July 20, 2025
“And to the angel of the church in
Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword:
“I know where you are living, where
Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did not deny
your faith in me even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one,
who was killed among you, where Satan lives. But I
have a few things against you: you have some there who hold to the teaching of
Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel,
so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and engage in sexual
immorality. So you also have some who hold to the
teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent, then. If not, I will come to you soon
and wage war against them with the sword of my mouth. Let
anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To
everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a
white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows
except the one who receives it.
*************************************
The
message to the church in Pergamum is cryptic.
Untangling some of its threads, though, the key to it is the very
beginning:
“I know where you are
living.”
God understands the many and varied circumstances of
our lives, and that a lot of situations we face are hostile to a life of faith
and discipleship.
The
city of Pergamum was one of the first cities to jump on the emperor-worship
bandwagon when Augustus let it be known that it was alright with him if
sacrifices were offered directly to statues representing him. Pergamum was the first city in the province
to be allowed to build a temple in his honor and about a hundred years later
the emperor Trajan made Pergamum the first city to add another temple for
emperor-worship generally. (Trajan was,
of course, the emperor of the day, and had been the general who had leveled
Jerusalem early in his military career.)
“I know where you are
living, where Satan’s throne is.”
What is it like to live
in a place where civic pride is tied to pagan worship? I don’t know… have you ever been to the
Firebird Festival? A giant bird is built
every year to be burnt at the winter solstice while a crowd stands around and
cheers on the way to or from the bars – maybe both. That sounds kind of like a pre-Christian,
northern European sort of thing to me.
The difference is that I don’t think anybody there genuinely believes
that the return of longer days depends on that ritual, and that nobody is
legally required to take part. In some
circles, though, there could be a kind of social ostracism of that one person
who balks at it. In some circles there’s
reluctance to be the killjoy.
Backing out of the
celebration of the emperor, though, would be worse than being a wet blanket,
worse than being unpatriotic. It would
be treason. Apparently the Christians in
Pergamum had taken their chances on that, for which the scriptures honor them,
even though one of them paid a steep price, as others would later. Things were rough, we read,
“Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did
not deny your faith in me even in the days of Antipas my witness, my
faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan lives.” [Revelation 2:13]
God wanted his people living there, with that kind of
persecution in living memory, to know clearly that he is well aware of what
they are up against.
This
should provide a word of support also for situations that are not anywhere near
that extreme, but nevertheless real. With
less external social expectation that anyone will have any religious
affiliation at all, Christian or not, there is also less acceptance when
someone’s faith leads them to opt out of a group activity.
Sports
is a big one. Usually we talk about how
kids’ leagues now have Sunday morning games.
We ignore the fact that major races for adult runners are usually
scheduled for that time. It’s more than
that, though. One of the things that the
early Christians clashed with their society over was having gladiators killing
each other for a crowd’s entertainment.
How Christian is it to watch somebody’s skull cracked open and to cheer,
“Yeah! Go for it!” How Christian is it to bet on the outcome of
a sword fight? Then again, is it right
to make money from or to find pleasure in a sport where somebody like Muhammed
Ali ends up with so many slugs to the head that his brain turns to mush as he
ages? Say that your boss or an
influential client invites you to ringside seats.
Another
spot people find themselves in is when they’re invited to be part of a
wedding. One time somebody I knew asked
a close friend to be his best man because he said he was somebody he knew would
keep the bachelor party (and I quote) “within the bounds of moral law and good
taste”. These days it tends to be
bachelorette parties that get out of hand.
Neighbors of mine were getting married and the bridesmaids threw the
bride into an SUV whose back window said, “Trudy’s getting hitched! Venmo drink money to ______ .” Should you just volunteer to be the
designated driver? If you do that are
you keeping someone safe, or are you enabling their excess?
Where
is the line when someone tells an offensive joke or uses a derogatory
term? Have you ever ghosted someone
online and, if so, why? Would you do the
same to someone else if your general relationship to them was different? What if your dealing with somebody you sort
of dislike to begin with; would you be acting on principle or would their
behavior just be the excuse for holding them at a distance or blocking them in
a way you’ve wanted to do for awhile anyway?
I
guarantee that these situations or ones akin to them are going to arise, and I
guarantee that there will be times, no matter what you do, that you ask
yourself afterward if you did the right thing, and I guarantee you that the
answer you get will be “maybe” or “I hope so” or “we’ll see”. In that moment
“I
know where you are living,”
says the Lord.
Jesus walked the earth in
a time and place of deep ambiguity, and people who were out to get him tried to
entangle him in easy answers to complicated questions. He always turned things back on the
questioners to make them examine their own hearts.
“And they came and said to him, ‘Teacher,
we know that you are sincere and show deference to no one, for you do not
regard people with partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with
truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them, or
should we not?’ But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, ‘Why are you
putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.’ And
they brought one. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this and whose title?’
They answered, ‘Caesar’s.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Give
to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.’
And they were utterly amazed at him.” [Mark 12:13-17]
He does the same thing to us, understanding the
pressures that people face when they do love both God and neighbor. He’s asking us to be faithful in all our ways,
not to be separated from life.
It’s when we embrace his
ways in the midst of life’s pressures that we become witnesses to his love,
because it was the embrace of God’s ways in the face of an unfaithful world
that led him to the cross, and his unflinching love for the human beings who
put him there that guarantees our pardon.
He knows where we live and came in person to find us, and to help us
live, here and now, and forever.
“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the
world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through
him.” [John 3:17]
He is the one who will always wipe the slate clean, no
matter what. In the midst of group
pressures and all kinds of influences that is always going to be between each
human being and him.
“To everyone who conquers I will give some
of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is
written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.” [Revelation
2:17]
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