Leslie M. John M.A

In one of the seven letters written by John to the seven Churches in Asia, he writes the words of God as, “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication”. (Revelation 2:14).

It was the Church in Pergamos that this letter was addressed to. John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea”. (Revelation 1:10-11)

The words used against the Church were very serious in nature, inasmuch as the Church was blamed for holding the Nicolaitanes’ doctrine, which was of Balaam, (Rev. 2:15) The Church at Ephesus was lauded for hating the deeds of Nicolaitanes, but the Church at Pergamos was blamed for holding the doctrines of Nicolaitanes. Nicolaitanes were seemingly pious Christians, but were conceding the false freedom and licentiousness to the worshippers, thus going against the doctrine of grace of Apostle Paul (2 Peter2:15, 16, and 19). God always used either sword or rod to deal with the sin, which is abominable to him irrespective of who commits it. If the sin is committed by those who did not believe in him and/or stood against the children He has chosen, God punished them with sword and if the sin is committed by the children chosen by him, He used rod to chastise them. Sin that involved idolatry and sexual immorality were most abominable to Him.

BALAAM’S INSTIGATION:

Balaam instigated the Israelites to practice these two most sins that were abominable to God (Numbers 25th Chapter). Anyone who fell victim to these sins was punished by God to a very extent. God will not allow any regime that allows these two sins. In the Revelation Chapter 13 the sin of sexual immorality is dealt with very clearly. God meets with the Babylon the mother of harlots with severe consequences. This is what we see in Revelation chapter 2:14 where Balaam’s doctrine is named (Revelation 2:14 “But I have a few things against thee… to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication”). Balaam cast stumbling blocks in the path of the children of Israel, to eat the things that were sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. God is holy and he does not tolerate any sin, much less the sin of idolatry and sexual immorality.

The children of Israel committed these two sins when they were camping at Shittim, in the plains of Moab, east of Jordan, where they practiced whoredom with daughters of Moab. The children of Israel not only bowed down to their gods, but also ate the sacrifices offered to their gods. The children of Israel joined unto Baalpeor forgetting all the benefits and blessings they reaped from the God of Israel. That is why God’s anger was kindled against the children of Israel. (Numbers 25:4-6).

This is where Balaam and Balak are brought to our focus. We understand clearly how ambitious they were to achieve their goals. Balak was the king of Moab, who retained Balaam as false prophet to cheat the children of Israel. The retention of Balaam by Balak was not an easy task, but gradually he achieved his purpose of getting Balaam to his fold. Balaam met his end with the sword of the Lord. (Joshua 13:22). It is indeed very hard for many to understand the character of Balaam, because it appears that he obeyed the Lord at every step, but factually he was working out everything for his own gain.

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