For Jesus to remove a church’s lampstand from its place would mean the church would cease to be a church. Just as the seven-branched candlestick in the temple gave light for the priests to see, the churches were to give light to their surrounding communities. But Jesus warned them that their lights could go out. In fact, Jesus himself would extinguish any light that did not fulfill its purpose.
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B. The
Message to Ephesus: The Church That Is Orthodox (Doctrinally Correct) but
Without Love, 2:1–7 |
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5. The counsel: Remember, Repent
and Return to your first works and former service (v.5).
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1. The
recipients a. The messenger of
the church b. The Ephesian
churchhDS1 2. The
speaker: Jesus |
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; |
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3. The
commendation a. For works &
labor b. For
steadfastness c. For not tolerating
evil people d. For testing &
rejecting false apostles |
2 I
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: |
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e. For persevering &
not growing weary |
3 And
hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast
not fainted. |
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4. The
complaint: They had left their first love—love for Christ &
for the people |
4 Nevertheless
I have somewhat against thee,
because thou hast left thy first love. |
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5. The
counsel: Remember & Repent—Return to your first works &
former service 6. The
warning a. Your church, the lampstand, will be removed
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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.
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b. Your doctrinal purity is not enough |
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the
Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. |
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7. The
promise: To the overcomers a. The tree of life
b. Paradise |
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.[2]
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5. The Command (Revelation 2:5)
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and
repent, and do the first works” (Revelation
2:5). The command is threefold.
• Remember. “Remember … from
whence thou art fallen.” We need to remember what it was like when
we were joyously and lovingly devoted to Christ. To remember and compare our
former days with today can cause the conscience of the backslider to experience
shame and remorse and lead to repentance.
• Repent. “Repent.”
When we fail spiritually, we make excuses and blame many other people, factors,
and even God. But making excuses and blaming others is not what Christ commands
here. It is to repent, which is to confess our sin, acknowledge it, and turn
away from it. The charge to “repent,”
is repeated to five of the seven churches (Revelation
2:5, 16, 21; 3:3, 19). The two churches exempted of the charge to “repent” had no indictments of which to
repent
• Return. “Do the first
works.” Repentance is not just words; it is also works—returning to
holy conduct neglected by sin. True repentance leads to the return of holy
conduct.
6. The Caution (Revelation 2:5)
“Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove
thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent” (Revelation 2:5). Failure to repent will result in
judgment. Two things are said about the judgment.
• The speed of the judgment. “Quickly.”
We learned in Revelation 1:1 about the speed
of Divine judgment. Repent while you have the opportunity. Delay can bring
damnation.
• The severity of the judgment. “Remove thy candlestick out of his place.” An outwardly thriving church will decline spiritually if it has left its first love for Christ, and unless that love returns, the church will quickly become an also-ran with no light of worth. The organization may remain, but the light will be gone. Many churches are like that today. They have nice buildings, offerings, and even crowds, but they have no light. Ephesus experienced that judgment. “The lamps which once shone so brightly, and especially in the renowned capital of Ephesus, have been taken out of their place, and the gross darkness of Mohammedanism now wraps its deadly folds around these seven cities of proconsular Asia. A like removal awaits the western profession of Christianity” (Walter Scott).[3]
5 (2:5) Repentance—Remember: there is the counsel. The Lord counsels the church to return to Him. When a church or a believer goes astray, the Lord issues the very same call that He issues here: return. Three steps are involved in returning.
1. First,
remember from where you have fallen. Think back over your former love for the
Lord. Remember His presence:
⇒ the
feelings of warmth and tenderness
⇒ the
fervor, spark, and unction
⇒ the
fellowship and communion with Him
⇒ the
prayer and sharing
⇒ the
consciousness and awareness of His presence
⇒ the
joy and rejoicing of His presence that filled your heart
Again, remember the Lord’s presence, the love that existed between you and Him.
2. Second,
repent: turn away from whatever has pulled you away from Christ and turn back
to Christ. Something has drawn you away from Christ. You are attached to
something more than you are to Christ. Something is consuming your thoughts and
energies and keeping your mind from focusing upon Christ and fellowshipping and
communing with Him. You are not flickering your mind to Him in prayer as you
walk throughout the day. You are not sharing and communing with Him as you did.
