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Pergamos
About sixty-five miles north of Smyrna lay the beautiful inland city of Pergamos. It was the oldest city in the province and capital of Roman Asia. Its library is said to have contained over 200,000 volumes of parchment scrolls. The library was later given as a gift from Mark Anthony to Cleopatra.
Pergamos was obviously a hostile and difficult place for Christian believers to live—“where Satan has his throne.” The oppressive force of demonic powers was all around. The culture of the community was so given to pagan gods and emperor worship that Antipas, apparently one of the believers in Pergamos, had become the first Christian in Asia to be martyred for his faith.
Thyatira
Thyatira was about thirty-five miles southeast of Pergamos. It had been founded nearly 400 years before by Alexander the Great. Lydia, Paul’s first convert in Europe, came from this town (Acts 16:14) as a businesswoman selling the popular purple fabric made in Thyatira.
The church of that city was in serious trouble, caused by the demands of the many trade guilds (such as tanners, potters, weavers, dyers, and robe makers). These fraternal associations frequently sponsored ceremonial feasts that featured food “sacrificed” to some pagan deity, possibly the guild’s patron god. Moreover, the immoral conduct which often characterized such occasions made it impossible for genuine Christians to participate in the guild or its activities.
Sardis
Thirty miles southeast of Thyatira and fifty miles due east of Smyrna, was Sardis, a city renowned for its dyeing process and woolen industries.
In this series of letters the pattern had been for Christ to offer a commendation to the congregation before stating His condemnation. However, in this letter to the church in Sardis any praise is missing. Instead, harsh evaluation is immediate. The problem was not sensuality, but spirituality. Here was a spiritually weak congregation living off the accolades of their past. Their spiritual service to Christ was in another day. Now they were nothing. They had a history, and reveled in their reputation, but for the most part the current congregation had one foot in the grave (Rev. 3:1, 4). They no doubt sang hymns together, prayed together, gave, taught, and talked together, yet they were declared “dead.”
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