Let us turn to Revelation 2.
We will read many Scriptures tonight, and we will read two letters. I shall read one letter in Chinese, and my brother shall read the other letter in English.
Revelation 2:8-11 will be read in Chinese. My brother shall read Revelation 2:12-17.
And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These things saith He that hath the sharp two-edged sword:
I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s throne is; and thou holdest fast My name, and didst not deny My faith, even in the days of Antipas My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth.
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.
So hast thou also some that hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans in like manner.
Repent therefore; or else I come to thee quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him that overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it.
Let us pray.
Our Lord, we thank You and praise You because we have read Your words. We now ask Your Holy Spirit to enlighten this word to us. We ask that You would speak to us again, so that we may hear from within and return to You.
Our Lord, we want You to exalt Yourself tonight, because You are the King of kings and Lord of lords. Your glory fills the whole earth. In the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.
In these days, we are reading the word that the Holy Spirit gives to the churches. When the Apostle John was exiled to the island of Patmos, he was in the Spirit. He heard a voice behind him, like the sound of a trumpet.
He saw a vision. He saw seven golden lampstands, and One like the Son of Man in the midst of the lampstands. According to this vision, seven letters were written to the seven churches in Asia.
We know that at that time there were more than seven churches in the province of Asia. There were not only the seven churches beginning with Ephesus, Smyrna, and so on. We also know from the New Testament that the church at Colossae was in the province of Asia, yet that particular church was not included among the seven letters.
So, why did the Holy Spirit choose those seven churches? It was because the conditions of these seven churches represent the condition of the churches throughout the ages.
Therefore, the letters to these seven churches are essentially letters to the whole church. What the Spirit says to the churches is not only for Ephesus, Pergamum, Philadelphia, or the other churches to whom these letters were originally written.
Although He wrote specific words to each church, at the end of every letter He says, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.” Therefore, all the words contained in the seven letters are spoken to the churches—not only to those churches at the end of the first century, but also to the churches at the end of the twentieth century.
The reason the Holy Spirit can speak is because the Lord is in the midst of the church. If the Lord is not in the midst of the church, the Holy Spirit cannot speak and has no word to speak.
We thank and praise the Lord. Although five of these seven churches disappointed our Lord, our Lord was still walking in the midst of the churches. He still spoke to the churches, expecting that they would return to Him.
If the churches continue not to listen, then the lampstand will be taken away. At that point there will be no more word. The Lord will not appear to them, and the presence of the Lord will have left.
Although churches may still continue on earth, before God they do not exist any longer. The church is the church because of the presence of the Lord.
The Lord said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” The presence of the Lord is the cause of the church. The presence of the Lord is the meaning of the church. With His presence, there is the word of the Spirit.
We thank and praise our Lord. He is a patient Lord; He is still working. Therefore, today we still have the opportunity to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Last night we mentioned the first letter, which the Lord wrote to the church at Ephesus. Although there were many merits in that church, the Lord said, “I have this against thee,” because the Lord could not find Himself in the church.
In the church at Ephesus, they had left their first love. Our Lord is love. He loved us and gave Himself for us.
If the church has left the first love—which is the perfect love, the pure love, the unselfish love, the enduring love, the believing love—then, as far as the Lord is concerned, He has lost that church.
So the Lord said, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works.”
Dear brothers and sisters, it is very easy to lose the first love. As far as the church is concerned, and as far as we are concerned individually, it is very easy for us to lose the first love unwittingly.
Therefore, we need to come before the Lord every day and ask Him to shine upon us—to see whether there are any evil thoughts in our hearts, whether our hearts are single toward Him, and whether we have a perfect love for our Lord.
Do we love Him Himself, or only the blessings that He gives us? Do we love Him to such an extent that, like Job, we can say, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”?
We need to come to the Lord daily and ask Him to look into our hearts, because it is very easy for us to lose that first love if we are not careful. When we lose that first love, we may not even know it ourselves.
So we need to come to the Lord, asking Him to examine us, so that we may plainly repent before Him and offer our perfect love to our perfect Lord. This is what we shared last night.
