Spiritual Polygamy
Revelation 2:12-17
Message #5
We are looking at the seven letters to the Churches in Revelation. Today, it’s the third church, Pergamum, which is the compromising church. And so, like a whiplash, the church goes from being persecuted by the world (last message) to marrying the world in this message. Today we see the beginning of spiritual polygamy in the Church. It’s the Church that married the world while still being married to Jesus Christ.
Pergamum was the Capital of Asia, home of the Regional Roman Ruler, the center of Roman Emperor Worship. And prior to Pergamum, the season that Pergamum represents, Rome only worshiped emperors that had died. In the period of the Church of Pergamum, they started worshiping emperors that were still alive.
Our word “parchment” (as in parchment scroll) comes from the word “Pergamum.” Because Pergamum was a huge cultural center known for the mountain of “parchment books” either written or copied there. The library of Pergamum was second only to Alexandria in Egypt. It boasted over 200,000 parchment rolls (books).
Interesting little historical note: When Marc Antony took over the Roman Empire and especially this area of Asia, he gave this massive, massive library to Cleopatra. And it ends up in the Alexandria Library in Egypt – the largest library of the ancient world.
Pergamum was a highly cultural city and attracted the finest minds of learning, culture, government, and medicine. And the Church there was about to enter a new battle. Not the frontal attack of persecution like the previous 200 years but the seductive attack of deceit through infiltration and compromise.
And if you’ve ever asked why are there certain things done in churches today that cannot be found in the Bible, the Letter to Pergamum sheds light on that question. The time of the Church, the period of the Church that it represents, answers those questions by giving some insight into the whys.
First, let me explain the prophetic perspective of each of the seven letters to the seven Churches. It’s important that I bring this in now, though I haven’t mentioned it before. It is phenomenal when you look at the seven letters to the seven Churches in order, and you attach them to the major time periods of Church History – they are dead on – every single one! These seven letters were written to seven actual churches, but in a very prophetic way, the subject of these seven letters mirrors very closely the events of seven time periods in Church history.
Let me run through these and show you how historians see this prophetic view in these first three letters.
1). We started with Ephesus, the first church. “Good Church, but you’ve abandoned your first love.”
That letter directly addresses the condition of the Church from the Resurrection (33 AD) to about 100 AD (the time of the Apostles). We call it the Apostolic Period, the period when the Apostles were alive. And so, the first letter is saying, hey. You guys have kind of already fallen away from your first love. You’ve figured out Church, but you’re falling away. That is what happened during that time period.
2). “Faithful in Suffering”
The second letter to Smyrna, which we saw last week, the persecuted Church, it directly addresses two hundred years of persecution of the Church by ten different Roman Emperors. And so, that takes us from basically 100 AD to 300 AD. And it’s important because I am going to tie it to legitimate, factual Church history.
3). “Spiritual Polygamy”
I am directly addressing the historical events of the 300’s AD. This is when the Church “married the world.” And the letter to Pergamum is about the Church marrying the world. It represents this 100 years that we call the “300’s.” Some of the things that began in the 300’s really took over the Church in the next letter (Thyatira) in the 400’s AD. That’s the beginning of the Middle Ages. That’s when the Church got messed up. But the spiritual polygamy that we see in the Church today began here in this letter and in the 300’s AD. The spiritual polygamy is the biggest connection that we have from this Church of the 300’s to today. It starts here.
Here’s what we learn by comparing the Church history between the last letter to Smyrna and this letter to Pergamum. Our enemy learns from his failures. He’s not omniscient. IF he tries to come at you one way and you’re successful at stopping him, he’s just come at you another way. And when he finds out how to get to you, trust me, he’s going to stick with that.
In the previous Church period (Smyrna), in the 100’s and 200’s, in that 200 hundred year period of persecution, our spiritual enemy learned that persecution actually made the Church grow. Persecution made the Church stronger. He tried to use the world to stomp out the fire of the Gospel, but every time he stomped on the fire of the Gospel, the fire spread, and as it spread, it grew stronger and stronger.
So now, learning from his mistake of persecuting the Church in the previous 200 years, the enemy employs a scary new tactic that he is still having great success with today. This concept of seduction in spiritual polygamy is alive and well today in the Church, and it’s doing the same thing it started to do in the 300’s.
