17 Sept, 2000  A Prophetic Overview  Rev. 2:1-7


Last Sunday we started a new direction of study that I expect us to be in for a while; prophecy.
Most of the time we will be going through the book of Revelation, but from time to time we will be touching on other books of the Bible to get a better perspective.
One of the things that we mentioned last week, the book of Revelation is the only book in the Bible that promises a blessing to those that read it and heed it, and that means it is not something impossible to understand.
We are going to be working from the assumption that the book may be a little overwhelming in the incredible events it touches on, but the book itself is not that complicated.
Which is kind of like the Christian life; understanding the Christian life is not all that complicated.
That doesn't mean that it's always easy to do what we ought to do, live like we ought to live, sometimes it's challenging, but the concepts are not complicated.
We know what we ought to be doing, or not doing, that's not hard at all; it's the obedience part that bogs us down, and we have no excuse for it.


As we started chapter one last week, we saw Jesus Christ appear in His glory to John, and tell John to write about "the things which you have seen, the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter."

In chapter one, John is writing about the things that he has just seen, Jesus Christ in His glory, then chapters two and three are the things which are, the church, even up until now, and then chapter four is the beginning of things that shall be hereafter, after the church is raptured.
That is a basic outline for the time frame in the book of Revelation.


Last week we finished chapter one, the things that John saw as these revelations began, today we start on chapter two, the things that are, the things of the church age.
When Jesus gave His words to John, there were probably almost 1,000 towns throughout Asia Minor, and many of them had assemblies of Christians in them, so why did He pick out these seven?

Three reasons; first, each one of these churches had special needs, and Jesus addresses those needs specifically, telling them individually what they needed to know.
Second, each one of those churches was representative of some particular characteristic of Christianity down through the ages, and various churches or denominations today will have the same traits and characteristics of the church that He is addressing back then.
Along with that, Jesus addresses various types of personal behavior of the people in the churches. People are the same today as they were back then.
As we consider what those people did, it admonishes us, because we are no different today than they were then.


Something that happened to all the different letters that the apostles wrote, they got circulated around from one church to the next so that everybody would have a chance to hear them.
This gave each church, and there were hundreds of them, an opportunity to hear what was going on in other neighboring churches, and make application to their own individual situation.
The same thing needs to be true of us, just like it was true for them.
These two chapters give us an insight into how God thought His church was doing down through the ages. It's still current, and it's still valid.
Would you like to know what He thinks of us; Blountville Community Chapel? We will fit in somewhere in these two chapters. Which one will we be?


One other thing we see about the church as we go through here, is that each of these churches, in order, progressively characterizes what the church was like down through history.
The old saying; hind sight's 20-20? It was impossible for them to see it, but there is a remarkable exhibition here of what the church has been like, in order, in sequence, down through history, and it's too obvious to be a coincidence.
One question that I want to ask today, and we will have the answer for sure by the time we get to the end of chapter three; some denominations teach that the church will get bigger and better, and more Christlike, and eventually evangelize the whole earth for Jesus, and then He will return.
Will the church really improve? Does it get better and better until the rapture? Learning about these seven churches will answer that question.


Rev. 2:1 "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;"
Last week we saw in chapter one and verse 20 that the seven stars that the Lord had in His right hand are the angels of the seven churches.
We said last week that the word angel is from the Greek aggelos, and means messenger.
Angels are messengers from God, apparently each of these seven churches had one, I suggested last week that possibly every church, all churches might have one.
Reviewing over what I said last week, I might have given the impression that I thought that the word angel always had to mean angel, and nothing else, and I need to correct that right now.
I had mentioned that some Bible commentators think that the word "messenger" here can also be the pastor or elder of the church. In this passage, that seems to fit very well, and is probably the true meaning.


