May 18th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Image from www.bibleplaces.com

So far in our trip through the letters to the churches in Revelation we have visited Ephesus and Smyrna.  Today we come to the church at Pergamum, addressed in Revelation 2:12-17.

“To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.

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.

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. Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

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

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.

Pergamum was a powerful and influential city known for its vast library.  Similarly to Ephesus and Smyrna, Pergamum was also known for devoted worship to pagan deities as well as Roman emperors.

Pergamum was an important center of worship for four of the main deities of the Greco-Roman world, and temples dedicated to Athena, Asklepios, Dionysos, and Zeus were located there.  But overshadowing the worship of all those deities was Pergamum’s devotion to the cult of emperor worship.  Pergamum built the first temple devoted to emperor worship in Asia (29 BC), in honor of Emperor Augustus.  Later the city would build two more such temples, honoring the emperors Trajan and Septimus Severus.  The city thus became the center of emperor worship in the province, and there, more than in any other city in Asia, Christians were in danger of harm from the emperor worship cult.  Elsewhere, Christians were primarily in danger on the one day per year they were required to offer sacrifices to the emperor; in Pergamum they were in danger every day.  (MacArthur, 85)

The spiritually oppressive atmosphere in Pergamum surely could not be stated any more clearly – in verse 13 their city is noted as the location of “Satan’s throne” and also “where Satan lives.”  I wonder what it was like to live there… surely the spiritual oppression and presence of pure evil was palpable, the danger imminent, fear ever-present.

Danger did not exist solely outside the church walls.  Apparently a portion of this church, although not all, had fallen prey to dangerous false teachings and had capitulated to the pressure and influence of their surrounding culture.  Tomorrow we will look more closely at this sobering reminder to stand firm for truth.

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