This evening we would like to share concerning two churches, because there is a relationship between these two letters. But before we speak about these two letters, there is one thing we want to say first.
Here it says, “He that hath an ear, let him hear.” The Spirit is indeed speaking. Because the Lord loves the church, the Holy Spirit continues to speak. But the difficulty is with us who hear.
We know that today we are in the end time. When Paul wrote his last letter, 2 Timothy, he said in 2 Timothy 4:3-4:
For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts;
and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.
Paul wrote this letter perhaps around A.D. 67. Yet he said that the time would come when people would not endure sound teaching, because their hearts could not bear it. Their ears would become itchy, and they would heap up teachers for themselves according to their own desires.
When your ears are itching, you want to listen to words that you like to hear. You do not want to listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. You want to hear what your own lust wants to hear.
Therefore, you will seek many teachers who will say something to please you. When you hear them, you feel comfortable, but your ears are not willing to listen to the truth. Instead, you like to listen to fables.
Dear brothers and sisters, are we in this kind of condition now? It is not that the Holy Spirit has nothing to say. It is that our ears are not willing to listen to the word of the Spirit.
When our Lord was on earth, He also spoke concerning this matter. Sometimes people opposed His word and were not willing to receive the words of our Lord. Therefore, from that time on, when our Lord spoke to them, He often used parables rather than speaking plainly.
The disciples came to Him and asked, “Why speakest Thou unto them in parables?” Our Lord explained to them in Matthew 13:14-15:
And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith,
By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand;
And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive:
For this people’s heart is waxed gross,
And their ears are dull of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed;
Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And should turn again,
And I should heal them.
Here we see a group of people: they listen, but they do not hear; they look, but they cannot see; they do not understand in their hearts. Their hearts have grown dull, their ears have become heavy, and their eyes are closed.
Therefore, even if there is a word, they cannot hear. Because the heart is in trouble, the ear is in trouble also. Some have their hearts entangled with the worries of this world and with money. When the Holy Spirit speaks, they cannot hear.
Dear brothers and sisters, our ears are very important. Whether our ears like to listen to the word of the Holy Spirit depends upon how our hearts are. If our hearts are against our Lord, then even if we have ears, we cannot hear.
So we need to come to the Lord and ask Him to examine our hearts and our thoughts, so that there may be no hindrance in our hearts. When our hearts are toward the Lord, the veil upon our faces is taken away and our ears are opened.
Brothers and sisters, we need to have an ear that can hear the word of the Lord.
This is very remarkable. Here it says, “He that hath an ear, let him hear.” In the original language, “ear” is singular. We have two ears, but here it says that we have only one ear.
You have only one ear to hear the word of the Lord. In the Old Testament there was a Hebrew servant who served his master for six years. According to the law, when the six years were completed, he could be set free.
But there was a servant who said, “I love my master, I love my house, and I am not willing to go out free. I want to be your servant all my life.”
Then he was brought to the door, and his ear was pierced. Through his life, he would be bound to that family.
According to Jewish tradition, when the ear was pierced, a ring was placed in it. If you saw a man with an earring, you knew that he was a bondservant. The pierced ear meant that throughout his life he was a slave of love.
In the past, he served his master out of duty. But now he served his master out of love. Therefore, we need to have a pierced ear.
This prophesies the condition of our Lord when He came to the earth. He said, “Thou hast opened Mine ears.” In other words, “Thou hast pierced Mine ear; I have come to obey Thy command.”
In Isaiah 50, there is a similar word: every morning, He awakens My ear. Every morning He opens My ear.
Brothers and sisters, when we come before the Lord, if we want to hear what the Spirit says to the churches, then, because we love our Lord, we need to have our ears pierced. Then we can hear His voice and obey His will.
Our brother said this afternoon that we must not only listen, but also keep. But if you do not have a pierced ear, you cannot hear; and even if you hear, you will not keep.
Every time we want to hear what the Spirit says to the churches, we must ask the Lord to open our ears, that He may awaken our ears so that we can truly hear. This is our prayer before God.
Otherwise, all that we say is vanity of vanities. Even if the Holy Spirit speaks, it is all in vain. So we ask God to be merciful to us.
