Mid-week Prayer Emphasis - Pergamum
Make sure to watch through to the end for the bloopers ;)
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In Revelation chapter 2 verses 12-17 we have Jesus’ letter to the church in Pergamum. Pergamum was a large, influential city in Turkey. There were 3 different temples dedicated just to the worship of the Roman Emperor. Then there was another temple for the goddess Athena, and also an altar, where animal and human sacrifices were giving in worship of Zeus- the king of Greek gods.
In this letter, Jesus describes Pergamum as the city where Satan’s throne is (it must have been a very wicked, demonic place) but Jesus praises the church there for standing firm in their faith even during the time that Jesus’ witness named Antipas was killed. The backstory, is that Antipas was a follower of Jesus, who was very bold in proclaiming that Jesus was the true God. It is said of him that he cast out many demons there, and that the demons complained to the Greek leaders that they had to do something about Antipas. The pagan priests then talked with the Roman Governor and said that the prayers of Antipas were pushing out the spirits from the city and thus hindering the peoples’ worship of their gods. The Roman Governor responded with a command to Antipas, stating that Antipas must offer a sacrifice to the statue of the Roman Emperor and proclaim that the emperor was lord and god. Well, as a follower of Lord Jesus, of course Antipas refused. And the Roman Governor sentenced him to death on the Altar of Zeus.
Now, at the top of the Altar of Zeus was a life size, hollow, bronze bull. As per their traditional, human- sacrifice-protocol, they placed Antipas inside the bronze bull. Then they lit a large fire underneath the bronze bull, and slowly Antipas was roasted to death inside. Now you can see why perhaps Jesus called this city Satan’s throne. And as scary and intimating as Antipas’ murder must have been, Jesus says the church in Pergamum still held fast His name, and did not deny the faith.
But, there were a few things Jesus had against the church in Pergamum. There were some holding onto a wrong teaching, as it says “the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel.” Now, the story of Balaam and Balak is whole other story starting in Numbers 22. The long story short is that Balaam was a false prophet, and Balak was the king of Moab- an evil nation bordering Israel. King Balak looked for a “spiritual man” who would be willing and able to put a curse upon the nation of Israel, and so he called upon Balaam to do so. God told Balaam he better not go to the king, but Balaam continued to correspond with the king, as the king promised more reward to him if he came. Balaam really wanted to please King Balak, and surely the reward promised to him wet his appetite even further to find a way to curse Israel. Balaam eventually set out to go see King Balak, with the promise that he would only speak what God told him to say. But God even caused Balaam’s donkey to talk as an angel blocked his path on the way to the king. Balaam eventually arrived to King Balak, and under God’s restraining power, there in the presence of King Balak he only was able to speak blessing (not curse) upon the nation of Israel.
In the chapters of Numbers that follow, we see that Israel began to participate in the worship of the false Moab gods. The men took wives from Moab, and were abandoning their Creator God for the false god Baal. And God sent a plague (a curse) upon the nation of Israel for this sin. It is only later in Numbers 31:16, that we read it was Balaam who counseled Israel to participate in the idolatry of Moab. It appears Balaam did eventually succeed in bringing a curse upon the nation of Israel.
Now what does this story of Balaam and Balak have to do with the church in Pergamum? It’s that there were those amongst the church who professed to be followers of Jesus, who were doing like Balaam- stubbornly doing wrong and trying to get others to do wrong. Like Balaam, they were in some way, working towards bringing about a curse on others’ lives, by inciting them to do things they knew were wrong. Have you ever had someone with this spirit of Balaam in your life? Someone who says ”don’t worry about that, you’re just being a ‘goody 2 shoes’” or “Hey, everyone else is doing it, it’s ok” or “come on, that’s not really that big of a deal if you give in to that.”
In the following verse 15, Jesus says that a group named the Nicolaitans are doing the same type of Balaam thing. They say they are followers of Jesus, but they have allowed the popular culture around them to erode away their morality, to the point where they embrace Jesus, but also idolatry and immorality. The Nicolaitans probably were a group who claimed to be Christians, but approved of and participated in the Greek/Roman pagan practices and sexual immorality. Unfortunately, some Christians today do a similar thing, like Balaam and the Nicolaitans. There are those who attempt to hold onto Jesus and a sexual relationship outside of marriage- “It’s ok, this is how we do it in our culture now.” They attempt to hold onto Jesus and… pornography- “It’s ok, it’s not harming anyone else.” Jesus and a spirit of anger- “I’m ok, I have every right to be upset.” Jesus and movies/magazines/webpages that fill your mind with garbage- “It’s ok, I can sort it all out.”
Now this is not a petition for legalism, nor a encouragement that you have to earn your way into Heaven- no, that’s impossible and we’re all sinners in need of God’s grace, but look at Jesus’ reaction to the “teaching” of Balaam and the Nicolaitans. He says in verse 16 “Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.”
Jesus is saying that embracing these things that aren’t congruent with His teaching, is an act of war. He says to those who claim to be followers of Jesus, yet who compromise their values, morality- who embrace the sin culture around them and encourage others to do the same- to these He says stop doing that, or He’s coming to war against them. That is not a fight you or anyone else will win.
My prayer for us as the church, as God’s universal worldwide church, is that we wouldn’t let culture and society erode away at us. That we would know what God’s word says, and that we would defend it not just with our words, but with our lifestyle and actions. May we develop a hatred for hypocrisy in our own lives, and develop a love and passion for living the best we can according to His blueprint for our lives.