Repent therefore but if not, I come to thee quickly, and I will make war with them with the sword of my mouth.
The church at Pergamos was sound in what it believed, yet it let evil teaching run on among its members. This verse asks whether a church answers for evil it only tolerates, and what the Lord does when the church will not act.
(Note: the ESV says "soon" here. The older translations quoted below say "quickly.")
The Lord did not charge the angel of Pergamos — the one He holds responsible there — with false doctrine. He charged him with letting others hold it.
To be sound himself was not enough; he ought to have allowed no compromise with evil. Personal soundness, while allowing evil to be rife among them, was a state of things with which the Lord could not rest satisfied. So He must use the sharp two-edged sword out of His mouth (Rev. 1:16) against the evildoers, unless the angel repented. That same sword will one day judge the nations (Rev. 19:15). The effect of repentance would be the expulsion of the evil from among them.
The call to repent carries an offer with it, and it reaches back to how God dealt with Israel.
The warning to repent goes to the church. The Lord wants to rouse her to self-judgment for having tolerated this evil teaching among her own people. He will give her the chance to share His own mind about the evil. Then she may have the privilege of caring for the honour of His name. It was so in Israel. When evil and corruption spread, the LORD always called on His people to sanctify His great name. At the same time He warned them: if they failed to do it, He would take the matter in hand Himself and sanctify His own name.
This warning aims at cleansing, and mercy drives it.
The Lord does not say, "I will fight against you with the sword of My mouth," but "against them" (v. 16). It is true that the sword of judgment may act by taking them away in death. That is what happened to the Corinthian saints. The Lord judged them here below so that they would not be condemned later with the world. Christian discipline does not mean putting away those who are not Christians from those who are. It aims at purging out Christians who walk wrongly, to keep the honour and holiness of the Lord among them. Mercy is the great motive of discipline, next to maintaining Christ's character in the church.
The sword comes out of His mouth. That tells us what it is.
This is divine judgment carried out by the simple force of His Word. No one can ward that judgment off. The sword is two-edged, and that is the point of the picture. We never read of our Lord personally putting His hand on His enemies. He speaks, and it is done… The ungodly in the Church are the first to be threatened with judgment, which it is hopeless to escape unless they repent (Rev. 2:16).
The coming promised here is not the return Christians look for at the end of the book. It is a nearer visit, and it does not fall on everyone alike.
If no self-judgment followed the call to repent, the Lord threatens speedy judgment: "I come to you quickly." The present tense shows how near the judgment is, and so does the word "quickly"… This coming does not mean the personal return of the Lord, or what people call the second Advent. It points to an immediate dealing with the assembly by the Lord, who would visit it in judgment. To the angel He says, "I come to you," but to the still more guilty, "I will make war with them." So the Lord distinguishes. There are degrees of sin and, in proportion, of punishment.
The Lord leaves a space between the call and the blow.
The angel was responsible to take steps to banish the evil, but he had not done it, so the Lord Himself would take it in hand. He calls first of all on the angel to repent. The Lord would allow a period of grace to give time for self-judgment. If the angel did not use it, the Lord Himself would come quickly. With the two-edged sword of the word of His mouth He would search through and through, and expose the state of those who were prominent in Pergamos. If we shut our eyes to what grieves the Spirit of God in ourselves or among the people of God, the Lord does not.
- Tolerated. Sound belief was not enough at Pergamos. The Lord was not satisfied while the church let evil run on inside it.
- Warned. The sword out of His mouth is His Word — judgment carried out by speech alone, and impossible to ward off.
- Given time. The call to repent opens a period of grace for self-judgment. It offers the church a share in the Lord's mind about the evil and a part in guarding the honour of His name.
- Targeted. He comes to the church, but He wars on the guiltier ones inside it. There are degrees of sin and, in proportion, of punishment.
- Answered. If the church will not judge the evil, the Lord comes and judges it Himself. Discipline shown in mercy now spares the church that search.
He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him that overcomes, to him will I give of the hidden manna; and I will give to him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he that receives [it].
Pergamos was a church settled down in the world, in the very place where Satan's throne stood, and some there held the teaching of Balaam. So the Lord promises no public position — He offers hidden food, a stone, and a name that only one person will ever read.
The promise follows a call to hear, and that call goes to one person at a time.
The fact of the church getting into the world at once isolated the faithful Christian... But if the word reached the one who had an ear to hear, it gave secret fellowship with Christ when the public position had become settled in what was false.
The Lord does not promise the daily manna. He promises the hidden manna.
The manna means the Son of God become man to give life to our souls. He entered in humiliation into all our circumstances. The manna is the provision for the daily walk through the wilderness... But what then is the hidden manna? The manna for Israel was spread around the camp, and they were to gather it daily for their food... But this is not the hidden manna. A golden pot of manna was to be laid up before God. When the Israelites reached the land, they would have the memorial of what they had enjoyed in the wilderness. So the hidden manna is the remembrance of a suffering Christ down here. It is the memory of what Christ was in the wilderness — a man, humbled and suffering, who is God's eternal delight in heaven. The one who has overcome has been faithful in separation with Christ from the world. In eternity he will share God's own delight in a once humbled Christ.
The promise fits the evil named earlier in the letter.
There is a very clear relation between the promise and the evil in Pergamos. The temptation was to eat things sacrificed to idols. The Lord says, "I will feed you with that which alone can satisfy." In this way He would encourage His own to resist the seductions and pleasures of the world.
The Lord's wording goes further than a memorial.
So the food of the wilderness remained, but remained only as a memorial, to be seen. But to the overcomer at Pergamos the promise is different. "I will give some of the hidden manna" — he shall share in it, not simply see it. Christ as enjoyed in the wilderness shall be enjoyed afresh in the glorious land we are going to.
The stone comes from everyday customs the first readers knew.
The ancients made much use of a white stone in social life and legal customs. A white stone marked days of celebration; a black stone marked days of disaster. A host showed his appreciation of a special guest by a white stone with a name or message written on it. A white stone meant acquittal; a black stone condemnation in the courts of justice... It is the expression of the Lord's personal delight in each one of the conquering company. It is in no way a public reward... The new name on the stone, known only to the overcomer, means Christ, then known in a special and personal way by each one — a reward beyond all price.
Commentators differ over whether the stone stays private. Others read it as open honour: it "may teach us that he is to be publicly and specially honoured before men."
Why give a reward no one else can see? Some joys between Christ and a soul are not meant to be shared.
There are public joys in heaven common to all, thousands upon thousands of voices in communion and praise... But He must have our individual affections as well as our shared ones. My own particular joy in Christ you can never know, nor can I ever taste yours... That name would have no meaning for anybody else but the one to whom it is given... We may have now in spirit this "white stone" from Christ. It is His secret expression of grace and love, which others cannot have for me... What a secret source of strength it is, even though all the world thinks me wrong.
- Hidden setting. The church had settled where Satan's throne was. So the Lord speaks past the crowd to whoever has an ear: faithfulness had become personal.
- Hidden food. Manna was Christ come down in humiliation. The jar kept before God holds the memory of that life, and the overcomer feeds on it.
- Hidden answer. Pergamos was tempted to eat at the world's table. The reply is not a rule but a meal: "I will feed you with that which alone can satisfy."
- Hidden approval. A white stone meant acquittal, and a host's welcome for a valued guest. Here it is Christ's own delight in one who stood alone, though commentators differ on whether that honour stays private.
- Hidden name. The name no one else can read is Christ known to that one person alone. Heaven's shared joy is not the whole story, and that secret strengthens a believer now, even when the world thinks him wrong.