[Vibrant Church] Will It Blend?
In Revelation 2:12-17, Jesus addressed his third letter to the church at Pergamum. Located approximately 45 miles (75 km) north of Smyrna at what is today known as Bergama, this was the northernmost of the seven churches Jesus addressed in Revelation. Unlike the previous two churches, Pergamum was not a port city. Instead, it was built on terraces ascending one side of a hill rising 1,000 feet (330 m) above the surrounding valley. The city and its kingdom were bequeathed by the last Pergamenian king to the Roman Empire in 133 BC.
Economically, the city was prosperous, diverse, and highly educated. Its library was, at the time, second only to the famed library of Alexandria, Egypt. In fact, education was so important to the people of Pergamum that, when the Egyptians banned papyrus exports, they invented parchment so they could keep writing and learning.
Religiously, the city boasted a large Jewish population. Like Smyrna, it was a center of the Imperial cult in Asia. There was also a throne-like altar erected at the top of the hill which served as the home of Zeus worship. Coins and various inscriptions found at the site bear the image of Asklepius, the Greek god of healing represented by a snake, and there is evidence that the cults of Athena, Dionysus, and more were also present.
It is not surprising, then, that the church at Pergamum would be tempted to blend the truth of the gospel with other “truths” that they were learning and hearing through the various religions represented there. To this church, Jesus wrote:
“Write to the angel of the church in Pergamum: Thus says the one who has the sharp, double-edged sword: I know where you live—where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding on to my name and did not deny your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was put to death among you, where Satan lives. But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block in front of the Israelites: to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. In the same way, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. So repent! Otherwise, I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name is inscribed that no one knows except the one who receives it.
The Good: They were holding on
As he did with the churches at Ephesus and Smyrna, Jesus started this letter with a note of encouragement. He recognized the difficult circumstances they faced, even describing the city as “where Satan’s throne is.” Almost certainly, this was an allusion to the throne built for Zeus, but this stood as only the most tangible example of the myriad religions and idealogies represented there. It also suggested that saints of Pergamum were facing stiff spiritual resistance. The Pergamenian saints were not engaged in small border skirmishes; they were at the very heart of the enemy’s territory engaging his strongest and most determined forces. In fact, one of their members, Antipas, was martyred by this opposition.
Yet, in spite of these circumstances, Jesus commended the church at Pergamum for its steadfast commitment to him. They were “holding on to [Jesus’] name and did not deny [their] faith in [him], even in the days of Antipas.” The Greek term translated here “holding on to” carries the ideas of taking possession of something and absolutely refusing to let go. It was the ancient equivalent of the modern resolution, “You’ll have to pry that from my cold, dead fingers.” Put another way, the Pergamenians were not going to relinquish their faith for anything in this world.
The Bad: They were mixing truths
This, of course, sounds great, but in verse 14, Jesus revealed, “I have a few things against you.” For people who were so committed to Jesus, this declaration rang out like a Howitzer, and over the next two verses, our Lord revealed two specific charges against the church there.
First, they were saints at Pergamum who held to the teaching of Balaam. In Numbers 22-24, Balaam was a freelance prophet hired by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse Israel. At first, Balaam made a show of being unable to say or do anything against the Lord, but when Balak’s agents promised to “greatly honor [Balaam] and do whatever [he] asked,” God basically said, “Whatever, dude.” Probably the most familiar part of Balaam’s story for us today is the part where God sent an angel to intercept and kill Balaam rather than let him do whatever he wanted, but the donkey he was riding on kept veering out of the way. Balaam beat the animal repeatedly until the donkey finally spoke and Balaam was able to see the angel and the gravity of what he was intending to do. Consequently, when he arrived at Balak’s camp, Balaam would only bless Israel instead of curse them, and Balak was furious. He wasted a lot of time and money only to have his enemy cursed, but between Numbers 24 and 25, something changed. Suddenly, Israel began prostituting themselves with Moabite women, attending and participating in Moabite temple rituals, and ultimately aligned themselves with Baal of Peor, the Moabite god. For centuries, scholars have believed Balaam suggested this tactic to Balak as a way to incite the anger of God. Thus, the teaching of Balaam was that you can be a man or woman of God and have other things that are just as (or more) important than he is.
Second, in verse 15, Jesus said, “You also have those who hold to the teachings of the Nicolaitans.” While scholars are not 100% certain, it is generally assumed that this was a reference to a group, mentioned in early second century writings, which followed the teachings of Nicolas, who mixed Christianity with elements of Greek philosophy. Specifically, the Nicolaitans took Paul’s concept of teaching that believers are granted a tremendous degree of freedom in what they do and don’t do, mixed it with the Greek notion that there is a hard moral line between holy spiritual things and evil physical things, and sprinkled in the pagan belief that sex is a crucial part of worship. The product of all this was essentially a doctrine of free love, and despite numerous biblical prohibitions against such behavior, some of the believers at Pergamum were buying into this!
In short, they were mixing truths. They took a little Christianity. When their faithful witness was offensive to the neighbors (e.g., Antipas’ faithful witness), they watered it down with some of the neighbors’ beliefs. In order to get in with the right people (e.g., the pretty Moabite girls), they incorporated a little of what appealed to those right people. When following God was boring, hard, or just not fun, they they mixed in some more… exciting ideas. They treated truth like a giant smorgasbord, taking a little of this and a little of that and assuming everyone would go home happy.
As a result, they were still Christians, but they were also attending and participating in pagan rituals and sleeping around, and just as it became increasingly difficult to distinguish the Israelites from the Moabits and the Nicolaitans from the Greeks and Romans, it was growing more and more difficult to distinguish the saints at Pergamum from everyone else.
