First, a little about Ephesus:
Ephesus is the same city described in Acts 19:23-40, where the silversmith Demetrius who made silver shrines of the goddess Aretmis--called Diana by the Romans-- and whose image purportedly fell from heaven (Acts 19:35). And who incited a riot because Paul was preaching that "gods made by human hands are no gods at all" resulting in a large number of people in the city and all of Asia receiving Christ. Because of this they were concerned that their trade would be lost and also that the temple of Artemis would fall into discredit, which is what instigated the riot where Paul's traveling companions Aristarchus and Gaius where seized and taken into the theater. (Acts 19:28)
Ephesus is also where many who were coming to Christ and who practiced sorcery, had brought all of their scrolls of magic and burned them publically. (Acts 19:19)
It is also the city where the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest and who were not in Christ themselves, but who were going around driving out demons by saying "In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches." One day in response to this, an evil spirit said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?" And the evil spirit overpowered all seven and beat them severely and they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As previously stated, the contents of the letters, though written to the seven churches of Asia of that time, is meant for the individual believer and the church as a whole throughout the entire church period, for us to examine ourselves in light of the Lord's rebukes given within the letters to each of the churches.
Also, and as we previously saw, Rev.1:19 divides the book into three sections: "what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later." Regarding this, the letters to the churches represents the "what is now," i.e. the church period, which we are currently still living in. Once the Lord descends and gathers the church, this will bring an end to the "what is now," which will be followed by the "what must take place after this," i.e. what must take place after the church period. We will go into this in more detail once we get to Rev.4:1-2 which begins the "what must take place later."
In each of the letters to the seven churches the same reoccurring pattern appears:
1). At the beginning of each letter is the Lord's introduction including a reference to a personal characteristic.
2). At the end of each letter it is stated
" He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches."
3). "To him who overcomes" followed by a reward and/or promises
We will go over each of these, as well as the rest of the information as we address each type of church.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
As we previously saw in Rev.1:20, the Lord gives us the meaning to the symbolism of the stars and the lampstands, the seven stars representing the seven messengers/pastors of the churches with the golden lampstands representing the churches. This symbolism representing the literal is used throughout Revelation and is not difficult to understand since the meaning to the symbolism for the most part, is revealed right in Revelation itself. It is when expositors ignore the literal and attempt to symbolize everything in the book of Revelation that the distortion of scripture occurs.
The "right hand," which is where the Lord says that He holds the seven messengers, represents the place of honor, such as Jesus placing his right hand on John or Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father. The reference to the "right hand" can be found in many places throughout scripture. I know because every time I have come across those words in scripture I have highlighted them.
I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love.
When I first read about the Ephesians and all that the Lord commended them for, I couldn't understand how they could do all that He commended the for and yet be guilty of abandoning their first love. And therefore, what did it mean that they had abandoned their first love?
In looking for a way to express the meaning behind the Ephesians leaving their first love, I found this excerpt from "GotQuestions" which seemed to described exactly the meaning behind the Lord's rebuke to his bride "the love you had for me at first is gone."
Jesus commends the Ephesians for their many good works and hard work. They tested teachers to see whether their professions were real; they endured hardship and persevered without growing weary. But they had lost their warmth and zeal for Christ, and when that happened, they began to “go through the motions” of good works, motivated not by the love of and for Christ, but by the works themselves. What was once a love relationship cooled into mere religion. Their passion for Him became little more than cold orthodoxy. How many of those types of churches exist today?
Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
There is not much mentioned regarding who the Nicolaitans were, but you can bet that if the Lord hates their practices that what they were doing could not have been good. We can however know what their basic practices were from the information contained in the letter to Pergamum, which says:
"There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans."
In the scripture above, the word "Likewise" would infer that the practices of the Nicolaitans were similar to those of Balak enticing the Israelites to eat foods sacrificed to idols and committing sexual immorality.
The act of eating foods sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality appears to have been a combined ritual, eating foods sacrificed to idols followed by sex. While the world for the most part is not eating foods sacrificed to idols, people however are still guilty of committing sexual immorality, which is what we as believers should be examining ourselves in regards to.
Regarding this, sexual intimacy is good and acceptable before God when it is between a married man and woman, for the bed is undefiled (Heb.13:4). Everything else, sex outside of marriage, same-sex life styles, self pleasuring, etc., are all sexual immorality. In fact as we will see, sexual immorality is mentioned four times within the letters as rebukes.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Whoever has spiritual understanding, listen and take heed to what the Spirit is saying to the individual believer and the churches as whole.
