Lenten Midweek III

Letters from Our Lord: To the Churches in Smyrna and Pergamum

Lenten Midweek III

March 6, 2024

Text: Rev. 2:8-17

            This evening, we reflect the on letters to two congregations, as we will from here on in our midweek meditations.  Now, remember here the pattern of the letters, the components they have in common.  There are six of them we should consider.  First, what titles does Jesus use in introducing Himself, and what do the titles teach us about Him?  Second, what does Jesus know about the Church in terms of their struggle and their faithfulness?  For what does He commend them?  Third, for what does Jesus rebuke the Church, and how does that rebuke apply to the contemporary Church in general, and to us in particular?  Fourth, the call to repentance… which always applies to us!  Fifth, the Promise to those who remain faithful… which also always applies to us.  And sixth, the exhortation to hear… that is, to hear in faith… what the Spirit says to the Churches… and, in fact, the giving of ears to hear.

            “To the angel of the Church in Smyrna… To the angel of the Church in Pergamum” (Rev. 2:8, 12; ESV).  Write, dear John, on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Lord identifies Himself as the First and the Last, as the One who died and came to life (v. 8).  He is the First because, by His death and resurrection, He is the cause of our Christian faith and life.  And He is the Last because, on account of His death and resurrection, He is the goal of our Christian faith and life.  And He is, as He says to the Church in Pergamum, the One who speaks with a sharp two-edged sword (v. 12), His Word of Judgment, be it for salvation, or for damnation.

            What does He know about the congregations in Smyrna and Pergamum?  In Smyrna, He knows the tribulation and poverty and slander suffered by His Christians (v. 9).  There is this tremendous comfort about that, because our Lord Jesus knows our sufferings, not in such a way that He simply knows about them (is aware of them), but is with us in them.  Remember what He says to Saul (Paul) on the Damascus Road: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4).  When His Christians are persecuted, Christ Himself is persecuted.  And His suffering on the cross redeems and sanctifies our own suffering, and turns it for our own good, and the good of others (Rom. 8:28). 

            He knows the Smyrnaean Christians are suffering at the hands of those who say they are Jews, but are not (Rev. 2:9).  And that is a profound statement.  It is to say, Jews who reject the Lord Jesus as their Messiah are not really Jews.  Because they’ve missed the whole goal of Israel and the faith of God’s Old Testament people, salvation for all nations in the Messiah who has come, Jesus of Nazareth.  In rejecting Jesus, they become “a synagogue of Satan” (v. 9), reflecting what Jesus says to the Jews who reject Him in John 8, “You are of your father the devil” (v. 44).  It is a devastating statement. 

            Smyrna was also known as a center of the imperial cult and devotion to the Roman gods, thus the Jewish and Gentile unbelievers united to persecute the Christians of the city.  Just a few years after our text, St. Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, a disciple of John the Apostle, was burned at the stake and pierced with a spear for his faithful confession of Christ.  So this is real suffering.  Life and death stuff. 

            Yet, Jesus says, in spite of their suffering and poverty, they are rich (Rev. 2:9)!  Because they have Christ, and all the riches of the heavenly Kingdom.  Like the widow in our Holy Gospel (Mark 12:41-44).  Jesus and the disciples watched as the so-called “rich” put large sums into the offering box.  They gave of their abundance, God be praised.  But the widow put in all her money, all she had to live on.  How could she do it?  She knew she was rich in the Lord… that God would never forsake her.  She would always have all she needed.  And in the end, eternal life.  Jesus commends her for her faith.  Beloved, whatever we must suffer here, never forget: In Jesus, we are rich beyond measure.  The very Kingdom is ours.  And the Lord knows our sufferings.  He is with us in them.  He will never forsake us. 

            Of Pergamum, He knows they dwell where Satan’s throne is (v. 13).  Pergamum was once the capital city of Asia Minor, recently dethroned in favor of Ephesus, and so, once again, a center of the imperial cult… as well as the cults of Zeus, Athena, Dionysos, and Asklepios.  Jesus knows what His Christians have suffered at the hands of the pagans, including the martyrdom of our otherwise unknown to us brother, Antipas.  Jesus knows that, amid intense suffering, His Christians held fast.  They did not deny Him.  Jesus knows. 

