Revelation Studies #18: An Overview of Chapter 2 as a Whole

We return to our ongoing question:

How does this portion of the Truth given by God in the book of The Revelation help me to better see and understand the Revelation of Jesus Christ?

This second chapter helps me to receive the Revelation of the Glorified Lord in at least four ways.

The Glorified Lord reveals Himself to each assembly in terms of the specific needs of that assembly.

Understanding this truth demands that we realize that the Glorified Lord does not ask us what our needs are; He knows what our true needs are in spite of what we may think they are. As a clear example of this wonderful Truth consider Matthew 8:23-17.

23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

Here is a situation in which the LORD went into a boat, knowing that His disciples would follow Him. Not long after, there arose a great storm, threatening the ship and all of its passengers. When His disciples woke up the LORD, He asked them why they were so troubled. He then rebuked the wind and the waves and there was a great calm.

Had the disciples been asked what they needed, they would have universally answered, “We need to be saved from dying in this storm!” But their greater need was to have been put into the storm to begin with so that they would receive this amazing revelation of the LORD as the LORD of the storm-tossed sea.

In the early days of the Church Age the Glorified Lord allowed overwhelming difficulties to come upon the assemblies. His intention was to reveal Himself through these difficulties in far deeper ways than He could have without them. When any assembly is facing trials or difficulties today, the goal is never to have the trials or difficulties removed. The goal is to come to know the Glorified Lord in a far deeper way through them.

The Glorified Lord is far more concerned about the heart of our relationship with Him than about all of our works for Him.

In addressing the first assembly [Ephesus] the Glorified Lord makes it clear that He knows all about their works, but immediately pivots to chastising them because they had ‘left [their] first love.’ He even warns them that He will take away their candlestick if they do not repent of having left their first love. [verse 5]

It may surprise some to realize that the Glorified Lord does not warn the assembly at Laodicea [the assembly known for its deep downgrade condition] about taking away its candlestick. Evidently this matter of leaving one’s first love is foundational. When the assembly will not return to its first love, it hides its light under a bushel basket, and is on the way to a very lax, degraded condition from which there can be very little light emanating at all. It does not appear to be a random decision by the Glorified Lord to address the issue of an assembly leaving its first love at the outset of these dictated epistles.[1]

[1] For further discussion of this matter of leaving one’s first love, see the verse-by-verse section dealing with chapter two of The Revelation.