The city of Pergamum, modern-day Bergama, lies 64 km to the north of Smyrna and 24 km inland. Pergamum was a center of pagan religion in Asia. There was an immense altar to Zeus the savior. Athena, goddess of wisdom and victory, was the patroness of the city; and Dionysius, god of wine and merrymaking, was the patron of the royal dynasty. A shrine to Asklepios, the god of healing, featuring a complex of medicinal baths, lay at the base of the hill. It was also a place of imperial cult.
2:12
The risen Lord presents himself to the church in Pergamum by calling attention to the sharp two-edged sword issuing from his mouth, which manifests power and threatens judgment (2:16; see 19:15).
2:13
Jesus begins by acknowledging the difficult circumstances under which this church lives: You live where Satan’s throne is, . . . where Satan lives.
This is probably a reference to the massive altar of Zeus. The Greeks considered Zeus the king of the gods. Since Jews and Christians considered the pagan gods to be demons (see 1 Cor 10:20), it was natural for them to identify the king of these supposed deities with Satan.
Christ commends the Christians of Pergamum for remaining faithful, holding fast to his name and not denying their faith, which they would have done by burning incense to Zeus or to the emperor.
To refuse to participate in such worship was regarded as unpatriotic at best, treasonous at worst. These Christians were resisting social and legal pressure to engage in false worship despite the fact that one of their prominent members, Antipas, probably their bishop, was martyred. Jesus calls him his faithful witness, the same title ascribed to Jesus Christ in the opening greeting (1:5).
2:14–15
However, the risen Lord has a few things against them concerning the conduct of some members of the community. Jesus explains that some hold to the teaching of Balaam.
According to Num 25:1–2, during Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness, “the people profaned themselves by prostituting themselves with the Moabite women. These then invited the people to the sacrifices of their god, and the people ate of the sacrifices and bowed down to their god.” This immorality and idolatry provoked the Lord to strike Israel with a plague (Num 25:8–9).
Later Moses explains that the pagan prophet Balaam was responsible for proposing this strategy of seduction to Balak the Moabite king as the way to defeat the Israelites (Num 31:16).
Jesus further identifies the problem in the church in Pergamum as the teaching of [the] Nicolaitans, mentioned earlier, in 2:6. It is not a matter of their doctrine of God or of Christ but their moral teaching.
Christ compares it to the stumbling block that Balak used to undermine the Israelites’ relationship with God: to eat food sacrificed to idols and to play the harlot (literally, “practice immorality,”). To “play the harlot” here may refer either to actual sexual immorality or to participation in idolatrous rites, which the prophets often describe metaphorically as adultery (e.g., Ezek 16).
With the exception of actual adultery, sexual immorality, including prostitution, concubinage, and homosexual behavior, was common and accepted in Greco-Roman society. Ritual sexual acts and prostitution were associated with the worship of the goddess Aphrodite and other deities. Paul and other New Testament authors consistently teach against pagan sexual behaviours as incompatible with God’s law and Christian holiness (1 Cor 6:9–20; 1 Thess 4:3–8; 1 Pet 4:3–4).
Some scholars think that Nicolaitans taught that participation in the society’s pagan worship and sexual practices was acceptable, compromising Christian monotheism and sexual morality to accommodate the surrounding culture. Others think that they only advocated participation in pagan worship.
2:16 - see Num 31:8
But Christ rejects this accommodation and issues a solemn warning to the community: “Therefore, repent”.
Although the community is not denying the faith by its words (2:13), some of its members are denying the Lord by their deeds, and the whole church is called to account. The community is being summoned to maintain discipline, to uphold its standards in faith and morals.
As with Israel of old, the consequence of idolatry and immorality is divine judgment: “Otherwise, I will come to you . . . and wage war against them”. Christians who persist in idolatry and immorality will find themselves under assault by the divine warrior.
This judgment by the sword of my mouth will come “soon”, whether in this life, at the moment of death, or when Christ returns.
2:17
But to the victor—to whoever listens to what the Spirit is saying, repents, resists compromise, and holds to faith — Christ promises three things.
First, the hidden manna may allude to Jewish traditions that the Messiah will feed his people with manna when the new age begins. It is in clear contrast to the food of idol-meat offered by the Nicolaitans (vv. 14–15). The victors are promised a share in the future heavenly feast.
Speaking of manna also makes Christians think of the Eucharist. By promising hidden manna, Christ may be promising to faithful Christians the interior spiritual nourishment that the Eucharist contains.
Second, there will be a white “stone”, which probably alludes to the practice of giving stones as tickets of admission to feasts or other events. Thus the gift of a white stone symbolizes the victor’s admission to the messianic banquet, “the wedding feast of the Lamb” (19:9).
Finally, the new name known only to the recipient may refer to the believer’s new identity in Christ (see Isa 62:2; Rom 8:19, 23; 1 John 3:2). In biblical usage, giving a new name speaks of spiritual or moral transformation (e.g., Abraham, Jacob). Christians discover their true identity in Christ, an identity that will be fully revealed in the life to come (Col 3:3–4).
