Revelation 2:12-17 To the Church in Pergamum

 

This week we’re at the third letter of Jesus to the seven cities of Revelation. Pergamum was the home of the second largest library in the known world at the time. It was a city where knowledge and influence were important, an educated city. Learning was really important here, but it was also a city of industry with a number of workers’ guilds holding great influence and made their money making and selling objects related to the library and temples. Pergamum was also home to 5 different temples, one of which was the temple to the god Aesculapius, the god of healing and a serpent was his symbol. This educated setting is important as we seek to understand this letter of Jesus.  

Jesus unexpectedly states that Satan’s throne is in Pergamum. Those who believe in Jesus faced times of persecution, but what made Pergamum the place where Satan would have his throne? It wasn’t an easy place for followers of Jesus to live. They were surrounded by all kinds of influences: pagan religious influences, but also the attraction of knowledge and philosophy in the traditions of Greece, Rome and the East. Persecution was real; Jesus praises the Christians for “remaining 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.” Antipas was a follower of Jesus and martyred by being put inside a copper bull which was then heated up until he died. With such strong faith, what could Jesus have against them?

Yet Jesus does have some things against them, “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 have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” We first come across Balaam in the book of Numbers in the Old Testament. Israel is wandering through the wilderness and Balak is a king who hires Balaam, a prophet, to curse Israel. God interferes with Balaam, making him bless Israel instead of cursing them, getting Balaam in trouble with Balak.

Balaam then takes a different approach and advises Balak to seduce the men of Israel with the women of Moab, and to turn Israel to Baal away from God. This story is told in Numbers 25 through 31. Balaam gets mentioned a number of times in the New Testament because his advice in how to turn people away from God and Jesus is still powerful today. Peter writes in 2 Peter 2:15, “They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness.” Balaam’s way’s all about money and wickedness. Jude rebukes certain godless men in the church, “Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.” We’re reminded that Balaam’s “error” is ultimately about money and greed. He’s paid because he seduced Israel to become like the nations around them.

The church in Pergamum stayed strong and true to Jesus, even though it led to persecution and death, like Antipas. Yet they were starting down a dangerous faith road. They wanted to be part of the world around them while following Jesus. They want to be accepted by those outside the church by being like them. Balaam’s way is about compromising our faith beliefs in order to be accepted by the world around us. Jesus calls us to a different way of living, a harder way of living by his way. Jesus is focused on shaping us into his image; a way of living that many people don’t understand.

The temples hosted regular festivals. Eating food sacrificed to idols was often part of the festivals and culture in the cities and part of the social life of the people. Festivals are fun, when we lived in Montreal, the festivals were a great way to spend some relaxing time with friends: the Jazz Fest, the fireworks festival every Friday night in the summer, the various cultural festivals where you would hear great music and eat amazing food. It’s all part of the social culture of Montreal. Yet there was a darker part of the festivals in the time of John, and many of our festivals today as well, many of them included prostitution, along with excessive drinking, and wildness. Since everyone else was doing it, it was easy to justify joining in. Balaam’s influence led to the thinking that “a little sin won’t really harm us.”

Libraries were places where scholars came to do research. Lauren Young writes in the Atlas Obscura, “The Library of Alexandria, Egypt was a research hub of high prestige. But while certainly the largest of its time and the most famous, the Library of Alexandria wasn’t the only institution of its kind. Libraries throughout the ancient world competed to be the best Greek library, ... Gaëlle Coqueugniot writes, “The library was a means [for the kings] to show off their wealth, their power, and mostly to show that they were the rightful heirs of Alexander the Great.”

The study done in these libraries shaped the values and morals of that world, and impacts western culture still today. It’s from this philosophy that we get the idea of an impersonal God who has a hands-off relationship with humanity, which contradicts who Jesus is; we get the idea that we create truth, which contradicts Jesus who calls himself the truth; it separates the body and soul, which means that whatever we do is less important than what we think or believe and this makes Jesus becoming human unimportant and that we do with our bodies doesn’t really matter; and there’s more. Non-Christian philosophy works to make God smaller and people greater. Many of the moral issues we wrestle over today have been shaped by scholars and teachers whose scholarship teaches us a different morality and ethic from the Bible.   

Can we be just like the world and still serve God? Balaam encouraged compromise, wanting us to forget we’re called to be separate and holy. Compromise makes us look just like everyone else so that our light fails to shine into the world. It’s the belief that “a little sin” doesn’t hurt, especially if there’s financial or personal benefit involved. It’s the view that Christians can compromise their convictions for the sake of popularity, money, sexual gratification, or personal gain and still make Jesus happy. This is what Satan wants, this makes Satan happy.

Pergamum focused on health, body, soul, and mind. They had doctors for the body, temples for the soul, and scholars for knowledge. Knowledge is good, God wants us to know more about the world we live in, to know and learn about how our minds and bodies work, to understand how people relation to each other, but knowledge is not morality or ethics, those come from elsewhere. Knowledge can be used to please and honour God and guide us in the way of Jesus, or it can be used to justify doing our will instead of God’s will. Balaam used his knowledge of people for his own personal benefit; using his knowledge of faith and people to lead people away from God’s way and to benefit himself.

Jesus is our wisdom and truth, he’s the one who can heal, not just our body, but our souls as well. If you’re going to listen and grow from anyone’s teaching, turn to Jesus’ teaching that he is the Son of God who has come to take away the sin of the world through the cross, who is raised to new life so we can have new life, and now calls us to share the good news and make new disciples. Turn to Jesus’ teaching on how to live life based on grace, forgiveness, and mercy; a life based on his life, the kingdom of heaven, and eternal truth and you will find healing for your soul.

Jesus’ teaching guides us into a life of wisdom that leads to self-sacrifice and generosity, an outward focused life that focuses on discipling others as a disciple of Jesus. We’re called to live as light in the world, shining hope and truth into the hearts and lives of our community. We are called to stand up for truth, righteousness, and goodness, whether it’s what others want to hear or not. We’re called to lead them to the one who died for humanity so that we can experience new life and a renewed relationship with God our Father.

The white stone is a reference to brave gladiators. There were times in the arena where a gladiator would do something so special and amazing that the official at the fights would give him a special reward; a white stone with special letters on it that allowed him to retire and be provided for. Jesus is calling us, his followers to be brave, to hold true to his teaching and way, and he will give us his white stone and the promise that he will protect and provide for us.