Grace and Peace
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)

“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 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. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 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” (Rev. 2:4–7).

This pointed admonition to the Ephesian church is filled with balanced tensions. The message began by
praising them for their works, but rapidly comes to the point where it tells them to return to the works they did at first. He tells them here that they have abandoned their first love. The word translated abandon admits of numerous legitimate translations. I think one of them that makes good sense of the context is that they had grown slack in their first love. Combine this with the other word he uses, which is when he tells them to remember where they had fallen from. Given this description, and the fact that the Lord said that lack of repentance would result in the lampstand of the church being removed (which would mean the extinction of the church there), we see that the situation was very grave. [Read more…]

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Grace and Peace
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)

“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: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted” (Rev. 2:2–3).

In many ways, the church at Ephesus had their act together. When the Lord begins to speak to them directly, he commends them heartily at first. This was the church that had received the magnificent epistle to the Ephesians, and the apostle Paul had labored there in Ephesus for a few years. They had internalized the teaching, and were faithful in their defense of it. [Read more…]

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Grace and Peace

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“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” (Rev. 2:1).

We have come to the introduction of the passage where the Lord speaks to all seven churches through their appointed angels, or “messengers.” He has a word to speak to the church at Ephesus, and so he writes to the “messenger” of that church. The message to the angel and the message to the church are identical. God speaks to His churches through His appointed and ordained servants.  [Read more…]

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Grace and Peace

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)

“The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.” (Rev. 1:20).

The last verse of this chapter may be considered the introduction to the next two chapters. In this section of Revelation that is opening up, messages are being given to the angels of the seven churches of Asia. We have learned earlier that the Lord Jesus was standing in the midst of seven lampstands (Rev. 1:12-13), and that He also held seven stars in His right hand (Rev. 1:16). We are also told that a sharp two-edged sword came out of His mouth. So we were told earlier that this was the case. In this this verse, we are given the meaning of the mystery, and in the two chapters to come, we are told how the Lord exercises this ministry. [Read more…]

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Grace and Peace

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter” (Rev. 1:19).

John is then instructed to write down what he has seen. The book of Revelation has many “time stamps” within it, but it also has some time hints, like this one. John is told to write what he has seen, the things that are happening in the present, and the things that will occur after that, in the future. He is not told to write down what has happened, what is happening right then, and then to hit the pause button for two thousand years or more. The expectation clearly is that the “things hereafter” are the things that will be unfolding in the immediate future. [Read more…]

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