In Revelation 2:10b and 11 we have the Lord’s promise to the overcomers of this stage. To overcome in this epistle means to overcome persecution by being faithful unto death.
“Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (2:10b). Here, as elsewhere in the New Testament, the crown denotes a prize in addition to salvation. The crown of life as a prize to those who are faithful unto death in overcoming persecution denotes the overcoming strength, which is the power of the resurrection life (Phil. 3:10); it also signifies that these overcomers have attained to “the out-resurrection from among the dead,” that is, the outstanding resurrection (Phil. 3:11).
To the church in Ephesus Christ promises to give the overcomers to eat of Himself as the tree of life. To the church in Smyrna He promises to give the overcomers the crown of life. The eating of the tree of life is for inward supply, and the crown of life is for outward glory. Both promises are wrapped up with the divine life. This life must first be our food, and then it will be our expression and our glorification as the crown of life.
The promise to the overcomers in this stage of the church has both a positive side and a negative side. The positive side is receiving the crown of life, and the negative side is not being hurt of the second death. “He who overcomes shall by no means be hurt of the second death” (Rev. 2:11b). The second death is God’s dealing with man after man’s death and resurrection. It is, therefore, the final settlement (Rev. 20:11-15). Because the overcomers have overcome death through their faithfulness unto death under persecution and have left nothing requiring further dealing by God, after their resurrection they will not be “hurt,” touched, by the second death, the death after resurrection. This indicates that those who do not overcome persecution will be hurt by the second death. This is for a believer to suffer some dealing from the Lord after he has been resurrected. Those who do not overcome will not receive the crown of life but will instead be hurt by the second death. However, those who overcome persecution and tribulation by the resurrection life within them will receive the crown of life positively and will not be hurt by the second death negatively. This is the Lord’s clear promise in His clear word.
In Greek “Pergamos” means “marriage,” implying union, and “fortified tower.” As a sign, the church in Pergamos prefigures the church which entered into a marriage union with the world and became a high fortified tower, the equivalent of the great tree prophesied by the Lord in the parable of the mustard seed (Matt. 13:31-32). When Satan failed to destroy the church through the persecution of the Roman Empire in the first three centuries, he changed his strategy. He sought instead to corrupt her through Constantine’s welcoming her as the state religion in the first part of the fourth century. Through Constantine’s encouragement and political influence, multitudes of unbelieving ones were baptized into the “church,” and the “church” became monstrously great. Because the church, as a chaste bride, is the spouse to Christ, her union with the world is considered spiritual fornication in the eyes of God.
According to the facts of history, during the first three centuries, the church suffered a great deal as the Roman Empire tried its best to damage her. Eventually, 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 kind 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 for the fulfillment of His purpose. 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.
Due to this marriage, the church lost her purity and became worldly. Because the church had entered into union with the world, many worldly things came into the church. Worldly things are related to idol worship, for worldliness is always associated with idolatry. First, the church in Pergamos became worldly and then idolatrous. Satan saturated her with the world and with idols. As a result, the church became absolutely different from what God intended her to be. God desires a church which is outside the world, having nothing to do with the world. The church must be a golden lampstand, the pure expression of the processed Triune God, and have no connections with the world. But after the Roman Empire had made the church a worldly religion, she became impure, worldly, and idolatrous.
Revelation 2:12-17 corresponds to Matthew 13:31-32. The church should be like an herb to produce food, but it became a “tree,” a lodge for birds, having its nature and function changed. This happened when Constantine the Great mixed the church with the world, bringing in thousands of false believers. At that time, the mustard herb became a great tree-Christendom, the worldly church, the church married to the world.
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