The apostle John was in exile on the isle of Patmos when he was commanded by Christ, the Alpha and Omega as he calls Himself, to write what he saw in a vision and send it to the churches. John saw the Lord standing in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, which represent the churches as we see in Revelation 1:13-19:

“And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
   His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
   And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
   And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
   And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
   I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
   Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;”

This is the description of himself by Christ and the introduction to the letters to the Church. They not only are of present value to Christians of every mini-epoch of the Church Age, but offer past lessons and future insight with relevance requiring that the believer infer from their implications many Christian characteristics and points of overcoming at every phase for Christians of all time and everywhere. As stated above, there are different schools of thought on the interpretation of the letters to the churches. Some say they apply only to those churches in existence at the time of the writing, others contend they are strictly historical and do not apply to the church today. I believe the interpretation is many-fold. The letters represent not only the churches in existence at the time of the writing, but they also give us an historical account of the development of the church through the ages, but also a picture of the condition of the church today, as well as the faith the believer ought also to have. Our first discussion is from the first letter addressed to Ephesus, and how it characterizes a portion of today’s church, as well as a look at it on a personal level and how it applies to the individual believer’s walk of salvation.

Ephesus, located in Asia Minor (today’s Turkey, as are all seven churches), was a city of great importance in the days of the early church. It was a political, religious and commercial hub that reached its pinnacle under Roman rule during the first and second centuries. The great Temple of Diana, Roman goddess of women and fertility, rebuilt from the destroyed Artemisian temple built around 560 B.C., was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Ephesus, with a population at the time of Paul estimated to be about 250,000, played a significant role in the spread of Christianity although not without much hindrance, as we read in Acts 19:24-41. A group of silversmiths, who made their living selling shrines to Diana, initiated an uproar against Paul because he had turned many away from the goddess by preaching that “they be not gods, which are made with hands.”

“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;
   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.
   Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
   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.
   But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
   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.” Rev 2:1-7

Christ’s salutation to each of the churches is different and reflects distinct aspects of who He really is. In His greeting to the Ephesians, the apostolic church, he states that He is the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks in the midst of the seven candlesticks Rev 1:20. The candlesticks are the churches, seven being the number that encompasses their whole existence. The angels are in his right hand and therefore should be considered as servants and ministers, with the purest meaning of the word as ministers and messengers of God. Since they are in His hand they should further be considered as human ministers and leaders of the message of the Gospel entrusted with pastoral care of that particular church. God holds only Man in his hands, Isaiah says we are inscribed in His palm. If God has a tattoo it is surely Man inscribed as the work of His hands. The angels as creatures of God’s creation are ministers for Man created to minister to man for God’s sake. This Lucifer could not abide. He had no desire to be servant, least of all to Man. He rebelled and became Satan. There is nowhere I can think of where angels are declared to be in God’s hand, they are in His service exclusively. The angels’ highest degree of rank is sanctioned in those which worship Him night and day. The ‘angels’ of the churches referred to in Revelation two and three therefore are the leaders who have been given (or usurped) the ministering of its salvation and greater good. The great ‘angels’ of the Church of Sardis for example are its leaders Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox and the host of tens of thousands of myriad Sardisian men and women who followed their lead to establish Sardisian churches under the names Lutheran, Presbyterian, Calvinist, Baptist, and such. They held some form of the Sardisian doctrine and the pitfalls mentioned in the letter to Sardis and were ministers of the ‘angel’ of Sardis in spirit, doctrines and creeds in churches and fellowships on every continent and around the world, and still exist wherever Sardisian churches are functioning right up to this day. The letters are therefore addressed to the influential leaders who are in service to one of the seven archetypical church forms.

But let us resume the discussion of the church of Ephesus and its critique by the Lord. Jesus commends them for their labor, good works, patience, and for not bearing them which are evil and for trying them which say they are apostles and are not, finding them liars. They have labored and have fainted not. He highly commends them for hating the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which Christ also hates. The heretical doctrine of the Nicolaitane was beginning to creep into the church at the time of this letter. The word itself is derived from two words, “nikoa” meaning “to conquer” and “laos” pertaining to the laity. The practice of “lording” it over the laity totally opposes the equality we have obtained in Christ and the fact that He, alone, is our only mediator. Paul, as founder of the church at Ephesus, the place where he spent three years teaching them house to house and where he and they cried the day he left them, had always striven to never dominate another person’s faith but to encourage them to stand in their own faith and to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. They had withstood those who tried to dominate them. There was also the ‘judaizers’ who had tried to ensnare the people by returning to the letter of the Mosaic Law thereby negating the New Testament which pleaded the blood of Christ and its power to fulfill the law by word and deed when the believer walked in the Spirit and not the flesh. This attack Paul fought against his entire apostolic and evangelistic career for the Church’s sake. These men who wished to re-conquer the separated ones of the earliest apostolic days also fall into the category of Nicolaitanes for they too were ‘conquering the people’ and pirating off their faith with their false creed. All the fellowships throughout Pontus and Galatia apparently had fallen into the ‘judaizers’ grip. On more than one occasion Paul was humiliated and forced to defend himself against the subversive multi-faceted actions and crusades of Nicolaitanes, whether Judaizers, anti-rapture men like Hymenaeus and Philetus, or Diotrephes who John said liked to have the preeminence in everything and would not allow the apostles to be received by his flock. For this Christ was duly impressed and grateful. The leaders, the angels of this church were many and those of the apostolic age and are well represented by the names Paul and Barnabas, John, Timothy, Priscilla and Aquila, Epaphroditus, Titus, Luke and John Mark, and the eloquent Greek philosopher and convert, Apollos. But incredibly, these men’s pure doctrines did not endure pristine in the new-born Church, not even to the end of the life of the Apostle John. For it is to be remembered that John recorded the letters, including the one to Ephesus, a church which he may duly be considered as a representative ‘angel’. Before the end of the first century, around 90 A.D., only fifty-five or sixty years after the crucifixion and resurrection, the Lord was already disappointed about their righteous standing, as a body of believers equality we have obtained in Christ and the fact that He, alone, is our only mediator.

But there is that one thing the Lord just cannot tolerate and He chides the Ephesians for leaving their first love. We must never put aside our love for Christ for the sake of works. We must always be as a bride preparing for her Bridegroom to come at any moment. Our love for Him has to be the most important “works” we do. From that everything else will fall into place. For if we are truly preparing for His return then we are doing the works He has prepared for us, as his waiting bride.

As we see in verse 5 of Rev 2, the Ephesians are sternly told to remember where they came from and how they have fallen (out of love, I suppose) and repent and do the first works (of returning to their first love). The quick removal of the candlestick from its place is the disaster waiting for those who don’t repent and heed the warning.

To those that have ears, he tells us to listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Too often the church is listening to what the churches are saying to the churches. We are barraged in these days with multi-media communications, churches springing up on every street corner, evangelists crowding the airwaves and convention centers with all kinds of doctrines from the outlandish laughing “for the Lord” to the more stoic,  traditional ones where praising the Lord out loud is even frowned upon. Where do you turn? Whose voice do you listen to? Who is and who isn’t speaking for God? Follow the advice imparted by the Lord, Himself, to the church at Ephesus and seek to hear His voice, and the promise of eating from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God, will be yours – the overcomer.

“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.”