Revelation 2: 12 - 17

 

¹² ‘To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. ¹³ I know where you live – where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city – where Satan lives.

¹⁴ Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: there are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. ¹⁵ Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶ Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

¹⁷ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

Where Satan has his Throne.

Pergamum was the political capital of the Roman province of Asia. And it was also the centre of emperor-worship. This began in the time of Augustus, in 29 BC. By the time Revelation was written, the emperor was Domitian, who was a cruel persecutor of Christians. He also demanded that Roman citizens should worship him as ‘lord and god’. This seems to be a likely explanation for why Pergamum is described here as the city ‘where Satan has his throne,’ and ‘where Satan lives’ (v.13).

The church at Pergamum is commended for remaining true to Jesus and for not renouncing their faith in him. Antipas is mentioned here and nowhere else, so we don’t know any more about him. But the context makes it likely that he refused to worship the emperor, remaining faithful to Jesus, and was put to death for it, maybe as an example to the other Christians. At the beginning of the book of Revelation (Rev. 1: 5), John described Jesus as the ‘faithful witness.’ Now here in verse 13, Jesus uses the same title for Antipas – ‘my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city.’ And despite the fact that one of their own number was put to death, the rest of the church remained faithful and did not renounce their faith in Christ.

All the other six letters in Revelation 2 and 3 include the phrase, ‘I know your deeds.’ This one, instead, says, ‘I know where you live – where Satan has his throne.’ Today it is true that the church lives where Satan lives, or at least, where Satan has influence. The church lives side by side, shoulder to shoulder, with the influence of Satan. It is here in Penyrheol, the Aber Valley and Caerphilly. Why would we live so close to where Satan lives? Well, where else would we live? The church is here to bring the Kingdom of God into our locality. We are here to bring light into the places of darkness. And today, in our society and our local community, there is darkness in many places. There is darkness in people’s homes and in the media and in politics. And everywhere, the darkness is side by side with the light – God’s people. Nevertheless, there is more we need to do to shine light in the darkness. In the prologue to John’s Gospel it says, ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’ (John 1: 5)

Jesus is the light of the world (John 8: 12), and as his followers, we too are the light of the world (Matt. 5: 14). What can we do to shine the light more brightly? How can we, even though we are not meeting in our building, shine a light into the darkest places in our community?

 

Prayer

Father, we know that wherever we are in our society today, we are a light shining in the darkness. We live side-by-side with the influence of Satan – and it is the place we are called to be your people, making a difference. Please help us, by your Spirit, to be a light shining in the darkest places. Amen.