Revelation 2:12 - Meaning and Application

Here we should consider, first, the heading of this message.

It was sent to the angel of the church in Pergamos. We do not know for sure whether Pergamos was a city rebuilt from the ruins of old Troy, or some other city with the same name, and that detail does not matter. What matters is that Christ had called a true gospel church there and had formed it by the preaching of the gospel and the work of his Spirit, which made the word effective.

The message came from the same Jesus who is described as the one who has the sharp, two-edged sword (Revelation 1:16), the sword that comes from his mouth. Some have noticed that each title of Christ at the start of these letters fits the condition of the church being addressed. In the letter to Ephesus, for example, nothing could be more fitting for a sleepy and declining church than Christ speaking as the one who holds the stars in his hand and walks among the golden lampstands.

The church in Pergamos was surrounded by people with corrupt minds, who did all they could to spoil both the faith and the behavior of the church. Since Christ meant to fight against them with the sword of his word, he takes the title of the one who has the sharp, two-edged sword. The word of God is like a sword, a weapon for both attack and defense, and in God’s hand it can destroy both sin and sinners.

It is also a sharp sword. No heart is so hard that it cannot cut it. It can divide the soul from the spirit, meaning it can separate a person from sinful habits that, by long practice, seem almost part of them. It is a two-edged sword, cutting in every direction. The law has an edge against those who break its commands, and the gospel has an edge against those who despise its grace. It can wound, and it can also open a festering wound so that it may heal.

There is no way to escape this sword. If a person turns to the right, it cuts there. If a person turns to the left, it cuts there too. It turns every way.

Now we come to the message itself, and its pattern is much like the other letters. Christ first notices the trials and hardships this church faced. “I know your works, and where you dwell” (Revelation 2:13). God’s servants are best understood when we also consider the setting in which they served.

What made this church’s good works shine even more was the place where it stood, a place where Satan had his seat. As our great Lord notices every advantage we have for duty where we live, he also notices every temptation and discouragement that comes from where we live, and he makes gracious allowance for them. These believers lived where Satan held court, as it were. Satan’s reach is over the whole world, but in some places he is especially known for wickedness, false teaching, and cruelty.

Some think the Roman governor in this city was a fierce enemy of Christians. If so, the seat of persecution was also Satan’s seat.

Christ then praises their firmness. “You hold fast my name, and have not denied my faith.” These two sayings mean much the same thing, though the first may describe the result and the second the cause. To hold fast Christ’s name means they were not ashamed to belong to him. They counted it their honor that his name was placed on them, as a wife bears her husband’s name. They held that fast as both their privilege and their glory.

Their faithfulness came from the grace of faith. They had not denied the great truths of the gospel, and so they had remained faithful. Our faith has a strong effect on our faithfulness. People who deny Christ’s faith may speak much about sincerity and loyalty to God and conscience, but it is rarely seen that those who let go of true faith keep their faithfulness in other things. Usually, where men shipwreck their faith, they also shipwreck a good conscience.

Christ also honors this church because of the times in which they lived. They had held firm even in the days when Antipas, Christ’s faithful martyr, was killed among them. We do not know for certain who Antipas was, or whether there is any special meaning in his name. What we do know is that he was a faithful disciple of Christ, that he suffered martyrdom for him, and that he sealed his faith with his blood in the very place where Satan lived. The other believers there knew it and saw it, yet they were not shaken or drawn away from their steady faith. This is mentioned as part of their honor.

Christ then rebukes them for their failures. “But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the teaching of Balaam” (Revelation 2:14), and those who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans, which Christ hates. Some were teaching that it was lawful to eat food offered to idols and that simple fornication was not sin. By a false worship, they led people into false living, just as Balaam led Israel into sin.

Notice three things. First, the uncleanness of the heart and the uncleanness of the body often go together. Corrupt teaching and corrupt worship often lead to corrupt conduct. Second, it is proper to name followers after the leaders of their false teaching, since that is the quickest way to show who is meant. Third, staying in fellowship with people who hold corrupt beliefs and practices displeases God, and it brings guilt and shame on the whole church. They become partakers in other people’s sins.

A church does not have the power to punish people with bodily penalties for heresy or immorality. But it does have the power to exclude such people from its fellowship. If it fails to do so, Christ, the head and ruler of the church, will be displeased with it.

Christ then calls them to repent. “Repent, or else I will come to you quickly” (Revelation 2:16). Repentance is a duty for saints as well as sinners, and it is a gospel duty. It is also a duty for churches and groups as well as for individual people. Those who sin together should repent together.

Christian communities should also repent of other people’s sins when they have shared in them, even if only by allowing them. When God comes to judge the corrupt members of a church, he also rebukes the church for letting such people remain in fellowship, and some of the storm falls on the whole body. No sword cuts as deeply, or brings a more deadly wound, as the sword of Christ’s mouth.

If God’s warnings are brought home to a sinner’s conscience, he will soon become a terror to himself. If those warnings are carried out, the sinner is cut off completely. God’s word will seize sinners sooner or later, either to show them their guilt or to bring them ruin.

Here the letter ends with its promise of great favor to those who overcome. They will eat the hidden manna, and they will receive the new name and the white stone, which no one knows except the one who receives it (Revelation 2:17).

The hidden manna means the inward help and comfort the Spirit of Christ gives to believers when they are in fellowship with him. It comes down from heaven into the soul from time to time to sustain it, and to let believers taste something of how saints and angels live in heaven. This joy is hidden from the rest of the world. An outsider cannot share it. It is stored up in Christ, the ark of the covenant, in the holy of holies.

The white stone, with a new name written on it, points to forgiveness of sin. In ancient courts, a white stone was given to the one who was found innocent, while a black stone was given to the one who was condemned. The new name is the name of adoption, because adopted people took the name of the family they were brought into. No one can fully read the proof of a person’s adoption except that person himself. Even he may not always see it clearly, but if he keeps on, he will have both the proof that he is a child of God and the inheritance that comes with it.