To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of the One who has the sharp, double-edged sword.
I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held on to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. In the same way, some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“These are the words of the One who has the sharp, double-edged sword.”
As we saw in the letter to Ephesus (Rev.1:16), in John’s interactive vision, he sees the Lord in His glorified state and refers to a “sharp double edged sword” coming out of His mouth. As I have continued proclaim, the book of Revelation should be read in the literal sense unless a symbolic, figurative or metaphoric interpretation is obviously required.
In the Lord’s introduction to Pergamum, He refers to himself as the One who has the the sharp double-edged sword coming out of His mouth, which obviously should not be interpreted in the literal sense. Though John in his vision literally saw a double-edged sword coming out of the Lord’s mouth, it is meant to convey an idea to the reader, which we have already covered in reference to Ephesians 6:17 and Hebrews 4:12-13, which identifies the double-edged sword as figuratively representing the spoken word of God.
That said and as previously mentioned, in Rev.19:15 John again refers to the rider on the white horse as having a double-sword proceeding out of His mouth with which to strike down the nations, which takes place in verse 21 as those who are gathered being killed with that double-edged sword. The meaning is that, the Lord will speak to all those gathered and they will simply fall dead, their bodies then eaten by the birds that will have been gathered in 19:17, with their spirits/souls departing into Sheol/Hades.
Therefore, by Christ introducing himself as the “One who has the doube-edged sword” it is a warning to those people within Pergamum, who held to the teaching of Balam who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality, as well as to those who held to the practices of the Nicholatians, who were teaching and practicing the same as what Balam taught.
“Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth”
The reference to “I will come to you shortly” is referring to When the Lord returns to the earth to end the age as described in Rev.19:11-21. I underlined it, because we continue to come across those who in referring to the day of the Lord as “being near” or “must soon take place,” as being in close proximatitiy to the time that it was spoken, ergo 70 AD in support of their preterist view. However as we see here, the Lord’s reference to “I will come to you shortly” was written 1900 years ago and His return has yet to take place and will not take place until the the Lord returns to end the age, which is preceeded by the time of God’s wrath via the seals, trumpets and bowl judgments, which we will cover later in this study. It also demonstrates that though this letter was written to the church of Pergamum—they being dead and gone—the reference would also extend to that generation existing when the Lord returns to the earth to end the age where He kills those people with that double-eged sword who will have willfully continued in those practices previoulsy mentioned.
“I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held on to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells.”
“Where the thone of Satan sits, also referred to as “where Satan dwells” is obviously in reference to where Satan had his headquarters at the time John was receiving the information contained in the book of Revelation.
Not much is known about Antipas, other than he is mentioned as Christ’s faithful witness and was killed because of that faithfulness. I did find the following information in “GotQuestions.com.” As to whether or not the information is true is anyone’s guess.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One Christian in Pergamum named Antipas is mentioned as a “faithful witness.” Church tradition says that Antipas was a physician suspected of secretly propagating Christianity. The Aesculapians (members of the medical guild) accused Antipas of disloyalty to Caesar. Upon being condemned to death, Antipas was placed inside a copper bull, which was then heated over a fire until it was red-hot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What can be derived from what is said regarding Antipas, is that in the midst of severe opposition we as believers in Christ should also prepared to keep our testimony of Chirst and to uphold the word of God regardless of the opposing forces or circumstances even unto death.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.
There are two promises here to the overcomer, to the one who is victorious, which also extends to all believers and churches throughout the entire church period who are victorious.
“I will give the hidden manna”
Not sure exactly as to what the reference is regarding the hidden manna, whether being literal or figurative. However, the following is recorded in John 6:56 regarding Jesus referring to himself figuratively as the manna/bread that came down from heaven:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your fathers, who ate the manna and died, the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.”
Apparently, every believer who is victorious from the on-set of the church until the end, will receive a new name given by the Lord. One belief is the name on the stone as being the Lord’s new name. But that interpretation would make no sense because the scripture says that the new name would be known only to him who receives it. Therefore, if everyone received a white stone with Christ’s new name on it, then everyone would indeed know the name written on it.
It may be a new name encompassing the characteristics of each victorious person who receives it provided by the Lord. Otherwise, since this is the only mention of believers receiving a new name, there is no way of knowing the significance of this, other than believers are going to receive new names as an honor from the Lord.