Something that hit me this week as I was studying this; in a lot of places in the Old Testament, prior to His physical incarnation, Jesus Christ appears as the Angel of the Lord.
I had thought for years that was interesting, not any big deal, but this week it hit me; messenger = angel. Angel = messenger.
Jesus Christ is the Word of God, God's ultimate communication or message to man, "if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father", what would be more natural than that the Person who is God's ultimate message should sometimes appear as God's greatest, highest messenger; the Angel of the Lord?
Probably the rest of you figured that out a long time ago, but anyway, the light just now came on for me, and I thought it was neat.


Getting back to verse one, Jesus is holding these seven stars, these seven messengers in His right hand, and the word hold here has the idea of someone in control, someone that has possession of something.
Over in John 10:28, Jesus tells us; "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one."

These messengers are under God's protection, they have God's authority to back them up, and they are also under God's control.
The first pastor at Ephesus was Paul, you can read about what he did there in Acts chapter 19, then Timothy was the pastor there, and then the Apostle John lived in Ephesus, and he probably also had a part in the church.
Wonderful messengers from God to His people.


Verse 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: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted."
Jesus knew just exactly how things were going in Ephesus, and that tells me that He knows just exactly how things are going right here on Exeter Lane, and how things are going with each of us.
When we all do something to mutually build up or encourage each other in this church, Jesus knows it.
When we are patient, when we are faithful, when we refuse to tolerate evil or false doctrine, Jesus knows it.

Let me say something about doctrine:
Some people in various churches today don't like to have to deal with doctrine, it gets in the way of what they would prefer to believe or teach.
Bible doctrine is reality, it is truth, it is what things really are. When we get away from it, then we exchange reality for wishful thinking, we exchange the truth for a lie.
The Ephesians had no tolerance for evil or for liars, and Jesus is pleased with that, something good for us to remember.
Notice that he mentions patience twice, the second phrase literally means; "keep on having patience", we would probably say; "keep on keeping on", and He approves of that, that's great.


However; in verse 4, He says; "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
: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."


Jesus has commended the church, in some areas they were doing well, but now He tells them they have a problem, they have fallen away from the love that they originally had for Him.
The word "love" here, it is the word "agape." They had originally had a fervency, a depth, a Holy Ghost intensity in their love for God, but now He was just sort of there, they took Him for granted.
Thirty years earlier, Paul had written to the Ephesians, and in Ephesians 1:15, he had told them; "Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers"


Interesting: Paul is able to tell how much a church loves the Lord by observing how much and how well they love and care for each other.
And that makes perfect sense, because John tells us in 1 John 4 "If a man say, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?"
We prove or verify our love for God in the reality of our care and concern for each other.


The church at Ephesus had now been around for at least 30 years, so the original generation of Christians that had been in it was probably declining, or gone, and a new generation had taken their place.
The love that the original Ephesians had wasn't maintained among the new generation. Why?
Something about human nature; we will always find something to love, and if it's not God, what will it be? The things of the world.


Throughout history, the church falls repeatedly into the same problem; the love for God cools off, and then the love for God is replaced by a love for the things of the world.
If you love the things of the world more than you love the things of God, you will have to start making compromises; it's inevitable.
When you start to compromise, then you start to corrupt yourself spiritually, and then you start to lose your testimony, and you lose your spiritual effectiveness for the Lord.
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."


And it's not just the things that are bad that come between us and the Lord, we can even let things that are good come between us and the Lord.
Marriage: marriage is a wonderful thing, God invented it and blessed it; but Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 7; "Brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;
:30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;
:31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passes away.
:32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried cares for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
:33 But he that is married cares for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
:34 There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married cares for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
:35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, (or fitting) and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction."


Marriage is good, but if our main goal is to focus on the Lord, marriage can be a distraction.

And that is true of many otherwise honest and good things. The good will normally keep us away from the best.


The next thing the Lord tells the church is; "Remember from where you have fallen and repent."
If you have gotten separated, gotten lost, then you need to turn around and go back to where you got off the path.


