Revelation Chapter 2
1 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;
Always bear in mind that God’s Word is filled with different
levels and that each of those levels reinforce the others. You cannot find a deep meaning in God’s Word
that contradicts the basic meaning but you will find reinforcements
everywhere. In verse one you note that
Jesus is writing to the angel, the messenger or spiritual overseer of the church. Remember, when we fight a battle, whether
that battle is natural or spiritual, the true battle is ALWAYS spiritual. You will never be fully successful if you do
not fight the spiritual side.
The second thing you see is which church Jesus is writing to
and in which order. In its most basic
meaning, Ephesus means DESIRABLE, worthy of being wanted. Ephesus is the first state of a bride,
beautiful, full of life and passion toward her husband. You love what he loves and hate what he
hates. On that day in the second chapter
of acts, Jesus could well have stood over his rapidly growing church and said,
“Ephesus … I want you!” The early church
was tied heart to heart and breast to breast with our Lord.
Another thing to notice is that Jesus is walking in the
midst of the candlesticks which Revelation 1:20 tells us is the church; in
other words…us. At this point the
candlesticks are on Earth and the spirit of those churches is in the palm of
His hand, His RIGHT hand. Even as Jesus
is at the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:33), we are at the right hand of our
Savior. Jesus performs all the will of
His Father (John 5:30) and we perform all the will of our Savior…if we choose
to remain with Him. Jesus said He will
never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
We might forsake Him but He cannot deny Himself and forsake us.
2 I know thy works, and thy labor, 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 labored, and hast not fainted.
Jesus is giving them their report card. At first glance, Ephesus, the desirable one
seems to be living up to her name. She
performs good works and labors for the Lord and she is patient, hating
evil. This church has discernment and
did not receive the men who made themselves false apostles. They have born the grief and sorrows of their
savior and have great patience. For the
sake of the name of Jesus our Lord they have worked and not fainted during the
difficult times. At first glance this
seems to be a wonderful report card but the church has been in operation for a
while now and Satan’s influence and chipping away at its foundation has been
felt.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou
hast left thy first love.
Nobody likes to hear ‘nevertheless’ in this situation. Like ‘but’ it means the opposite is coming up
and you won’t like it. The word
‘nevertheless’ is alla which has the same root as allo which means another. It could read, “Nevertheless I have an aught,
another spirit toward you.” We never
want God to change His spirit toward us from loving tenderness to frustrated
anger. The rest reveals why His spirit
has changed toward them. They no longer
agape God first. This is the result of an,
‘it doesn’t take all that’ spirit. When
a child asks God which toy or which candy they should buy we all think,
“Oh…that’s cute.” God on the other hand
looks at them and says, “That’s my child!”
We think we’re too grown up to ask God which pants to buy or which car
and yet each time we cut Him out of our decision making process we cut Him out
of our romance and all the foolish seeming minutia of first love.
Remember first love when neither of you would hang up the phone? Remember how you would dress alike so people
would know you were a couple? Do you do
those things any longer? Why not? What is stopping you? Does it seem sophomoric or stupid? God doesn’t think so. I remember praying out loud while driving my
mother to the mall during the Christmas season.
“Lord, we’re going to the hardware store and I pray for a parking place
so my mom doesn’t have too far to walk.”
My mother looked at me and said, “God doesn’t have time to worry about
little things like that.” The truth is,
God has time to do anything He wants.
He’s God. As we approached the
store a man backed out and drove off leaving me the very closest space in the
lot. That is a first love
relationship. Does it happen that way
every time?
No.
Why?
I think it’s because God is often wounded by the way we take
Him for granted and just looks at us and sighs.
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.
Have you ever tasted the difference between someone who is
totally surrendered to God and one who only pays their tithes and shows up on
Sunday? Some Christians get angry when
they meet those sold out God lovers. All
those grumpy saints really show is how much God does not mean to them and how
much more gracious and loving those sold out saints are. Living in that Ephesus moment, like living in
the newlywed moment, is something that takes work, dedication and constant
attention to comforting and nurturing your partner. When we take our marriage to Christ or our
spouse for granted we have fallen from that place.
For His part, Jesus says He will remove your candlestick from
its place unless we repent of our attitudes.
One of the most exciting aspects of serving the Lord is that He can
never be fully known, so the idea that you and He will become like socks and
shoes is foolish. God will always keep
you amazed and filled with wonder if you allow Him to. The reason most people begin to receive less
and less from Him is that they EXPECT less and less from Him. God will usually encourage you to expect more
but as it says in Malachi 3:10, “Prove the Lord and see.” He wants to amaze you but He likes to be
asked.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
There is more than a little confusion as to who the
Nicolaitans are but the name alone may shed a bit of light. Nico means to rule and laity means the people. It could mean that the people rule in the
church but the opposite is more likely.
The early church was given an example of service to God and His people. Jesus came to the supper and washed the
disciple’s feet. He went on to say, “Let
the one who would be lord of all first become the servant of all (Mark 9:34-35).” How about it?
Does it make sense to have such a strong Christian leadership that they
begin to dictate policy to presidents and kings or does it make more sense that
following Jesus’ example we will pray for our leaders and trust God to direct
them? If Nicolaitans are religious
leaders who rule their people with an iron fist rather than by example of
humility then this makes even more sense.
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.
Seven times it says, “He that has an ear, let him
hear.” In this case you might even say,
“If you’re spiritually deaf you’re spiritually dead.” Do you see how it says you must overcome to
be able to eat of the tree of life? It’s
not just a matter of acting right before God.
Satan hates you and he is the lord of this present world. This means that his children will hate you
too. Living in sin is easy. There is little spiritual warfare trying to
get you to live holy. Satan is trying to
FORCE you to live in sin. God is trying
to ENCOURAGE you to live in love and faith.
Satan fights you on many different levels, emotional, physical and
spiritual. God strengthens your spirit
and tells you to learn His Word so you might survive. The weapons of your warfare are not carnal
but mighty through God but you have to use them for them to work. If you don’t then Satan is the only one
effectively using warfare.
Beloved, regain your first love and embrace the depths of
God’s passion and grace.
Bishop J
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