In Pergamum, the enemy said
If I can’t stomp them out with persecution
I will water them down with compromise.
If I can’t get the world to crush them
then I’ll get them to marry the world.
You realize that your biggest spiritual attacks will probably come from inside the Church. The enemy realizes that attacks from the outside just make you stronger, but from the inside, they take you out – usually in compromise.
And Jesus is going to tell this Church – Wakeup!!! Before you experience my judgment!!!
Revelation 2:12 (NLT)
12 “Write this letter to the angel (messenger) of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword:
This sharp sword, the Greek word for this sword, is the “the long sword.” It’s not the close-in dagger like Hebrews 4, the Word of God is a sharp two-edged sword. That word for sword is a close-in scalpel. This is the long sword that will take your head off from three feet away. Every time this Greek word for “sword” is used, it refers to the judgment of God. When we get to Revelation 19, this is the sword that Jesus uses to take out the anti-christ in the final battle of Armageddon.
And what Jesus is saying by this description of himself is I am ready to bring judgment. And Jesus always uses a description of himself that applies to what he needs to say to the Church. So, when Jesus says this letter is from the one with the sharp two-edged sword that comes out of his mouth, that’s the sword of judgment – you know where it’s going.
And Jesus does begin with some commendation. But when you look closely, you see this commendation is for past events when this Church was experiencing persecution, like our previous Church in Smyrna.
Revelation 2:13(a) (NLT)
13 “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne . . .
Again, Jesus says I know. I know the circumstances you are living in.
In Pergamum, there was a massive altar to Zeus (King of all Greek gods) that sat on top of the mountain, and it was designed to look like a throne from below. It was also the Capital of Roman Emperor Worship. So, Jesus is saying Satan had a place of authority (a throne) in Pergamum.
(again) Revelation 2:13 (NLT)
13 “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused (past tense) to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city. (during the persecution of the previous period)
Jesus is saying I know you “have been” faithful in the past. But . . .now . . . Something is happening in the Church that has my Sword of Judgment at the ready. Now something has changed. The period of the persecuted Church is moving into the period of the Church marrying the world.
And so, he makes that transition in verse 14.
Revelation 2:14 (NLT)
14 “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin.
The story of Balaam and Balak goes back to Numbers Chapter 22 (and the talking donkey). Balaam was a profit for hire. He prophesied for pay. And Balak (the enemy of Israel) gave Balaam money to curse Israel. And Balaam tried to curse Israel, but he couldn’t. Every time he opened his mouth, only blessing would come out. And so, Balak, who had paid the big money, got mad.
So, Balaam says to him, listen, God won’t let me curse Israel, but here’s what you can do to destroy them just the same. If you will bring the women of Moab into the camp of Israel and use them to entice Israel into sexual sin and idol worship, that will destroy them from the inside – just as much as if they’d been cursed by God. And so, Balak seduced Israel into compromise with the world. And in the end, it cost 24,000 Israelites their lives as God judged the nation for their sin. So, the teaching of Balaam is the enemy’s subtle attack of bringing compromise into the Church.
And our enemy found out in Pergamum that bringing compromise into the Church from the inside brings far more destruction than persecution from the outside.
Instead of trying to stomp out the fire in Pergamum, the enemy poured the water of compromise – into the Church.
Compromise puts out the fire of your faith, just like water puts out a campfire.
That is what was happening in the church in Pergamum and prophetically what happened during this period of history.
The church of Pergamum was at one time the faithful bride of Christ but who chose to also marry the world. Pergamum married a second bride – the world – and they became spiritual polygamists, believing they could be married to the Lord and married to the world.
And we see a ton of this same spiritual polygamy in the Church today. And here’s how.
Jesus continues in verse 15 and says not only have you compromised with the world, but:
Revelation 2:15 (NLT)
15 In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. (the same teaching as Balaam – of bringing COMPROMISE into the church)
Remember, back in Ephesus (1st church), Jesus commended the church for hating the works of the Nicolaitans (he also hated). Well, now, by the third Church period (and the 3rd church), what the Church once hated the church now embraces.
