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[Seven Churches] The Letter of the Lord to the Church in Ephesus (1)
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May 22, 2011 |
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 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: ''I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.'" (Revelation 2:1-3)
Ephesus, located on the western coast of Turkey, had various facilities for the merchants who came together for various trades from Syria, India, Egypt, Arabia, and many other kingdoms, and was known as a central commercial city. This city was visited by the apostle Paul and the seed of the gospel was sown in it through his missionary works. Though the believers in Ephesus had little knowledge of the Savior Jesus Christ and the Helper Holy Spirit, the Gospel was planted into the hearts of these believers in God.
What was the meaning of the teachings of the Lord given to the church in Ephesus through the letter recorded in the book of Revelation? The understanding of the Lord's teachings gives important milestones in the faith and ministry of modern churches and believers.
1. 'To the angel of the church in Ephesus write…'
The 19th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles describes how the church in Ephesus was established in the fiery works of the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul stayed in Ephesus for two years and taught the believers there the Word of God day by day together with the manifestation of many powerful miracles. Extraordinary miracles were performed through him. When people took the handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched his body and put them on the sick, their diseases left them and evil spirits departed from them. Through those miracles, the gospel of Jesus Christ spread to all the areas in Ephesus and many Greeks and Jews came to believe in Jesus Christ.
Afterwards craftsmen came to be worried about their incomes gained through making silver shrines of the goddess Artemis, who many people in Ephesus served. Along with the workers of similar trades, they schemed to kill the apostle Paul. They worried that the citizens would not worship Artemis any longer because of the faith in Jesus Christ. The craftsmen inflamed the majority of the citizens and the city was filled with confusion and rage. They rushed here and there to arrest Paul and his missionary companions. Despite this tough persecution the church in Ephesus that was planted by the apostle Paul continually grew through the dedication of Timothy and the apostle John.
The letter sent to the church in Ephesus records the sender and the recipient in the beginning of the letter. The sender is 'The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands' and the recipient, 'To the angel of the church in Ephesus.' One of the roles angels play is to perform the commands of God and deliver His messages. So, the angel of the church in Ephesus refers to the pastor who ministered to the church in Ephesus.
2. The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands
In the letter sent to the church in Ephesus, why did the Lord call Himself 'The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands'?
'His right hand' means 'strength and power,' and 'stars' refer to 'people.' As recorded in Revelation 1:20, "The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches," the seven stars refer to the shepherds who are serving the seven churches.
'Holding the seven stars in His right hand' means that with His mighty power, God holds the churches and the servants of the Lord He has Himself has established and called. As the confirmation of His presence with them, God performs miraculous healing, signs and wonders, and extraordinary miracles and He is glorified through them (Mark 16:17-20; Acts 19:11-12).
What does it mean "walking among the seven golden lampstands"? 'Gold' refers to unchanging and spiritual faith, 'lampstand', the church. It follows then that 'golden lampstands' are the churches that were bought with the payment of the precious blood of Jesus Christ, that were established by Him, and that possess spiritual faith that is like gold. The number 'seven' means 'completion' and 'the seven golden churches' refer to all the churches that are set up by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now in brief, 'for the Lord to walk among the seven golden lampstands' means that the Lord searches and sees all the churches established by God with His blazing eyes and hovers over the churches all the time.
3. Modern churches are in the same situations as the church in Ephesus
The church in Ephesus had fervently prayed and led an enthusiastic life in faith, but when the church experienced revival, they became arrogant and forsook their first love for the Lord. Because of this they had to be reprimanded by the Lord. It is not a small number of churches that they think they have accomplished much in the kingdom of God like the church in Ephesus when they are actually forsaking the first love and failing to restore it.
There are some churches that have tried to abide in the truth for some time since their founding and they've patiently endured unreasonable afflictions for the sake of the Lord's name. They had the first love and fervor for the Lord so that when they received persecutions they became united and did their best to fulfill the will of God in earnest prayers. They endeavored to understand the spiritual realm to some degree, and did not get weary in expanding the kingdom of God. As a result, the churches continually increased, church members received blessing and miraculous healing works were revealed through them.
After they established stability and gained recognition from others, however, little by little they began to become corrupt and revealed their arrogance. In their arrogance they passed judgment and condemnation on other churches and other pastors saying that they were following heretical doctrine or that the pastor was a heretic. They ceased praying, and instead of seeking the will of God they desired to maintain what they had accomplished. They lost their zeal and fervor and faithfulness. Accordingly, various external problems occurred.
It applies to individual believers as well. When they accepted the Lord, experienced the grace of God and were filled with the first love, they diligently attended all kinds of worship services and prayer meetings, served the church zealously and fulfilled their God-given duties. With the passing of time, their fervor cooled down and reluctantly they performed their duties. They still attended the services and prayer meetings, but didn't either grow in spirit or were filled with the grace.
The church in Ephesus used to be full of fervent prayers and passionate love for the Lord in its early days but as time passed they forsook the love for the Lord so that they had to be reprimanded by the Lord. In our time there are many churches that fail to restore their first love for the Lord.
