Revelation 2:13

I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan's throne is; and thou holdest fast my name, and didst not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth.

I know where thou dwellest ... Repeatedly, this affirmation of the omniscience of the Master emphasizes the truth that all things are open and naked to the eyes of the Lord.

Where Satan's throne is ... See under preceding verse.

Holdest fast my name ... See under Revelation 2:3.

And didst not deny my faith ... The usage of "faith" in this verse is significant, standing, as it so frequently does in the New Testament, for the Christian religion.

Even in the days of Antipas ... who was killed ... Nothing is known of this Christian martyr except what is written here. The inference is that he died for his faith and that the event was known widely in the church.

Where Satan dwelleth ... In all probability, like the expression above, "where Satan's throne is," this is a reference to the pagan emperor-cult which was centered in Pergamum. "It was a power which was then testing the church and had effected the death of Antipas."[63]

Caird gives an extensive analysis of the arguments that might have been advanced by the compromise party in Pergamum, to the effect that "All that the emperors really wanted was a gesture of political loyalty,"[64] that actually the pagan "gods" were really "nothing," and that gestures of honor given them were without meaning, etc.; but Blaiklock explains the adamant refusal of Christians to participate in such things thus:

Allow the pinch of incense before the emperor and the landslide would begin. The guild-feasts would follow, a problem for Christians in Thyatira. Then would come the immoralities of Corinth's worship of Aphrodite, and the breakdown of Christian morality, the sanctities of Christian marriage, the whole challenging distinctiveness of the Christian faith, the whole purpose of its being.[65]

[63] Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 458.

[64] G. B. Caird, op. cit., p. 34.

[65] E. M. Blaiklock, op. cit., p. 106.