Now we want to look at these two letters. The first is addressed to the angel of the church in Smyrna.
The word Smyrna comes from the word myrrh, which refers to bitterness and death. We remember that when our Lord Jesus was born, the wise men from the East came to worship Him. They brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
These gifts represent something. Gold represents the nature and glory of God. Although our Lord was born as a baby in Bethlehem, He was there in the beginning. He is God.
Frankincense represents life. The whole life of our Lord on earth was like the fragrance of frankincense.
Myrrh represents death. Myrrh is bitter. It represents the death of our Lord—how He tasted the bitterness of death for us.
Therefore, the church in Smyrna is a suffering church. In a prophetic reading of Revelation, Smyrna represents the church in the second and third centuries, when the church of God passed through severe suffering.
The Roman Empire persecuted Christians, and many Christians were martyred. It was indeed a suffering church.
History tells us of Polycarp, a bishop in Smyrna. He was very old when he was arrested. The governor had pity on him and asked him to deny his faith.
Polycarp said, “I have served my Lord for eighty-six years. He has never done me wrong. How can I deny Him at this point?”
The governor said, “You do not need to deny Him. All you have to do is burn incense.” But Polycarp could not do it, and he was martyred.
In the second and third centuries, innumerable Christians suffered for the sake of the Lord. So the Lord says, “Be thou faithful unto death.”
Dear brothers and sisters, the churches in the second and third centuries were suffering churches. Not only the church in Smyrna was a suffering church; the church in Smyrna represents all churches.
The church is to suffer, because the Head of the church is a suffering Lord. How can the Lord whom we believe be a suffering Lord while His church enjoys itself?
If our Lord is the One who walked the path of the cross and was crucified on the cross, how can His church today sit upon the throne? If the church does not suffer, the church has lost its nature.
We should not think that, after we believe in the Lord, we do not have to suffer anymore. We often have welfare thoughts. We think that because we believe in the Lord, we can expect great things and have pleasure.
The prosperity gospel is widespread today. It tells us that if we believe in the Lord, whatever we want we can get. We do not have to drive a Chevrolet; we can ask the Lord to give us a Cadillac.
Dear brothers and sisters, the idea that after you believe in the Lord everything becomes smooth and you can simply have pleasure is not according to the Bible.
Our Lord is a suffering Lord. If we follow our Lord, we have to walk on the path of the cross. We have to take up our cross and follow our Lord.
If we are seated on the throne today, we have lost our nature. This is what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, because the church at Corinth had lost its way. They were reigning as kings in the world.
This is the church: we have to suffer. If we are Christians, we have to suffer—not because we look for suffering, but because we follow the Lord.
When Paul and Barnabas were preaching the gospel in Galatia and other places, they established churches. On their way back, they exhorted the brothers to hold fast to the faith, saying that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.
If Christians today do not have suffering, that is a strange thing. Peter says in 1 Peter 4:12-14:
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you:
but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of His glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy.
If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you.
If Christians are tested, this is a very normal thing. If we are put to shame because of the name of Christ, this is a blessed thing, because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rest upon us.
Why can Christians not get away from suffering? Because our Lord has called us out of this world. Although we are on this earth, we do not belong to this world. In this world, we are strangers and sojourners.
If we are strangers and sojourners living in a foreign country, surely we will be persecuted. This is not strange. If today we do not have suffering, then we should feel strange. Why is the world so friendly to us?
They nailed our Lord to the cross, but they put us on the throne. Why? Is it because we are friendly with the world? If a man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Brothers and sisters, the church is a suffering church. We should have a mind to suffer. The mind to suffer is our armor.
What is the mind to suffer? It means that we have determined within ourselves that, because our Lord is a suffering Lord, we are willing to have fellowship in His sufferings.
If we have this mind to suffer, it becomes our armor. When suffering comes, we can withstand the attacks of the enemy. But if we do not have this mind to suffer, then when suffering comes, we will flee.
Today we live in the United States. This is a Christian country, and there is no outward persecution from the world. Even so, we cannot be without the mind to suffer.
If you are faithful and follow the Lord, you will see many afflictions come to you. But let us not have a persecution complex. Let us not have the psychology of being oppressed.
