Letters To 7 Churches In The Book Of Revelation - Pergamum -

In this series of Bible Study articles, Letters To 7 Churches In The Book Of Revelation, we are going to study the letters to 7 churches in the book of Revelation. These letters to 7 churches are in Revelation 2 and 3. These are letters and messages that Jesus told John to send to 7 actual churches located in Asia Minor. Asia Minor is Turkey in modern times.

Some of the letters to the 7 churches are important messages to us today, because there are many similarities to today’s modern churches, especially in America. Specifically the letters to the churches in Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyratira, and Laodicea.

John was exiled to the island of Patmos for his faithfulness to Jesus, and because of his witness to others about Jesus. Prior to his exile to Patmos John was the leader and pastor of the church in Ephesus.

In the first part of this series of Bible study articles about the Letters To 7 Churches In The Book of Revelation we studied Revelation 1. Specifically about how John was led to write the Book of Revelation. And how Jesus appeared to John when he was in exile on the island of Patmos, and Jesus’ appearance.

In Part 2 we studied the letter to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7.

In Part 3 we studied the letter that Jesus had John write and send to the church of Smyrna in Revelation 2:8-11

Now we will study the letter that Jesus sent through John to the church of Pergamum in Revelation 2:12-17.

Letters to 7 Churches In the Book of Revelation

The City of Pergamum (or Pergamos)

Pergamum was an ancient Greek city located in the region of Mysia in Asia Minor. Pergamum was the capitol city of the kingdom until it was turned over to the Roman empire in approximately 133 BC.  It is located approximately 65 miles north of Smyrna and 100 miles north of Ephesus, and approximately 16 miles east of the Aegean Sea.

Pergamum was another important city in the Roman province of Asia Minor. It was a enter of learning and a well educated city, and had the 2nd largest library of the ancient world. It’s more than 200,000 hand written scrolls were second only to the library in Alexandria. The city was built around a large hill or acropolis over 1300 feet above the plain. The city also included a large theater built into the side of the acropolis that housed 10,000 people, the royal places, the Arsenals which housed weapons and supplies, various temples, and other well known buildings.

The Spiritual Makeup of Pergamum

Like Ephesus and Smyrna, there was considerable pagan worship and idolatry. There were several pagan temples of false gods such as Ascelpius (snake like god of healing), Athena, Dionysus, and Zeus. The temple and altar of Zeus was a very large structure built on the acropolis. The altar was more than 100 feet wide and 40 feet high, and was used for sacrifices and worship of the false god Zeus.

Being a part of the Roman Empire, there was also considerable pressure and expectation to worship the Roman emperor. The emperor of the Roman Empire was considered to be a god, and you would be expected to worship and publicly declare your worship & loyalty to the emperor. At the time of the letter to Pergamum, Domitian was the Caesar, or Roman emperor.He was especially cruel to anyone who followed Christ.

Pergamum built the first Roman emperor temple in Asia Minor, used to worship Caesar Augustus. People had to worship the Caesar and burn incense to him once a year. Then you would be given a certificate to show that you complied. If you chose not to, you would be suffer the consequences and even severe punishment. Under Domitian’s rule, the churches that served and followed Jesus suffered greatly. The pastor of the church in Pergamum, Antipas, was burned to death inside a brass bull shaped object for not denying Jesus and not bowing down to worship Caesar Domitian.

Because of the large temple and altar of Zeus, and the other temples for false gods, and the emperor worship that was prevalent, Pergamum is called the “throne of Satan” by Jesus in His letter to the church of Pergamum.

Letters to 7 Churches In the Book of Revelation

Background & History of the Church in Pergamum

Like the city of Smyrna, there is no record of the official start of the church in Pergamum in the Bible. Paul most likely played an important role in the founding of this church also. When Paul was on his second missionary journey, he traveled to the border of Mysia, which is the region Pergamum was located in. Also on Paul’s third missionary journey he stayed 3 years in Ephesus, and the result shown in Acts 19 was that everyone in Asia (Asia Minor) heard the Gospel, both Jews and Greeks. These missionary journeys of Paul most likely resulted in the church being established in Pergamum.

