After reminding the Angel-Star of the Ecclesia in Pergamos that they dwelt where the throne of the Satan then was, the Spirit tells them that one of their works he had observed was, that they held fast his Name. This was a great thing in the midst of paganism, and the semiheathenism of the apostasy, with all its sanctimonious pretensions on every side.
In the time of ‘‘the things which are” Pergamos was the place the Satan dwelt in. The reader can refresh his mind concerning the Satan by turning to a former page. The Satan in Pergamos, as elsewhere, was the Church Hierarchy claiming to be apostles and ambassadors of Jesus Christ, leading away disciples after them, and teaching perverse
Pergamos having been, as we have seen, the metropolis of the kingdom in whose territory the seven ecclesias were situated, was fitly selected by the Spirit as the place of the throne of the Satan. From the writing to the ecclesia there, it would appear that the clerical influence was stronger there than in any other of the seven. They were Balaamites and Nikolaitans; teaching idolatrous practices, committing spiritual abomination, and Judaizers and Gnostics.
This writing affords additional proof that “Angel” is used in these letters as a noun of plurality.
TO THE ANGEL OF THE ECCLESIA IN PERGAMOS.
The letter to the Presbytery and Heritage in Smyrna, concludes by promising those among them who overcome that they shall “not be hurt of the Second Death.” The words of the passage are, “Be faithful until death, and I will give to thee the coronal wreath (stephanon) of the life
This letter to the Smyrneans is the first placed in the Apocalypse where “days” stand for years. The Apocalypse is a book of symbols, *n which the greater is represented by the less.
“You have done perfectly right, my dear Pliny, in the inquiry you have made concerning the Christians. For truly no one general rule can be laid down, which will apply itself to all cases. These people must not be sought after. If they are brought before you and convicted, let them be capitally punished, yet with this restriction, that if any one renounce Christianity, and evidence his sincerity by supplicating our gods, however suspected he may be for the past, he shall obtain pardon for the future, on his repentance.
“Health.—It is my usual custom, sir, to refer all things, of which I harbor any doubts, to you. For who can better direct my judgment in its hesitation, or instruct my understanding in its ignorance? I never had the fortune to be present at any examination of Christians, before I came into this province. I am therefore at a loss to determine what is the usual object either of inquiry or of punishment, and to what length either of them is to be carried.
“Ye will have tribulation ten days.”— Verse 10