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What The Spirit SaysPart 4 of 8

To the angel of the church in Pergamum

Chris Cooke
Revelation 2:12–17
27 September 2026
39 min

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0:03 Revelation 2, verse 12. To the angel of the church in Pergamum write, These are the words of him who has the sharp double-edged sword. 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. 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. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent, therefore, otherwise I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

0:56 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. As we've been doing with the other churches throughout this series, let's just put ourselves in the shoes of this little church that belongs to Jesus Christ. This lampstand of his, the one who holds the seven churches in his hands, who walks among his lampstands. And let's put ourselves in the shoes of this little lampstand in this imposing, huge, oppressive city of Pergamum. where the imperial cult, that worship of the emperor of Rome as a god, has this whole, this grip on the city, shapes everything about it in an even deeper way than any of the ones we've looked at so far. Utterly dominant, totally pervasive at every level of social interaction, of culture, of commerce, of government.

2:13 Which means, of course, that like Smyrna, if we try and put ourselves again, imagine ourselves as this church, day-to-day life for us is always tense and difficult and often dangerous. Just like Smyrna, we are viewed as disgraceful atheists for our refusal to confess Caesar as lord and by our abstaining from any involvement at all in anything to do with that emperor worship, feast with their food sacrificed to idols, religious ceremonies, temple prostitutes. For example, for men of means in our church to only sleep with their wives and not sleep with slaves or concubines or prostitutes, that would have been seen as bizarre and weird atheistic behavior within this culture. And the reality of this abstaining is that we find ourselves on the outside of everything, outside of everything when it comes to trade, employment, being looked after by government, and as this letter makes clear with its reference to the execution of antipaths, When our actions put us on the radar of the authorities, even our lives are in danger. Under the most powerful person in this city, the Roman proconsul's unhindered power to exercise capital punishment according to what was called, excuse my Latin, jus gladii, the right of the sword. That's what his power was referred to.

4:07 And so it is into this context then that this little church hears these words of Jesus said directly to them about himself. These are the words of him who has the sharp double-edged sword. It is a sword, as we've already learned in the vision in chapter one and here again in this letter, that is coming out of his mouth, an image that would have made sense to these people in this culture, because they would have known the Roman short sword was actually shaped like a tongue. So they would have got this picture. So can we see something of what is communicated to this church through this symbolism? Here's what Jesus is saying. I, the risen and ascended Jesus, the one you confess as your Lord, which puts you under the threat of the most powerful man in Pergamum's right of the sword, I am the one who stands above the power of all men. And I have a sword far more powerful than that sword.

5:11 But it's not just a sword that is far more powerful. It is a sword that is utterly different and unique. because it is not a sword of physical violence. That's not how my kingdom will be built. Rather, it is a metaphorical sword. It's one of words. My words, my truth, my gospel.

5:35 It's a sword that fights. It's a sword that overcomes at that level of words. of ideas, of patterns of thinking, of worldviews. That's where it fights and overcomes. It's a sword that fights lies with truth. And it's a sword that is needed in the city, Pergamum, but importantly in this letter, it is a sword that is needed in this church. Because what Jesus is getting at is that even though this church has been standing guard and watching out, The powerful Satan, the father of lies, the prince of this dark world, has even managed to infiltrate with his lies into their church. We'll come back to that shortly, but Jesus goes on.

6:26 Like with every letter, he begins by telling them, as I'm sure you've noticed, something about himself, something specific into their context about himself, and then he tells them what he knows. I know where you live, it's not a Northern Irish threat. It is a very pastoral voice. I know where you live, where Satan has his throne. I know he says that you live right in the heart of enemy territory. I know that where you live is the nerve center of the father of lies and his military strength of strategy, sorry, of mistruth, confusion and temptation, being pushed out via the agent of the imperial cult, out at all levels into your city. Read Revelation 12 and 13. the dragon using the beast from the sea, the Roman Empire, and then the beast from the earth, getting them to worship that beast from the sea.

