Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #15 of Revelation 2, and we will read Revelation 2:12:

And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

Once again, the Lord is addressing another of the seven churches.  This is the third church to be addressed, as He had already spoken to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:1, and He had addressed the angel of the church in Smyrna in Revelation 2:8.  And now in Revelation 2:12, He is addressing the angel of the church in Pergamos.

Just to remind us, Christ was addressing the “angel,” or “messenger,” because it is a type and figure of God’s elect in the churches and congregations.  He speaks His message to His people, and they share it to the churches as a whole, and it is really a message to all the churches.

Now the Lord is focusing His attention on the church in Pergamos.  The name “Pergamos” may possibly be derived from a word meaning “power.”  As far as the location of the church of Pergamos, it is not mentioned outside of the book of Revelation anywhere else in the Bible.  Pergamos is mentioned in Revelation 1 and Revelation 2, but nowhere else.

There is a place called “Perga” that is mentioned three times in the book of Acts, which is similar to the name “Pergamos,” but it does not appear to be the same place, but a different location.

Let us return to read Revelation 2:12:

And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

Again, the Lord is restating something, and we have seen this done frequently so far in our study of the book of Revelation.  God is not hesitant to repeat Himself in the Bible.  As a matter of fact, He does this fairly often.  He will state a point, and then He will restate the point.  He will emphasize something, and then reemphasize it.  Reiteration is something the Bible does a great deal.

Here, He has the sharp sword with two edges.  If you remember back in Revelation 1, it said of the one like unto the Son of man, in Revelation 1:16:

And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

Of course this is a “word picture” that God is painting of the Lord Jesus Christ, and when we look up the “twoedged sword,” it points directly to the Word of God.  There is no question that the sharp twoedged sword is a type and figure of the Word of God itself.  It says in Hebrews 4:12:

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Here, it is stated plainly that the word of God is “quick,” or alive, and it is powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword.  When we read of this twoedged sword, we saw in Revelation 1:16 that it came out of His mouth, and that is because it is typifying the Word of God, which comes forth out of His mouth.

In Revelation 19, a chapter that describes Judgment Day, it says in Revelation 19:15:

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Again, the sword protruded from His mouth because it is a representation of the Word of God that comes from the mouth of God.  So we are very sure that this is exactly what the sword is pointing to, so let us read our verse again in Revelation 2:12:

…These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

God is indicating that He possesses this sword.  It belongs to Him.  He owns it, and no one else does.  That tells us that it is His Gospel – the doctrines and truths that the Bible reveals are His.  When the Bible reveals truth, no matter how grievous that truth may be, that truth is God’s Word.  And that truth may not be how we would have written these things or how we would have intended the Gospel to be, and that is actually the problem with mankind and his failure to hearken to the Word of God.  Man often does not hearken because He does not like what He is hearing.  He does not like the Gospel that God devised, and He does not like the Gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ possesses, and which comes from His mouth.  Man wants his own kind of gospel.  He wants his own thoughts, inventions and devises.  Man wants things according to his standards and his convictions and his morals, and if the Gospel does not fall in line with these things, man will reject the Gospel that fails to live up to his own standards. 

I know this sounds awful.  How can it be that professed Christians want their own kind of gospel rather than the true Gospel of the Bible?  That is exactly how it is with the professed Christians that remained in the churches and congregations.  They do not want a Gospel that says the church age is over; they heard it, but they did not like it, and they refused to believe it.  The vast majority of them were not even honorable enough to check it out (in the Bible) to see if it were so, just because they did not like it.  They want to hear “smooth” things, flattering things, and things that tickle their fancy and that they can agree with, like God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives.  They want to hear that continuing to go to church is not a vain thing, and that keeping their membership and a good standing with the members and pastor basically guarantees their entrance into heaven.  These are their standards and convictions, and this is the gospel they want, a gospel they can “control,” and they can do their work, and with a little effort here, and a little effort there, they can enter into heaven. 

They do not want to hear that God is not in the churches, and He is not saving anyone.  That is heresy to them.  Sadly, their definition of “heresy” is whatever does not agree with the traditions of their church fathers.  That was the definition of the Jews when Jesus came along and spoke His truth (because He is the Word made flesh), and the Jews did not like what they were hearing.  It would require correction and change on their part, and it would require humility and a bowing of the knee before the Word of God, and to submit to the Gospel of God rather than to maintain their own gospel, standards, and their own righteousness.  And of course that was unacceptable to the Jews, and it was unacceptable in the same way to the churches and congregations when they heard of the end of the church age. 

