Revelation 2: 1 - 7

 ¹ ‘To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. ² I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. ³ You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

⁴ Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken the love you had at first. ⁵ Consider how far 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. ⁶ But you have this in your favour: you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

⁷ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

First Love.

Each of the seven letters is addressed to ‘The angel of the church in…’ It is lovely to think that every church has an angel overseeing it – that there is an ‘angel of Bethel, Penyrheol’! That might or might not be true, but the word ‘angel’ here in Revelation 2 and 3 could equally refer to human leaders or messengers. Different scholars have different ideas about this, and there is no clear right answer (and there is no room here to go into a detailed examination of the issue).

Each of the seven letters continues with ‘These are the words of him who…’ and it picks up on one or more of the elements of the description of Jesus that we looked at yesterday in chapter 1.

Each of the seven letters then says ‘I know’ something about the church situation. In Ephesus, Jesus knows about their hard work, perseverance and discernment of false teachers.

Most of the letters continue with some positives and negatives – things Jesus ‘holds against them’ and things in their favour. Most commentators today, when looking at this letter to Ephesus, pick up on the big one in verses 4 and 5: “Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far 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.” Verse 7 clearly says that this warning is for everyone – not just first century Ephesus, so we need to take it seriously.

We don’t know whether the Ephesians love that faded was for God, for one another within the fellowship, or for those outside in the community. But all three go together, and so it is likely that they have simply ceased to feel and show love in all areas. If they don’t go back to how they once were, Jesus will take away their lampstand. Remember, Jesus ‘walks among the seven golden lampstands,’ so this would mean Jesus no longer being among them.

Churches can sometimes emphasise so many other things, such as size, doctrinal purity, hard work, influence and worldly success, that they forget the key foundation. Love God and love one another are the two greatest commandments (Matt. 12: 30 - 31). If a church stops loving, then how can it be a church any more? The lampstand is taken away. This is a warning to all of us, including Bethel Penyrheol in the 21^st Century. How are we with our first love? Do we love God, and love one another? Do we love the people in our community who desperately need to receive that love, especially in this time of pandemic? This isn’t just ‘the church’ – this is about you and me. It is for all of us to love God and to love our neighbour, so that it becomes the hallmark of the church.

 

Prayer

Lord, we thank you for your presence in our church – that you walk among us. Please help us to love you and love one another, and show us where we need to do more in demonstrating that love. Amen.