7:30 This is what's going on here. And the city's physical architecture, in a sense, it displays something of the spiritual realities underneath. Here's A reconstructed picture of that city at that time. So you've got the thousand-foot Acropolis with its shrines and its altars to all these different gods looming over the city, including the dominating altar to Zeus. This is actually a reconstruction of it at the Pergamum Museum in Berlin, using a lot of the original pieces and then filling in the gaps. or the Asclepion Temple and Healing Center down below in the city, the symbol of which, interestingly enough, was a staff entwined by a serpent, which many of us will recognize to this day. It still persists in the world of medicine. That's the World Health Organization's logo.

8:30 Or the temple in that city that was the first ever temple dedicated to emperor worship in the whole of the empire. This is a special place for the imperial cult. It is the place where Satan has his throne. And he holds sway in this city in terms of how people think, how people see the world, what their values are, what is good, bad, truth, lies. Where Satan lives. And yet, Jesus goes on, even though you live right where Satan has his throne, I commend you as my church, as my lampstand, that in these darkest of spiritual places, you have held fast to my name under the greatest of pressure. Even at the height of your persecution when Antipas was martyred, and you notice what Jesus calls Antipas? My faithful witness.

9:34 Jesus called himself in chapter 1, the faithful witness. But even at the height of your persecution, you remained faithful. Even when he was martyred, you did not succumb to the pressure to renounce your faith in me. Well done. I commend you for that. But all is not right. 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.

10:13 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicoleans. Now, when I picture this church, I think of those scenes, in things like Lord of the Rings where you have the battle line set across the field. You've got the front line here and you've got the front line of the enemy across the other side of the field and you have somebody behind the front line and as the enemy advances they shout, hold! And that's what this church in Pergamum has done. In the face of the onslaught of pressure and the lies and the persecution of Satan, They have held the line. They have, in Ephesians 6 language, stood firm. They have held fast in the name of Jesus. They've not given in.

11:01 They've not given in and gone before the bust of Caesar and sprinkled the incense and proclaimed that Caesar is Lord. They've held fast. But as they have been looking straight ahead and out for those direct attacks from the front, they have missed, they've been blind to the guerrilla warfare tactics of Satan. His tactics of sneaking false teachers and their words and his lies through them into this church is very wrong. with his goal of tearing down their lampstand from the inside with the virus, with the yeast of those lying. He says that they've allowed these Balaamites, these Nicolaitans, these false teachers in their lives to creep in unchallenged. Now, what is he talking about here? Balaam and Balak and all this stuff?

11:58 Well, we don't know exactly But the reference to Balam gives us a lot to go on. And I can't go into all of the details. There's a lot there. But I've thrown up that slide. You can take a photo of that or I'll send those out to home group leaders later who can pass it on if you want to really delve into all the stuff that's talked about with Balam. But very brief summary. We find Balam, the sort of shadowy magician, false prophet, soothsayer type person, character in Numbers. And he's hired by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse the Israelites, because Balak is terrified that the Israelites are going to, in his words, lick up the Moabites in Baal.

12:45 But every attempt Balaam makes to curse, God thwarts, and he turns it on his head, and Balaam ends up blessing the Israelites rather than cursing him. The story even involves, and many of you will know it from this perspective, Balaam's own donkey thwarting him. And there's this image of the donkey being able to see the angel of the Lord on the road in front of him with his sword drawn, interestingly again. All these little connections. But the reality is this, Balaam's financial greed, his desire to make a quick buck, outstrips his fear of God. And so, although we don't get told the detail, we do find out through Moses in Numbers 31 that Balaam is the one who advised Balak, king of Moab, for his professional fee, to use his beautiful Moabite women as a stumbling block in order to entice the Israelite men into sexual immorality and idolatry by having sex with those women. You see, Balaam could never turn God against his people, but through enticing lies,

13:59 pushing into the weakness and the weariness of these soldiers, he could get them to turn against their God. So Balaam then is a sort of archetype, if you like, of a particular type of liar with a particular type of lie, a false prophet for a profit. And other references across scripture use them in this way. For example, one would be Peter in his second letter where he is powerfully scathing in his warning against false teachers. And amongst a lot of other stuff that he says, he says this, with eyes full of adultery, these false teachers never stop sinning. They seduce the unstable. They are experts in greed and accursed brood. They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam, son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness.

