February 10, 2022

“But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus, you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.”  Revelation 2:14-15

In taking a look back at Balaam (Numbers 22-25,31:16) we are reminded of the story of the rescued Israelites as they made their way toward the land of Promise. The camp of the Israelites was extremely impressive and orderly. They boldly set up on plains, in plain view of heathen tribes looking down on them from the hills and mountains. Just the beauty and order of the camp of the Israelites sent fear and dread among godless people. Balak, king of the Moabites, summoned Balaam to curse the Israelites. Even though Balaam wanted to comply in order to gain riches, each time he attempted to pronounce a curse, only blessings poured from his lips over Israel. God would not permit Balaam to carry out this pagan king’s demand.

But rather than be instructed by this clear, divinely protected boundary, Balaam’s greed led him to explain to Balak that enticing the Israelites to be disobedient to their God was the only way to bring curses upon them. This counsel came to its own sad, but predictable, fruition in chapter 25 and in 31:16 is called the “incident at Peor.”

Laid out for us in Revelation 2:6&15 is the sharp contrast between the commendation from Jesus to Ephesus for hating “the deeds of the Nicolaitans” and the rebuke to Pergamos for embracing — as members of the Christian church — those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. The verse above establishes a connection between the doctrines of Balaam and the Nicolaitans. Nicolaitanism is a philosophy or attitude that has at its core a subtle and systematic separation of God’s Law from His people. Disobedience is the sad result. It has ever been Satan’s purpose to overthrow God’s Law and direct the loyalties of His people away from God — and thus towards himself. Worship is the central issue, and, as we have learned, there is no middle ground. Satan will get his worship in any way he can: he employs subtle deception, blatant lies, peer pressure, coercion, disregard for God’s rightful authority, or force — he doesn’t care. The end result is the same: God’s people bring curses upon themselves through disobedience to His law and disregard for His authority.

God’s plan had been to disseminate the Good News of salvation to the world through His chosen people. But instead, they, as a nation, replaced His teachings with man-made teachings, being led of the devil. But He did use a few faithful Jews to reach out into the world with the Gospel.

Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. Acts 13:46