Spots and Wrinkles and Such Things

The Sevenfold Message to the Sevenfold Church

     When Christ first promised to build His Church, He also promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). When He returned from the dead, He Himself had the keys of hell (Revelation 1:18), the gates had been opened, and those of its captives who had died in faith had been set free to ascend with Him to Paradise. He still retains the keys, and the gates of hell can never close again on those who die in faith, as members of His Church. When they become absent from the body they are immed-iately present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).

     While still in the flesh, those who are a part of His Church are by no means yet made perfect. But they have been placed into His Body by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13) and can no longer be imprisoned behind the gates of hell. “Christ is the head of the church…. Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:23, 25-27).

     Someday, the “spirits of just men” will be “made perfect,” as we all gather “to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven” (Hebrews 12:23). For the time now present, however, we are yet imperfect, and the individual churches in which we now assemble are therefore likewise full of spots and wrinkles. Nevertheless, we belong to Christ, and He is “in our midst,” through the Holy Spirit (John 16:7), comforting and leading, convicting and chastening, building His Church.

     The picture we see in Revelation 2 and 3 is amazing. Seven churches – the perfect number representing all churches – and all are most unpromising churches. The churches, outwardly strong, are full of compromise and moral decay. The spiritually strong churches are physically weak. All are highly fallible, persecuted, subject to imminent disintegration and scattering, and none are destined to survive very long. Yet Christ is in their midst, and the Holy Spirit is speaking to them, promising great blessings to those who overcome.

     These seven churches were real churches, and visitors by the thousands today include a visit to the ruins of the seven churches of Asia on their chartered tours to the Bible lands. They were real churches, but they are also chosen as representative churches and they still represent our churches today. There is some of Ephesus and Smyrna and all of the others in each of our own churches today. Their problems are our problems, and Christ’s exhortations to them apply with equal force to us.

     Although it is by no means the dominant theme, there is a sense also in which the seven churches seem to depict the respective stages of development and change of Christ’s churches during the ensuing centuries. History has, indeed, shown such a general development through the years, and it is reasonable that the sequential develop-ment of the respective exhortations in these messages should be arranged by the Lord in the same sequence. He is not capricious in His selection. There is bound to be some significance in the sequence of the seven, as well as in the total. The Book of Revelation – all of it – is said to be a prophecy, and if there is any prophecy in it concerning the Church Age, it must be here in these two chapters. Further, in one way or another, the last four of the churches are to survive until the return of Christ (note verses 2:25; 3:3, 11, 20), and this can only now be fulfilled if these four churches specifically represent stages of church development which persist until the end of the age.

     The same format describes each of the seven messages, a fact which further confirms the all-encompassing theme of the messages. Each letter is composed of seven parts, as follows:

     1. Salutation. “Unto the angel of the church at … write: …” As shown in the previous chapter, the “angel” can only have been the angel – not a pastor or other human messenger. No church epistle in the New Testament is ever addressed to the pastor, or bishop, or elders of the church. They are always addressed to the church, to the people. The context in these indicates the same, with the angel merely representing the church and guarding the transmission of its epistle.

     2. Identification of Christ as Sender. “These things saith He that …” In each case, He is identified by some characteristic of His appearance that was appropriate to the individual message to the particular church.

     3. Assertion of Knowledge. “I know thy works …” Christ is in their midst, and so has intimate knowledge of all the works and circumstances and attitudes of each church.

     4. Comment and Exhortation. Here is the core of the message to each assembly, sometimes commendatory, sometimes critical, adapted perfectly to the particular situation in each. Always there is an exhortation. None can simply relax as having attained all that Christ desires of them.

     5. Promised (or Threatened) Coming. To some, He threatens a coming in judgment for faithlessness, to others, a coming to receive them in death, and to others, His coming at the end of the age. In each case there is a promise or warning that He will come personally to terminate their present circumstances.

     6. Admonition to Heed. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” Though each church has its own particular message, it is vital that each church hear and heed what Christ, through the Spirit, says to all the churches.

     7. Promised Blessing. “To him that overcometh …” A special blessing is promised to all those faithful ones in every church who, through their faith (note 1 John 5:4, 5), overcome the world and all its temptations and persecutions.       

The Zealous Church

Revelation 2:1.     Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.

     Ephesus was the capital and largest city of the province of Asia (modern southwest Turkey), and a great seaport. It was also a very immoral city, dominated by the worship of the fertility goddess, Diana (Artemis). The Apostle Paul established the church there (Acts 19) and spent more time there than at any of his other churches (Acts 20:31). According to extrabiblical sources, the Apostle John later ministered there for many years and Mary the mother of Jesus died there. Between Paul and John, Timothy was said to have been in charge of the churches in the area.

