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For the past two
weeks we have been looking at the Book of Revelation. So far we have
only covered the introduction so we have been going rather slowly and if
we continue at the same rate we will need a whole year of talks just on
Revelation. Thus from today we will pick up the pace and give a quick
summery of each chapter and events. So continuing from where we left off
from last week we enter properly into the epistle because the Book of
Revelation is actually a letter to seven churches in Asia Minor.
John says:
"I John... was in the isle that is called Patmos,
for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." Here
John is telling us that he was exiled to Patmos because he preached the
word of God, because he witnessed to Jesus Christ. He continues:
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard
behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega,
the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send
it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto
Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto
Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea."
The voice
reveals who he is; he is the alpha and the omega, the first and the
last. This tells us that it is God because the alpha and the omega does
not exist in any creation, in any human being; it is an attribute only
of God. Alpha and Omega means the commencement of everything created;
the commencement of the entire creation thus what the voice is really
saying is I am Lord of space and time. But God is also outside of the
Alpha and the Omega. The Alpha and Omega exists in God. Alpha is the
beginning and likewise John began his Gospel telling us
"In the beginning was the Word." But he is
also the Omega; he can if he chooses bring his creation to an end; he
can bring it back to zero. Everything exists and is contained in Him.
Creation has a beginning and an end. Thus, the Alpha and Omega are in
God and God is the Lord of time and space.
John turns
around to see the voice that spake unto him and he saw seven golden
candlesticks; "And in the midst of the seven
candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down
to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and
his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a
flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a
furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters."
The seven
candlesticks represent the seven Churches in Asia. When we say churches
we do not mean church buildings, but episcopates or metropolises, in
other words cities or areas supervised under a bishop. I mentioned last
week that the seven churches mentioned were real churches, real
historical churches but also these churches are referred to as seven
different realities or representative types of the one, holy, catholic,
and apostolic Church through the ages. Christ also probably picked out
these churches because John's mission was in Asia Minor, he was based in
Ephesus and before being exiled to Patmos, these churches were under his
spiritual guidance.
In the midst
of these seven candlesticks John saw one like unto the Son of man. One
like unto the Son of man refers to Christ's humanity, but by using the
word "like" John is telling us that there was something above the human,
something supernatural and this was because Christ is not only human, he
is God and man. He was clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt
about the paps - that is the chest - with a golden girdle. This is not
just any garment; it is the vestment of the Archpriest of the Old
Testament which was held together with a golden belt around the chest.
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow. This is
the same person that Daniel saw in his vision: the Ancient of days.
Daniel says: "I beheld till the thrones were cast
down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like the pure wool." (Daniel 7:9) God is
ageless, he lives outside of time, but his appearance as the Ancient of
days reveals that he is more ancient that the creation of the world.
"And
his eyes were as a flame of fire." How are
we to imagine this? It must be a frightful image and John was indeed
frightened by what he saw. In the Old Testament Book - Wisdom of Sirach,
it says that the eyes of the Lord are tens of thousand of times brighter
that the sun. (23:19) By this the word of God wants to tell us that God
sees everything, he is all-knowing. Nothing escapes his attention, he is
in the midst of the seven churches, thus he is not ignorant of what is
happening to his church, he is always there watching. But the eyes of
flaming fire also signify that God is a consuming fire, a fire that
becomes a flame of illumination for the saints, it shines light on them,
but the same flame burns the infidels and the unrepentant sinners and
the godless. In reality this is the divine glory or energy which reaches
the Kingdom of God as pure light. It envelopes the place of the saints
and illumines them and grants them all the gifts of God.
"And
his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace."
In Greek fine brass is called χαλκολίβανο
which is in fact a mixture of gold and silver. Most metals when they are
put under a burning torch glow when they are melting hot, but not like
gold and silver. Gold and silver become brilliant, they shine like the
sun; this is how the feet of the Lord were. This description shows the
brilliance and stability and might of the feet of the Lord. The two
metals gold and silver also show the two natures of Christ, the divine
and the human.
"And
his voice as the sound of many waters." The
sound of many waters. What is this sound? In Cyprus we don't have the
opportunity to hear what this sounds like, but if anyone has visited the
Niagara Falls, it is said that the sound of the fall can be heard from
miles away. So here it is saying that the voice of the Lord was very
impressive, it expresses the grandeur of the voice of Christ.
