Revelation 2:12-17

Small Compromises Get People Killed

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on February 11, 2018 at Beacon Church

Each one of these letters from Jesus to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia is introduced by drawing attention to something specific about Jesus. In this letter, Jesus introduces Himself by pointing to his “sharp, two-edged sword”. “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: 'The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword,” (Rev. 2:12 ESV). Being a Christian under the Roman Empire could be dangerous. Being a fake Christian when King Jesus returns to this world will be a lot more dangerous. There were some members of the congregation in the city of Pergamum who thought they were Christians but who were in danger of proving they didn’t really believe in Jesus, they were faking it. The church in Pergamum had had good ministers. And every pastor worth his calling feels the burden of knowing some of the people in his church might mostly agree with Christian teaching, but they don’t really believe in, or trust in Jesus Christ. The sharp, two-edged sword of Christ is a reminder of how dangerous it is when church-going people think they are saved when they aren’t.

What does real faith look like?

“I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells,” (Rev. 2:13 ESV). To make sure we read this the right way, I need to point out that Jesus is not addressing the whole church here, but the minister, the “angel” or messenger of Christ to that specific church. The word “you” is used 3 times in verse 13. And the first two are singular. One other thing that’s helpful to know, is that the word “dwell” means he’s there to stay: a permanent resident in Pergamum.[i] Both of those details help us to see that Jesus is kind of saying “I know how hard it has been for you to keep on going as the pastor of the church in Pergamum of all places.” What Jesus says next about Pergamum shows why his ministry was so difficult: Jesus said it is “where Satan’s throne is.” There are at least three reasons why Jesus might say that: because Pergamum was home to a giant altar to Zeus, it had a large and popular temple to Asklepios, and it was literally the Asian capital of Emperor-worship.

• The Temple of Zeus was way up on top of an 800’ cliff overshadowing the city of Pergamum. It had a giant altar on the edge of the cliff that looked actually resembled the throne of a god (It’s now in the museum in Berlin).[ii]

• The Temple of the idol, Asklepios, was all the rage in Pergamum. He was supposed to be the god of healing and his emblem was a snake. So naturally there were snakes in the temple, and when sick people spent the night there they hoped a snake would slither over to them and heal them.[iii] Jews and Christians were horrified by this because in the Bible, the serpent is the image not for healing, but for Satan.

• Finally, and probably the main threat to Christianity in Pergamum, that city was the religious capital of the Province of Asia, but it was also the original capital of Caesar-worship. Its first such temple, to “the divine” Augustus Caesar and the goddess of Rome, had been built in 29BC. Another temple to the Emperor Trajan was built a few years after John wrote Revelation.[iv] This Imperial Caesar cult is what made Pergamum prestigious around this time.

Pergamum called itself a neokoros—which meant “temple-sweeper”. It’s a weird claim to fame, but one scholar explains, "Behind the title there lies an idea which in itself is a lovely idea, that it was a city's greatest privilege to render even the humblest service to the god who had taken up his residence within it. Pergamos was the city which called itself the neokoros of the temple where Caesar was worshipped. Pergamos was a city where Caesar worship was at its most intense, a city dedicated to glorying in the worship of Caesar."[v] And that made life dangerous for Christians who would not give Caesar what belonged only to Jesus. That danger was what got the previous pastor killed.[vi] The man who received this letter from Jesus, the “angel” addressed in verse 12, had seen his predecessor die rather than betray King Jesus. “Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells,” (Rev. 2:13 ESV). That’s why the third use of the word “you” in verse 13 is plural. A number of the Christians still alive in Pergamum had seen their previous pastor remain faithful to Christ to the point of death, and they had seen their current pastor also remain faithful to Jesus so far--in spite of the power, the wealth, the popularity of the cults in their city who worshipped idols, and in spite of political opposition to Christianity. That’s what real faith in Jesus looked like in Pergamum.

What does fake Christianity look like?