Something has replaced Him in your thoughts and attention. And you are more
attached to that thing than you are to Christ. Repent—turn away from that attachment and turn back to Christ.
“Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand” (Mt. 3:2).
“Blessed are they that mourn, for they
shall be comforted” (Mt. 5:4).
“I tell you, Nay: but, except ye
repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Lu. 13:3).
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and
be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Ac. 2:38).
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from
the presence of the Lord” (Ac. 3:19).
“Repent therefore of this thy
wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven
thee” (Ac. 8:22).
“And the times of this ignorance God
winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Ac. 17:30).
“If my people, which are called by my
name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their
wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will
heal their land” (2 Chr. 7:14).
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and
the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him;
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Is.
55:7).
3. Third,
do the first works that you did.
⇒ Begin
now to flicker your mind to Christ and to take just a moment to pray. Do this
all day long, every so often. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will
direct your paths (Pr. 3:6).
⇒ Take
set times to get alone with Christ and study His Word and pray (2 Tim. 2:15; 3:16; Ep. 6:18).
⇒ Begin to walk just as Christ would walk if He were walking by your side—step by step and hour by hour. Do this from the moment you awaken in the morning to the moment you go to sleep at night.
6 (2:5–6) Warning: there is the warning. Christ warns the church that loses its love for Him. The warning is twofold.
1.
There is the warning that Christ will remove the church (the candlestick) from
its place. What does this mean? It means that Christ will remove the church …
• from being a true church
• from being a true
representative of Christ upon earth
• from being a
church of God’s true kingdom
• from being in
touch and in union with God
• from being a true
light and witness to the world
• from being a
church of the gospel of God
• from His
presence, from the light of His presence
This
is a terrible judgment. Just how terrible can be seen by looking at the
opposite of the above. If a church has been removed by Christ, then it means
that the church …
• is not a true church; it is a false church
• is not a part of
God’s kingdom; it is a part of the world’s kingdom
• is not in touch
and union with Christ; it is only in touch and union with the world
• is not a true
light and witness to the world; it is a false light and witness to the world
• is not in the
presence of Christ and His light; it is in the darkness of this world
• is not a church
of the gospel; it is a church with a false gospel
Thought 1. How
many churches have been removed by Christ? How many churches …
• are lifeless?
• are dull?
• are mechanical?
• are nothing more
than form?
• lack the presence
of Christ in the services?
• lack the light and witness of Christ and His power?
2.
There is a warning that doctrinal purity is not enough. This warning is going
to be shattering to some when Christ returns. Why? Because many are doctrinally
sound, but they have lost their first love for Christ. Note how
doctrinally sound the Ephesian believers were.
They had stood ever so strongly
against the Nicolaitans. Just who the Nicolaitans were is not known. It is
thought that they stressed two things:
⇒ that
Christ had done away with the law of the Old Testament and had instituted the
law of Christian liberty.
⇒ that
the soul and spirit of man was far more important than his body.
The
results of this doctrine are clearly seen. If there is no law to govern us,
then we can do what we like just so we profess to believe in Christ. And if the
spirit is what really matters, then I can do what I like with my body just so I
take care of my spirit.
⇒ Think
how many people feel that they can live as they want just so they attend and
support the church. If they attend church, they feel they can live like they
want during the week.
⇒ Think how many people believe they are eternally secure because they believe in Christ, have been baptized, and belong to a church. Yet, they live like they want during the week. They continue to seek the pleasures and possessions of the world, banking and hoarding and neglecting the spread of the gospel and a world of desperate needs. There is no evidence whatsoever of repentance and of a changed and holy life—no evidence of self-denial, of the sacrifice of all one is and has.
The
point is this: the Ephesian church had preached and taught against the
error of the Nicolaitans. They had refused to allow the error to enter the
church. They were doctrinally sound; they stood staunchly for the truth of
Christ and the Word of God. But they lacked the main thing: love for Christ.
They had lost their love for Christ.
Thought 1. Note
two things.