You know, it is not our right, and we have no say in the matter regarding what the Gospel truth is, and I know that the true believers would never want the Gospel, the truths of the Word of God, to be a teaching that says that no longer can anyone become saved.  No.  We delighted in the possibility that others might hear and become saved, and yet the Gospel is revealing that no one can be saved at this time.  The Word of God reveals, and God is teaching us through the Bible that May 21, 2011, was the Day of Judgment, and He locked that particular date into place.  It was not from a man.  He revealed that exactly 7,000 years from the flood He would shut the door of heaven.  God made that connection between the doors shutting, not man.  God worked it out so that the date of May 21, 2011 happened after a full 23 years (exactly 8,400 days) of the Great Tribulation, and the Bible reveals that immediately after that tribulation, the “sun” is darkened, and “moon” will not give her light, and “stars” will fall from heaven, as the light of the Gospel is put out immediately after the Tribulation.  Again, the focus of the Bible emphasizes that the light of the Gospel unto salvation would be extinguished like the light of a candle immediately after the Tribulation, and that also confirmed the same thing as what the shutting of the door pointed to, which was the end of salvation.  God is the one who made these tie-ins, and He is the one who revealed these things, as well as teaching us all sorts of other information about the Day of Judgment.  He is the one who wrote Isaiah 24, emphasizing in verse, after verse, His plan for judging the world, and removing the joy of the Gospel.  Remember those verses?  It says in Isaiah 24:3:

The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for JEHOVAH hath spoken this word.

(And the word “land” is also translated as “earth” in this chapter.)  Who spoke the Word?  It is the “sword” of the mouth of God, that twoedged sword protruding from the mouth of Christ, spiritually.  It says in Isaiah 24:3, “…for JEHOVAH hath spoken this word.”  You did not speak it, and I did not speak it, but many people say, “Well, according to my understanding of the Gospel, my God would not stop saving people while leaving His people on the earth.”  That may be their understanding of the Gospel.  That may be their standard and conviction, according to their morality, but that is not the standard of God.  That is not the teaching of His Word.  God is most definite when He says these things, and it is coming from Him.  It goes on to say in Isaiah 24:4-11:

The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.

These verses describe our tragic present situation of living in the Day of Judgment.  The earth is burned, spiritually, and yet there are “few men left.”  That is, God’s remnant remain alive upon the earth, awaiting the end of this terrible period of time, the awful Day of Judgment.

We did not decide this.  If we could, what would we desire?  Remember what it says in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus?  The rich man was in a place of torment, and he requested that Lazarus be sent forth to him with just a “drop of water,” the littlest bit of Gospel water.  He requested, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”  What was the response?  It says in Luke 16:25-26:

But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Notice that Abraham said, “they which would,” typifying God’s elect.  If it were possible, they would desire to bring that “drop of water.”  After all, that had been our test.  We were servants and messengers in the world, “the lowest of the low,” and we were just individuals that carried the Gospel, being despised, rejected, and looked down upon by our fellow man.  We stood on the street corners with that despised Word of God in our hands, and out of love, it was our delight to minister that Word to many that wanted nothing to do with it.  “Get that away from me!  I have no time or interest!”  A scowl of disdain would meet the “Lazaruses” of the earth, as we went forth joyfully, delighting in the job God had ordained for us in the Great Commission.  We were commanded to go forth and carry that Gospel Word, and the Lord’s people did so. 

What a joy it was to go to foreign lands, walking the streets of India, Japan, South America, and all over the earth.  What a joy it was to meet the people of the world with the Word of God, the Gospel, and with the hope that this one, or that one, was one of God’s elect.  Maybe God would create their life anew.  Maybe God would use the message of His Word to save a soul.  We knew no greater delight in anything else.  This was our beautiful task, and God’s people were happy to be going about the Lord’s business.  And if we could, we would pass from across this “gulf” that God has made at this time, or go through this door that God has shut.  If we could, we would light the “sun” again so that it might shine into the world, or we would light the “candle” to penetrate the darkness that sinners might see and come to life again.  Do you not think we care for our own children, our other family members, or our neighbors and friends, or others that we might meet?  We have not ceased to care.

It is just that God has established that “gulf.”  God has shut the door.  We are just doorkeepers, and we do not determine when the door is open, or when the door is shut.  We are just servants that kindly offered the Word of God that was the only way of entry into that wide open door during the Latter Rain period when the great multitude was being saved.  “Seek the Lord!  Approach Him, and cry out for mercy while it is still the day of salvation!”  We cried, and cried, and we warned people.

And, certainly, we would still desire the best for every soul, especially those close to us.  But we cannot open what God has shut.  We cannot light what God has darkened.  We cannot say more than the Word of God will allow because it is not our Gospel.  It is not our Word.  We are not the ones who decide, “Today is still the day of salvation.”  Who are we?  All we can do is go to God and His Word for direction.  He is the one who commands us what we can, or cannot, say.  So we do what God allows.  And God does allow individuals to cry out for mercy in the sense that He may already have saved them (during the day of salvation).  We are thankful that God permits that.  He allows us to cry for mercy for others in the sense that the cup of His wrath might pass from them.  We are also thankful that because of that, we can continue to pray for individuals.  We do not stop praying.

But, again, the twoedged sword that comes forth from the mouth of God is what He possesses, as it says in Revelation 2:12:

…These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

We are not the ones who determine what God’s Word is, but the role of God’s servants and doorkeepers is to heed what God is saying, and then we run with it, and we share that information with others.  We can only say what the Lord will permit us to say.