John
continues: "And he had in his right hand seven
stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his
countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him,
I fell at his feet as dead." Christ gives us the meaning of the
seven stars in the last verse of the first chapter. He says:
"The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest
in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are
the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou
sawest are the seven churches." By angels he does not mean the
heavenly angels, but the bishops of those cities he wants John to write
to.
"And
out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword."
The word of God is portrayed here as a two-edged sword. In Hebrews, St.
Paul uses the same image: "For the word of God is
quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
(Hebrews 4:12) Thus the word of God is awesome, It is characteristic of
the word of God to touch someone, for example, when the word of God is
preached to have someone in the audience to be touched in the depth of
their being. The word of God comes many times to cut and pierce the
soul, to cut up and break down a person, to extract mountains of
baggage, to cut through and reach the bone marrow. The two-edged sword
symbolizes the straight and fair judgement of Christ as the judge of the
universe.
"And
his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength."
This reminds us of the Transfiguration of
the Lord on Mount Tabor. In Matthew we read that Christ took with Him
Peter, James and John his brother and went up into a high mountain, and
was transfigured before them: "and his face did
shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light." (St.
Matth. 17:2). This light of the Transfiguration is the uncreated divine
light of God that proceeds from His inaccessible nature. John was an eye
witness of this event as he is also now a witness of the same divine
glory shining upon him from the same person standing in front of him. In
both cases the sight of the divine glory terrified John and as he says:
"I fell at his feet as dead."
Let us now
move on to the next chapter.
"Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; I
know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not
bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are
apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and
hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not
fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast
left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and
repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly,
and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent."
Christ says
to the bishop of Ephesus, I know thy works. He knows all things and sees
all things because as he says - he is in the midst of the Churches and
nothing escapes his attention. Christ begins by praising the bishop, by
praising his labour and patience. The bishop worked hard in preaching
the word of God and had great patience in dealing with heretics that
were undermining his work. He cannot bear those who are evil. These are
the people in his community that keep their evil ways while pretending
to be Christians and members of the Church. It should be noted that in
those days secularism, in other words a worldly spirit was not
acceptable within the church, the church and the world were separate. In
our days secularism has infiltrated the Church, people live by the
spirit of the world and simply fulfil there duties as Christians by
coming to church every so often. But the Bishop of Ephesus is very sharp
in the area of ethics and cannot bear to see unacceptable behaviour in
the church.
"And
thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast
found them liars." Here the bishop has
followed the exhortation of the Lord to test those that are to become
workers in the church. This is found in the Gospel of Matthew.
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know
them by their fruits." (Matth. 7:15-16) Christ praises the bishop
of Ephesus because he has tested those who were to become priests in his
area and by keeping a close eye and seeing their way of life, he
separated those who would be good apostles from those who if he allowed
to become priests would have caused great harm to the flock of the
church. But after praising the bishop's strong points he then says he
has something against him, because he has forgotten his first love and
if he doesn't repent, serious punishment will follow. The initial
burning love he had for Christ is cooling off. This is something that
happens to all of us and the epistles to the seven churches is aimed at
all the clergy and lay people of the entire church through the ages and
what we need to do is identify our weaknesses through the letters. Here
the Bishop directed all his energy in fighting the evil in his church
and in fighting heretics. He worked overtime to cleanse the church from
evil doers and this became the main preoccupation of the church of
Ephesus. But in the process something was overlooked; the love for the
Lord Jesus. This we often see even today among clergy and lay people. We
spend so much time defending ourselves against the teachings of other
churches and heretics or we spend our time correcting others, trying to
teach them the ways of the church that we forget our own spiritual life.
We forget our first love. This love is the enthusiasm, the zeal, the
burning of the heart, the worship of the Lord that we usually find in
the newcomers to the faith. I'm sure you have all seen a newcomer to the
faith; he comes to know Christ and is full of fire and enthusiasm, full
of tears at the word of God, full of sacrifice that takes over the soul.
But after when some years have passed, we see this first love, this fire
beginning to cool off, and what is left is a dry form of worship. His
life, like all of us, enters the mould of life's daily routine. There's
nothing worse that to reduce spiritual life to a routine and to keep
going through the motions. We may go to church everyday and listen to
the same Liturgy day in day out, but if our spiritual life does not
ascend then we are going nowhere, but round in circles. We only satisfy
our sense of duty but without any thirst or hunger for something more.
