THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST TO HIS SERVANT JOHN
The Unveiling of the Kingdom on Earth and in Heaven
Lesson 4
The Historical Prologue: The Letters to the Seven Churches
Chapter 2:8-17
The Letters to the Churches at Smyrna and Pergamum
Holy Lord,
It is easy to be faithful and
obedient when everything in our lives seems to be going right, but it is a challenge
to remain faithful when everything is going wrong. Like spoiled little
children, we want what we want when we want it. We ask You to fix the challenges
in our lives and expect an immediate, positive result. Help us to understand,
Lord, that in our struggles, if we remain faithful and obedient, our spiritual
maturity can grow and bring us into a more solid and deep relationship with You,
and keeping steadfast in our revolve during hardships can result in the reward
of the crown of eternal life at the end of our journey. Send Your Holy Spirit
to guide us as we learn about the struggles and victories of the faithful
members of Revelation's seven Churches. We pray in the name of God the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
+ + +
It is easy to stay true to the faith for a day or for
a few days. The difficulty thing, the important thing, is to do so right
through life. It is easy to keep the faith when things are going well, and difficult
to do so when obstacles are met. Consistent behavior which lasts one's whole
life is the only kind which deserves to be called "fidelity."
Pope John Paul II, Homily, 27, January 1979
The earliest recorded use of the name "Catholic Church," to indicate the Church established by Jesus Christ, appears in a letter St. Ignatius of Antioch (AD 35-107) wrote to the Christians at Smyrna, one of the seven churches in the Book of Revelation. He wrote: You must follow the bishop as Jesus Christ follows the Father, and the presbytery as you would the Apostles. [...]. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church (Ignatius, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 8.1; ca 110 AD, Jurgens, Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. I, page 25).
The beautiful city of Smyrna, which rivaled Ephesus thirty-five miles to the south, was destroyed seven hundred years earlier (circa 580 BC) and had laid in ruins for three centuries until rebuilt in circa 290 BC to a comprehensive plan. It was one of the very few planned cities of antiquity, and many ancient writers commented on its beauty, calling it "the glory of Asia." Smyrna enjoyed many natural advantages, including an excellent harbor at the head of a well-protected gulf that made it a commercial center. The city was the natural outlet for the trade that flowed into the river valley of the Hermus and the regions beyond. But it was also known for its schools of rhetoric and philosophy, and Smyrna claimed the honor of being the birthplace of the great poet, Homer. The people erected a lovely Temple to honor his memory, and a cave in the city was believed to be the site when he composed his epic poem.
The Romans honored Smyrna as one of the principal cities in Asia Minor. In appreciation for Roman patronage, it was one of the first cities of the region to engage in worship of the Roman emperor, winning the honor of erecting a temple devoted to the deified emperor Caesar Augustus in the reign of Tiberius (emperor who reigned at the time of Jesus' ministry and resurrection). But it was also the city of the saintly St. Polycarp, a disciple of St. John the Apostle, who for many years was bishop of the faith community at Smyrna. St. Polycarp bravely suffered martyrdom in the city's stadium in circa AD 155. Captured and destroyed by the Lydians toward the end of the seventh century BC, the Smyrna of John's time arose from the ashes of death to a resurrection of prosperity. How appropriate it is that Christ's message to Smyrna speaks of a more miraculous resurrection. In contrast to the ruins that were once the first-century AD city of Ephesus, today Smyrna thrives as modern Izmir, second largest city in Turkey.
The New Covenant Treaty Format in the Letter to Smyrna:
Revelation 2:8-11 ~ The
Letter to the Church at Smyrna: A faith
community rich in the Spirit
8 "Write to the angel of the church in Smyrna and say, Here
is the message of the First and the Last, who was dead and has come to life
again: 9 I know your hardships and your poverty, and, though
you are rich, the slander of the people, who falsely claim to be Jews but are
really members of the synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not
be afraid of the sufferings that are coming to you. Look, the devil will send
some of you to prison to put you to the test, and you must face hardships for
ten days. Even if you have to die, keep faithful, and I will give you the
crown of life for your prize. 11 Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is
saying to the churches: for those who prove victorious will come to no harm from
the second death.'"
Preamble: 8 Write to
the angel of the church in Smyrna and say, Here is the message of the First and
the Last, who was dead and has come to life again
Question: By what title does Christ identify Himself, and where
do you find that title in Chapter 1?
Answer: The title "the First and the Last" is in Revelation 1:17.
Once again, there is an allusion to the three Isaiah passages referenced in Revelation 1:17-18 from the first vision (Is 41:4; 44:6; 48:2) as well as a link back to Revelation 1:8 and 1:17. As in those passages, the opening line in the letter highlights the theme of resurrection, a very appropriate reference for a city that had died for several centuries and now lived once more. In verses 1:17b-18a: Do not be afraid; it is I, the first and the Last; I am the Living One, I was dead and look, I am alive forever and ever, scholars tell us that the tense denotes continuity, whereas in 2:8 the aorist tenses put the stress on the actual happenings: He became dead, and sprang to life again (Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. II: Revelation, pages 433, 443).
Historical Prologue: 9 I know your hardships and your poverty, and though you are rich, the slander of the people who falsely claim to be Jews but are really members of the synagogue of Satan.
The word translated "hardships," in Greek thlipsis, (The Interlinear Bible: Greek-English, vol. IV, page 659) also means "affliction," "tribulation," "distress," giving the sense of a burden that crushes; in the Vulgate, St. Jerome translated this word as tribulatio, meaning "tribulations" (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon, page 291). It was not easy being a Christian in Smyrna. Verse 9 also uses the strong Greek word ptocheia, which means "beggary," "extreme poverty" (The Interlinear Bible: Greek-English, vol. IV, page 659; Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon, page 557). The Smyrnaeans were both afflicted by their Jewish enemies and utterly impoverished.
