With the apostle John fully on board to complete God’s assignment to write a book about the vision John had been given – his fear having been replaced with duty – John is given instructions for the first of seven letters to the major churches in Asia, starting with Ephesus:
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands’” (Rev 2:1).
John writes to the “angel” of each of the churches in Asia, beginning with Ephesus. The Greek word aggelos implies the content of a message sent, which is different for each of the seven churches. It is not the same as apostolos, which refers to a person sent with a message. The “angel” of each of these churches is likely the leader of the congregation, but the focus is on what God wants to say to that church specifically (LN 33.194 and 33.195).
Verse 1 makes it clear that the sender of the message is Jesus himself.
“’I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false’” (Rev 2:2).
The city of Ephesus was a large cesspool of sexual immorality, which is something we feel surrounded with today. So it is not a big surprise that the church at Ephesus had lost some of its excellence since the apostle Paul had been among them. Jesus’ top concern is infiltration of the church by fake believers who want to bring down the church:
“’I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary’” (Rev 2:3).
In our day. recent unconstitutional pandemic laws come to mind, where some church leaders had to face the threat of going to jail for the right to assemble and worship. It was the unity of churches of Jesus in protest all across America that brought this violation to an end.
However, all is not well in Ephesus:
“’But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent’” (Rev 2:4-5).
When churches are first formed, there is usually great love and unity. But often, the initial gift fades, and disunity invades. Jesus is saying that rancor, competition, and gossip have no place in a church without sincere repentance.
But Ephesus was not all bad:
“’Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God’” (Rev 2:6-7).
Imagine eating an apple in God’s paradise, with God’s personal blessing upon you instead of a snake's temptation. Could it be any sweeter than that?
Jesus says that the Ephesian church had gone stale in the sense of losing its sense of unconditional love, which must be at the core of perfect unity. But the church is praised for its detection of invasion by followers of Nicolas, who taught that sexual immorality was the way to show love in the church – a heresy of shocking and dangerous proportions!
What is the Spirit saying to your church? Do you have ears to hear?