Revelation 2:12-17
¶ “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this:
I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is;
and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
But I have a few things against you,
because you have there some 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 acts of immorality.
So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Therefore repent;
or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.”
Just as the Lord said to the Churches of Ephesus and Smyrna and what He is now saying to the Church of Pergamum He is saying to each of us who call Him Lord, those who clams the name of Christian.
He knows us, He knows each one of us individually
We are told in the word of GOD
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you”
Father God knows where we are and where we dwell (where we live)
He knows we deal within the realm of Satan.
The Lord knows if we are and have been faithful to hold fast To Him, to His name, and if we do or do not deny His faith even in the days of Christians being killed among us or around the world’
The term ‘Hold Fast’
( to grab onto something firmly so not to get thrown off balance ) It conveys strength,
The Lord is to be our strength:
Habakkuk 3:19
The Lord GOD is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
Resilience:
resilience in the Lord enables us to resume our original walk with the Lord when we have been slacking in our ways, gives us the ability to as it were to springing back, to rebound.
To repent, turn from our evil ways and aging walk in the way of the Lor our God,
To have relationship with Him.
Determination:
to set our mind and our sole in a firm or fixed intention to achieve a desired end result, And that should be in the Lord Christ Jesus, and to live with Him throughout eternity.
Reminds me of the first and foremost commandment Christ has given us:
Matthew 22:36-40
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
And He said to him,
“YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.
This is the great and foremost commandment.
The second is like it,
YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.
On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Are you set fast to obey the Lord your GOD?
To live a life that is excitable to Him,
to put Him first in all your ways?
Or do you allow the draw of Satan’s and is ways to keep you from holding fast to the Lord?
Do you allow those who participate in and teach the ways of Satin to dwell with you.
Those who entice you to commit acts of immorality to partake in things that have been sacrificed to idols,
those who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
The Lord tall us to repent of walking with the world (the realm of Satin) and his ways,
or else He will be coming to us quickly, and will make war against those who do not repent with the sword of His mouth.
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’
As the Church of Christ, A Christian, it is our choice to follow the Lord and His teachings,
to repent of our ways that are not of him,
to turn from them and to stand steadfast in Him and His word.
It aways seems to come back to choice.
Whom will you choose to follow after, to serve?
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says”