NOTE:
Before we enter into these epistles it is important that I identify that I do NOT hold to the Historicist View of interpretation of these epistles. That view essentially holds that each of these epistles, and the churches to which they were addressed, represent stages of the history of the churches throughout the Church Age.
As an example of this view, the epistle to the church at Laodicea is considered by many to represent what they refer to the church [overall] of the present stage, a time when there appears to be a deep malaise lying upon the churches. Since the epistle to the Laodiceans is the final one of the seven epistles, the supposed “Laodicean Age” is the final one, and is upon us now.
My view of these epistles is that, taken together, they identify two realities:
1. What was actually happening in these specific assemblies, and…
2. What will be true about assemblies in differing circumstances throughout the Church Age, but not limited to some kind of arbitrary “stages” of church history.
Perhaps the Lord will lead me to include reasons for why I do not hold this view as we proceed through our considerations of each of these dictated epistles.
NOTE: The reader is reminded that, in considering passages verse-by-verse, I will not rehash what I have already said in the previous discussion of this section or chapter as a whole.
Revelation 2:1-7
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;
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:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 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.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
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.
We now come to the first of the seven epistles dictated by the Glorified Lord unto the churches. In this verse-by-verse consideration of these epistles, I will not rehash what I have written in the more detailed study notes for The Revelation in my Teaching the Book of Revelation. In that writing, for example, I deal with the structure of each epistle, as well as the details common to all of the epistles.[1] Instead, I will focus upon what seems clear in the Lord’s comments that are specific to each assembly individually.
The overall tone of the Glorified Lord’s remarks to this assembly is positive. He reminds them of the fact that He is the One that holds the seven stars in His right hand, and that walks among the assemblies. This is very encouraging, especially when the Lord says the next three things He says: [verse 2]
· I know thy works- Literally, I see the works you have produced
· and thy labour- Literally, intense labour united with trouble and toil
· and thy patience- Literally, “in the N. T. the characteristic of a man who is unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings” [2]
He that is walking amidst the assemblies and holding the messengers in His right hand really does see and delight in the deep costly faith and works of His genuine servants at Ephesus.[3] This fact ought to be sufficient to undergird all saints throughout the Church Age, whatever they may face for their commitment to good works in His name.
He goes on [verse 2] to commend them for their loyalty to the Truth.
…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
Even this early in the ‘Church Age’ there were men that claimed to be apostles of the Lord that were lying. The Glorified Lord commends these at Ephesus because they ‘tried them’[4] rather than accepting what they taught as Truth simply because they proclaimed it persuasively and ‘authoritatively.’ Twenty-first century believers would do well to take a lesson from this commendation by the Glorified Lord. ‘Everything that glitters isn’t gold’ goes the old adage. And everyone that claims to be a messenger of God is not.
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Here we see very openly that the Glorified Lord sees the demanding work of bearing testimony to the Light in a dark world. The simple Greek words used are emphatic. In each commendation there is the sense of performing the identified task under trying conditions. It is as if the Glorified Lord is almost surprised to see their endurance. Thomas Manton has a persuasive comment here:
To lift up some heavy weight from the ground argues some strength; but to carry it for an hour, or all day, is a more perfect thing.[5]
4 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.
There are nearly as many different views of the phrase ‘thou hast left thy first love’ as there are commentators. There are two ‘scenes’ in the O. T. that seem to me to suggest this concept of a Christian’s ‘first love.’
The first is in Exodus 3:1-6.
1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
This first personal encounter with the God of all the earth laid the foundation for Moses’ entire life and work in serving the LORD. His consciousness of the transcendence of God drew him as a light draws a moth. He never ‘got over it.’ This is what comes to my mind when I hear the phrase, ‘first love’ in relation to God.
Much later in the history of Israel we encounter the second scene that suggests for me the true meaning of the ‘first love’ identified by the Glorified Lord here in Revelation. This scene is the entire first chapter of Ezekiel. For further details please see again Appendix C. The following quote is taken from there.
As we have previously suggested, this is precisely the cause of Israel’s captivity in Babylon. Their views of God had so deteriorated that they were all too similar to their heathen counterparts among the sons of men. Their God was seen among the heathen as being no more that another ‘tribal deity’ comparable to those around them.
In His redemptive plan for the world, God could never be seen as essentially the same as all the heathen deities in the world. None of those deities could hope to deliver mankind from sin and its terrible enslavement. Instead, they added to the bondage. No, the true God, the only delivering God, is far above all such abominations. It is for this reason that God begins as He does in this revelation of Himself to Ezekiel and to Israel in this first chapter of the book.
It seems to me that in our passage here in Revelation chapter two the ‘first love’ refers to the sense of wonder and awe that accompanies a human being’s first true encounter with the transcendent God through redemption. By the time of Ezekiel’s ministry Israel had entirely lost sight of Who their God truly was. Their extremely low views of God had left them open to falling into spiritual infidelity, even spiritual adultery. They had indeed ‘left their first love.’
When the Glorified Lord warns those assembling at Ephesus about leaving their ‘first love,’ He is telling them that they are on the road to complete spiritual ruin. Israel did not listen when similar divine warnings were given them, and had to be ‘put away.’ Unless those there at Ephesus repented of leaving their first love, they too would have to be ‘put away.’
This warning by the Glorified Lord is stunning in its application to God’s assemblies in the world early in the twenty-first century. As we have seen numerous times already, the low views of God held among the churches are already catapulting them forward to judgment [taking away their candlesticks].
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Dr. Thomas Strouse suggests the underlying meaning of these heretics there in Ephesus.