REVELATION 2:12-17
“In the early Church to be a martyr and to be a witness were one and the same thing. Witness meant
so often martyrdom. An early Christian knew quite well what he was doing; as soon as he became a Chris-
tian he had made himself liable to death. Here is a rebuke to us. There are so many who are prepared to
demonstrate their Christianity in Christian circles, but who are equally prepared to play down their Chris-
tianity in circles where Christianity is met with ridicule, with contempt, with indifference or with opposi-
tion. The Christian must remember that the word martus means equally martyr and witness, and that
Christian witness can be, and often must be, a costly thing” (The Revelation of John, Vol.1, p.113f).

“But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge
you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake,
for a testimony against them and the Gentiles” (Mt.10:17-18).
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated
of all nations for my name’s sake” (Mt.24:9).
“But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering
you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my
name’s sake” (Lk.21:12).
“Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If
they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will
keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they
know not him that sent me” (Jn.15:20-21).
“They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth
you will think that he doeth God service” (Jn.16:2).
“For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to
suffer for his sake” (Ph.1:29).
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim.3:12).
“For consider him that endured such contradiction [hostility] of sinners against himself,
lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (Heb.12:3).
“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though
some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s
sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (1
Pt.4:12-13).

4
(2:14-15) Teaching, False—Balaam-ism—Nicolaitans: there is the complaint. The church was guilty of false doctrine
and of gross worldliness. Note two charges against the worldly church.
1. The worldly church is guilty of the doctrine of Balaam. What does this mean? It means that corruption and worldli-
ness are within the church itself; it means a mixture of religion and worldliness. Balac, the Moabite king reigning adjacent to
Palestine, feared Israel. To protect his kingdom, he sought the services of Balaam, a prophet, to curse Israel. When the king
first approached Balaam, Balaam refused. But he accepted the second offer. Three times Balaam cursed Israel, but with no
results. He then conceived an insidious plan. He would corrupt them. He suggested Moabite girls seduce Israel’s men to in-
termarry and lead them to worship their idolatrous gods (Num.22-25; cp. 31:16). The scheme worked. And Israel, though
rooted in God, became unequally yoked together with worldliness and was thereby corrupted.
Apparently what had happened in the Pergamos church was this: the church...
• had baptized some persons who had never repented and forsaken the ways of the world.
• had allowed some of the worldly to teach in the church.
• had allowed a mixed membership of believers and unbelievers: some were living separated lives of holiness
and sacrificial commitment for the cause of Christ, and others were living worldly lives seeking the
pleasures and possessions of this world.
The result was tragic: there were those within the church committing fornication, that is, all kinds of sexual sins; and there
were those participating in the drunken parties of the world, even to the point of participating in the feasts of idolatrous wor-
shippers.

“And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this unto-
ward generation” (Acts 2:40).
“But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a
fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one
no not to eat” (1 Cor.5:11).
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Cor.6:14).
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor.6:17-18).
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them”
(Eph.5:11).
“Now we comand you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw your-
selves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of
us” (2 Th.3:6).
“Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou
goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee” (Ex.34:12).
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