The famous deceased American literary John Updike wrote: “Is sex like money?Is it too much?” But modern Americans aren’t the only ones obsessed with sex; possessed the spirit of men for millennia (like many rupestural paintings clearly show).
The same can be said of the third church to which the Revelation of St. John refers: Pergamon was like Brasilia in Asia; it was the seat of the Roman government in the province and the center of imperial worship; it was the first city to erect a temple for Caesar Augustus (as well as for Zeus and the snake god Esculape) and, like some areas of the church today, the people of the Church of Pergamon had succumbed to idolatry and was obsessed with sex (which often comes from the side hand).
- However.
- Things were not bad.
- John foreshadows the letter of the Messiah and the resurrected king in this way: “Does the one with the double-edged sword say?(Revelation 2.
- 12).
- Which refers to the true words of Christ condemning all who deny the truth.
- Is there a war for truth in the Apocalypse that is often fought with words?Which is not surprising.
- As the Word is fighting this battle.
Does Christ praise the Church of Pergamos for its fidelity? Even in the face of the apparently unusual incident of physical violence against a certain Antipas, of which nothing else is known. He receives final approval: “My faithful testimony? (V. 13) The same praise is used on Jesus himself in chapter 1, verse 5. Did Antipas also die as a martyr at the hands of the imperialists?
“Do I know where you live?” Christ Jesus said, “Where is the throne of Satan?(v. 13). How appropriate it is for the Lord of all things to despise the imperial majesty of Rome in this way. Caesar, who dared to accept from the people the cries that greeted him as a soter (savior), in gratitude for saving Rome from internal and external disputes, was worshipped in this city. But there is another king, that is, Jesus, and only he is worthy of the kind of praise offered in the temples of Augustus, Trajan, or Hadrian. The throne of Satan then directly opposes the celestial throne in the great battle for the lordship of this world, which is described throughout the Revelation.
This battle continues today, though it is a little more subtle; Or is it really?Aren’t our presidential monuments going to the sea?Doesn’t the faith we give you as saviors go too far?We certainly know that Jesus is the Lord and they are not. In any case, thank God that, while refusing to worship Caesar in the first century probably meant death, refusing to worship our leaders and their mesianic complexes, at least today, is not the case. We have relative freedom, even if we use it to obsess over idols and sex, against what now becomes the third letter of Christ.
In Numbers 25:1-3 and 31:16, Balaam counsels King Balak to induce the Israelites to idolatry, encouraging them and the Moabite women to participate in the feasts of pagan sacrifices. Nicolaites (see also 2 Peter 2. 15). The name Balaam means “He destroys the people”; Nicholas means “He conquers the people”. It’s a very striking parallel.
Apparently, some confused Christians in Pergamon thought they could participate in pagan cultural festivals, which were an important part of the social and economic life of the time. Sexual immorality that was also tolerated in Pergamon, if not forbidden, may have been metaphorical. such as when God’s people entered idolatry (for example, Jeremiah 3. 7-9). But knowing the man, it was probably literal, too.
Unlike the idyllic feasts, Jesus promises mana, the food of God’s future feast. As in the allusion to Balaam and Balak, the new exodus is never out of perspective: Christ guides his people through the wilderness and will protect their rest on the way with the sword of their mouth (Revelation 2:16). Therefore, those who make no concessions to idols and sexual immorality will receive a “white stone”, which certifies the fact that they are a new creation in Christ and admits them to the mesianic faith. Feast of the Kingdom (v. 17).
Today there is no doubt that sex itself is a god and also that it is not only ‘there’. Is it here, in our churches and in our hearts. If we want to have Jesus as Lord in this area of our lives, we must be careful not to fall at one end or the other. We must be careful not to underestimate sexual intimacy, as if they were not one of God’s great gifts to humanity and, most likely these days, we must also be careful not to let ourselves be obsessed with sex, so as not to abandon ourselves to the obsession with our culture, as if everything it needs to be obeyed, which reduces sex to a question of fundamental human rights or machismo. We have to get to the point where we recognize the irony of Updike’s words: “Too much is too much. “
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This article is part of the “Churches of Revelation” series. See the list of articles on the topic:
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By: Chris Donato. © 2009 Ligonier. Original Ministries: The Letter to the Church of Pergamon.
This article is part of the May 2009 edition of Tabletalk magazine.
Translation: Vin-cius Silva Pimentel Review: REVISOR © 2014 Faithful Ministério All rights reserved. Website: MinisterioFiel. com. br: Vincius Musselman Pimentel.