Thus the
Lord says: "Remember therefore from whence thou
art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto
thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except
thou repent." We therefore need to assess ourselves, to look into
our hearts and see why this first love has died and if possible find the
strength to rekindle it. And the only way back to the first love is
repentance, which is a return to the first works.
After warning the bishop of
his fallen state, Christ again praises him saying: "But
this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I
also hate." Who are these Nicolaitanes which Christ also hates?
They were Gnostic heretics who existed up to the third century by this
name, but have existed even to the present day under other names.
Gnosticism attempts to put into the same pot all religions. philosophy
and ideology of all times, taking a bit from each, but passing itself
off as Christian. They were classed as the worst kind of heretics,
because their interpretation of the Gospels was horrendous. The
Nicolaitanes were also antinomians; Nomos meaning the law and
antinomians being against the law. By law we mean God's spiritual laws
and ethics. The Antinomians had difficulty accepting the laws of
spiritual life, and especially the laws concerning carnal sins. They
were quite loose in this area saying that the law of God concerning
these things were unrealistic and impossible to apply especially the
abstinence or sexual control. For example young men and women are asked
to remain virgins until their marriage and then to remain monogamous.
The Nicolaitanes said we cannot accomplish this and thought "what is the
purpose of God's commandments?" Its purpose they said was to destroy the
flesh and to save the spirit. This of course is a distortion of the law.
When the church tells you to fast or abstain from something the purpose
is not to destroy the body, but to destroy the passions. But because
they thought it was their duty to destroy the body. They used a
different system which they considered was realistic and applicable; a
system not with the law but against the law – antinomia. As an
antinomian I will indulge, I will keep eating and drinking until I
burst, I will fornicate until I drop, and this is how I will destroy my
flesh. The flesh must be abused, the misuse and abuse of the body is a
must and by this method my spirit will enjoy happiness and become free.
Christ
finishes his message to the bishop of Ephesus saying:
"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of
the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."
Note that he doesn't say "hear what the Spirit says unto the church of
Ephesus," but "unto the churches" meaning his message is intended for
all the church and throughout the ages.
The next
epistle is to the bishop of Smyrna. He says:
"These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is
alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art
rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are
not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which
thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison,
that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou
faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that
overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."
In this
epistle Christ has only good things to say about the bishop of Smyrna.
He knows his works, the good works he are doing and he knows his
tribulation, his suffering for his name's sake. He knows his poverty but
thou art rich. Is this a contradiction? Can someone be poor and at the
same time rich? In Gospel terms poverty can be the hardship brought on
by lack of money resources or it can mean a humble heart. The first
beatitude in Matthew says: "Blessed are the poor
in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matth. 5:3)
This is usually interpreted as meaning blessed are those who meek and
humble, but not all the fathers interpret it in this way. It can be
interpreted as meaning blessed are they who of their own free will have
made themselves poor. Certainly the same beatitude in Luke does not
mention in the spirit, it simple says "Blessed be
ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God." (Luke 6:20) The
beatitude is referring to people who of their own free will have given
away all they had and followed Christ. If you remember the story of the
young man who asked Christ what he should do to have eternal life,
Christ told him: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and
sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure
in heaven: and come and follow me." (Matth. 19: 16-22) Here we
find the meaning of being poor and rich at the same time. If one makes
oneself poor for the sake of Christ, he will be rewarded with treasure
in heaven. The bishop of Smyrna must have done this. He gave all he had
to help the poor, and by his self imposed poverty he made himself rich
because he possessed Christ who provided him with all that he needed.
"And I
know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are
the synagogue of Satan." This is rather
strong language coming from Christ. If we were to call the Jews today
the synagogue of Satan we would be labelled as harsh, polemic,
fanatical, insensitive, a people of hate, a loveless people. In our
times with inter-religious talks we are expected to be godlier than God,
more lenient than God and more polite than God. But this is the language
of the Gospel, the language of Christ, and if we follow Christ,
shouldn't we also speak the same language and tone as Christ did when
dealing with heretics. He says they blaspheme when they call themselves
Jews and are the synagogue of Satan. These are the Jews who did not
accept Christ as the Messiah. The title Jew is a title of honour. Christ
himself was a Jew in his human nature and during his dialogue with the
Samaritan woman he said salvation will come from the Jews. Now Jew does
not mean all the Israelites, but only those who descended from the tribe
of Judah, from the royal line of which Christ came from. But the Jews
who did not accept Christ as the Messiah lost the right to call
themselves by this title, thus they blaspheme when they call themselves
Jews. The true Jew who believed in the prophets also believed in Christ.
