The Book of Revelations
CHAPTER 2
The Message to the Church in Ephesus
Ephesus: It is appropriate that the church at Ephesus is addressed first. Ephesus was the largest city of the Roman province of Asia. By the time the gospel was preached here it had a population of more than a quarter of a million people.
(1) These images were taken from John’s vision of Jesus in Revelation 1 and to emphasise that Jesus is in charge of the church.
(2-3) Jesus looked at His church, and He knew its condition. It was no mystery to Him. There may be sin or corruption hidden in a congregation, but it isn’t hidden to Jesus. He would say the same thing to us today, both as individuals and as a congregation.
Jesus then goes on to complement them for sticking with the truth as Ephesus was surrounded with pagan worshiper who were trying to gain influence within the young church. This was warned by Paul in Acts 20 when he said to watch out for the wolves trying to steal the sheep.
(4) Despite all the good in the Ephesian church, there is something seriously wrong. They have left – not lost – their first love. They once had a love that they don’t have any more.
What love did they leave? As Christians, we are told to love God and to love one another. Did they leave their love for God? Did they leave their love for one another? Probably both, because the two loves go together. You can’t say you love God and not love His family, and you can’t really love His family without loving Him first.
The problem was serious. Without love, all is lost. A church has no reason for being a church when she has no love within her heart.
The Ephesian church was a doctrinally pure church. Sometimes too much focus on doctrinal purity will make a congregation cold, suspicious and even stand offish to others. Also the Ephesian church was a working church. Sometimes when we focus on working for Jesus, we end up obscure our relationship with Him.
(5) The first step in restoration for the Ephesian church is for them to turn back and remember. They need to remember from where you have fallen. This means remembering where they used to be in their love for the Lord and for one another. In the parable of the prodigal son the first thing he did when at his lowest point in the pig pen was remember his father’s home.
This means that they must go back to the basics, to the very first things they did when you first fell in love with Jesus. These are the things that we never grow beyond.
What are the works you did at first ?
Remember how you used to spend time in His Word?
Remember how you used to pray?
Remember the joy in getting together with other Christians?
Remember how excited you were about telling others about Jesus?
Jesus gave them a stern warning. Unless they repent, He will remove their light and His presence. When their lamp stand was removed, they could continue as an organization, but no longer as a true church.
(6) Nicolaitans- There are a couple of opinions about exactly who these were, first that they were a heretic movement from one of the deacons chosen in Acts 6, who had twisted Gods words to mean that there was to be a strict hierarchy in the church, this has led to many saying that the Roman Catholic church is acting upon the heresy. The other view is its based of Nimrod who was Noah’s great grandson in Genesis 10, and its teaching are that as long as we believe in God we can sin as much as we want as we are forgiven and will get to heaven. The Nicolaitans, like all deceivers, claimed “not that they were destroying Christianity, but that they were presenting an improved and modernized version of it.
NOTE- These are very simple explanations of massive doctrinal issues and should be read further if you are interested.
(7) This letter was not only written to the church at Ephesus in the Apostle John’s day. It is written to us, and to all Christians throughout the centuries. The promise to return to Eden, and, eternal life, which was no small promise to a church threatened with the removal of Jesus’ presence.
NOTE- Ignatius who was a early church leader wrote that the church in Ephesus had taken heed as it was a loving church, so at least in the short term we know that this letter had an effect.
The Message to the Church in Smyrna
Smyrna: The city gets its name from the word myrrh, which is the perfume used in embalming dead bodies. This was a large, beautiful, and university city as it was a centre of learning and culture and it claimed to be the ‘Glory of Asia.’ We also know from history that it was a city deeply committed to idolatry and the worship of the Roman Emperor. On one famous street in Smyrna, called the “Golden Street,” stood magnificent temples to Apollo, Aphrodite, and a great temple to Zeus – but the worship of those pagan gods was dying out. The real focus was on the worship of the Roman Emperors.
(8) Jesus chose this title from His initial appearance to John to speak of His eternal character. Jesus chose this title to remind the Christians in Smyrna that they served the risen Lord, victorious over death. Death could not hold Jesus, and it cannot hold His people.
(9) Every outward circumstance said that the Christians in Smyrna were poor, even destitute, but Jesus saw through the circumstances to see that they were really In contrast, the Christians at Laodicea thought they were rich, but they were really poor. It’s better to be in a poor money church like Living Waters that is rich in spirit than to be in a money rich church that is poor in spirit.