Christianity was not one of the legal religions approved by the Roman Empire. The lack of legal recognition and protection under the law made it easy for unscrupulous people to take advantage of Christians without fearing reprisal from the government. Perhaps they were subjected to confiscation of their property or vandalism because of their non-legal status. It was a trial we know from Scripture that first century AD Christians suffered: For you not only shared in the sufferings of those who were in prison, but you accepted with joy being stripped of your belongings, knowing that you owned something that was better and lasting (Heb 10:34).
It is also likely that that the Christian community was the object of an economic boycott for their refusal to make sacrifices to the Roman emperor as a god since the city was a center for emperor worship. Yet, in their poverty, the message testifies that they are "rich" (verse 9). These early Christians were rich in Christ; they were material impoverished but spiritually wealthy. They were "rich" in the most critical sense, as St. Paul wrote when encouraging the Christian community at Corinth: yet always full of joy; poor and yet making many people rich; having nothing, and yet owning everything (2 Cor 6:10).
Also, notice that Jesus told these people: I know your hardships and your poverty (verse 2:9). The Smyrnaeans can take comfort in the knowledge that Christ acknowledges their afflictions, and He identifies with them in their sufferings. It is the same encouragement Yahweh gave to the children of Israel through His prophet Isaiah: For He said, "Truly they are my people, children who will not betray me," and He became their Savior. In all their troubles, it was no messenger or angel but His presence that saved them. In His love and pity, He himself redeemed them, lifted them up, and carried them throughout the days (Is 63:8-9). St. Paul expressed the joy of his suffering for Christ in his letter to the Colossians: It makes me happy to be suffering for you now, and in my own body to make up all the tribulations that still have to be undergone by Christ for the sake of His body, the Church (Col 1:24). It helps us in our sufferings and hardships in life to recall in our pain that all our persecutions are His in the first place and ours only by participation, which is what Paul expressed in his letter to the Colossians. See CCC 1508 and 1521.
The letter says the people who slander the Christians of Smyrna are those who claim to be children of Abraham (Jews) but are children of the devil who encourages them to abuse the followers of Christ. They are the Israelites who have rejected Christ and in doing so have rejected the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. St. Peter, in his compelling sermons to the Jews in Acts 2:14-41 and 4:8-12, is explicit on the point in identifying those Jews who rejected Jesus as Messiah as covenant-breaking apostates. Jesus also addressed the Jews who were belligerent to His salvation message in John 5:39-47 and 8:39-44. For St. Paul's definition of a "true Jew," see Rom 2:29; 2:11-12, 16-17; Gal 3:6-7. Since the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah, the Kingdom of the Church is the true Israel (Rom 9:8; Gal 6:16; CCC 877).
Question: In the Gospel of John 5:45-47, Jesus told the Jews of
Jerusalem that He would not condemn them before God for their unbelief; but who
would condemn them? Why is this man important in Jewish history?
Answer: The great Lawgiver, Prophet, the redeemer of Israel
from slavery in Egypt and the most revered of the Old Covenant leaders, Moses, would
one day condemn they before the throne of Yahweh.
Moses was God's covenant mediator, prophet, and the giver of the Law of the Old Covenant. It was Moses who taught the children of Israel that their covenant obligation to Yahweh was to live in obedience to the Law, to look for the coming of the promised Supreme Prophet, and to listen to what He tells them:
Question: Why were there Jews who refused to believe that Jesus
was the promised Redeemer-Messiah and the prophet greater than Moses? In the
Gospel of John 8:42-44, who is it that Jesus says is the father of those who do
not listen to His voice and who have rejected Him? Also see CCC 1963; Heb 10:1-18.
Answer: They did not understand what Jesus was fulfilling in
the imperfect Old Covenant that could neither give them complete forgiveness of
sin nor the promise of eternal salvation. Jesus told His Jewish countrymen who
refused to believe in Him and to accept His Gospel of salvation that in their
unbelief they were acting in opposition to God's plan of salvation and therefore
had became sons of Satan.
However, we should also remember the three thousand Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah after St. Peter's first homily in Acts Chapter 2 and came into the New Covenant Church. Afterward, the number soon swelled to five thousand (Acts 4:4), including many priests and Pharisees (Acts 6:7). And it is significant to remember what St. James told St. Paul on his final visit to Jerusalem, that there had been many New Covenant Jewish conversions and all of them were "staunch upholders of the Law" (Acts 21:20). These were the "true Jews" who understood how Jesus fulfilled and perfected the Old Covenant as the promised Redeemer-Messiah.
The suffering of the Smyrnaeans at the hands of Jews who rejected Jesus should also remind us of what St. John the Baptist told his Jewish audience in Matthew 3:7-12. The Baptizer, as the Last of the Old Covenant prophets, said the Jews should not brag about being "sons of Abraham" since if God wanted He could raise up rocks to be sons of Abraham (in Aramaic there is a play on the words for "son" = ben, and "rock" = eben). St. Paul elaborates on this theme in his letter to the Romans in 2:29 and 9:6-8. Paul told the mixed congregation of Jewish and Gentile Roman Christians: It is not God's promise that has failed. Not all born Israelites belong to Israel, and not all the descendants of Abraham count as his children, for Isaac is the one through whom your Name will be carried on' (a reference to Gen 21:12). That is, it is not by being children through physical descent that people become children of God; it is the children of the promise that are counted as the heirs (Rom 9:6-8).
Question: According to St. Paul, who is the true Israel and the true
heirs of Abraham and the covenant promised to his descendants?