On to Thyatira …………………
These are the words of the One who has the sharp, double-edged sword.
I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held on to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. In the same way, some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“These are the words of the One who has the sharp, double-edged sword.”
As we saw in the letter to Ephesus (Rev.1:16), in John’s interactive vision, he sees the Lord in His glorified state and refers to a “sharp double edged sword” coming out of His mouth. As I have continued proclaim, the book of Revelation should be read in the literal sense unless a symbolic, figurative or metaphoric interpretation is obviously required.
In the Lord’s introduction to Pergamum, He refers to himself as the One who has the the sharp double-edged sword coming out of His mouth, which obviously should not be interpreted in the literal sense. Though John in his vision literally saw a double-edged sword coming out of the Lord’s mouth, it is meant to convey an idea to the reader, which we have already covered in reference to Ephesians 6:17 and Hebrews 4:12-13, which identifies the double-edged sword as figuratively representing the spoken word of God.
That said and as previously mentioned, in Rev.19:15 John again refers to the rider on the white horse as having a double-sword proceeding out of His mouth with which to strike down the nations, which takes place in verse 21 as those who are gathered being killed with that double-edged sword. The meaning is that, the Lord will speak to all those gathered and they will simply fall dead, their bodies then eaten by the birds that will have been gathered in 19:17, with their spirits/souls departing into Sheol/Hades.
Therefore, by Christ introducing himself as the “One who has the doube-edged sword” it is a warning to those people within Pergamum, who held to the teaching of Balam who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality, as well as to those who held to the practices of the Nicholatians, who were teaching and practicing the same as what Balam taught.
“Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth”
The reference to “I will come to you shortly” is referring to When the Lord returns to the earth to end the age as described in Rev.19:11-21. I underlined it, because we continue to come across those who in referring to the day of the Lord as “being near” or “must soon take place,” as being in close proximatitiy to the time that it was spoken, ergo 70 AD in support of their preterist view. However as we see here, the Lord’s reference to “I will come to you shortly” was written 1900 years ago and His return has yet to take place and will not take place until the the Lord returns to end the age, which is preceeded by the time of God’s wrath via the seals, trumpets and bowl judgments, which we will cover later in this study. It also demonstrates that though this letter was written to the church of Pergamum—they being dead and gone—the reference would also extend to that generation existing when the Lord returns to the earth to end the age where He kills those people with that double-eged sword who will have willfully continued in those practices previoulsy mentioned.
“I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held on to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells.”
“Where the thone of Satan sits, also referred to as “where Satan dwells” is obviously in reference to where Satan had his headquarters at the time John was receiving the information contained in the book of Revelation.
Not much is known about Antipas, other than he is mentioned as Christ’s faithful witness and was killed because of that faithfulness. I did find the following information in “GotQuestions.com.” As to whether or not the information is true is anyone’s guess.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One Christian in Pergamum named Antipas is mentioned as a “faithful witness.” Church tradition says that Antipas was a physician suspected of secretly propagating Christianity. The Aesculapians (members of the medical guild) accused Antipas of disloyalty to Caesar. Upon being condemned to death, Antipas was placed inside a copper bull, which was then heated over a fire until it was red-hot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What can be derived from what is said regarding Antipas, is that in the midst of severe opposition we as believers in Christ should also prepared to keep our testimony of Chirst and to uphold the word of God regardless of the opposing forces or circumstances even unto death.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.
There are two promises here to the overcomer, to the one who is victorious, which also extends to all believers and churches throughout the entire church period who are victorious.
“I will give the hidden manna”
Not sure exactly as to what the reference is regarding the hidden manna, whether being literal or figurative. However, the following is recorded in John 6:56 regarding Jesus referring to himself figuratively as the manna/bread that came down from heaven:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your fathers, who ate the manna and died, the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.”
Apparently, every believer who is victorious from the on-set of the church until the end, will receive a new name given by the Lord. One belief is the name on the stone as being the Lord’s new name. But that interpretation would make no sense because the scripture says that the new name would be known only to him who receives it. Therefore, if everyone received a white stone with Christ’s new name on it, then everyone would indeed know the name written on it.
It may be a new name encompassing the characteristics of each victorious person who receives it provided by the Lord. Otherwise, since this is the only mention of believers receiving a new name, there is no way of knowing the significance of this, other than believers are going to receive new names as an honor from the Lord.
On to Thyatira …………………