The Nicolaitans established the two-class system in the Church of the priesthood ruling over the people. They developed a class of priests to rule over regular people (the “lay” people). This started in the 300’s. This is not opinion – this is fact. It’s history. In the 300’s for the first time in the existence of the Church, 170 years or so, there was a system that was integrated into the Church that elevated the priesthood above the people. That just happens to be the exact same system that the pagan temples used. In all of the idol worship, there was always an elevated honor to the priests or priestesses in the pagan temples. That same structure was brought into the Church in the 300’s by the Nicolaitans.
Even though Matthew 23 was in the Bible at the time (by 330, when they canonized the Bible). Matthew 23 was this scathing rebuke of Jesus to the religious leaders. And if you just read through it you will say, I don’t want to be that person. I don’t want to be that Pharisee because Jesus lights them up – you vipers, you sons of your father – the devil, whitewashed tombs – he lays it out for them. Jesus himself said when telling his Disciples to not be like the religious leaders,
In Matthew 23:8–9, 11 (NLT)
8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ (Rabbi was a title of honor, it means teacher, but in the culture, Rabbi was a raised up title of honor) for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters.
9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father.
. . .
11 The greatest among you must be a servant.
If you look for the lowest possible servant in the Church, you will have some idea of whom God is calling to be a leader.
The New Testament is very clear. The only difference between the leaders and the church is that the leaders will fact stricter judgment. There is never an elevation of the priesthood over the people anywhere in the New Testament Church. YES – a pastor is called to lead and serve the people but AS an “under-shepherd” of Jesus Christ.
The elevating of the priesthood over the people began here in the 300’s when the Nicolaitans brought in the church the religious structure of the pagan temples into the Christians Church and was prophesied by Jesus in the letter to the church in Pergamum.
Here’s how church history played out during the 300’s (the time period represented by this church). In the previous 200 years, there had been ten Roman Emperors who persecuted the Church, the last of which died in the early 300’s (Diocletian). When he died, two generals started fighting for the throne of Rome. One of them was named Constantine. History says the night before a big battle for the throne, Constantine saw a vision in the sky. It was of a cross with the inscription – by this sign conquer.
And that night, one of two things happened.
1). Some say Constantine became a Christian.
2). Some say the vision was the devil beginning his plan to take the Church down from the inside with compromise.
There is NO historical evidence of Constantine ever becoming what the Bible would describe as a Christian. What we do know is Constantine won the battle, and he immediately made Christianity the State-sponsored religion of Rome. The entire Roman Empire was forced (at the point of a sword) to be baptized as Christians, and the UNHOLY alliance of Church and State was born. The government that was killing Christians the previous year, all of a sudden, was embracing Christianity and the Church bought it.
The Church traded persecution for popularity
The Church traded suffering for silk sheets
And suddenly, the Church was formally married to the world while still being married to Christ.
And then beginning in the 300’s and taking off in the 400’s:
Pagan Temples became Christian churches
Pagan Festivals were turned into Christian Festivals
Pagan Priests became Christian Priests
Pagan Idols were left in the temples, but they were renamed as Christian Idols.
The rituals used to worship the Pagan Goddesses were renamed to worship the Queen of Heaven
And Constantine took the title “Pontifex Maximus” (The Greatest Pontiff), and the leader of the Church that started during this time still holds that title today. Constantine became the Emperor of Rome AND the Head of the Church, and suddenly, there was a Christian World Empire, and the Paganism of the Roman World was instantly married to the Christian Church.
Now (to me), this is very scary historical truth. But the bigger truth is a very clear warning about the Church thinking we can be married to Christ AND be married to the world at the same time.
That is the warning here, and it is a warning for all who have ears to hear. And please hear me when I say there IS an answer. Jesus gave the church in Pergamum the answer, and he gives US the same answer today.
Revelation 2:16 (NLT)
16 Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them (those bringing compromise into the church) with the sword of my mouth.
Listen, God’s love is so great, it’s so unending, it’s so unconditional, and sin is so destructive – God just says if you’ll just recognize the sin of marrying the world, and if you’ll repent from it, turn from it, and return to me, then I will accept you with open arms. All we have to do is repent and turn back to Jesus.
Repent – recognize your sin and turn back to Jesus. If not, Jesus will come suddenly and judge those who are marrying the Church with the world.