Answer: The New Covenant Israel: the Church founded by Jesus
Christ and her body of Jewish and Gentile Christian believers.
Jesus formed His new, redeemed Israel out of the holy faithful remnant of the Old Israel: the disciples and Apostles who were both the Jewish sons of the Old Covenant and the spiritual fathers of the New. In turn, they brought the Gentiles into the New Covenant in Christ Jesus and now, according to the teaching of the New Testament, the person (regardless of his ethnic heritage) clothed with Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of Baptism, is the inheritor of the promises to Abraham and possesses the blessings of the covenant God made with him (also see Rom 11:11-24; Gal 3:7-9, and 26-29).
Question: In the same way, Christ unites with the Christians of
Smyrna who are suffering from malicious slander. How was Christ slandered? See
Mt 26:59-62.
Answer: In Jesus' trial before the Jewish high court of the
Sanhedrin, false witnesses testified against Him.
For other examples of Satanic false witness against the Christian Church see Acts 6:9-15; 13:10; 14:2-5; 15:8; 18:6 & 12-13; 19:9 21:27-36; 24:1-9; 25:2-3 and 7.
Ethical Stipulations: 10a Do not
be afraid of the sufferings that are coming to you.
The message in the letter is
that the suffering is not over: more suffering is coming, but it will only last
a short time; don't be fearful, be faithful, and keep your focus on Jesus
Christ.
This passage may be a reference to the Smyrnaeans' beloved bishop, St. Polycarp, a disciple of St. John the Apostle, ordained by John as the bishop of Smyrna. St. Polycarp would be arrested, imprisoned for many months, and finally condemned to death by being burned alive in the city's stadium. The Roman authorities offered to spare the life of the 86-year-old bishop if he would only denounce Christ and offer a sacrifice to the emperor. Looking around at the crowd that filled the stadium, St. Polycarp glared at them and shouted, "Down with the atheists!" After refusing to curse Christ and roundly condemning his persecutors for their sins, the elderly St. Polycarp miraculously survived the public burning and was then killed by a sword. Christians present at his execution faithfully recorded his martyrdom. A witness to his death wrote: Now with the Apostles and all the just he is glorifying God and the Father Almighty, and he is blessing our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of our souls, the Helmsman of our Bodies, and the Shepherd of the Catholic Church throughout the world (The Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. I, "The Martyrdom of Polycarp, 19, 1" page 404).
At no point does the New Testament or the writings of the Fathers of the Church ever promise freedom from suffering in this life. But the Church of Jesus Christ does guarantee that our suffering is not in vain when we unite it to Christ's Passion (CCC 1508, 1521). We must be faithful like Smyrna's beloved Bishop St. Polycarp and his Smyrnaean Christians, remembering Jesus' command to bravely take up our crosses and follow Him (Mt 10:38; 16:24; Mk 8:34; 10:21; Lk 9:23; 14:27), because without the cross there will be no crown of victory. As St. Rose of Lima wrote: "The Cross is the only ladder to Heaven!"
Sanctions:10b Look,
the devil will send some of you to prison to put you to the test, and you must face hardship for ten days. Even if you
have to die, keep faithful
But have courage, because God promises that although
the Church may suffer, including the suffering of bodily death, she will
not suffer the death of the soul! Jesus promised His Apostles that even
the gates of death could not prevail against His Church (Mt 16:18-19), and
Jesus always keeps His promises.
Question: What is the significance of the reference to ten days?
See Daniel 1:12, 14, 15, 20, and Exodus Chapters 7-12.
Answer: The "ten days" reference may be to the ten-day trial
of Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah at the court of the
King of Babylon, or perhaps symbolically to the ten Egyptian plagues.
For ten days, sufferings tested the young Jews taken captive by the Babylonians (see Dan 3:11-21). It was an intense ten days, but it only lasted a relatively short time before their restoration. The reference to ten days in Revelation 2:10 could be referring similarly to a short time living in intense tribulation in exchange for a thousand years of victory (Rev 20:4-6). The number 10, in the significance of numbers in Scripture, represents the perfection of order and, therefore, could be a symbol of the perfection the Smyrnaeans will achieve as they suffer an intense but short period of persecution ordained by God; from crosses to crowns, a promise we can all rely on:
The reference to the ten days might also be an allusion to the ten Egyptian plagues, five of which were experienced by the Israelites in Goshen. The ten plagues were very intense but only lasted a short time before the deliverance of the Israelites from their fear and sufferings.
Succession Arrangements: 10c and I will give you the crown of life for your prize. 11 Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: for those who prove victorious will come to no harm from the second death.'"
St. James, the first Christian Bishop of Jerusalem, wrote: Blessed is anyone who perseveres when trials come. Such a person is of proven worth and will win the prize of life, the crown that the Lord has promised to those who love him (James 1:12).
Question: What is the "crown of life" promised to the faithful
of Smyrna in verse 10? See the quote from James 1:12 above.
Answer: The crown of life is eternal salvation.
The phrase "crown of life" appears one other time in Scripture in the Letter of St. James. It was written by a man who certainly knew what it meant to persevere in hardship for the greater glory of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. That man was St. James, the first Christian bishop of Jerusalem, a kinsman of Jesus, a pillar of the Church (Gal 2:9), the inspired writer of the Letter of St. James, and martyred by the Jews for his faith in c. AD 63, the year before Nero launched his state-sanctioned persecution of Christians.
Revelation 1:10 provides us with an entire plan for our path to salvation through this earthly exile: faithfulness, endurance, and loyalty to the love of Christ. St. Teresa of Avila expressed her determination to achieve the promise of eternal life. In Way of Perfection, she wrote: by making an earnest and most determined resolve not to halt until the goal is reached, whatever may come, whatever may happen, however, much effort one needs to make, whoever may complain about one, whether one dies on the road or has no heart to face their trials one meets, even if the ground gives away under one's feet. The goal she refers to is eternal life.
