During the first three centuries, the church suffered a great deal as the Roman government tried its best to damage her. Eventually, the enemy, Satan, realized that persecution did not work very well. Therefore, being the subtle one, he changed his strategy from persecuting the church to welcoming her. In the early part of the fourth century, Constantine the Great accepted Christianity and made it a state religion. From that time onward, Christianity became a type of Roman state church. This welcoming of the church by the Roman Empire ruined her, because it caused the church to become worldly. The church has been called out of the world and has been separated from the world to God. However, by being welcomed by the Roman Empire, the church went back to the world and, in the eyes of God, even married the world. God considers this type of worldly union spiritual fornication.
In Revelation 2:13 the Lord Jesus said of the church in Pergamos, “I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is.” Satan’s dwelling place is the world. Because the church has entered into union with the world and has become worldly herself, she now dwells where Satan dwells-in the world.
The church in Pergamos also dwells where Satan’s throne is. This again refers to the world. The world is not only Satan’s dwelling place but also the sphere wherein he rules. Now the church is not only one with the world but even one with Satan. Such a worldly church is saturated with the thoughts, concepts, theories, and practices of Satan.
In Revelation 2:14 the Lord says, “I have a few things against you, because you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat idol sacrifices and to commit fornication.” This verse speaks of “the teaching of Balaam.” Balaam was a Gentile prophet who caused God’s people to stumble. For the sake of reward (2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11), he brought fornication and idolatry to God’s people (Num. 25:1-3; 31:16). In the worldly church, some began to teach the same things. Idolatry always brings in fornication (Num. 25:1-3; Acts 15:29). When the worldly church disregarded the name, the person, of the Lord, she turned to idolatry, which issued in fornication. The teachings of Balaam always cause people to enter into union with worldly things. This is to eat idol sacrifices and to commit spiritual fornication.
In Revelation 2:15 the Lord says, “You also have those who hold in like manner the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” The worldly and degraded church holds not only the teaching of Balaam but also the teaching of the Nicolaitans. The teaching of Balaam distracts the believers from the person of Christ to idolatry and from the enjoyment of Christ to spiritual fornication, whereas the teaching of the Nicolaitans destroys the function of believers as members of the Body of Christ, thus annulling the Lord’s Body in expressing Him. The former teaching disregards the Head, and the latter destroys the Body.
In the church in Ephesus only the works of the Nicolaitans were found (2:6), whereas in the church in Pergamos their works progressed into a teaching. First, they practiced the hierarchy in the initial church; now they taught it in the degraded church. Today in both Catholicism and Protestantism this Nicolaitan hierarchy prevails in both practice and teaching. The Lord hates the Nicolaitan hierarchy because it kills the function of the members of the Body and builds up an organization in place of an organism. This hierarchy is evil and satanic, and the Lord hates it. If we would have the proper church life, we must develop the function of all the members, encouraging them to function according to life in a living way that the Body may be built up as an organism.
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