Church of Ephesus Revelation 2:1-7 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Church of Ephesus
John was told to write to the angel of each of the seven churches. What he wrote is something like an evaluation. The Lord notes good qualities in each church, in some cases warns them about a problem or problems that they have and charges them to repent, and then promises them a reward for overcoming.
The good qualities of the church of Ephesus that the Lords knows are their:
Works – 2 – works are an integral part of their faith in the Tribulation – James 2:20-24 [notice, though, that works in the church age are not a condition of salvation [Romans 4:5] but they certainly are fruit of it [Titus 2:7, 2:14, 3:1, 3:8, 3:14].
Labor – 2 – men and women are to labor in the ministry [1 Timothy 5:17, Romans 16:6].
Patience – 2 – they need patience during the tribulation to endure and to wait for the Lord’s return – James 1:3-4, 5:7-8; Hebrews 10:36-37
Note: these first three qualities were especially characteristic of the church of the Thessalonians [1 Thessalonians 1:3]
Intolerance – 2 – they cannot bear them which are evil – Proverbs 29:27 says an unjust man is an abomination to the just
Discernment – 2 – they tried them which say they are apostles and are not and found them liars – 2 Corinthians 11:12-13 – they will use lying wonders to fool people [2 Thessalonians 2:9] just like Charismatics do today
Patient Endurance – 3 – they have borne and they have patience – they have to bear reproach [Psalms 69:7] and they have to bear chastisement [Job 34:31]
Steadfast Labor – 3 – they labor without fainting – Hebrews 6:10-11 their work and labor of love is steadfast to the end
Hatred – 6 – they hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which the Lord hates – Nicolaitans are clergy over the laity [Nikao = to conquer or rule, and Laos = the common people] – God hates men to lord over God’s heritage [1 Peter 5:1-4] – as a matter of fact, God hates numerous things [Proverbs 6:16-19, 8:13, Pslms 139:21-22]
The problem about which he warned them was:
They had left their first love – 4 – in other words, their works were good but they had lost their motive for doing them – at first their motive was love – love for God [Deuteronomy 6:5], love for Jesus [John 14:21, 23] and love for God’s words [Psalms 119:113] – and without love, there is no profit in those works [1 Corinthians 13:1-3] – consequently they had fallen from their first works, as well
His warning was:
Repent or he would remove their candlestick – 5 – then there would be nothing left but a dead church with no light
His promised reward for overcoming was:
They could eat of the tree of life – 7 – Revelation 22:1-2, 14; Ezekiel 47:12