            But He also knows the weakness of His Christians, and out of love, He addresses it.  He doesn’t have a rebuke for the Smyrnaeans.  But He does have this admonition: “Do not fear what you are about to suffer” (v. 10).  Some are about to be thrown into prison for a time (10 days in apocalyptic literature signifies a complete, but short amount of time).  There will be tribulation.  They will be tested.  Jesus knows the temptation will be to give way to fear, which easily results in apostasy.  We do well under such circumstances to remember the saying of the Lord: “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28).  Fear God, never men.  We should prepare ourselves for the possibility of such suffering, fearing loss of faith and salvation above all else, and trusting in Christ to grant us His Spirit, that we may endure. 

            Jesus does have a serious rebuke for Pergamum, though.  Some in the Church were holding to the teaching of Balaam.  You remember him?  The soothsayer hired by Balak to curse Israel in the Book of Numbers?  He knew he could only say what God had given him to say.  And God would only allow Balaam to bless Israel.  But Balaam also wanted the riches Balak offered him for the curse.  So what did Balaam do?  He advised the Moabites to lure the Israelite men into sexual immorality with their daughters, and the idolatrous worship of Baal (Num. 25).  Ah, there we have it again: sexual immorality and idolatry always go together.  And when the ruse was successful, Balaam would be paid.  He figured he could please both God and Balak. 

            So how were Christians in Pergamum imitating this sin?  They, also, thought they could have it both ways.  They thought they could both worship God and partake in the idolatrous worship and practices (including sexual immorality) of the pagans (it goes along well with the teaching of the Nicolaitans, right?  They appear again, here, as well).  They could maintain their membership in the Church and maintain the favor of the world. 

            Sound familiar?  We live in a pagan world, too.  We face this very temptation in our own day.  Many Christians, and many Churches in their official doctrinal positions, do this very thing.  They commit the sin of Balaam.  Compromise on abortion, for example.  Murder in the name of sexual freedom.  All the sexual perversions and the degrading of marriage.  Now, the chemical alteration and surgical mutilation of so-called gender transition, and all of that chaos.  For the worship of self.  For the worship of pleasure.  For the worship of Mammon, or government, or any other idol, whatever is not the one true God.  We must beware, beloved.  It is so tempting to avoid the suffering that faithfulness to Christ necessarily brings upon us.  It is so tempting to compromise, just a little, to maintain friendships, and economic advantages, and social status. 

            Repent, Jesus says.  “If you do not repent, I will come to you soon and war against them,” the unfaithful among you, who compromise (really, apostatize), “with the sword of my mouth” (v. 16).  We must all repent for all the little compromises we’ve made to accommodate the culture, our friends, our loved ones, who live in sexual and idolatrous rebellion.  For our failure to speak the truth in love.  For our fear of man, rather than of God. 

            And hold fast to Christ!  Who holds fast to us.  “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (v. 10).  “The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death” (v. 11), that is, eternal condemnation in hell.  In fact, “To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna,” the very body of the Lord Jesus, the Bread of Life, hidden under the bread of the Sacrament, along with His redeeming and cleansing blood, “and a white stone,” like the white stone of acquittal cast by the judges in Roman criminal cases, “with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it” (v. 17).  But you know it.  It is the Name given to you in Holy Baptism, the Name Jesus bears and reveals: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

            Hold fast to Christ, who holds fast to you, and the crown, and the manna, the declaration of innocence, and God’s own Name will be given you.  Our suffering lasts only a little while.  As it happens, none of us here tonight have so far suffered as these Christians have.  Though we pray for our brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world who do.  And we know we must be ready, should it ever happen here.  The Holy Spirit has preserved these letters from Jesus to His Christians for this very purpose, that we be faithful unto death… that we conquer.  Therefore, “He who has an ear,” and you do, because God has given you bodily ears and the spiritual ears of faith, “let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (vv. 11, 17).  Hear, beloved, what the Spirit says to you: The saving and life-giving Word of Jesus Christ.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.