[12] “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: [13] “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. [14] But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. [15] Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. [16] Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. [17] “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” ’
Pergamos was the capital and the oldest city of Asia. It was also the first city to build temples to Caesar Augustus, Zeus, and Asclepius, the god of medicine. You would probably recognize the Rod of Asclepius because it is the serpent symbol of the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as some other medical organizations.
When Jesus instructed John to write to the church of Pergamos, he said that it was doing some really great things, however he also had "a few things against" them (vs. 14). After naming what those things were, one of which he "hates", he instructed them, "Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth" (vs. 16). As we learn from other passages of Scripture, "the sword" typically refers to the word of God (Hebrews 4:12; Ephesians 6:17; Matthew 10:34; Luke 2:35; Revelation 2:12; Revelation 19:15; etc).
If this church did not repent from the things that it was doing, things which Jesus hated, he was going to come and fight against them with the sword of his mouth. He probably did not mean that he was personally going to come and literally fight against them in a sword battle, but that the Holy Spirit who lives in God's people was going to fight against them with the word of God through his earthly messengers. This "fighting" would take the form of correction, rebuke, and instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16), for the purpose of getting them to repent so that Jesus would not come and remove them by extinguishing their light. This is a more Biblically accurate picture of someone with a prophetic gift than what we typically think of prophets as being today.
We can assume that because this church no longer exists, it did not heed Jesus's warning and therefore he came and defeated it with his sword just as he promised them he would do.
Jesus said, "he who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches", which I take to mean, though this was written to the church of Pergamos, he intended its warnings to also be relevant to the church today. If churches are involved with works that Jesus detests or are not working in conjunction with his plans and purposes for the church, then those churches are not a light of the world, but they either had no light to start with, or their lights have already been extinguished. There is hope for them however, if they repent.
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