Revelation 2:12-29 Pergamos and Thyatira Parkdale Grace Fellowship Sunday AM, March 11, 2012 As we noted in our last study, the seven local churches in Asia addressed in Revelation 2 and 3 seem to parallel and represent seven periods of church history over the last two thousand years. The Pergamos Church, which we are studying now, represents the beginning of Roman Catholicism characterized as the compromising church period in which the church married the state beginning with Emperor Constantine in 313 AD. PERGAMOS (The compromising church /the development of Roman Catholicism 313 AD onward) Revelation 2:12-13, "And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: 13 I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells." The city of Pergamos (or Pergamum) had many temples devoted to many idols including an altar to Zeus, the supreme god of ancient Greece. Perhaps this altar which was in the shape of a throne built on a crag of rock overlooking the city is what is meant by the saying, where Satan s throne is. (LeRoy Gager, p. 84) However, another significant feature of Pergamos is that it is the first city to build a temple dedicated to the worship of Caesar, Emperor Augustus. Pergamos then built new temples for the succeeding Emperors and the city became renowned for its emperor worship. (Ibid, p.84) Very little is known about the church at Pergamos. However they were known by the Lord for good works and they held faithful to the name of Jesus. But the Lord rebuked them because of their compromise with, and accommodation of, those who had false doctrine and who enticed the believers to participate in pagan idolatry and sexual immorality. Vs. 14-15, "But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. 15 Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate." Balaam was the man on the talking donkey, who, after being prevented by God from cursing Israel, then advised Balak, the king of Moab to use sensual woman to entice the Israelites and corrupt Israel through intermarriage with the heathen. The doctrine of Balaam therefore was the teaching that the people of God should intermarry with the heathen and compromise with idolatrous worship. (John Walvoord, p. 68) The Nicolaitans were a corrupted sect who like Balaam combined idol worship and sexual immorality with the Christian faith. The church at Pergamos was dealing not with an enemy on the outside seeking to destroy the faith, but the enemy on the inside presenting a supposedly new and improved version of Christianity characterized by idolatry.
2 Therefore, the Pergamos church parallels the period in church history beginning with Emperor Constantine in 313 AD when the church compromised by joining with the state becoming what is known as the Roman Catholic Church. (John Walvoord, p. 69) Constantine put an end to the persecution of the church and made Christianity the official religion of Rome and it soon became popular to become a Christian. At the time this must have seemed like a glorious answer to prayer and a great blessing. But it proved to be one of the worst things that ever happened to the church in all of history. Emperor Constantine had tremendous influence and power in the church and he paganized the church. Increasingly it became difficult to discern any distinction between the church and the world. It is doubted by many who have studied his life that Constantine was ever truly born again. Satan had been unable to cripple the church after nearly three hundred years of external pressure; instead it continued to grow stronger and larger. But by disguising himself as an angel of light, using a Christianized pagan Emperor, Satan quickly succeeded in crippling the church from within. And as Pergamos was characterized by emperor worship, the Church of Rome became characterized by worship of the Holy Roman Emperor the Pope of Rome. Constantine considered himself the bishop of bishops in the Christian Church and presided over it with all the pomp of a pagan potentate, dressed in gold, studded with glittering gems. This pontifical tendency on his part... was imitated by a whole succession of bishops in Rome, and finally produced the office of Pope. (Gager, p.89) In 324 Constantine is said to have promised money to every convert to Christianity, and 12,000 men plus women and children are said to have been baptized in the city of Rome that year. (Ibid) There are three cardinal doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church which were established under the Emperor Constantine. All three of them are considered heretical by evangelicals. 1) Sacramentalism 2) The special priesthood 3) The concept of Catholicism. Constantine contributed to development of the false doctrine of sacramentalism which teaches that salvation comes through the ordinances of the church (i.e. through baptism and communion. Catholicism later added 5 more sacraments not found in scripture.) The second major heresy that developed under Constantine was the creation of a priestly class, which would stand between God and men to mediate salvation. The New Testament teaches the priesthood of all believers, not a separate class of priests. Then he put the Christian priests on his payroll. The pagan priests then flooded into the church under Constantine. The priests of Jupiter, of Juno, of Dionysius, of Bacchus, of Venus, and of Adonis, all had been paid out of the purse of Caesar. But now that Caesar was a Christian, the priests of the temples hastened to their baptism to remain on the imperial payrolls. They turned their idol temples into churches, and they said, These are no longer images of Jupiter or Juno or Venus; these are images of the saints. The same rituals by which they had worshipped Astarte, Aphrodite or Venus they now employed to worship the true Queen of Heaven... in the same temples, before the same idols, only now the idols were named after so-called
