Well, the Lord has been dealing with me on many fronts here lately, and it suffices to say, I bow to Him.

I say that to say that I was going to try and rush through the churches so we could get in to the good stuff, but the Lord is not allowing me to do that. I have had to go back and re-do my study at the Lord's direction as I believe He has told me that the Church Section of ALL places should not be "skimmed over". I have done that many times when teaching this series and I guess I'm not the only one. It is human nature to want to pass up the judgments of our own self- righteous conditions to get to the "good stuff" you know with all the beasts and the visions of angels and glory and of course probably what I was wanting to get to mostly was the Rapture and beyond. That's kind of where it all begins - right?

But the Study of Revelations does deserve a better look than that; a better look than I was giving it there this past week sending out a quick outline of the first 3 or 4 churches there and not taking the time to see what it was that God was saying to the churches then and now. I say "then and now" because we actually only have two periods of churches when we look at the seven churches in that we have the church at Ephesus was considered to be the Apostolic church, and we have the church at Laodicea which is considered to be the Apostate church. Now, I would imagine there are those who would argue with me on that, but every church from the Apostolic church to this day and age which is considered to be the Apostate Church, (I don't think there is anyone who would dispute that), has progressively fallen away from their first love or their "best" love as the Lord says to the church at Ephesus. There are two churches however that do NOT receive a stern rebuke from the Lord, Smyrna and Philadelphia, and I'll tell you why later this week.

So Ephesus represents the Apostolic Church. This was the Church at her Best!

The Church at Laodicea represents the Apostate Church the church age, which we are now living in, and since the time of the Apostolic church to the modern day Apostate Church, we have fallen deeper and deeper into the hand of Luke-warm-ness that John Speaks of in the third chapter and the 14-22 verses, speaking of the church at Laodicea.

By way of a post-introduction, since I already sent out some study notes, let me just say that the Lord actually sets out a well-defined format in His dealings and writings to each of these Seven Churches.

First: we will always see some "feature" of the Glorified Christ that was lifted from John's vision in the 1st Chapter
and is emphasized in addressing the church in each letter.

Second: we will see that each of the letters are addressed to "the Angel" of each church - which we know to be the Pastor of the church. (The Church being the candlestick)

Third: Our Lords begins each letter by saying, "I know thy Works"

Fourth: He first gives a word of "commendation" then gives word of "condemnation" except in the cases of Smyrna and Philadelphia. It would do well to note that each receive a commendation and a condemnation with the exception of Laodicea. The Church of Laodicea does not even get a commendation. She did not look like the Lord nor did she represent the Lord. He was so miserably distraught with her lack of commitment that He said I will spew you out of my mouth.

Fifth: Each letter concludes with the warning, where Jesus Says, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;"

Ephesus - the Metropolis
Let me just say about the time in which this church was at it's peak, letter writing and travel were commonplace in the Roman Empire. Furthermore, these letters, written at the hand of John the Apostle, reached multitudes of people since they were letters shared first, by the churches they were written to, as well as the other churches in the set of seven. These Letters became much like a NEWSLETTER in our day. This was a big thing to them since they came from the hand of the Apostle John who had been exiled and taken from them, plus they were letters that were said to have been dictated by the Lord. I believe this gave them a sense or a pulse if you will into the coming of the Lord which was even spoken of back then.

So this Apostolic Church (and John) had a Great Impact on the people of that time. In fact, There in the city of Ephesus - actually at the entrance of the Port of Ephesus stood four Great Pillars and on each one of those four pillars of which I understand only one stands fully erect today - was placed a cross. One for Matthew , Mark Luke and John. So you see that this was the hub of the "then" Christian movement.

The Church at Ephesus
Looking at the section here in Revelation on th Church of Ephesus, we find that Jesus gives seven words of "commendation" to the Church at
Ephesus (verses 2,3) Let's look at those verses together shall we?

"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."

