We find now, a stack of letters, seven in all, which have largely been ignored and unopened by the Christian Church over the years. Many people tend to skip over these seven letters to the churches, so eager to hurry to those juicy, action-packed, sections of Revelation. We would rather hear about the great cataclysms of the last days than be confronted with the urgent challenge of our own present moment. These seven letters to seven churches are powerful letters, burning with urgency. Their message is still as vital and timely today as when first written. So many ills of our churches in the twenty-first century could be cured if we would only listen with attentive ears to the message Jesus gave us through the pen of John over 2000 years ago,

In these letters, our Lord outlines for us His plan for the church. He shows us that He has set His church in the midst of the world. It is His instrument to impact and direct the course of human history. Jesus calls the church “the light of the world” and “the salt of the earth.” The apostle Paul calls the church “the pillar and ground of truth.” That is the mystery and the mission of the church. God intends the church to exert tremendous influence over the affairs of the world.

These seven letters set forth His eternal “game plan.” So it’s a grievous mistake to slight the crucial importance and timely relevance of these letters. They are filled with both warning and encouragement to churches that are struggling with sin and complacency within, and persecution without. In these letters, our Lord teaches the church how to live as light in a darkening world while also confronting the sin and error that threatens the health and life of the church.

Do you remember the first time you fell in love? Do you recall that feeling of always wanting to be near the object of your love, to simply bask in the presence of that person? In Revelation 2:1-7, we meet a church that once loved Jesus that way. But tragically, at the time that we encounter this church in Revelation, the fondness, the remembrance, the yearning of that first glow of love had faded. Instead of a church that is ardently in love with its Lord, we find a church that has lost its love.

The first thing the Lord impresses upon the Ephesian church is that He is the Lord of all the churches. He holds the seven stars in His right hand, and He walks among the seven lampstands. He is in control of the angels of the churches, and He is directly observing the lampstands, the churches themselves, as He walks through their midst.

Ephesus was the leading city of Asia. It was the gateway to the Roman Empire in the region now known as Turkey, with rivers and roads connecting it to far-flung places. Ephesus was famous for its large harbor, a flourishing marketplace, and especially the great temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was also a dissolute and greatly immoral city, in large part because of the cultic prostitution and the liberty granted to criminals at its famous temple.

The church in Ephesus was now a second-generation congregation, having been founded forty years earlier by Paul, who later stayed to teach for three years during his third missionary journey. It was then overseen by Paul’s helper Timothy, until after Paul’s death the apostle John came, probably around the year A.D. 66. The apostles had thus invested a great deal in this church, and it is likely that the church in Ephesus extended the gospel throughout Asia so as to plant the other churches of the region. With such leadership and ministry, it is not surprising that Jesus finds much to praise in these believers (v. 2). Here, we are reminded of the words that Jesus will say to all His followers who worked hard for Him while He was gone: “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21).

Not only had the Ephesians performed good works in Christ’s name, but they had persevered patiently under trials (vv. 2-3). This commendation indicates not merely that they had continued in believing, but that they had stood up to the pressure to conform to the surrounding culture. Then Christ commends the Ephesians for their vigilance over the truth (v. 2) It seems that false teachers had come among them, claiming to be apostles, but under testing they had been proved false and rejected. Jesus goes on to identify this threat in a further commendation in verse 6. Jesus’ praise to the Ephesians for testing and rejecting the false teachers should disabuse us of the idea that we can remain neutral in matters of truth! Certainly we should avoid needless controversy and argument. But when truth is up for sale, there is fidelity to Christ on one side and friendship with the world on the other.

There was however, a serious problem in Ephesus, and Jesus did not hesitate to confront it (v. 4). This rebuke is understood in two ways. Many commentators hear Jesus saying that in their zeal for correct doctrine, the Ephesians have become unloving toward people. In the earlier days they warmly embraced all who named the Lord in faith, but their zealous orthodoxy has made them suspicious and harsh. The second view sees this rebuke as charging the Ephesians with growing cold in their love for Jesus and their zeal for a close relationship with Him. It is likely that both are involved, especially since loss of love for God will result in less fervent affection for fellow Christians. This poses a serious challenge for doctrinally minded people: Jesus’ rebuke does not say that zeal for truth must always make our love grow cold, but it certainly indicates that it is possible. This is why Paul warned: “If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2).

This same rebuke should be directed toward Christian individuals: “I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first” (v. 4). Many Christians recognize that the enthusiasm they once had for Christ is no longer seen in their lives. We have not turned from faith, and we are still performing our Christian duties. But from Jesus’ perspective, it is obvious that the first love has grown dim, perhaps replaced with lesser, more worldly priorities. If so, Jesus urges us to remember our first love with longing. Remembering is not enough, however. Jesus adds: “repent” (V. 5). This means that we must take action to change whatever caused us to lose our fervor for Christ. We should ask ourselves what happened or what entered our lives so as to account for our lessened fervor for Christ. Then we should remove it or put it back into its proper place and priority.

The final element in the seven messages to the churches of Revelation is a promise from Christ for blessing to those who conquer through faith (v. 7). To conquer with Christ doesn’t mean that all our difficulties have gone away or that believers can all expect to become thin, beautiful, wealthy, and powerful. Christians conquer by persevering to the end in faith, godliness, truth, and fervent love. This is the chief message of the entire book of Revelation, so we will gain a deeper idea of Christian overcoming as we progress in the book.

To conquer in Christ is to confess our sins and seek the atoning power of His death for our forgiveness, to hold fast to the gospel truths of the Bible as the foundation of our faith, and out of love for Jesus to be willing both to live for Him now and to die with Him should there be a day of final testing. Christians conquer amid tribulation in this world, but the blessing Jesus promises is received in the world to come when He returns (v. 7).

This promise refers back to the blessing lost by Adam and Eve through sin, as they were barred from eating from the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:22). Ever since that day, sinners have desperately sought to either find or build a paradise here on earth. Have you been trying to do that? Every earthly form of paradise fails precisely because it cannot provide the life for which we were created. Yet Jesus holds open before those who persevere with Him, bearing the cross through this world, and conquering through their faith, a true paradise prepared in heaven for those who love Him, where the Tree of Life blooms with leaves “for healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2). Jesus confronts us with our obligation to overcome through faith in Him: He warns, “In the world you will have tribulation.” But, together with the promised Tree of Life, Jesus offers His own presence to those who rekindle their first love for Him: “Take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Revelation 2:1-7 Study Questions:

Do you sometimes hesitate to speak up about things you really believe in out of fear that you might offend someone? Explain.

What words of praise, warning and promise are spoken to the church of Ephesus?

The Ephesian believers have drawn a clear line between those who are really following Jesus and those who are not (v. 2). As all church workers, a group that is rightly concerned for the truth of the gospel may forget that the very heart of that gospel is love. What can we do to help maintain this delicate balance between truth and love in our own churches today?