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Okay, lets get back into Revelation chapter 2.
In late December we read through the first 7 verses and discussed them – remember.
Today we’re going to pick up this discussion at verses 4 and 5.
But before doing it let’s re-read the message Jesus gave to John to give to the messenger at Ephesus. At verse one he says:
Revelation 2.1-7 Part II
January 8th 2017
MEAT
Revelation 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;
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 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 Nicolaitans, 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.
As a quick rehearsal we talked about the Saints at Ephesus and how Jesus said
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:
Then He said:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.
At this point we jumped down to verse 6 and tied his commendation here, saying:
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
And suggested that the contents of verse six are directly tied to His commendation of them in verses 2 and 3; that the false apostles were one and the same with the Nicolataines, and that Jesus was pleased that the Saints there at Ephesus “tried them and found that they were liars,” that in so doing they bore burdens, had patience, labored and did not faith.
We suggested that possibly these Saints at Ephesus really had their work cut out for them with “these false Apostle Nicolaitanes” and that they were possibly so dedicated to resisting and confronting them that this lead to the criticism that we will now address, where Jesus says:
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore, from where you have 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.
Now, remember that we made the clarification when it comes to the criticism of Jesus it is directed NOT to an individual but to the body of believers there at Ephesus – and this matters because in light of all that we read in the rest of the Bible God is very gentle and longsuffering with individuals. But here Jesus is giving what looks like a quarterly performance report. And He very well may be. But it is of the church as a whole at Ephesus – therefore the stern warnings.
The church had done well in defending and outing the false apostles of the Nicolataines, but along the way, or in the process, the had “laid aside” their “protos agape” their first love – perhaps in relation to the first commandment (to love God) or perhaps in relation to the second commandment (to love each other).
We talked about how easily this can occur when we become obsessed and determined (in our flesh, typically) to win, to defend, to defeat the enemy, that the war can get so arduous we wind up forgetting why we are Christians – and what it means to be Christians – in the first place.
The term protos agape must refer to the first and second great commandments – simply because LOVE is what they are all about and Jesus talks to them about laying it (protos agape) aside.
In the name and cause of the faith this is absolutely unacceptable – no matter what else we accomplish, because God is love – therefore the first love must override and abide in every situation.
Sometimes we allow ourselves to believe that being right is more important than love. Or our volunteerism, or our vast knowledge of scripture – you know, our religious things – will cause God to turn a blind eye to our failures to love.
Don’t think so, which is why Paul wrote:
1st Corinthians 13:2-3 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Jesus tells the church at Ephesus-
“You’ve set this aside,” and this causes me to have ought with you. And then He tells them:
“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.”
The passage says they have left their first love but it better means that they “let it down,” meaning it was less on fire and alive than what it used to be.
Because agape love (and I’ll say it – is everything) it cannot lose priority in the Christian walk.
What was once glowing and ardent for God and others had faded. Recall the first time you fell or believed that you had fallen in love.
It’s a wonderful, consuming, overwhelming condition. Then recall when we first fell in love with God, when we were born from above and was given “New Life.” The reaction is in some ways similar to when we first fall in love.
We are so forgiving, and kind, and the world is just wonderful, right? God has made Himself known through His Son, He has received us, we have been accepted and forgiven by Him – and we are immediately starry-eyed blissful to all who cross our paths – after all if God could accept us so unconditionally we were open to accept everyone else in a similar light!
First love!
But for whatever reason the love in the Church at Ephesus was in a state of declension.
Like romantic love, I have noticed that some in the faith also lose their first love once the firework show in conversion ends.
Longing for the initial fire they constantly seek to recreate their conversion experience in the walk – going from one exciting event to another, searching for that first high.
I think we have to admit to ourselves that all first loves – even spiritual – can be not much more that some heightened feelings created by the unconditional acceptance of self, by the unburdening of sin, and the reverberation of truth which has alluded all of us before coming to a knowledge of it.
Within the church or a body of believers (which is what we are talking about here) there can be a tendency toward the same thing. In the initial launch, in the excitable early says of tremendous unity and sacrifice, people are quite dedicated.
But Jesus has first commended the Church at Ephesus for their labors, and their patience, and the fact that they have exposed the Nicolaitanes as false prophets, tasks that occur after the honeymoon – tasks greatly lacking in romance.
As a result Jesus warns them to repent – to turn back to their former ways.
