Bible Studies

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Revelation 2

1Unto 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;
2I know thy works, and thy labour, 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:
3And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5Remember 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.
6But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
7He 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.

1aUnto 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;

1a Unto the angel (gr. ANGELOS – Messenger) – angel appears 175 time in the NT with 77 of those being in Revelation and usually represents a heavenly messenger but can also mean a human messenger. We can use a biblical principal called Comparative Mention to determine which type of messenger is being referred to in this text:

Rev 5 :2 - And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
Rev 7:2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Rev 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Rev 8:4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.



• No where in any of these and many other texts do we see God chastising and correct His heavenly angels and by comparing those verses to our verse here, we can safely conclude that God is talking to an earthly messenger to deliver a message to the church.
• Many postulate that this messenger is the Pastor or Overseer of the church but for this morning’s message, what is important is not who the messenger is but what the message says.
And so, God delivered His 1st corrective message to the church at Ephesus.
• Ephesus was the most important city in the Roman province of Asia;
• it was a busy seaport, had a thriving commerce, and was the center of the cult of the goddess Artemis.
• One of the seven wonders of the ancient world was the temple of Artemis at Ephesus and its ruins can still be seen in the country of Turkey to this day.

And so it is amidst this backdrop that God had caused Paul to plant a church in the same town as one of the largest monuments to a pagan god.
• God is in the business of making the impossible possible and making the crooked road straight

1aUnto 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

He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand refers to the glorified Christ
Rev 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
• The stars represent those angels or messengers of Christ and the candlesticks (or lamstands) represents the seven churches.
• It is interesting to note that it says ‘WHO WALKETH…’ not who stands. It shows us that wherever we choose to go, God will still be right there amongst His churches. No matter what adversity or trials seem to be all around us, God is still in control


2I know thy works, and thy labour, 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:

I know thy works
works are not just specific deeds but the manner of life, the behavior of these people: “I know the life that you have lived

Thy labour
“I know how hard you have worked as Christians (or, as believers in Jesus Christ),” “I know that you have had a difficult time in following Christ as you should,” or “... in doing your Christian duties.”

Thy Patience
Patience in doing the will of God

2I know thy works, and thy labour, 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:

• The Ephesian church was a separated people, for they carefully examined the visiting ministers (see 2 John 7–11) to see if they were genuine.
• Paul had warned the Ephesian elders that false teachers would come in from the outside and even arise from within the church (Acts 20:28–31),
• and John had instructed them to “try the spirits” (1 John 4:1–6).
• Indeed, Satan has his false ministers and the church must be constantly alert to detect them and reject them (2 Cor. 11:1–4, 12–15).

3And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

4Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

• This rebuke contrasts with what Paul wrote the Ephesians 35 years earlier, that he never stopped giving thanks for them because of their faith in Christ and their love (agapēn) for the saints (Eph. 1:15-16).
• Most of the Ephesian Christians were now second-generation believers, and though they had retained purity of doctrine and life and had maintained a high level of service, they were lacking in deep devotion to Christ.
• How the church today needs to heed this same warning, that orthodoxy and service are not enough. Christ wants believers’ hearts as well as their hands and heads.

5Remember 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

HOW TO RETURN BACK TO YOUR FIRST LOVE
1. Remember – literally means to ‘keep on remembering’ what we have lost and to seek to restore the fellowship that we had with God
2. Repent – turn away from sin and back to God
• Don’t just change your attitude as well as their affections
• Continue to work for the Lord not just because its what you always did
• Not because you think no one else can do the work
• Not because you feel important in your position
• BUT DO THE WORK BECAUSE YOU LOVE GOD
3. Do the first works – For the believer, this means prayer, Bible reading and meditation, obedient service, and true heartfelt worship in Spirit and in truth.
• If you feel like doing a little dance before the Lord, then dance…
• Shouting
• Clapping hands


or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent
Today there’s nothing left of the church of Ephesus but ruins. It has utterly been erased by the sands of time.
The church that loses its love will lose its light regardless of how doctrinally sound that church may be


6But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
• Those folk who tried to add layers of church buracracy
• Those folk who sought to confuse those new in Christ with false doctrines and half truths

7He 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.

• Revelation 2:7 makes it clear that individual believers within the church may be true to the Lord, no matter what others may do.
• In each of these seven messages to the churches, the “overcomers” are not a “spiritual elite,” but rather the true believers whose faith has given them victory (1 John 5:4–5).
• Sinful man was banned from the tree of life (Gen. 3:22–24), but in Christ we have eternal abundant life (John 3:16; 10:10).
• We enjoy this blessing now, and we shall enjoy it in greater measure in eternity (Rev. 22:1–5).

CONCLUSION
1. Remember
2. Repent
3. Return
additional
4. Refresh – God will quicken your body, He’ll restore peace to your troubled mind
5. Rejoice – Returning back to our fist love will grant us joy,
• unspeakable joy knowing that the God we serve can do all things,
• joy knowing that if we walk with Him, He’ll always walk with us.

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