11 Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is
saying to the churches: for those who prove victorious will come to no harm
from the second death.
The phrase "let anyone who can
hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying" ends each of the seven letters. In
this letter and the next to the community at Pergamum, the promise follows this
phrase, but in the other letters, it precedes it.
Question: What is the "first death" and what is the "second
death"? What is meant by the "first resurrection" and what is the "second
resurrection? See
Rev 20:6, 14-15;
Rev 21:8;
Eph 2:1, 4-6;
Col 2:12-13; 3:1, 3;
CCC 1038.
Answer: The "first death" refers to the physical death of the
body. The "second death" is the death of the soul: an irreversible, enduring,
condemnation that is eternal separation from God. Revelation 20:6 defines those
who only suffer the "first death" as those who are not hurt by the "second
death" and who partake in the "first resurrection" when the Christian
experiences rebirth/resurrection through the Sacrament of Christian baptism. These
souls become priests and kings with Christ. The "second resurrection" will
take place when Christ returns, and the souls of the death (both the righteous
and the wicked) become reunited with their bodies.
Do you recall the blessing St John already affirmed to be a present reality for Christians in Revelation 1:6? The First Resurrection cannot refer to the physical resurrection at the end of the world (1 Cor 15:22-28). But instead, it must refer to what St. Paul taught in his epistle to the Ephesians: And you were dead in your trespasses and sins ... but God, being rich in mercy ... even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with Him (Eph 2:1, 4-6, emphasis in bold added). Christians in every age are partakers in the First Resurrection to a new life in Christ in the Sacrament of Christian Baptism, having been cleansed from our first death in Adam = original sin (CCC 405). In the Gospel of John, Jesus says: "In all truth I tell you, whoever listens to my words and believes in the one who sent me, has eternal life; without being brought to judgment such a person has passed from death to life" (Jn 5:24).
There will also be a Second Resurrection (a physical one) at the end of history not mentioned in Revelation 20:6. In John 5:24-29, Jesus discusses both resurrections (see Jn 5:24 quoted above). We will be discussing the first resurrection and the second death at length in Chapter 20.
The early Christians had a saying that wisely expressed the concept of the double death and double resurrection: Born twice, die once; born once, die twice. Born twice refers first to the natural birth into the family of Adam and then the second birth being the resurrection to new life in Christ and being born into the family of God in the Sacrament of Baptism. Those who only die once experience physical death but are then receive the gift of eternal life with Christ. Those who are only born once reject both the Sacrament of Baptism and Christ's gift of salvation; they face the "second death," which is spiritual death and eternal separation from God.
Question: Did the Church at Smyrna receive any criticisms?
Answer: The faith community did not receive any word of
reproach from our Lord; they only received words of love and encouragement.
Only the church at Philadelphia will match them in their fidelity to the Lord.
Question: How many Old Testament references did you see in this
letter? Look at Revelation 2:8 ~ who was dead and has come to life again. Do
those words recall any Old Testament figures who were believed to be dead or almost
dead but were found to be alive? What about the references to persecution and false
imprisonment; do you recall any Old Testament heroes who were persecuted or
falsely imprisoned? Was there another period of trial and suffering defined by
the number "ten" in the Old Testament?
Answers:
Question: What period of Biblical history do these various Old
Testament references recall?
Answer: The Age of
the Patriarchs, Israel's bondage in Egypt,
and the Babylonian captivity.
Old Testament images in the Letter to Smyrna: Christ describes Himself as He who "was dead and has come to life" (Rev 1:18). This is a redemptive act foreshadowed in the lives of Isaac (Gen 22:1-14; Heb 11:17-19) and Joseph (Gen 37:18-36, 39; 20:41-45; 45:4-8; 50:20). The danger of imprisonment by false accusers is paralleled in the life of Joseph (Gen 39:13-20). The "crown of life" reference is reminiscent of the blessing of the crown of Vizier of Egypt given to faithful Joseph for life (Gen 41:40-44). Moses' brother Aaron, as the first High Priest of the Sinai Covenant, also wore a crown (miter) as the glorious image of man fully redeemed (Ex 28:36-38). The letter also recalls the suffering and the salvation of Israel from bondage in Egypt. The material poverty of the community at Smyrna compared to the richness of their spiritual life can be compared to the material poverty of an Israel in slavery in the land of Egypt who continued to pray to God for deliverance. And finally, the tribulation' for ten days' followed by victory recalls the story of Israel's endurance through the ten plagues in Egypt before deliverance and the testing of Daniel and his friends among the pagan Babylonians.
THE LETTER TO THE CHURCH AT PERGAMUM: A Church with False Prophets
Do not be afraid for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name, you are mine.
Isaiah 43:1
The New Covenant Treaty Format in the Letter to Pergamum:
Pergamum was about 60 miles to the north of Smyrna and 15 miles inland from the coast. Pergamum [also spelled Pergamon] was located on the Caicus River in western Asia Minor in a region known in ancient times as Mysia, a part of the Roman province of Asia. The city was built on a hill 1,000 feet above the surrounding countryside, creating a natural fortress. The earliest mention of a settlement appears in the writings of Xenophon, a Greek who lived in the fourth century BC. In the third century BC, Pergamum was the center of the Hellenistic kingdom of the Attalids. When the last Attalid king died in 133 BC, he willed his kingdom to Rome.
