Pergamum - 'Politics & Parchment'

Living Rock Church

Pergamum - 'Politics & Parchment'

City Biographies

August 25, 2021 • Christopher Alton • Revelation

Being found fifteen miles inland, and not on one of the great trade routes, like Ephesus or Smyrna, Pergamum was nonetheless an important city, exceeding them as a city of culture. In fact, it was the capital city of Asia for hundreds of years before losing its crown to Ephesus. It had a unique status as a political city, from which rulings were made which affected the whole of Asia. So, it became one of the most influential cities in the Roman Empire.

Pergamum was built on a steep hill, making it an ideal fortress site, but also lending itself to construction of a ten-thousand-seater outdoor theatre. It was said that the acoustics were so good, that a whisper on stage could be heard all the way up in the top row. It also had a library which was second only to the great library of Alexandria in the ancient world. Its collection of two hundred thousand books, was so great that the Roman general Marc Antony presented it as a wedding gift to his bride Cleopatra.

Pergamum was also a well-known centre for healing and medicine, with the world’s first psychiatric hospital being established there. Even some of the Roman Emperors came for medical treatment from time to time.

During a time of shortage of papyrus from Egypt in the second century BC, parchment is thought to have been invented in Pergamum, deriving its name from the city. Although animal skins had been used before, they came up with a way of preparing them, so both sides could be used, which eventually led to the replacement of rolled manuscripts, with bound books.

In His letter to the church, Jesus describes Pergamum as “the place where Satan's throne is”. It’s a curious phrase, and over the years lots of people have wondered what it means. There was a famous altar there, and it has quite a story. It was known as the altar of Zeus, and this was where Antipas, the bishop of Pergamum, was sacrificed for refusing to worship the emperor. John had appointed Antipas, and Jesus described him as “My faithful witness”.

This altar is still intact today. It was excavated in the late nineteenth century, and moved to the Pergamum Museum in Berlin in 1910. It was from this altar that Hitler’s chief of propaganda, Albert Speer, drew inspiration in designing the architectural monuments to the third Reich in Nazi Germany.

Named & Shamed

September 8, 2021 • Richard Jones, Mike Shuter

We review episodes 1 & 2 of Things That Make You Go Mmmm where we looked at Rewards & Riches and Insightful Imagery, and then look at a group and an individual who are Named & Shamed by Jesus Himself! As we look at these themes in the letters to the churches we can learn about what God wants for us and how we can live fully for Him.

To The One Who Conquers

August 22, 2021 • Mike Shuter

We've seen in the letters to the churches the opportunity for great eternal rewards for those who conquer and are faithful to the end. The question is how do we conquer? As we explore this we'll see the scriptures have great insights for us in what it means to conquer and be victorious in Christ

Laodicea - 'Lukewarm & Laidback'

August 25, 2021 • Christopher Alton • Revelation

Laodicea lay about forty miles east of Ephesus, near the banks of the river Lycus. There were at least six cities called Laodicea at the time, so it was often referred to as ‘Laodicea on the Lycus’. It was founded by Antiochus of Syria, around two hundred and fifty BC, and named after his wife Laodice. It became a rich and prosperous city, a centre of banking and finance, and famous for the soft black glossy wool from its sheep. It was so wealthy that when it was struck by an earthquake in AD 60, unlike many other cities, it needed no financial help from Rome to rebuild. The church in Laodicea must have been founded early on, probably while Paul was living at Ephesus, and most likely through the ministry of Epaphras, according to Paul’s letter to the nearby Colossians. Paul mentions Laodicea five times in this letter, including another letter he also wrote to its church, which has been lost to history. Sadly, it’s the only one of the seven churches about whom Jesus doesn’t have a good word to say. He tells them that they’ve become complacent in their comfortable lifestyle. Paul’s letter to the Colossians speaks of the struggle he had for the Laodiceans. He wanted them to ‘reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ’. Laodicea was a rich and prosperous city, and in such a place, it could be easy for the church to ignore its true spiritual riches. Perhaps even thirty years earlier, Paul had begun to see the rot set in at Laodicea? Jesus speaks about two further aspects of the church, which are reflected in the city of Laodicea. Firstly, the warm spring water. Laodicea had been cited on a strategic trade route, but not close to a water source. Its water arrived through several miles of an underground aqueduct, which meant it was lukewarm when it arrived. This contrasted with the hot springs at nearby Hierapolis, and the cold refreshing water at Colossae. For Jesus, the church was like the city’s water supply, lukewarm and sickly to the taste, and so neither use nor ornament! Secondly, Jesus refers to the ointment for which Laodicea had become famous. The city was a leading medical center for eye treatment in the ancient world. One of its most graduates produced a reference work which was still be used up to the Middle Ages. Laodicea’s ‘Phrygian Powder’ was exported throughout the world, to treat eye diseases. And with no small trace of irony, Jesus calls out the church for its spiritual blindness, offering them as a cure, His own salve to anoint their eyes.