14:56 So whoever these Balaamites, whoever these Nicolaitans were, and commentators really say they're really the same group, it's the same umbrella for the false teachers and the type of teaching. they mirrored the pattern of the original Balaam and that they were motivated by financial greed and that they used enticing, tempting lies to get people in this church to stumble into sexual immorality and into idolatry. Now we don't get told how they do that, but we can maybe attempt to reconstruct something that might have been going on. For example, Picture this church. Picture what they're going through. Picture the emotional, spiritual, physical weariness.

15:47 We know what it's like when we're weak. Our guard is down. This persistent but draining call to stand firm from the church's leaders. And then from the side comes some new, progressive, maybe exciting voices that emerge. Jesus loves us. Do you really think he wants us to suffer the way we're suffering? Surely, you know, all this teaching from Paul and all those comes from decades ago.

16:23 Surely it's time for a little bit of contemporary reinterpretation. Surely he wants us to prosper, to have life in all its fullness. Surely he died that we might be free. Surely we're people of grace. So what's the harm in just a little bit of compromise? A little bit of involvement in the imperial cult. The odd feast here, the odd temple prostitute here and there, just for the sake of staying on the inside. You're not sick of being on the outside of everything.

16:52 Just as a means to an end, to put food on the table for the kids, to oil the wheels of Tria just because, just for the sake of. As long as we're spiritually pure, does it really matter what we do with our body? And sure, in all this emperor worship stuff, it doesn't really mean anything to us. So of course we'll be able to do all this stuff and we'll be able to keep ourselves spiritually pure. It'll be okay. And for whatever reason, weariness, fear, blindness to what's going on, the leaders of this church simply have not dealt decisively with, have not got rid of these Balamite voices from within the church. But Jesus' words to them are decisive. They are clear.

17:40 They are stark. Look at what he says, Repent, therefore. Repent. Otherwise, I will soon come to you and I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Repent, he says. Rid yourself of this compromise with lies. Understand that simply to tolerate these people and their false teaching within your church, that is sinful in itself. So repent, turn around, acknowledge where you've gone wrong, what you've been blind to, the errors you have made.

18:17 Think differently about what you are tolerating. What you're letting sneak into your church, and however painful it will be, deal with it now and deal with it decisively. Otherwise you're opening yourselves up to destruction and you are dishonoring my name. Don't let this spread. but cut it out. I'm giving you this opportunity to act now, to overcome now, to deal with this now, but if you don't, I will. come.

18:57 I will fight with the sword of my mouth against these false teachers. I will step in temporal judgment of you as my church, as my lampstand, and I will bring my word, my truth to bear against them in order to rid your church of them and their lies on behalf of the father of lies. And again, we don't get told what that might look like. But I would imagine the chances are it would be some sort of new faithful witness raised up within this church who would go and fight with the truth of the word of Christ against these lies. But he wants them to deal with it now first. And then he goes on, 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'll also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. So we're back to these words again.

20:08 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. We are invited into that space again of deep self-examination in light of this letter to ask What do we, Glen Abbey Church, need to hear? And as we do so, Jesus lifts our eyes and stirs us to overcome by pointing us to the rewards promised to us that are part of our eternal destiny, our eternal future with him in the new heavens and the new earth. So then the question, what might we need? to hear. What do you need to hear? Well, let me tell you what I've needed to hear this week.

21:03 And maybe it'll stir some thinking. First of all, I've needed reminded of the true lie of the land, the things that Jesus sees that I don't see clearly. of the reality of the spiritual warfare that is going on, of the battle that is taking place. But so importantly and so crucially in that one specific aspect of that, and that's this, that despite the way things seem, despite the reality that Satan, the prince of this world, might hold sway in the world around us right now with his lies and culture and education and government and media through social media, The reality and the truth is he is an already defeated adversary. He is one who has already been beaten, and he is in the last throes before his defeat is fully played out, hanging on to whatever territory he can, tooth and nail. Colossians 2.15, and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them. Past tense.

