THE REVELATION OF JESUS part 3
EPHESUS THE GREAT
Revelation 2:1-11
The first century believers faced stiff opposition from political authorities determined to stop the spread of their message. Despite the increasingly harsh treatment, they were able to go a long way in fulfilling the Lord’s mandate to take the gospel to the end of the earth Acts 1:8.
Within three decades (30 years) they had won converts throughout the Roman Empire, including the capital of Rome itself.
One of the reasons the church was so successful was the emphasis on reaching cities. Ephesus, which we’ll look at tonight, is an example were Christian leaders influenced strategic groups of workers who not only turned the city upside down with their faith, but took the gospel inland so that all (Luke records) who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord Acts 19:10b.
Most likely, the seven churches address by our Lord in Revelation were established through the work begun at Ephesus
As I mentioned before, John is writing to seven specific churches, but Revelation is an open letter to all Christians, especially us today.
Jesus told John (1:19) to write what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.
I believe that Chapter one is what you have seen.
Chapters 2 and 3 is what is now
and from Chapter 4 on is what will take place later.
Let’s look at the churches.
Jesus dictated brief “love letters” to John for each of the seven congregations. Our Lord created a letter-writing-formula that in not found anywhere else in scripture. It’s as follows: (check handout)
1. a characteristic of the sender
2. a compliment to the recipients
3. a criticism against the recipients
4. a command to the recipients
5. a commitment to all who overcome
EPHESUS THE GREAT 2:1-7
By the time of John’s writing Ephesus had been an important seaport city for over one thousand years. It had been ruled by both the Persians and the Greeks before coming under Roman rule in 133 B.C. In the first century, Ephesus was the most important commercial center of the Roman province of Asia, the financial capital with over 200,000 residents. By the A.D. 300’s, its harbor had been silted up from the flow of the Cayster River. Today the site is an uninhabited ruin several miles inland.
During John’s time though, Ephesus was the city! It boasted of it’s finely sculptured temples to rival deities. The most magnificent of all was the temple to Artemis, (KJV translates Diana) the local fertility goddess.
Archaeologists have uncovered its ruins. Over 400 feet long by 200 feet wide, supported by 127 columns some 60 feet tall. It was one of the largest buildings in the world, deserving its reputation as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
A large Jewish population thrived in Ephesus and Christianity was fully established with the two year ministry of Paul (Acts 19). The Gospel was so successful that devotion to the cult of Artemis was threatened, causing a riot. It was from Ephesus that the message of Christ spread throughout the province.
According to Christian tradition, (Irenaeus and Eusebius) the aged apostle John used Ephesus as his headquarters. It is most likely that his three epistles were written here.
vs 1 Characteristic
Who is the angel? For our study I believe the angel to be the pastor of the local congregation.
The characteristic will always be something referring back to the vision of Jesus in Chapter one.
Jesus holds the seven stars....and walks among the seven golden lampstands
In chapter 1 Jesus is simply among the lampstands (churches), now he is walking among them, observing their deeds and their motives. Because he has been observing them, he can both compliment and criticize.
vs 2-3 Compliment
This section in each of the letters begins with I Know. Jesus knows the facts about each congregation and each Christian.
The believers at Ephesus were always busy, for they received a triple commendation: deeds... hard work and... perseverance. Forty years after it’s inception, the Ephesian church was still working hard.
One of the “deeds” they had done was to expel the evildoers from their church, and they had tested and rejected some false apostles. We don’t know who they were. They could possibly have come from a sect called Nicolaitans that flourished in both Ephesus and Pergamum.
* Note * 1 John 4:1-3 describes the test for discerning false prophets.
Verse 3 explains the perseverance of this church. The Ephesians had endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. From the earliest days, these believers had put up with hostility from those who worshiped other gods. They had been vigilant over the years in all the persecutions that came their way.
vs 4 Criticism
In their pursuit of following Jesus faithfully, these believers had allowed a tragic flaw to infect their fellowship. You have forsaken you first love. They simply did not love the Lord as they did when they first came to him.
What is “first love?” I believe it is the love we had for the Lord when we first became Christians. What gratitude we had, because all our sins had been forgiven.
Forty years later, the church in Ephesus still held sound doctrine and worked vigorously for the Lord, yet they did not love Him as they did in the beginning. Jesus views this so seriously that He says in the next verse that He will remove their lampstand if the problem is not corrected.
* Note* Today Turkey is Islamic, not Christian.
vs 5-6 Command
The command is to remember the days of their first love, realize they had fallen, and repent.
Have you lost your first love? Do you remember what it was like when you first came to the Lord?
i.e. Marriage
This command is accompanied by a serious warning of the consequences the church faced if they did not repent. I will remove your lampstands.
Jesus promised to build his church worldwide. That does not guarantee permanence to an individual congregation.
A loveless church in is no longer a church, therefore it will cease to exist. Tragically, the Ephesian church ultimately succumbed. Not only does the church no longer exists, neither does the city.
Verse 6 seems to be out of place here, it is a further compliment to these Christians. Both the Ephesians and Jesus rightly hate the practices of the Nicolaitans.
Except for the two references to them in this chapter, these evil people are unknown in scripture. The Nicolaitan teaching included two moral errors: 1st open practice of sexual immorality (perhaps at a pagan temple); and 2nd open participation in eating food that had been sacrificed to idols. Both of these actions were routine activities in idol worship.
In that day all commercial trade was under the patronage of pagan deities, business people joined trade guilds to do business. This compromised their Christian beliefs.
The Nicolaitans affirmed, as did the teaching of Balaam (14) and Jezebel (20), that sexual immorality did not affect one’s salvation in Christ. This was probably based on Gnosticism. Gnostics believed that body and spirit were separate or could be separated, thus what one did in the body would not affect the spirit.
The Nicolaitans then were those who wished to compromise with the world, they were not ready to have a change in their life. They wanted to ride the fence. To John, the Nicolaitans were worse than pagans, for they were the enemy within the door of the church.
vs 7 Commitment
The commitment that Christ makes at the end of each of the seven letters always includes three elements: the one who overcomes is praised; he who has an ear is addressed; and the message is commended as one that the Spirit says to the churches.
To overcome means to conquer. This is a reminder that the original recipients of Revelation were in spiritual combat! We are too! Many in our church are coming under attack. That’s why we need to pray constantly!
Overcoming is defined in John’s first epistle for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5: 4-5
The one who has an ear is the church member who both hears and heeds the message as it is read in the congregation. This is the same expression Jesus used when teaching the parables.
The spiritually minded believer who is willing to hear what the Spirit says and allow his conduct to be changed, is the one that keep His commands.
Christ’s commitment to the faithful believers in Ephesus, and to all faithful believers, who heed the message is that they will eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
To eat from the tree of life symbolizes eternal life with God. This is the tree that Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden, but could not eat again because of their sin.
*Where is your heart tonight?
*Do you still love Jesus just like when you first
believed?
*Do you love him more?
Tonight is overcomers night, we are more than conquerers!