1) Christ did not do away with the law; He
fulfilled it. He filled it up. That is, Jesus Christ embraces the law and so
much more. He is now our ideal and standard. We no longer follow the law; we
follow Christ. But remember: Christ embraces the law and much more. Therefore,
in following Christ, we end up keeping the law and walking in far more purity
and holiness than what the law demands. (See Romans 5-8.)
“Think not that I am come to destroy the
law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Mt. 5:17).
“For what the law could not do, in that
it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Ro. 8:3).
2) The soul and spirit are important, but so is
the body. We are to take care of our whole person: spirit, soul, and body. We
are to keep both body and spirit pure and holy.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to
this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Ro. 12:1–2).
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of
God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defiles the temple
of God, he shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye
are” (1 Co. 3:16–17).
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which is God’s” (1 Co. 6:19–20).[4]
“Remember the height from
which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not
repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” 2:5 NIV Paul
had once commended the church at Ephesus for its love for God and for others (Ephesians 1:15). That love is pictured at the height from which the church had fallen. Jesus called this church back to
love. They needed to repent of their
lack of love and do the things they did at first—love as they had originally
loved, with enthusiasm and devotion.
If they refused to repent, however, Christ said that he would come and remove the church’s lampstand from its place. For Jesus to remove a church’s lampstand from its place would mean the church would cease to be a church. Just as the seven-branched candlestick in the temple gave light for the priests to see, the churches were to give light to their surrounding communities. But Jesus warned them that their lights could go out. In fact, Jesus himself would extinguish any light that did not fulfill its purpose. The church had to repent of its sins.
“Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” 2:6 NRSV Christ added a further commendation to this church in Ephesus—he credited them for hating the works of the Nicolaitans, which Christ also hated. The Nicolaitans were believers who had compromised their faith in order to enjoy some of the sinful practices of Ephesian society, including idolatry and sexual immorality. The name “Nicolaitans” is roughly the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word for “Balaamites.” Balaam was a prophet who induced the Israelites to carry out their lustful desires (see 2:14; Numbers 31:16). These Nicolaitans had amalgamated some Greek, some Christian, and some Jewish practices to form a sort of civil religion. It may have been that they were willing to worship in the imperial cult, worshiping the emperor, justifying it as a civil duty. They were probably advocates of freedom and compromise, but the Ephesian church had taken a strong stand against these heretics.
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INTOLERANT |
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Through
John, Jesus commended the church at Ephesus for hating the wicked practices
(“the works”) of the Nicolaitans (2:6).
Note that they didn’t hate the people, just their sinful actions. Believers
should accept and love all people and refuse to tolerate all evil. God cannot
tolerate sin, and He expects us to stand against it. The world needs
Christians who will stand for God’s truth and point people toward right
living. [5]
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THE WORDS OF CHRIST FROM
ETERNITY TO THE CONGREGATION AT EPHESUS
“Unto the angel of the Church of
Ephesus,” etc. The quality of words, whether weak or potent, pure or
unvirtuous, useful or otherwise, depends evermore upon the character of the author. Hence the words of truly great men,
intellectually and morally great, are the most blessed of all the blessed things
we have; they are the organs of the highest light and choicest life. Hence the
words of Christ have a value unsurpassed and unsurpassable. They are spirit,
and they are life. No words have ever sounded on our atmosphere or appeared on
the pages of universal literature approaching his in intrinsic value or
spiritual usefulness. Here are his words after he had tabernacled on this earth
for thirty long years, endured the agonies of crucifixion, slept in the
darkness of the grave, and been in eternity for nearly three score years. Such
words assuredly claim our supreme attention. They are addressed to the Church
at Ephesus.
1 For homiletic convenience, the words of Christ in this epistle may be divided into four classes: (1) Those which concern himself; (2) those which concern the congregation; (3) those which concern the Divine Spirit; and (4) those which concern moral conquerors.
I. Those which concern himself.
These refer to two things.
1. To his relation to the Church. “These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his
right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.”