The city's location did not occupy an advantageous position for trade like the city of Ephesus that was the largest and most important trading center in the Roman province of Asia. However, Pergamum dominated the other cities because of its position as the administrative capital. The Roman governor resided at Pergamum and ruled the entire Asian province, making Pergamum one of the three most prominent cities along with Ephesus and Smyrna.
Pergamum continued to be a leading cultural and political center of the Roman Empire until the fourth century AD. It was a sophisticated city, a center of Greek culture and education, with a 200,000-volume library which was known and admired throughout the ancient world. As an acknowledged center of learning, Pergamum would even develop a new kind of writing material from lambskin called "parchment."
It was also the center of four pagan cults and rivaled Ephesus in its worship of idols. The city's chief god was Asklepios, the serpent-god of healing. People came to Pergamum from all over the world seeking relief from various afflictions. Another significant temple honored Zeus, the chief deity in the Greek pantheon, whose great throne-like altar overlooked the city on its highest point. Dionysius, the Greek god of harvest, fertility, and every kind of sexual excess, and the goddess Athena also had significant temples. But what elevated Pergamum above her sister cities was her importance as a center for worship of the Roman emperor as a god. There was a temple dedicated to Rome and the deified Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus as early as 29 BC. By the 1st century AD, there were three temples devoted to emperor worship and the most magnificent temples dedicated to the Roman Caesars of all the seven cities. Because it was a center of emperor worship, it was the city in which Christians were most likely to clash with the Roman imperial cult. Today Pergamum is modern Bergama, in Turkey.
Revelation 2:12-17 ~ The Letter to
the Church at Pergamum: A faith community mostly loyal to Christ but with some
who are influenced by false prophets:
12 Write to the
angel of the church at Pergamum and say, "Here is the message of the One who
has the sharp sword, double-edged: 13 I know where you live, in the place where Satan is
enthroned, and that you still hold firmly to My Name, and did not disown your
faith in Me even when My faithful witness, Antipas, was killed among you, where
Satan lives. 14 Nevertheless, I have one or two charges against you: some
of you are followers of Balaam, who taught Balak to set a trap for the
Israelites so that they committed adultery by eating food that had been
sacrificed to idols; 15 and among you too there are some also who follow the
teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 So repent, or I shall soon come to you and attack
these people with the sword out of my mouth. 17 Let anyone hear who can hear,
listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: to those who prove
victorious I will give some hidden manna and a white stone, with a new name
written on it, known only to the person who receives it."
Preamble: 12 Write to the angel
of the church at Pergamum and say: "Here is the message of the One who has the
sharp sword, double-edged
Verse 12 repeats John's vision of
the glorified Christ in 1:16, out of His
mouth came a sharp sword, double-edged. The repeat of this phrase is part of the repeated pattern
from the greater Preamble of Chapter 1 and is also part of the preamble for the
Covenant Treaty format of this letter.
Rome claimed the position of worldwide creator and defender of all its people under the protection of the double-edged Roman gladius (the Roman short sword about 22 inches long and weighing 3 pounds). The Empire's control over life and death was supreme and unchallenged, and this power originated with Rome herself. Christianity, on the other hand, challenged this assertion. Christianity maintained that all power and authority come from the triune God and the various rulers of the earth who are created by God receive their dominion from Him (Romans 13:1-4). It is Jesus the Messiah for whom all power and authority flow "in heaven and on earth (Mat 28:18). He has laid down the law to the nations (Rev. 1:5). Christ is "the One who has the sharp two-edged sword," and if the rulers do not yield to Him, He will bring His sword down in judgment! Christ's ultimate authority applies to all nations; even today. See Psalms Chapter 2 and Daniel Chapter 4.
Historical Prologue: 13 I know where
you live, in the place where Satan is enthroned.
The Greek word here is thronos. Scholars give several possible interpretations to this reference
to Satan's throne:
and that you still hold firmly to My Name, and did not disown your
faith in Me even when My faithful witness, Antipas, was killed among you,
where Satan lives.
The tensions between the Roman
state and organized Jewish opposition made it only natural that Christian
persecution and martyrdom in the Roman Province of Asia would begin in Pergamum.
That they "still hold firmly to My Name" testifies that the Christians of
Pergamum confessed Jesus alone as Savior and Lord and did not waiver in the face
of persecution even though their faith resulted in the martyrdom of a member of
their community named Antipas. For this reason, Christ regards the church at Pergamum as faithful. We do not know very much about Antipas, whose name means "against
all." Tradition records that this Christian martyr was roasted alive in a
brazen bull. He personifies the faithfulness of the church at Pergamum
by standing against Satan and remaining faithful to Christ. And, it doesn't
matter that human history has lost the account of his martyrdom because Christ
singles him out for special acknowledgment and calls him "My faithful witness."
where Satan lives
Persecution
comes from Satan, not from God. Satan, the deceiver, will cause believers to
be thrown into prison and even killed. But Christians need not fear death,
because martyrdom will only result in victory. Satan may harm our earthly bodies,
but he can not do us spiritual harm. Possibly something visual might have
inspired this phrase. Archaeological and textual evidence points to the Great
Altar of Pergamum, one of the most significant monuments to survive from the
Greco-Roman period. At the time the Book of Revelation was written the central
residential area of Pergamum was on the southern slope of the acropolis. Above
this area was a monumental complex composed of the Great Altar, the temple
of Athena and the temple of Zeus. The Great Altar, dedicated to Zeus and
Athena during the reign of the Attalid king Eumenes II (reigned from 197 to 159
BC) was the most revered site in the city. For St. John, this altar and the
entire complex surrounding it were surely, "where Satan lives."
