Opening the Book of Revelation- part 7 Listen to Audio

                                    July 1, 2009

 

2:4-5- having commended the church at Ephesus for its perseverance,

the Lord now corrects the church in relation to having “left your first love.”

The Greek word [protan] serves adverbially “firstly, first in an order”—this is usually taken by commentators as the initial emotion of love often seen in the

immediate conversion experience.  Here, we have a sin of omission—other attending positive actions are evident, but love is lacking- see I Cor.13:1-3.

   Jesus’ corrective words are “remember”  and “repent”- the church is to continue to recall (present active) the height of their first love and their lapse (fallen) from such a place.  This realization will then lead to a change of attitude and conduct.  Oddly enough, it is believers that are frequently told to repent in Revelation- 2:5, 26, 22; 3:3, 19.  Repentance is our temporal adjustment to God’s standards and is ongoing as we grow in Christ.  For Ephesus, this adjustment must be done quickly as divine chastisement is impending—“or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand..”  Delay is to condone sinful behavior and resist God’s wise counsel.

 

2:6- He adds one more positive- “this you have, that you hate the deeds of

the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”   The word combines “conquer” and “laity”= indicating someone who usurps the universal priesthood of believers

by establishing a hierarchical structure rejected by the Lord.  The community

of believers where each has equal value is damaged by this group of elitists.

The church at Ephesus has duly recognized this threat and rejected its efforts.

Note 2:15 where “doctrine of Nicolaitans” has replaced “deeds”.

 

2:7- what follows is both a caution and a promise—“he that ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”- reminds us of Matt.11:15 and 13:9.  Note that although these are words from Jesus, He joins the Holy

Spirit to the authority of His communication.  Further, it says “churches” indicating the Ephesus message carries weight of truth for all churches.  To disregard these words is to jeopardize one’s walk and reward.

  Here we also encounter the first of 7 of the promises to “him who overcomes” or is victorious [nikonti].  Such overcomers are given the privilege of partaking of “the tree of life, which is…..of the paradise of God”.

This tree is not the equivalent of salvation, but rather a reward for faithfulness

under testing—see 21:7 and 22:2.  We might say it expresses the qualitative

experience of knowing God, rather than the quantitative  length of life.  We would infer that not all believers shall have this privilege.  Each of the overcomers in the seven churches are promised some privilege – 2:5, 11, 17, 26; 3:5,12, 21.  While all believers possess eternal life and will enjoy eternal fellowship with the Godhead, those who are victorious (overcomers) shall enjoy a quality of life and fellowship reflecting the nature of their faithfulness and obedience under testing.

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Summary of church at Ephesus:

1) Commended for its perseverance and faithfulness to determine proper

apostolic authority, thus showing that the church appreciated and valued

divinely appointed leadership as well as opposing Nicolaitan efforts.

2) Yet, evidence demonstrated a failure to maintain earlier mental-dynamics

of love.  The valued effort [works] was no longer driven by correct thinking.

3) A caution is given that forfeiture of ministry could occur if repentance

is not found.

4) The Lord extended a motivating promise to enjoy the tree of life

to all who overcome the problems and failures.