Covenant Reformed News – June 2014 • Volume XV, Issue 2
This article provides an exegetical analysis of Revelation 2:13's reference to Pergamos as the place of Satan's throne, examining the historical and religious context of the ancient city including the worship of Asclepius and Caesar worship as manifestations of antichristian idolatry. The author argues that these pagan practices foreshadowed the end-times beast kingdom and were promoted through the city's educational institutions, offering a Reformed interpretive approach to apocalyptic symbolism.
Pergamos: A Church Dwelling Where Satan’s Throne Is (2) In the last issue of the News, we saw one factor in the explanation of Pergamos as a city in which Satan had his dwelling and throne (Rev. 2:13), namely, the prominence of the worship of Asclepius who was especially associated with snakes. A second factor is that Pergamos was a centre of Caesar worship. That city had three temples for adoring the Roman emperor, including a great temple to Caesar Augustus built in 29 BC or 27 BC, making it...