David MacGregor
Sunday 3rd May 2009
Sermon on Rev 2:12-17 & Jn 6:30-40. Sun 3rd May 6:30pm
(1st slide is black)
Imagine the scene if you will, St Peter sitting behind his desk at the pearly gates. In quick succession 3 men arrive. Peter asks the first one why he is there. Well he said, "I had just arrived home from work, and climbed the 5 flights of stairs to my flat. When I got in, for some reason, I was convinced my wife was having an affair. I got really angry, so mad in fact that I picked up the fridge and threw it out of the window. This was all too much for my heart, and well here I am, but I'm really sorry that I was suspicious of my wife."
"Very well" said Peter, "In you go"
"Next"
The second man comes up to Peter and says, "I was walking home from work this evening, minding my own business, when crash, this fridge lands on my head."
"In you go. Next"
The third man starts, "See this fridge, well I was inside it."
Introduction
This evening I don't want to talk about fridges, I want to focus on the passage we read earlier in Revelation chapter 2.
To give you an idea of where we are going this evening, I want to start by giving you a little bit of the background to the church in Pergamum. I then want to work through the passage, to try and unpack its meaning. Finally I want to take some time thinking about how this passage applies to us today in Halifax.
So what is the context of our passage? It comes as part of the section of the book of Revelation often referred to as the letters to the seven churches, which make up chapters 2 and 3 of the book. Revelation, was written by Jesus disciple John when he was an old man, living in exile on the island of Patmos. (click) If you look at the map on the screen, you can see Patmos is a very small island in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey. The 7 churches in question were all on the Turkish mainland in an area then known as Asia, and all within about 150 miles of Patmos.
(click) Pergamum itself was located on top of a hill which rises about 1000 feet above the surrounding valley floor, making it an imposing location. At the time John wrote the book of Revelation, it was an important city in the region and was Rome's staunchest ally in the region. As a consequence of its history, and its continuing importance, it had a plethora of imposing buildings (click), which were made all the more impressive because of its location.
One of its most imposing buildings was the large temple of Zeus (click). This photo shows the reconstructed great altar, now in a museum in Berlin. It is about 100 ft long and about 35 ft high. Secondly there was the temple dedicated to worship of the roman emperor as a god, and Pergamum was at the heart of this cult in that part of the world. In our passage, when John refers to "where satan has his throne" it is to these temples and the activity associated with them that he is referring.
Verses 12 & 13
Let us now turn to our passage in Revelation to try and understand what it is saying.
(click) Verses 12 & 13 read:
"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, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city - where Satan lives."
John starts by addressing "the angel of the church in Pergamum". Here the term angel should be taken to mean "the personification of the prevailing spirit within the church". In any local church, as the people worship, pray, and share their lives together, they almost develop a congregational personality. For example, I'm sure you've heard it said of particular churches - it's a welcoming church, or it's an unfriendly church. That is the congregational personality coming through. And so right at the start of our passage we have John addressing that corporate personality which encompasses every single person in that congregation.
Having defined who he is addressing, John then says who is doing the addressing - who is speaking. Clearly it is Jesus, but Jesus in a particular frame of mind. When John refers to the sharp double edged sword, this is a symbol of judgement.
So here we have Jesus the judge about to say something.
Now I don't know about you, but when I hear the word judge or judgement in relation to God or Jesus, the image that this immediately brings to mind is of God passing judgement on guilty sinners, and of punishment to follow.
But is this what we have here? Look at the passage. What does Jesus say?
"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, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city"
Here is Jesus in his role as judge, Jesus who knows our every thought, word and deed. And what is the first thing that he says to the Christians in Pergamum? It's well done - you are living right at the heart of satan's kingdom, and yet you have stayed faithful to me. I find it absolutely amazing. Jesus loves us so much that he appreciates and praises our faltering, and all too often failing, efforts to live for him.
Verses 14-16
(click) We now come to verses 14 - 16 of our chapter. They read:
"Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. 15Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth."
Detour 1
Before we try to understand what these verses are saying, I need to take you on a couple of a detours to fill in some background. Firstly, turn with me back to the book of Numbers chapter 22.
(click) At this stage in Israel's story, the people had been wandering in the desert for 40 years and were at last ready to go into the promised land. They were travelling north skirting round to the east of Edom. They had recently defeated several armies in battle and were headed straight towards the land of Moab (at the top right hand corner of the map).
At the start of chapter 22 we have Balak, king of Moab deciding what to do about this threat of imminent invasion. He concluded that the Israelites were too strong to defeat in battle, so instead sent for Balaam son of Beor, a well known prophet at the time.
Balak sent several princes as messengers to Balaam asking him to come and curse the Israelites for a fee. Rather than going straight away, Balaam told the messengers to stay the night while he consulted God.
(click) Verses 12 & 13 of the chapter say: But God said to Balaam, "Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed."
The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak's princes, "Go back to your own country, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you."
So the princes went away empty handed.
