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tested in prison. Tested for what? Tested by whom? The enemy would throw them into prison to see if any of them would cave into the suffering. Ten days could be an allusion to Daniel 1:12–15 and the ten days of testing of Daniel and his friends.99 Or it could be a symbolic time period indicating a limited duration of suffering.100 Whatever the time period, probably a short, limited period of suffering, Jesus told them to be faithful even unto death, just as he was.

      If they proved faithful, they would be given the crown of life. The Greek word for crown is the same word for the name Stephen. Are they thus reminded of Stephen’s victory when he testified faithfully and was killed at the hands of the Jews? He was faithful even unto death. He saw Jesus standing in heaven to witness his sufferings. Jesus would witness the sufferings of the believers in Smyrna as well.

Death for the people was a real possibility. But those who overcame would not be injured from the second death. This is the final judgment about which John writes in Revelation 20. It is the Lake of Fire, into which the devil and the beast, and all the ungodly will be cast at the end of time. Jesus is so insistent about this that he used the double negative in the Greek, “You will no way go into the second death!”101 To him who overcomes go the spoils. And to the believer that remains faithful during times of persecution, the crown of life will be given, and he will be spared from judgment.

      Conclusion

      Life is difficult. Life is filled with trials. But the ultimate victory to come far outweighs any struggle, any trial we face. A student of mine asked me after class several years ago, “If a man holds a knife to my neck and asks me if I am a follower of Jesus, can I say “no” while still saying “yes” in my heart?” I answered him, “If you say ‘no’ that man will go away thinking your faith is weak and your Jesus is weak, and you will live regretting that denial. But if you say, ‘yes,’ and the man takes your life, you will go straight to your reward, and that man will leave you with the impression that the confession of Jesus is worth giving your life.” This student smiled, knowing what the right response should be, even though it is difficult.

      But the power of this perspective, Jesus’ perspective, not only allows us to endure the pain and suffering of today. It also impacts those who are watching us. Our wounds, our suffering, fulfills or completes the suffering of Christ in the eyes of the world.

96. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 91.

97. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 240.

98. Thomas and Macchia, Revelation, 95.

99. See Beale, The Book of Revelation, 242.

100. Thomas and Macchia, Revelation, 97. Ladd suggests that John is anticipating a localized persecution in Smyrna of short duration—Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John, 44.

101. See Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:4–5.

      Revelation 2:12–17

      Jesus’ Message to the Church in Pergamum

      Introduction

      For an American, and probably for many in Europe, there are not many smells as pleasing to the olfactory senses as the smell of fresh baked bread. The smell is so appealing that some realtors advise their customers to bake some bread while they are showing their home. The unsuspecting home buyer is subconsciously taken in by the hominess of the home and its smell. I love to go into a bakery and smell the fresh baked loaves, cakes, and muffins. Contrast this to the smell of a garbage dump—rotting fish, decaying fruit, old cheese and curdled milk. These smells are enough to make us sick. And they certainly are not smells we seek.

      It is interesting then, to wonder why we often are attracted spiritually to that which spiritually stinks, and we so often avoid the Heavenly Bread that is so much better for us. Jesus is the Bread of Life, as we read in John 6, and he offers himself to us. His fragrance is a pleasing aroma. But there are competing foods in the world that try to attract our attention. These foods are spoiled and rotten. They smell to God and should be distasteful to the people of God. We see an example of the difference between the rotten and healthy in Jesus’ message to the church in Pergamum.

      Exposition

Pergamum was a city located forty miles along the coast north of Smyrna and then ten miles inland east from the Aegean Sea. It was built on a cone-shaped hill about 1,000 feet high. The name Pergamum means “citadel.” It had a library with 200,000 volumes in it.102 Jesus is pictured as the One who has a sharp, double-edged sword coming out of his mouth. The sword throughout the book of Revelation is a symbol of divine judgment. As he came to the church in Pergamum as the Divine Judge, so he comes to us in our churches around the world. Jesus is the judge of the church but also of those who persecute the church. He will be, at the end of the ages, the One who judges the living and the dead. In 20:11–15 we see that the books will be opened at the final judgment. And we will be judged according to whether our names appear in the book of life. If they appear, there is no fear. If they do not appear, there is the eternal judgment of the lake of fire.

Jesus knew the situation of Pergamum, that they lived in a tough situation. They lived in a city where evil was very active. He even called it the place where Satan has his throne. The mention of Satan’s throne is a way of saying that this city is a center of Roman government and pagan religions. It was the first city in Asia Minor to build a temple to a Roman emperor, Augustus. The image of Satan’s throne may also come from a throne-like altar to Zeus on the hill behind Pergamum. It was also the host of several temples dedicated to Athene, Demeter, and Dionysius. There was also the cult of Asclepius, the god of healing.103 Mounce and Ladd both emphasis the prominence of Pergamum as the official cult center of emperor worship in Asia.104

In the midst of the satanic setting, the church members held fast to the name of Jesus. Or, in keeping with the opening illustration, they remained true in the midst of the garbage heap in which they lived. Jesus even named one as someone who died in his witness for Jesus. We are not sure who Antipas was other than a follower of Jesus who was a faithful witness even until death. His faithful witness is perhaps a reminder of Isaiah 43:10–12 where God declared, “You are my witnesses, declares the Lord.” In verse 13 Jesus says, “my faithful witness.”105 Antipas, and other faithful believers like him in Pergamum, chose to eat the good food of Christ rather than the garbage food of the world.

There were some in the church, however, who began to eat the garbage heap of rotten food, called sexual immorality and impurity. First, reference is made to Balaam, who in Numbers could not curse the Israelites but helped Balak gain an advantage over them by encouraging their people to inter-marry with the Israelites, thus leading them into adultery (see Numbers 22:5–25:3; 31:8, 16). Numbers 25:2–3 says, “The people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor: And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.” The sins of the people were eating food that had been sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality.106 Sexual immorality was not only spiritual (with other gods away from their marriage to God), but also fleshly. It would have been very prevalent in Pergamum, as it would have been common in other larger

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