Int’l Training for Elders and Responsible Ones (Fall 2016)

RETURNING TO THE ORTHODOXY OF THE CHURCH

Message Four

The Church in Pergamos

Scripture Reading: Rev. 2:12-17

MR Hymns: 1273, 750

Outline

Day 1

I. In Greek Pergamos means “marriage,” implying union,and “fortified tower”—Rev. 2:12:

A. As a sign, the church in Pergamos prefigures the church that entered into a marriage union with the world and became a high fortified tower; these two meanings correspond to two of
the parables in Matthew 13—the parable of the great tree (vv.31-32) and the parable of the leaven (v. 33):

1. The great tree is the equivalent of the high tower, and the woman with the leaven is the equivalent of the apostate church, which has married the world.

2. In the eyes of God, degraded Christendom is an evil woman who has mixed worldly, demonic, pagan, and devilish things with the good things of Christ to produce an abominable mixture—v. 33; Rev. 17:1-6.

3. We must absolutely come out of this evil system and be separated to God, returning to the orthodoxy of the church so that the church can be a golden lampstand, having nothing to do with worldliness, idolatry, or Satan’s saturation—1:12.

4. When we are attacked and are undergoing persecution, we should not be discouraged, for that is a strong sign that we are on the right track and that we have not been distracted from following the Lord’s steps—cf. Heb. 6:19; 13:13.

5. Throughout the years we have been preserved by being persecuted; we have never received a good name, because Satan will not allow us to have a good name unless we enter into union with him.

6. “The history among us has been one of completely coming out of Christianity without compromise. It is a shame that some so-called co-workers among us have tried their best to compromise. They say that between the denominations and the local churches there is a gap, and they consider themselves as the bridge to bridge the gap. This was a suffering to Brother Nee, and today this is a suffering to me” (The History of the Church and the Local Churches, pp. 112-113).

Day 2

B. In Revelation 2:13a the Lord said of the church in Pergamos, “I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is”; Satan’s throne is in the world, the place where he dwells and the sphere of his reign; since the worldly church entered into union with the world, she dwells where Satan dwells.

C. Instead of dwelling where Satan dwells, we need to dwell in our spirit and in Christ, the One in whom Satan, the ruler of the world, has nothing (no ground, no chance, no hope, and no
possibility in anything)—Psa. 91:1; 2 Tim. 4:22; John 14:30.

D. Since the church is a spouse to Christ as a chaste bride (2 Cor. 11:2), her union with the world is considered spiritual fornication in the eyes of God:

1. Satan realized that persecuting the church did not work very well;therefore, being the subtle one, he changed his strategy from persecuting the church to welcoming her; this welcoming of the church by the Roman Empire ruined her, because it caused the church to become worldly.

Day 3

2. Worldly things are related to idol worship, for worldliness is always associated with idolatry; an idol in our heart is anything within us that we love more than the Lord and that replaces the Lord in our life—Ezek.14:3; 1 John 5:21.

3. Mammon also stands in opposition to God; many idols exist only because of mammon; “you cannot serve God and mammon”—Matt. 6:24.

4. The church must be a golden lampstand, the pure expression of the Triune God, and must have no connections with the world, but after the Roman Empire had made the church a worldly religion, she became altogether impure, worldly, and idolatrous.

E. In His epistle to Pergamos the Lord referred to “Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells”—Rev. 2:13b:

1. This faithful witness stood against all that the worldly church brought in and practiced; hence, he became a martyr of the Lord; to testify against the worldly church we need the spirit of martyrdom:

a. Witnesses are martyrs, those who bear a living testimony of the resurrected and ascended Christ in life—Acts 1:8.

b. We can be martyrs for the Lord physically, psychologically, or spiritually—2 Tim. 4:6; Rev. 12:11; Matt. 10:36; cf. 1 Cor. 16:12.

2. In Greek the word for martyr is the same as that for witness; Antipas, as a faithful witness, bore an anti-testimony, a testimony against anything that deviated from the testimony of Jesus.

