Revelation 2:12-17

October 20, 2019

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

The sermon starts at 14:00 in the audio file.

Or, Being on the Right Side of Judgment

There has been a popular line of sentimental argument for at least the last few years that says, “I want to be on the right side of history.” I actually think it’s an oddly spatial reference to a chronological discussion. History is like a river, but being on the “right side” is not a comment on which bank is better, it’s a declaration that a moment ago in the stream is so outdated and prejudiced that all the mature people want to get away from that moment. For example, there was a lot of racism against black people, but we want to be on the right side of history among those who look back and saw how wrong the racism was. (Of course, racism is sinful, but that is true all the time, no matter the current cultural attitude.) The typical use of the argument today concerns gender identity and sexual orientation, and clearly the enlightened don’t want to be where we currently are, which is, discriminating against anyone.

The desire to “be on the right side of history” starts with criticism of the past, and usually has a hard time seeing all the reasons we should be thankful for those in the past, even if they were seriously wrong in some ways. But the desire to be on the right side of history also presumes that people who look back on us will agree that we were right. That is quite an assumption. It’s actually quite arrogant, and a lot of people have ridden the arrogant canoe down the river of history.

What the sentiment allows us to do is to indulge our sense of judgment. We get to seem righteous, especially compared to all those others who weren’t. It transfers the focus off of our problems/issues/sins. We get to feel good that we know what is right without needing to feel bad that we haven’t done what is right.

But men aren’t the standards, and this generation, nor some future generation, will be evolved enough to set the standard. God is the standard, and we ought to be concerned with His judgment, not ours, nor the popular sentiment of the society.

There will always be judgment because God isn’t going anywhere. Either we will submit to Him by judging according to His Word, or we will indulge our desires and be judged by His Word. This is the reminder of Jesus to the church in Pergamum, and He calls them to repent and just conquer their indulgence.

The Sword-Bearer (verse 12)

Jesus identifies Himself to the Pergamumites.

And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write, ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.’

Pergumum was built on a hill about a thousand feet tall, and the name in Greek came to refer to any “citadel” (Mounce). They also had a temple built to the living and “the divine Augustus” (Tacitus, Annals, Book III), 29 BC, along with committed worship of Zeus, Athene, and Dionysus (Beale). Among the architecture,

the most remarkable was the great altar of Zeus that jutted out near the top of the mountain. A famous frieze around the base of the altar depicts the gods of Greece in victorious combat against the giants of earth (symbolizing the triumph of civilization over barbarism). (Mounce)

Part of this altar is in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

“If Ephesus was the ‘New York City’ of Asia, Pergamos was its ‘Washington, DC’” (Gregg). The city boasted a library with 200,000 books—the second most famous after the library of Alexandria, it was the home of Galen—the second most famous medical physician after Hippocrates, and was a political and intellectual center (Osborne).

As in every message, Jesus refers to some part of the vision that He gave to John about Himself in chapter 1. Whatever part or parts Jesus repeats connect to something specific that the church needed to hear.

To the Ephesians Jesus walked among the lampsta[...]