But Balak was a desperate man, so he sent more, and more influential princes to Balaam, offering more money.
(click) But Balaam answered them, "Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God. 19 Now stay here tonight as the others did, and I will find out what else the LORD will tell me."
20 That night God came to Balaam and said, "Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you."
21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. 22 But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him.
We then have the wonderful story of Balaam's donkey seeing the angel and trying to avoid him. Balaam then beat the donkey to get it to go on. This happened three times, and eventually God gave the donkey the power of speech and he told Balaam why he wouldn't go on. God then let Balaam see the angel.
(click) Balaam realised his error and in verse 34 says to the angel, "I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back."
35 The angel of the LORD said to Balaam, "Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you." So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
Balaam eventually arrived and the next day he and Balak prepared seven altars, each with a bull and a ram as a sacrifice. Balaam then went to seek God.
(click) We have now reached chapter 23 verse 5:
5 The LORD put a message in Balaam's mouth and said, "Go back to Balak and give him this message."
6 So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the princes of Moab. 7 Then Balaam uttered his oracle:
"Balak brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.
'Come,' he said, 'curse Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.'
8 How can I curse
those whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce
those whom the LORD has not denounced? (Jumping to verse 11)
11 Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!"
12 He answered, "Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?"
For the rest of chapter 23 and all of chapter 24 Balak tries to get Balaam to curse Israel, but every time Balaam pronounces blessings on Israel. At the very end of chapter 24 it says: "Then Balaam got up and returned home and Balak went his own way."
As I read these chapters from Numbers, my reaction to Balaam was that in the most part he seemed to be doing God's will. On the surface at least, if God told him to do something he did it. He was willing to bless Israel in front Balak, the king who had offered to pay him to come and curse Israel - a potentially life threatening thing to do, and in some ways not dissimilar to what Shadrach Meshach and Abednego did in the book of Daniel.
(click) Sadly though there is more to the story of Balaam. Chapter 25 starts:
1 While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. 3 So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the Lord's anger burned against them.
Later on in Numbers we discover that it was Balaam who advised the Moabite women to entice the Israelite men into sin.
Detour 2
(click) Let me now take you on our second, but much shorter, detour. In verse 15 of our passage mention was made of the "Nicolaitans". Who were they and what did they teach? Let me first of all say that we know very little hard fact about this group, so what I am about to say should be treated with care. That said, turn with me to the start of Acts 6. Here there is a dispute about the distribution of food amongst the widows in the Christian community. So the 12 disciples gathered the community together.
(click) Starting at verse 3 we read:
3Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
5This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
What, you may well ask has this to do with the Nicolaitans? Well in the list of 7 men full of the Spirit and wisdom is one Nicolas from Antioch. It is thought that he gave his name to a group in the early church who tried to work out a compromise between Christianity and paganism. They apparently taught that spiritual liberty gave them sufficient leeway to practice idolatry and sexual immorality.
End of detours
(click) Let us now return to Revelation 2:14-16
Clearly the church at Pergamum had people in its midst that held to the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans. It is implied that these people were known to the rest of the church, and accepted as an integral part of the congregation. It is also implied that people holding to these teachings should repent.
This all seems reasonable enough. If there are people in the congregation that have gone astray, they should repent of their sins and be accepted back into the body of Christ.
But stop just a minute. Look at the people who Jesus is pointing the finger at:
• Firstly there were the followers of Balaam's teachings, but as we just saw a lot of what Balaam said and did was what God told him to say and do, although there are hints that his motives may well have been pretty suspect, and he did mess up big time too, but then which of us haven't done that?.
• Secondly, there were the Nicolaitans, followers of a man that Acts describes as being full of the Spirit and wisdom, although where his teachings led to was wrong.
(click) (slowly) I wonder if such men and women were in our church, would we realise that they were wrong and needed to repent, or, would we admire them for the closeness of their relationship with God? Closer to home, do you, do I fit into either of the groups I have just been describing? We'll come back to this again at the end when there will be a bit more time to respond.
Before we move on though, there's more to uncover in these verses.
(click) We live in a world where interfaith dialogue is encouraged. In the media, and from some parts of the church, people of all faiths are regularly encouraged to work and share together, to understand each other and their beliefs. By way of example, at random, I had a look at the website of the "Institute of Interfaith Dialog". They make the following statement with regard to education:
"An intrinsic aspect of the Institute of Interfaith Dialog is to promote the study of world religions and spiritual faiths in order to gain wisdom and knowledge so that people will have a renewed sense of gratitude, and respect for the spiritual beliefs they hold closest to their hearts. By being in constant communication with other people who have different traditions from their own, we each have the opportunity to refine and appreciate our own beliefs and traditions."
Is this something we should embrace, and encourage?
No, but don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
I am not suggesting that all interfaith dialogue, and co-operation is wrong, and there is often common ground between faiths in terms of helping people's material wellbeing, and caring for those in need. However, when I am encouraged to gain wisdom and knowledge from other faiths and to refine my own beliefs on the basis of other religions, to me this strays into the territory of what the Nicolaitans were preaching, and is in severe danger of undermining Jesus statement in John 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
(click) Next, look at verse 16. "Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth."