3 Christian saints. Even the holy days by which the priests honored their gods were made days on the calendar to honor these saints. The astonishing thing took place overnight. (Dr. Criswell quoted in Gager, p. 90) The third heretical doctrine that became entrenched in the church under Constantine was the concept of a Holy Catholic Church in which there was no salvation to anyone outside of this one church. Christian unity is a biblical doctrine. But under Constantine a split or separation from the church was considered one of the deadliest sins a Christian could commit. If you left the Roman Catholic Church or were expelled from the church you could not possibly be saved. The preservation of outward unity became the most important consideration ahead of doctrine. Therefore whatever error might be in the church an individual believer felt compelled to accept it, rather than be guilty of a greater error, separation from the church. This doctrine made it possible for the acceptance of all the corruptions and mingling with paganism that quickly took place. It seemed to the church like a tremendous blessing and answer to prayer when Constantine became a promoter of Christianity instead of a persecutor of the church like all the emperors before had been. But this marriage of the church and the government was an unequal yoke which proved to be a spiritual disaster. Revelation 2:16, "Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth." I have spent so much time on this Roman Catholic development because not only does Roman Catholicism play a huge role in church history but I believe that the Roman Catholic Church also plays a very significant part in the future Tribulation described in the book of Revelation. Revelation 2:17, "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 to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it. Hidden manna seems to refer to that bread from heaven, or spiritual food, which nourishes and strengthens the Christian. But the world does not know anything about this source of life it is hidden to them. To be given a white stone in a court of law is thought to have represented being acquitted and declared innocent in contrast to receiving a black stone which would indicate condemnation. (Walvoord, p. 70) THYATIRA (The Corrupt Church about 350 1517 AD) Next, the Thyatira Church is characterized as a corrupt church and represents the deepening of Roman Catholicism under the popes and the establishing of the worship of Mary. This period runs primarily through the dark ages up to the protestant reformation. (The Roman Catholic Church continues very little changed to this day but it is no longer the predominant face of Christianity like it was for over 1,000 years).
4 Revelation 2:18, "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass:" The longest of the letters is written to the church that is in the smallest and least important town. It is possible that this is indicative of Thyatira symbolically representing the longest of the seven stages of church history, a period of over one thousand years. And yet during this lengthy period of Roman Catholic domination, just as Thyatira was the smallest and least important of the seven cities, the true church arguably became the weakest and least effective in its history. It is a period aptly characterized by the expression, the Dark Ages. The Lord is described to this church as having eyes of fire and feet like brass. The eyes indicate that He sees all. The fire speaks of indignation and judgment that burns against sin. The brass feet speak also of judgment and the treading upon the wicked. Vs. 19, "I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first." We know very little about the church at Thyatira. We know that one of Paul s converts, Lydia, who was a merchant dealing in purple cloth, was from Thyatira (Acts 16:11-15). They are recognized by the Lord as being a loving church with lots of good works. Roman Catholicism has historically emphasized doing good works. Vs. 20, "Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols." Probably a better translation than I have a few things against you is I have this against you. (as in ESV and NASB, etc.) Though this describes an actual well known woman in the church at Thyatira, Jezebel is not likely her real name, but a symbolic name which, by association, compares this influential woman in the church to Jezebel the evil wife of King Ahab, one of Israel s most wicked kings (1 Kings 16-19). When Jezebel married Ahab, she brought her pagan religions with her, Baal worship and the worship of the goddess Astarte, which involved perverse sexual immorality as part of the worship. And she imposed the worship of these pagan gods upon the people of Israel. Now the New Testament church of Thyatira is allowing a similar woman to teach in the church (they recognize her as a prophetess; they allow her prophetic word to overrule Scripture). And as a result of her teaching the church is being led into sexual immorality and idolatry. Many Bible teachers and scholars have identified the Holy Mother Church of Rome as the prophetic parallel with this seducing prophetess, Jezebel. Under the leadership of Emperor Constantine, the church became flooded with many pagan priests who practiced and taught a shallow form of Christianity mixed it with their paganism. Therefore the Roman Catholic Church (portrayed as Jezebel) invented many new doctrines and teaching which were designed to accommodate the pagans and pagan practices into the Christian religion.