We know that the church of Pergamum, like the churches in Ephesus and Smyrna and others, suffered a great deal of persecution and opposition from Satan. Early in the letter Jesus sent to the in Pergamum church He mentions “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.” in Revelation 2:9

Letters to 7 Churches In the Book of Revelation

Letter to the Church in Pergamum

Here is the letter to the church in Smyrna in Revelation 2:8-11:

The Sharp Double Edged Sword

Letters to 7 Churches In the Book of Revelation

Commendations from Jesus

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. – Revelation 2:13

Jesus says that He knows where the believers in Pergamum live, where Satan has his throne. And later He says “where Satan lives”. Satanic pagan worship of false gods and Roman emperors was very prevalent in Pergamum. And there was a very large altar there to make sacrifices and to worship the Satanic false god Zeus. Because of this, and the constant persecution of believers, it was difficult to be a follower of Jesus there.

And Jesus mentions that many in the church did not renounce their faith in Him, as was expected by the Romans. You were expected to worship the Caesar and renounce Jesus. And many in this church did not. Not even when the pastor of the church, Antipas, was burned to death inside a brass bull.

In verse 13 Jesus calls Antipas “my faithful witness”. It is interesting to note that the Greek word used here for witness is “martus”. If that word looks familiar it is because it is the root for our English word martyr. The original meaning of the word is witness. But so many of the true witnesses for Jesus in the early churches were killed because of their faithful witness, that the word became synonymous with being a martyr for Jesus.

All of the apostles in the early church in Acts were killed, except John, who was boiled in a vat of oil and miraculously survived to go on and write the book of Revelation. Stephen was killed, as was Paul, for their faithful witness for Jesus.

Not only does Jesus know this, He even understands what it is like to be killed for being faithful and doing the will of God. So He offers these faithful and pure and devoted followers of His some encouragement to keep going. And to stay faithful and persevere.

God Allows Persecution And Suffering

We are told in various places in God’s word the Bible that God allows suffering and difficulties for His church. And that He uses suffering, difficulties, and persecution to purify His people and church. Anyone, even today, that commits in his or her heart to truly follow Jesus and do all that He has commanded (especially in doing Jesus’ kingdom work and mission of reaching the lost and making true disciples) will experience spiritual warfare and persecution.

“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”  – 2 Timothy 3:12

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined (“planned from the beginning” to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”  – Romans 8:28-29  

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”  – Romans 5:3-4

The result of the suffering that the church in Smyrna, which we studied right before this study about Pergmum, was a pure, holy and set apart church that was fully faithful to Jesus. Many of the believers in the church of Pergamum were also holy and set apart, and faithful to Jesus. But not all of them.

Letters to 7 Churches In the Book of Revelation

Condemnation And A Rebuke From Jesus

“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. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.”  – Revelation 2:14-15

Right after the commendations that Jesus gave to the church in Pergamum He gave some condemnations and a rebuke to some of the people in the church. He begins by saying “Nevertheless, I have some things against you.

There were some of the people in the church who started to compromise their faith and devotion to Jesus. Remember, they were surrounded by a pagan culture, worship of false gods, and emperor worship. And there was immense persecution and pressure to renounce their faith and to worship the emperor.  And some of them began to fall away from Jesus and turn back to the familiar sins and habits they were  redeemed and saved from.

Jesus mentions that some of them started to hold to the teaching of Balaam. Balaam is found in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy 23. He was considered a prophet by some back then. Balaam really was not a prophet of the Living God, he was more of a sorcerer for hire. Deuteronomy 23 tells us that after God’s people were saved from their slavery in Egypt and as they were on their way to the Promised Land, they needed to pass through the land of Moab. The king of Moab was Balak.