Some cults create in people a psychology of oppression. Then when persecution comes from outside, they feel a strength rising within, and they want people to persecute them. Brothers and sisters, we should not have a persecution complex.
We are to have a mind to suffer because our Lord is a suffering Lord.
The church in Smyrna suffered greatly. It says concerning them, “I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty, and the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”
The Jews were the chosen people of God. Their temple was supposed to be a place to worship God. Yet here it says that those who persecuted the church called themselves Jews, but were actually members of the synagogue of Satan.
If you read Acts, you know that when the church was first persecuted, the first persecutors were not the Roman Empire or the Gentiles. They were the Jews.
Wherever Paul went, the Jews stirred up the Gentiles to oppose him. The Jews were the leaders in opposing the church, though they had originally been God’s chosen people and had the covenant of God. Their temple was the place where they were supposed to worship God.
Yet they were the first to rise up and persecute the church of God. They caused heavier suffering to the church of God than the world did.
Paul says in Romans 2 that outward Jews are not the true Jews. Outward circumcision is not true circumcision. True circumcision is in the heart, according to the Spirit and not according to the letter.
In Romans 9, Paul says again that not all Israelites are Israelites. Merely being descendants of Abraham does not mean that one is truly among the chosen people of God. Those who are born according to promise are the true children.
Outwardly, these Jews claimed to be the chosen people of God, and their temple was a temple for worshipping God. But from the standpoint of spiritual reality, they could not be counted as Jews. Their synagogue was the synagogue of Satan, used by Satan to persecute the church of God.
Throughout history, the church has suffered, not only from the world but even more severely from the religious world.
The Roman Empire persecuted Christians for only two centuries. Catholicism persecuted Christians for many centuries.
Whenever something that came from God becomes a system, it becomes dangerous. Originally, faith was a living faith, but it becomes only a creed. Those who were children of the covenant can become vessels of Satan.
What is outward is no longer the real thing. The real thing is inward—not according to the letter, but according to the Spirit. When the Spirit is lost, all that remains is the letter, the organization, and the system.
Whenever a living thing turns into an organization, the organization is most afraid of a living thing. Why? Because it has become settled and secure. It can continue in the same way.
If a living thing comes in, it knows that the new wine will burst the old wineskin. Therefore, it wants to preserve the old wineskin. To keep the old skin, it must oppose the new wine. It must oppose anything that comes out of life.
This has been the case throughout the ages. Not only the Roman Catholics were like the Jews; even Protestants can be like this.
Martin Luther and Calvin sought to reform the Roman Catholic Church. They wanted to change what was within. But when a thing becomes a system, you cannot change it anymore. Even if you have a good heart to change it, it considers you an enemy.
Therefore, Martin Luther and Calvin could only come out from the Roman Catholic Church. But not long afterward, the Lutherans and the Reformed churches themselves became settled organizations and systems.
Then they began to persecute those who faithfully followed the Lord. If you read Christian history, you know that they killed many who were faithful and who loved the Lord.
There were those who wanted to follow the Lord faithfully to the end, but they were considered troublemakers. Many were killed by them.
One example is the Anabaptists. They believed that the Bible teaches baptism according to faith, not infant baptism by sprinkling water upon the forehead.
Because these brothers taught baptism by faith, the Reformers called them Anabaptists. Thousands of them were killed. Stones were tied to their necks, and they were thrown into the water. Women and children were drowned.
This kind of story is found in history. We do not know how many were killed or blackmailed. Where did such persecution come from? Not from the world, but from the religious world.
Religion is an awful thing, dear brothers and sisters. It was true then, and it is the same today. If you want to be faithful and follow the Lord, you will find that not only the world opposes you; the religious world also wants to oppose you.
The religious system cannot allow you to oppose it, because you threaten its existence.
The Lord says, “Be thou faithful unto death.” What does it mean to be faithful? Where does faithfulness come from?
If you read the Greek original, you see that faithfulness is related to faith. The Greek word for faith is pistis, and the word for being faithful is closely related to it. Faithfulness comes out of faith.
