He Reigns
Bible reading
12 ‘To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13 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, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city – where Satan lives. 14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: there are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
– Revelation 2:12-17 (NIVUK)
Devotional
The church in Pergamum was in trouble! They were living under difficult circumstances. They were surrounded by those who didn’t believe the same way they did, and they made life very difficult for them. Instead of standing firm, the church in Pergamum started to give in. It’s easy to try and accommodate others, to take a step back from what we believe, to try and make room for everyone no matter what they are saying or doing. Surely a little tolerance, a little sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices that are different or even that conflict with our own truth wouldn’t hurt? Would it? When they started to be more tolerant, the persecution became less. But before long, it was hard to tell the difference between the culture, and the Church. They had begun to lose their prophetic voice.
The battle cry of our generation is tolerance! We should all just be “OK with and accepting” of what everyone wants to believe. We shouldn’t criticize, challenge and heaven forbid, disagree. We should just “lighten up” and “keep an open mind”. Oddly, that’s exactly what Jesus tells the church in Pergamum not to do! They had won some victories but sadly, they had started to become tolerant of some other beliefs that were very much against what Jesus had taught. Jesus tells them to turn away and turn back to the truth.
We need to have a generous faith, one that allows people to be diverse but unified. We need to understand where we can be tolerant – in the way we dress, the music we sing, the time we meet, the programs we run, etc. But there are other things where we must remain intolerant. Adding or subtracting from who Jesus is, denying his death and resurrection, our salvation only through Jesus and that by grace, or changing our understanding of Truth and holiness. These things are for us, foundational and they cannot be changed, moved or accommodated to. Not even to an insistent and demanding culture.
We need to overcome our fear of the word “intolerant” and understand that in order to love Jesus, to serve Him and to be citizens of His kingdom, there are things we must be intolerant of. But in our intolerance of false doctrine and cultural perversity, we are not free to hate, to abuse, to mock or to kill. While we cannot tolerate the world’s ever-changing understanding of reality, we still must love the world as God does and do whatever we can to introduce them to the One who loves them much more than we ever could.
– Connie Main Duarte
This devotional is part of a series that helps us navigate the texts of the book of Revelation with fresh eyes. A new devotional every Saturday.
These devotionals are available in Portuguese and in English.