5 Another feminine parallel between the woman Jezebel of Thyatira and the Catholic Church during the dark ages is the introduction of doctrines regarding Mary and the practice of praying to Mary, worshipping Mary (referred to as venerating Mary) and trusting Mary for salvation. This spiritual adultery has led astray countless millions of professing Christians. Note Jesus words in vs. 20, you allow that woman Jezebel... to teach and seduce My servants. And just as this woman Jezebel s prophetic word was allowed to overrule the teaching of Scripture, so the Roman Catholic Church sees itself as being in authority over the Scripture. The Catholic Church believes that the church is a higher authority than God s word and therefore the church s doctrine does not need to agree with Scripture. The last phrase of verse 20, and eat things sacrificed to idols, seems to foreshadow the false teaching that arose during the Middle Ages of the Catholic Eucharist in which the priest supposedly transforms the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus and sacrifices it on their pagan altar before offering it to the people to eat. Catholics still practice the Eucharist today but the Catholic Church is no longer the predominant face of Christianity. Vs. 21, "And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent." Indeed, historically the Lord has given the Roman Catholic Church much time to repent, and she has not abandoned those doctrines and icons that are pagan and not Biblical in origin. Vs. 22-23, "Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works." This is a severe warning that strongly warns of serious consequences to those who embrace and follow the false teaching of this woman (Catholic doctrine). It may prophetically allude to the judgment that comes upon the woman who symbolizes a false religious system in Revelation 17-18. But notice that all along the Lord holds out the invitation to repent. No matter how deeply one has plunged into corruption the Lord always holds out the offer of repentance unto life. Now there is a message to the few true believers at Thyatira who have not been led astray. (The Lord always has a remnant of true believers). Vs. 24, "Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden."... Who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say... (NKJV);... who have not followed this false teaching ( deeper truths, as they call them depths of Satan, really). (NLT) The so called deeper truths of this woman s teaching are really satanic in origin. Vs. 25-27, "But hold fast what you have till I come. 26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations 27 He shall rule them with a
6 rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter s vessels as I also have received from My Father;" The overcomer is the true believer. His genuine faith is demonstrated by his obedience to God s will, and he is made to overcome by the power of the life of Christ dwelling in him. The pretending believer, the Christian in name only, who does not have the life of Christ dwelling in him, lacks the spiritual resources to stand firm to the end. Power over the nations is similar to Christ s promises to believers that we will rule and reign with Him. If we have been faithful in a few things, He will make us ruler over many things (Matthew 25:21-23). Vs. 28-29, "and I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. " Jesus Himself is the Morning Star. (Revelation 22:16) The ultimate reward of the Christian is to be with his Lord in all of His glorious and brilliant radiance. Much of this material on chapters 2 and 3, particularly the parallels with seven periods of church history, is gleaned from John Walvoord s commentary, The Revelation of Jesus Christ and from LeRoy Gager s commentary on Revelation, The Second Exodus, Chapters 7-11. Copyright 2012 by Parkdale Grace Fellowship Permission: You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.