     He who is “better than the angels” (Hebrews 1:4) and who, in fact, holds them all in His hand, and who walks in the midst of every church, reminds all the churches of His position and power as He begins His messages to them by way of the largest and strongest of the churches, the one from which apparently the others had been founded (Acts 19:10).

Revelation 2:2.     “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.

     The Ephesian Christians, forty years after their church was started by Paul, were still zealous in “works and labour and patience,” but they can be con-trasted with the first Thessalonian believers, who Paul said exhibited a “work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope” (1 Thessalonians 1:3). Faith, love, and hope – these three (1 Corinthians 13:13) – should “abide” in a church, or it will eventually die, no matter how great its zeal. It was good and necessary, however, that the church had indeed been careful to reject those who falsely claimed to be apostles or successors of the apostles. Innumerable people have been led away from God through the centuries by such false leaders. There are no successors to the apostles, since one prime requirement of the Apostleship was that he must be one who had seen Christ (1 Corinthians 9:1, 2).

Revelation 2:3.     And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

     Again the Lord emphasizes the zeal and steadfastness of the Ephesian church, all done in the name of Christ. Such characteristics were typical of the churches of the first century – the Apostolic Age. As a result, the gospel had spread all over the known world (Colossians 1:5, 6, 24).

Revelation 2:4.     Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

     This also was typical of the churches of the late Apostolic period; their zeal and faithfulness were strong, but the warmth of their original love – for one another, for the lost, for the Lord – was beginning to cool. But this sad testimony can be applied to multitudes of churches in every age, and every church needs continually to search its heart and test its love.

     It was to the Ephesians, in fact, that Paul had written as he closed his epistle: “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity” (Ephesians 6:24). A “first love” (or “chief love,” or “best love”) is a sincere love. Do we love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, or have we lost our first love? That is the great question.

Revelation 2:5.     Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

     To the church at Ephesus, zealous and steadfast as it was, it was necessary for Christ to give a call to repentance (literally, a “changing of the mind”). They must return to their first love, go back to their first works, rise up to their first level of spirituality. If not, the day would inevitably come when its angel would be withdrawn and Christ would no longer remain in their midst. A group of people would continue to assemble in Ephesus for many years, calling themselves a church, but it would no longer belong to Christ. It would still be a “candlestick,” but it would be “out of his place” – that place being where Christ is. Eventually, even the very city of Ephesus became a ruin.

     Ephesus, of course, represents every other church whose love for Christ and His Word and His people has cooled, and the Ephesian warning still applies.

Revelation 2:6.     But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.

     Does it come as a surprise that Christ can hate and that He approves of hating on the part of His followers? Strange paradox – coming from the One who said: “Love your enemies.” But it was the deeds, not the doers, which were hated. An object of hatred on the part of the One who is Love must indeed be hateful, and it is vital that we know what it is so that we also can hate it – these deeds of the Nicolaitanes!

     If the Nicolaitanes were indeed some unknown sect, as most commen-tators assume, then the reason why Christ included this strange comment in an inspired epistle is also unknown. There was, indeed, a sect of Gnostics later called Nicolaitanes but this was much later than the time of the Book of Revelation. These Gnostics were bitter opponents of the writings of John, and probably adopted the name of Nicolaitanes as a direct affront to those who did accept John’s authority.

     But who were the Nicolaitanes at the time of John? There is no reliable record of any such cult, although some have speculated that it could have been a group named after the early deacon, Nicolas of Antioch (Acts 6:5). Furthermore there is no other biblical reference to any such sect or teaching.

     Yet we must believe that the reference here is important, understandable in its context, and profitable instruction for all churches everywhere. The only clue in the Ephesian letter itself is the pervious reference – quite parallel, in fact -- to those who falsely claimed to be apostles and who had therefore been rejected by the church.

     The Apostle Paul spoke of such pseudo-apostles: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of
Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Christ also warned against false Christs and false prophets (Matthew 7:15; 24:5, 24). John himself had warned: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1). John certainly must have taught these Ephesians to do this during his ministry there, and they had indeed “tried them which say they are apostles – and hast found them liars.” John also had warned that “every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist” (1 John 4:3).

