A letter to the church at Pergamum

On our trip, we are visiting all seven of the churches that are written to in the book of Revelation. The first city we visited was Pergamum, and here Dr. John R. Yeatts talked to us about the significance of the setting of the church in this city. He has shared with the group a small devotional set focused on these seven cities, and we will share them with you here as we visit the churches. We hope you find them interesting.

Dr. John Yeatts in front of the Trajen temple on the Acropolis at Pergamum.

The Witnessing Church III: Satan, Balaam, Nicolaus or a New Name

Revelation 2:12-17

“I know where you are living, where Satan’s throne is.  Yet you are holding fast to my name.”

            When I was a child, our Sunday School Superintendent told us the story of a young man who had just become a Christian; I’ll call him Jerry.  Shortly after affirming Christ as his Savior and Lord, Jerry obtained a job with a construction crew working a considerable distance from his home.  His Christian friends were concerned about him.  This young Christian would be living with men who had no Christian profession.  They would make it hard for this young Christian to live his new life in Christ.

            Jerry took the job and left home.  After being gone for about a month, he came home for a visit.  His friends were anxious to hear if the faith of their young Christian brother was able to survive.  One of Jerry’s friends asked: “Well, how was your first month on the job?” 

            Fine,” Jerry answered.

            Then the Christian friend asked: “How did your fellow workers react when they found out that you are a Christian?”

            “Oh,” Jerry answered, “they never found out.  I never told them.”

            This young Christian was able to keep his Christian faith intact while living in the corrupting surroundings of a construction camp.  He preserved his own faith in the face of the evil around him.  Yet he did this by hiding his faith.  He did not allow himself to be corrupted by the forces of Satan around him but neither had he taken a positive stand for Christ.

            This young Christian was much like the Christians at Pergamum.  The city was a greater religious center than either Ephesus or Smyrna.  All three were strongholds of emperor worship.  John says they are “living where Satan’s throne is.”  Pergamum became the first Asian city to openly support Caesar worship when a temple for the worship of the Goddess of Rome and the Divine Augustus was constructed.  Indeed, the city became the center of emperor worship for the province of Asia.  Christ is saying that their worship at the throne of the emperor is really equivalent to worshipping at “Satan’s throne.”

Moreover, Pergamum was known for its devotion to Greek gods common in the Mediterranean culture of John’s day.  Many pagan altars were constructed on the hill behind the city of Pergamum.  The most prominent was the altar to the Greek god Zeus, which look like a large seat on the edge of the hill.  Perhaps, this was what John meant by “Satan’s throne.”

Nevertheless, the most significant aspect of the religious life of Pergamum was the shrine for worship of Aesclepius, the god of healing.  The sick from all over the province came to this shrine to sleep in the hopes that the god would come in a dream to heal them.  The serpent was Aesclepius’s symbol, which accounts for its use today as a symbol of the medical profession.  That serpent cult could have been called “Satan’s seat.”  Indeed, Christ could have used “Satan’s seat” to refer to all of the religious practices of Pergamum.

Like the construction camp where Jerry went to work, the Christians of Pergamum lived in surroundings that were hostile to their faith.  Like Jerry, they stood firm in their commitment to Christ.  Yet also like Jerry, they took no stand for Christ.  They rejected the name of Satan but they refused to take the name of Christ. 

Revelation has a message from Christ, who has “the sharp two-edged sword” of the word of God.  What Christ says is the God’s word for Pergamum.  Christ commends them for holding fast to the name of Christ and refusing to deny the faith in the face of opposition and even possible death.  Indeed, at least one faithful witness in Pergamum named Antipas had died for his faith in Christ.  Tradition says that Antipas was roasted in a brazen bull.  Faithful witnesses like Antipas and others in Pergamum are commended here and throughout the rest of Revelation. 

Nevertheless, Christ criticizes the Pergamum Christians for not taking a positive stand for Christ against Satan.   The Satanic teaching in Pergamum is called the teaching of Balaam and the Nicolaitans.  These are probably two ways of designating the Gnostics, who took Paul’s doctrine of freedom from the law to mean that one could freely participate in the culture around them.  They believed that one did not need to be separate from the world in order to be a witness for Christ.  This compromise is the opposite of the situation at Ephesus, where Christians were very good at identifying and rejecting false teaching.  Here they tolerated it. 

Two specific sins were tolerated: eating food sacrificed to idols and practicing fornication.  In Pergamum meat dedicated and sacrificed to idols was then sold in the marketplace.  This was so prevalent that avoiding sacrificed meat was impossible without becoming a vegetarian.  It may be, however, that what is referred to here is actually participating in the idol worship by eating the meat in pagan temples.  Such worship was clearly off limits to the faithful witness.  The second sin was fornication.  In the story of Balaam, the Israelites were seduced into sexual intercourse with Moabite women (Num. 25:1).  Sexual immorality was a concern of the early Christian church, exacerbated by the availability of temple prostitutes.  Yet, it may be that fornication is used symbolically for the idolatry of emperor worship, the worship of Zeus, or the veneration of Aesclepius. 

The Gnostics that advocated these immoral practices believed that the spirit was important and the body was of no significance.  Therefore, devotion to other gods and fornication are of no consequence.  Gnostic even argued that moderate participation in such sins involved greater discipline than total abstinence.

Christ’s response is: Repent or you will be judged by the sword of the word of God. Those who repent and overcome the temptation to compromise with Satan will be given hidden manna, and white stone and a new name.  The Hebrew tradition taught that, when the Messiah comes, the gift of manna provided for the Israelites in the wilderness would be repeated.  So those who do not eat food offered to idols will receive divine food.  There are many possibilities for the meaning of the white stone.  Perhaps the best in this context is that stones were used as tickets to important events.  The meaning then is that faithful witnesses who do not eat food sacrificed to idols are given a ticket to the banquet of God.  Finally, the new name on the stone is the name of God or Christ, who are truly known only by those who are faithful to the end. 

This letter to the church in Pergamum focuses the complexity of participating in worldly practices.  Although Christians today are not tempted to eat food sacrificed to idols, many practices in our world carry the potential for compromise.  The New Testament counsels Christians to be faithful to Christ by living a holy life.  Some practices defile one’s witness and others do not compromise Christian character.  Discernment is needed to know the difference. 

Sing:      Search me, O God

Search me, O God, and know my heart today, Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray;
See if there be some wicked way in me; Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free.

I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin; Fulfill Thy word and make me pure within;
Fill me with fire, where once I burned with shame; Grant my desire to magnify Thy name.

Lord, take my life, and make it wholly Thine; Fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine;
Take all my will, my passion, self and pride; I now surrender, Lord, in me abide.

O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee; Send a revival, start the work in me;
Thy Word declares Thou wilt supply our need; For blessings now, O Lord, I humbly plead.

James E. Orr

Pray:  O Christ who speaks with the sharp sword of the word of God, may we hold fast to your name.  Forgive us for when we have denied your name.  We repent of our compromise with the enticing and seductive forces of this world.  May we conquer evil and be admitted to your blessed kingdom.  Amen.

Dr. John Yeatts in the Asklepion theater talking about Pergamum and the letter with the students.