"Small" is how Jesus describes the failures of the otherwise faithful pastor in Pergamum. That’s what the phrase “a few things” means (v14 ESV). “But I have a few things against you…,” (Rev. 2:14 ESV). It's a wonderful thing when pastors obey Jesus and stay where he calls them to stay, but not unless they also say what he tells them to say. I hate to think how many well-meaning pastors tolerate what Jesus doesn't, are soft when Jesus would be stern, compromise where Jesus would confront? If a truck driver ignores the maximum weight or height limit on a bridge, maybe he is only putting himself in danger. But if the engineer building the bridge makes even small compromises in his work, he can get a lot of people killed. Even if he does it to save the city money, or to make the bridge prettier, or to make things easier for commuters. This well-meaning, and steadfast pastor was allowing compromises in his church to put their very souls in danger.

It's no wonder that in a city Jesus called “the throne of Satan” for its idolatry and pagan religions, that included prostitution as a common part of worship, that Christians faced serious temptations to compromise. Jesus Himself was once tempted by Satan’s offers of food, protection, and power (Mat 4:2-10). The religions of Pergamum offered Christians the same 3 things plus public permission to indulge their sexual impulses however they liked. Satan’s been doing this since Adam and Eve. His goal is to get people to stop trusting God’s way, and to question God’s generousity and goodness.

I wonder how you would feel if you were the pastor of this church and Jesus “held this against you”?—that there were people in his church guilty of eating food sacrificed to idols and of sexual immorality? These two temptations mentioned in verse 14 were such common 1st century problems for Christians that Paul devotes 2 ½ chapters to these same things in 1 Corinthians 6-8. We know all about temptation to sexual immorality, but the thing about food sacrificed to idols seems pretty hard to relate to now. The principle, however, is more relevant today than you might think. With all the temples of idols in Pergamum, and all the animal sacrifices to those idols, there were lots of halls available to rent for special occasions (from the pagan temples), and there was lots of affordable meat available (because only specific pieces were used in sacrifices, leaving lots of left overs that were offered to banquet guests using their venues, and whatever was left was then sold in the meat market). So weddings, anniversaries, holiday feasts—these were normally held in temple venues. But for a Christian to go to one of those places made it look like he or she approved of idol worship. 1 Corinthians 8:10 specifically warns against doing that.[vii] All this to say, we all like good food, and we all like celebrating with friends. But there are times when taking part in what our friends are celebrating will make it look like we approve of sin. For these Christians in Pergamum doing such things could prevent people from suspecting they were Christians, adding to the temptation.

14 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.  15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. (Rev. 2:14-15 ESV)

Maybe you aren’t clear, on the other hand, about God’s design for sex? The Bible is pretty clear about what constitutes “sexual immorality”, but Christians often seem to go to one extreme or another on this. There’s a kind of a funny place in 1 Corinthians 7 where Paul seems to be quoting from a letter he got from some really strict Christians who said, basically, “sex is bad.”[viii] And they thought he would agree with them! But he wrote back that although God never intended sex to be enjoyed outside of a marriage between one man and one woman, and therefore is sin (1 Cor 6:15-20), sex inside of a godly marriage is a really good thing (1 Cor 7:1-5). Confusion about this is not new, but to illustrate how dangerous these two common temptations are, Paul reminded his readers about the “Balaam incident” saying that Israel once gave in to those temptations and “twenty-three thousand [died] in a single day” (1 Cor 10:8). Don’t forget what I explained two weeks ago, that the word “Nikolaitans” refers to people who have been sucked into going along with the sinful values of the culture, instead of obeying Jesus.

