Letter to the Church in Pergamum (Rev 2:12-17)

[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, 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: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing 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] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it. (REV 2:12-17 )
A quick recap of the study of the first three Churches in Revelation

	Salutation	Commendation for doing well	Concerns for correction	Direction to overcome	Warning if fail to overcome	Promises to the overcomer
Ephesus (Apostolic Church)	1)Who holds the 7 apostolic leaders in his RH 2)Who walks among the 7 churches [Real owner of the 7 Churches!]	1)Deeds (witness) 2)Hard work (serving) 3)Perseverance 4)Sound doctrine 5) Rejected doctrines of Nicolaitans	Forsaking the first love [A busy church full of programs without genuine love for Jesus! Problem with priority]	1)Remember 2)Repent 3)Do first things [Restoring love for Jesus –First Commandment to first place! Mt 22:37,38]	Danger of  beings removed and ceasing to exist as a Church [only the real owner of the church can do this!]	Right to eat from tree of life [Perhaps a place close to the throne of God and the tree of life in the Eternal City, Rev 22:2]
Smyrna (Persecuted Church)	1)First and the Last 2)Who died and came to life [Eternal God who as a man defeated death!]	1)Afflictions 2)Poverty – financial loss 3) Yet you are rich! [A church that suffered material loss and yet stored up treasures in heaven!]	None	1)Remain faithful 2) More persecutions were coming. [Faithfulness to Jesus at the face of prison  and possible death and martyrdom]	None	Crown of life Not to be hurt at all by second death [Privilege to rule with Jesus]
Pergamum (Church in compromise)	Who has the sharp double-edged sword [Primarily to attack and destroy our enemy]	1)Pergamum – the residence and the throne of Satan on earth 2)faithfulness to Jesus’ name [Faithful Ambassadorship]	Held teachings of Balaam and Nicolaitans [compromising with false gods and sexual immorality]	Repent   [raise war against false gods and spiritual harlotry] [Faithfulness plus purity in Ambassadorship]	Jesus destroys compromised servants [He uses the same sword to finish his own servants who live in compromise]	1)Hidden manna to eat 2)White stone with a new name [Heavenly meat and  position of privilege]

Pergamum (Pergamos in KJV): per – mixed or objectionable & gamous – marriage; A church having an objectionable union with the world.

Pergamum: Described by Jesus himself as the city where Satan lives and rules from (Rev 2:13); What a challenge to have a church next to Satan’s throne! And what courage it is to remain faithful to Jesus’ name in such a place! Satan lives – he is not an imaginary fairytale character, he is real and enormously powerful being!

In Pergamum there was a huge temple to worship the Roman Emperor. It was mandatory for everyone in the empire to offer incense to the Emperor once a year, to prove his her loyalty.

Satan’s initial attempt to build his throne was in Babylon through the first world dictator, Nimrod (Gen 10:8-10), who tried to access the spirit realm through the Tower of Babel. Many scholars believe that Satan’s throne moved as the ancient priesthood moved from ancient Babylon to Pergamum and to Rome. Where is Satan’s throne now? In India, where all kinds of false worship system originated and got exported far and wide? Delhi, which is full of wickedness and evil spirits? Anyway, in the end time, the throne of Satan returns to Babylon (Rev 18:2,3).

Antipas is described by Jesus as “my faithful witness.” What a honor! One of Jesus’ title in the Revelation is that of “faithful witness” (Rev 1:5). Tradition tells that Antipas, the Bishop of the church in Pergamum was burnt alive inside a bowl for witnessing Jesus. But he remained a faithful witness.

Jesus commends the church in Pergamum for their faithful witnessing of his name. He commends them for their Ambassadorship.

However, not only faithfulness to witnessing, Jesus demands purity in our Ambassadorship! It is possible to be faithful to witnessing Jesus name’ – by being a pastor, missionary, shepherd, leader etc and faithfully doing our duty, yet living a life of compromise and promoting a false teaching, even unintentionally!

Where as the church in Ephesus was commended for hating the practices of Nicolaitans (2:6), the Church in Pergamum is charged of holding the teachings of the Nicolaitans. Some believe that Nicolas was the elder in Jerusalem church (Ac 6:5), who later fell down and encouraged toleration of idol worship and sexual immorality inside the church by wrongly assuming the free grace of Jesus. To make the point of the teachings of Nicolaitans Jesus makes reference to Balaam’s teaching in the OT.

Baalam son of Beor was a Midianite (Nu 25:17; 31:8), a sorcerer (Nu 24:1), a diviner (Nu 23:22), a [false?] prophet (2Pe 2:15,16). He loved money and worked for money (Jude 11). He is a strange character, who knew how to get God’s message. He knew how to prepare altar  and what to sacrifice to get God’s answers. He had the reputation of having great divine favor: God would bless those who blessed him and curse those who cursed Balaam (22:6) – a blessing that was meant for Abraham and his descendants!

He was opposed and later allowed to go and bless Israel by an angel with a drawn sword. God used this wicked man to pronounce blessings on Israel. But that is not a big deal for a God who can even make a donkey speak (22:28)! Balaam receives the Holy Spirit(24:2), confesses Yahweh as the God Almighty, prophesies blessings on Israel , curses and warns her enemies. Yet he is charged of having deceived Israel into idol worship and sexual immorality (Nu 25:17,18). The angel had earlier warned him with a drawn sword. His life ends being killed by sword by God’s army (31:8). He is described by Peter as one “who loved the wages of wickedness” and prophet with “madness” (2Pe2:15,16), by Jude as one who “rushed for profit” (Jude 11).

Both Peter and Jude, and even Jesus in Revelation warn of men like Balaam (in the context of end time?).

A comparison between Balaam and the Second Beast of Revelation (False Prophet)

	Balaam (Nu 22-25,31)	Second Beast a.k.a the False Prophet(Rev 13:11-18)
International repute	A Moabite king seeking a Midianite prophet’s help to come down more than 400km and help (Nu 22:2,3)	whole earth and its inhabitants (Rev 13:12)
Modus operandi	Made altars to access spirit world	Set up image of the Anticrist and made the image speak
Power and authority	Could either bless or curse someone through his sorceries	Will perform great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven in full view of men
Deceived	Deceived Israeli men to worship idols and to indulge in sexual immorality	Will deceive the inhabitants of the earth to take the mark of the beast a sign of worshipping the Antichrist and ultimately Satan or the dragon. (Rev 13:14)
Result of the deception	Death penalty to the Israelites who joined in idol worship (Nu 25:5); 24,000 died	All who take the mark of the beast will be punished eternally.
End of Career	Was warned by an angel with a drawn sword. At the end killed by sword at the hands God's army. (Num 31:8)	Captured by an angel and thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur to be tormented for ever and ever.

The danger of those who fall into sorcery, magic arts, idolatry: Rev 21:9 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.

Promises to the overcomer :

1)     Eating food sacrificed idol VS Eating hidden manna that Jesus will give

2)     A world famous Ambassador of Christ, who suffered eternal (second) death due to his pervert union with world VS a new name that Jesus gives in the age to come