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THIS WEEK’S BIBLE INSIGHTS ARE BY:
Chris Jervis and are based on Revelation 2:12-17
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ MORE ON THIS WEEK’S MAJOR THEME:
Galatians 5
To the Church in Pergamum 12“To the angel of the church in
Pergamum write:
These are the words of him who has
the sharp, double-edged sword. 13 I know where you live - where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city - where Satan lives.
14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the
Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
Sunday December 28 - The two-edged sword
“These are the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword .”
Revelation 2:12
The city of Pergamum was awash with pagan temples and idol worship. Whilst that situation was not uncommon in major cosmopolitan cities within the Roman Empire, Pergamum stood out, with its vast number of pagan ideas and practices that challenged the truth of the Christian gospel. When Jesus addressed this church he introduced himself as the one who stands in their midst with his ‘two-edged sword’. The clearest reference to the ‘two-edged sword’ is Hebrews 4:12, where it is used as a metaphor for God’s truthful proclamations: ‘the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword...’
`What is at stake in Pergamum and in our society today is truth: what is true and what is false? One of the real blights in our world is the widespread use of ‘fake news’, the propagating of false ideas and the notion that anyone can believe whatever they like and legitimately have their ideas accepted. Truth is a devalued commodity. This wishy- washy thinking has also infected the church. At Pergamum and also today, Jesus stands among us as the one who wields ‘the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God’, as Paul puts it in Ephesians 6:17. Truth matters!
Lord God, teach me to love the truth of your word and to live under the authority of your proclamations. Amen.
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PRAYER FOR TODAY