Balak hired Balaam to curse God’s chosen people, because he was afraid of them. He and everyone in the world had heard about the Almighty God of Israel and what He had done to Egypt. But God made sure that Balaam could not curse God’s people, and in fact Balaam ended up blessing God’s people. Because Balaam wanted to get paid, he came up with a plan to cause some men of Israel to compromise their commitment to follow the One True God. He got them to marry some of the Moabite women, which God had warned them about. This caused them to eventually fall into worship of false pagan gods and committing acts of sexual immorality. The acts of sexual immorality was actually a part of the worship of the pagan gods.

Jesus also gave a condemnation because some of the people in the church of Pergamum were also following the teachings and immoral practices of the Nicolaitans. In the letter to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2 Jesus said that He hates the practices of the Nicolaitans. Essentially the Nicolaitans were similar to what Balaam got some men of Israel to do. They believed that you could follow Jesus, and also do whatever you wanted. And so they practiced sexual immorality and other things that were prevalent in the culture and world around them. In other words, they got some people in the church to compromise and become like the world around them.

God’s Commandments & Instructions

Right after God saved His chosen people out of Egypt He gave Moses the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20). And He gave Moses many instructions about being pure and holy, or “set apart” from the rest of the world (book of Leviticus). And from the pagan false god worship and pagan immorality that they had begun to take part of while they were slaves in Egypt. You can read about the many pagan false gods of Egypt and how they tied in to the 10 plagues God sent upon Egypt here: The 10 Plagues of Egypt & The false Egyptian gods

Also, the people that possessed the Promised Land that God was sending them to also practiced the same pagan false god worship and immorality. To the point that some were sacrificing their children to the pagan god Molek.

And God also gave many instructions about worship and their covenant with God in the book of Leviticus. The main points of God’s commandments and instructions were:

• And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”  – Exodus 20:1-6

• In Leviticus 18 they are instructed to not participate in the pagan immorality that was in Egypt and also would be in the Promised Land. They were told not to have sexual relations with your mother. Or with your fathers wife, or with your daughter, and other types of incest. And not to have homosexual relations, or sexual relations with animals. And they were instructed to not sacrifice their children to Molek. These are the type of pagan practices and immorality that would be prevalent in the culture of the people that were living around them.
• In Leviticu 19 they are instructed to be holy. The Israelites were to be holy and set apart from all evil pagan worship and immorality. “The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”  – Leviticus 19:1-2

In the New Testament the followers of Jesus are also told to be holy and set apart from the world. And warned to not compromise their faith and return to the practices of the world.

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”  – 1 John 2:15-17

“ I appeal to you therefore, brothers,^[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.^{[b] 2} Do not be conformed to this world,^[c] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  – Romans 12:1-2

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”  – 1 Peter 2:9

Letters to 7 Churches In the Book of Revelation

Jesus’ Solution to The Problem of Compromising Your Faith

“Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

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.”  – Revelation 2:16-17

The solution to compromising your faith, conforming to the world, and to sin is always repentance. God has given believers a way to restore their fellowship with Jesus that is broken by sin. It is confession with repentance.

“ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  – 1 John 1:9

Confession that is mentioned in 1 John 1:9 is not just saying you are sorry. It means to confess, or agree with God, about your sin. And then to repent and turn away from the sin.

That is what Jesus is telling some of the people in the church of Pergamum to do. The ones that compromised their faith and commitment to follow Jesus. They turned from Jesus and turned back to the sins and immoral practices of the culture and world around them. And Jesus warned them that if they do not repent, He Himself would come and fight against them. That is a fight that no one can win. God is serious about His call and command for believers to be holy and set apart from the world.

Letters to 7 Churches In the Book of Revelation

Jesus’ Message To Us

“Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 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.”  – Revelation 2:16-17

Many in the modern churches have compromised their faith and commitment to Jesus. Including many of the pastors and leaders of the churches. Especially in places like America and others. They have turned away from the things that Jesus has commanded His followers to do, and they have become more like the world around them. The mission of the modern church is not the same as it was designed to be and described in the Bible.

