Christ Walking Among His Churches

The Loveless, Persecuted, Compromising, and Corrupt Churches

Key Text: Revelation 2:1

“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write…”

THE REVELATION IS ABOUT JESUS

When we begin Revelation chapter 2, we must remember something fundamental:

Revelation is not primarily a book about beasts, political powers, persecution, or end-time events.

It is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

“Christ is represented as holding the seven stars in His right hand. This assures us that no church faithful to its trust need fear coming to nought, for not a star that has the protection of Omnipotence can be plucked out of the hand of Christ”. AA 586

Revelation 1:1 begins:

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ…”

And chapter 1 introduces us to Christ standing among the seven golden lampstands.

Revelation 1:20 explains:

“The seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.”

The picture is remarkable.

Jesus is walking among His churches.

He is not distant.

He is not merely watching history from heaven.

He knows His people.

He knows their faithfulness.

He knows their struggles.

He knows their compromises.

He knows their suffering.

He knows their victories.

And He knows their hearts.

This is worthy of repetition:

“Christ is represented as holding the seven stars in His right hand. This assures us that no church faithful to its trust need fear coming to nought, for not a star that has the protection of Omnipotence can be plucked out of the hand of Christ”. AA 586

This becomes the central theme of Revelation 2 and 3.

The seven churches therefore represent:

1. Seven literal churches existing in John’s day.
2. Seven spiritual conditions that can exist among God’s people.
3. Seven prophetic periods in the history of Christianity, according to the Adventist historicist interpretation.

This third application is particularly important to understanding Adventist prophecy.

The churches follow one another historically:

Ephesus → Smyrna → Pergamos → Thyatira → Sardis → Philadelphia → Laodicea

And the characteristics of each church correspond remarkably with major developments in Christian history.

But there is something even more important:

Every church receives a message from Jesus.

THE PATTERN OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES

Before examining the first four churches individually, notice the repeated structure.

Christ gives:

1. A SALUTATION

He addresses the church.

2. A DESCRIPTION

He identifies Himself using one of the characteristics revealed in chapter 1.

3. AN “I KNOW” STATEMENT

Christ demonstrates His intimate knowledge of His people.

4. A COMMENDATION

Where appropriate, Jesus tells them what they are doing right.

5. A REPROOF

Where appropriate, He identifies their spiritual problem.

6. AN ADMONITION

He tells them what they must do.

7. A PROMISE

He points the overcomer toward eternal life.

There is a progression:

Christ speaks → Christ knows → Christ corrects → Christ calls → Christ promises.

This is not merely prophecy.

It is pastoral ministry.

 EPHESUS — THE LOVELESS CHURCH

AD 31–100

First century.

The Apostolic church.

Revelation 2:1

“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write…”

The first church is Ephesus.

Historically, Ephesus was an important city in Asia Minor and an important center of early Christianity.

The apostolic church was founded upon the preaching of Christ and the apostles.

The prophetic application begins with the apostolic era.

AD 31–100

This corresponds approximately to the period beginning with Christ’s death, resurrection, and the establishment of the Christian church and extending through the apostolic age to the death of the last apostles.

 THE SALUTATION TO EPHESUS

Jesus addresses:

“the angel of the church of Ephesus.”

The word “angel” means messenger.

In the prophetic application, Adventists have commonly understood the angel to represent the messenger or leadership associated with the church.

But the greater point is that Christ Himself is addressing His church.

The church does not belong to Peter.

It does not belong to Paul.

It does not belong to a denomination.

It belongs to Jesus Christ.

THE DESCRIPTION OF CHRIST

Revelation 2:1 continues:

“These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.”

Notice two things.

Christ holds the stars.

The stars represent the messengers of the churches.

Christ is therefore saying:

“My church is in My hands.”

Christ walks among the lampstands.

The lampstands represent the churches.

Christ is saying:

“I am present among My people.”

This connects directly with Revelation 1.

Jesus is not merely sending a message to Ephesus.

He is walking among them.

This becomes critically important as we move through the seven churches.

THE “I KNOW” STATEMENT

Revelation 2:2:

“I know your works, your labor, your patience…”

Jesus knows.

That phrase should cause both comfort and conviction.

He knows:

• our works,
• our labor,
• our patience,
• our suffering,
• our faithfulness,
• our weaknesses,
• our compromises,
• our motives.

The church cannot hide from Christ.

But neither does the church have to convince Christ that it has been faithful.

He already knows.

THE COMMENDATION

Jesus commends Ephesus for several things.

They could not bear those who were evil.

They tested those who claimed to be apostles.

They rejected false teachers.

Revelation 2:2 says:

“you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars.”

This is significant.

The early church was not instructed to accept every religious teacher simply because that person claimed divine authority.

They were to test doctrine.

This agrees with:

Acts 17:11

The Bereans were commended because they searched the Scriptures to determine whether Paul’s teaching was true.

Isaiah 8:20

“To the law and to the testimony!”

1 John 4:1

“Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits…”

The early church had doctrinal discernment.

THEIR PATIENCE

Revelation 2:3:

“and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.”

This is an extraordinary commendation.

The apostolic church worked.

It preached.

It endured.

It suffered.

It persevered.

And it did so for Christ’s name.

This corresponds beautifully with the early Christian church described in Acts.

The gospel spread rapidly throughout the Roman world.

