When the World Sets Up a Throne

There is a city in ancient history that reads almost like a warning label for the modern world. Pergamum, once the capital of Roman Asia, was a place of extraordinary power, intellect, and religious complexity. It was home to a legendary library, a renowned medical center, grand temples, and public festivals of breathtaking moral darkness. It was, by almost any measure, one of the most influential cities of its era.

It was also, according to the risen Jesus in Revelation 2, the place where Satan had set up his throne.

And right in the middle of it, there was a church.

A Word That Cuts Both Ways

When Jesus addresses the church in Pergamum in Revelation 2:12-17, he introduces himself as the one who holds the sharp two-edged sword. That image is not accidental. It calls back to Hebrews 4, where the word of God is described as living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting to the very core of who we are. The sword is both a comfort and a warning. For those who follow Jesus, it is their protection and their life. For those who resist him, it is something else entirely.

The church in Pergamum had done something genuinely remarkable. They had watched a fellow believer named Antipas be killed for his faithfulness, and they had not flinched. They had held fast to the name of Jesus even while surrounded by temples to Caesar, to Zeus, to Asclepius, and to Dionysius. Even while the whole city was saturated with idol worship and public sexual immorality, they were still standing.

Jesus honors that. And then he brings the sharp word.

An Old Strategy with a Long Track Record

The problem in Pergamum was not that they had abandoned Jesus outright. It was that some among them had begun teaching that you could have Jesus and still participate in the idolatry and sexual immorality of the surrounding culture. Jesus names this the teaching of Balaam, and the reference is pointed.

In the book of Numbers, the Moabite king Balak hired a diviner named Balaam to curse the people of Israel. Four times Balaam opened his mouth to curse them, and four times blessings came out instead. God’s people seemed untouchable. But then, just pages later in Numbers 25, everything collapses. The men of Israel began sleeping with Moabite women, who then invited them to worship their gods. The people who could not be cursed had seduced themselves into destruction.

It is not until Numbers 31 that the strategy is revealed. It was Balaam’s idea all along. He told Balak that a frontal assault would not work. But if you sent women into the camp, you could pull the people away from their God through immorality and idolatry.

No new plans from the enemy. The same strategy that worked in 1500 BC was being deployed in Pergamum in 95 AD. And it is being deployed today.

What the Bible Actually Says About Sex

Before we can understand the distortion, we need to understand the design. The early pages of Genesis give us four words that frame God’s vision for human sexuality.

It is precious. Genesis 1:27-28 places the creation of male and female directly within the act of God making image-bearers. Biological sex is not incidental to humanity. It is woven into what it means to reflect God in the world.

It is powerful. God entrusted human beings with the ability to create new human beings. The God who made the mountains and the stars looked at his creation and said, now you go and make more of this. That is a staggering responsibility.

It is protected. Genesis 2:24 describes a man leaving his father and mother and holding fast to his wife, the two becoming one flesh. The sexual union belongs within a covenantal commitment between a man and a woman. The boundaries are not arbitrary restrictions. They are the walls of a fireplace that allow something beautiful and warming to exist without burning the house down.

And it is pleasurable. The man and his wife were naked and unashamed. God designed delight into the gift. An entire book of the Bible, the Song of Songs, celebrates the joy of committed marital love. God is not anti-pleasure. He invented it.

When sexuality is distorted, whether through sex outside of marriage, adultery, same-sex activity, exploitation, or lust and pornography, it does not just break a rule. It breaks something in us. It pulls worship away from God and redirects it somewhere else.

Worship and Sexuality Are Never Really Separate

This is the deeper truth that Pergamum illustrates so vividly. Sexuality and spirituality share the same longings. The desire to be known. The desire to be loved. The desire for intimacy and belonging. We want those things from God, and we want them from one another. When sexuality is elevated beyond its design, it does not just become sinful. It becomes religious. It takes on the character of devotion, community, symbol, and celebration.

The sharp word of Jesus to the church in Pergamum is not directed at the pagan city around them. It is directed at the people who bear his name. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians that among followers of Jesus, there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality. That is a high standard. It is also a gracious one, because Jesus did not simply command it from a distance.

He lived it. He died for every failure to meet it. He rose so that a new kind of life is actually possible.

The Promise for Those Who Hold On

To those who conquer, Jesus promises hidden manna and a white stone with a new name. He promises a deeper feast than anything Pergamum could offer. He promises belonging that no token or entry card or social acceptance could ever provide.

The call is not to be angry at the culture outside the church. The call is to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church, to repent where repentance is needed, and to hold fast to the name of the one who holds the sword and offers the stone.

He is better than anything Pergamum has to offer. He always has been.

This content was created with AI assistance based on a recent sermon preached at Cross+Crown and reviewed by church staff. You can access the sermon here.