NOTE- A story is told of the glory days of the Renaissance Papacy, when a man walked with the Pope and marvelled at the splendours and riches of the Vatican. The Pope told him, “We no longer have to say what Peter told the lame man: ‘Silver and gold have I none.’ ” His companion replied, “But neither can you say, ‘rise up and walk.’ “
(10-11) The Christians in Smyrna suffered under persecution, and they were afraid. Sometimes we think that Christians who endure persecution are almost super-human, and we sometimes don’t appreciate the fear they struggle with. There were things which they were about to suffer, and Jesus wanted them ready.
Remember that Domitian the Roman Emperor had already claimed to be a god and all had to worship him so during these times to become a Christian was to become an outlaw.
Now in Smyrna, because of its emperor worship for anyone who converted, it literally meant to take your life in your own hands.
There are two different words for crown in the ancient Greek language. One described the kind of crown a king would wear a crown of royalty. The other kind of crown – the stephanos, used here – is given as a trophy to a winning athlete. Jesus looks at the Christians of Smyrna and says to them: “You are My winners. You deserve a trophy.”
What Jesus said to this church is important, but what He didn’t say is also important. Jesus didn’t have a single word of rebuke or correction for the Christians in Smyrna.
NOTE- It’s a fact that we do not at the moment suffer for our Lord in the West, but we must pray for our brothers and sisters who do as more Christians have been martyred in the last 100 years than in all of the last 2000.
The Message to the Church in Pergamum
Pergamum: This city was especially known as a centre for the worship of the deity known as Asclepios. Represented by a serpent, Asclepios was the god of healing and knowledge. There was a medical school at his temple.
Because of the famous temple to the Roman god of healing, sick and diseased people from all over the Roman Empire flocked to it for relief.
NOTE- Sufferers would spend the night in the darkness of the temple. In the temple there were harmless snakes. In the night the sufferer might be touched by one of these t harmless snakes as it glided over the ground on which they lay. The touch of the snake was believed to be the touch of the god himself, and it could bring healing to the sufferer.
(12) Jesus’s title here is to show that with the sword of His word you can beat Satan.
(13) Jesus praised the Christians of Pergamum because they did not deny their faith.
Antipas is one of the great almost-anonymous heroes of the Bible. History tells us nothing about him except for here, but Christ notice of those little ones who belong to him, even though the world overlooks them.
(14) The Christians in Pergamum were rightly praised for holding fast to the name of Jesus and keeping his faith. At the same time, their difficult environment did not excuse the few things Jesus had against them.
What are the teachings of Balaam?
Balaam, a prophet from Mesopotamia, was willing to use his God-given talents for illicit purposes. Even though he knew Balak was God’s enemy, he tried to sell his prophetic gifts to help him. When that didn’t work, Balaam counselled Balak on the most effective way to weaken Israel. This was through seduction, using Moabite and Midianite women to tempt the Israelites into sexual relationships and into pagan rituals.
The teaching of Balaam in a nutshell, is the belief that “a little sin” doesn’t hurt, especially if there’s some personal benefit involved. And with these false teachings you can be fully cooperative with the world and still serve God. This then leads to believers becoming indistinguishable from the pagan world and worse that they then forget that they are called to be separate and holy.
(15-16) The simple word repent stands out. Five of the seven churches are commanded to repent. Repent is a word that as Christians we tend to think of to use against unbelievers, but our Lord Himself uses it against us here. When Jesus came against the Christians of Pergamum, He will confront them with His Word.
(17) The danger of false teaching and immoral conduct still faces the church today. So does the danger of allowing false teaching and immorality, as was the problem with the Christians in Pergamum.
What is the meaning of this new name and white stone?
This is probably the believer’s new name and is perhaps to show the relationship we now have with Christ, like a pet name for your wife/husband.
Another idea associated with the new name is simply the assurance it gives of our heavenly reservation. In the ancient world, the use of a white stone had many associations. A white stone could be a ticket to a banquet, a sign of friendship, evidence of having been counted, or as a sign of acquittal in a court of law. Jesus may have any one of these meanings in mind, but at the very least we know that it has the assurance of blessing.
The Message to the Church in Thyatira
Thyatira: This was the smallest and least important of the seven cities Jesus addresses. The Roman historian Pliny dismissed Thyatira with the almost contemptuous phrase in his writing by saying “Thyatira and other unimportant cities” Still, this city was a centre of business and trade. It had many active trade guilds, with Lydia of Thyatira, who was a seller of purple cloth being from there, archaeologist have discovered that Thyatira possessed more trade guilds than any other town of its size in Asia, each with their own gods.
