Revelation 2:12-17

When talking to the church in Pergamum Jesus first acknowledges where they live. He uses the imagery of it being the place where Satan has his throne. This might appear comical but Jesus saw that Satan had a real grip on that city, and it can be the same with where you live. Satan has his claws into people in the world in order to turn them to anything but God. Most people today are in that place. They have their attentions turned away from God, their trust is in other things and their hopes are on other things.

The church in Pergamum were people who put God first in their lives, and they were resilient in doing so. Even when one of their number was killed the appear to remain faithful and did not hide their faith.

But there were some problems in this church. They were devoted to Jesus, but there were other, potentially pagan influences, in their worship. This was a reflection of the culture around them, and was slowly turning their attentions from God. We are called to whole-hearted devotion to Jesus. Know that righteousness and all satisfaction can only come from living in Him. Living as a Christian means living "all-in" with Jesus.

The passage references Jesus' mouth with a sword coming out of it. This is an image of the words of Jesus cutting through the lies and revealing the truth of our world, to show us what is going on. That revelation is that Jesus is the king of kings and deserves our full allegiance. This letter pulls the people away from their two-faced devotion and into whole-hearted worship. This is hard, but Jesus has the manna we need - everything to sustain and support us through the desert.