2025_Devotional_Catalog_FINAL No Crop

Day 32

ACTUAL SIZE SAMPLE

Culture and Compromise “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword’” (Revelation 2:12). What is the most revered cultural center in the world today? It’s up for debate, but some would say London with its British Museum and National Gallery. Shanghai has more national museums (27) than any other city. Then there is Rome, with its ancient ruins and classical masterpieces from the Renaissance and Baroque eras . And we could mention Kyoto, New York City, Istanbul, Paris, Florence, Washington, D.C ., and Vienna . In ancient Greece, the city of Pergamos, a rich and powerful metropolis, would have made the list . Between the time of Alexander the Great and the emergence of the Roman Empire, the city served as the capital of the kingdom of Pergamon . From 281 to 133 bc, it grew into a major cultural center of the Greek world . It hosted the world’s second-largest library and numerous beautiful, albeit pagan, temples . You can still see many of its remarkable monuments today. When John wrote Revelation, Pergamos, the northernmost of the seven churches, was being superseded by Ephesus . While the church of Ephesus left its first love and the church of Smyrna suffered fierce persecution, the church at Pergamos represented a shift in Satan’s strategy to destroy the work of God . Instead of attack ing the church from without, the devil would now attack it from within . The period of church history symbolized by Pergamos is approximately ad 313 to 538, during which Christianity was made an official religion of the Roman state . Just as the city of Pergamos sought to exalt itself over its rival in Ephesus, so the church began to exalt itself on the earth . The Greek word gamos , which means “marriage,” symbolizes how the church during this era would be uplifted in the eyes of mankind through a union of church and state. In the creation of this religio-political power, Christianity would be infiltrated by Satan through pagan spiritualism . Thus, Pergamos was a church marked by spiritual compromise. The church of Pergamos needed to hear the words of “He who has the sharp two-edged sword.” God’s Word cuts through the pretenses of manmade tradition . When culture clashes with Christianity, when its values go against the Bible, the time has come to leave its museums . Dear Jesus, today I commit to stand alone on the Word of God. I will not compromise truth for unity with the world.

For Further Study: Isaiah 49:2; Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12

42

3

RevelationVBV_Interior_2color_2024_D.indd 42

6/24/24 6:51 PM