4. The Lord's commendation to the church of Ephesus
1) Their deeds and perseverance to walk in the truth
The shepherd and the believers in the church of Ephesus toiled to cast off untruths and abide in the Word of God.
It is commanded by God to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, so they attended worship services and abstained from worldly entertainments and the trades of selling and buying on Sundays. As told to pray without ceasing, they fervently prayed without ceasing. They gathered at the temple of God every day, loved one another in Christ and struggled against and threw away their sins.
Thus, many toils are required for us to abide in the Word of truth. We should strive to throw away our sins, faithfully fulfill our God-given duties, do the things that are pleasing to God, and we should persevere to strive for it.
The deeds the church in Ephesus showed were proper in the sight of God. The Lord commended them for their deeds. That's why the Scripture reads, "I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance."
2) They did not tolerate evil men
Suppose a child is committing sins and going off in the wrong direction. If the child's parents really love him, they wouldn't unconditionally tolerate him but try to scold and correct him even by spanking him if necessary. In the same way, we should not tolerate evil men in the church and the Lord commended the church in Ephesus because they didn't tolerate evil men in the church.
In 1 Corinthians 5:11-13, the Lord warns us, "But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves."
These verses do not mean that we should distance ourselves from unbelievers or new believers who have just turned from sinful ways and accepted the Lord. It really means when those who have faith and received such titles as elder, deacon and deaconess commit the sins illustrated above we should not associate with them, nor eat with them. Such wicked people should be removed from the church.
Why then does the Lord command them to remove those wicked people without being tolerant though He taught His disciples to forgive others up to seventy times seven?
Those believers who do not turn away from their sins after they were rebuked for their sins are found to have such wicked and hardened hearts that Satan begins to manage them and they commit graver evils and do the church great harm. If the church tolerates them, then just as a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough, many other people become stained with those evils. That's why the Lord told them to expel those who are so wicked from the church.
You have to remember the Lord didn't mean we should remove them immediately when their transgressions are revealed. When we see a brother commit an evident evil in action, we should not spread it to others but first go to him and lovingly and kindly urge him to turn away from whatever it might be. If he listens to you and repents, you can save him from the way of death. If he doesn't listen to your admonishment, we can tell it to our leaders in a higher position and let them admonish him. When the person doesn't listen to the leaders' warning, the ministering pastor of the church should be notified and the pastor can reproach him with the Word of God so that he can repent and turn back from evils. But if the person stubbornly refuses to listen, we have to let him 'be a Gentile or a tax-collector' (Matthew 18:15-17).
3) They put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they are not
'Apostles' here do not refer to such powerful servants of God as the twelve apostles of the Lord and Paul, but to all believers who have faith and received such titles as elders, deacons and deaconesses. What does it mean that 'you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they are not and you found them to be false'?
When the shepherd teaches his flock to get rid of their sins and live by the Word of God, those who have faith obey his words saying "Amen" and repent of their improper things that have been revealed to them. On the contrary, those who have wicked hearts do not repent when they listen to the Word of God. If they think their evils may be revealed, they deceive other believers, slander the church and leave the church. They called themselves 'apostles' but their falsehood is revealed.
God sometimes allows trials to happen to the church so that wicked people's falsehood may be revealed in the church. While going through trials, the church may be accompanied with persecutions and afflictions. When wicked people's evils are exposed or who and what they are is made known, they cause greater evils to occur in the church. It is the same as when Stephen pointed out their sins to the wicked people and made their evils known they stoned him to death.
Similarly, when we put to the test those who call themselves apostles but are not and reveal their evils, other believers who have weak faith may stumble. But those believers who have true faith are not swayed at all in any trials and come to possess firmer faith and higher goodness through those trials in a same way that calm comes after a storm. When they pass those trials, not only the church but also individual believers can receive greater blessings according to the justice of God.
4) They have perseverance and have endured for the Lord's name's sake, and have not grown weary
When we discover our sins through the Word of God, we have to try to repent of them and live according to His Word. But some believers resist and cause problems in the church when their sins are pointed out through His Word. A true shepherd embraces such believers with love and patiently and tearfully prays for them to turn away from the path to death and he always endures and teaches them the Word of life.
When the Israelites formed an idol and worshiped it during Moses' 40-day fasting prayer on the Mountain of Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, God told him He would destroy them. Moses mourned passionately for them and sacrificially petitioned to God to forgive them with tears (Exodus 32:31-32). The apostle Paul was flogged, imprisoned and afflicted by the Jews during his missionary journeys, but he endured and bore it all because of the love of Jesus Christ and pleaded with God for their salvation.
In the same way, the shepherd of the church in Ephesus was commended because he persevered and endured for the Lord's name's sake, and did not grow weary.
[To be continued in the next edition]
At the Israel United Crusade 2009 held in International Convention Center of Jerusalem and with the title "God Is Great" Speaker Dr. Jaerock Lee declared Jesus Christ as the only Messiah and Savior for mankind.
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