The “seven stars” are the leading ministers
of the seven Churches. These he holds in his own hand. He holds the universe in
his hands; he holds all men in his hand, good or bad. But the true ministers of his Word he holds
in a special sense. He holds them with all the care and tenderness with which a
loving father holds by the hand his weak and timid child on a dreary and
dangerous path. Not only does he hold
the ministers of these Churches in his hand, but he moves amongst them. “He walketh in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks.’ “Christ,” says Dr. Vaughan, “walks himself among his
candlesticks, and each separate lamp, of all the thousands which make up the
branches of one candlestick, is as much trimmed and tended and fostered by
Christ himself as if there were no other but that one, and as if there were no
human agency at all constituted for its oversight.”
2. To his knowledge of the Church. “I know thy works.” He knows human works as no one else knows them. He knows not merely the overt acts, but inner motives; not merely the deeds done by the body, but in the body. His eye peers into those deep and vast regions of the soul into which no other eye can pierce. “I know thy works.” He knows what is in man. In the works which he knows are comprehended the trials endured. “Thy labour, and thy patience.” The painful discovery of falsehood in those who called themselves apostles or ministers of Christ, and also all declension in what is good. “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” The fact that Christ so thoroughly knows us should make us real, solemn, circumspect, and earnest.
II. Those which concern the congregation.
1. He credits them with the good they possess. “Thou hast patience, and for my Name’s sake hast laboured,
and hast not fainted.” There are four things which he sees in them to
commend.
(1) Their repugnance
to wrong. “Thou canst not bear them which are
evil [or, ‘evil men’].” To loathe the wrong for its own sake is one of
the finest features of character. It is common, perhaps, to hate evil men when
they are in poverty, suffering, and
disgrace, but in such hatred, there is no virtue. To hate evil in men of great possessions and high offices, millionaires,
premiers, princes, and kings is in truth, somewhat uncommon, albeit evil in
such is more heinous, more loathsome, and damnable than evil anywhere else. It
is sublimely grand to see men loathing the wrong as seen in the principalities
and powers of this world.
(2) Their patience in
toil. Work is the duty of all, and the work of a genuine Christian in this
life is most self-sacrificing, laborious, and trying. Hence patience is
required” required on account of the opposition it has to encounter and the
tardiness of the results. “Wherefore, beloved brethren, be ye steadfast,
unmovable,” etc.
(3) Their insight into
character. “Thou hast tried them which say they
are apostles, and are not, and hast found them, liars.” It is a rare
thing for men to discern the real character of their fellow men, especially of
that of their religious teachers,” those who have set themselves up as
“apostles.” Hence the popularity of pulpit charlatans. All honor to the men at
Ephesus; their eye was keen enough and heart brave enough to try the character
of their teachers, which on scrutiny, they found to be “liars.”
(4) Their hostility to
error. “But this thou hast, that thou hatest
the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.” “We may suppose,”
says one of our most learned modern expositors, “that the Nicolaitanes were the
antinomians of the Asiatic Church”—persons who taught that the conduct is
immaterial if the faith be right; that a man
may say he hath faith, and, if so,
may be indifferent altogether to his works; or who at least, if they did not
teach this, yet encouraged the deceitful heart in drawing this inference, by
failing to set strongly and even sharply before men the utter ruin of an
inconsistent and unholy life, and then not least, but most of all, when that
sinful life is combined with the loud profession of a saving faith.” Error is
an evil in whatever character it appears and region it operates. Error in
chemistry, surgery, medicine, mechanics, navigation, etc., is often fraught
with terrible results. To oppose error, therefore, is a virtue.
2. He reproves them for the
declension they manifest. “Nevertheless, … thou hast left thy first love.” Christly
love is the life and sun of the soul; it is the beginning and end of genuine
religion. Without charity—love—we are nothing. There is a danger of this
waning. Some of the angels have lost it. Many good men have experienced its
decay. This is a great evil; it is the sap leaving the tree, and the foliage
withers and death descends from branch to root. Christ implies that men are
responsible for this loss. Where this love exists, it cannot only be maintained
but increased—the spark may be fanned into a flame.
