Rev 2:4-5 | KingComments | STEP | . The Lord Jesus starts by saying “I know”. That He can say because He is the all-knowing God. It is a great privilege that He knows everything about you ( ; ). It means that He totally knows you. He is involved with everything you go through, He knows what you think and feel, He knows all your plans ( ). If that knowledge makes you restless, there may be something in your life that you do not want Him involved with. Then tell it to Him. In the church in Ephesus there are many good things. They are mentioned by the Lord first. He always first seeks the good. When Paul writes his letters to the churches he also often mentions things first which are praise worthy before he deals with things that are not good. The Lord says that He knows the “deeds”, the “toil” and the “perseverance” of the church in Ephesus. He sees that they are engaged in good works, that they give their best efforts for it – you can say ‘labor’ is hard work – and that they persevere in it. That is a beautiful appreciation. But something is missing. You see that if you read what Paul could say of the Thessalonians. With them he could speak of “your work of faith and your labor of love and your steadfastness of hope ” ( ). It is striking that here in Ephesus their deeds do not stem from the true Christian characteristics of faith, hope and love. The heart is not involved (anymore). Nevertheless the Lord continues to mention the good things e sees with them. They also “cannot tolerate evil men”. Here you see an important characteristic of a church. The evil may reveal itself, but it must not remain. It will be obvious to each sincere Christian that the holiness of the Lord is incompatible with the welcoming evil people as if they are Christians. Evil people are people who refuse to break with sin, either in practice or in doctrine. Such people have always been there and they still are. If strangers present themselves, they will have to be put to the test. In the beginning false apostles have tried to ruin the church with lies. But the Ephesians did not accept everyone who presented themselves as apostles. As watchful as they were, they tested the spirits of those they did not know ( ). They applied the test of the Scripture. This is also the touchstone to be applied to every confession today. . The Lord has more reasons to praise them. The church has not only started well, but it also shows “perseverance”. Perseverance is important if you want to grow in your faith. You have to deal with opposition. You have to learn to endure that. It goes without saying that it is about opposition for the sake of the Name of the Lord Jesus. As soon as you openly come out for His Name’s sake you will notice that. The Ephesians also “have not grown weary”, which means that they did not think of giving up being a Christian because they began to find it more and more burdensome to fight against the evil or to face resistance for the sake of His Name. . If this is where the description had stopped, you could say that the church in Ephesus, except for one minor issue, was a perfect church. Which church today could compare itself to this? But the ‘minor issue’ that is missing in , shows that something essential is missing and that is what the Lord is pointing at when He has to say: “But I have [this] against you.” What He has against them is “that you have left your first love”. After all the positive mentions, yet this word of exhortation must follow. Amongst all outwardly perceivable and also valuable activities there was something inwardly missing. That is what the Lord has against them. It is ‘only’ one thing, but it determines the real value of all outward activities. The contrast with what is previously said, is therefore great. Leaving the first love is the origin of all evil in the church, as the following churches show. A lot of various activities may be done in the church, but if the heart is not involved, it misses its real value. A wife may act out of obligation toward a husband and a husband toward a wife and do it in such a way that everything seems to be okay. However, when it is no more than an obligation, while the love of the heart is missing, which was there first, the other will notice that. He or she will then not be satisfied anymore with everything that is done for her or his sake. The Lord always remembers the first love and also reminds His own of it ( ). The Ephesians did not lose the first love, but they had left it. It is an activity. The Lord Jesus cannot stand it that a distance arises between Him and His own. Love can only be satisfied by love. He longs for your love, for your ‘first love’. The first love is the best or highest love. It indicates the quality of this love. It is a love that only seeks the Person of the Beloved and it submits everything else to it. Works are good, they are even necessary, but they are only valuable if they are done out of love for Him. . In His grace the Lord appeals to repent. That starts with a reminder of the beginning of the deviation, how it was before that time (cf. ). In case you have deviated from the Lord you are to return to the moment where the deviation started and you are to confess that. The Ephesians had fallen from the high position which they had learned to know and enjoy by the means of the letter Paul wrote to them. They can show the proof of their conversion by doing “the deeds” they “did at first”. ‘First deeds’ are deeds that are motivated by the first love. Without the first love there is no mention of first deeds. Only if a church starts to love Christ again, it can be a real testimony, a real light bearer. If a church does not give Christ that place, He has to come as a Judge and intervene. He will then take away the lampstand of its place, which means that a church ceases to be a bearer of the light it once had, but now has lost. Just as now the darkness of the islam surrounds the places where once the seven churches were located, we observe that removal and darkness in the churches of the West. If they do not continue in the kindness of God they will also be cut off ( ). . The Lord always praises what is worthy of praising, also even after threatening to be taking away the lampstand. By doing it this way He puts emphasis on it. It concerns the hatred of a special kind of evil, hateful both to the Lord and to the church. Not the people, but the works are hated. Nicolaitans means ‘overcomers of the people or of the laymen’ which probably indicates that here clericalism, that is, the exercise of power through the clergy, is found. You find this doctrine when people are appointed by people to do spiritual work, for which they get payment and power is being given to them to command (cf. ; ; ), because otherwise the church should not be able to function and disorder would enter. It is a denial of the fact that the church has only one Head and that all believers are ‘brethren’ ( ). The Lord hates this doctrine and practice, because it makes ‘laymen’, ‘accursed ones who do not know the law’ ( ) of those who were bought with a high price. They are kept ignorant, dependent on the clergy that dictates how the Bible must be read. . The Lord speaks to the whole, but in the whole He addresses the individual. The point is that you hear personally what the Spirit says to the church es (plural). Also, what is said to the other churches, is to be taken to heart by you. Notice that it is about what the Spirit says, not about what the church teaches, to which the demand is attached that each member submits himself to the decisions of the church. Each member of the church is called to acknowledge what is of the Spirit. The Lord concludes with a promise for “him who overcomes”. In each church overcoming has got to do with overcoming the evil that is found in that particular church. Here overcoming is holding on or returning to the first love, right against all abandonment of the first love. The reward is that the Lord Himself will give you to eat of Himself, He is the tree of life. This blessing is indeed for each believer, but here it is promised as a special consolation to everyone who on earth has kept his first love or has returned to it. Such a person has overcome. If you want to persevere in the first love, it will be a precious promise for you that once you will enjoy Him always and undisturbed. That will happen “in the Paradise of God” (cf. ; ). A paradise is a pleasure garden, a beautiful garden with fruit trees ( ; ). The “Paradise of God” is a paradise of which the delights and the splendor can never again be forfeited by the unfaithfulness of man. The overcomer will then find himself in the glory of the resurrection and he will perfectly enjoy what he chose for on earth. Is that your goal too? Now read Revelation 2:2-7 again. Reflection: How about your first love for the Lord Jesus?

