When Jesus addresses the church in Pergamum, he says that he knows where they live, where “Satan has his throne.” In our book, I discuss possible interpretations of this phrase:
This statement has led to much speculation over the years as to what could be considered to be “Satan’s throne.” Some would point to the temple of Asclepios. Certainly the serpent god of the Romans could be connected with the ancient serpent which tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. Yet the temple of Asclepios was a center of healing and medicine, hardly an evil place in and of itself. There’s nothing to make us think that the things that went on there would have been of any threat to the Christians. Another possibility that is often mentioned is the huge altar to Zeus which could be seen looming above the city. Zeus was considered king of the Roman gods, and the altar contained images of the whole pantheon of gods and goddesses. Its imagery would have been offensive to Christians as would have been the activities which went on there. Still, there’s little to make us connect this pagan building with the context of Revelation; the persecution that was to come upon the Christians did not emanate from this great building. What seems the most likely, given the historical situation in which the first-century Christians in Asia found themselves, is that Paul is referring to Pergamum as provincial capital. The Roman government had established its center in Pergamum and all official persecution of Christians in Asia would originate there. There were a whole series of temples in Pergamum which were dedicated to the different Roman emperors. Emperor worship with its ensuing persecution of Christians; surely that could be considered to be the seat of satanic power in the region. The emperor must not be worshiped, for his power is not of divine origin, but demonic.
(Letters From The Lamb, pp. 81-82)
In his Experimental Theology blog, Richard Beck had an interesting post on the relationship between the demonic powers and earthly governments. (as well as a follow up post on the angels of the nations). This concept is plainly seen in the letter to the church in Pergamum.
Rome’s throne is Satan’s throne. Christians were not in a struggle against mere men; the earthly power that presented itself as an authority was a challenge to God’s authority. It was a representative of Satan on earth.
Love your historical research and your ability to make it make sense for simple minded people as myself. I truly believe that there are more “representatives” of evil /Satan in our midst than we realize. Thanks for making the concept easy to grasp. Keep it up Sir!
Thank you Trent. Let’s all keep studying!
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
Our Lord’s insights regarding the brethren at Pergamum are very much relevant for us today. I did a study of this at:
http://www.zianet.com/maxey/reflx179.htm
Great article. You are making me want to buy the book. I suppose I will have to order one mid-month as a present to myself.
Seems like we’re still having the same struggle. God calls for all of humanity to recognize and submitt to Him upon his throne. Yet Christians, who profess to live under the reign of God, continue to live as though the ruling power is found in other ideologies related to our ethnicity, nationality, political party, etc… and even the church denomination (which we in the CoC are not exempt from). I believe the American Civil War, The Nazi rise to power and Holocaust, the Rawanda Massacre, urban gang war, the continued fragmenting between the political right and left, and many other histoical realities are rooted in this very problem. Of course there are not any history books/curriculums in the public schools that are going to even try and view history from a bibilical world-view. So if we are to see history and look to the future from a biblical world-view – God’s world-view – then it is upon the church to hear our call back to such a world-view and profess that world-view in both word and deed.
Grace and peace,
Rex
Thanks Scott. I hope you’ll get a chance to read the book.
Rex,
I think you’ll find Richard Beck’s thoughts on the subject to be very interesting, if you haven’t followed those links.
We definitely need to be aware of the power struggle that is going on.
Grace and peace,
Tim
Tim,
Yes I read those links and thought they are very helpful. I have also read some of Walter Wink’s work.
I hear too much of the mythological/spiritual reference to the “principalities and powers” among contemporary Christianity. Even when one believes in demonic posession, it is usually assumed that the denomic is *in* the physical but *not* the physical. The biblical witness seems to suggest, as Wink points out, that demonic power is spiritual but also becomes physical (i.e., not just inhabbits but becomes the physical). What I don’t know is where the difference between world-views come in beginning with the prehistoric world-view, which very much saw power in a wooden statue, to the premodern worldview, which saw power among people (and in the demonic sense, such people were deemed witches and so for, to be burned alive), to the modern/postmodern world-view, which is generally too sophisticated to attribute power to a wooden statue and a person but sees power in systems and ideologies. I certain believe the demonic can become any form, whatever is necessary for Satan to deceive us yet.
Here is a missiological question: If I am correct and we live in a world-view that believes god-like power is not found in a person(s) but within the systems and ideologies (whether they be political, religious, or else) then we have a formiddable barrier between the gospel and culture since the gospel is that all power and authority is in a person – Jesus the Messiah. How do we contextualize our message to that missiological issue?
Grace and peace,
Rex