Ethical Stipulations: 14 Nevertheless, I have one or two charges against you: some
of you are followers of Balaam, who taught Balak to set a trap for the
Israelites so that they committed adultery by eating food that had been
sacrificed to idols; 15 and among you
too there are some also who follow the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Read Numbers Chapter 24:10-25, all
of Chapter 25, and 31:11-44, 13-16. After 40 years in the wilderness, the new
generation of Israel was ready to take possession of the Promised Land. Balak,
the king of Moab, was afraid of the Israelites passing through his land, so he
hired a prophet, Balaam, to curse the Israelites with destruction. Every time
Balaam tried to curse Israel, God put a blessing for Israel in his mouth, profoundly
angering King Balak each time. But before Balaam gave up and returned to his
home, he told Balak to use the oldest weapon known: sex (Num 31:16). Moabite and
Midianite women enticed the Israelite men into ritual prostitution to the false
god, Baal, on the plains of Peor. Worship of Baal of Peor involved every kind
of "bodily emission" before the idol of the god (use your vivid imagination).
After the sacrifices and the orgies, they ate the meat of the animals sacrificed
in a sacred meal. The sin of the Israelite men, in this case, was not only the
sins of fornication, adultery, and sodomy (oral and anal sex) with pagan women
but also eating the meat sacrificed to the false god which amounted to national
"adultery" from the covenant with Yahweh on the part of Israel,
the Bride of Yahweh. In Hosea 1:2, Yahweh told his prophet to condemn His
covenant people: The beginning of what
Yahweh said through Hosea: Yahweh said to Hosea, "Go, marry a whore, and get
children with a whore; for the country itself has become nothing but a whore by
abandoning Yahweh."
Since the time of the Sinai Covenant, God used marriage imagery to describe His relationship or lack of a relationship with His people. Lapses into idolatry are not only called prostitution but adultery, and these sins were direct violations of Commandments 1-3 as well as the Commandment that forbids adultery. The prophets, in their Covenant Lawsuits against Israel, referred to this condition of the sin of Israel's unfaithfulness as adultery (see, for example, Is 1:21; Jer 2:2; 3:1; 3:6-12).
Question: So why does Jesus refer to another
"Balaam" at Pergamum? See Num. 25:1-3; 31:16; 2 Pt 2:15 and Jude 11.
Answer: Balaam was the Biblical prototype
of the religious compromiser.
The Christians at Pergamum were being "seduced" by a 1st century AD Balaam to compromise their Christian doctrine to fit within secular Roman culture. When we accommodate our Christian faith to worldly standards, we abuse the principle of liberty enunciated by St. Paul in 1 Cor 8:11-13. Also read St. Peter's teaching on false teachers and religious compromisers in 2 Peter Chapter 2, where he writes: They are under a curse. They have left the right path and wandered off the follow the path of Balaam son of Bosor (2 Pt 2:15).
In the New Testament, Jesus represents the Messianic Age (the Age in which we live) as a wedding (i.e., Mt 22:1-14; 25:1-13) and speaks of Himself as the Bridegroom (Mt 9:15ff; Jn 3:29, etc.). Jesus taught that He fulfilled the marriage covenant between Yahweh and His people in His own person. Paul also teaches this theme in 1Corinthians 6:15-17; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:25-33, and so does the Book of Revelation in 21:2ff. There is a relevant analogy that we shouldn't miss in verse 14. The false apostles are trying to "seduce" the Christians of Pergamum into eating idolatrous food and fornication. Today, false prophets under the influence of Satan teach our young people that sex outside of marriage is acceptable along with practices that degrade the holy aspect of God's gift of human sexuality within the context of marriage.
Question: Can you think of two other occasions
when forces attempted to seduce God's children to eating forbidden food? Hint:
the first is in Genesis Chapter 3, and another example is one previously
mentioned in the Book of Daniel 1:1-16.
Answer: The Serpent, Satan (Rev 12:9),
seduced Adam and Eve into eating from the forbidden tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil. Another example is the young Jewish boys in the Book of Daniel ordered
to eat meat sacrificed to idols but refused, and after a ten-day ordeal, with
God's help, they were vindicated.
The situation at Pergamum, like the
"seduction" of the children of Israel on the plains of Peor in the Book of
Numbers, can be compared to the serpent's "seduction" of Eve in the Garden of
Eden (Genesis Chapter 3). Eve's eating of the forbidden food of the Tree of
Knowledge, Good, and Evil was, in essence, idolatry which amounted to "adultery"
in the marriage relationship to God in the Covenant. Paul speaks of Eve's sins
in terms of the sexual transgression of adultery in 2 Corinthians 11:2-3: This jealousy that I feel for you is, you see, God's
own jealousy: I gave you all in marriage to a single husband, a virgin pure
for presentation to Christ. But I am afraid that, just as the snake with his
cunning seduced Eve, your minds may be led astray from single-minded devotion
to Christ.
Question: Is it possible for members of the
Church today to commit this same kind of "adultery" to God's covenant?
The Council of Jerusalem (circa AD 49/ 50) dealt the question of Christians eating ritually clean and unclean food. They also addressed the problem of what the Church should expect of Gentile converts. James, Bishop of Jerusalem suggested: instead of making things more difficult for Gentiles who turn to God, we should send them a letter telling them merely to abstain from anything polluted by idols (eating meat sacrificed to idols), from illicit marriages, from meat of strangled animals (in pagan rituals, animals typically were strangled) and from blood. Jews were required to kill animals for food and for sacrifice in the most humane way by slitting their throats with an extremely sharp knife. The Council agreed with St. James, and this became the decision of the Church regarding Gentile converts. James was suggesting what had been God's first law for all peoples of the earth in the Covenant with Noah in Genesis Chapter 9 (by tradition, these laws numbered 7; see Gen 9:1-17 in the Genesis study at agapebiblestudy.com Genesis Lesson_6.htm). Paul revisited the subject of eating meat sacrificed to idols in 1 Corinthians 8:4, 9-10 and 1 Corinthians where he wrote: The things that the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons (1 Cor 10:20) To partake of the table of unclean spirits (1 Cor 10:21) was inconsistent with participation in the Eucharist.