NOTE-We also have to remember that in all Roman “civilised” cites immorality was the norm with Christians been at best regarded as weird for not wanting to have many sexual partners, or sleep with the temple prostitutes.
(18) Jesus first described Himself with a title that emphasized His deity. In Jewish tradition, to be the son of a thing meant you had the nature of that thing. The sons of thunder had a nature like thunder. So, the Son of God has the divine nature, the nature of God.
Then Jesus chose this description of Himself, as the Judge who has been through the fire of Judgment and walked out the other side. (see brass feet)
(19) Thyatira was the least significant city among the seven cities Jesus addressed, yet it was not hidden or insignificant to Jesus. In many ways, the church at Thyatira was a model church. They had four great essential qualities. They had love, both for the Lord and for one another. They knew service and had faith and patience worth mentioning.
(20) Despite all the good Jesus saw in the church at Thyatira, there were significant problems.
Jezebel: The centre of the corruption at the church at Thyatira was a woman Jesus called Jezebel. This may not have been her literal name, but a title that clearly represented a self-styled prophetess within the church, after the pattern of Jezebel in the Old Testament. There are some scholars who have interpreted the Greek to say that she was the pastors wife.
The name Jezebel had a powerful association, by nowadays standards it would be like calling someone a Hitler. She was one of the most evil characters of the Old Testament, who attempted to combine the worship of Israel with the worship of the idol Baal.
Because of the strong trade guilds in Thyatira, the draw of the guilds and their meetings was powerful. No merchant or trader could hope to prosper or make money unless he was a member of his trade guild. Nonetheless, Christians were expected to stand in the face of this kind of pressure. The issues were with the sexual immorality and the eating of food that had been sacrificed to idols connected with the compulsory social meetings of these guilds. Perhaps a Christian was invited to the monthly meeting of the goldsmith’s guild, and the meeting was held at the temple of Apollo. “Jezebel” would allow or encourage the man to go -perhaps even using a “prophetic” word – and when the man went, he fell into immorality and idolatry.
(21) Jesus’ greatest accusation was that this “Jezebel” did not repent. She apparently rejected the work of the Holy Spirit in her heart, calling her to repentance.
In these words, we see both the mercy and judgment of our Lord. Time to repent shows mercy. God gives us time to repent; we should deal with others the same way. And she did not repent speaks to the judgment of God. God gives time to repent, but it is not an unlimited time. There is a time when God says,
“My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time”
This means that when God gives us time to repent, we must take advantage of that time. It wasn’t necessarily a large group following Jezebel. A little leaven affects a whole lump of dough, and a few in immorality and idolatry will corrupt the whole church – especially if they are allowed to influence others the way this woman did.
(22-23) Now this time Jesus tells the Church what He will do before, what they must do.
Jesus will chastise this Jezebel, and cast her into a sickbed, along with those who commit adultery with her. The reference to adultery is important. It speaks of both sexual adultery and spiritual adultery. When these Christians honoured other gods, they were unfaithful to the Lord who saved them.
For this reason, the figure of a sickbed is fitting. They were guilty of adultery, both sexual and spiritual. It is as if Jesus said, “You love an unclean bed. Here, I will give you one, and cast you into a sickbed.” Now this sickbed could simply be an image of illness, or it could be literal sickness as we that God can use sickness as a way to chastise His people when they are in sin.
NOTE- The ancient Greek word used here for bed “is also the word for a banqueting couch; and if that meaning is taken, the meaning is: ‘I will strike her down as she sits at her forbidden feasts.’
NOTE- “who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person” or in some Bibles the Heart and Mind- In Greek this actually says “hearts and kidneys.” In the mind of the ancient Jew the brain was only for running the body, the heart was where your decisions came from and the stomach was where feelings came from.
(24-28) There were many faithful, uncompromising Christians in Thyatira. Jesus promised that His people will reign with Him. Here, there is a special promise to those who overcome the threat of immorality and idolatry.
To them, Jesus offered a share in His own kingdom, and to rule with an iron rod, which means to be strong and unbendable, not cruel like it can mean today.
This is a letter that applies to everyone. It applies to those who are like Jezebel, who led others into sin. It applies to those who follow the teaching of a Jezebel and follow others into sin. It applies to those who permit a Jezebel to work her wickedness. Finally, it applies to the faithful who must hold fast.