The Message to Ephesus
The first angel to receive a message for a church is the one at the
church of Ephesus, Revelation 2:1.
The city of Ephesus is on the
Asia Minor (now southwest
Turkey)
seacoast.
At the time of the writing of Revelation, it was a capital of Roman
Asia.
The harbor at Ephesus is noted for its shifting bottom. This gives
added
meaning to the expression "...that
you have
left your
first
love.",
"Ephesus" itself means
"desired". It is the same kind of
desire that
Paul talks about in Ephesians
5:25-30
that a husband, who loves his wife, has for her. In the same way,
Christ
"desires" the church at Ephesus and wishes to take care of it.
2:1"To the angel of the church
in Ephesus write:
The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand,
the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:
To the ANGEL of the church in
Ephesus write:
* THE
ONE who holds the seven STARS in his right HAND,
This is part of the vision
John saw in the first chapter (Revelation
1:16). The right
hand denotes the
hand of power and authority.
* THE
ONE who walks among the seven GOLDEN LAMPSTANDS says this:
This, too, is where John's
vision in chapter 1 opens with "one like a
son of Man" in the midst of the lampstands (Revelation
1:11). The fact that "THE ONE" walks among the golden
lampstands
verifies that these really do exist and may be removed (Revelation 2:5).
2:2I
know your deeds and your toil and
perseverance, and
that you
cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call
themselves
apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false, and
I know
(1) your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and
Perseverance results in God's compassion and mercy.
(2) that you cannot endure evil men, and
According to
Proverbs
8:13, if you fear
the Lord, then you hate evil. Ephesus did not put up with these evil
people.
(3) you put to the test those who call themselves APOSTLES,
and they are not, and you found them to be FALSE, and
Earlier in John's life, he wrote that we should test the spirits - 1
John 4:1-3, if they are true or false. What
is the test to be an APOSTLE?
2:3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's
sake,
and have not grown weary.
(4) and you have PERSEVERANCE
(5) and have ENDURED for my NAME's sake
What did the church endure for Christ's sake?
Acts
5:37-42 describes the beatings and reprimands to be silent.
(6) and have not grown weary.
The church had not grown weary of holding forth the word in Christ's
name
NOT in the names of "transient apostles".
2:4
`But I have this against you, that you have
left your
first
love.
BUT, I have this against you, that YOU HAVE
LEFT YOUR
FIRST
LOVE.
It is not clear what was meant by "FIRST LOVE". It may have referred to
the original love the members at the church at Ephesus had for each
other.
Organization and "church" activities probably had replaced the "first
love"
as the church had grown.
On the other hand, the "first love" may have referred to
their
"inner
devotion" to Christ. Again "things" had become more important.
The apostle Paul retained his first love. In fact, it
became
stronger,
broader, richer, deeper, and truer - Philippians
3:7-11.
"FIRST LOVE" is
* exclusive - It excludes the world and the flesh and
resists the devil.
* makes Jesus Christ preeminent - Keep seeking the things
above, where Christ is.
Colossians 3:1-4.
* very active - It seeks to please the Lord Jesus Christ
by keeping His words. John 14:21-24.
If you have "lost your first love", He, Jesus Christ, has "somewhat
against
you." If you never have had that "first love", now is the time to
get that first love.
2:5
`Remember therefore from where you have
fallen, and
repent and
do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will
remove
your lampstand out of its place -- unless you repent.
REMEMBER therefore from where you have fallen, and
As with life, past experiences are vitally important to ongoing action.
Don't do the things you did before if they were bad and do the things
in
the past which were good.
There is a parallel incident recorded in the Old
Testament in 2
Chronicles 12:1-14 where King Rehoboam "forsook the law of
the
Lord".
As a result, God allowed the King of Egypt to conquer Rehoboam and
plunder
the treasures of the house of the Lord, the temple.
