The surrounding pagan culture put enormous pressure on the Christian church.

Tolerance Towards False Teachings

Some of the members of the church in Pergamum held to the teaching of Balaam— meaning, some of them had become tolerant of false teaching and behaviour.

They did not deny Christ but, at the same time, they tolerated false teachings.

Some believers at Pergamum were participating in the pagan festivals and eating food offered to idols.

Christians were getting caught up in the pagan way of life and encouraging other Christians to join them.

Remember the previous session, discussing the letter to the church at Ephesus?

In verse 15, we have another reference to the Nicolaitans.

Here, the term is used in parallel with Balaam.

These are Greek and Hebrew names respectively. “Nicolaitan” means “the one who conquers the people” and “Balaam” means “the one who swallows up the people.”

While the church in Ephesus did not like their practises, the church at Pergamum accepted them with a degree of tolerance.

The key idea in this letter to the church is the danger of compromising the Christian faith by false teaching.

Why can false teaching be dangerous?

The Christians in Pergamum were compromising their belief with paganism.

Compromise is a subtle thing.

It’s nice to have people think well of us.

But Jesus will have nothing of it.

This is why there is a call for repentance in verse 16.

But it came at a price. Jacquetta Hawkes, a British scholar, states:

“The Christians of the first three centuries had denied the tolerance and compromise of other faith, had gladly suffered horrible martyrdoms for refusing a pinch of incense to the imperial altars.

Yet with the malicious irony so often apparent in history, even while they fought heroically on one front, their position was infiltrated from another …

No more can a bird build its nest exclusively with its own feathers could the Christian leaders build a faith, rites and a church without picking up all manner of extraneous material from the Greco-Roman environment … perhaps most of all Christianity became involved with the sun god through Mithraism. …

The Empire was partly Christianised and the church partly paganised … I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that in the fourth century and for some time afterwards there was for many people of the western empire a total confusion between state Christianity and the state sun worship it displaced.”

The Message to Thyatira

Read Revelation 2:18–29

This is a long message.

The church in Thyatira was a divided church, whose latter works were better than its former.

They received much praise and much blame.

Thyatira was the smallest and least important of the seven cities addressed in this part of Revelation.

It was a manufacturing place, famous for its pottery.

But today, there is little of the old city to see.

The city has been destroyed many times in wars between Christianity and Islam.

It has been built over as the modern city of Akhisar.

Global Church Covenant

In the Old Testament, God’s people lived in the land of Palestine.

In the writings of the Old Testament, nations were mentioned by name because they effected God’s people.

But since the time of Jesus and the raising up of the Christian church, God’s people belong to all races and nations.

And God’s people are found all over the world. They belong to many different religious groups.

In Revelation, there is a move from the literal geographical areas of Old Testament prophecy to a worldwide perspective in the New Testament.

When God called Israel out of Egypt, He assembled the people before Mount Sinai and revealed His covenant (contract or mutual agreement) with them.

In Exodus 19:5, 6, God bestowed on them a number of titles: a treasured procession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Their side of the covenant, to maintain this status, was to obey God fully and keep His covenant.

The implication was that if they did not fulfil their part of the agreement, they would no longer have this chosen status alone.

A major aspect of the Old Testament covenant resembles what we could call a “contract” today.

In a “covenant” two parties enter into a relationship of some kind: to build a house, to get married, to go to school.

All these things involve a connection between people, or between a person and an institution.

Biblical Blessings and Curses

An interesting aspect of the Old Testament covenant is the part about “blessings” and “curses” (for example, see Deuteronomy 28).

While such language sounds strange in today’s world, the idea behind it is not.

The concepts expressed in the covenant are important concepts we will see coming out in the prophecies of Revelation.

It is important to notice there were conditions for the nation of Israel occupying the favoured status.

But the history of Israel as revealed in the Old Testament shows how the people repeatedly wandered away from the covenant.

God told them what He would do to them if they did fail.

Yet God kept calling them back and renewed His covenant with them.

An example of this is found in Jeremiah 31:31–33.

Jesus would have come and died among them.

The Jews would have told the world of this and then out of Jerusalem would have come a final call for people of all nations to accept Him.

And many would have accepted the invitation.

But those who had rejected the call would have assembled an army called “Gog and Magog” (see Ezekiel 38 and 39).

These forces would have invaded Palestine and surrounded the city of Jerusalem but God would have stepped in and destroyed them.

From this last battle, God would have begun to renew the earth and make it as it was meant to be in the beginning.

However, all this is hinged on one word—if.

If Israel had obeyed God, this is how things would have worked out for them.

But it came at a price. Jacquetta Hawkes, a British scholar, states:

“The Christians of the first three centuries had denied the tolerance and compromise of other faith, had gladly suffered horrible martyrdoms for refusing a pinch of incense to the imperial altars.

Yet with the malicious irony so often apparent in history, even while they fought heroically on one front, their position was infiltrated from another …

No more can a bird build its nest exclusively with its own feathers could the Christian leaders build a faith, rites and a church without picking up all manner of extraneous material from the Greco-Roman environment … perhaps most of all Christianity became involved with the sun god through Mithraism. …

The Empire was partly Christianised and the church partly paganised …

I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that in the fourth century and for some time afterwards there was for many people of the western empire a total confusion between state Christianity and the state sun worship it displaced.”

