The text this week includes two letters addressed to the churches
at Pergamum and Thyatira. Pergamum was not strategically located for trade
but had historic administrative importance for the region. It became the capital
of the Roman province of Asia and at the time of the writing of the Revelation
had been the capital city for almost 400 years. The topography of Pergamum,
built on an impressive conical hill, gave it high ground military advantage
to dominate the valley of the river Caicus.
Pergamum was a center for Greek culture housing one of the foremost
libraries of the era. It was the place where parchment was developed as a
medium for writing, and from which it derived its name. Pergamum was also
the center of pagan religion. There was an imposing altar built to Zeus in
addition to the temple of Athena, which dominated the city’s hill. This
altar, perched on the side of the hill, looked like a massive throne on which
perpetual sacrifices to Zeus were offered. Additionally, the patron god of
Pergamum was Asclepius, the god of healing. Therefore it served as a center
of medicine in relation to the worship of Asclepius. Of note, the emblem of
Asclepius was the snake. Christians and Jews would be reminded of the Genesis
story of the devil appearing as a snake that deceived Adam and Eve.
Being the provincial capital and administrative center, Pergamum
became a focal point for the imperial cult. William Barclay points out that
the worship of Caesar as the embodiment of the deified spirit of Rome did
not require exclusive devotion. People were free to practice other national
and local religions. Emperor worship simply required that once per year loyal
citizens should carry out the prescribed ritual and be certified as having
done so. This ritual and administrative certification process was done in
Pergamum, the custodian city of the temple of Caesar worship. From a Christian
point of view, this would make it the seat of diabolic sacrilege.
Thyatira, unlike Pergamum, is not a significant administrative
center, but it was important for trade. It was strategically located between
the Caicus and Hermus valleys. Historians have noted that there appeared to
have been a large number of trade guilds in Thyatira. Membership in these
guilds was important for a commercial business to succeed. However, the guilds
were integrally connected to pagan temple worship practices. These groups
were inseparable from the feasts held in the pagan temples and therefore presented
a fundamental problem for Christian artisans and business owners. How, as
Christians, were they to relate to their pagan environment?
These letters are placed third and fourth respectively in the
series of letters, making them central to the series. The letters are almost
identical, and in the context of the intentional symbolic character of apocalyptic
writing may bear significance in pointing to the centrality of the issue it
addressed to the contemporary context. With two letters conveying the same
basic message, the purpose of the seven letters maybe only to indicate completeness
and totality. This is in keeping with Old Testament phenomena rooted in the
creation story, Sabbath theology, and the establishment of Israelite ritual
cultus evident in day-to-day life such as agrarian practices (leaving land
fallow every seventh year), the high point being the year of Jubilee (the
end of seven sets of seven years). The repetition of the message in these
two letters conveys an important message from the risen Christ and Spirit
that needed to be reiterated and reinforced.
In the first letter Christ describes himself in terms of the
inaugural vision as He “who has the sharp double-edged sword.”
This is evidence that shows the New Testament writers saw the word of God
as a sword (e.g. Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12). In the second letter the church
is also addressed in terms of the inaugural vision: “the One whose feet
are like burnished brass,” whose “eyes are like blazing fire.”
To a biblically literate audience, the Old Testament Daniel story of the three
Hebrew boys thrown in to the fire, having refused to worship the first world
emperor Nebuchadnezzar, is inescapable. The Person who joined them in that
story was identified by Nebuchadnezzar as the “Son of God” and
He was able to walk through the fire. The Son of God, with piercing eyes and
the indomitable record of walking through fire, was speaking with the sword
of His mouth to His church.
The effusive commendation of these two churches by the risen
Christ is unsurpassed. To Pergamum, their unswerving faithfulness in the face
of persecution is lauded. To Thyatira, they have both the credentials of exemplary
Christian virtue and the record of evidential growth in Christian practice.
These letters hold a common theme: a solid core of Christian
witness. There is a persistent peripheral element that is a susceptible and
potentially subversive influence in both of these churches. These elements
are personified in the Old Testament characters of Balaam and Jezebel, both
of whom were charismatic but diabolic, corrupting God’s people. In both
cases God’s people are being invited to participate in the status quo
feasts that are a part of the pagan worship rituals, and in the sexual immorality
that characterized the orgies of the fertility cults. The risen Christ censors
this accommodation to pagan practices in the communities of faith. He demands
repentance.
Both letters culminate with the encouragement to the churches
to overcome their challenges and consequently receive rewards offered in apocalyptic
terms. Both rewards are directly related to the expectations of the victory
of the messianic King. If they overcome the churches will participate in the
messianic banquet and share in the messianic rule. Again the recurrent chorus
of the Spirit’s partnership with the risen Christ, urging the church
to be attentive to the message, ends the letters.
The human need expressed in the text of these two letters is
for the faithful to resist and correct the toleration of the compromising
influences of society. This vigilant resistance and lack of compromise is
necessary against the pressure of the prevailing institutions in society that
may threaten survival both personally and professionally.
God, through the resurrected Christ, responds to the human need
by asserting that exemplary Christian virtue can neither coexist comfortably
nor compensate adequately for the subversion caused by doctrinal and ethical
compromise expressed in idolatry and sexual immorality. The example of Christ’s
conquest (the double-edged sword and the burnished feet) presents the Church
with confidence to stand against the seductive pressure to align with the
infiltration of the prevailing society.
Against the background then of what Christ has done and in view
of the incentive of His promise, the appropriate response is contrite repentance
from any accommodation of compromise and to resist its seduction.
(For the full manuscript
of this sermon go to www.preachersmagazine.org and click on “Sermons.”)
The powerful, victorious risen Christ commends exemplary faithfulness
but demands contrite repentance in the face of the inexcusable corrupting
influence of doctrinal (idolatry) and ethical (immorality) compromise in the
Church.
God’s message motivates the faithful to repentance, vigilance, and loving concern in order to stand against the corrupting presence of false doctrine and corrupt ethics. It seeks to foster a commitment to assiduously rescue the members of the Church’s community from corruption’s seductive claim.