REPENT and
Rehoboam humbled himself and bought temporary reprieve. The full anger
of the Lord was turned away from him (v. 12).
DO the deeds you did at first
We do what we do for the Lord not because it is printed in a church
bulliten
or because "I like that person" - we do those deeds because we LOVE the
Lord.
Rehoboam never did the deeds he did at first. In fact,
he did
evil
because
he did not set his heart to seek the Lord (v. 14).
or else I
1) am coming to you and
2) will remove your LAMPSTAND out of its place.
The lampstand is NOT destroyed just removed. Why? Later in Revelation,
the pseudo church will need these "removed" lampstands to form its
organization.
However be aware that Christ does not walk in its midst.
unless you REPENT.
What is that FIRST LOVE? 1
Corinthians
13:1-13 tells us exactly what that love is. The question
before you
then becomes: Do you fake your LOVE or is it the real FIRST LOVE?
2:6
`Yet this you do have, that you hate the
deeds of the
Nicolaitans,
which I also hate.
`Yet this you do have, that you HATE the DEEDS of the NICOLAITANS, which I also HATE.
What a negative
complement!!! BUT when the love (even first love) is
gone,
the only thing left is hatred.
The meaning of the
word Nicolaitans is "consume or
conquer the
people".
The Nicolaitans may have been a devisive sect of that day about whom we
have no record. Or it may refer to church leaders who consumed or
conquered
(controlled) the people. In other words, these probably were false
prophets/teachers/apostles.
John, the author,
warns about these in 1
John 4:1-3. Furthermore, John indicates that deception is the
great
trademark of the Devil - 2
John 6-10.
The church at Ephesus was aware of these false prophets and had "hated
their deeds" but not the people themselves.
2:7.`He who has an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit says to
the
churches.
To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is
in the Paradise of God.'
He who has an ear, let him hear what the SPIRIT says to the CHURCHES.
Besides REMEMBER, REPENT, and DO (
Revelation
2:5),
the
people in the church at Ephesus are asked to HEAR. However, this time
rather
than it being Christ talking (
Revelation
2:1),
it is
the SPIRIT talking to ALL the churches. BUT you must hear first.
To him who overcomes
We, humans, continually fight a spiritual battle to overcome
principalities,
powers, seen and unseen. For the "overcomer", there is comfort to know
Christ has already been there and done that. Christ is not the enemy;
He
only causes "good things" for the "overcomer". This is described in
Romans
8:28,
Ephesians
1:18-23, and
Colossians
1:15-18.
I will grant to eat of the TREE OF LIFE which is in the PARADISE OF GOD.
The TREE OF LIFE is first mentioned in
Genesis
2:9 and it gives everlasting life. When sin entered this
world, we
humans were banned from getting to it in
Genesis
3:22-23. However, here it is promised to 'overcomers'.
Even at the end, this TREE OF LIFE is shown as
straddling the
river
of life flowing from the throne (Revelation
22:2).
Lastly, anyone who takes away from the words of this Revelation
prophesy
will have their part in the tree of life removed (Revelation
22:18-19).
PARADISE
In Jewish apocalyptic works, it is mentioned that the glorious new age
of the Messiah will have Eden restored to its former beauty and
lusciousness
(including the TREE OF LIFE).
Isaiah
51:2-3
sounds alot like the new Jerusalem of Revelation. Everyone knows that
it
is the Lord who made the desolate wilderness like Eden again as
described
in
Ezekiel
36:33-36. In fact, before
the fall of man into the sinful state, we all, in a sense were in this
Eden -
Ezekiel
28:11-19.
The TREE OF LIFE is symbolically the source of our eternal life.
This
place of fellowship and sustenance for the 'overcomer' is no longer
forbidden
or hidden.
References to the Revelation of Jesus Christ
are in bold
italics.
All
other
references
are
in bold only
"Scripture taken
from the NEW
AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE�, � Copyright The Lockman Foundation,
1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 Used by
permission."