What does faith mean? In the Bible, the word faith contains at least three levels of meaning.
First, faith is a firm conviction within. You acknowledge that what God has revealed is the truth.
Second, because of this conviction, you personally surrender yourself to the Lord.
Third, according to this surrender, there is a corresponding conduct. This conduct is faithfulness. Because you trust Him and believe in Him, you follow Him. You are faithful to Him unto death.
Therefore, faithfulness comes out of faith. What is our faith today? What do we believe in?
When the Lord wrote to Smyrna, He introduced Himself as “the first and the last, who was dead, and lived again.” What they believed in was such a Lord.
Our Lord is the First. He is the beginning of all things. He is the source of all things. Whatever does not come from Him is not of Him. Only that which comes from Him is of Him.
He is the Last. Everything will return to Him. All things will be summed up in Christ.
The Lord whom they believed in is Lord of all. The church is the body of Christ; it is the fullness of Him who filleth all in all. In the church, Christ is all.
This is the testimony of the church and the faith of the church: Christ is the beginning and the end.
The Lord also says that He was dead and is alive. Originally, He was God, and God cannot die. But because He loves us, He came to earth and became man. He tasted death for every one of us.
But death could not hold Him. He was raised from the dead. He is the risen Lord.
If you believe in such a Lord, you can be faithful to Him. Whatever is not of Him, you will deny. Whatever is of Him will be summed up again to Him.
Although you may have to go through death, you know that there is resurrection. That is why you can be faithful unto death.
Dear brothers and sisters, are we faithful unto death? Today, before the Lord, are we faithful to Him?
Oftentimes we are faithful to a system. What are we faithful to? Are we faithful to a system, to a cause, to a doctrine, or to a person? Are we faithful to our Lord?
I remember when I first came into the work of the Lord. I was a baby in the Lord, and I thank the Lord that I am still a baby, though I hope that I can grow.
A brother came to me. He said that he had fellowship with a sister and discovered something: if you blaspheme the Lord, she does not argue with you. But if you touch her meeting or her organization, then she will fight.
We may be faithful, but what are we faithful to? Are we faithful to a system? Are we faithful to a cause? Are we faithful to a doctrine? Or are we faithful to a person—to our Lord?
Many people can be faithful unto death for a system. Some can fight for their system. Some can forsake all things because they are faithful to a person. A man can be faithful to another man, but he may not be faithful to the Lord.
The Lord is saying today, “Thou shalt be faithful unto Me, and thou shalt be faithful unto death.”
If you are faithful to the Lord, suffering will come to you. These afflictions come particularly from the religious world.
We thank God that, after the second and third centuries, the Roman Empire did not destroy the church. The Roman Empire was destroyed, but the church became more alive even through affliction.
The blood of the martyrs brought forth much fruit. So Satan changed his plan. He knew that persecution was of no use.
He disguised himself as an angel and wanted to come and help the church.
Coming to the fourth century, Constantine became emperor of Rome, and he became the friend of the church. Not only did he become the protector of the church; he became its chief and head.
On the one hand, he was the head of the Pontifex Maximus, connected with the mystery religions. On the other hand, he became the head of Christianity. Satan changed his method.
Yet we thank the Lord that, in the beginning, there were still some who were faithful to the Lord.
Then we come to the church at Pergamum. Pergamum represents the condition of the church from the fourth to the sixth century.
At the beginning, there were faithful Christians. The Lord said, “I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s throne is; and thou holdest fast My name, and didst not deny My faith, even in the days of Antipas My faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth.”
In church history, we cannot find an actual person by the name of Antipas. Therefore, it appears that the name has a symbolic meaning.
There may not have been an actual person by that name, but there were people described by that name: people who were faithful to the Lord in the midst of an unfaithful environment. They were witnesses of the Lord.
The name Antipas is composed of two Greek words. Anti means “against,” and pas means “all.” In other words, from the standpoint of man, this group of people was against all things.
Why? Because they kept the way of the Lord. They did not deny the name of the Lord. They kept the word of God and did not deviate from His way.
They did not compromise with the world. They did not dilute the word of God in order to please the fashions of the age. And they did not deny the name of the Lord.