Revelation 2: (1) "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: (2) I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; (3) and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. (4) But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. (5) Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place – unless you repent. (6) Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. (7) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God."

As we read through the seven letters to the seven churches, we see that each of the letters is written in a consistent style or pattern. Each one begins with "To the angel of the church of …," in this case "of Ephesus." Who is the letter from? In each case, we see there is a reference to some part of the vision of Jesus Christ in chapter one. Note here in chapter two, (v1) The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, and in (v8) And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life… and in (v12): And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword… and in (v18): And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze… John is writing according to a very consistent pattern

One might ask, "Is this then simply a collection of letters?" Did John just make a copy of what he wrote to the churches? Or did he write this information as if were written in letters?

It appears that these were in fact, letters to the particular churches, but together they form something greater than the sum of the parts. Some theologians think they might have been individual letters that were included in one document, which is the book of Revelation. Although we can't be positive, I think that is highly unlikely. It's important to note that although each of the letters was addressed to an individual church, they were also intended for use by all of the churches. You will notice in each of the letters: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Note the word "churches." In every case it is plural – the information is for every church. We also see that in the letters from Paul. They were addressed to particular churches, addressing specific incidents, but the information was for all the churches (not just then, but for all time).

What was Ephesus like? Sometimes we tend to think of ancient biblical cities as small, mud hut kinds of primitive places. We think of our cities of San Francisco or Oakland with millions of people, but we think biblical cities were all small. But in fact, Ephesus was a big city with a population of about 250,000. It had a tremendous harbor. It was THE trade center for that part of the world. It was one of the most important cities in Asia. It was a center of the provincial Roman government. One of the things that the Romans did was to make particular cities like "county seats" with control of the area for the Roman government.

From the harbor, there was a huge tree-lined boulevard that was 35 feet wide. Our normal roads about 16 feet, so this road was like a four lane highway. It was also lined with huge, marble columns. As you went up the road toward the center of the city, there was an enormous building in the middle that was the temple of Artemus (also known as Diana). This temple was the focus of life in the city of Ephesus. The temple of Diana (or Artemus) was 425 feet long, 220 feet wide and 60 feet high. It was huge. It was almost twice as large as the Parthenon in Greece. The temple had been built once and burned to the ground, then it was rebuilt. It had 127 columns of marble, 36 of them were covered with gold and encrusted with jewels. It was an incredible wonder. In the temple of Artemus, there was a statue of Artemus that had been carved out of a meteorite that had fallen to earth. Therefore, it was said that Artemus came from the heavens. She was a fertility goddess. She had seven breasts that symbolized her fertility.

There was also a theater (which seated around 25,000). You can see the ruins of this theater today. It was an amphitheater built into a hollowed out portion of a hill with benches all around it and a stage at the bottom.

The temple of Artemus was not only a worship area, it was also the bank. The citizens would deposit all their money, jewels and valuables in the temple as a place of safekeeping. So it was a really important place, the focus of secular life in Ephesus.

Ephesus was located right across from the tip of Achaia (Greece as we know it) right on the Aegean Sea. It would be a part of present day Turkey. It is no longer a harbor, though. The ruins of the city of Ephesus are now about six miles inland, because the river filled the harbor with silt. Over the years the people kept dredging it, but finally gave up and the harbor filled in.

Jesus says Revelation 2: (1) "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: Remember that "angel" refers to the Pastor. If it's an angel, why would Christ say (2) I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; (3) and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. (4) But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. (5) Remember therefore from where you have fallen, … Jesus is obviously speaking about a real person. In fact in the Greek, the "you" is singular. He's not speaking to the church, he's speaking to the leader of the church. And he says "I know what you've been doing."

The people that were calling themselves apostles, that Jesus is talking about here, were actually false prophets. Remember that as Jesus had warned, there were many people who would claim to be prophets of God. They would say, "Listen to us. Don't read the word, listen to us." As Paul says to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. (29) I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; (30) and from among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. (31) Therefore be on the alert, …Who is he talking about? These were not people from the outside who were condemning the church; they were not secular people. They were people within the church who were saying "we are the real prophets, listen to what we have to say." In 1 John 2:18 it says "even now, many antichrists have arisen." Where does it say they came from? '"They came out from among us." The antichrist is not something totally outside the church. The false apostles whom Jesus is talking about in Revelation Two are people within the church, who are subverting the church with false teaching.

(2) I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; … What kind of test is John talking about here? He is speaking of the test of Scripture! The pastor had tested the false prophets against Scripture and had found them to be false. If someone shows up at your the church claiming to be an apostle sent by God, how would you know whether that person is or isn't an apostle? That's what Jesus is saying to the pastor of the church in Ephesus. I know you have put these people to the test of Scripture. One of the interesting things about the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is that when a new pastor arrives, even a PCA pastor from another Presbytery, one of the first things we do as a Presbytery is sit him down with the Candidates and Credentials Committee and spend about 2-4 hours asking him about Scripture and how he interprets it. Does he understand Scripture the way we understand Scripture, the way the Westminster Confession of Faith sets forth the Scripture, the way we believe it teaches the truth? We want to be certain this person will be teaching the truths of Scripture to those under his care.

(3) and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. (4) But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Jesus has just commended the Pastor for sticking to doctrine. We know from other writings that the people of Ephesus were very strict on doctrine. But they forgot the love part. You will find that same situation in a many modern churches. They are very strict on doctrine, but they've forgotten that the idea of love is central to the teachings of Christ. Remember that in John 13 Jesus tells his disciples. (34) "A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another."

(5) Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place – unless you repent. There is no church at Ephesus today. Although they were once a flourishing church, very precise in their teaching of the Word, at some point they apparently went bad and Jesus did in fact remove that church. Note that only Ephesus and Laodicea – the first and last churches Jesus mentions – are threatened with destruction.

(6) Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. The Greek word "Nico" means victory. The Greek word "Las" means people. Thus "Nicolas" means victory over the people. Interestingly enough, Jesus says to the church in Pergamum in 2:14 "But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality. In Hebrew, the name "Balaam" means victory over the people. In other words, these are two individuals who are apparently doing the same thing. To gain victory over Christians, they were lying to them in the spirit of Balaam and Nicholas. They taught them to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality.

In those days, the pagan worship service consisted of sacrifice to their god(s), followed by a meal where the worshipper ate part of the sacrifice. If you were involved with cults such as that of Artemus (Diana), you also went in and had sex with the temple prostitutes, male or female. That was how you worshiped the pagan gods. So the Nicolaitans were teaching Christians that it was okay to continue to do this. It was okay to fit in with the contemporary culture. It was okay to be like everybody else, to be culturally relevant and "politically correct." Nothing has changed. People are still teaching that kind of thing today. But God says "obey me, not the culture." That's what we need to understand. These people hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which Jesus also hates.

(7) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Again, this is information for all of the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God." The overcomers are the true Christians. They overcome with the Word, by obeying Christ. They overcome in His power. We cannot do it on our own, Christ did and does it for us. He is the victor, He is the ruling king, and in Him is the only way into heaven. By traveling that path of faith and obedience, we are granted access to the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.