Antipas

“I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you hold fast to My name, and you did not deny your faith in Me, even in the days of Antipas, My faithful witness, who was put to death in your city - where Satan dwells.” - Revelation 2:13

Those are the words of Jesus. He was telling the Apostle John about the church in Pergamum and also about a man named Antipas. So, who was he? And why would Jesus mention him by name?

Well, Antipas was the head of the church in Pergamum and a devout follower of Jesus. And, as Jesus said, he was put to death because of his faith. He was burned to death inside a bronze statue of a bull. Ouch!

Those Romans came up with some pretty nasty ways to kill people. They were "inventors of evil" (Romans 1:30).

He was martyred around either AD 68 or 92. The Catholic Church made him a saint and apparently you can pray to him if you have a toothache. I kid you not. There's some other weird stuff about Antipas and the Catholic Church but that's enough for now.

The thing we need to learn from Antipas is not that he was a first-century "dentist." It was his strong faith that got the attention of Jesus. That begs the question, how strong is OUR faith?

We can say that we would stand firm in our struggles and in our faith, but when things get super bad would we eventually giveup? Would we fold? Hard to say. Antipas did not give up. But maybe that should be our prayer today.

Heavenly Father, increase the strength of our faith. Do not allow us to cave in to the ways of this world. Instead, let us glorify your holy name with our every breath, until we breathe our last like Antipas did. Remember OUR name Lord. In the merciful your name of your Son we pray. Amen.