Back when Barbara and I were in our twenties, our main hobby was dirt bikes, we rode enduros, raced in hare scrambles, we were out riding motorcycles through the woods every chance we got.
Something we always did, if we were out and got separated from each other, we would turn around and go back to where we both saw each other last, and then she would wait there, and let me find her.
We didn't ever keep going the same way we were going, that would only have gotten us farther apart.
If we had both just kept going, thinking that maybe we would meet up with each other, that would have been stupid, we always turned around and went back to the place where we knew we were still together.
That's what Jesus tells His church, "Remember where you got off the path, and turn around and go back to that point, and I'll find you there."


What are we supposed to be doing when we get back to that point? How will we know if we are back to where we are supposed to be or not?
He says; "Do your first works." If our hearts are where they are supposed to be, then we will be doing what we are supposed to do because we want to do it.
We will be showing love to other Christians because we love them and we care about them, and our interest and care for each other flows from our love, not from any obligation.
One of my favorite things I enjoy doing is coming out to high rank class, not because I'm still doing any fighting, or because I feel like I have to, but because I enjoy seeing and being around people I like.
Do you enjoy being around other Christians? If some other believer here calls you up, are you glad to hear them, or could you care less?
If you hear that one of the believers here has some problem, do you think; "Serves them right for getting themselves into that mess.", or do you feel concern, and start trying to think of how you might help?


Jesus tells the church; "Remember where you used to be, turn around and get back there, and then do a self evaluation; are you doing and acting the way I would act, the way my Holy Spirit would act, in love, or could you care less? Are you just looking out for number one?"
"Do your first works, the works of love, that's how you'll know if you're really where you ought to be or not."


Then He gives them an "or else," verse five; "Or else I will come unto thee quickly," -suddenly, unexpectedly- "and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent."
The church at Ephesus apparently did repent and lasted until about the fifth century, and then the city just sort of went away, the trade dropped off, the people left, and it is now uninhabited.
When we think of their candle stick, their lamp stand as being what gives light to the testimony of God in that place, eventually their testimony got dark, it went out, and Jesus took it away.


Verse 6; "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."
We are not exactly positive what the Nicolaitans were, or what they did, but we know enough to get pretty close.
Their name is a compound word formed from the Greek words nikao, which means; "to conquer", and laos, which means; "the people."
So the word "Nicolaitan" means; "to rule the laity", a clergy class of people ruling a laymen class of people, the clergy, or priests interceding with God, and the people having access to God through them.
I bet you can think of some churches or denominations like that.


So possibly these Nicolaitans were the beginnings of a professional priest hood, which eventually came to dominate the church during the Dark Ages.
If that is the case, we can understand why the Lord would hate it, because it takes away what He wants us to have, and be, and do.
In 1 Peter 2:5,we read that each and every one of us are to be priests to God, not just one particular class of people in the church.
And Jesus also hated them because He knew how it would end up, in total and absolute corruption, the church in the Dark Ages.


Along with that, there is also evidence that the Nicolaitans were a cult that was saying that since they were saved, and sanctified, and forgiven, that now they could do anything they wanted, and they got involved in all kinds of sexual impurity.
Don't be surprised, there is a so called "Christian" cult around today that practices that same corruption.
If that was the situation, we can understand how the Lord would identify that as something He hates, and he commends the Ephesian church because they hate it also.


Now if Jesus commends those Christians because they hate sin in the church, we can ask the question; Should we hate? What should we hate?
It's not necessarily wrong to hate, but we need to be real careful what and how we hate.
In the seventh chapter of Romans, Paul tells us; "The things that I am doing are the things that I don't allow myself to do, and the things that I want to do, I am not doing.
Instead, I am doing the things that I hate, and it's because of the sin that dwells in me." That's from Richard's Blountville paraphrase.