     If there are any deeds that the Lord Jesus Christ must hate, it must be the attempts by men to claim divine authority for themselves – as apostles or as prophets or even as Christ Himself – and thus to deny His own nature and authority. It is very probable that the term “Nicolaitanes” was thus a name originally applied to that considerable group of men who plagued the first-century church by their pretensions to divine authority. The name itself comes from the Greek words nikao(“overcome” – used also several places in Chapters 2 and 3 to refer to those who “overcome” in the Christian life) and laos (“people”). It is also possible that some prominent false apostle was named Nicolaus, and the Nicolaitan name thus became associated also with him, but probably the primary reason for adopting the name was its meaning – “Those who conquer the people.” This, at least, must be the reason why Christ, through John, used it here without any other identification or explanation.

     Thus, the Nicolaitanes, whose deeds Christ hates, were men who came into these early churches with the purpose of usurping the authority of the true apostles, such as John, and even of Christ Himself. To accomplish this, they claimed to have divine unction or powers, even working pseudo-miracles. They were eloquent and persuasive men. Peter described them as “false teachers” bringing in “damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them,” able to succeed in this by using “feigned words” and “great swelling words of vanity” (2 Peter 2:1, 3, 18). By such means, these false apostles, these “conquerors of the people,” sought to turn “the grace of our God into lasciviousness” (Jude 4) and to “allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness” (2 Peter 2:18) the young believers in these struggling churches. John had warned his converts no doubt including those at Ephesus, about such deceivers in very strong language: “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist . . . If there come any [such] unto you, . . . receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed” (2 John 7, 10). The Ephesians were well taught in doctrine – by Paul, by Timothy, and then by John – so they were able to recognize these lying “apostles,” and they “hated” their deeds, and the Lord commended them because of it.

     This danger was not unique to the early church, and Christ desires all churches to watch for, and repudiate, Nicolaitanism. The dangers are as real today. False prophets, false apostles, pseudo-miracles, people-conquerors, false teachers who deny the true divine/human nature of Christ, antinomian teachers who teach that God’s grace excuses deliberately licentious behavior, men who take authority and power to themselves that Christ never intended, are at least as great a problem in the modern church as in the early church. Christ hates the deeds of such as these, and so should we. We should not hate the men or women who practice such things, but we must hate and repudiate their deeds and doctrines.

Revelation 2:7.     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 tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

     It is a divine principle that only those who desire to do God’s will can know God’s will (John 7:17). So, only those who have spiritual ears can hear the Spirit’s word. Note that Christ and the Holy Spirit are so much one that what one says, the other says. Also note that the message to the church at Ephesus was also the message to all the churches.

     John occasionally had used the word “overcome” (nikao in the Greek, same as in the prefix in Nicolaites) in his epistles (as in 1 John 2:13) and in his gospel (John 16:33), but in these it always has an object (such as “wicked one” or “world”). Here in these epistles, however, the picture is one of overcoming all things in Christ – “overcoming” in general. This is the first of these seven gracious promises to the “overcomer,” and it looks back to the primeval creation, with the life-giving tree in the midst of the garden (Genesis 2:9; 3:22, 24). But it also looks forward to the new creation, where the tree of life will again be planted – not one tree only, but in the midst of the streets and along the banks of the river of water of life in the New Jerusalem. Adam was barred from the tree of life but the overcomer will have free access to it eternally.   

The Church in Tribulation

     In recent decades, there has been much theological disputation as to whether or not the Church will go through the tribulation. The fact is that every real church must endure some degree of tribulation. “We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). The church at Smyrna is the Lord’s choice to illustrate the suffering church and its needs.

Revelation 2:8.     And unto the angel of the church in Smyrnawrite: These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive.

     Smyrna was also a port city, about thirty-five miles north of Ephesus. It survives today as Ismir, in Turkey. One of John’s converts, Polycarp, served as a minister there until his martyrdom about A.D. 155.

     No greater comfort could be addressed to a persecuted church than to be reminded that the Lord was still in their midst and that He Himself, as the Creator and Heir of all things, had already conquered death. In Him, they were certain to gain the ultimate victory.

Revelation 2:9.     I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

     The Smyrna Christians were not only persecuted but impoverished as a result of their stand for Christ. Nevertheless they were wealthy because they were laying up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:20) and possessed “the true riches” (Luke 16:11). Paul also noted that true “ministers of God” would be “as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing; and yet possessing all things” (2 Corinthians 6:10).

     There was another problem. As Ephesus was plagued with men who said they were apostles but were not, so Smyrna was beset by men who said they were Jews but were not. As false apostles are “ministers of Satan” (2 Corinthians 11:15), so false Jews constitute a “synagogue of Satan.” Their very claim to be Jews (and therefore God’s chosen people) is blasphemy, Christ says.

