Beloved: grace and peace be yours forevermore from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord. Welcome to another week of the month of June 2020. And I pray that your heart will be strengthened to remain true to the Lord to the very end, irrespective of the circumstances of the place in which you find yourself, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
One of the things the Lord commended the church in Pergamum, one of His churches in the province of Asia of bible days, for was their loyalty to Him, even though they were living with Satan himself. Look at the way He puts this in His letter to them:
“I know where you live — where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city — where Satan lives.” (Rev 2:13NIV)
Now the first thing the Lord tells these brethren is that He knows where they are living. And His point is not that He knows the name of their city. Of course, He knows the name of their city, which is Pergamum. But the name of that city is not the issue; the issue really is what is going on in that city and the impact it is having on the everyday life of the people there.
According to the Lord, Satan was living in that city at the time He was writing these words. Indeed, we know from Scriptures that Satan is a wanderer – he does not settle permanently anywhere (Job 1:7 &2:2). But there are times he settles for a while in particular places to wreck havoc. And once he makes his home in a place, one can be sure that there will increase in demonic activities there. This, in turn, will result in increase in wickedness, immorality, idolatry, sorcery, hostility against righteousness, deception, violence and all kinds of evil in such a place.
Perhaps you have been in such a place – city, town, village, community, household, establishment or school – before. You could tell the moment you got there that something was definitely wrong. You could sense or feel the gross darkness that was over the people there and see how it was twisting their lives and making them act contrary to what is right and proper. For example, I once lived in a town where there were so many teenage mothers and fathers living with their parents, and many among the people felt it was no big deal. In other words, sexual immorality was so prevalent there that many of their young ones were involved. So, at that time (I wouldn’t know about now), it was pretty difficult to raise children there to be pure. And if you got there as a pure person and would not be careful to walk in the strength of the Spirit of God, it would not be long before your life got messed up in immorality.
But why will any place be like that? It is usually because of the presence of the devil or certain powerful angels of his there (Eph 6:12). They are the ones that fill people with wrong and deceptive thoughts, philosophies and ideas that end up becoming strongholds in their lives and holding them in captivity to engage in destructive practices. And once they make their home in a place, certain evils will start taking their foothold there and affecting the overall lifestyles of the people.
However, in the case of the brethren in the city of Pergamum, whom the Lord is speaking to in the bible text we have above, they would not allow their loyalty to the Lord to be affected in any way, even though Satan had set up his throne in their city. In other words, they would not conform to the ungodly practices of the people in that city, even though the pressure on them to do so was great. In fact, one of them, Antipas, was killed because of his faith. Nevertheless, these brethren would not renounce their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, surrender to the devil and allow their lives to be messed up in whatever wrong things the people of the land were involved in. And the Lord commended them for this and told them that He was aware of all that they were going through and would reward them at the right time, if they would remain faithful to the end.
In like manner, the Lord knows where you and I live and the prevailing conditions there. He knows where we work, do business or study and the prevailing circumstances there. Nevertheless, He expects us to remain faithful to Him and not conform to whatever wrong practices those we are living with are involved in, even if it is Satan himself we are living with. And if the church in Pergamum could be faithful to Him, we too can be faithful to Him. So, instead of making excuses for conforming to the evil practices that are prevalent in our locality, we ought to be drawing from God’s throne of grace whatever we need to remain true to our Lord (Heb 4:14-16). Remember that if we remain true to Him, we will have His commendation and reward. But if we give in to the pressure of Satan and the world, we may end up partaking in the judgment that is bound to come on the world. And may that not be our lot, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Do have a splendid week.
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