Bible Matrix ⑦_169_REV 2:13 – Where Satan has his throne, Antipas, Rise of the Roman Curia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8FvYIlyMrM
Bible Matrix ⑦: Historical & Scientific Views on Daniel and Revelation
Part 2. Revelation
Revelation 2:12~17 - To the Church in Pergamum, Faith/Martyrdom, but the Church in Crisis of Idolatry
Revelation 2:13 - Where Satan has his throne, Antipas, Rise of the Roman Curia
☞ <Revelation> 2:13 - I know where you live--where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city--where Satan lives.(NIV); I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.(KJV); "I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan's city.(New Living Translation)
○ (1) Satan’s throne - "I know where you live--where Satan's seat is" means that it tells the position and situation of the church in Pergamum. It is the place where Satan has his throne. It means Satan is sitting there. In other words, it means a temple that deified the Emperor and made it into an idol or statue, and or a shrine that enshrined the god of the serpent which symbolized Satan.
○ (2) Satan’s throne – Including three huge temples for the worship of the Roman emperor, there were various pagan temples such as the temple of Zeus built to commemorate the birthplace of the god Zeus in Greek mythology, the temple of Dionysos called Wine in Greek mythology and Bacchus (or Bakchos) in Roman mythology, and the Parthenon, dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom as the patron god of Athens. This place was where Satan had his throne, namely, the city of Satan. So the church in Pergamum had to be influenced the most by idolatry and secularization, where it was difficult to maintain the faith.
○ (1) The martyrdom of Antipas (c.AD 92) - Antipas was a great scholar of the intellectual class who worked as the director of the largest library in Pergamum, but he abandoned it due to the Roman persecution, and instead, he chose Jesus as the bishop of the church in Pergamum. He was a representative Christian who were burned at the stake on a brazen bull-shaped altar in c.AD 92 when the reign of Emperor Domitian (reign 81~96). Antipas had been ordained as a bishop by the Apostle John.
○ (2) The martyrdom of Antipas (c.AD 92) – The governor of Pergamum took Antipas, who served God and objected to worshiping the emperor (as a god), to the place in front of the emperor's statue and ordered him, “Antipas, bow down to the statue of the roman emperor”. Antipas answered, “There is only Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and I will not bow down to anyone but Jesus.” When the governor cried out in anger, “Don’t you know that the whole world is against you?” Antipas replied, “Then I confess against the whole world that Jesus is Lord of Lords.” Enraged at this, the governor and Roman soldiers threw Antipas into a furnace of hot bronze and brutally killed him.
○ So Jesus praised, "Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city--where Satan lives.“ Although the city of Pergamum was the center of paganism led by Satan, the church in Pergamum had faithful people like Antipas.
○ The meaning of the name ‘Antipas’ in Greek is 'Anti', that is, ‘a person who opposes everything, namely, an opponent’. What did he (they) oppose? It means that he (they) opposed everything except God the Father and Jesus Christ. In other words, Antipas are those who oppose all non-truths of the world that have come (or entered) into the church. And Antipas did not compromise with politics and other powers, and Antipas were killed by Satan and became martyrs. In other words, they are faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ.
○ Rise of the Roman Catholic (The Vatican, The Roman Curia, The Holy See) - During AD 313~538 and after 538, the name Antipas had a new meaning: 'Anti is against, Papas is popes (or fathers)', and 'Christians against the Pope’ were called Antipas. During this period, the church that stood at the center of the compromise between politics (the Roman Empire) and religion was the Roman Catholic. At this time, a small group of Christians called Antipas resisted the Roman Catholic Papacy. To the church in Pergamum, which had been walking the path of compromise and worldliness, Antipas represented God's remnant people, that is, the true people.