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Ephesus is the same city described in Acts 19:23-40, where the silversmith Demetrius who made silver shrines of the goddess Aretmis--called Diana by the Romans-- and whose image purportedly fell from heaven (Acts 19:35). And who incited a riot because Paul was preaching that "gods made by human hands are no gods at all" resulting in a large number of people in the city and all of Asia receiving Christ. Because of this they were concerned that their trade would be lost and also that the temple of Artemis would fall into discredit, which is what instigated the riot where Paul's traveling companions Aristarchus and Gaius where seized and taken into the theater. (Acts 19:28)
Ephesus is also where many who were coming to Christ and who practiced sorcery, had brought all of their scrolls of magic and burned them publically. (Acts 19:19)
It is also the city where the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest and who were not in Christ themselves, but who were going around driving out demons by saying "In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches." One day in response to this, an evil spirit said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?" And the evil spirit overpowered all seven and beat them severely and they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As previously stated, the contents of the letters, though written to the seven churches of Asia of that time, is meant for the individual believer and the church as a whole throughout the entire church period, for us to examine ourselves in light of the Lord's rebukes given within the letters to each of the churches.
Also, and as we previously saw, Rev.1:19 divides the book into three sections: "what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later." Regarding this, the letters to the churches represents the "what is now," i.e. the church period, which we are currently still living in. Once the Lord descends and gathers the church, this will bring an end to the "what is now," which will be followed by the "what must take place after this," i.e. what must take place after the church period. We will go into this in more detail once we get to Rev.4:1-2 which begins the "what must take place later."
In each of the letters to the seven churches the same reoccurring pattern appears:
1). At the beginning of each letter is the Lord's introduction including a reference to a personal characteristic.
2). At the end of each letter it is stated
" He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches."
3). "To him who overcomes" followed by a reward and/or promises
We will go over each of these, as well as the rest of the information as we address each type of church.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
As we previously saw in Rev.1:20, the Lord gives us the meaning to the symbolism of the stars and the lampstands, the seven stars representing the seven messengers/pastors of the churches with the golden lampstands representing the churches. This symbolism representing the literal is used throughout Revelation and is not difficult to understand since the meaning to the symbolism for the most part, is revealed right in Revelation itself. It is when expositors ignore the literal and attempt to symbolize everything in the book of Revelation that the distortion of scripture occurs.
The "right hand," which is where the Lord says that He holds the seven messengers, represents the place of honor, such as Jesus placing his right hand on John or Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father. The reference to the "right hand" can be found in many places throughout scripture. I know because every time I have come across those words in scripture I have highlighted them.
I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love.
When I first read about the Ephesians and all that the Lord commended them for, I couldn't understand how they could do all that He commended the for and yet be guilty of abandoning their first love. And therefore, what did it mean that they had abandoned their first love?
In looking for a way to express the meaning behind the Ephesians leaving their first love, I found this excerpt from "GotQuestions" which seemed to described exactly the meaning behind the Lord's rebuke to his bride "the love you had for me at first is gone."
Jesus commends the Ephesians for their many good works and hard work. They tested teachers to see whether their professions were real; they endured hardship and persevered without growing weary. But they had lost their warmth and zeal for Christ, and when that happened, they began to “go through the motions” of good works, motivated not by the love of and for Christ, but by the works themselves. What was once a love relationship cooled into mere religion. Their passion for Him became little more than cold orthodoxy. How many of those types of churches exist today?
Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
There is not much mentioned regarding who the Nicolaitans were, but you can bet that if the Lord hates their practices that what they were doing could not have been good. We can however know what their basic practices were from the information contained in the letter to Pergamum, which says:
"There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans."
In the scripture above, the word "Likewise" would infer that the practices of the Nicolaitans were similar to those of Balak enticing the Israelites to eat foods sacrificed to idols and committing sexual immorality.
The act of eating foods sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality appears to have been a combined ritual, eating foods sacrificed to idols followed by sex. While the world for the most part is not eating foods sacrificed to idols, people however are still guilty of committing sexual immorality, which is what we as believers should be examining ourselves in regards to.
Regarding this, sexual intimacy is good and acceptable before God when it is between a married man and woman, for the bed is undefiled (Heb.13:4). Everything else, sex outside of marriage, same-sex life styles, self pleasuring, etc., are all sexual immorality. In fact as we will see, sexual immorality is mentioned four times within the letters as rebukes.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Whoever has spiritual understanding, listen and take heed to what the Spirit is saying to the individual believer and the churches as whole.
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
The Greek word "nikaó" translated as "overcomes or prevails," implies warfare, i.e. overcoming whatever is of the sinful nature which impedes our walk with Christ and is something that we fight against to get the victory over.
As previously stated, the statement "he who overcomes" reoccurs in each of the seven letters. As the definition above states, the verb implies a battle. This would be supported by the scripture which says:
" For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do." - Gal.5:17
What we are to overcome, i.e. get the victory over, is the rebukes that are mentioned in each of the letters to the churches. But I would also go as far to say that, believers are to get the victory over whatever is of the sinful nature and which impedes our walk with Christ.
Next, the church of Smyrna ......
As previously stated, the statement "he who overcomes" reoccurs in each of the seven letters. As the definition above states, the verb implies a battle. This would be supported by the scripture which says:
" For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do." - Gal.5:17
What we are to overcome, i.e. get the victory over, is the rebukes that are mentioned in each of the letters to the churches. But I would also go as far to say that, believers are to get the victory over whatever is of the sinful nature and which impedes our walk with Christ.
Next, the church of Smyrna ......
