Grace and Peace

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

“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death” (Rev. 2:10–11).

The church at Smyrna was standing at the edge of persecution. The Lord encourages them in that place by telling them not to fear what they are about to suffer. This implies two things. One is that they will in fact suffer, and the other is that in Christ they have no need to fear it. The specific persecution they faced was going to be stirred up by the devil. Some of them would be thrown into prison so that they might be tried or tested. The tribulation would last for ten days. We can assume that it was going to end in death for some of them, because the Lord promises the crown of life for those who were faithful to the point of death. [Read more…]

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

“And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:8–9).

The second message to be delivered is to Smyrna, a city about fifty miles north of Ephesus. Remember that John is on Patmos, an island to the southwest of Ephesus about 63 miles away.

The Lord Jesus identifies Himself here in two different ways. The first is by saying He is the first and the last, the protos and eschatos, the beginning and the end. All of human history is encompassed by Him; He contains it all. Not only does He contain all human history, but He established Himself as Lord in the very middle of human history by His resurrection from the dead. He identifies Himself as the one “which was dead, and is alive.” [Read more…]

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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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