Day 05 - West Central Turkey: Sardis, Pergamum

Day 5 was a glorious gift of a grind. Steep terrain made for some challenging hikes but life-changing encounters in the Word. We began the day with a reminder to avoid Spiritual “leakage.” In Matthew 13, Jesus paints the picture of one who sacrifices absolutely everything to purchase a field with buried treasure of immense wealth. Such is the life of a follower of Jesus Christ who gladly trades the cheaper things this world offers in exchange for true joy found in the Savior.

Unfortunately, that sort of devoted discipleship was not commonplace in the churches of Sardis, Thyatira, and Pergamum based on Jesus’s letters to each in the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Revelation. Commitment had, by and large, given way to compromise. In Sardis, for instance, a city known for its great wealth as the first to mint money and where the legend of King Midas began, the world’s largest synagogue was rife with synchronization. Sardis’s “get-along culture” bred a Spiritual lethargy that mirrored the sort of lackadaisical military awareness that rendered the city’s impenetrable elevated fortress vulnerable to attack on multiple occasions. Perhaps the best example of Sardis’s apathetic drift was the abominable acts of “worship” at the temple of Artemis. Such evil had stained the believers in a city known for its pure white wool. May we learn from Sardis and more faithfully heed Paul’s command to Timothy to alertly “GUARD the good deposit!”

Thyatira was a city built on a flat plain, where a major trade route and a mineral-rich river helped produce a commercial center particularly famous for its (red) textiles and purple dyes. In order to benefit from the booming commerce, however, locals would have been pressured to participate in all facets of a certain guild, which would have necessitated various feasts and rituals to incite the blessings of specific patron deities. What a tough predicament for a Christian trying to support their family while living out their faith! Lord, we pray that you would embolden believers today to not justify compromise but wholeheartedly lean into Your truth and obediently live out Your love regardless of consequences.

The day’s final encounter was the city of Pergamum, where “Satan’s throne is.” For members of this church to “hold fast” Jesus’s name amidst persecution and wickedness should be most encouraging for any Christian today. At every turn throughout the city, “Satan’s throne” was evident: we saw an enormous altar built to Zeus and inspected the site dedicated to the worship of the kings; we looked at a library where a city known for perfecting the process of parchment production stored thousands of scrolls; we considered Pergamum’s status as the first city chosen to host a temple built to honor the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus, as well as its construction of the temple recognizing Athena, the self-proclaimed “way, truth, and life”; we sat in the amphitheater with a unique elevated stage over a prominent road that terminated at this site honoring Dionysius, where theatre met wine and revelry to desensitize audiences; we got acquainted with Demeter, the “Bread of Life” that worshipers beseeched for bread/grain provision with blood from animal sacrifices spattered on them. Indeed, “Satan’s throne” was everywhere in Pergamum!!! Jesus, the true bearer of the sort of “double-edged sword” granted to Roman governors for capital punishment purposes, reminds His readers of coming justice, which provides hope to the persecuted and warning to the prodigal. The promise of “hidden manna” and a white stone with a new name are a glimpse of the prize that awaits Christians who persevere and conquer. We, as believers in the finished work of Jesus Christ have so much to live for! May we embrace the mindset of martyr Jim Elliott: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” 

Greg Guiler