These true Jews became the church, the true Synagogue and any Synagogue
outside of this true Synagogue does not belong to God, but to Satan.
Christ calls them the Synagogue of Satan because they became very
vindictive and full of hate towards the Christians. They had seen the
Church spreading, growing and taking over their lands, converting their
people and became full of jealousy.
I know I
said that I will pick up the pace of these talks on the Book of
revelation, but after listening to Archimandrite Athanasius and what he
has to say on this subject, I think it would be very beneficial for you
also to hear some of the things he has to say because there are issues
that are contemporary and will help you to interpret a number of events
that are unfolding in front of us. He says that Christ prophesied this
jealousy and hatred of the Jews towards the Christians and their nations
in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. When we preach about the Parable of
the Prodigal Son we always sympathise will the younger son who came to
his senses and repented and found his way back to the bosom of his
father. But we rarely analyse the psychology of the elder son. This
elder son represents the Jews who became very jealous when they saw the
younger son welcomed, praised and justified by the father. The prodigal
son represents the nations who distanced themselves from the true God
and were losing the salvation of their souls to sin and idolatry. And
now God calls the nations, the gentiles, something the Jews were not
ready or willing to accept within their communities. When St. Paul began
to speak to the Jews in Jerusalem they were willing to listen, but when
they heard him say that God sent him to the gentiles they became like
men possessed; they threw dirt in the air and rent their clothes and
demanded of the Roman centurion to kill him.
This psychology of
the elder son of the parable towards the younger son continues to work
itself out in history. We see this in the life of the apostles and
especially of St. Paul when he attempted to preach in the synagogues in
the various towns he visited. They were continually trying to kill him.
They were possessed with a murdering jealousy towards Christians. This
hatred and jealousy continued throughout history and to make things
worse they had to deal with their prolonged frustration that their
Messiah had not come. In order to deal with this frustration they
created the Zionist movement about 200 years ago which was an attempt to
take back their rights, punish the nations under whom they were humbled
and dispersed, and to hold their heads above these nations and dominate
them. This is a terrible reality and this is something very powerful, a
very dark power with many tentacles which has spread out and embraced
the entire world with the sole purpose to subdue and infiltrate the
Christian nations mainly. These are not myths, this is not
anti-Semitism, it is not being prejudice against the Hebrews; it is
international news which the United Nations brought to the surface in
1970. They have succeeded in fighting the Christians from within, to
turn the Christians against themselves. The Jews have infiltrated the
political system, the political engine of every country, and they
attempt to hold in their hands the economy of the nations, the stock
markets, the governments, the press and mass communications. It has been
proven that they control the news media. The greatest newspapers of the
world are in the hands of the Jews, and they offer the news exactly how
they want to. This is the way they lord over the nations and we can see
clearly in THE PROTOCOLS OF THE WISE MEN OF ZION, a book published at
the beginning of the last century which they have succeeded in fooling
people, at least in America that the book is an anti-Semitic myth. By
reading the contents of the book one can see that their objective and
their schemes against the nations have been fully revealed and met. The
original text was written in Russian in 1905 and is considered by many
as a true document of the Protocols, in other words, the minutes of a
secret meeting of the First Zionist Congress held at Basle, Switzerland
in 1897 under the presidency of the Father of Modern Zionism, Theodore
Herzl. The identities of those present are not known although they were
about 300 of whom it is said govern the fate of the European continent.
These are the learned or Wise men of Zion. Those interested in reading
the book describing the Jews satanic plans for world domination by
controlling the economy, education, religions, political leaders, wars,
the mass media and much more can download the book from the Internet.
Let's now
return to the Book of Revelation.
After saying that the Jews are the synagogue of Satan, Christ continues:
"Fear none of those things which thou shalt
suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye
may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Here Christ is
referring to a new tribulation, a new trial of persecution that some of
the Christians of Smyrna will suffer for ten days. This persecution is
being brewed by the devil but his immediate organs will be the Jews and
this is not surprising since Christ calls them the synagogue of Satan.
