Revelation Chapter Two, Acknowledging Heresy

Revelation 2:16 “Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.

As we have addressed before, the term “repent,” does not mean to do penance; it means to change your mind. It is most famously found in Acts chapter 2, when Peter speaks to the Jewish audience about what they had done to Jesus. He addresses them several times, “Men of Judea,” Acts 2:14. “Men of Israel,” Acts 2:22. “Men and brethren (referring to his fellow Jews),” Acts 2:29. “Therefore let all the house of Israel know…” Acts 2:36.

Peter recalled what had happened of late to Jesus of Nazareth, and the evils they had committed to the Man God had made Lord and Christ. When the men of Israel replied in Acts 2:37, Peter began his response in this manner: “Repent,” Acts 2:38. The Jews had handed Jesus over to the Roman government, who had in turn unjustly executed Him. They considered Him a criminal and heretic. Peter was calling in the crowd–specifically the Jewish audience who had been there during Jesus’ ministry, trial and execution-to reconsider who Jesus was to Israel. He told them to repent, to change their mind.

Only then could the Jews receive forgiveness of sin. Those who heeded Peter’s counsel, “gladly received his word,” Acts 2:41. They had heard the gospel preached by Peter and were born again; because they were born again they were baptized in water to signify their public association with the Nazarene they had formerly scorned. In Pergamos Jesus commanded the church to repent for its twin errors of holding the doctrine of Balaam and the Nicolaitans. While the majority of the church may not have agreed with these teachings, they were passive in their acceptance, which was cause enough for Jesus our Lord to issue this warning.

As was His norm, the Lord issued a command and also what the alternative would cost if they rejected obedience. Jesus tells Pergamos that He will come to them quickly, much like He did to Ephesus, Revelation 2:5. The idea behind the term quickly seems to not only suggest abruptness but an element of surprise involved. We do know from Matthew 25:5 that Christ our Lord will so delay His coming that both the saints and the wicked will slumber, i.e., they will be unprepared for His sudden return. Here the Lord expresses His quick response to the church’s willingness to indulge heresy. What we can (and often do) tolerate, Christ hates. Pergamos was engaged in a form of ecumenism, bridging various factions in an effort to endorse unity. But Paul warned that factions arose because one group embraced truth while another espoused lies. Now, this is of course not always the case, but in the instance of Paul’s specific message to Corinth, that does appear to be what he is stating. The factions that arose in Corinth were not all approved by the Holy Spirit. Only those loyal to the revealed truth of Scripture would be genuinely accepted. Likewise, Pergamos suffered where Satan’s throne dwelt, enduring persecution and martyrdom. And certain agents of the Devil successfully infiltrated the church under the guise of Christianity, perverting the truth from within.

It was Satan’s original and best tactic; sabotage the truth by casting it into a new light. Has God said, the serpent asked? Maybe His words are malleable, subject to change, or outright wrong. Perhaps something supplemental was in order. Both factions endorsed carnality. Jesus cautioned Pergamos, saying that He would come to them, and fight against the heretics with the sword of His mouth. Note the wording in this verse. “I will come to you…and…fight against them.” He will come to His church and lay waste to such men. “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ,” Jude 4. Jude describes the nature of the men invading the church. This was how they viewed the Lord and His grace; it was an excuse to indulge the excesses of the flesh, and perhaps make some profit off of it, too. The Lord would fight with the sword of His mouth, or the word of God. Like the battle between Satan and Christ in the desert, Jesus is master of His own word, and will effortlessly undo the chicanery of men who want to merchandise Scripture and peddle salvation. It will be to their undoing, but the blood of their demise will be on our hands if we remain silent, since we tacitly approved their wickedness by saying nothing, Ezekiel 3:17-21.