Revelation 2:14 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

Revelation 2:14

Comments

But there is a problem, and the problem is serious. It is quite clear from the commendation that precedes it that the people who were out of line and sinful are a minority in the church, but a dangerous minority. A minority of the church was involved in this sin, but the church as a whole had not reproved them. It had not put them out of fellowship as would have been necessary. So on account of the minority, however small, the whole church was in a state of disobedience to God, even though it was a good and faithful church, this could not be overlooked. It was a serious disciplinary problem.Back in the time before the children of Israel came into Canaan, Balaam was the one who influenced the pagan Moabite king to bring down the Israelites by a policy of infiltration. Get the women in among them, the beautiful women, seduce them, bring them down, bring them into marriages, and then we will get our idolatry in, and their God will not bless them, and they will collapse. But in this case it is not Balaam or any person, it is Satan who is orchestrating it. Satan has this scheme – how can we bring down this faithful church? What we will do is this – we will infiltrate with an evil policy so that a growing band of people in the church no longer make a faithful stand. They will say, ‘I am not going to be thrown out of work; I am not going to refuse to go the pagan worship promoted by my employer. I am not going to refuse to worship the trade gods, I am going to go to these feasts, even perhaps the immoral ones. Of course, I will say to myself, “This is just an idol; I believe in Christ”, but I will go and I will compromise. Then I will stay in employment, and maybe I will even influence them for good.’ Satan decides that if he can this idea into the heads of some of them, eventually it will affect the whole church. God will then repudiate the church and it will collapse.

Application

This has happened in every generation; it has happened in Britain over the centuries. There are students preparing for the ministry, and they say, I am going to go to such-and-such a university or such-and-such a college where I know that Christ is hated in real terms, and the word of God is not believed, and these things are rejected. The lecturers are critics who undermine the Bible and dislike all these things. Yes, but it is a prestigious place, and if I go there, and then I will have greater influence. Who knows, I may even be able to have a good effect on them. By doing so I will be somebody, and I will be respected, and I will have the most prestigious of university degrees.

We are saddened to see the director of the British Evangelical Council – which was founded by E.J. Poole-Conner years and years ago to take a stand for the Lord – is saying things like this, ‘The churches that are growing in this country are Charismatic churches, Vineyard churches, New Frontier churches, so we must study their worship culture and not be so antagonistic towards it. If we bring that culture into the more conservative and traditional evangelical churches, we may have the kind of success that they have. Copy their methods.’ Of course, this is foolishness anyway, for who says they have success? They may have some success, but there is also a tremendous amount of wood, hay and stubble. There is a well-known writer in America, who teaches that what you have got to do is to bridge the gap between the world and the church. If you make the church appear more like the world, then you will commend it to the world. It is exactly the same policy as here in Pergamos. Compromise will get us somewhere; it will get us influence. Do away with that old idea that there is a great gulf between Christ and the world. Bring them together, let us adopt worldly culture. Isn’t that common today? Isn’t it everywhere?

Questions

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Revelation 2:14 Commentary and Bible Study