Revelation 2, Letters from the Lord Through John to the 4 Churches

 

Revelation 2, Letters from the Lord Through John to 4 Churches

In each of these letters to the seven churches is mentioned some features of the glorified Christ. The letters are addressed to the Angel of the church who is a human messenger, possibly the preacher. John tells each of the churches that “He knows their works.” He commends them and condemns them in the same letter except for Smyrna and Philadelphia where there was no condemnation. He had no commendation for Laodicea. He warns each of the churches to hear what the spirit says. Each of these letters come directly from Jesus Christ through John.

The loveless Church in Ephesus

The first church was in Ephesus with the population of 2000 people. Ephesus was founded by the Hittites in 2000 BC. It was where Paul had his great ministry and later John arrived as their preacher. God is holding the church in his hands and is judging the church. He commends the church for the following: 1. Works for being filled with the Holy Spirit.

2. For their labor - their weariness in service.

3. For their patience which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

4. For their intolerance for evil men. They tested everyone who came to Ephesus and claimed to be an apostle. If they hadn't seen the resurrected Christ, they were asked to leave.

5. They preached Christ, believing in His virgin birth, His deity, His death and resurrection and they paid a price for their belief.

6. They had not grown weary. They may have grown weary in the work but not of the work. You may be tired of going to work, yet you love what you do.

His condemnation was that they have lost their first love. They had suffered in their personal relationship to Jesus. There are a lot of rules in the world on how to love yourself, and your neighbors. How to love your spouse but if you don't have an intimate relationship with Christ, then you will always struggle. If you do, all your relationships and all your Christian service will be a joy. John tells the church to remember how they started and go back to that. It's like getting married and in the beginning everything is perfect. After a while thing might become complacent or unacceptable. Looking back at how it was in the beginning and going back to being loving and loveable makes it good again. John told the church to repent and return to Christ. Until churches break the shell of self-sufficiency, conceit, sophistication, vanity, pride and so forth they cannot have an intimate relationship with Jesus. If they don't repent Jesus will come and close them down. The Nicolaitans were a cult that believed that you must indulge in sin to understand it. They believed that the sins did not touch the spirit. The Church of Ephesus hated this and so did the Lord. John tells them don't just hear the words but listen to the spirit of the Lord.

 

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