam in the morning. He apparently was so anxious to make a buck (so to speak) that he hopped on his donkey and then went with the rulers of Moab.


Bottom line, Balaam had a bad attitude. Don't put money ahead of what God tells us to do; don't put money ahead of God; and don't sell our gift that was a gift from God to begin with.


Luke 21:25-28
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars. And on the earth will be anxiety of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men fainting from fear, and expecting those things which have come on the earth. For the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to happen, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near.


Joel 2:31
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of Jehovah.


Acts 2:20
The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before that great and glorious Day of the Lord.
Rev 6:12 And when He had opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.


Rabbinical tradition holds that a blood moon is a sign of trouble for Israel and a total solar eclipse is a sign of trouble for the world.


About the Nicolaitans
http://eastonsbibledictionary.com/nicolaitans.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaism


Henry's Commentary:


The deeds of the Nicolaitans


These were, as is commonly supposed, a sect of the Gnostics, who taught the most impure doctrines, and followed the most impure practices. They are also supposed to have derived their origin from Nicolas, one of the seven deacons mentioned Act 6:5. The Nicolaitans taught the community of wives, that adultery and fornication were things indifferent, that eating meats offered to idols was quite lawful; and mixed several pagan rites with the Christian ceremonies. Augustine, Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Tertullian, have spoken largely concerning them.


Clarke's Commentary:


Rev 2:12-17


Here also we are to consider,


I. The inscription of this message.


1. To whom it was sent: To the angel of the church of Pergamos. Whether this was a city raised up out of the ruins of old Troy, a Troy nouveau (as our London was once called), or some other city of the same name, is neither certain nor material; it was a place where Christ had called and constituted a gospel church, by the preaching of the gospel and the grace of his Spirit making the word effectual.


2. Who it was that sent this message to Pergamos: the same Jesus who here describes himself as one that hath the sharp sword with two edges (Rev 1:16), out of whose mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. Some have observed that, in the several titles of Christ which are prefixed to the several epistles, there is something suited to the state of those churches; as in that to Ephesus, what could be more proper to awaken and recover a drowsy and declining church than to hear Christ speaking as one that held the stars in his hand, and walked in the midst of the golden candlesticks? etc.


The church of Pergamos was infested with men of corrupt minds, who did what they could to corrupt both the faith and manners of the church; and Christ, being resolved to fight against them by the sword of his word, takes the title of him that hath the sharp sword with two edges. The word of God is a sword; it is a weapon both offensive and defensive, it is, in the hand of God, able to slay both sin and sinners. It is a sharp sword. No heart is so hard but it is able to cut it; it can divide asunder between the soul and the spirit, that is, between the soul and those sinful habits that by custom have become another soul, or seem to be essential to it. It is a sword with two edges; it turns and cuts every way. There is the edge of the law against the transgressors of that dispensation, and the edge of the gospel against the despisers of that dispensation; there is an edge to make a wound, and an edge to open a festered wound in order to its healing. There is no escaping the edge of this sword: if you turn aside to the right hand, it has an edge on that side; if on the left hand, you fall upon the edge of the sword on that side; it turns every way.


II. From the inscription we proceed to the contents of the epistle, in which the method is much the same as is observed in the rest. Here,


1. Christ takes notice of the trials and difficulties this church encountered with: I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, etc., Rev 2:13. The works of God's servants are best known when the circumstances under which they did those works are duly considered. Now that which added very much lustre to the good works of this church was the circumstance of the place where this church was planted, a place where Satan's seat was. As our great Lord takes notice of all the advantages and opportunities we have for duty in the places where we dwell, so he takes notice of all the temptations and discouragements we meet with from the places where we dwell, and makes gracious allowances for them. This people dwelt where Satan's seat was, where he kept his court. His circuit is throughout the world, his seat is in some places that are infamous for wickedness, error, and cruelty. Some think that the Roman governor in this city was a most violent enemy to the Christians; and the seat of persecution is Satan's seat.