     There was, indeed, a very large community of Jews in Smyrna, and these strongly opposed the church and the gospel. They were directly instrumental in persuading the Roman officials of the city to execute Polycarp. The records say they even carried logs to the pyre on which he was burned.

     But these were real Jews, in the physical sense at least. It is possible that the Lord is here referring to the fact that, in God’s sight, those who are truly Jews are Jews who are spiritually in tune with God’s will and thus have received the Lord Jesus as their Messiah (Romans 2:28, 29; John 8:39; Romans 9:6-8). This is a doubtful interpretation, however, for the New Testament everywhere continues to call those who were born of Jewish stock Jews regardless of whether they were Jews spiritually. It would hardly be surprising, let alone blasphemous, for the Jewish colony in Smyrna to call themselves Jews, since everyone else did too.

     The probability is that this reference denotes a group who were claiming to be Jews spiritually, but were not Jews, either physically or spiritually. The church had been burdened almost from its inception with Jewish converts who did not want to separate themselves from the synagogue fellowship and from their lifelong customs, and so were trying to impose circumcision and other aspects of the Old Testament ritual and national ordinances upon the church – not only the Jews in the church but the Gentiles as well (Acts 15:2; Galatians 2:14; Colossians 2:16). These “Judaizers” influenced many Gentiles, and soon many of these came to believe that conversion to Christianity meant, in effect, conversion also to Judaism and that the latter was to be perpetuated, with some modifications, in the church. Eventually this would lead to a monstrous system of works-salvation and almost a complete disappearance of the doctrines of salvation by grace and justification by faith. As one group of false teachers, in Ephesus, wanted to continue the Apostleship, so the other, in Smyrna, wanted to continue the priesthood. Eventually the two merged in a vast worldly system, with an imaginary apostolic succession and an elaborate visible priesthood, both having (as Nicolaitanes) conquered the laity and placed them again in legalistic bondage under a complex system of ritualistic ordinances, sacrifices, and penances. This system was experiencing its embryonic development among cliques in such churches as that in Smyrna, where the heavy outward pressure of the large colony of ethnic Jews was encouraging such compromise.

Revelation 2:10.     Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days; be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

     Although suffering, including imprisonment and even martyrdom, would be the lot of many in Smyrna, as well as in countless other churches through the centuries, the gracious word from Christ is: “Fear not!” Not even death can separate us from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:38, 39) and the martyr’s promised “crown of life” (see also James 1:12) will far overbalance the testing he is called to endure in this life.

     The phrase “ten days of tribulation” has been variously interpreted. Some have taken it to mean ten years of special persecution which was coming to the church in Smyrna, perhaps being climaxed in the burning of Polycarp, their pastor. But, if that were so, why did Christ not say “ten years?” Further, how could this be applied to all other churches?

     Many, assuming that Smyrna specifically represents the period of the great Roman persecutions of the church in the second and third centuries, have tried to enumerate ten waves of persecution, the last under Diocletian just before the conversion of Constantine. But such a list is forced and very arbitrary at best. And again, why would not Christ have predicted such a situation plainly if that were His meaning?

     The intent of the passage is obviously to prepare the church for intense suffering and yet to assure them it would be very brief and ephemeral in contrast to the endless ages of glory beyond it. As Paul had said, “For our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

     If we assume the “ten days” to be a symbolic expression designed to contrast the brevity of the suffering with its benefits, is there any reason for mentioning “ten days” instead of, say, “seven days” or some other small number? The most likely parallel reference is in the Book of Daniel, which of course is a book quite intimately related to Revelation. There, right at the beginning of his ministry (just as Smyrna is at the beginning of the Church Age and the beginning of the Book of Revelation), Daniel and his three Jewish friends offered to undergo “ten days” of what might seem to outsiders to be sacrifice and deprivation (Daniel 1:2, 14, 15) on a diet of only pulse and water. Instead of hurting them, however, this ten days of “proving” or “testing” (Daniel 1:14), produced most salutary results. “And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all . . . in all his realm” (Daniel 1:20). Ten days of testing, in Daniel’s case, then yielded over seventy years of uniquely effective service for God.

     Just so, Christ assures Christians in Smyrna and all other suffering churches that a brief “ten days” of testing will, if accepted with a resolve to be “faithful unto death,” yield a crown of life and glory that will be ten times greater when Jesus comes. Furthermore, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church,” and a patient endurance of unjust persecution has always been one of the church’s most potent tools of evangelism.

