TOPIC:“Ephesus - The Loveless Church”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:Revelation 2:1-7
“Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou
hast left thy first love” (Revelation 2: 4)
This is the first in a series of seven messages on the seven churches of Asia. Ephesus, the first of these seven churches, was located about sixty miles across the Mediterranean Sea from Patmos, being situated at the mouth of the Cayster River. William Barclay, New Testament scholar, calls it “one of the greatest seaports of the ancient world…a city of the greatest political importance…a city of the greatest religious importance.”
Ephesus at the time of John's writing had quite a history of Christian activity. It was the mother church of all the Asian churches. The church at Ephesus was established by Paul in 53 A.D. on his homeward journey to Jerusalem. On his third missionary journey Paul preached and ministered to the people of Ephesus for three years until he was forced to leave the city because of a riot. Upon Paul's departure, young Timothy became the faithful Pastor of the church.
Apollos, a converted Jew, later taught there with burning zeal. Priscilla and Aquila gave this church their loyal support and promoted the Gospel in the city. Eusebius, the early church historian, tells us that John the Apostle became the elder of the Ephesian church. Paul wrote one of his New Testament letters to this church. Now some thirty years later the first of the seven messages is addressed to Ephesus.
The word “angel” of verse 1 could be rendered “messenger” and seems to refer to the Pastor of the church through whom the message of God was to be given to the Ephesian congregation. The risen Christ is presented to the Ephesian church as walking among the lampstands intimately aware of who they are and what they are doing. The Divine Inspector, the Matchless Lover, pauses before the church to thoroughly and tenderly examine their love life.
Here before us Christ is portrayed as holding the seven stars in His right hand and walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. The word “holdeth” as found in verse 1 means “to hold authoritatively” and indicates that the Savior is holding all of the churches in His hand. The fact that it is in His right hand speaks of the protection, authority and security He has over them. So we have here in verse 1 a SIGN of His POWER - “he that holdeth” and a SYMBOL of His PRESENCE - “he walketh.”
Now let us look at the message that the risen Christ has for the church at Ephesus.
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