Revelation Letters: Pergamum

Revelation Letters: Pergamum

Bible Blast: Read Revelation 2:12-17

He showed you these things so you would know that the LORD is God and there is no other. Deuteronomy 4:35

Pergamum was a city built on top of a high hill. It was known for two things: its ginormous library and its idols. Many people came to Pergamum to worship its idols or “other gods.”

One of the prominent idols people worshiped in Pergamum was in the shape of a serpent, and the local people believed it had the power to heal. That may sound ridiculous to you, but the idea of a serpent statue with healing power may actually go back to an episode recorded in Numbers 21. Many Israelites were bitten by poisonous vipers as a result of their bitter complaining against God and Moses. God told Moses to make a serpent out of bronze and hang the bronze figure up on a pole. Someone who was bitten by a poisonous snake could look at the bronze serpent and be healed.

Second Kings 18 tells how King Hezekiah got rid of all the idols that were in the kingdom. Second Kings 18:4 says, “He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it.” Did you catch that? The people were worshiping the snake Moses made. They didn’t realize that God’s power healed them, not the bronze snake. Maybe the people of Pergamum had heard about that bronze snake incident and decided it was a good idea to worship a bronze serpent again.

Jesus was not pleased that the Christians in Pergamum were tolerating the idol worship in their city. Tolerating doesn’t mean they participated in their evil practices, but it does mean the believers didn’t do anything to stop it. Since so many in Pergamum worshiped other gods, Christians may have felt it was too overwhelming to fight against the practice or tell people the truth of Christ. God wasn’t pleased.

Doing nothing about evil, ungodly stuff going on around you isn’t what God wants. You can stand up for holiness. Don’t just turn your head and hope the bad stuff goes away. Pray hard against it, and if you get the chance, speak the truth in love.

Girl Gab: Have you ever been tempted to think that an object has special powers? Talk about this with your mom. If so, confess this to God and ask him to forgive you. Tell him that you know he has all the power you’ll ever need.