Let me assure you, this same temptation exists yet today. Between 24-hour news channels and the internet, we are bombarded, inundated with “truth” every single day. The truth we accept can still run us afoul of some people and get us in with others. And quite often, we still choose the truth we will accept based on what we want to do.
The Ugly: Jesus was coming against them.
And this was, and is, a major problem for the church. In fact, notice how Jesus introduced himself in verse 12: “the one who has the sharp, double-edged sword.” This was a reference back to Revelation 1:16, where Jesus was described as having “a sharp double-edged sword [coming] from his mouth.” For the believers at Pergamum, this visual metaphor could not have been more clear. Even though the city was the home of the second greatest library of the day, books were prohibitively expensive for most individuals. Even churches would often have only one copy of a letter or book to share. So they would read it aloud in a meeting. The word of God was therefore conveyed primarily by mouth, and that is what Christ’s sword represented.
Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the word of God is sharp enough “to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” That is, it can discern between what is true and right and what is not, all the way down to what we are thinking and valuing, and when we mix truths because what we want doesn’t align with what God wants, the word of God can tell the difference.
The thing is, a sword like the ones used in the first century could be used in two distinct ways. Either it can be used slowly to carefully slice away those things which are undesireable, as a sculptor might do with a sculpture, or it can be wielded quickly to destroy, as a swordsman would against his enemy. In the former case, the sword can be used to create magnificent pieces of art. In the latter, it kills and maims.
Jesus warned in verse 16 that, if the Pergamenian believers continued to mix truths to prioritize their desires over God’s, he would “come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of [his] mouth.” That is, he will not bless a church that mixes truth, and he will tolerate it for only so long. Sooner or later, he will come against believers who embrace ideas contrary to his truth, and when he does, they will be destroyed.
The Solution: Be sliced by God’s word.
So what do we do about it? For those who were faithful, the answer was simple: keep holding on. Continue committing yourself to God’s unadulterated truth. For those who had compromised, however, the answer was almost as simple, even if it was not nearly as easy: Repent.
Typically, we equate repentance with a change of behavior, but according to the Blue Letter Bible, the word actually means “to change one’s mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins.” That is, to repent is to agree with God’s truth, align our attitudes and actions with what he says is good and right, and to abhor what he says is not. No substitutions or mixing allowed.
However, let us be honest. As inundated as we are with all sorts of truth, that is much easier said than done. So how can we know what is God’s truth? Fortunately, Jesus provided a clue with the whole sword thing. If the sword represents the word of God, and that is what Jesus is going to use to attack us if we don’t repent, then maybe we can use the word of God slowly and carefully today, before he attacks, to help us distinguish God’s truth and remove everything else.
Few things taste better to me than fried fish that I just pulled from the lake or river. Before I can fry the fish, though, I must filet it. The knife I use for this task is extremely sharp, and it could do a lot of damage if used hastily. But when cuts are made slowly and carefully, that same knife allows me to remove the bones, skin, guts, and other things I don’t want to eat while saving as much of the precious filet as possible. In the same way, we must be sliced by God’s word.
This means that we will need to trust the word of God is able to help us discern between what is true and right and all the other stuff. We must allow God to point out and remove the ideas, attitudes, behaviors, and desires which he does not approve, and we must be content with that which remains: only that which is really true.
How do we do these things? I would suggest four things we must do. First, we should listen to sound preaching and teachings just as the saints at Pergamum listened to the word of God. This means the vibrant church should prioritize quality preaching and teaching. It means the vibrant believer will seek out great preaching and teaching from others. This is less about the style and form of the message than it is finding sources that explore the deep truths of our faith and explain them with clarity.
Second, we need to spend less time watching or reading the news or doom scrolling on social media and more time reading and studying our own Bibles. Start with fifteen minutes four times per week, and slowly increase that over time. Expect it to be easy sometimes, but know there is a reason Bible study is called a spiritual discipline: it takes discipline to keep doing it.
Third, if you don’t understand it, read it again. Look for tools (e.g., a study Bible, websites, commentaries) that can help you understand. Examine the historical and textual contexts of a passage to understand why the writer wrote what they did and how the original reader understood it. Then pull the timeless truths from that.
Fourth, apply the truth you find to your life. As Jesus said in Matthew 7:24, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Will it be easy? Not always. Will it be uncomfortable? Quite often.
Yet, consider the three-part promise Jesus offered to those who would do these things in verse 18. “To the one who conquers,” he promised, “I will give some of the hidden manna.” Manna was a reference to Exodus, when Israel was wandering in the desert and God provided manna and quail each morning to eat and water from rocks to drink. Typically, we mix truth to get something we think we need. The Israelites in Balaam’s time thought they needed pretty women, and the people of Pergamum were tempted to mix truth because they saw Antipas die and didn’t want the same thing to happen to them. Jesus here was saying that, if we will commit ourselves entirely to the word of God and overcome the temptation to mix truth, then he will provide everything we need.
Jesus also promised the conqueror “a white stone.” In the ancient world, a white stone represented several things. For instance, juries would use a white stone to cast a vote of innocence; a white stone was often given as an award to those who won in the games; and a white stone functioned as a ticket for admission into an event or feast. If we truly repent and allow ourselves to be sliced by the word of God, he will welcome us into his kingdom as holy champions!
And he promised that this stone would have “a new name inscribed that no one knows except the one who receives it.” In Voctor Hugo’s Les Miserables, Jean Valjean found that his name and the criminal record associated with it prevented him from going anywhere in life, so he assumed a new name. As a result, he became a prominent businessman and, eventually, mayor. How many of us are in a similar situation? We may repent, but we’re still tainted, broken, and inadequate. This is the effect of sin! Yet, if we will truly repent and allow the word of God to shape our lives going forward, then Jesus will grant us a new identity that is not tainted by our past compromises, a new character that is not broken by sin, and a new promise of a real and bright future with him.