If we will have an ear to hear what the Spirit says, we can turn from our compromise. We can turn from the world and turn to Christ, and he will accept us and embrace us with open arms.
If we will have an ear to hear what the Spirit says, we can turn from our compromise. We can turn from the world and turn to Christ, and he will accept us and embrace us with open arms.
Revelation 2:17(a) (NLT)
17 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven . . .
We’ve got to hear this. We cannot be spiritual polygamists. And it’s okay to say if that’s not supporting it. I actually believe the Bible.
Our enemy tempts us and deceives us to put out the fire of our faith with the water of compromise with the world. But if we will repent and remain true to the Lord, Jesus will give us himself as the True Bread of Life. He is the Manna. He says in John 8, I AM the Manna that came down from Heaven. I AM the Bread of Life. And if we will repent and remain faithful, he will give us himself as true eternal life.
And then - At the End of Revelation 2:17(b) (NLT)
17 . . . And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.
No scholar knows for sure what Jesus means here. But in the courts of that day, those judging a matter held two stones at the end of a trial.
Putting down the black stone meant condemnation
Putting down the white stone meant acquittal and freedom
So, the white stone may very well represent our eternal acquittal and eternal freedom.
But it’s the new name that speaks so highly to those who will overcome the temptation of the world. And you want Jesus to give you a new name. This is a relational inference. A name that Jesus has just for you.
(again) verse 17 says - on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it
Names mean a lot in the Bible, and there are different names for different levels of intimacy.
People who don’t know me may call me Mr. Shepardson
Some people may use my legal name David
My friends call me Dave – My close friends call me Shep
But my children call me Daddy
And my grandchildren call me Pop-Pop
And my wife might have a name for me that I can’t share with you because it’s too intimate.
And Jesus knows you much more intimately than that, and if you will cling to Jesus and overcome the world’s temptation, Jesus will give you his abundant life along with the white stone of eternal acquittal. And on that stone, a personal name that he alone has for you that no one will know except you and him. That is a reward of eternal relationship with the Lord.
In the end, you can only be married to ONE Bride Groom, either Jesus Christ OR the world. You cannot be married to both – so,
1). Stand Strong in your Faithfulness to Christ Alone
2). Recognize the Subtle Deceit of the World
3). REPENT of Being a Spiritual Polygamist
And your reward will be eternal life and eternal relationship with the Lord of Glory.
Pergamum was the Capital of Asia, home of the Regional Roman Ruler, the center of Roman Emperor Worship. And prior to Pergamum, the season that Pergamum represents, Rome only worshiped emperors that had died. In the period of the Church of Pergamum, they started worshiping emperors that were still alive.
Our word “parchment” (as in parchment scroll) comes from the word “Pergamum.” Because Pergamum was a huge cultural center known for the mountain of “parchment books” either written or copied there. The library of Pergamum was second only to Alexandria in Egypt. It boasted over 200,000 parchment rolls (books).
Interesting little historical note: When Marc Antony took over the Roman Empire and especially this area of Asia, he gave this massive, massive library to Cleopatra. And it ends up in the Alexandria Library in Egypt – the largest library of the ancient world.
Pergamum was a highly cultural city and attracted the finest minds of learning, culture, government, and medicine. And the Church there was about to enter a new battle. Not the frontal attack of persecution like the previous 200 years but the seductive attack of deceit through infiltration and compromise.
And if you’ve ever asked why are there certain things done in churches today that cannot be found in the Bible, the Letter to Pergamum sheds light on that question. The time of the Church, the period of the Church that it represents, answers those questions by giving some insight into the whys.
First, let me explain the prophetic perspective of each of the seven letters to the seven Churches. It’s important that I bring this in now, though I haven’t mentioned it before. It is phenomenal when you look at the seven letters to the seven Churches in order, and you attach them to the major time periods of Church History – they are dead on – every single one! These seven letters were written to seven actual churches, but in a very prophetic way, the subject of these seven letters mirrors very closely the events of seven time periods in Church history.
Let me run through these and show you how historians see this prophetic view in these first three letters.
1). We started with Ephesus, the first church. “Good Church, but you’ve abandoned your first love.”