2. He commends their steadfastness: Thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith. These two expressions are much the same in sense; the former may, however, signify the effect and the latter the cause or means. “Thou holdest fast my name; thou art not ashamed of thy relation to me, but accountest it thine honour that my name is named on thee, that, as the wife bears the name of the husband, so thou art called by my name; this thou holdest fast, as thine honour and privilege.” “That which has made thee thus faithful is the grace of faith: thou hast not denied the great doctrines of the gospel, nor departed from the Christian faith, and by that means thou hast been kept faithful.” Our faith will have a great influence upon our faithfulness. Men who deny the faith of Christ may boast very much of their sincerity, and faithfulness to God and conscience; but it has been seldom known that those who let go the true faith retained their fidelity; usually on that rock on which men make shipwreck of their faith they make shipwreck of a good conscience too. And here our blessed Lord aggrandizes the fidelity of this church from the circumstance of the times, as well as of the place where they lived: they had been stedfast even in those days wherein Antipas his faithful martyr was slain among them. Who this person was, and whether there be anything mysterious in his name, we have no certain account. He was a faithful disciple of Christ, he suffered martyrdom for it, and sealed his faith and fidelity with his blood in the place where Satan dwelt; and though the rest of the believers there knew this, and saw it, yet they were not discouraged nor drawn away from their steadfastness: this is mentioned as an addition to their honor.


3. He reproves them for their sinful failures (Rev 2:14): But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there those that hold the doctrine of Balaam, etc., and those that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. There were some who taught that it was lawful to eat things sacrificed to idols, and that simple fornication was no sin; they, by an impure worship, drew men into impure practices, as Balaam did the Israelites. Observe, the filthiness of the spirit and the filthiness of the flesh often go together. Corrupt doctrines and a corrupt worship often lead to a corrupt conversation. It is very lawful to fix the name of the leaders of any heresy upon those who follow them. It is the shortest way of telling whom we mean. To continue in communion with persons of corrupt principles and practices is displeasing to God, draws a guilt and blemish upon the whole society: they become partakers of other men's sins. Though the church, as such, has no power to punish the persons of men, either for heresy or immorality, with corporal penalties, yet it has power to exclude them from its communion; and, if it do not so, Christ, the head and lawgiver of the church, will be displeased with it.


4. He calls them to repentance: Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, etc. (Rev 2:16). Observe here, repentance is the duty of saints as well as sinners; it is a gospel duty. It is the duty of churches and communities as well as particular persons; those who sin together should repent together. It is the duty of Christian societies to repent of other men's sins, as far as they have been accessory to them, though but so much as by connivance. When God comes to punish the corrupt members of a church, he rebukes that church itself for allowing such to continue in its communion, and some drops of the storm fall upon the whole society. No sword cuts so deep, nor inflicts so mortal a wound, as the sword of Christ's mouth. Let but the threatenings of the word be set home upon the conscience of a sinner, and he will soon be a terror to himself; let these threatenings be executed, and the sinner is utterly cut off. The word of God will take hold of sinners, sooner or later, either for their conviction or their confusion.


III. We have the conclusion of this epistle, where, after the usual demand of universal attention, there is the promise of great favour to those that overcome. They shall eat of the hidden manna, and have the new name, and the white stone, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it (Rev 2:17).


1. The hidden manna, the influences and comforts of the Spirit of Christ in communion with him, coming down from heaven into the soul, from time to time, for its support, to let it taste something how saints and angels live in heaven. This is hidden from the rest of the world - a stranger intermeddles not with this joy; and it is laid up in Christ, the ark of the covenant, in the holy of holies.


2. The white stone, with a new name engraven upon it. This white stone is absolution from the guilt of sin, alluding to the ancient custom of giving a white stone to those acquitted on trial and a black stone to those condemned. The new name is the name of adoption: adopted persons took the name of the family into which they were adopted. None can read the evidence of a man's adoption but himself; he cannot always read it, but if he persevere he shall have both the evidence of sonship and the inheritance.