But the figurative number ten does not mean literally ten days. All
numbers in revelation and Scripture in general are figurative. The
Parable of the ten virgins for example does not mean that there were
only ten virgins. The number is a round figure which can be divided into
two equal groups of five. A round figure is used so that we do not start
playing around with percentages like 80% will be saved and the other 20%
will be lost. Likewise the 1000 year reign of Christ and the Church
mentioned in Revelation does not literally mean 1000 years as
interpreted by the Jehovah Witnesses and many Protestants, it is a
figurative number signifying a long time and it represents the time of
the Church, the time of the kingdom of God. The Church is already living
in this kingdom for as we say in the beginning of the Divine Liturgy:
"Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. The thousand years represents the period of time from the first
coming of Christ until the Second Coming of Christ. Likewise the ten
years signifies a short period of time. And indeed it was just a short
time.
The persecution
against Smyrna occurred in 155AD. during which the bishop of Smyrna, St.
Polycarp was martyred. So if the Book of Revelation was written in 95AD
there is a short period of 60 years between the prophecy and its
fulfilment. The martyrdom of St. Polycarp is well documented and is one
of the oldest accounts of martyrdom that we have. In it the biographer
says that the entire crowd of idolaters and Jews, living in the area of
Smyrna, overtaken by great anger, cried out with a loud voice wanting
Polycarp to be burnt alive and all this was incited by the Jews.
Polycarp was put into the fire, but the flames did not harm him and so
he was eventually beheaded with the sword. The Jews advised the
idolaters to not give the body to the Christians because they said they
would make a new Christ out of him. So they requested the body of St.
Polycarp so that they could dispose of it secretly.
The epistle
to the bishop of Smyrna ends similarly to the epistle to the bishop of
Ephesus: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches;" But Christ adds:
"He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the
second death." What is this second death? The first death is the
common physical death that we all have to go through, the biological
death, the separation of the soul from the body. The second death is the
eternal separation of man from God after the general resurrection. John
presents us with the meaning of this second death towards the end of the
Book of Revelation; he says: "But the fearful, and
unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and
sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the
lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."
(21:8) The Lord also makes this quite clear in the Gospel of
John: "Verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my
saying, he shall never see death." (8:51) He is not referring to
the first death because everyone will taste the first death, but those
who keep his sayings will not taste of the second death, but will pass
from death into everlasting life.
The third
epistle is to the Bishop of Pergamos. Christ says:
"To the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he
which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works, and where
thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my
name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas
was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that
hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock
before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and
to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of
the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto
thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth."
Pergamos was
situated north of Smyrna at about 8 kilometres distance. It was famous
for its material and spiritual wealth. At about the time of the writing
of the Book of revelation it was a centre of attraction for civil,
commercial and religious activities. Pergamos was the city in which the
world renowned special writing membrane was invented. This was a
modified leather substance commonly known as parchment or vellum on
which articles could be written. Pergamos came to compete with Egypt
which had the monopoly on papyrus. Parchment proved to be more durable
and cheaper than papyrus and was preferred by the early writers making
Pergamos a very wealthy city. Parchment also had the advantage of being
produced in pages of equal size and could be bound into a book.
Christ says
to the Bishop of Pergamos: "I know thy works, and
where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is." The citizens of
Pergamos worshiped the pagan god Zeus. In the centre of the city was a
300 metre hill and on the top of this hill was the grandest of altars of
the entire known world dedicated to Zeus, much like the Acropolis of
Athens. Along with Zeus, Augustus, the Caesar of Rome was also worshiped
as a god. The goddess Rome, that is the city of Rome was given a divine
dimension and every reigning Caesar was worshipped as a god. So in this
city there was not only widespread idol worship but also Caesar worship.
There is of cause a reason for this and this will explain why the
Christians were put to death. The reason was that of national unity.
That is why when the Christians denied to offer sacrifice to god Caesar,
they were accused of committing a crime of high treason. They were
declared to be atheists and consequently a crime of treason was a crime
of the highest degree. That is why the world of idolatry turned so
viciously against the Christians. There were other reasons as well but
this was the bottom line behind the fierce persecution against the
Christians.
In the midst of
this idolatrical environment, in a centre that worshipped Zeus and
Caesar, in a city full of idols, in a city which most likely housed the
government headquarters of the Roman governor of the entire Asia Minor,
in the midst of this city now the Church of Christ begins to sprout and
grow and move forward. That is why Christ says to the bishop of Pergamos,
I know where you live, even where Satan's seat is. And being surrounded
by these idol worshippers the bishop stood fast to his faith in Christ.