That letter directly addresses the condition of the Church from the Resurrection (33 AD) to about 100 AD (the time of the Apostles). We call it the Apostolic Period, the period when the Apostles were alive. And so, the first letter is saying, hey. You guys have kind of already fallen away from your first love. You’ve figured out Church, but you’re falling away. That is what happened during that time period.
2). “Faithful in Suffering”
The second letter to Smyrna, which we saw last week, the persecuted Church, it directly addresses two hundred years of persecution of the Church by ten different Roman Emperors. And so, that takes us from basically 100 AD to 300 AD. And it’s important because I am going to tie it to legitimate, factual Church history.
3). “Spiritual Polygamy”
I am directly addressing the historical events of the 300’s AD. This is when the Church “married the world.” And the letter to Pergamum is about the Church marrying the world. It represents this 100 years that we call the “300’s.” Some of the things that began in the 300’s really took over the Church in the next letter (Thyatira) in the 400’s AD. That’s the beginning of the Middle Ages. That’s when the Church got messed up. But the spiritual polygamy that we see in the Church today began here in this letter and in the 300’s AD. The spiritual polygamy is the biggest connection that we have from this Church of the 300’s to today. It starts here.
Here’s what we learn by comparing the Church history between the last letter to Smyrna and this letter to Pergamum. Our enemy learns from his failures. He’s not omniscient. IF he tries to come at you one way and you’re successful at stopping him, he’s just come at you another way. And when he finds out how to get to you, trust me, he’s going to stick with that.
In the previous Church period (Smyrna), in the 100’s and 200’s, in that 200 hundred year period of persecution, our spiritual enemy learned that persecution actually made the Church grow. Persecution made the Church stronger. He tried to use the world to stomp out the fire of the Gospel, but every time he stomped on the fire of the Gospel, the fire spread, and as it spread, it grew stronger and stronger.
So now, learning from his mistake of persecuting the Church in the previous 200 years, the enemy employs a scary new tactic that he is still having great success with today. This concept of seduction in spiritual polygamy is alive and well today in the Church, and it’s doing the same thing it started to do in the 300’s.
In Pergamum, the enemy said
If I can’t stomp them out with persecution
I will water them down with compromise.
If I can’t get the world to crush them
then I’ll get them to marry the world.
You realize that your biggest spiritual attacks will probably come from inside the Church. The enemy realizes that attacks from the outside just make you stronger, but from the inside, they take you out – usually in compromise.
And Jesus is going to tell this Church – Wakeup!!! Before you experience my judgment!!!
Revelation 2:12 (NLT)
12 “Write this letter to the angel (messenger) of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword:
This sharp sword, the Greek word for this sword, is the “the long sword.” It’s not the close-in dagger like Hebrews 4, the Word of God is a sharp two-edged sword. That word for sword is a close-in scalpel. This is the long sword that will take your head off from three feet away. Every time this Greek word for “sword” is used, it refers to the judgment of God. When we get to Revelation 19, this is the sword that Jesus uses to take out the anti-christ in the final battle of Armageddon.
And what Jesus is saying by this description of himself is I am ready to bring judgment. And Jesus always uses a description of himself that applies to what he needs to say to the Church. So, when Jesus says this letter is from the one with the sharp two-edged sword that comes out of his mouth, that’s the sword of judgment – you know where it’s going.
And Jesus does begin with some commendation. But when you look closely, you see this commendation is for past events when this Church was experiencing persecution, like our previous Church in Smyrna.
Revelation 2:13(a) (NLT)
13 “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne . . .
Again, Jesus says I know. I know the circumstances you are living in.
In Pergamum, there was a massive altar to Zeus (King of all Greek gods) that sat on top of the mountain, and it was designed to look like a throne from below. It was also the Capital of Roman Emperor Worship. So, Jesus is saying Satan had a place of authority (a throne) in Pergamum.
(again) Revelation 2:13 (NLT)
13 “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused (past tense) to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city. (during the persecution of the previous period)
Jesus is saying I know you “have been” faithful in the past. But . . .now . . . Something is happening in the Church that has my Sword of Judgment at the ready. Now something has changed. The period of the persecuted Church is moving into the period of the Church marrying the world.
And so, he makes that transition in verse 14.
Revelation 2:14 (NLT)
14 “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin.
