seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 2:12 “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13 I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.
14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
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Here's the link to the commentary I read. There is still a lot of information in the commentary that I didn't post here. Please follow the link and read it for yourself.
Pergamos: This was the political capital of the Roman Province of Asia the Less. When John wrote, Pergamos had been the capital city of the region for more than three hundred years. The city was a noted center for culture and education, having one of the great libraries of the ancient world, with more than 200,000 volumes.
Pergamos: This was also an extremely religious city. It had temples to the Greek and Roman gods Dionysus, Athena, Demeter, and Zeus. It also had three temples dedicated to the worship of the Roman Emperor.
Pergamos: This city was especially known as a center for the worship of the deity known as Asclepios. Represented by a serpent, Asclepios was the god of healing and knowledge. There was a medical school at his temple in Pergamos. Because of the famous temple to the Roman god of healing, sick and diseased people from all over the Roman Empire flocked to Pergamos for relief.
“Sufferers were allowed to spend the night in the darkness of the temple. In the temple there were tame snakes. In the night the sufferer might be touched by one of these tame and harmless snakes as it glided over the ground on which he lay. The touch of the snake was held to be the touch of the god himself, and the touch was held to bring health and healing.” (Barclay)
I know your works: Jesus said this to each church. It is true of each one of us. He knows our works, even if there isn’t much to know.
And where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is: In many ways, Pergamos was a stronghold of Satanic power.
There are many different opinions as to why Pergamos was such a stronghold of Satanic power. Some believe it is because Pergamos was a center of pagan religion, especially of “Asclepios Soter” or “Asclepios Savior.” Some believe it was because Pergamos had a huge throne-like altar dedicated to the Roman god Zeus. Some believe it was because Pergamos was a center for the ancient Babylonian priesthood, but this is tough to prove conclusively. Others believe it was because Pergamos was the political center of the worship-demanding Roman government.
And you hold fast to My name: Despite the fact they lived in such a difficult city, the Christians of Pergamos held fast to their faith in Jesus (hold fast to My name… did not deny My faith).
Did not deny My faith: Jesus praised the Christians of Pergamos because they did not deny His faith. It is always important to make sure that the faith we hold on to is the faith that belongs to Jesus.
Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you: One specific man among the Christians of Pergamos received a precious title (faithful martyr). This same title was held by Jesus also (Revelation 1:5). Antipas was a man who followed Jesus, who was like Jesus.
Antipas is one of the great almost-anonymous heroes of the Bible. History tells us nothing about him except for here. “It is much no ecclesiastical history makes mention of this martyr Antipas, which argues him to have been a person but of obscure note in the world; but Christ seeth and taketh notice of those little ones who belong to him, though the world overlooks them.” (Poole)
I have a few things against you: The Christians in Pergamos were rightly praised for holding fast to the name of Jesus and keeping his faith. At the same time, their difficult environment did not excuse the few things Jesus had against them.
You have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam: Balaam was a prototype of all corrupt teachers. According to Numbers 22-24 and 31, Balaam combined the sins of immorality and idolatry to please Balak, the king of Moab, because he could not curse Israel directly.
When Balaam counseled Balak, he taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel. The stumbling block was connected with idolatry (to eat things sacrificed to idols) and sexual immorality. If the church in Pergamos had those who did hold the doctrine of Balaam, it showed they had tendencies towards both idolatry and immorality.
You also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans: In Revelation 2:6, Jesus praised the Ephesian Christians because they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans. But the Nicolaitans also had their doctrine, and some among the Christians of Pergamos held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.
What is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans? The title Nico-laitans has the idea of a proud authority and a hierarchical separatism. The name Nikao-laos literally means “to conquer the people.” According to ancient commentators, the Nicolaitans also approved of immorality.
You have those there… you also have those: The rebuke was not only against those who hold the doctrines of Balaam and those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. The rebuke was also against those who allowed them to continue (you have there those… you have those).
To him who overcomes: The one who overcomes this spirit of accommodation to false teaching and living will receive hidden manna. This is God’s perfect provision, the true bread from heaven (John 6:41).
And I will give him a white stone: In the ancient world, the use of a white stone had many associations. A white stone could be a ticket to a banquet, a sign of friendship, evidence of having been counted, or as a sign of acquittal in a court of law. Jesus may have any one of these meanings in mind, but at the very least we know that it has the assurance of blessing.
And on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it: What is the meaning of this new, secret name promised to him who overcomes? Is it God’s name, or is it the believer’s name? This is probably the believer’s new name, and the name itself is probably more important than the stone itself.
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Pergamos just loved their idols. They must have been excellent artists. According to the commentary, there were seven temples in Pergamos. Four of them were for the gods and three more for the emperor. There had to be lots of statues all over the place. Remember, Pharoah in Egypt considered himself to be an invincible god until Moses came along. He had a few white rocks turned into statues as well. It wasn't a new idea.
I wonder, did the Christians sculpt any statues to the gods of the Greeks and Romans? Was it their livelihood? Did they turn down the work at the temples built to honor the emperor? Were they forced to work on these statues? Or... Would their faith cause them to turn down the job and remain unemployed?
IMHO it's not hard to fathom the Nicolaitans being "bigger badder story tellers". The imagination required to sculpt a god our of solid rock would just beg for a "Hollywood" version of Jesus. They would have to tweak the Gospel to make it more appealing so as to match up with the worship of the gods hidden there.
Did they soup-up the Gospel to hide Jesus because they had to stay in hiding?
There's a lot of talk about a double-edged sword in these verses. I always wondered why Jesus would have a sword coming out of His mouth. I envisioned it as the opposite of what a sword swallower would do. The pointed end would be coming out of the mouth not going down the gullet. I think that would make it really hard for Jesus to ride a horse or even give orders to the Legions.
Then I saw a pirate with a double-edged sword in his mouth. It was His weapon! He put it in his mouth so he could carry it ready to battle while swinging from the ship's rigging. To me... that makes more sense than the ridiculous pictures I saw in the Bible Studies. Jesus is there to fight! He's not there to talk! He's ready to do war against the people like the men who were running Pergamos.
Now on to the white stone. The statues all around the temples were carved from pure white stone. It's what they had and that's what they chose. They wanted stone without blemish. I always thought the hands of the statues were gone because they broke off.... Maybe it's because there was a blemish in the stone where the hands would be sculpted so they cut the blemish out by not sculpting the hands.
Anyway, after reading here about all the statues, I have come to believe that the "white rock" Jesus will give us... is an insult to those gods and the emperors captured in stone at those temples.
It's as if Jesus is saying.... "You want a statue... I'll give you a statue... one all your own... with a new name on it". I'm not sure having a statue of me is appropriate, so I think Jesus was being very sarcastic in verse 17. Gene Hackman saying "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth" comes to mind.
Although I really do want to go to Heaven... if I had to have a statue made that some idiot might worship.... Well, I don't think that would be right.
So, the double-edged sword may or may not be coming out of His mouth rather than clenched there and the white rock may or may not be a sarcastic retort instead of a rock. But one thing is for sure. Jesus is not happy at all with Pergamos' Seven temples full of imaginary heroes.
These verses are just begging for a title.
"The Sword and the Stone"