Who was to repent? Was it just those who held to the teachings of Balaam or the Nicolaitans? No. It was the whole church. It was those who held to the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans, and those who had been willing to have them as part of the church fellowship.
So what will happen if the church doesn't repent? Jesus will come to you - the whole church, to fight against them - those who hold to the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans with the sword of his mouth, once again representing judgement.
(click) Finally, these verses raise the question of who we should allow to be part of our fellowship. Should we only allow in those who wholeheartedly agree with our definition of the Christian faith to avoid any problems with Nicolaitans and the like?
We live in a world where a large proportion of people who come to faith do so quite gradually, sometimes over a period of several years. Often they will come to church during this period while their beliefs are still quite embryonic, and may well be mixed up with all sorts of other beliefs and behaviours that they have picked up along the way. Should they be allowed to be part of our fellowship, or should they be put in the same camp as the Nicolaitans?
Or what about those who join us from other parts of the Christian faith - Baptists or Roman catholics for instance, where their belief system is not quite the same as ours. Should they be allowed in?
The first thing I would say is that the history of the Christian church is littered with splits and divisions, caused by minor differences in belief, something that I firmly believe must break God's heart to see.
(click) You need only look at John 17:20,21 where Jesus is praying for us!
"My prayer is not for them (the disciples) alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you."
Also, if we were to exclude those who had not yet reached a mature faith, none, or very few would ever be allowed in, myself included. Further, when Jesus was preaching, he was pretty open about who he invited to come. By way of example, in John 7:37 at the feast of Tabernacles, in the temple courts, "Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.'"
So how do we decide? Who should we be happy to have in our fellowship?
If we go back to our passage in Revelation, I think that what distinguished the Balaamites and the Nicolaitans was that they held firmly to their beliefs, so weren't teachable, and were actively promoting their beliefs within the church. So, if we have people in our midst who firmly hold, and are actively promoting, beliefs that are clearly at odds with the teaching of the Bible, then alarm bells should be ringing.
Verse 17
(click) Time is getting the better of me, so let's move on and look at verse 17. It says:
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it."
Here we have two images that we need to understand to comprehend what this verse means: hidden manna, and white stones with names written on them.
(click) Let's start with the hidden manna. This is used to represent eternal life. It is a particularly appropriate image since it contrasts with those tempted to join in with festivities in which food sacrificed to idols was eaten. Denying themselves this earthly food, the Christians in Pergamum were looking forward to the much richer food in the kingdom of God.
(click) Now what about white stones with new names on them?
In the ancient world white stones had many uses, and it is not clear which particular use John had in mind. However, several of them shed an interesting light on the passage:
(click) Firstly, if you had been on trial and were acquitted, you would be given a white stone as a sign of your innocence. For us, Jesus paid the price so we can go free.
(click) Secondly, victors in battle were given a white stone which gave the holder access to all public festivals. In just the same way as Christians, we are given access to the wedding feast of the lamb.
(click) Thirdly, there was the Tessern hospitalis, a white stone in two parts, each inscribed with a name. The two halves were exchanged between two people as a sign of friendship, and gave the bearer access to the others house at all times. So for the believer, we have open access to God, and he has open access to us. I wonder, do we always live up to our half of that arrangement?
(click) As far as the new name is concerned, in Bible times, people were sometimes given a new name to signify a new status: Abram became Abraham; Jacob became Israel; Simon became Peter. So with the believer, God gives us a new name to signify our change from unbeliever to believer, and the ongoing change in our character to become more like Christ.
Closing Section
In closing I want to try an experiment, with some congregational participation. I want us to imagine that Jesus is writing a letter to our church. What would it say based on our passage this evening?
(click) It might start:
"To the angel of the church in Salterhebble, Halifax write:
"These are the words of Jesus, the judge, from whom you can hide nothing of what you do or say or think. I know where you live, in Halifax, a town, which although not utterly depraved, has much in it that is far from what it should be. Yet…..
What I want you to do is get into small groups and discuss what might follow. In particular, what would Jesus praise us for as a congregation?
Leave a few minutes, and then ask for feedback.
Yet, as a congregation you have remained true to me over many years and continue to do so, even though there are many temptations to sin, and there are increasing pressures to conform to ungodly ways.
(click) The letter then might go on:
"Yet I have a few things against you...."
In you same small groups, how would you fill in the next section? Where do you feel our Achilles heels are as a congregation, and what's yours as an individual?
Once again give you a few minutes and then ask for feedback.
don't shine your light in your community as much as you should, too tied to material wealth
Finally, as in Revelation, comes the call to us all to repent. Let us spend some time now in prayer. Feel free to pray out loud or silently.
(click) Close by saying:
Let me finish by reading the end of verse 17 of our passage
"To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it."
Amen