3. It must have been through his anti-testimony that in his days the church in Pergamos still held fast the Lord’s name and did not deny the proper Christian faith—Rev. 2:13.

Day 4

II. The worldly and degraded church holds not only the teaching of Balaam but also the teaching of the Nicolaitans—vv. 14-15:

A. Balaam was a Gentile prophet who for wages enticed God’s people into fornication and idolatry; in the worldly church some began to teach such things (Num. 25:1-3; 31:16); idolatry always brings in fornication (Acts 15:29); when the worldly church disregarded the name, the person, of the Lord, she turned to idolatry, which issues in fornication.

B. The error of Balaam is the error of teaching wrong doctrine for reward, while knowing it to be contrary to the truth and against the people of God, and abusively using the influence of certain gifts to lead the people of God astray from the pure worship of the Lord to idolatrous worship; coveting for reward will cause the coveting ones to rush headlong into the error of
Balaam—Num. 22:7, 21; 31:16; Rev. 2:14; cf. 2 Kings 5:20-27.

C. The teaching of Balaam distracts believers from the person of Christ to idolatry and from the enjoyment of Christ to spiritual fornication,whereas the teaching of the Nicolaitans destroys the function of the believers as members of the Body of Christ; the former teaching
disregards the Head, and the latter destroys the Body; this is the subtle intention of the enemy in all religious teachings.

D. First, the Nicolaitans practiced the hierarchy in the initial church; then they taught it in the degraded church; today, in both Catholicism and Protestantism, this Nicolaitan hierarchy
prevails in both practice and teaching.

Day 5

III. “To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and to him I will give a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it”—Rev. 2:17:

A. We need to eat the hidden manna in order to be incorporated into the New Jerusalem as the tabernacle of God—Exo. 16:33-34; John 14:20; Rev. 21:2-3:

1. The manna preserved in the golden pot was the center of the tabernacle,God’s dwelling place in the Old Testament; likewise, the Christ whom we have eaten, digested, and assimilated is the center of our being as a part of the church, God’s dwelling place today—Heb. 9:3-4; 2 Tim. 4:22; Eph. 2:22.

2. Christ as the hidden manna is the center of the tabernacle; the hidden manna is in the golden pot; the golden pot is in the Ark, made of acacia wood overlaid with gold; and this Ark is in the Holy of Holies.

3. Christ the Son as the hidden manna is in God the Father as the golden pot; God the Father is in Christ the Son as the Ark with His two natures,divinity and humanity; and Christ as the indwelling Spirit lives in our regenerated spirit as the reality of the Holy of Holies.

4. The Son is in the Father, we are in the Son, the Son is in us, and we are indwelt by the Spirit of reality; this is the incorporation of the processed God with the regenerated believers—John 14:16-20.

5. The way to be incorporated into the tabernacle is to eat the hidden manna;the more we eat Christ, the more we are incorporated into the New Jerusalem,the ultimate tabernacle of God, as a universal incorporation—6:57; Matt. 4:4.

6. We should not be joined to the world; we should be incorporated into the New Jerusalem by eating Christ as the hidden manna.

Day 6

B. Enjoying Christ as the hidden manna produces transformation:

1. The Lord promises the overcomer to eat of the hidden manna and to give him a white stone; this indicates that if we eat the hidden manna, we will be transformed into white stones for God’s building.

2. These stones will be justified and approved by the Lord, as indicated by the color white, but the worldly church will be condemned and rejected by Him.

3. God’s building, the building of the church, depends upon our transformation, and our transformation issues from the enjoyment of Christ as our life supply.

C. Every transformed believer as a white stone bears a new name,which no one knows except him who receives it:

1. Such a new name is the interpretation of the experience of the one being transformed; hence, only he himself knows the meaning of that name.

2. Revelation 2:17 is a word spoken by the Lord to us; we should not take it objectively but as our biography:

a. We can pray, “Lord, I agree with Your promise. From now on, I shall eat You in a hidden way and be transformed to become a stone for Your building.”

b. What a wonderful promise this is from the Lord; yes, the church may become worldly, but the Lord has promised that we may become a white stone for God’s building.