Question: Paul also mentioned that while eating such meat might not have any special meaning to a 1st century Christian since they reject pagan gods, non-Christians might misconstrue it. Do we have to be careful that our activities might give a false impression of Christian beliefs and practices? Should we modify our behavior because of this possibility?
15 and among you
too there are some also who follow the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
See the reference to the Nicolaitans
in the letter to Ephesus in 2:6. St. Irenaeus identified this group as "followers of that Nicolaus who was one of the seven
first ordained to the diaconate by the apostles (see Acts 6:1-6). Most modern commentaries dispute
St. Irenaeus' (d. AD 202) claim as being unreliable; however, both St. Hippolytus
(d.236AD) and St. Jerome (d. AD 420) made the same claim. Hippolytus:
Refuting all Heresies, xxiv; Ante- Nicene Fathers, vol. 5, page
115: But Nicolaus has been a cause of the
widespread condemnation of these wicked men. He, as one of the seven (that
were chosen) for the diaconate, was appointed by the Apostles. But (Nicolaus)
departed from correct doctrine, and was in the habit of uncalculating indifference
of both life and food. And when the disciples (of Nicolaus) continued to offer
insult to the Holy Spirit, John reproved them in the Apocalypse as fornicators and
eaters of things offered unto idols. And St. Jerome in his Dialogue
Against the Luciferians,
Chapter 23 wrote: Then Nicolas, one of the
seven Deacons, and one whose lechery knew no rest by night or day, indulged in
his filthy dreams (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, vol.
6, page 332).
In disobedience to the legitimate apostolic Council of Jerusalem, the false Nicolaitan apostles advocated what is called "antinomianism," the teaching that Christians were "freed from the law." According to their instructions, it was no longer a sin to commit any volition including idolatry and fornication since the believer was not under any obligation to obey the law but can live as he feels he should live because Christ died for all their sins. There are still those who advocate the antinomian lifestyle today.
Sanctions: 16 So repent, or
I shall soon come to you and attack these people with the sword out of my
mouth.
"Repent" is a keyword in five of the
letters, and Jesus repeats it seven times: 2:5 twice = Ephesus; 2:16 =
Pergamum); 2:21 and 22 = Thyatira; 3:3 = Sardis; and 3:19 = Laodicea. Notice
that justice will be swift: "I shall soon
come!" Failure to repent
will bring judgment. Once again, there is the repeated pattern of Chapter one
with the reference "the sword out of my mouth"
from 1:16. It is also significant that in the story of Balaam in the Book of
Numbers that the Angel of the Lord met Balaam with a drawn sword (Numbers 22:31) and a sword killed Balaam (Numbers 31:8). As already commented (see 1:7
and 2:5), the warning of the imminent coming of Christ in judgment in verse 16 "I shall soon come" is not a statement about the Second Coming at the
end of history, but rather the "I shall
soon come" refers to a
judgment within history. It is a judgment that was imminent to the church
at Pergamum. This same principle repeats throughout the history of the Church.
Wherever heretics are indulged by the community or by the leadership, that
particular community is on the verge of being destroyed by the wrath of God.
Succession Arrangements "17 Let anyone
hear who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: to those
who prove victorious I will give some hidden manna and a white stone, with a
new name written on it, known only to the person who receives it."
Verse 17 has the phrase repeated in the closing of
all the letters. Then there is the promise of the three blessings/gifts to
those who persevere and are victorious: 1) manna, 2) a
white stone, and 3) a new name.
Gift #1 ~ Jesus promises: I will give some hidden manna. Read Exodus Chapter 16, especially verses 32-36; Hebrews 9:4; and Psalms 78:23-25. The "hidden manna" reminds the Christian reader of the Exodus passage recounting God's gift of nourishment to the children of Israel on their journey, and Book of Hebrews records that there was manna hidden in the Ark of the Covenant.
Read Exodus 40:21-35. When God took possession of the Ark
of the Covenant in Exodus 40:35, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, known
as the Septuagint, uses the word episkiazo,
which means overshadowed. Now read Luke 1:35. The same Greek word, episkiazo, appears in this passage when God the Holy Spirit "overshadowed"
the Virgin Mary, and she became the "spouse of the Holy Spirit." At this
moment, when the Holy Spirit "overshadowed" Mary, Jesus began to live
inside of Mary's womb, fulfilling the prophecy of the "sign" of "something new"
that Jeremiah prophesized in Jeremiah 31:22 when he said: "a woman shall
encompass a man" [literal translation].
Do you see the link to the hidden
Christ and Mary and the Ark and the "hidden manna"? What is the Christian's
hidden manna? It is the same manna promised those who are victorious at Pergamum.
The manna with which God fed the children of Israel in their desert wandering was
a symbol of the supernatural gift Christ gave us, the Eucharist, the body of
Christ Himself. The children of Israel received daily strength and sustenance
during the exodus from Egypt as they prepared to enter the "Promised Land"
just as we can partake of daily nourishment as we continue on our lifelong
journey of faith to our "Promised Land" that is heaven. Christ is the true
mama, the heavenly bread (see 1 Cor 11:20 and Jn 6:31-35).