Key to Understanding Revelation

In Revelation, the experiences of Israel in the Old Testament were used to illustrate what was happening within the church.

This was the position held by most Christians throughout the Christian era.

With this in mind, we have an important key to understanding the prophecies of Revelation.

 

The prophetic focus of Revelation is on the worldwide Christian church.

In all countries and among all races are people who are God’s people because of their acceptance of Jesus Christ.

In Revelation, the promises made to Israel as a literal nation—if they had been faithful—are revised, to allow them to be fulfilled in the experiences of the Christian church.

In Revelation, the experiences of Israel in the Old Testament were used to illustrate what One example of this is the battle of Gog and Magog.

Where and when will it be fought?

In Old Testament times, these powers were come down from the north and invade Palestine, as Ezekiel 38 and 39 predicted.

Now we find the scenario adjusted somewhat in 14 Revelation 20:7–9.

It becomes obvious that reading the Old Testament gives us valuable background material for understanding Revelation.

Babylon Represents Corrupt End-Time Powers

When the Book of Revelation talks about the end of the world, it does so using the language of the fall of Babylon.

In the ancient world, Babylon was a city that ruled a great empire.

It was frequently mentioned in the Bible by the Old Testament prophets.

They also spoke of its downfall in graphic language.

It was a city through which the river Euphrates ran.

When the city was captured by Cyrus, he dried up the waters of the river to allow his armies to enter.

At the time, Babylon held captive God’s people, the Jews.

But Cyrus allowed them to return to their city, Jerusalem.

In the Book of Revelation, we will see all the wicked religious powers on earth at the end time (described as “Babylon”) seated on many waters (the political powers supporting her).

She holds God’s people captive. But the Bible describes Jesus leading the armies of heaven against Babylon.

As this happens, the fall of Babylon is described as the waters of the river Euphrates drying up (political powers withdraw their support for her).

Jesus is described as coming from the east (as did Cyrus).

He delivers God’s people (as did Cyrus) and allows them to return, not to the old city of Jerusalem in the Middle East, but to the New Jerusalem.

[We will come back to this in the last few chapters of Revelation.]

But it came at a price. Jacquetta Hawkes, a British scholar, states:

“The Christians of the first three centuries had denied the tolerance and compromise of other faith, had gladly suffered horrible martyrdoms for refusing a pinch of incense to the imperial altars.

Yet with the malicious irony so often apparent in history, even while they fought heroically on one front, their position was infiltrated from another …

No more can a bird build its nest exclusively with its own feathers could the Christian leaders build a faith, rites and a church without picking up all manner of extraneous material from the Greco-Roman environment … perhaps most of all Christianity became involved with the sun god through Mithraism. …

The Empire was partly Christianised and the church partly paganised …

I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that in the fourth century and for some time afterwards there was for many people of the western empire a total confusion between state Christianity and the state sun worship it displaced.”

Why then is she likened to Jezebel of the Old Testament?

Jezebel was a Phoenician princess who worshipped Baal, the god of nature.

The Canaanites believed that Baals dwelt in trees, springs, mountains and rocks.

They were local gods called “Baalim” in plural form.

When the word was used as the singular, “Baal”, it could refer to the Canaanites’ chief national god.

 

He was the storm god who brought winter rain with storms and lightning.

Therefore, he was also the god of fertility of the land.

Baal was often associated with Asherah, the goddess of sexual love and fertility.

Images of her naked with grossly accentuated sexual features were created.

Prostitution was associated with her as a religious rite in the service of her as a god.

The Israelites were warned of the great danger that they would be tempted to worship the gods of the Canaanites when they entered their Promised Land.

They did, at times, succumb and it even led them to burning their children in the fire.

So when Jezebel came to wed Ahab, the king of Israel, she brought her prophets with her.

While not forbidding the worship of Israel’s God she introduced Baal worship.

She promoted a compromise between true and false faiths, while claiming to be a true prophet.

Prophets and Persecution in the Church

The early church was often challenged by false prophets.

True prophets teach people to obey the God of the Bible and call for repentance.

False prophets lead people into a false sense of security when wandering away from God.

In Thyatira, it seems most went the way of the false prophet Jezebel.

Read Revelation 2:24

Note in this verse that the term “rest” belongs to a group of words describing what is often called “the remnant”—those who remain faithful to God amid false teachings and persecution, such as in the end time.

This is the first time the word appears in Revelation.

It is remarkable to think that what happened at Thyatira was repeated in a larger scale in church history during the Middle Ages.

The larger numbers in the church at that time were led astray by the church leadership.

Science was also held back.

Many who did not conform were tortured and put to death.

Large numbers surrendered their conscience and went along with the trend.

But there were some who resisted and maintained a pure faith.

We will see more of them later on in Revelation.

In John’s day, those in Thyatira were told to hang in there—and keep their eyes on the reward (see Revelation 2:26–29).

Those who did will be given authority over the nations.

They will share in Christ’s reign.