Now, here’s the deal. First loves – and all that comes with them – cannot be manufactured nor mandated can they?
No, they are very natural events.
Forgetting this some religious seek to “create” the image of these new exiting feelings through music, emotionalism, causes, cheering and forced fellowshipping.
Many step into the arena of miracles, speaking in tongues and other manifestations of the Spirit.
And then others get the juices running through fear mongering, warnings of end-times, political action, and/or hate for certain special interest groups.
But agape love is in the control of the Spirit.
And the FRUIT of the SPIRIT is LOVE, (presenting itself in) joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
So the means to maintain agape love is to return to or reimplement all the characteristics of Christ when He walked the earth – humility, forgiveness, and eye single to the glory of God, goodness, faith, meekness, peace . . . against such there is NO Law.
Which brings us to a final enemy to our first love = law = which is yet another pseudo-spirit by which some gatherings keep themselves alive.
Jesus church – His body, cannot be anything of this world and its modes of operation.
His church and body is ripe with Spirit and its fruit which is firstly love, and if love is not abiding, the church is nothing.
So Jesus tells them (verse 5):
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.
Call to remembrance the place you have fallen from.
Now, the idea of remembering is a huge topic in the Bible – especially in the Old Testament as remember (or some form of looking back and recalling) is used hundreds of times.
I think remembering is a really important principle – but it has to be applied contextually.
For example, twice in Hebrews God says
“I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
So if God remembers our sins and iniquities no more we might be wise to let them loose from our memories as well, understanding that who and what we were in the past is “no longer us.”
There are those who insist on recalling their former failures as a means to not make them again. This is how the human brain works and we rejoice in this otherwise we’d all be making the same mistakes over and over again.
But I am of the opinion that if there are sins that have been forgiven you by faith in Jesus to let them die a fading death as the one who committed them is no longer alive – so there is no reason to keep them alive in the memory-banks.
Nevertheless, there is wisdom in remembering mistakes and life’s lessons.
One of my favorite lines in the Book of Job (and this is saying something because Job has a lot of great passages) but in Chapter 41 God is questioning Job rather intensely and he begins to speak of Leviathan, a created beast of some sort made for battle – probably a crocodile.
And after describing it, and its power, and the great difficulty man has with dealing with its power, God says:
Job 41:8 Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
“Take a minute, lay your hand on that place you once were, remember the battle you had with lust, or with addiction, or with anger or jealousy or envy or whatever – remember it? Okay, good – now do it no more.” LOVE THAT.
That being said, I think there is tremendous value in remembering and recalling as much as possible as it relates to the good and loving kindness and experience we have had in our walk with God.
For this reason the COI were always looking back to when God lead them out of bondage, or through the desert, or in their battles in the promised land.
Recalling and remembering are quite important to repenting (or changing ones mind about a current direction). Remembering allows us to go back and relive the wonderful things of our first loves which can so easily be forgotten in the hustle and bustle of life or even more so, in trials and burdens and problems.
I have been able to be involved directly in some cases where men and/or women are having extramarital affairs.
Sometimes there are situations in a marriage that contribute greatly to the affairs occurring in the first place (indifference, lack of time spent, abuses, control, difficulties) but every now and then such things, while playing a role, are really just window dressing for the fact that the one going out on the other has lost their first love, and has what seems like a spell placed over them where they cannot (or will not) recall ANYTHING good about the marriage they are betraying.
I mean the blinder are strapped on and really secure.
One of the approaches that helps bring the deluded around is to get them to remember – to look back and think and talk through the reality of the marriage.
And once all the hurts and disappointments are out on the table the only thing left to remember are the good things, the benefits, the family, and memories, and laughs.
These things are produced when the party is encouraged to “say more” and when asked to share something good and positive about the relationship.
Here Jesus tells the church at Ephesus to look back, to recall, and to remember their first love because in so doing the hope is they would repent, or change.
We can do the same thing with ourselves when we sense our first love fading. Work backward, recall where you once were and were you are now – and in all probability we will discover the moment we began to fade.
I read Farewell to God, by Charles Templeton, a book about his leaving the faith a few years back. Templeton was a Billy Graham in his outreach to Canada and ultimately walked from faith all together.
Lee Strobel interviewed Templeton later in life when he was in the throws of Alzheimers.
