Resources - Meditations

June 2000

A Millenium Message for the Church
Pergamum – Identity in Christ! (Rev. 2:12-18)
 

Rev. Bill van Schie
 

As you walk through the ruins of the ancient city of Pergamum you are struck by the way the city builders have used the lie of the land. The city of Pergamum, about 23 kilometers from the Agean Sea, and north of Smyrna is built on the side of a hill looking south over the fertile valley of the river Caicus.

Pergamum is designed in three sections, built on three terraces for a population of about 200,000 people. The upper city terrace consisted of mostly government, military, educational and religious facilities. Prominent in this area was the Doric temple of Athena and the temple of Zeus. The temple of Zeus had an impressive alter with a huge frieze 365ft long and 7.5ft high with 118 panels depicting battles between gods and giants. It is commonly believed that because of its impressive nature, the temple of Zeus might have been in the mind of John as he wrote the words “where the throne of Satan is”. A number of temples to the Roman emperors also dominated the landscape.

In the middle city we discover more temples accompanied by large commercial buildings and some residential dwellings. North of the agora a large gymnasium complex was built.

In the lower city we find the amphitheater that seats fifty thousand people with an adjacent theater to seat thirty thousand. Just east of these theaters there was a stadium. At the western boundary of the lower city a 2700ft long by 60ft wide colonnaded street was built called “the sacred way”.

Pergamum was known as a center of learning and culture. It had a university and a library, which was outclassed in size, only by the library in Alexandria in Egypt. Plutarch referred to it as having more than 200,000 volumes in its collection.

Pergamum was a center of the old cultic religions focusing on Zeus and the newer emperor worship. Both these forms of religion permeated every aspect of life.

In this culturally rich and fanatically religious city the Lord planted a small church. This church stood firm in the face of the religious pressures of its surroundings and remained steadfast and loyal to the Lord when severe persecutions came its way. When facing outside pressures, the church remained true and loyal to the Lord.

However when they faced internal pressures they were not so faithful.

There were those inside the church who, like Balaam of old, seduced God’s people away from the truth and into compromise. There were those who agreed with the Nicolaitans that once saved you could indulge the body. The sin of the leadership was, that for the sake of peace, for the sake of keeping everyone together, they tolerated these views.

How easy it is for the church to stand so clearly against outside forces of compromise and corruption. However when it comes to people we know, loved ones and relatives, for the sake of peace and unity within the church, compromise can be more readily accepted. How easy it is for the church today to be more loyal to one another than to the Lord, so that the bottom line is peace and harmony and not truth. How easy it is to have a ‘club’ church.

The Lord comes to this church with His Word, His sharp two-edged sword that will cut between truth and falsehood. He declares war on the compromises and calls the church to repent. The Lord is the one who provides the church with “manna”. The Lord is the one who gives his church “the white stone with their name on it”, their privileged invitation card by which they know that they belong. So the Lord calls his people to be pure, faithful and loyal to him in the face of the pressures to compromise from within. The Lord calls his people to be diligent and wary of Satan’s strategy to destroy the church from within, using those they know and love.

As we face the new millennium the Lord comes to us and says, “ I have given you the “hidden manna” and provided for your every need. I have given you “the white stone with your new name” an identity that is pure and eternally yours.”

So let us be wary of this strategy of Satan. We too need to beware of becoming a club church where the peace and comfort of the members has become more important than the call of the Lord. Using the sharp two-edged sword - the Word, we need to separate truth from falsehood. We need to find our provision and our identity in serving the Lord above all else. Only then can we make an impact on our culture.

 

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