Only the Lord sees and knows our real situation and our true condition. Christ as the High Priest is constantly walking (not running, but walking) among the local churches, He sees their situation, and He speaks a specific word to each of the churches.
Through His speaking to the churches, the Lord trims away anything that is not according to Him. He trims away the charred wicks of the lamps so that the lampstand may shine brighter for God’s testimony.
One of the things He hates and which gives out an unpleasant smell is religion, especially the influence of the Judaic religion into the church life. Another matter He hates is worldliness. God loves the world, the people in the world, but He hates worldliness (see Rev. 2:13-15).
At one point in history, when Satan realized that he cannot destroy the church by persecuting it through the Roman Empire, he changed his strategy: he did his best to unite the church with the world. With the help of Constantine the Great, the age of “Pergamos” came into being, where the church was united and joined in marriage with the world, and worldly people and things were brought into the church. Ever since, the believers in Christ have been affected by worldliness.
In the degraded church today there are some who “hold the teaching of Balaam” and who “hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans”, which God hates. The teaching of Balaam distracts the believers from the person of Christ to idolatry and from the enjoyment of Christ to spiritual fornication, thus corrupting and taking away the believers from the person of Christ and the enjoyment of Christ.
The teaching of the Nicolaitans is the propagation of the clergy-laity system in the church, which destroys the function of the believers as members of the Body of Christ.
We need to be those who hear the Lord’s speaking today and rise up to be the overcomers, those who abide in the Lord’s presence in the Holy of Holies where we enjoy the hidden Christ so that He may reward us with being the overcomers who enjoy the hidden manna in the coming kingdom (Rev. 2:16-17).
The Worldly and Degraded Church Holds the Teaching of Balaam and the Teaching of the Nicolaitans
In Rev. 2:12-17 the Lord is speaking a specific word to the church in Pergamos, which was a local church in Asia at the apostle John’s time and also a church age in the history of the church. The Lord’s speaking to the church trims away worldliness. Footnote 1 on Rev. 2:12 for the word Pergamos says,
The Greek word means marriage (implying union) and fortified tower. As a sign, the church in Pergamos prefigures the church that entered into a marriage union with the world and became a high fortified tower, equivalent to 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 of Christianity as the state religion in the first part of the fourth century. Through Constantine’s encouragement and political influence, multitudes of unbelievers were baptized into the “church,” and the “church” became monstrously great. Since the church as a chaste bride is espoused to Christ, her union with the world is considered spiritual fornication in the eyes of God.
Christ Himself has come to destroy the works of the evil one, and through His death on the cross He judged Satan and cast him out. Also, when on the cross, Christ drew all men to Himself! He released the divine life from within His being, He judged the world, He cast its ruler out, and He drew us all to Himself!
However, in the age of today the church is degraded and corrupted, and it holds not only the teaching of Balaam but also the teaching of the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:14-15). Balaam taught Balak (the king through whose country the people of Israel were about to pass to get into the good land) to entice the people of Israel to commit fornication and idolatry, thus distracting them from God’s goal (Deut. 23:4; Num. 31:16; 25:1-3).
In the same way today there’s a teaching pervading the church that distracts the believers from the person Christ to idolatry (any other things, people, teachings, or matters that replace Christ) and from the enjoyment of Christ to spiritual fornication.
The Nicolaitans are not “the followers of Nicolai” but most likely they are those who teach the clergy-laity system in the church (“Nikos” in Greek is to overcome, and “laos” is laity, common people). The teaching of the Nicolaitans destroys the function of the believers as the organic members of the Body of Christ. This annuls the Lord’s Body as His expression.
We need to never be distracted from the person of Christ. We should love the Lord, enjoy Him, gain Him, know Him, experience Him, and resist and reject anything that wants to distract us from the enjoyment of Christ! Just give yourself to love the Lord!
Lord, we give ourselves to love You and enjoy You today! Shine on us to see anything that would replace You in our being. Lord, we take You as our burnt offering, the One absolute for God, and we give ourselves to You to simply enjoy You today!
Overcoming the Worldliness in the Church by Eating Christ as the Hidden Manna
The key to overcome the worldliness in the degraded church today is by eating Christ as the hidden manna (Rev. 2:17). Manna in the Old Testament was the basic food supply for the people of Israel in their wandering in the wilderness, and it signifies the Christ we enjoy daily, in a common way, for our life supply.
However, there was a portion of the manna that was put aside and preserved in a golden pot inside the Ark of the covenant (see Exo. 16:32-34; Heb. 9:4). The hidden manna signifies the hidden Christ, a special portion reserved for Christ’s overcoming seekers who overcome the degradation of the worldly church (see footnote 2 in Rev. 2:17, Recovery Version).
Today the church in a general way goes the way of the world, but we as the overcomers-to-be need to come forward to abide in the presence of God (in the Holy of Holies) to enjoy the hidden Christ as the special portion of enjoyment for our daily supply!
We shouldn’t be satisfied with eating the Lord in general, in the meetings, once or twice a day…we need to seek to enjoy the hidden Christ as the hidden manna. We need to seek the Lord, overcome the degradation in the worldly church, and enjoy a special portion of the Lord today, in this age, so that He as the hidden manna would be a reward to us in the coming kingdom, the wedding feast (Rev. 2:16-17).
If we enjoy Christ as the hidden manna today, we will enjoy Him as our reward in the coming kingdom. We need to eat Christ, digest Christ, and assimilate Christ. As the hidden manna is the center of the tabernacle (by being in the golden pot which is within the ark, which is in the Holy of Holies, which is the center of the tabernacle), so the hidden manna today is the center of the church life!
When we eat Christ, digest Him, and assimilate Him, we are in the central thought of God and we are in the center of the church life, God’s heart’s desire! The way to overcome the worldliness in the church today is by eating Christ as the hidden manna!
Lord Jesus, we come forward to the Holy of Holies to abide in Your presence today! In ourselves and by ourselves we cannot overcome the worldliness in the degraded church today, so we come to You to eat You, digest You, and assimilate You in our being. Lord, we seek You today so that we may overcome the degradation of the worldly church and enjoy You as the hidden manna! We want to enjoy a special portion of Christ today, something that is just between us and You, something of Christ that is revealed only to the overcomers! Lord, keep us in the center of the church life today! Keep us in Your central thought!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ speaking in the message for this week, and portions from, The Mending Ministry of John (ch. 14), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Mending Ministry of John, week 5 / msg 5, Christ’s Heavenly Priesthood Ministered to the Churches for the Producing of the Overcomers.
- Further reading: recommending Rev. 2:12 note 1, Rev. 2:13 note 1, Rev. 2:15 note 1, and Rev. 2:17 note 2 (footnotes in the Recovery Version) – very rich and enlightening!
- Hymns on this topic:
# Will you be an overcomer? / Testimony bear! / Keep away from false religion, / ”Hidden manna” share. (Hymns #894)
# Christ has called us once to Him, / But He calls us once again. / To His call we say Amen! / Overcome! / For the church has fallen low, / Thinking everything they know, / But the life is missing; so, / Overcome! / Overcome! Overcome! / Overcome degraded Christianity! / All your working lay aside, / All the teachings that divide; / Eat the Lord whate’er betide— / Overcome! (Hymns #1273)
# In my spirit deeper still / I would touch the Lord I love, / Touch Him in His hidden depth / And His hidden manna prove. (Hymns #769)
# Teach me to exercise my spirit, Lord, / Thy Word to study, so to contact Thee, / That Thou, the living Word, with Scripture, too, / As one my daily manna e’er may be. (Hymns #801)