The story of Balaam and Balak goes back to Numbers Chapter 22 (and the talking donkey). Balaam was a profit for hire. He prophesied for pay. And Balak (the enemy of Israel) gave Balaam money to curse Israel. And Balaam tried to curse Israel, but he couldn’t. Every time he opened his mouth, only blessing would come out. And so, Balak, who had paid the big money, got mad.
So, Balaam says to him, listen, God won’t let me curse Israel, but here’s what you can do to destroy them just the same. If you will bring the women of Moab into the camp of Israel and use them to entice Israel into sexual sin and idol worship, that will destroy them from the inside – just as much as if they’d been cursed by God. And so, Balak seduced Israel into compromise with the world. And in the end, it cost 24,000 Israelites their lives as God judged the nation for their sin. So, the teaching of Balaam is the enemy’s subtle attack of bringing compromise into the Church.
And our enemy found out in Pergamum that bringing compromise into the Church from the inside brings far more destruction than persecution from the outside.
Instead of trying to stomp out the fire in Pergamum, the enemy poured the water of compromise – into the Church.
Compromise puts out the fire of your faith, just like water puts out a campfire.
That is what was happening in the church in Pergamum and prophetically what happened during this period of history.
The church of Pergamum was at one time the faithful bride of Christ but who chose to also marry the world. Pergamum married a second bride – the world – and they became spiritual polygamists, believing they could be married to the Lord and married to the world.
And we see a ton of this same spiritual polygamy in the Church today. And here’s how.
Jesus continues in verse 15 and says not only have you compromised with the world, but:
Revelation 2:15 (NLT)
15 In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. (the same teaching as Balaam – of bringing COMPROMISE into the church)
Remember, back in Ephesus (1st church), Jesus commended the church for hating the works of the Nicolaitans (he also hated). Well, now, by the third Church period (and the 3rd church), what the Church once hated the church now embraces.
The Nicolaitans established the two-class system in the Church of the priesthood ruling over the people. They developed a class of priests to rule over regular people (the “lay” people). This started in the 300’s. This is not opinion – this is fact. It’s history. In the 300’s for the first time in the existence of the Church, 170 years or so, there was a system that was integrated into the Church that elevated the priesthood above the people. That just happens to be the exact same system that the pagan temples used. In all of the idol worship, there was always an elevated honor to the priests or priestesses in the pagan temples. That same structure was brought into the Church in the 300’s by the Nicolaitans.
Even though Matthew 23 was in the Bible at the time (by 330, when they canonized the Bible). Matthew 23 was this scathing rebuke of Jesus to the religious leaders. And if you just read through it you will say, I don’t want to be that person. I don’t want to be that Pharisee because Jesus lights them up – you vipers, you sons of your father – the devil, whitewashed tombs – he lays it out for them. Jesus himself said when telling his Disciples to not be like the religious leaders,
In Matthew 23:8–9, 11 (NLT)
8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ (Rabbi was a title of honor, it means teacher, but in the culture, Rabbi was a raised up title of honor) for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters.
9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father.
. . .
11 The greatest among you must be a servant.
If you look for the lowest possible servant in the Church, you will have some idea of whom God is calling to be a leader.
The New Testament is very clear. The only difference between the leaders and the church is that the leaders will fact stricter judgment. There is never an elevation of the priesthood over the people anywhere in the New Testament Church. YES – a pastor is called to lead and serve the people but AS an “under-shepherd” of Jesus Christ.
The elevating of the priesthood over the people began here in the 300’s when the Nicolaitans brought in the church the religious structure of the pagan temples into the Christians Church and was prophesied by Jesus in the letter to the church in Pergamum.
Here’s how church history played out during the 300’s (the time period represented by this church). In the previous 200 years, there had been ten Roman Emperors who persecuted the Church, the last of which died in the early 300’s (Diocletian). When he died, two generals started fighting for the throne of Rome. One of them was named Constantine. History says the night before a big battle for the throne, Constantine saw a vision in the sky. It was of a cross with the inscription – by this sign conquer.
And that night, one of two things happened.
1). Some say Constantine became a Christian.
2). Some say the vision was the devil beginning his plan to take the Church down from the inside with compromise.
