“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword: “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city. 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. In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
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. 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.
Revelation 2:12-17
Now that we know the background to the Church in Pergamum in John’s time we are in a better position to understand what Jesus said to the angel of this church. I left you with the key points of what Jesus said at the end of the previous Gem. I suggested you pay careful attention to the following elements:
- two edged sword
- where Satan has his throne
- Antipas, my faithful witness
- the teachings of Balaam
- the teachings of the Nicolaitans
- the hidden manna
- a white stone
- a new name
Each of these elements are important but for this Gem I am going to address the issue of the Nicolaitans, Balaam and Jezebel. The latter’s influence is mentioned in the letter to Thyatira. I promised you in Gem 2197 when I first covered the Nicolaitans that I would return to them. Well now is the time. As I told you in that Gem, the detail related to the Nicolaitans is sketchy as many before me have commented. It is based on conjecture and guesswork. But is it just guesswork? I don’t think so. I believe it is all very clear and want to show you why.
Rather than appeal quotes from antiquity or seek to find information among past researchers, the answer is actually staring us in the face in two different ways. Firstly, we have the witness of both John and Jesus. John tells us he is a faithful witness.
He [Jesus] sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant John, who faithfully reported everything he saw.
Revelation 1:1-2
and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world.
Revelation 1:5
This is the message from the one who is the Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s new creation:
Revelation 3:14
He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
Revelation 22:20
I trust it is clear now that John told us he faithfully recorded what he saw and heard and he makes it plain to us that Jesus sent an angel to reinforce what he was seeing and hearing was from Jesus Christ. All through Revelation, John makes it clear just whose revelation this is. Having established that, notice that it is Jesus who made the comments related to the Nicolaitans, Balaam and Jezebel. It is Jesus who said,
I know:-
- You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do. [2:6]
- You live in the city where Satan has his throne. [2:13]
- You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, [2:14]
- He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. [2:14]
- you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. [2:15]
- You are permitting that woman—that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet—to lead my servants astray. She teaches them to commit sexual sin and to eat food offered to idols. [2:20]
When Jesus Christ, who is the faithful and true witness tells John, those in Ephesus, Pergamum and Thyatira, as well as us and all his followers since that He knows these things related to those who teach this evil, shouldn’t we accept it as fact? Jesus made it clear to the Ephesians, the Pergamemes and the Thyatirans what the issue was and is. Did you spot what the problem is? The problem is paganism which allows and teaches its adherents to sacrifice food to idols and practise every kind of sexual sin known to mankind. Jesus himself has spelt it out with each one of these three warnings to these three churches. Well actually to all seven churches and all churches who would follow after them.
The feature of what is written here, fascinated me as I have thought about it. We have this mix of cultic teaching summarised by the named proponents: namely the Nicolatians, Balaam and Jezebel. I was struck by the fact that those who taught this stuff were named as above. Furthermore, Jesus makes it clear what the sin was; that this teaching contains a common thread with repetition: “in a similar way . . . who follow the same teaching.” Aah there it is! The reason why Nicolaitans, Balaam and Jezebel are all combined into the one category. Namely that they taught the people to eat food sacrificed to idols and encouraged them to practise every kind of sexual sin.
The terms used in the Greek text are strong. [εἰδωλόθυτον / eidōlothuton] a thing offered to idols by blowing smoke is a compound word derived from [eidōlon] “an idol” and [thuō] meaning to blow (smoke) toward something. I will let you use your imagination to figure out the overall activity involved here. The other term we are dealing with is [πορνεύω / porneuō] for which I don’t think you need any explanation. A general term for all kinds of sexuality outside of marriage.
But it didn’t end there, did it? Wasn’t this the perennial problem of the Israelites? Not just at these three times in their history: Balaam, Jezebel and the Nicolaitans.
This began with Aaron and the golden calf at the foot of Sinai. There they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry. (Exodus 32:6) The same thing happened with the Moabites in Numbers.
. . . the men defiled themselves by having sexual relations with local Moabite women. These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, so the Israelites feasted with them and worshiped the gods of Moab. In this way, Israel joined in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the LORD’s anger to blaze against his people.
