Psalm 147:11 - The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
The seven churches addressed in the book of Revelation represent the churches of John's Day but they also represent the churches of history and today. There are also personal lessons to be learned from the study of the messages to these seven churches. Sometimes the question is asked - " Which of the seven churches represents your church?" so that is an interesting thought to keep in mind as we study each of the seven churches. Today let's look at Ephesus.
The Message to the Church at Ephesus
Revelation 2: 1-7
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
In our previous study - (the Introduction study link to the study here: http://livebyfaithonlinebiblestudies.blogspot.ca/2012/12/revelation-message-to-churches.html we studied what John saw when he looked behind him. John ( being in the spirit ) saw Jesus standing there in the midst of the candlesticks and he goes on to describe Jesus as he saw Him there. As we move through our study of each of the seven churches we will notice that those very descriptions of Jesus come up time and again.
So here in verse 1 it says These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; which is parallel to what we find in Revelation 1: 12 and 13. Here in verse 1 we see that Jesus is present in our churches. He walks about within the church. Imagine that for a minute - you are in your church sitting in the pew you always choose, standing now and singing - the worship band is playing - Jesus walks up and down the isle- what does He see and sense as He walks those isles? Are we singing and doing what we do in our worship services for Him? really? or are we doing what we do because it makes us feel good? or because this is what is expected of us and what everyone else is doing? Again are we doing what we do in worship to our Savior? He is present there and He sees what is going on. He knows what is in our hearts.
Verse 2 - I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, Jesus sees what is going on. He has seen the work that has been done for Him, the patience that has been shown.
Jesus acknowledges the fact that the church at Ephesus rebukes those who are evil - how thou canst not bear them which are evil It is impoartant that we pray against evil, that evil will not be present in our church.
And now He commends the church at Ephesus for calling out those people who say they are Christians but in reality are not. and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars These people are "fake Christians" - the term liars is used.
Verse 3 Jesus again points out that He has seen the hard work that has been done for Him and the patience that has been displayed among the church members. The church has shown perseverance and endurance. And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Verse 4 - But Jesus points out a problem with in the church - Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. What does it mean that they have left their first love? I believe that our first love belongs to Jesus. He needs to have priority in our lives and in our churches. It is very easy to become distracted and not give Jesus the first love that belongs to Him even while keeping very busy doing work for the Lord. Jesus want us to love Him first, then everything else comes after that. This means that we don't just love what He has done for us but that we need to actually love Him - spend time with Him alone with preferrably no distractions. Get alone with God and love Him! Bask in His presence...talk with Him friend to Friend!
Jesus reaffirms the fact that we are to love God first and foremost and with all our being in Mark 12:29-31 and reads as follows: And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Verse 5 - This verse has a very serious message - repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Without repentance, the church of Ephesus is done. Jesus says unless they repent, He will come quickly and will remove them. The candlestick represents the church as we learned in Revelation 1:20 in our first study. Wow! Jesus is not playing games here - if we are not giving Him our first love, we need to repent - We need to take care of business!
Verse 6 - But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate
The Nicolaitanes were followers of a man named Nicolas. This was a group of people who promoted loose living among Christians - it reminds me of the present day teaching of hyper grace which is basically suggesting that Christians have a license to sin and live immorally because hey - God's grace covers all our sin. Nothing could be further from the truth. God hates this "grace/license to sin" kind of teaching. The church of Ephesus hated this kind of hypergrace/license to sin kind of teaching also and Jesus commends them for it.
Verse 7 - To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
What is the reward for being faithful to the Lord and our obedience to His voice? will I give to eat from the tree of life!
This is a message for every true Christian - Jesus Christ our Saviour will be the One who gives us the fruit that we may eat of the tree of life! He says it here Himself! What could possibly be more exciting news than that? Eating from the tree of life means we have eternal life and we will live eternally with our Lord in Heaven! Hallelujah!!The seven churches addressed in the book of Revelation represent the churches of John's Day but they also represent the churches of history and today. There are also personal lessons to be learned from the study of the messages to these seven churches. Sometimes the question is asked - " Which of the seven churches represents your church?" so that is an interesting thought to keep in mind as we study each of the seven churches. Today let's look at Ephesus.
The Message to the Church at Ephesus
Revelation 2: 1-7
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
In our previous study - (the Introduction study link to the study here: http://livebyfaithonlinebiblestudies.blogspot.ca/2012/12/revelation-message-to-churches.html we studied what John saw when he looked behind him. John ( being in the spirit ) saw Jesus standing there in the midst of the candlesticks and he goes on to describe Jesus as he saw Him there. As we move through our study of each of the seven churches we will notice that those very descriptions of Jesus come up time and again.
So here in verse 1 it says These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; which is parallel to what we find in Revelation 1: 12 and 13. Here in verse 1 we see that Jesus is present in our churches. He walks about within the church. Imagine that for a minute - you are in your church sitting in the pew you always choose, standing now and singing - the worship band is playing - Jesus walks up and down the isle- what does He see and sense as He walks those isles? Are we singing and doing what we do in our worship services for Him? really? or are we doing what we do because it makes us feel good? or because this is what is expected of us and what everyone else is doing? Again are we doing what we do in worship to our Savior? He is present there and He sees what is going on. He knows what is in our hearts.
Verse 2 - I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, Jesus sees what is going on. He has seen the work that has been done for Him, the patience that has been shown.
Jesus acknowledges the fact that the church at Ephesus rebukes those who are evil - how thou canst not bear them which are evil It is impoartant that we pray against evil, that evil will not be present in our church.
And now He commends the church at Ephesus for calling out those people who say they are Christians but in reality are not. and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars These people are "fake Christians" - the term liars is used.
Verse 3 Jesus again points out that He has seen the hard work that has been done for Him and the patience that has been displayed among the church members. The church has shown perseverance and endurance. And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Verse 4 - But Jesus points out a problem with in the church - Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. What does it mean that they have left their first love? I believe that our first love belongs to Jesus. He needs to have priority in our lives and in our churches. It is very easy to become distracted and not give Jesus the first love that belongs to Him even while keeping very busy doing work for the Lord. Jesus want us to love Him first, then everything else comes after that. This means that we don't just love what He has done for us but that we need to actually love Him - spend time with Him alone with preferrably no distractions. Get alone with God and love Him! Bask in His presence...talk with Him friend to Friend!
Jesus reaffirms the fact that we are to love God first and foremost and with all our being in Mark 12:29-31 and reads as follows: And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Verse 5 - This verse has a very serious message - repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Without repentance, the church of Ephesus is done. Jesus says unless they repent, He will come quickly and will remove them. The candlestick represents the church as we learned in Revelation 1:20 in our first study. Wow! Jesus is not playing games here - if we are not giving Him our first love, we need to repent - We need to take care of business!
Verse 6 - But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate
The Nicolaitanes were followers of a man named Nicolas. This was a group of people who promoted loose living among Christians - it reminds me of the present day teaching of hyper grace which is basically suggesting that Christians have a license to sin and live immorally because hey - God's grace covers all our sin. Nothing could be further from the truth. God hates this "grace/license to sin" kind of teaching. The church of Ephesus hated this kind of hypergrace/license to sin kind of teaching also and Jesus commends them for it.
Verse 7 - To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
What is the reward for being faithful to the Lord and our obedience to His voice? will I give to eat from the tree of life!
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