Strobel asked Templeton about Jesus and he said:
He was the greatest human being who has ever lived. He was a moral genius. His ethical sense was unique. He was the intrinsically wisest person that I’ve ever encountered in my life or in my readings. He’s the most important thing in my life. I know it may sound strange, but I have to say I adore him! Everything good I know, everything decent I know, everything pure I know, I learned from Jesus. He is the most important human being who has ever existed. And if I may put it this way, I miss Him.
And then Strobel added:
Templeton’s eyes filled with tears and he wept freely. He refused to say more.
So, Jesus tells the believers at Ephesus to remember – look back to when your first love was ablaze . . .
. . .from where you have fallen from, and . . .
“repent, and do the first works”
The word “repent” here means to think differently about, and as a result of “thinking differently about how they have fallen they will “begin to do the first works . . . which I would say is to love.
I say this because while faith is certainly first before love, faith, according to Paul’s logic, is NOT a work.
(That’s why he says we are saved by faith and NOT of works).
But if we were ever going to capture and describe the work of a Christian it would be agape love – which the exercise thereof is certainly a labor or work.
“Get back to loving, believers at Ephesus,” we might summarize . . .
“or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
In English Or else can be pretty threatening. But this could read, “otherwise,” or “but if not,” “if you don’t,”
I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, unless you repent (or change your mind, which by implication includes their actions).
The Greek for quickly is tahk-oo and means exactly that but with that definition could also come the term abruptly – so if you don’t change I will come with judgment – not in the distant future but soon and will “remove thy candlestick out of its place.”
Now obviously, this is not literal – the removing of the candlestick out of the place where it presently was in the vision of Seven Churches is not the point.
It seems to me that what Jesus is telling them is their light will get snuffed out if they don’t change their minds about the direction they have taken.
And Jesus says that He will be the one to put it out. Why would gentle Jesus put out the light in a body of believers that bear His name and are part of His church.
Because by and through what they have allowed to happen – their falling from their first love – they are in jeopardy of Him not allowing them to remain in that privileged place. Why? Because even thought they have been effective at challenging the Nicolataines, even proving that they are false apostles, and patiently laboring, love must reign.
Jesus doesn’t say how the lamp will be removed – just that it would be the result and it would happen quickly and possibly suddenly.
I suppose we might say that the church gave light in Ephesus and if things didn’t change that would no longer be the case.
I tend to see this as a prophecy of the church and a warning of it’s eminent extinction if it didn’t turn.
From what I can tell (some of you have been there) there isn’t the slightest bit of evidence that the church at Ephesus changed.
And apparently the place is void of Christians – pretty much void of anything I’m told – but in the least there is not one Christian that has any genealogy or connection to this original house church.
Gibbon, a professor of History writes of what the Turks did at Ephesus, saying in his book Decline and Fall, page 260:
“In the loss of Ephesus, the Christians deplored the fall of the first angel, the extinction of the first candlestick of the Revelations; the desolation is complete; and the Temple of Diana, or the Church of Mercy, will equally elude the search of the curious traveller.”
We might say that once the candle went so did most everything else that functioned in the vicinity.
Then after this warning Jesus adds:
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
And we talked about them and this two weeks ago. So last verse relative to Ephesus. And let me take just the first line:
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;
What is unique about this line from passage?
First, it is applied at the conclusion of all the words given to each of the seven churches but it comes first (in the first three churches) and at the end of the last four.
Let me explain – to Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamos “He that hath an ear let Him hear what the Spirit said unto the churches” is written before the promise. But in Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea the promise is first, with the phrase, “He that hath an ear coming last.”
This may or may not mean anything at all.
So let’s read
FIRST,
To Ephesus
Revelation 2:7 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.
To Smryna
Revelation 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
To Pergamos
Revelation 2:17 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 hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
Then to Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea – BEFORE saying . . .
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches the promise
is given to those who overcome, with Jesus saying to the Church at
Thyatira:
26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Sardis
Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Philidelphia
Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Laodicea
Revelation 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Jesus says
To him that overcometh . . .
(to Ephesus) . . . “will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” (to Smyrna) “shall not be hurt of the second death.” (to Pergamos) “will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. (to Thyatira) And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. (to Sardis) “the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” (to Philadelphia) “will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.” and to Laodicea, “will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”
As I do not believe each of these promises are specific to those in their respective churches but are instead all applicable to all who overcome, I think we can reasonably say that AT LEAST to those who were in the churches then WHO OVERCAME, Jesus said that He . . .
