Revelation chapters two and three contain seven letters from Jesus to various first-century churches. The third church to receive one of these letters was located in the city of Pergamum (also known as Pergamos). Pergamum was located fifty to seventy-five miles (80-120 km) away from the ancient city of Smyrna that received Jesus’ second letter.
Pergamum was an urban area that gained recognition for its contributions to the fields of education, art, healthcare, and literature. In addition, it reportedly housed a library with a staggering collection of over 200,000 books. Unfortunately, Pergamum was also noted for its involvement with pagan religions. For example, Pergamum featured a temple dedicated to the Greek god Zeus that stood forty feet (12m) tall and was located atop a hill that was eight hundred feet (244m) high. Other temples were dedicated to the worship of the Roman Emperor, as well as a pagan deity named Asklepios.
It’s uncertain how the church in Pergamum began, but some believe that the Apostle Paul helped establish the church during one of his missionary journeys. While Jesus’ letter to this fellowship is relatively brief, it tells us two important things. First, it reveals that this congregation had several admirable qualities that are worthy of emulation. However, it also tells us that the church at Pergamum tolerated some things that Jesus found intolerable.
Because of this, Jesus’ letter to the church at Pergamum reminds us of the need to measure our spiritual lives against the Biblical Scriptures to ensure that we are not slipping back in any areas…
“And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword” (Revelation 2:12).
In addition to what we read here in Revelation 2:12, the book of Revelation features four additional references that link Jesus with a sword that is usually described as sharp and/or double-edged (see Revelation 1:16, 2:16, 19:15, and 19:21). Of those five references, four of them associate that sword with Jesus’ mouth. Since a sword is typically worn at the hip or slung over one’s shoulder, how should we understand these references?
Well, the fact that someone’s mouth is a bad (and impossible) place to keep a sword should alert us to the fact that there is a deeper meaning behind this reference. You see, the Scriptures sometimes use the word “mouth” to refer to the words we speak. We can find two such examples in the Biblical books of Isaiah (53:9) and Job (15:6). In fact, we sometimes use the word “mouth” in a similar manner today whenever we refer to a braggart as someone who has a “big mouth.”
We’ll expand our look at this idea next.