Paul could write that the gospel had been preached broadly throughout the inhabited world.

The early Christians were missionary-minded.

THE REPROOF

Then comes one of the most sobering statements in Revelation.

Revelation 2:4:

“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

Notice that Jesus did not say:

“You have abandoned doctrine.”

They had good doctrine.

He did not say:

“You have abandoned labor.”

They worked.

He did not say:

“You have abandoned perseverance.”

They persevered.

Their problem was deeper.

They had lost their first love.

We can lose our true love for Christ, the spiritual enchantment of our communion with Christ,

This is one of the most important spiritual lessons in Revelation.

A church can be:

• doctrinally correct,
• biblically knowledgeable,
• hardworking,
• evangelistically active,
• morally serious,

and still be in danger because its love for Christ has diminished.

Christianity can become an activity without affection.

Truth can become an intellectual possession rather than a relationship with Jesus.

Every soul should understand that he has a soul to save or a soul to lose, a heaven to win or a hell to shun. We need to clearly understand what we shall do to be saved.

THE ADMONITION

Revelation 2:5 gives three commands:

“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works…”

REMEMBER

Look backward.

Remember what your relationship with Christ was like.

REPENT

Turn around.

DO THE FIRST WORKS

Return to the actions that flowed naturally from love.

And then Jesus gives a warning:

“or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”

The lampstand represents the church.

A church that loses its relationship with Christ can lose its witness.

The warning is not merely:

“You might become less successful.”

It is:

You may cease to function as My light.

Every soul should understand that he has a soul to save or a soul to lose, a heaven to win or a hell to shun. We need to clearly understand what we shall do to be saved.

THE NICOLAITANS

Jesus nevertheless commends Ephesus:

 

“But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

 

The important biblical point is that Christ does not treat compromise with sin as insignificant.

The Nicolaitans were a heretical group, a controversial sect active in Asia Minor. They abused the concept of Christian grace to justify pagan practices. They promoted spiritual compromise and sexual immorality. They taught that Christian believers could freely integrate into the Roman culture by eating food sacrificed to idols and participating in sexual immorality. Revelation connects their behavior to the “doctrine of Balaam”, who seduced God’s people, the Israelites, into spiritual compromise. This group may have also been attempting to establish a corrupt, authoritarian, domineering hierarchy within the church, creating a ruling clergy class that lorded power over the ordinary, common believers.

Christ loves sinners.

But Christ does not love sin.

There is a difference between:

grace that saves us from sin

and

grace used as an excuse to remain in sin.

THE PROMISE TO EPHESUS

Revelation 2:7:

“To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life…”

Where was the tree of life?

Genesis 2 places it in Eden.

Revelation 22 places it in the New Jerusalem.

The Bible therefore begins with humanity separated from the tree of life and ends with the redeemed restored to it.

The gospel story is ultimately:

Eden lost → Christ’s redemption → Eden restored.

The overcomer receives eternal life.

And notice the condition:

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

The message is not merely for ancient Ephesus.

It is for us.

EPHESUS IN THE HISTORICIST ADVENTIST INTERPRETATION

AD 31–100

Characteristic: Apostolic church

Strengths:

• doctrinal purity
• missionary zeal
• perseverance
• rejection of false teachers

Problem:

• loss of first love

Admonition:

• remember
• repent
• return to first works

Promise:

• tree of life

THE LESSON FOR TODAY

It is possible to have:

truth without tenderness,
doctrine without devotion,
work without worship,
activity without intimacy.

Jesus wants more than correct theology.

He wants our hearts. He wants an active interpersonal relationship. Acknowledge God’s blessings, the Lord notices it.

Every soul should understand that he has a soul to save or a soul to lose, a heaven to win or a hell to shun.

We need to clearly understand what we shall do to be saved. The light of Jesus must shine on earth through his followers.

The message to each church is universal portraying the state of things today.

Nothing in all God’s creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Heb 4:13

Test me, O Eternal, and try me; examine my heart and mind. See if there is any offensive way in me: lead me in the way everlasting. Ps 26:2; 139:23

The Lord hates …which are an abomination to Him:

• haughty eyes
• lying tongue
• hands that shed innocent blood
• heart that devises wicked plans
• feet that run rapidly to evil
• false witness that utters lies
• one who spreads strife among brothers  Prv 6:16-19

Detest evil, cling to what is good. Rom 12:9

To fear the Lord is to

• hate evil
• hate pride and arrogance
• hate evil behavior and perverse speech Prov 8:13
• The Lord encourages the Ephesians to overcome, deploying before them the wonderful inheritance awaiting them. They will have access to the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. Lost by the first Adam, regained and granted by the second Adam, so that we may live forever. Rev 22:14; Rom 4:12; 1 Cor 15:45-49

Appeal:

“Father, help us not merely to understand Revelation, but to hear what Your Spirit is saying to us. If we have lost our first love, bring us back. If we are suffering, give us courage. If we are compromising, give us conviction. If we have tolerated error, give us discernment. Help us hold fast to Jesus and to His Word. Give us the faith of Smyrna, the discernment of Ephesus, the courage to reject Pergamum’s compromise, and the faithfulness of Thyatira’s remnant. And above all, help us to overcome through the blood of the Lamb, so that when Jesus comes, we may receive the crown of life and live with Him forever. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”