There is NO historical evidence of Constantine ever becoming what the Bible would describe as a Christian. What we do know is Constantine won the battle, and he immediately made Christianity the State-sponsored religion of Rome. The entire Roman Empire was forced (at the point of a sword) to be baptized as Christians, and the UNHOLY alliance of Church and State was born. The government that was killing Christians the previous year, all of a sudden, was embracing Christianity and the Church bought it.
The Church traded persecution for popularity
The Church traded suffering for silk sheets
And suddenly, the Church was formally married to the world while still being married to Christ.
And then beginning in the 300’s and taking off in the 400’s:
Pagan Temples became Christian churches
Pagan Festivals were turned into Christian Festivals
Pagan Priests became Christian Priests
Pagan Idols were left in the temples, but they were renamed as Christian Idols.
The rituals used to worship the Pagan Goddesses were renamed to worship the Queen of Heaven
And Constantine took the title “Pontifex Maximus” (The Greatest Pontiff), and the leader of the Church that started during this time still holds that title today. Constantine became the Emperor of Rome AND the Head of the Church, and suddenly, there was a Christian World Empire, and the Paganism of the Roman World was instantly married to the Christian Church.
Now (to me), this is very scary historical truth. But the bigger truth is a very clear warning about the Church thinking we can be married to Christ AND be married to the world at the same time.
That is the warning here, and it is a warning for all who have ears to hear. And please hear me when I say there IS an answer. Jesus gave the church in Pergamum the answer, and he gives US the same answer today.
Revelation 2:16 (NLT)
16 Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them (those bringing compromise into the church) with the sword of my mouth.
Listen, God’s love is so great, it’s so unending, it’s so unconditional, and sin is so destructive – God just says if you’ll just recognize the sin of marrying the world, and if you’ll repent from it, turn from it, and return to me, then I will accept you with open arms. All we have to do is repent and turn back to Jesus.
Repent – recognize your sin and turn back to Jesus. If not, Jesus will come suddenly and judge those who are marrying the Church with the world.
If we will have an ear to hear what the Spirit says, we can turn from our compromise. We can turn from the world and turn to Christ, and he will accept us and embrace us with open arms.
If we will have an ear to hear what the Spirit says, we can turn from our compromise. We can turn from the world and turn to Christ, and he will accept us and embrace us with open arms.
Revelation 2:17(a) (NLT)
17 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven . . .
We’ve got to hear this. We cannot be spiritual polygamists. And it’s okay to say if that’s not supporting it. I actually believe the Bible.
Our enemy tempts us and deceives us to put out the fire of our faith with the water of compromise with the world. But if we will repent and remain true to the Lord, Jesus will give us himself as the True Bread of Life. He is the Manna. He says in John 8, I AM the Manna that came down from Heaven. I AM the Bread of Life. And if we will repent and remain faithful, he will give us himself as true eternal life.
And then - At the End of Revelation 2:17(b) (NLT)
17 . . . And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.
No scholar knows for sure what Jesus means here. But in the courts of that day, those judging a matter held two stones at the end of a trial.
Putting down the black stone meant condemnation
Putting down the white stone meant acquittal and freedom
So, the white stone may very well represent our eternal acquittal and eternal freedom.
But it’s the new name that speaks so highly to those who will overcome the temptation of the world. And you want Jesus to give you a new name. This is a relational inference. A name that Jesus has just for you.
(again) verse 17 says - on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it
Names mean a lot in the Bible, and there are different names for different levels of intimacy.
People who don’t know me may call me Mr. Shepardson
Some people may use my legal name David
My friends call me Dave – My close friends call me Shep
But my children call me Daddy
And my grandchildren call me Pop-Pop
And my wife might have a name for me that I can’t share with you because it’s too intimate.
And Jesus knows you much more intimately than that, and if you will cling to Jesus and overcome the world’s temptation, Jesus will give you his abundant life along with the white stone of eternal acquittal. And on that stone, a personal name that he alone has for you that no one will know except you and him. That is a reward of eternal relationship with the Lord.
In the end, you can only be married to ONE Bride Groom, either Jesus Christ OR the world. You cannot be married to both – so,
1). Stand Strong in your Faithfulness to Christ Alone
2). Recognize the Subtle Deceit of the World
3). REPENT of Being a Spiritual Polygamist
And your reward will be eternal life and eternal relationship with the Lord of Glory.