This week we will cover the Lord’s charge to the church at Pergamos and His promise to those who overcome their trials.

“Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it”...

         We continue our study of the church at Pergamos (meaning “elevated,” approximately. A.D. 323 - 538) This week, we will cover the rest His complaint against this church, and also how it applies to us.

“But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. 

“Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate” (Revelation 2:14-15...

         The church at Pergamos is commended by the Lord for being faithful even in the days of Antipas, whom the Lord called His “faithful witness.” That this is linked to “Satan’s throne” is no accident. Paul wrote in II Thessalonians 2:3-4:

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,

who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of...

         Continuing our study of the Lord’s word to the church at Pergamos, the Lord acknowledged that this church dwelt at the place of “Satan’s throne.” Pergamos had a literal altar to the god Baal called “Satan’s throne.” In the 1930s, German archeologists excavated this altar and moved it to Berlin where it still resides in the Pergamon Museum. Interestingly, the Nazis came to power in Germany the same year this altar was moved to Berlin, and many Christians there do not consider this a coincidence. Understanding this altar can help us understand a major power that Satan uses.

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         The next church the Lord addresses is the church at Pergamos. Theologians and Bible scholars viewing this as a revelation to the entire church age generally view this as a word to the church from approximately A.D. 323 to 538.

"And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, 'These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: 

"I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr,...