Last week I emphasized that God has a great reason to have sent His Son and it was more than to just save us from sin and death.
Here Jesus plainly explains in revelation that (AGAIN) – at least to those in the churches in that day he had 19 specific blessings, and says, to those who overcome:
“will I give to eat of the tree of life, (which is in the midst of the paradise of God).”1
“shall not be hurt of the second death.” 2
“will I give to eat of the hidden manna,”3
“and will give him a white stone,” 4
“and in the stone a new name written,”5
“which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” 6
Here Jesus reiterates saying“And he that overcometh, but adds (and keepeth my works unto the end,)
“to him will I give power over the nations” 7
“and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; (as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers): even as I received of my Father. 8
“And I will give him the morning star.” 9
“the same shall be clothed in white raiment;” 10
“and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life,” 11
“but I will confess his name before my Father,” 12
‘and before his angels.” 13
“will I make a pillar in the temple of my God,” 14
“and he shall go no more out” 15
“and I will write upon him the name of my God,” 16
“and the name of the city of my God,” 17 (“which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God:”)
“and I will write upon him my new name.” 18 and
“will I grant to sit with me in my throne, 19 (“even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”)
Now, I am fully convinced that these promises were NOT just to them but to all every since, by and through Jesus, that OVERCOME.
And for the first time in the New Testament we are given some specifics about the afterlife for those who overcome through Christ.
I want to discuss each of these in detail next week but before we do there is something else I want to insert here that is important information.
If there is application to believers beyond the application Jesus’ words had to the believers in that day and age, then we have to open the application and see how it has applied to the church SINCE the day it was given to John and the Seven actual churches.
So I want to wrap today up by presenting just one (of hundreds) of postulations how the seven churches in Revelation represent seven periods of time in church history.
So let’s look at the board.
ON BOARD
Seven Stages of Church History
Church Church History Typified Dates Israel’s History Typified Verses
Ephesus The Apostolic Church A.D. 30-100 The Day of Israel’s Espousals (Exodus) Rev. Rev. 2:1-7+
Smyrna The Church of the Roman Persecution A.D. 100-313 The Period of Israel’s Wanderings (Numbers) Rev. Rev. 2:8-11+
Pergamum The Church of the Age of Constantine A.D 313-600 The Wilderness Period (Numbers) Rev. Rev. 2:12-17+
Thyatira The Church of the Dark Ages A.D. 600-15179 The Wilderness Period (Numbers) Rev. Rev. 2:18-29+
Sardis The Church of the Reformation A.D. 1517-1648 The Period of Israel’s Kings (1 and 2 Kings) Rev. Rev. 3:1-6+
Philadelphia of the Great Missionary Movement A.D. 1648-1900 The Period of Israel’s Removal (1 and 2 Chronicles) Rev. Rev. 3:7-13+
Laodicea The Church of the Apostasy A.D. 1900-present day The Period of Judah’s Kings (2 Chronicles) Rev. Rev. 3:14-22+
.
So . . . a number of expositors down through history have held that the seven churches represent seven sequential stages of church history. The trouble with this view is nobody agrees on what period of time each church represents.
As you can see from the board the seven periods reflect Israel’s history and some general periods of the Christian church.
The question I have is this:
Do the words Jesus has John write – all of them – apply to the circumstances of that literal physical church in that day and age and at that time? In other words, did the church at Ephesus have all the promise and problems Jesus describes in these first seven verses of chapter 2?
I believe so – and therefore I believe we are forced to AT LEAST believe that these warnings were to those actual churches first and foremost.
If what Jesus said to them was not applicable to them then it makes zero sense for Jesus to command John to write and take them to them.
Thus far I don’t know how anyone could disagree.
The next question we have to ask is, do the things Jesus says to these actual seven churches exist in the churches throughout history as the historicist view suggests?
The historicist claim is that while all seven types of churches all exist over the course of all church history, one type tends to dominate certain periods of Church history.
Additionally, there appears (I reiterate, APPEARS) to be certain statements that are made to individual churches cannot be true of the strictly local physical church situation so therefore they must have a far wider application – like over history.
But I’ve studied them and amazingly they do fit the local church application perfectly therefore dispelling the Historicist claims.
More next week!
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