‏ Revelation of John 2:4-5

Message for Ephesus

Rev 2:2. The Lord Jesus starts by saying “I know”. That He can say because He is the all-knowing God. It is a great privilege that He knows everything about you (Heb 4:12; Amos 4:13). It means that He totally knows you. He is involved with everything you go through, He knows what you think and feel, He knows all your plans (Psa 139:1-4). If that knowledge makes you restless, there may be something in your life that you do not want Him involved with. Then tell it to Him.

In the church in Ephesus there are many good things. They are mentioned by the Lord first. He always first seeks the good. When Paul writes his letters to the churches he also often mentions things first which are praise worthy before he deals with things that are not good. The Lord says that He knows the “deeds”, the “toil” and the “perseverance” of the church in Ephesus. He sees that they are engaged in good works, that they give their best efforts for it – you can say ‘labor’ is hard work – and that they persevere in it. That is a beautiful appreciation.

But something is missing. You see that if you read what Paul could say of the Thessalonians. With them he could speak of “your work of faith and your labor of love and your steadfastness of hope” (1Thes 1:3). It is striking that here in Ephesus their deeds do not stem from the true Christian characteristics of faith, hope and love. The heart is not involved (anymore).

Nevertheless the Lord continues to mention the good things e sees with them. They also “cannot tolerate evil men”. Here you see an important characteristic of a church. The evil may reveal itself, but it must not remain. It will be obvious to each sincere Christian that the holiness of the Lord is incompatible with the welcoming evil people as if they are Christians. Evil people are people who refuse to break with sin, either in practice or in doctrine. Such people have always been there and they still are. If strangers present themselves, they will have to be put to the test.

In the beginning false apostles have tried to ruin the church with lies. But the Ephesians did not accept everyone who presented themselves as apostles. As watchful as they were, they tested the spirits of those they did not know (1Jn 4:1). They applied the test of the Scripture. This is also the touchstone to be applied to every confession today.

Rev 2:3. The Lord has more reasons to praise them. The church has not only started well, but it also shows “perseverance”. Perseverance is important if you want to grow in your faith. You have to deal with opposition. You have to learn to endure that. It goes without saying that it is about opposition for the sake of the Name of the Lord Jesus. As soon as you openly come out for His Name’s sake you will notice that.

The Ephesians also “have not grown weary”, which means that they did not think of giving up being a Christian because they began to find it more and more burdensome to fight against the evil or to face resistance for the sake of His Name.

