The World Changing Word

 August 7 2022

Revelation 2:12-17

The Russian invasion of Ukraine shocked the world mostly because we have not seen such open aggression of one country against another in quite a long time especially in and around Europe. We have been blessed with life in a world where wars and disputes had quieted down for a while and we were lulled into a false sense of security. What is forgotten by living in a country where a change of leadership happens rather peacefully is that throughout history a change in a countries rule has often happened through violence often involving military action. Either such eruptions of upheaval occur from within a countries political parties or, as in the case of the Ukraine, from outside powers seeking to dominate another country, forcing them to comply with a new form of government. Living in our world we know that such actions can be expected from time to time, the struggle for power can and does happen through violent and military means. Today’s weapons are tanks and drones but in the past such campaigns happened through hordes of riders yielding swords. Through the sharp blade of swords, governments were toppled and new regimes put in their place. This is the imagery that we must not let slip our minds when we are told in todays scripture from the book of Revelation that the message to Pergamum comes to them from the one who has the sharp two-edged sword. Thus the message is to be understood that it is coming to them from a warrior who is bringing about a change, a thorough upheaval of our world, a new king is coming to rule. Yet, this change is coming about in a totally new way because what we are told later in this message to the church at Pergamum is that the sword that is being yielded is the sword of his mouth. This is the weapon by which the war will be waged which we must admit, is almost beyond our imaginations.

This message to the church at Pergamum found here in the book of Revelation insists that we consider just what does it mean that words are the weapon through which a new king will come to power. Sure we like to quote the saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword”, but do we really believe that this is true? Can we truly hold on to this idea that the rule and reign of God becomes a reality through the words that are spoken by the one who is the very ruler of the kings of earth? This is what we are asked to consider as we listen in to what the risen Christ has to say to the church at Pergamum. 

As Christ speaks to each church he always begins by stating first what the church is doing well. To the church at Pergamum, he tells them that he knows where they dwell, and that place where they call home is located is the same place where, we are told, the very throne of Satan. Well, as they say, there goes the neighborhood. When we hear this said about Pergamum we are left wondering just what is the living Christ attempting to tell us by stating that here is where Satan rules? What isn’t hard to figure out is that there seems to be a connection between Christ being a sharp two edged sword and knowing that where you dwell is at the very heart of enemy territory. When we also understand that the sharp two edged sword yielded by the living Christ is the very word proceeding from his mouth and, as Jesus teaches us in the eighth chapter of the gospel of John, Satan lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies, we again find another connection, this time in words, words either speaking the truth or words which speak falsehoods. In both cases, what is known is that rule and reign happens through words, either through proclaiming the truth or through the speaking of lies.

Now, to better understand just what is the truth proclaimed by the living Christ we must go back to the origins of this saying that the words of his mouth are a two-edged sword. The place where this unusual saying is first heard is the forty-ninth chapter of the book of Isaiah. There the prophet Isaiah writes the words spoken by one called the Servant, who tells us that “Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. He said to me,”My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” Now, this does not tell us much except that this servant is one whose words will be like a sharp sword and through him the victory will be won and God will be glorified. To better understand what Isaiah has written, we need to go back to something that Isaiah had written previously in the eleventh chapter where Isaiah writes about the coming king out of the lineage of David, the one upon whom the Spirit of the Lord will dwell, the one whose delight is the fear of the Lord. This one, Isaiah states, this is the one who will not “judge by what his eyes see, nor will he decide disputes by what his ears hear but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and he will decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.” This coming king who is anointed by the Holy Spirit, he is the one, we are told by Isaiah, who will speak with righteousness on behalf of those who are poor. This coming ruler will bring those who are lowly, those who get trampled on by those in power, and bring them up to stand on equal footing with the rest of humanity. This new reality is one that he will bring about through what he speaks, the words that this anointed one of God will say are words which will shake the very foundations of the world. Through his words he will announce the end of the rule of those who refuse to let go of their evil ways. This then is the truth, and as the truth it then must be received with faith, trusting that this is the very reality that is being brought into existence by God’s anointed king.

Now, if we know this to be the truth then it just figures that the lies that Satan spews forth are going to be opposed to what Christ proclaims. This is exactly what we discover in the gospel accounts. Jesus in the first days of his earthly ministry was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tested by Satan. As we read in the fourth chapter of Matthew, we read of how Satan took Jesus up to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. All this could be handed over to Jesus if he would just fall down and worship Satan. Jesus, of course refuted this lie by stating that it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” We have to keep this exchange between Jesus and Satan in mind in order to understand what Jesus teaches us in the sixteenth chapter of Matthew where he tells his disciples, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeit their soul?Or what shall a person give in return for their soul?” This is the lie of Satan that we are able to pursue a life of gaining as much of the world for ourselves and believe that in doing so we will not have to pay with our very life. You see, the only way, to save our life is to give our life in the worship and service of God, for this is the way of the cross.

So, the truth that Jesus proclaims is that we are to worship and serve God with all that we have knowing that this means that we follow the way of poverty and meekness. Yet this is the way of life for we will not be forgotten by Jesus the righteous Judge. As we are told in the fifth chapter of the gospel of John, “the Father has given Jesus the authority to execute judgment because Jesus is the Son of Man. The hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” Those who have done good are those who have used all that God has given to them, their abundance, their will and their life to serve God as he overcomes the evil of this world, these are the ones who receive the resurrection of life. In this way Jesus overcomes the evil which controls our world through his word, his promise that he will be the faithful and righteous Judge who will give resurrection life to those who do good. This promise is true because Jesus himself is the first fruits of those who have been raised from the dead.