3. He urges them to reform. In order to increase this waning love, he exhorts them to do four things. (1) To remember. “Remember … whence thou art fallen.” Review the past, and call to mind the sweet, delicate, blooming affection of thy first love, with all the fresh joys and hopes it awakened. This memory will help resuscitation. (2) To “repent” Repentance does not mean crying, confessing, and throwing yourself into ecstasies, but a change in the spirit and purpose of life. (3) To reproduce. “Do the first works.” Go over thy past life, reproduce thy old feeling, and reattempt old effort. This can be done; we can relive our lives, the best as well as the worst portion of them. (4) To tremble. “Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place.” “Terrible warning this! Let declension go on, and ruin is inevitable. This is true with individuals as well as with communities. In losing the candlestick, what a loss! The loss is midnight” (Caleb Morris).
III. Those which concern the divine spirit.
“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.” Two things are here implied.
1. That the Divine Spirit makes communication
to all the Churches. He speaks through material nature,
through our spiritual constitution, through human history, through Jesus
Christ. “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past
unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son.” Blessed thought! The Divine is in communication with the human, and
has constant and special communication with the Churches. Christ, the
Incarnation and the Minister of the Spirit, hath said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” The
Spirit’s words, as of old, bring life, order, light, and beauty out of chaos.
2. That proper attention to these communications requires a certain ear. “He that hath an ear.” What is the ear? Not the mere ear of sense, nor the mere ear of intellect; it is the ear of the heart, the ear of sympathetic love. It is said that Christ opened the “ears of his disciples, that they might understand the Scriptures.” The moral ear and eye of man are closed against the manifestation and voice of God. “The natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit.” Unless a man has the sentiment of melody in him, you may peal into his ear the most magnificent strains of music, and he feels no inspiration. Nothing comes to him but sound. As he who lacks an inward sympathy with the loftiest class of thoughts can listen unmoved to the grandest utterances of Plato, Milton, or Shakespeare, so he who lacks the ear of spiritual sympathy will be utterly unaffected by the communications which the Spirit makes to the Churches. “He that hath ears to hear”—it does not matter who he is, rich or poor, rude, or cultured— “let him hear.”
IV. Those which concern moral conquerors.
“To
him that overcometh will I give [to him will I give] to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
Paradise of God [in the Paradise of God].” Observe:
1.
Life is a battle. Enemies abound within and without. Spiritual
excellence can only be reached by struggling, strenuous and unremitting.
2. Life is a battle that might be won. “Him that overcometh.” Thousands upon thousands
have won the battle and shouted, “Victory!” at the close.
3. The winning of the battle is glorious. “I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” “The reference to conquering is a prominent feature of St. John’s other writings. The word, used but once in the other three Gospels (Luke 11:22), and but once by St. Paul (Rom. 12:21), is found in John 16:33; 1 John 2:13, 14; 5:4, 5; and occurs in all these epistles to the Churches. The promise of the tree of life is appropriate: (1) To the virtue commended. Those who had not indulged in the license of Nicolaitanes shall eat of the tree of life. (2) To the special weakness of the Ephesians. To those who had fallen and lost the Paradise of first loving communion and fellowship with God (comp. Gen. 3:8; 1 John 1:3), is held out the promise of a restored Paradise and participation in the tree of life (comp. ch. 22:2–14; Gen. 3:22). This boon of immortality is the gift of Christ: ‘I will give.’ It is tasted in the knowledge of God and of his Son (John 17:3); it is enjoyed in their presence (ch. 22:3, 4)” (Bishop Boyd Carpenter). —D. T.[6]
Revelation 2:5-6 Remember, Repent and Return to Your First Works and Former Service.
[1] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 1996. Revelation.
The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership
Ministries Worldwide.
DS
Deeper Study
[2] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 1996. Revelation. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
[3] Butler, John G. 2010. Analytical Bible
Expositor: Revelation. Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.
[4] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 1996. Revelation.
The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership
Ministries Worldwide.
NIV Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®.
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission
of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
NRSV
Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard
Version of the Bible, copyrighted, 1989 by the Division of Christian Education
of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of
America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
[5] Barton, Bruce B. 2000. Revelation.
Edited by Grant R. Osborne. Life Application Bible Commentary. Wheaton, IL:
Tyndale House Publishers.
[6] Spence-Jones, H. D. M., ed. 1909. Revelation.
The Pulpit Commentary. London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
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