We can rest in Jesus and His salvation, but we don't ever assume that we can trust ourselves, it doesn't work.
As long as we are in these bodies, the sin principle will continue to lead us to where we don't want to go, and to do what we don't want to do.
Is it a good idea to maintain an attitude of hating our own tendencies to go off and do things contrary to Jesus? Sure. Absolutely.
Is it a good idea for me to hate your tendency to do that, or you to hate my tendency to do that?


Yes, but be very careful.

You better make real sure that your hatred of another believers sin is surrounded by compassion and patience, and then you still need to be suspicious of your motives.
If there is any chance that our compassion and patience is shrinking, and our hatred of somebody else's sin is not from the Holy Spirit, then we need to watch out, we are only about this far from becoming Pharisees.
The tiny speck in their eye, the pine log in our eye? It's a balance, just like walking that balance beam.
The Ephesian church walked it for a while, they kept their hatred for sin balanced by a love for Jesus, and then they fell off.
It doesn't say that they hated sin any less, but they lost their love for Jesus, and when they lost that, they lost their testimony.
The Christian life is always a balance, a tension between staying close to Jesus, or wandering off and doing our own thing.
Hating the sin in our selves, or ignoring the sin in ourselves, and at the same time, getting all bent out of shape because of sin in somebody else.
It's walking a balance, just like walking that beam.


I bet that within this room, we have a bunch of people that could walk a ways on that balance beam without falling off. (Ask L. to walk it)
I bet that we have a bunch of people here that could do it many times in a row without falling off.
But I bet that there is no one in this room that could walk it every day from now on and not ever fall off. (Ask J. to hold her hand)
What if you had some one walking alongside of you, and they loved you, they are holding your hand, and you could lean on them all the time, and they were never tired, never distracted, and always alert to keep you from losing your balance? You could walk it from now on, couldn't you?


That's the difference between things that get done in the flesh, and things that get done through the power of the Holy Spirit.
If you are walking close to God, if you are staying where you ought to be, if the Holy Spirit is leading in your life, walking beside you, holding your hand, He will keep you from falling.
If you are walking along on your own, thinking that you can do OK without Jesus leading and guiding, holding your hand, keeping your feet from slipping, your time is gonna' come.
Your feet are gonna' slip, and you are going to fall off, sin is going to catch you when you least expect it, and you will be in for a bad surprise.
Your sin will jump up and push you off balance, and down you will go, your feet will slip, you'll be off the path.


Wether you are on the beam today, doing OK, or maybe your feet have already slipped off the beam, either way, you need to be doing the same thing, get back up to where Jesus is standing, and put your hand in His.
Those that are in His hand are under His protection, and His leading, and His control.
Let Him tell you when to go, when to stop, when to turn around and go the other way, and let Him keep you from slipping off.


Verse 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."


All seven letters to all seven churches close the same way; Jesus gives an opportunity to turn around, and get back to where they need to be.
This invitation here is not just to the church at Ephesus, not to just a certain group of believers, it is to all believers.
1John 5:5 tells us; "Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"
Those that were in the Ephesian church that were truly Christians, genuine Christians, had already -present tense- overcome the world, and were promised the right to the tree of life, which we will read about some more when we get to the end of the book.


This is where we stop today, next Sunday, Lord willing, we will see what the Lord has to say to the church at Smyrna, but before we are dismissed, is there anyone here today that needs help on your own personal balance beam?
If you have felt off balance lately, maybe it's because you have not been keeping your hand in the hand of Jesus?
If you have been having a slippery time lately, maybe you need to ask the Lord to help you get back on that narrow path, and turn around, and get back to where you need to be.
This altar is available, if you need to come and make anything right with the Lord, I will be glad to pray with you, if there is something on your heart today, then now is a good time to make it right, and get back to where you need to be.


Stand with me, take your Hymnbooks, and turn to number 404, Tell it to Jesus, and if there is something that you need to tell Jesus today,
bring it to the altar, tell it to Jesus, put your hand in His, and let Jesus get you back on the path He wants you to be on.