#LetterToTheChurches Part !

### Breakdown of Revelation 2:12-16

The message can be divided into three main parts: 1) Christ's Authority, 2) His Commendation and Acknowledgment of Their Situation, 3) His Condemnation and Call to Repentance.

---

#### 1. The Authority of Christ: "He which hath the sharp sword with two edges"

This imagery establishes Christ's right to judge the church. The sword is not a physical weapon but the piercing, discerning, and authoritative Word of God.

* **Hebrews 4:12 (KJV):** "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged 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."

* **Isaiah 49:2 (KJV):** "And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me."

* **Revelation 1:16 (KJV):** "And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength."

* **Ephesians 6:17 (KJV):** "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

* **John 12:48 (KJV):** "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."

#### 2. Commendation and Context: Faithfulness in a Hostile World ("where Satan's seat is")

Christ acknowledges their difficult environment and their steadfastness under pressure, even to the point of martyrdom.

* **Daniel 3:1-30 (KJV):** The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Babylon. Pergamum was a center of emperor worship; refusing to worship the emperor's statue was like refusing to bow to Nebuchadnezzar's image. This is a type of "Satan's seat" (worldly power demanding worship).

* **1 Peter 5:8 (KJV):** "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." This describes the pervasive presence of Satan where they dwell.

* **John 16:33 (KJV):** "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

* **Matthew 10:32-33 (KJV):** "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." (They held fast to His name and did not deny the faith).

* **Acts 7:54-60 (KJV):** The stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, parallels the martyrdom of Antipas.

**Apocryphal Reference on Martyrdom:**

* **2 Maccabees 7:1-42 (NRSV):** The story of the martyrdom of a mother and her seven sons. While not canonical for all, it was a well-known Jewish story that would have resonated with early Christians facing persecution, illustrating the ultimate faithfulness to God in the face of death.

* **Numbers 25:1-3 (KJV):** "And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor..."

* **Numbers 31:16 (KJV):** "Behold, these [the Midianite women] caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD."

* **2 Peter 2:15 (KJV):** "Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness."

* **Jude 1:11 (KJV):** "Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward..."

* **1 Corinthians 8:7-13 (KJV):** Paul's teaching on food sacrificed to idols. The issue wasn't the food itself but the conscience and the potential to lead a "weaker" brother into idolatrous practice. The "doctrine of Balaam" twisted this freedom into a license to participate in idolatrous feasts.

* **Revelation 2:6 (KJV):** (To Ephesus) "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate." Ephesus rejected it; Pergamum tolerated it.

* **Jude 1:4 (KJV):** "For there are certain men crept in unawares... turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." This describes the *effect* of the Nicolaitan teaching.

* **Romans 6:1-2, 15 (KJV):** "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid... Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." Paul directly refutes this antinomian idea.

#BibleStudy #Christianity #Jesus #God #NewTestament #Prophecy #TheBible #Scripture #Faith