3 □ The Church at Pergamos... is the Married church... church mixed with state... it is the compromising church...

When the Church compromises with the world it's like making a deal with the Devil.

 

◇ Brief historical background...

 

▪︎ Pergamos means... "height or elevation."

▪︎ Pergamos, Smyrna and Ephesus were considered royal cities, and they vied one with the other.

▪︎ Smyrna (Izmir) was the great commercial center, Ephesus the great political center, and Pergamos the great religious center.

▪︎ Pergamos a city in Mysia and labeled by Pliny "by far the most illustrious of Asia."

▪︎ In it was a temple built to Caesar Augustus, who made it a royal city.

▪︎ There was a healing spa in Pergamos.

▪︎ Pergamos was not a seacoast town and was off the great trade routes which came out of the Orient.

▪︎ It was a fortified, stronghold city, built to withstand the enemy and was built on a mountain.

▪︎ The original city was built between two rivers.

▪︎ The city boasts great temples and... it also had the greatest library of the pagan world.

▪︎ Cleopatra "lugged" it off to Alexandria in Egypt.

▪︎ Pergamos was plundered and stripped bare by the enemy when they finally took the city and destroyed it.

▪︎ The church in Pergamos is representative of church history during the period of approximately A.D. 314 to A.D. 590.

▪︎ It was during this time the world and its ways had really made real inroads into the church and...

it began to move away "from" the person of Christ.

 

■ Christ's letter to the Church...

 

☆ Revelation 2:12-17...

"And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things says He which has the sharp sword with two edges;

I know your works, and where you dwell, even where Satan's seat is: and you hold fast My name, and have not denied My faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwells.

But I have a few things against you, because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

So have you also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

Repent; or else I will come unto you quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.

He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches; To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows saving he that receives it."

 

• "These things says He which has the sharp sword with two edges" means the Word of God. Jesus the Word of God has the answer to man’s need and man’s sin. God deals with us through His Word!

 

• Pergamon's sin was false religion... compromised religion... manmade religion. Some say there was a marrying between church and state. The only way it could be reached, taught and changed... is by the Word of God... "the sharp sword of My Mouth..."

 

• "I know your works and where you dwell..." 

The Lord knew that the believers here were living in a very difficult place.

 

• "Even where Satan’s seat [throne] is..."

Religion was big business in Pergamos and Satan’s headquarters was there. 

This should put to rest the question for those who think that Satan is in hell at the present time.

Satan is the "god of this world." He's out there in the market place to deceive, twist, manipulate and destroy anything and everything he can... controlling kingdoms and going up and down the earth as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Beware! 

Here... Jesus says Satan's headquarters is in Pergamos.

 

• In Pergamos there were many heathen temples... the temples of Athena, of Caesar Augustus, of Hadrian, great altar to Zeus, of Dionysus. The ways of Rome and Greece had infiltrated into the religious ways of Pergamos.

Note: Dionysus was the same as Bacchus, the god of wine. Alcohol has taken more territory (destroyed people spiritually) than anything else.

 

• The other outstanding temple was of the god Asklepios.

It was the greatest hospital of the ancient world (the Mayo Clinic of that day). The Greek god Asklepios, is a man. The Anatolian or Oriental god Asklepios, is a serpent.

The temple was unusual in that it was round... and used every means of healing imaginable... medicine and psychology and anything else that was going. 

Much healing was of a satanic nature in those days.

 

• Two words of commendation to the believers...

                1. "You hold fast My Name"... their faithfulness in their defense of the deity of Christ. It was an age that produced great giants of the faith... Athanasius... Augustine... 

                2. "And have not denied My faith"... refers to the body of true doctrine which is believed by Christians.

               

• "You have them there..." suggests... implies that there were some "tarnished, rotten apples in the basket"... We all need to be firm in the Faith. We need to be in the Word. We all need to stand fast in the Apostle's Doctrine.

Can you see why Jesus says over and over again... "He that has an ear... hear what the Spirit says... "

 

• Jesus condemns two things...

                1. Doctrine of Balaam... which taught Balac the way to corrupt Israel by intermarriage with Moabite women. This introduced into the nation of Israel both idolatry and fornication (sexual sins). The ways of the unconverted world had come into the church. Instead of the Church influencing the world... the world influenced the Church.

                2. Doctrine of the Nicolaitans... Ephesus hated it!  Some in Pergamos embraced it. It probably was a gnostic cult developed by Nicolaus which advocated license (practice sin to understand it*) in matters of Christian conduct. Also... included a return to religious rituals by clergy, ignoring the priesthood of all believers. Jesus hates it!                                         * I heard a so called mature Christian once say that he looks at pornography so that he knows what he is up against. Yeah right!

               

• Jesus tells them straight... "Repent!" 

Make... take a complete change of mind... a complete reversal of direction... 180° turn around.

And if they won't repent, the Lord says He will fight against them with the sword of His mouth, which is the Word of God. Argument settled!

[By the way... It's a mistake to think that the Church has the right and the authority to decide what is right and wrong. God's Word only has that right and that authority].

 

• "He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches." 

The Spirit of God continues to speak to the Churches. 

But are they (are you) listening? 

Listening is a continual process... not something we do every now and again. Listen everyday what the Holy Spirit says. 

 

• "To him that overcomes..." is really the definition of a genuine Christian. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb. Victory was and is won by Christ not by ourselves. Our total faith must be in the complete and finished work of Christ on the Cross. 

 

• "Hidden manna..." speaks of the person and death of Christ as He is revealed in the Word of God. Jesus is the true Bread of Life that came from Heaven. The believer must feed on Christ for spiritual growth.

 

• "I will give him a white stone... a new name... no man knows saving he that receives it... "

Interestingly people in Asia Minor had a custom to giving intimate friends a "tessera"... a cube or rectangular piece of stone or ivory, with words or symbols engraved on it. It was a secret, private possession of the one who received it.

Jesus is going to give His own a white stone with a new name engraved on it. It will be His personal and intimate name to each of us.

 

What ways of the world have you allowed into your life... influenced your Christian walk? What compromises have you made? What are you doing now that you frowned upon in the past? 

 

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