Christ said: "You hold fast to my name and has not
denied my faith even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful
martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth." Antipas
was a disciple of St. John and the first bishop of Pergamos. Tradition
says that through his presence in Pergamos, the demons began to scream
and protest and their voices began to be heard through the statues, the
idols and were heard by the idol worshippers saying that they were ready
to leave the city because Antipas was forcing them out. This infuriated
the idol worshippers and they took hold of Antipas and dragged him and
threw him into a red-hot copper bull, where usually they put the
sacrifices to the idols. Thus Antipas became a martyr for Christ in the
year 68AD.
But as we
saw previously with the letter to the bishop of Ephesus, after the
praises come the reprimands. Christ says: "But I
have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold
the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before
the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to
commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the
Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee
quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth."
It seems that within the Christian community there were some priests who
were influenced by the idol worshippers and some who held to the
doctrine of the Nicolaitanes of which we saw earlier.
The doctrine of
Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of
Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication
is from the Old Testament. After the children of Israel had left Egypt
and just before entering the Promised land they had camped outside of
the kingdom of the Moabites whose king was Balac. When Balac saw the
Israelites he became very concerned, but seeing that they were about two
million, he didn't dare go out to war against them. He had heard of a
famous magician in Mesopotamia called Balaam and sent messengers to ask
him to come and put a curse on the Israelites in exchange for great
wealth. Balaam was warned of God not to go but after the king kept
insisting he eventually took the journey. The king took him to a high
place where he could see the Israelites and asked him to put a curse on
them that they might leave his boundaries. Balaam told him that he would
sacrifice, but he will only say what God will say to him. As he prepared
for the sacrifice Balaam began to praise the Israelites. This infuriated
the king but Balaam reminded him that he could only say what he was
instructed to say from the God of the Israelites. The king took him to
another place to repeat the sacrifice, but again he began to praise and
bless the Israelites. After the third attempt the king was so angry that
he told Balaam to depart without payment. What could Balaam do he wanted
the money, but God would not allow him to say anything against the
Israelites. He went back to the king and thinking that God might not
hear him he whispered to the king that he had a plan that would get rid
of the Israelites. He told him that if he managed to get them to
sacrifice to another god and if they fornicated, which their God
despised, their God would become angry and leave them and that way they
could be defeated. A truly demonic advise from the servant of the devil.
So the Moabites organized a great feast and invited the young
Israelites. At this feast the Moabite women dressed to seduce succeeded
in fornicating with the young men and under the influence of the feast,
they sacrificed to the Moabite gods and ate the meats sacrificed to
these idols. God was indeed angry with the Israelites and demanded Moses
to order the death of all those that took part in the sacrifice which
numbered 24, 000. So Balaam knew what he was saying when he advised
Balac to get them to sin.
Now the
Nicolaitanes were doing the same thing in the Church. The same old sins
of sexual immorality and idolatry. What is significant and interesting
is that the name Balaam in Hebrew means Nicholaos and it is not by
accident that these heretics were called Nicolaitanes. Nicholaos has two
meanings; the first meaning the victory of the people and the second as
he who is victorious over the people. So Nicholaos with the second
meaning is the one who defeats and destroys the people.
Christ ends
the epistle to the bishop of Pergamos saying: "He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will
give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no
man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."
We do not have time to look at these properly but very quickly Christ
uses the image of hidden manna because he has already made reference to
the Israelites in the wilderness who ate manna, but also because they
ate of polluted foods offered to the idols. But here he says that to him
that overcomes this temptation will I give to eat of the hidden manna.
The hidden manna is Christ himself. In the Gospels he says; "I
am the true manna that came down from heaven" The true manna is
his body that we receive during the Divine Liturgy.
The image of the
white stone is this. The ancient Greeks during elections used to use
pebble stones where they wrote the name of the candidate they were
voting for. On the beaches of the Mediterranean one can find a very
porous and light chalky stone. This stone was called psifitha because of
the psi sound it made as it was carried by the waters. And because this
psifitha stone was used for the voting, the Greek word for vote is
psifos. This voting system was not only used during elections but also
in the court system where the jurors would use this stone for the
sentencing or the acquittal of the defendant. So here when the Lord says
I will give him a white stone what he is saying in our modern language
is that he will give him a clean slate. And this means that this man
will not go through judgement. St. John in his Gospel writes,
"I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent
me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement; but is
passed from death unto life." In other words after the biological
death, the person will not pass through judgement but will automatically
enter eternal life. The new name written on the stone is unknown, only
the person who receives this stone will know the name written on it.
This new name cannot be revealed in this present life.
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