Revelation 2:11.     He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

     What Christ says, “unto the angel of the church” is the same as “what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” The glorified Lord gives the message, John writes the message, the angel guards and assures the arrival of the message, then the Spirit speaks the message to listening ears and open hearts.

     And the wonderful promise to those who overcome fear and, in their work for Christ, remain steadfast unto death is that death in this world is entrance to life in a better world where they will never face a second death. Those who die without Christ, however, will also die again (Revelation 20:12-14).   

The Church Infiltrated

     Though Ephesushad left its first love, and Smyrna was suffering from attacks both internal and external, both churches had maintained sound doctrine and practice despite all the efforts of false teachers to subvert them and gain control over them. But Pergamos is another story. Despite much good in the church, evil influences had gained a real foothold in the church, and they needed to be rebuked.

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

     Pergamos was at the center of the province of Asia, sixty miles north of Smyrna. It was a great religious center, with the cult of the emperor as well as the Greek pagan mysteries, flourishing there. The great altar of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was located here – the largest altar in the world. It was also an intellectual center, with a 200,000 volume library – the word “parchment” is derived from its name – as well as a medical center, with the deity of medicine, Aesculapius (whence our word “scalpel) being worshiped, commonly under the sign of a coiled snake on a pole (note Numbers 21:8-9).

     The twin heresies of Nicolaitanism and Balaamism had made sharp inroads in the Pergamos church, so Christ emphasized He must come to them cutting these out, as it were, with the double-edged sword proceeding from His mouth.

Revelation 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.

     The Lord Jesus commends the Pergamites because they had maintained the true faith and preached it in the name of the true Christ under extremely trying circumstances and against much temptation to compromise. One member had been a witness faithful even to death (the words “witness” and “martyr” are the same). The man Antipas is not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. Although he was undoubtedly a real martyr at Pergamos, the fact that his name can mean “Against All” may suggest he also represents any believer who has been willing to stand for the true faith in the name of Christ against all opposition, even if it costs his life.

     Satan’s seat (literally “throne”) may have been an expression used to refer to the gigantic temple of Zeusat Pergamos, set on a high hill with its altar towering 800 feet over the plain. More likely, however, it refers to the fact that Pergamos had become probably the greatest center of pagan religion in the world at that time. In fact, Alexander Hislop, in his famous book Two Babylons, gave much documentation to show that Pergamos had inherited the religious mantle of ancient Babylon when Babylon fell in the days of Belshazzar. The priests, who had kept the secrets of the ancient mystery religions centered at Babylon ever since the days of Nimrod, were forced to migrate at that time, transferring what amounted to the headquarters of Satan’s religious system away from Babylon north and west to Pergamos where it endured for several centuries in that great center of evolutionary pantheistic paganism. Still later, it moved to Rome. If Hislop’s analysis is correct, “Satan’s throne” becomes a very literal description of the invisible principalities and powers centered at Pergamos. 

Revelation 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.

     The Pergamites had not kept out the false teachers, as had the churches at Ephesus and Smyrna. Even though they had not yet embraced their teachings, they had allowed them in the church, and the leaven was beginning to work.

     The meaning of Balaam (Hebrew meaning “not of the people”) is similar to that of the Nicolaitanes (Greek meaning “conquering the people”). The doctrine of Balaam (who, like the Nicolaitanes, had also been a false prophet) was to gain control over God’s people by seducing them to compromise with the world, especially in sexual sins (Numbers 31:15, 16: Jude 11; 2 Peter 2:15), and in going along with those who worshiped false gods. This spirit of compromise has surely been one of the greatest evils in the Christian church ever since the days of the church at Pergamos.

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

The church at Ephesus had encountered the Nicolaitanes, but had not countenanced them (for the identity and teaching of these false apostles see the comments above on Revelation 2:6). The difference here was twofold: (1) the Pergamites were allowing the Nicolaitanes to be members of their church and to begin to propagandize their heresies; (2) the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes (or their “teaching”) was a problem at Pergamos, rather than only their “deeds,” as at Ephesus. Christ, of course, makes it plain that He hates both their deeds and their doctrines.

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

     For the sin of harboring and listening to Balaamites and Nicolaitanes in their assembly, Christ must call the church at Pergamos to repentance. Their minds must be changed (which is the meaning of “repent”) from an attitude of compromise to one of insistence on doctrinal and moral purity. Otherwise they would face the fearful prospect of judgment by the same verbal sword which will one day smite the nations (Revelation 19:15).