Rev 2:4. If this is where the description had stopped, you could say that the church in Ephesus, except for one minor issue, was a perfect church. Which church today could compare itself to this? But the ‘minor issue’ that is missing in Rev 2:2, shows that something essential is missing and that is what the Lord is pointing at when He has to say: “But I have [this] against you.”

What He has against them is “that you have left your first love”. After all the positive mentions, yet this word of exhortation must follow. Amongst all outwardly perceivable and also valuable activities there was something inwardly missing. That is what the Lord has against them. It is ‘only’ one thing, but it determines the real value of all outward activities. The contrast with what is previously said, is therefore great.

Leaving the first love is the origin of all evil in the church, as the following churches show. A lot of various activities may be done in the church, but if the heart is not involved, it misses its real value. A wife may act out of obligation toward a husband and a husband toward a wife and do it in such a way that everything seems to be okay. However, when it is no more than an obligation, while the love of the heart is missing, which was there first, the other will notice that. He or she will then not be satisfied anymore with everything that is done for her or his sake. The Lord always remembers the first love and also reminds His own of it (Jer 2:2).

The Ephesians did not lose the first love, but they had left it. It is an activity. The Lord Jesus cannot stand it that a distance arises between Him and His own. Love can only be satisfied by love. He longs for your love, for your ‘first love’. The first love is the best or highest love. It indicates the quality of this love. It is a love that only seeks the Person of the Beloved and it submits everything else to it. Works are good, they are even necessary, but they are only valuable if they are done out of love for Him.

Rev 2:5. In His grace the Lord appeals to repent. That starts with a reminder of the beginning of the deviation, how it was before that time (cf. Lk 15:17). In case you have deviated from the Lord you are to return to the moment where the deviation started and you are to confess that. The Ephesians had fallen from the high position which they had learned to know and enjoy by the means of the letter Paul wrote to them.

They can show the proof of their conversion by doing “the deeds” they “did at first”. ‘First deeds’ are deeds that are motivated by the first love. Without the first love there is no mention of first deeds. Only if a church starts to love Christ again, it can be a real testimony, a real light bearer.

If a church does not give Christ that place, He has to come as a Judge and intervene. He will then take away the lampstand of its place, which means that a church ceases to be a bearer of the light it once had, but now has lost. Just as now the darkness of the islam surrounds the places where once the seven churches were located, we observe that removal and darkness in the churches of the West. If they do not continue in the kindness of God they will also be cut off (Rom 11:22).

Rev 2:6. The Lord always praises what is worthy of praising, also even after threatening to be taking away the lampstand. By doing it this way He puts emphasis on it. It concerns the hatred of a special kind of evil, hateful both to the Lord and to the church. Not the people, but the works are hated. Nicolaitans means ‘overcomers of the people or of the laymen’ which probably indicates that here clericalism, that is, the exercise of power through the clergy, is found.

You find this doctrine when people are appointed by people to do spiritual work, for which they get payment and power is being given to them to command (cf. Acts 20:28; 1Tim 6:5; 1Pet 5:3), because otherwise the church should not be able to function and disorder would enter. It is a denial of the fact that the church has only one Head and that all believers are ‘brethren’ (Mt 23:8). The Lord hates this doctrine and practice, because it makes ‘laymen’, ‘accursed ones who do not know the law’ (Jn 7:49) of those who were bought with a high price. They are kept ignorant, dependent on the clergy that dictates how the Bible must be read.

Rev 2:7. The Lord speaks to the whole, but in the whole He addresses the individual. The point is that you hear personally what the Spirit says to the churches (plural). Also, what is said to the other churches, is to be taken to heart by you. Notice that it is about what the Spirit says, not about what the church teaches, to which the demand is attached that each member submits himself to the decisions of the church. Each member of the church is called to acknowledge what is of the Spirit.

The Lord concludes with a promise for “him who overcomes”. In each church overcoming has got to do with overcoming the evil that is found in that particular church. Here overcoming is holding on or returning to the first love, right against all abandonment of the first love. The reward is that the Lord Himself will give you to eat of Himself, He is the tree of life. This blessing is indeed for each believer, but here it is promised as a special consolation to everyone who on earth has kept his first love or has returned to it. Such a person has overcome.

If you want to persevere in the first love, it will be a precious promise for you that once you will enjoy Him always and undisturbed. That will happen “in the Paradise of God” (cf. Lk 23:43; 2Cor 12:4). A paradise is a pleasure garden, a beautiful garden with fruit trees (Ecc 2:5; Song 4:13). The “Paradise of God” is a paradise of which the delights and the splendor can never again be forfeited by the unfaithfulness of man. The overcomer will then find himself in the glory of the resurrection and he will perfectly enjoy what he chose for on earth. Is that your goal too?

Now read Revelation 2:2-7 again.

Reflection: How about your first love for the Lord Jesus?