The commercial and manufacturing town of Thyatira was the least significant of the seven cities addressed by the book of Revelation. According to Acts 16:12–15, Lydia, a merchant of purple goods who was Paul’s first convert at Philippi, came from there. Thyatira was known for its trade guilds - the shoemakers, the makers and sellers of dyed cloth, and the bronze smiths. The guilds were centers of social and religious life, each having its own pagan gods as patrons. Apollo, the sun god and a son of Zeus, was the chief deity of the city.
2:18
Christ’s presentation of himself as the Son of God introduces a title not mentioned elsewhere in Revelation, but one well-suited to contradict the claims made for Apollo.
With his eyes “like a fiery flame” Christ sees to the heart of things (Jer 17:10). His feet “like polished brass” connote power. He is a judge whose very appearance threatens the wrongdoer and makes those who are complacent uneasy.
2:19
Jesus begins with an impressive commendation. The church of Thyatira possesses the virtues of love, faith, service, and endurance. Faith and love are praised in every book of the New Testament; hope finds its practical manifestation in endurance, the virtue most frequently commended in Revelation; service probably refers to works of charity toward the poorer members of the community. The members of this church are progressing in virtue: their last works are greater than the first.
2:20–23
Despite this excellent record, the risen Lord expresses dissatisfaction with the church of Thyatira because they tolerate a false teacher. This kind of tolerance is not a virtue.
Christ calls the false teacher Jezebel, a symbolic name that reveals the nature of her wrongdoing. Jezebel was the foreign wife of King Ahab, who promoted idolatry in Israel, the worship of the pagan god Baal (see 1 Kings 16:31–33; 21:25–26; 2 Kings 9:22).
This false teacher claims to speak for God; she calls herself a prophetess. However, she teaches and misleads . . . Christ’s servants, his people, to “practice sexual immorality” and to eat food sacrificed to idols. As in 2:14, it is not certain whether literal or metaphorical sexual immorality is meant. The teaching of Jezebel resembles the practice of the Nicolaitans described in the previous message to the church of Pergamum (2:14–15).
In the Gospels, Jesus issues the sternest warnings against whoever causes his “little ones” to sin (Matt 18:6). Here Christ says he has given her time to repent. Presumably she has been warned by a prophet or other church leader.
The goal of such action is the purity of the church as well as the restoration of the sinful church member (1 Cor 5:1–5, 11–13; Gal 6:1–2). God delays judgment because of his mercy, desiring all to reach repentance (Rom 2:4; 2 Pet 3:9).
But this woman refuses to repent, so judgment on her and her followers commences now. God’s judgment on grave sin can extend to physical sickness or even death (Acts 5:1–11; 1 Cor 5:5; 11:31–34; see vv. 22–23 below). But a way out of judgment stands open: through their repentance.
There is no escape, however, for those who listening to her teaching persist in wrongdoing: “I will . . . put her children to death”. The future tense leaves unclear whether this refers to physical death or final condemnation.
The physical illness or other distress that is about to strike this woman and her followers will demonstrate to all the churches that Jesus is the all-knowing judge. It also demonstrates that Christ is the searcher of hearts and minds, that our conduct matters, and that each person will receive what his or her works deserve.
2:24–25
But Christ distinguishes between the innocent and the guilty. From those who do not uphold the false teaching of Jezebel, Christ does not require anything more of them than that they hold fast to what they have - probably referring to the teaching they have already received.
Faithfulness to the original gospel and avoidance of novel teaching that leads in another direction are a consistent New Testament theme (2 Tim 2:14; 1 John 2:24; Jude 3).
Christ refers to Jezebel’s knowledge as the deep things of Satan, indicating that the actual source of her “deep”, false teaching is Satan.
2:26–29
As in the other messages to churches, Jesus promises final reward to the victor, those who remain faithful till the end. Here the promise is a share in the Messiah’s authority over the nations, in the same way it is prophesied in Ps 2:9 LXX — “You shall rule them with a rod of iron” — and is applied to Jesus in Rev 12:5 and 19:15.
But it is also a reference to Daniel 7:18, 22 - where “the saints of the Most High” are given dominion that replaces the evil world empires. This came to be understood in early Christianity as a reference to God’s future rule through his Messiah and his redeemed people (Matt 19:28; 1 Cor 6:2–3; 2 Tim 2:12; Heb 2:5–9; see also Wis 3:7–8).
In his resurrection and exaltation, Christ has already been installed in the position of greatest authority in God’s presence in heaven. The full establishment of that authority on earth will take place at his second coming (Rev 19:11–21). The governing role that the saints will exercise in that future realm will take place only because of their relationship to Christ who will wield his scepter as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (19:15–19).
Then the risen Lord adds that he will give the morning star. It is the last and brightest star (actually, the planet Venus) to be seen in the morning and the first star to be seen at night.
Revelation 22:16 tells us that Christ himself is “the bright morning star”. Numbers 24:17 have a reference to the Messiah’s rising like a “star” to draw the nations to the dawn of God’s full salvation (see also Isa 60:1–3; 2 Pet 1:19).
Thus, to give the victor "the morning star” is a promise that the faithful Christian will share in God’s complete redemption in Christ, who is “the bright morning star” (22:16).