22:15 triumphing over them by the cross. He's already defeated. Secondly, I've needed a reminder of what we learned back when we looked at Ephesians 6, the early part of last year. That the battle we find ourselves in is not against other people. That's what we make it about so often, but that's not what Paul tells us in Ephesians 6. It is not against flesh and blood, but look, it is against the devil's schemes, against his lies, against his attempts to capture minds. And again, that our one offensive weapon in that fight is the sword of the Spirit, which is his word, the sword coming out of his mouth. That is all we need.

23:04 That is all we are to use, his sharp double-edged sword. And we need to know his word then. We need to spend time in his word. We need to listen to it. And we need to use it. Third, I've needed a reminder again of the words of Ephesians 6, those words, be alert. How many of us are sleepwalking through our existence to what is going on behind the scenes,

23:41 to the puppet master of the lies that are being fed to us. Be alert for the dangers of lies, of false ideas worming their way into our individual lives or into the life of this church. And as one of those who has the responsibility to shepherd this flock, that weighs even more heavily on me, on us, to be on our guard for the sake of this body. But none of us can be blase in any way about the possibility of something that's happening in Pergamum happening to us. None of us can be. The devil's lies prettily packaged up by persuasive, captivating voices seeking to exploit our weariness, our struggles, our sorrows, our temptations, our questions, that unguarded part of the body or the mind.

24:49 And we need to be praying in the Spirit on all occasions for one another in this battle, this battle against lies that will lead us into compromise, that will lead us into unholy lives, into sin that tears apart and tears down, that corrupts the light of this lampstand. And we need to be guarding ourselves against all of the insidious pathways that these lives find their ways in on. Because you see, as elders, we have a responsibility. Of course we do. We have a responsibility to guard the deposit inside this church in terms of what we teach, in terms of making his word central, his truth central. But a problem that Pergamum didn't have was I have no idea what any of us are consuming on YouTube or on X or on TikTok or anything else.

25:55 How can we help ourselves? How can we help one another guard against the lies that inevitably will be being fed to us through what are very individualistic, often very secretive ways of consuming And of course, with their algorithms, once you've got one lie fed to you, get that perpetuated over and over and over again. We have to help one another in terms of how we defend ourselves against those lies penetrating and getting through. And as we think then about this personally, that's where these promises to the one who is victorious come in. Jesus firstly promises us this beautiful picture of the hidden manna going back to the Exodus story. This is the promise from the mouth of the faithful witness when the devil's lies seek to prey on our fears about Jesus' provision for us.

27:03 and offers us something of the idols of money or sex or power to fill the gap that Satan wants us to doubt that Jesus can and will fill in our life. So for example, The whisper might come, you have no security at all in your life. You have to make it for yourself. And the only security you can have is financial security. And so if a decision comes up and you have to compromise for the sake of profit or for the sake of the pay rise or for the sake of anything else, you compromise. Or, listen, just give in to that desire for intimacy, even if you know it's with the wrong person.

27:57 Everything about it is wrong. You know, you're not getting any younger. It might be the last chance you get. Those sorts of lies and the lies like them. But into that, Jesus says, to the one who is victorious through obedience, through listening to and trusting my word, I will give some of the hidden manna. And there's a what is now aspect of this promise of reward and there's a what will soon take place aspect to this promise. So in the here and now and the daily struggles of this life, Jesus promises, listen, I will be your manna. I will be your sustenance.

28:39 I will be your bread of life, John 6. Don't listen to the lies. You don't have to look anywhere else. You don't have to compromise. You don't have to give in to sin. Repent, therefore, and look to me. Draw near to me, feed on me. I will meet your needs.

29:03 I will satisfy your hunger. Don't listen to the lies, and in the new heaven and the new earth, There's more mana hidden, more to come at the wedding supper of the Lamb, where that satisfaction will be met in a way that we can't even imagine right now, to the one who holds, to the one who conquers, who is victorious, who is obedient now. Then there's the promise of this white stone. And let me be clear, there are lots of different interpretations about this thing. But one that comes out again and again is the white stone given to the one acquitted, the one found not guilty by a judge in this culture. So if you were standing before the judge and he acquitted you, he would give you a white stone.

30:10 If you were found guilty, you would be given a black stone. And interestingly, the one who's given a white stone was called a victor. According to this interpretation then, this is the promise of Jesus the faithful witness when the devil's lies of condemnation tempt us into sin and idolatry. For example, this sort of whisper. Sure there's so much of that sin in your past already. Sure you're already damaged goods. What difference does it make to go back there again? But this is your new identity in Christ, white stone.