The mission of the modern church has become to become more like the world around it, so that they can attract more people and have a bigger church with more resources. This is much more prevalent in the church in America today than most would admit. In fact, most people don’t seem to even be aware of this huge problem in the modern church.

“Whoever has ears…” means that this letter is also written to anyone who will read it. This means it is written to all believers as well. Jesus is saying be careful and listen to what I am saying. He ends every letter to the 7 churches in the book of Revelation this way.

There is something missing in many Christians and churches, especially in America. There may be many people that are church members, and the churches may have beautiful buildings and campuses, but something is missing. And they are even busy doing ministry things. But something is missing.

Because of the prosperity of America and because of materialism, most churches have become weak and ineffective. People have left their first love, as well as their passion for the lost. American Christians do not really know much about persecution and suffering. Perhaps some know about difficulties in their lives, or sickness. But not many suffer because of their faith. There is not persecution against the church in America, yet, especially when compared to the suffering and persecution the early church in Acts went through. Or what the church in Smyrna went through. Or compared to what true followers of Jesus are going through in many other places in today’s world, such as in the Middle East, or parts of Africa or Asia…

As a result of our prosperity and materialism, and our desire to always be comfortable, the church in America is not a purified, holy and set apart church. Nor is it passionately devoted to Jesus, no matter the cost. Nor is it passionately devoted to doing the “first importance” things Jesus mentioned in Matthew 6:33 – “seek first for God’s kingdom (building God’s kingdom by reaching the lost and making disciples) and for His righteousness” (seek first to have a right & close relationship and fellowship with Him).

May God touch and change our hearts, so that we will be passionately devoted and faithful to Him. So that we will shine brightly in a dark world. And so that our lives will be a pleasing aroma to Him, and bringing much glory and honor to His name.

To those who repent and return to being fully committed to following Jesus and not the world around them, Jesus promises to give us hidden manna. And a “white stone” with a new name on it. Back in ancient times a white stone was given to the winner of athletic contests. It not only was a medal for the victor, it was also a “ticket” for the victor to go to the extravagant banquet for the winners. Much like true believers and true followers of Jesus will be given entrance to the “marriage banquet” of the Lamb, and all of the extravagant rewards of heaven and being in God’s presence for eternity.

Being A Good Church Member vs Being A True Disciple of Jesus

In our more than 20 years of missions ministry we have helped &/or preach in &/or trained more than 250 churches in 33 countries. And we have visited many more churches, and also have met with many more church leaders and pastors. In the US we have tried to help 58 churches, offering preaching, training, and help to reach the lost and make disciples. We never ask for support or offering, we only offer help. Only 3 have had any interest in receiving help in these “first importance” things.

There is a noticeable lack of “first love” passion for Jesus in many church leaders today. And there is a noticeable lack of passion in the leaders and in many people in churches today for the “first importance” things of taking the Gospel out to the lost and making true disciples of Jesus. Most of the churches in America and other places have replaced evangelism with social assistance and other ministry events and projects.

And most churches have replaced teaching believers how to be a true & passionate follower and disciple of Jesus with teaching people how to be a good church member. There is a big difference between being a good church member and being a true and passionate follower/disciple of Jesus. A good church member is taught that he or she needs to attend the worship service to worship God, and attend the Bible study on Wednesday night and a small group if they have them. And they need to serve somewhere in the church, and also give to the church.

So many people in churches end up having a “What a good Christian or church member should do list”. What is interesting (and sad) is to see that most churches do not teach the “First Importance” things anymore. Which again are having Jesus as your First Love and having close fellowship with Him. And our Kingdom building mission of 1) taking the Gospel everywhere and reaching the lost, and 2) teaching believers how to be passionate and true disciples/followers of Jesus.

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