This truth of Jesus is what the church at Pergamum believed in for as we are told, they did not deny their faith in the risen Christ even as they watched one of their own be killed as he gave witness to his risen Lord. Yet, even though they understood themselves to be priests to God, bearing his name faithfully out into the world there was something amiss in their life as a church. What should shock us is that even though Pergamum is where Satan dwells, the risen Christ tells us that when he comes he will not be coming to war against Satan, no he will be coming to wage war against the church at Pergamum if they do not repent. This should make us wonder just what is it that has angered Christ to this degree? Well, as Christ told them, there were those in their fellowship who,  “held to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.” The risen Christ is here referring to a story that is recorded in the twenty-second through the twenty-fifth chapters of the book of Numbers. As the people of Israel traveled through the wilderness the people in the surrounding areas began to be afraid of them because of their victories over their enemies that they had won through the power of God. The king of Moab whose name was Balak, was filled with dread as he watched as the people of Israel were fast approaching his country so he sent for a man named Balaam, who was known for his ability to place curses on people. As Balaam set forth to go back with the people from Moab, God spoke to him and told him that he should not go with these people from Moab . Balaam was not to curse the people of Israel because they had been blessed by God. So, Balak sent more people and more riches to persuade Balaam to curse the Israelites but alas Balaam was constrained by God so that no matter what all Balaam could do is to bless God’s people. Three times Balak called Balaam to curse the people of Israel and three times all Balaam could do is to pronounce a blessing over them. So, what was Balak to do? Well, since he couldn’t curse them he would make the people of God forget the blessing of God that had been given to them. Balak used the daughters of Moab to intice the men of Israel to listen to the lust of their desires instead of listening to the voice of God. Then as they became ensnared by their desires they were invited to eat with the people of Moab as they ate the sacrifices to their gods. In this way, Israel yoked themselves to the god called Baal. In this way, Balak finally succeeded to bring a curse upon the people of Israel.

This story, the risen Christ tells us, is what was in effect happening within the church at Pergamum. To get a better understanding about how the story of Balaam connects here we also need to know that when Jesus walked with his disciples here on earth, he taught them that they would be blessed with the kingdom of God if they would seek a life of poverty, not wealth. Jesus went on to teach that the ones who were hungry now would be blessed because they would be satisfied and blessed would be those who weep now because they would laugh. This is the life that Jesus assures us is blessed by God just as the people of Israel led a life that was blessed by God. Yet within this congregation at Pergamum were those who leading people astray so that as Balaam did with the people of Israel, those from this church at Pergamum would no longer be under the blessing of God. The issue at hand was that as the living Christ tells us is the eating of the food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality. When we hear this we are left wondering why would good followers of Jesus go searching for a place at an idol’s table? Well, we know from reading about this same issue in the writings of Paul, there was a temptation for the followers of Jesus to eat the excess of the meat sacrificed to idols because as they rationalized this decision these gods that had been sacrificed to weren’t really gods at all so why not eat the leftovers from what was to those who knew the one, true living God, nothing really at all to worry about? The problem is that those who were weak in the faith would find that when they visited these shrines of the idols they were drawn into the life and practices of those who worshipped those idols. In other words, they went for the food and stayed for the idol worship and immoral acts. 

Now, I think, once we know this, we have to ask just why are these good followers of Jesus even suggesting that people in their congregation do their shopping at the haunts of idols in the first place? I think that this question is the root of the problem that the living Christ is getting at. You see, I believe that what was happening at this church at Pergamum is that the poor who were a part of this congregation were the ones who were told that if they needed something to eat to go over to the idols shrines, there’s a lot of great food there at a great price. They were told to do this because the rest of the congregation knew that if the poor went and got their groceries at the shrines of idols then they wouldn’t have to share what they had with them. I believe this to be the case because the living Christ tells them that if they didn’t repent then he was going to come and war against them with the sword of his mouth. If this warring against them with the sword of his mouth means that he was going to come in righteousness and judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek and lowly then this can only mean that the poor and the meek are not being cared for by the followers of Christ. When they themselves did not care for the poor and the lowly, as they should have, then they allowed some of their members to be tempted by idolatry and immoral behavior. 

What the church at Pergamum did not understand is just what was at stake when they refused to share what they had with those in need within their congregation. You see, Christ defeated Satan upon the cross. The fear that drove people to try and gain the whole world to save their life was destroyed by the perfect love of Christ who offered himself up on the cross, the Judge who allowed himself to take on our judgment out of his great mercy for us. Christ did this for us so that we might never judge another unworthy to receive our mercy. The church at Pergamum which stood in the shadow of Satan’s domain was to demonstrate to all that the living Christ had defeated him because here were those who had been set free by the mercy of God so that they might show mercy to all. So, when they failed to care for the poor they called into question the very victory of the living Christ! No wonder he warned them that if they did not repent that he would come and war against them for if they refused the mercy of the Judge then all that would be left for them is for them to stand under his judgment. 

To this situation where the church was complicit in leading those in their midst to be tempted to worship idols, the risen Christ, proclaims, “Repent!”. They were to remember that to remain under the blessing of God then there’s must be a place where the hungry are satisfied. They were no longer to withhold what another had need of, offering mercy as their Judge had first offered them mercy when they were the poor and in need of God’s grace. In this way, they would declare that the word of the living Christ, his promise to judge with mercy for the poor has indeed defeated the rule and reign of Satan which still ensnares the souls of people. If the church at Pergamum and ourselves can show such mercy to the poor and hungry in our midst then we are told that we are truly conquerors, we have overcome the world. Ours will be the hidden manna, the Bread of life come down from heaven, given to us, the poor and meek, by the mercy of God, so that we might have everlasting life. On that day the living Christ will give us a new name because we have the certainty that we have born anew in him! Amen!