31:00 The what is now Romans 8. Listen to this truth of his word. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Or 1 Corinthians 6, you were washed, past tense, you were sanctified, past tense, you were justified, past tense, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. So again we hear those words of Jesus, repent therefore and live according to your new identity. identity in Christ. You are a white stone person. Washed, not guilty, governed not by the flesh but by the Spirit.

31:35 Don't listen to the lies that just because you've been there before, you have to go back there again. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. And then that white stone points to the yet to come as well. Listen to these words, Hallelujah, later in Revelation 19, for our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory for the wedding of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. That's us. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. White stone people will become white linen people.

32:21 together the bride of Christ given these washed white garments. These are the true words of the Lord, the one who has the sharp double-edged sword coming out of his mouth. And then the final aspect of this promise to the one who is victorious, who knows and listens to and trusts and abides in Jesus' word and his truth over the lies of the devil. Who holds fast to his name, here's the promise. You hold fast to his name, you get a new name. This new name on the white stone, this promise, this promise in a world of fake intimacy, empty intimacy, the promise of intimacy over and over again, which turns out to have none of that underneath.

33:22 Here's this promise of deep, true, real, intimate relationship with Jesus himself. Life-giving relationship. This promise of being truly known and truly loved as one who belongs to him with his new name. This picture of intimate relationship. It's a promise that points us back to that beautiful line in Isaiah 43. Fear not, for I have redeemed you.

33:56 I have called you by name, and you are mine. How many of us need to hear that truth against the lies that the devil is telling us right now? And it's a promise that points us forward once again to our glorious future as his people in his new creation. They will see his face, Revelation 22 says, and his name will be on their foreheads. This is another little picture of what our eternal life is going to look like with him and in him. So as the band come back out, and get themselves ready to lead us in a song of response. Let me just lead us just for a couple of moments, just in a couple of thoughts of reflection.

34:54 Give you an opportunity just to pray and ask whoever has ears, and I have ears, what I need to hear from the Spirit speaking to this church. These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. Where have we allowed the lies of the devil to creep into our lives? In our weaknesses, in our doubts, in life not quite going or turning out the way we thought it would. How has he exploited that? And where do you need to bring the truth of the one who has the sharp double-edged sword to bear against those lies? Where have we allowed fear?

35:43 Where have we allowed shame? Where have we allowed the desire for approval and belonging to let those lies take hold and tear down and tear apart? Where do I, where do you need to repent this morning? and turn back to Jesus and turn back to his word and turn back to his truth and trust his words and his truth and his promises and ask for his Spirit's help to do that. And where do we need to hear? Where do we need to allow this promise of this reward to speak to us in specific areas of our lives? and patterns of thinking about ourselves

36:39 and lies that have taken hold right at the level of our identity even. Hidden manna, a white stone with a new name. Let's stand together. And let me just use these words from Romans 12 to lead us to pray together. Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, looking back at all that he has done,

37:19 but then looking forward to his promises of this hidden manna, this white stone, this new name, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. What we do with our bodies matters to Jesus. Holy and pleasing to God, this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Father, by your Spirit speak to us. through the one who has the sharp double-edged sword coming out of his mouth. Speak truth from your word into our lives, we pray. Help us grasp where we've allowed lies in.

38:25 and help us invite you in to fight and overcome them with the truth of your word. So that we might live in your fullness as your lampstand. In Jesus' name, amen.

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About this talk

This talk explores Revelation 2:12-17, focusing on the church in Pergamum, a community facing intense spiritual and social pressures due to the pervasive imperial cult and Satan's influence. The speaker highlights the church's faithfulness amidst persecution, the infiltration of false teachings likened to Balaam and the Nicolaitans, and the call to repentance. Emphasis is placed on spiritual warfare, the power of Jesus' word as a double-edged sword, and the promises of hidden manna, a white stone, and a new name to those who overcome. The message encourages vigilance against falsehoods, reliance on Scripture, and perseverance in faith, concluding with a call to self-examination and prayer.

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