He Knows - Repent

Rev 2:12  And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges

 

Jesus speaks to the third church. A church that heard the message when John's writing circulated. A church that heard the message in the historical time period intended, and a church that has heard the message throughout the many years since it was given. All God's people that make us His church hear, understand, and keep these words, these truths given. May we discern right now as He would have us discern all that he'd have us know.

 

Rev 2:13  I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. 

 

He know us.

He knows where we live.

He knows.

He knows where Satan's seat is.

He knows that even in such a place His people hold fast to the name of Jesus Christ. He knows they have not denied their faith even when one of their own was killed for his faith right there where Satan dwells.

 

Rev 2:14  But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 

 

Holding fast is important, it is also very important that was do not allow any idols in our lives. Idol worshiping comes in many forms make no mistake about that. You may not know of any food offerings given to idols but we serve our idols in various ways just as evil. We can't hold on to idols, we just can't. We mustn't serve anything or anyone in worship other than God. Committing fornication is equivalent to idol serving because we leave the purity of having a husband in exchange for living outside the marriage relation as if we were married but are not it's living a lie. Surely the -them that hold- these doctrines must change their ways.

 

Rev 2:15  So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 

 

Our Lord and Savior hates all that has anything to do with serving other gods, false gods, all of which are part of Satan's work.

 

Rev 2:16  Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 

 

Repent- TURN FROM the evil- if we don't turn away from the evil and choose Christ over the evil, Christ will destroy us along with the evil.

 

Rev 2:17  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. 

 

The hidden manna- the hidden heavenly food- the words that come out of our Savior's mouth- the bread of life. The white stone with a new name. You've heard the saying- written in stone and when that's said it's meant that it is something irrevocable, something permanent. Given a white stone, a pure stone with a new name- a name given to us by Christ - how amazing that will be! We know that a few times in the Bible those chosen by God were given new names - Abram became Abraham, Jacob became Israel… new names, new names with new meanings. May we be among those who are given a white stone with a new name written.

 

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Note- here is an excerpt from a prophecy booklet called- 'These Times - The amazing prophecies of Daniel and Revelation.  A Special Issue.' pg. 24-25

 

'Verses 12-17. The city of Pergamos (or Pergamum) was the capital of the Roman province of Asia. A rich, important city, it served as a center of emperor worship and various pagan religions. Jesus perceptively described Pergamum as a city in bondage to the dictatorship of Satan, the leader of all evil forces (see Revelation 12:9;13:1,2). The great failure of the church at Pergamum was that it allowed pagan, unchristian influences into its midst, accepting the teaching of "Balaam" -- a reference to a man who influenced the Israelites shortly after they left Egypt to unite with pagans and become involved in idolatry and immorality (Numbers 22-25; 31:13-16).

 

The experience of the whole church following AD 313, when Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity, resembled that of Pergamum. Following this time the church increasingly accepted pagan ideas and practices into its midst and advanced steadily down the path of apostasy foretold by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. The church's only hope lay in its willingness to let the sharp "two-edged sword" of truth wielded by Jesus cut away their selfishness and pride (cf Hebrews 4:12). '

 

The reason I wanted to insert this note is because we need to touch on the specific historically applied aspect to the prophecy as well as the time of John the prophet, and we most certainly can tell already how it's applied to us now and to all of God's people through history in a broad meaningful way.

 

The historical time period this covers- Constantine, or perhaps, rather, from his professed conversion to Christianity in A.D. 313 to the establishment of the papacy in A.D. 538.

 

In 313, Constantine proclaimed the Edict of Milan which legalized Christian worship.  Go to Wikipedia, look up Constantine and this is in there.  We've already gone over these dates when we studied the prophecy of Daniel. Daniel and Revelation both deal with prophecy in a huge way and go hand in hand in so much.  This all fits together and the placing of the puzzle pieces will mean we need to go back and forth between these two books and truly throughout the entire Bible.