The words “so also” in verse 15 mean “just as” Israel lost 23,000 people in one day because of Balaam, “so also”[ix] the church in Pergamum was in danger because of some of their members giving in to the temptations of their city--eating out at temple parties and having sex outside of monogamous, hetero-sexual marriage. The reason Jesus uses the teachings of Balaam to illustrate the error of the Nikolaitans, the compromised people in this church, is that nobody who knew the Bible would say Balaam’s teaching was harmless. God’s Word was so obvious on this, and the danger Israel brought on themselves so well-known, that “so also” (v15) to sin one’s self is forgivable, but if your example influences others, as someone has said, “The greatest anger of Christ is against those who teach others to sin.”[x]

Jesus promises what Satan cannot

As I read verse 16 over and over again, it became clear to me that when Jesus commanded this minister in Pergamum to “repent”, it was a call for him to preach the Gospel. Look at verse 16: [read]. The Grammar in the original is singular here—not a command for the whole church, but for the pastor. He was given a chance to repent, but if not, the unbelieving members of his church were in danger—like the 23,000 Israelites who perished because of Balaam. That means what he had to do was help them really believe in Jesus. He had to preach the Gospel to his church in Pergamum. He was faithful enough to stay; now he needed to evangelize the ones who thought they were Christians but weren’t. Because only if they really started trusting the salvation of Jesus would they be saved from the sword of Jesus. And only if they trusted Him enough to start obeying Him. He is loving. But He is also Lord.

It’s kind of ironic: the Romans only tried to force Christians to say the words, “Caesar is Lord”; Christians couldn’t just say “Jesus is Lord”—their lives had to show it. They had to serve their true King. The actual word for sword refers to a large, long, Thracian sword (Thrace was northwest of Pergamum) used for cutting as well as piercing. The same word for sword occurs in Revelation 19:15 and 21 where Jesus at His return will strike the nations with the sword from His mouth, i.e., He will destroy the nations with the word He speaks.[xi] Both the descriptions of this sword, in 1:16 and in 2:12, emphasize the sword is double-edged, and sharp: it is not a defensive weapon. It is meant for destroying, and it is already sharp and ready to destroy. Like John wrote in John 3:18, whoever doesn’t trust Jesus, is already His enemy. But it’s not too late to give Christ your allegiance.

The thing is, what Jesus promises is so much better than anything in this world even Satan could offer. I can imagine this good pastor preaching this letter with all his heart—especially verse 17:

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.' (Rev. 2:17 ESV)

“Listen! My beloved church, hear what the Spirit is saying to you!” Just listen to these wonderful promises. First, Jesus promises that if you keep on trusting Him, without compromise, He will give you “some of the hidden manna”. The last few verses of Exodus 16 remind God’s people to remember how God fed Israel with manna during the forty years in the wilderness. Some of the manna, the bread from heaven, was preserved and placed inside the Ark of the Covenant to remind them that every day God kept them alive by the bread He supplied. This was to point them to Christ: Jesus said in John 6:33, “the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world…” and then he said, “I Am the bread of life”. For the believers in Pergamum who felt how hard it is to give up worldly food and pleasures, this is not just good news, this is better news. Jesus can satisfy our hunger in ways the world never will. And then Jesus promises the Pergamum believers that He will give them “a white stone, with a new name written on the stone”. Isaiah 62:2 predicted this Gospel gift: “The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give,” (Isa. 62:2 ESV). The new name is the name of Christ that He gives us when we are adopted into God’s family—our new name is “Christian”. But there are many hard days when you and I will wonder if that’s really our true name. “…No one will know except the one who receives it”, and even then we all sometimes have doubts. Especially when we sin and question whether God can still love us? The way to know for sure that your new name is that of a child of God, is to remember the “white stone”: Matthew Henry explained that this was from the “ancient custom of giving a white stone to those acquitted after a trial, and a black stone to those condemned”.[xii]

My dear brothers and sisters, when your sin threatens your assurance of salvation, don’t look to Satan’s lies for comfort, satisfaction, protection, or power. Look to Jesus: he received the black stone of condemnation for sins he did not commit, so that we could receive the white stone of His perfect innocence. Trust in Him today. Hold fast His name tomorrow. Never deny His faith but believe His good promises. How good and faithful our Saviour is! “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood  6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen,”  (Rev. 1:5-6 ESV).