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The Revelation of Jesus Christ
THE MESSAGE TO PERGAMos-"THE CHURCH UNDER IMPERIAL FAVOR"
We have already observed that the Lord Jesus addressed Himself to each of these seven churches in Asia according to the particular needs. To the church at Smyrna, where men were dying for their faith, Hi; introduced Himself as the One who "was dead and is alive"; to the church at Pergamos, as "He which hath the sharp sword with two edges." Then He went on to say: "I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is." And thus begins the message of the risen Christ to the church at Pergamos, which repre sented "the church under imperial favor, settled in the world," from the year 316 A. D. Satan had found out that he could not destroy the church by making martyrs of men. That but increased their loyalty to Christ. So he tried a new tactic, that of introducing the world into the church. This policy always means a lessening of the spiritual life. About this time there came to the throne of the Roman Empire a heathen named Constantine. He knew nothing about Christianity. There is a legend to the effect that Constantine saw, in a dream, a fiery cross burning in the heavens, and heard a voice saying, "By this sign con quer." Finding that the cross was the symbol of the church, he professed to become a Christian. Constantine was never truly converted. He was still a heathen, and was the instrument in the hands of the devil to bring ~bout an unholy alliance with the world. His professed conversion was a great tragedy. In the British Museum there is a coin that was put out in the days of Constantine, on one side of which are the Christian emblems, and on the other the emblems of the old heathen gods. Constantine took the name of "Pontifex Maximus," which means "The high priest of the heathen." He issued an edict, ordering that all persecution of Chris tians should cease and that the heathen temples should be converted into Christian churches. For his own selfish ends he favored Christianity, which by this time had millions of
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