Lesson 5 Jesus’ Letter to the Churches in Pergamum and in Thyatira (Rev 2:12-29)
Pergamum means “closely knit or married.” It is a compromised church.
Jesus’ Letter to the Church in Pergamum (Rev 2:12-17)
Characteristics of Jesus
v12 One who has the sharp two-edged sword (rhomphaia).
This sword is “a large, broad sword” for conquering (Rev 1:16; 2:12, 16; 19:15, 21).
Another sword (machaira) is a short sword or dagger mainly used for self-protection and close-combat. For example, the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Eph 6:17).
Double-edged sword can mean “God’s Word”
1) separates believers from the world and sinners from God”
2) has power over life and death.
Commendation by Jesus
v13 “‘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.
Satan’s throne refers to the many pagan religious temples and emperor worship in Pergamum.
The Pergamum Christians are tested and have genuine faith. They
1) hold fast to Jesus’ Name
2) did not deny His faith
A fine example: Antipas is commended by Jesus (“The Faithful Witness” in Rev1:5) as “My faithful witness.”
Complaint by Jesus
v14 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.
v15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
In the OT, a Moabite prophet called Balaam told Balak, king of Moab, that he can corrupt the Israelites with Moabite religious feasts which included sacred prostitution (Num 25). This would defile them and incur the LORD’s discipline. Similarly, participating in pagan feasts in Pergamum corrupted some of the Christians.
“The Nicolaitans” regarded sexual sins as acceptable under Christian “liberty.”
Balaam in Hebrew can mean “swallowing up the people” and Nicolaitan means “conquering the people.” Participation in pagan religious feasts and practicing sexual immorality had some Pergamum Christians swallowed up and conquered.
Counsel by Jesus
v16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of My mouth.
Repent (turn around and away for errors or sin). Otherwise the Jesus will judge and punish the unfaithful believer.
Hear the Holy Spirit
v17a He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Did the church listen to Jesus’ counsel?
Yes. The church grew out of a persecuted minority. By the 4th century Pergamum became a significant Christian center with bishops. A bishop named “Hellanicus of Pergamum” was listed as an attendee of the Council of Nicaea (325 AD). Paganism and idolatry persisted into the 5th century. The Christian Byzantine Era (5th -14th centuries) declined with Arabs raids from the 7th century onward. The Ottoman conquest in the 14th century led to a Muslim majority. Pergamum is modern-day Bergama in Turkey.
Promise of Jesus
v17b 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.’
“The hidden manna” allude to the miraculous manna that sustain the lives of the Israelites in the wilderness. A sample of the manna lay hidden in the holy of holies. Jesus is the hidden manna, the Bread of Life (Jn 6:48-51). He will sustain the life of faithful believers and protect them from defilement.
“A white stone” could signify acquittal from sins and divine vindication, indicating that the believer is declared righteous through Christ.
“A new name” of Jesus can symbolize a believer’s ownership by Christ (Rev 3:12; 14:1 cf Num 6:27).
Jesus’ Letter to the Church in Thyatira (Rev 2:18-29)
Thyatira means “castle of Thya.” It is a corrupted church.
Characteristics of Jesus
v18 the Son of God – refers to Jesus Christ’s deity and authority to judge
• who has eyes like a flame of fire signifies “piercing and discerning judgment (cf Rev 1:14; Dan 10:6). The flaming eyes suggest God’s blazing anger against sin and exposure of everything in a man’s heart.
• whose feet are like burnished bronze signifies “a warrior with protected feet (cf Rev 1:15; Dan 10:6). The brazen feet stand for immovable strength and power of the Risen Christ.
Commendation by Jesus
v19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.
Jesus the pastoral overseer intimately knows their
• works
• love
• faith
• service
• patient endurance
Love shows itself in service and faith demonstrates itself in perseverance through persecution (Dr Constables’ Notes, p64).
Complaint by Jesus
v20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing My servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
v21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
v22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,
v23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.
A prophetess in the church had influenced some believers to practice sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols. Trade guilds in Thyatira added these to their religious rites. She is called Jezebel as a reference to Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 18-21; 2 Kings 9) who led King Ahab and all Israel into immorality and idolatry by advocating Baal worship (Dr Constables’ Notes p65).
God grants grace and mercies so that she can repent of her own sexual immorality.. But she refused. She and her followers will be inflicted with sickness and be thrown into “great tribulation” (severe divine punishment). Her followers will die by “plague” (cf Rev 6:8; Ezek 33:27). The churches will recognize that the all-knowing Jesus will punish each church according to her works, This has to do with discipline for works not a matter of salvation by grace.
Jesus has the same qualities as the LORD (YHWH) who says, “I am He who searches the minds and hearts (Jeremiah 17:10).
Counsel by Jesus
v24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.
v25 Only hold fast what you have until I come.
Today there are some Christians who hold to Jezebel’s teaching and learned “the deep things of Satan.” Some Christians today blatantly test God’s endurance by sinning, sowing wild oats and practicing sexual immorality (see Rom 6:1). God will punish such with physical affliction that accompany sexual promiscuity.
In the world of social media and readily accessible pornography, Christians today are to hold fast to good conduct. They not to be persuaded by the world’s sexual immorality. The singles are not to depart from sexual purity, by keeping their bodies and minds with pure thoughts (Prov 5:22; Ecc 11:9; Matt 5:8). For the married ones, they are to keep their marriage beds undefiled and be faithful to their own spouses (Mal 2:14-15; Prov 5:18; Heb 13:4).
Did the church listen to Jesus’ counsel?
Yes. The church in Thyatira suffered persecution and faced moral compromise. The church was institutionalized under the Christian Byzantine era. It declined due to Islamic conquest from the 7th century onwards. Thyatira is called Akhisar in Turkey.
Promise by Jesus
v26 The one who conquers and who keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,
v27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from My Father.
v28 And I will give him the morning star.
The reward for obedience to Jesus by overcoming and keeping Jesus’ works are:
1) authority over the nations
2) rule (shepherd from “poimanei”) over the nations with firmness
with Jesus who will be the King of the nations (Rev 15:3), during the Millennium (Rev 20:4).
3) receive the morning star from Jesus Christ, who Himself is the Morning Star (Rev 22:16). The exalted Christ shares His status with the believer who conquers.
Note that Jesus’ promise is for rewards for obedience, service, discipleship and faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ. These work hand in hand for the sanctification of Christians. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (Eph 2:10)
Salvation is by grace through faith. It has nothing to do with one’s own doing; it is the gift of God (Eph 2:8-9). All who believe in Jesus Christ will be saved. Only those who conquers will receive rewards for works done out of faith, hope and love for Jesus.
Hear what the Spirit says
v29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The indwelling Holy Spirit prompts, warns and instructs the believer with the inspired words of God. A departure from reading God’s Word and refusal to listen to the Spirit’s teaching of God’s Word and counsel will lead to a gradual hardening of the believer’s heart, spiritual blindness and nakedness. Such actions also grieve, quenched and eventually outrage the Spirit of grace (Isaiah 63:10; Eph 4:30; 1 Thess 5:19; Heb 10:29).
• Remember from where you have fallen
• Repent of your fallenness
• Return to obey and follow Jesus (Heb 12:12)
(a) Rev 2:20 … Jesus actually detested the eating of food sacrificed to idols, although in Mat 15:11 … the food we eat does not defile us. (b) Isa 14:12 … Lucifer must be pridefully pleased that he shares the “morning star” title with Jesus … Rev 22:16