Numbers 25:1-3
Jesus himself tells the believers in Thyatira that Jezebel did the same thing to the people in Ahab’s time, namely through her husband the king influenced the people to worship Baal of the Sidonians and their practices of idol worship and sexual acts. This is something the LORD holds against Israel thoughout their history, this tendency to slip into idolatry and sexual sin. The same thing is true in New Testament times as you can see from the examples chosen in these three churches in Revelation. The Romans and the Greeks were known for their willingness to embrace the pagan religions and the related sexual ‘freedom” which came with paganism. Both Roman and Greek culture encouraged the people to shop around for whatever new religion had come to the city. The Agora was the place to do that, it was the market place for new religions and philosophies and the people were open to all of them. The pagan religions always included idol worship and the practice of all kinds of sexual acts. In fact in 1 Corinthians chapters 8 to 10 Paul picks up on the same sinful practices and examples. It is not surprising then that Jesus uses the same examples to track the Israelites’ history with these practices which tripped them up and led to God being angry with them.
I think most would agree that in our modern world we are experiencing a renewed interest in pagan religions, now referred to as neo-paganism. It is like there is a thirst for experiencing spiritual enlightenment through neo-pagan religions, which offer much the same as the paganism of old. This is even in the context of other world religions like Buddhism and Islam. You might find that shocking but it is nonetheless true. I have had encounters in Thailand and Indonesia where sexual sin and pagan religion is combined in a combo. Alternate religion and aberrant sexual activity appear to go together. The god of this age wants to entice all into a new breed of paganism. Where it matters not what sexual activity you indulge in or what idols you worship as long as you let your hair down and experience life to the full, religiously and sexually. The underbelly of most of the cultures of the world openly use religious experience and sexual aberration as a draw card. Nothing has changed since the days of Ancient Israel.
I was visiting a husband and wife, translators in Thailand. On my last night they asked me if I would like to go and look at the night art market. Leaving the art market, the husband and I were propositioned with multiple offers of sex as we took a short cut up an alley. The husband said to me, “That has never happened to me before coming this way.” I said, “Probably because we are two blokes alone. I would guess that you would normally cut through there with your wife and kids.” He agreed, “Yes that’s right.” Then he said, “Oh my goodness that makes me realise something. We have a young guy in our group and he is always asking for prayer to help him with regard to sexual temptation. We wonder why he is always bringing up that topic. Of course, he doesn’t have anyone to protect him by their mere presence.” Exactly. The under belly of cities always have this seedy side.
My first week in Jakarta, in the midst of Islam, which has strict rules against sexual freedom, I would constantly be harassed by taxi drivers offering me “a woman”. I would refuse only to have the driver continuing the haranguing a little further into the journey: “over there is a good place”, “there are very pretty women there”, “that is good place for a lovely woman for you”. Sexual sin is a favourite trap of the enemy of our souls and will always be on offer to tempt the people of the LORD.
I am convinced that the same old ploy is being offered these days to tempt the people of God. As the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote, :There is nothing new under the sun.” I am sure that is why Jesus mentions not only the Nicolaitans who were trying to entice the Christians in this way but the Balaam and Jezebel threat as well. Jesus was reminding the people in these churches of the historical enticements for Israel to sin. Unfortunately the current government in my country have opened the door to neo-paganism wide, but I wonder if it was deliberate. I regard our celebrated PM as a Jezebel who opened the door to further sexual aberration, either by being a pawn or the queen.
I have titled this Gem The Perennial Problem: Paganism for a reason. Just like the believers in Pergamum were surrounded by paganism with all of its temptation, so too are we. We are in no less danger of being drawn aside as those believers in Pergamum were back then. The threat to your eternal well being is just as real as it was in Pergamum, where Satan’s throne was at the end of First Century AD.
Sex with one wife for Life ISN’T like playing one record over & over, but more like learning one instrument well for years of beautiful music!
Rick Warren
The commitment of two people to one another has become difficult and rare. Yet, by its scarcity, the beauty and value of this exchange have only been enhanced.
Robert Sexton
Nobody will ever win the battle of the sexes. There’s too much fraternizing with the enemy.
Henry Kissinger
It is not marriage that fails; it is people that fail. All that marriage does is to show people up.
Harry Emerson Fosdick