Continued from previous post:
Moving on to the next two churches and two seals.
Smyrna: Martyrdom
Second Seal: Roman
Persecution c. 100 CE – 312 CE
Spirituality
Experience
…He broke the second seal…And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him. Rev. 6:3, 4
Pergamum:
Spiritual Corruption Third
Seal: Church/State 313 CE – 537 CE
Spirituality
I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast my Name, and did not deny My faith…But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam…So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth…To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it. Rev. 2:13-17
For the most part the church remained faithful to the
teachings of Jesus. However, some who
had the traits of Balaam and the Nicolaitans had infiltrated the church. Balaam was supposed to be a prophet for God
way back when the Hebrews were leaving Egypt and entering the Promised Land,
but he was really in business for himself and eventually led the Hebrews astray
(Num. 31:16; 2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11). The
Nicolaitans were “Christians” who compromised their beliefs so they could
justify taking advantage of sinful practices.
Jesus promised that those who did not get trapped by the teachings of
these false believers would attain heavenly rewards.
Experience:
When He broke the third seal…I
looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in
his hand. And I heard a voice…saying, ‘A
quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and
do not damage the oil and the wine.
Rev. 6:5, 6
During this time the church was
growing rapidly as Christianity was replacing paganism. But those who had infiltrated the church and
who had the traits of Balaam and the Nicolaitans were intent on having the best
of both worlds. They believed in God and
wanted eternal life, but they also wanted all the power and pleasures the world
had to offer…even if it meant compromising their faith. So here we see, in the history of God’s
church, the beginning of the unifying of church and state, of religious
and political (secular) powers. The
black color of the horse represents the spiritual darkness in which the church
found itself, and the scales denote shared weight given to both the church
(religion) and the state (politics).
Even though much of the Christian purity was being bartered away, the
oil and the wine (see Appendix 2) was not damaged because there were still many
faithful followers of Jesus who refused to go along with the corruption
entering the church.