The Revelation of Jesus Christ – Worship and Witness in a Winner-Takes-All World (5)
October 16, 2022Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
No community would be comfortable with someone coming to rebuke them with a gun placed prominently on the podium as they spoke. And for good reason. Only the Lamb who was slain for us has the right to come deliver such a rebuke. Indeed, in our text, Jesus has a large sword with great destructive capability coming from his mouth.
That sword sets the tone for the prophetic message Jesus has for the church in Pergamum (Rev. 2:12-17), and it is a discomfiting one. As we will see, this message is about a war of thrones: Christ’s and Satan’s. It raises questions about to whose throne the members of the church were bowing.
In this war, Satan and his beast make war against the saints, the people of God. It’s life and death. There have already been casualties as Antipas has been lost.
There are many who have remained faithful and loyal to Christ, but the tone is warning because this church, unlike Ephesus (2:2, 6), has tolerated the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Join us in worship as we explore the message from Christ to the church in Pergamum, and pray the Spirit gives us His message for us today.