"I know thy works,"
(speaking to believers here) These were no the works done by their own righteousness, "but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;" Tit 3:5; Romans 4:5; Eph 2:8-10; Tit 1:16

"...and thy labour,"
That word labor is used here in the light of "weariness".  They got tired in their work for the Lord. In other words they got tired in doing their work for the Lord - and I'm going to pick that up here again in a minute.

"... and thy patience,"
This shows that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and patience is a definite attribute of the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

"...and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: "
Ephesus did not allow evil doers to come amongst them nor did they allow evil speaking of any kind amongst them. Now my wife and I have discussed this at some length, and she even wonders if that applied to the evil speaking of calling out sickness in your body. You know, like, "I've got a headache" or I've got a stomach ache", or "I think I'm going blind". We all say things like this everyday, and I know we even say some of it in jest, but Osella is a believer in the verse that says "life and death are in the power of the Tongue",  (ref., Proverbs 18:21) and you can see where the lack of such statements could bolster faith as opposed to setting our selves up for sickness.

(I have grouped these next two since they do go together)
"... 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,"
In other words they stayed true to their faith even though they weren't so vocal about it anymore. They had stayed true "in principal" to the Lord in other words.

Last commendation...
"...and hast not fainted."
Now I said earlier that I was going to pick that portion back up in regards to labor. If you remember I said that the word labor here referred to their being a weariness in serving the Lord. There might very well be a question here wondering if this might be a contradiction saying that they were weary yet they "...hast not fainted." But is isn't. While one can become weary in the work of Christ due to the long tedious hours and very little to show for it at times, yet they did not become weary of working for Christ. This may very well be the reason that led to why they were them condemned in this one area where
the Lord says,

"Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first(or best) love." Revelation 2:4

Let me just interject here if I might, that as you came into the city of Ephesus you would immediately step out on a beautiful White Marble boulevard and make your way into the city on what was called the Arcadian Way.

On each side of the Arcadian way you would find beautiful shops somewhat like the malls we have today only it was out of doors that you would walk and enter the shops as you passed them by. The historians tell us that the Arcadian way was the most beautiful and richest boulevard anywhere in the world at that time. Off to the right you would see a small arena that would seat 20,000 people where many of the Orators would come to speak. Then off to the left you would find the GREAT AMPHITHEATER of Ephesus said to hold up to 100,000 people.

In my studies on this city I found that there would be anywhere from 1-1/2 to 2 million people in the city of Ephesus during the height of their festivals due to the beauty of the city and all that it had to offer. This included, by the way ... some of the lowest and debase sensual practices anywhere in the land as well, and it was in this city that God told Paul to begin a church, and eventually as we know the very writer of this book of Revelation became the Pastor. It became the Apostolic Center for the Christian faith.

In their beginnings, the Church at Ephesus had great zeal for the Lord. They had not lost that zeal in Principal, but in practice they had not "continued for the Lord". In their heart of hearts they had a deep abiding love for God, yet they no longer exhibited that emotional fervor and depth evangelism they once had. They no longer spontaneously expressed their love and devotion to Him as they once did, so Jesus tells them that they must:

"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." (vs.5)

They were charged to once again fan the flames of evangelism or else Jesus said, “I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place.”

I cannot think of a more appropriate place to end this lesson on the church at Ephesus. My dear Pastor, Sunday School Teacher, Deacons, congregational members... your church is your blessing from the Lord. Your Pastor is your blessing from the Lord. He is your guide and protector from the outside element that would like to come in and sift you like wolves. He is also your responsibility! Has he fallen asleep? If he has, the Lord would say to you today to "wake him up!" Charge Him with these verse in the book of Revelation for the church of Ephesus and remind him of His "first love", his "best love", and stir him up to lead you once again into the fires of revival and evangelistic endeavors for the Lord has warned.... “I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place.” He is speaking not only of that Preacher, but He is speaking of your church.

"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." (Vs 7).

-- God bless you --