Hello, I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis. And thank you for listening to Truth Matters. And we continue in our survey of Revelation with the letters to the seven churches. Last time we talked about the church at Smyrna as it was a church that suffered intense persecution. But there were no negative things, no opportunities for improvement found by Christ for them. Christ knew their tribulation, their poverty, their persecution. But he told them to be fearless and faithful.
Those that overcome would receive a crown of life. The next church that we plan to survey is the church at Pergamos in verses 12 through 17. In reading verses 12 through 17. But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam.
You taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolations, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly. And will fight against them with a sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him whoever comes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat.
And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it. Each time as we survey these letters we talk about the destination. The destination of this letter is to Pergamos. Pergamos was the most northern of the seven cities. It's the capital of the Roman government in Asia. It's the greatest city in Asia. It had been the capital for 400 years when the letter was written. It was known for the production of parchment, and parchment was a historical paper. Because it was the capital, it had the authority to carry out capital punishment, and it was licensed to have the Roman sword to take life. A historian, Sir William Ramsay, says, Pergamos gives the traveler the impression of a royal city. It's the home of authority. It's the intellectual center.
It had the second largest library in the world at the time, but the largest happened to be in Alexandria, Egypt. As each letter has a designation of the Lord, or a characteristic of the Lord, it says, These things says he, in verse 12, who has the sharp two-edged sword, and verse 16 with the sword of my mouth. The sword represents judgment and the authority to judge. Christ is prepared to use it in Pergamos if the church does not repent, which Pergamos is the capital of Rome in Asia, which it does have the authority to then use the sword to take Roman life. I'm going to read Hebrews 4, verse 12, as it describes the word of God as a sword. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him, to whom we must give an account. As Jesus continues, he gets into the diagnosis of the church. In this case, the church at Pergamos has a fourfold diagnosis, three good things and one bad. And when you think about it, three out of four are not bad, right? You know, I mean, if you ever go to the doctor and he says, Well, you got three things that are good, and then the fourth one you need to improve upon, you're, you know, you're going to go out and pat yourself on the back, at least I got three out of four.
Except in this case, where the fourth diagnosis was fatal. Let's get into the letter. In verse 13, he says, I know, which he says to each church, I know. He knows where they dwell. He knows where Satan's throne is. He knows where Satan dwells. He's really just giving context to his judgment, but he knew the circumstances of their faith. How do you think having a church where Satan dwelt and where his throne was worked for them?
I mean, how do you think it works for the modern day church today? It's a struggle. Until next time, I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis.