Gift #2 ~ Jesus promises the faithful Christians a white stone. This reference has puzzled Biblical scholars and commentators for centuries. There are seven different suggested interpretations:
Interpretations #1 and #2 have merit: Interpretation #1 is a reasonable suggestion since there is a link between the symbolism of an invitation to a feast and Christ's personal invitation to each baptized believer to the Eucharistic banquet here on earth which is, in fact, Himself, and the promise of the heavenly banquet promised at the end of our "exodus" from this earthly life. We might also see the victorious eating of the true manna of the Eucharistic banquet as a counter to the sin of eating the food of idols. Paul makes this comparison in 1 Corinthians 10:21-22 when he tells the Corinthians: "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons as well; you cannot have a share at the Lord's table and the demon's table as well. Do we really want to arouse the Lord's jealousy; are we stronger than He is?"
The second interpretation can symbolize our acquittal from the sentence of death for our sins because Christ paid our price for sin by His death. But there is also an Old Testament connection to the white stone and manna, which is perhaps closer to John's reference. Read Exodus 16:31 with Numbers 11:7. Exodus 16:31 ~ The House of Israel named it "manna." It was like coriander seed; it was white, and its taste was like that of wafers made with honey. Compared to Numbers 11:7 ~ The manna was like coriander seed and had the appearance of bdellium. Bdellium (in Hebrew Bedolah, in Greek bdellion) was an aromatic and transparent whitish gum obtained from a tree native to Southern Arabia, Babylonia, India, and Persia. Manna has the appearance of white blobs (stone shaped) from the resinous material of a tree. There is another reference to bdellium in Genesis 2:10-12 ~ A river flowed from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided to make four streams. The first is named the Pishon, and this winds all through the land of Havilah where there is gold. The gold of this country is pure; bdellium and cornelian stone are found there. Therefore, the "white stone" is connected with both the manna and Eden. Perhaps the reference is to remind us that eternal salvation is a New Creation and restores God's people to Paradise.
Another Old Testament passage to consult is Exodus 28:9-12 since our verse refers to a name written on the white stone. In the Exodus passage, an onyx stone carried the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; however, there were two black onyx stones placed on the shoulders of the High Priest and engraved with the names of the twelve tribes. Perhaps the symbolism is in the imperfection of the Old Covenant (black stone) followed by those names made perfect, engraved on a white stone, in the New Covenant in Christ and carried by the New Covenant High Priest, Christ Jesus.
Gift #3: The third promise from Revelation 2:17 is that the Christian receives a new name. In the Sacrament of Baptism, at least two changes that take place in our lives and also in the Sacrament of Confirmation. Christians are 1) forgiven original sin and 2) become a new creation, reborn into the family of God (also called the first resurrection). How do we know to what earthly family we belong? We carry the "name" of that family. When we are born again or born from above (Jn 3:3-5), by supernatural rebirth into God's Holy Covenant Family, we also receive a new name; we are named through the Father, "In the Name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit!" We are granted a new name and a new character/identity because we belong to Christ. As always, God is the Definer who has called us into being and wholly interpreted us in terms of His predetermined plan. It is an event that recalls the prophecy of Isaiah 62:2 ~ The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of Yahweh will bestow. Then, in the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Bishop asks what "name" we have chosen. That name of a saint is a sign of our new role as adult members of the community and the acceptance of our mantle as Apostles for Christ. In religious orders, those committing to consecrated lives take a new name that, by tradition, Jesus has whispered to them.
Then there is the closing phrase, which says the name is known only to the person who receives it. Biblical scholars point out that the meaning of this expression, rooted in a Hebrew idiom, is that the name is "known" by the receiver in the sense of owning it; "to know" in Hebrew means intimate knowledge. Compare this passage with Revelation 19:12-13, 15, and 16. In other words, the point is not that the new name is secret, but that the new name is exclusive. Only the one who overcomes possesses the "new name," the divinely ordained definition of him or herself as belonging to the Covenant of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one else has the right of possession except those who are faithful to Jesus and His New Covenant. This exclusiveness points to the personal, intimate relationship between God (who issues the invitation) and the invited guest. See Isaiah 43:1 where Yahweh says: "I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name, you are mine." In the Pergamum church, the Nicolaitan heretic does not truly own the name "Christian." That name only belongs to true doctrine Christians who are granted admittance to Paradise, because they gain entrance through the sacrifice of Christ who redefines and renames them
Question: What Old Testament references did
you find in this letter, in what books are these references found, and from what
period in Salvation History?
Answer: There are references to King Balak
who opposed God's covenant people, Balaam the false prophet, and manna, the
heavenly bread (with an indirect reference to the Ark of the Covenant) from Exodus,
and in the Book of Numbers. These references concern the Biblical period of Israel's
testing in the wilderness after leaving Egypt and before the conquest of Canaan.
The imagery is from the sojourn of Israel in the wilderness, the abode of demons Lev. 16:10; 17:7; Deut. 8:15; Mt 4:1; 12:43). The Christians of Pergamum also dwelt "where Satan's throne is" in a city of dedicated pagan worship. The letter describes the enemies of the church as Balak and Balaam, the evil king and false prophet of Numbers 25:1- 31:36. Like the Angel of Yahweh (Angel of the LORD) and Phinehas, the priest, Christ threatens to make war against the Balaamites with the sword (Num 22:31; 24:7-8). To those who overcome this test of faith, He promises a share in the hidden manna of Christ in the "bread from Heaven" that is the Eucharist. For further references, see the Chart on the Seven Churches in the handouts for lesson 3 and compare the messages to each church at a glance.
Catechism references for this lesson (* indicates Scripture quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
Rev 2:9 (CCC 1508*, 1521, 1963); 2:11 (CCC 1002*-3*, 1038*, 1213, 1265*); 2:16 (CCC 1429*); 2:17 (CCC 1025*, 2159*)
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2000, revised 2019 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.