Free Grace Women

Revelation 2:12-17

Introduction

In the New King James Version of the Bible, the letter concerning the church at Pergamos^[1] appears under the heading “The Compromising Church.”  The city itself was the northern-most city of the seven, a metropolis with wealth and commerce, beautiful architecture and famous temples, and the second largest library of the Roman world.  A century after the book of the Revelation, Galen practiced medicine at Pergamos, though in the apostle John’s time the site was already a renowned center of healing, where patients might undergo a variety of treatments, including baths in the sacred spring, after having their dreams interpreted by the priests of the pagan patron deity of healing.

Description of Christ

In this letter, Christ describes Himself as,

“He who has the sharp two-edged sword” (Revelation 2:12 NKJV)

Revelation 1:16 and 2:16 both specify that the sword is from His mouth, a picture of His word.  Ephesians 6:17 calls the word of God “the sword of the Spirit,” and lists it as the offensive weapon the church is to use to fight against the devil and the powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:11-12).  However, God’s word is not a weapon controlled by the church that can be used or ignored according to human preference.  Warning believers of the consequences of conscious disobedience, Hebrews 4:11-13 reminds us that the powerful word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Works

“I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is.  And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.”  (Revelation 2:13 NKJV)

In Pergamos, the climate was not welcoming to the church.  While some associate “Satan’s throne” specifically with the lavish temple of Zeus, the city was full of the temples and worship of pagan deities, and neither the people nor the principalities of darkness were accepting of those who confessed Christ.  Despite living in this stronghold of Satan, the church there had not hidden their faith, but publicly associated themselves with Christ even when one of their number was killed.

Sometimes it’s easy to read past this quickly: the church in Pergamos still openly stood for Christ—even when they were being killed for it—in a place so evil that it was like the throne room of Satan.  That’s impressive.

Praise/Rebuke and Instruction

“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.  Therefore repent.  If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.”  (Revelation 2:14-16 ESV)

Apparently the church was standing up for Christ, but within their number were those who were disobeying God in some major ways, which Jesus associated with the teaching of Balaam. 

Best remembered for the episode of the donkey talking, the account of Balaam is found in Numbers 22-25 and 31.  After the Israelites had exited Egypt and wandered in the wilderness, they camped opposite Jericho.  Balak, king of Moab, sent princes of Moab and Midian to Balaam (a Gentile prophet of the true God) to hire him to curse this big, scary multitude.  While Balaam really wanted to earn the paycheck Balak offered for cursing the Israelites, God wouldn’t let him do it—He even made Balaam speak blessings and prophecies over Israel instead.  But Balaam was a creative sort of guy, and figured if he couldn’t curse the Israelites like Balak wanted, he could teach Balak how to get God to destroy them.  Accordingly, the Moabites and Midianites invited the Israelites to worship their gods and have sex with their women, and plenty of Israelites accepted, causing the Lord to kill 24,000 Israelites with a plague. 

Later, when the Israelites were obeying the Lord, they defeated Midian (and killed Balaam) using only 12,000 soldiers, and not one of those soldiers was lost in battle.  When God’s people choose to disobey Him, they hurt themselves.  When they obey Him, He is their strength.

Like the Israelites at the time of Balaam, the believers in Pergamos were apparently being encouraged to participate in idol worship and sexual immorality by the Nicolaitans.  In the first letter of Revelation, the Ephesians are commended for hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans, but some of the believers here at Pergamos embraced the Nicolaitans’ teachings.  Christ tells them to repent, or else He will war against them. 

Though Christ says “I have something against you” because some of the believers in Pergamos are holding to bad teaching, He also says that if they don’t repent He will war against them.  As a church body, we should be very concerned about the spiritual health of the whole church: praying for one another (James 5:16-20), and encouraging one another in love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:23-25, Ephesians 4:25-32); and in extreme situations, even barring individuals from the assemblies of the church (1 Corinthians 5).  However, each believer is also a human being with free will.  If some believers choose to disobey no matter what, that does not mean that the Lord will indiscriminately punish all the believers around them.

Reward

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat.  And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”  (Revelation 2:17 NKJV)

If you have ever believed in Jesus for everlasting life, you have everlasting life and it can never be lost (John 3:16, 6:47, 1 Timothy 1:16).  Nonetheless, works in this life still matter. 

Some believers at Pergamos were in danger of Christ fighting against them because they chose to mix blatantly sinful teachings with Christ’s teachings.  On the other hand, Christ offered exclusive rewards to the believers at Pergamos who chose to exclusively follow Him. 

Manna was the miraculous food the Lord used to sustain the Israelites in the desert, and the words “hidden manna” evoke images of a special sustenance from Him.  Concerning the white stone, some people have speculated that it could be a diamond-like gem and/or a special pass to seats of honor or important government meetings in the Kingdom.^[2]  Certainly a name known only by the Lord and oneself is a picture of a special relationship with Him.

Christ saw the hearts and the works of the believers in Pergamos, and sent a letter to let them know that it is definitely worth it to not compromise on His word.

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^[1] Since Greek changes the endings of a noun depending on its role in a sentence, the original manuscripts of the Bible technically say “Pergamo” in Revelation 2:12 and “Pergamon” in Revelation 1:11.  Both “Pergamos” and “Pergamum” appear in Bible translations, and some modern English sources use “Pergamon.”

^[2] See https://faithalone.org/grace-in-focus-articles/looking-at-the-white-stone-from-a-different-angle-revelation-217-2/ for a blog about the significance of the stone,  and https://freegracewomen.wordpress.com/2022/08/25/a-white-stone-and-a-new-name/ for a blog about the new name

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