The Problems Part 3

REVELATION Number 48
The Problems Part 3

It is notable that Smyrna received no admonishment. One thing we might take from this is that Father is not capricious. He is not, as one reader put it, “a nitpicky stickler.” The Lord does not find something wrong with everything. He is not a white-glove wearing legalistic inspector of fruit. As we established earlier, this is not to say that He ignores anything. Rather, He is concerned with what is ultimately of lasting importance. He is concerned with what gives Life and what leads to death.

Pergamum, however does face His corrective criticism. It is laid out in Revelation 2:14–15 “But I have a few things against you, because you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. So you too, have some who in the same way hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” (NASB 2020)

The record of the activities of Balaam and Balak is found in the Book of Numbers. It runs from Chapter 22 through Chapter 24. I encourage you to read it for yourself so that you will see what is at issue. Notice too, that Balaam and Balak are typified in Pergamum (later we will see that the Nicolaitans are mentioned in the letter to Ephesus as well (see Revelation 2:6).

From the context provided in Numbers, it would appear that the Nicolaitans were persecuting Christians, cursing them and wishing them ill. This is something the Lord simply will not tolerate. As we would expect, He is jealous for His children. The Lord does not want the Church to tolerate those who would infiltrate the fellowships and sow seeds of dissention, division, and destruction. This is called out starkly in Galatians, where Paul uses very strong language to express the Spirit’s displeasure with those who seek to turn His people from grace to legalistic religionism. Likewise in 1 Corinthians 3, the Apostle is clear that those who destroy the Church will themselves be destroyed.

Balak, king of Moab wanted Balaam to curse God’s chosen people, but he could not. In fact, he blessed them three times. Just as Holy Spirit directed through Paul, and the Lord Jesus directed through John, we who comprise the Church must not tolerate within our gatherings those who would attempt to curse, divide, or destroy.

No one can curse those whom God has blessed. The Lord Jesus gave Himself up for us to present us as His spotless bride. We are blessed of God and no curse is possible.

It is interesting to note that God did not allow Balaam to curse Israel in chapters 22-24 of Numbers, yet when we come to chapter 25 the first thing we read about is Israel intermarrying with those whom God had prevented from cursing them. This is what the Lord is speaking about. This double-mindedness within the Church. The principle was set out over and over in the Hebrew scriptures. Intermarriage with the heathen nations was forbidden. 2 Corinthians 6:14–16a puts it this way, “Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness? Or what harmony does Christ have with Belial, or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? Or what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God” (NASB 2020).

We are His chosen, blessed, and beloved.