YAHWEH JESUS IS IN THE MIDST OF HIS CHURCHES (PART I)
Revelation 2:1-11
As taught by Dave Lindstrom
I. Church #1: The Church as Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7).
A. A brief history of the city of Ephesus: Ephesus was one of the most important and largest cities in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) at the time of Revelation (95 A.D.). It was given “free city” status and, therefore, could be self governed. It was a major trade city for Rome and a “temple warden” city for the fertility goddess Artemis (Greek) or Diana (Roman version). In this city of over 200,000 people, the temple had thousands of priests and priestesses dedicated to prostitution. The Apostle Paul planted the church at Ephesus in about 52 A.D. (Acts 18:19-21), spent three years ministering there between 54-56 A.D. and wrote his Ephesian letter while imprisoned in Rome in 60 A.D.
B. Christ’s attributes, assessments, and award for the congregation at Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7).
1. Christ’s attributes for the church to meditate on are found in Revelation 2:1. He identifies Himself as the churches’ powerful protector (“holding the seven stars in His right hand”) as well as the one who has intimate knowledge of their activity (“walking in their midst”) (Rev. 2:1, 1:13, 20). 2. Christ’s assessment of the churches’ situation and problem (Rev. 2:2-6).
a. Christ knows that the Ephesian church has been faithful at discerning and calling out evil men who are false apostles (probably claiming special authority from God) (verse 2). These are probably the same as the Nicolaitanes of verse 6 (possibly followers of the deacon Nicolas Acts 6:5). From church history we know that this group seemed to be teaching their followers to overcome (“nike” Greek) the lusts of this world and their flesh by giving themselves over to licenscious living. They probably believed their physical bodies didn’t matter since God is essentially Spirit. However, they were deceived since Christ took on human flesh (now has a glorified human body) and walked in purity, truth, and sinlessness (Revelation 2:2, 6; Col. 3:5;
I John 2:14-20).
b. Christ knows that the Ephesian church has patiently endured hard conditions for Christ’s name and have not given up. This probably relates to being a church in such a pagan city (verse 3).
c. Christ knows that the Ephesian church has forsaken or left their first love. The “first love” is like the passion and zeal of a new bride and groom for each other. Leaving the “first love” of Christ probably indicates a staleness or mediocrity with their individual and congregational witness of Christ’s love. If this church does not repent (change their minds or perspective), they could be removed as Christ’s light to this city (verse 4 and 5).
3. Christ’s award for the faithful Ephesians (Revelation 2:7).
a. There is a universal call to all of His churches then and now to this message. To repent, a person or congregation first needs to listen and obey (Greek “listen under”) (Isa. 6:9, 10; Matt. 13:9-17).
b. Christ’s true overcomers will eat of the tree of life. In other words, they will come back to the full situation of life with Yahweh and even more so that Adam and Eve were banished from (Gen. 3:22-24; Revelation. 22:1-5). This seems to promise a deeper life of knowing Yahweh Father and Son now and throughout eternity (John 17:1-5).
THOUGHT: On a scale of 1 to 10 is our passion and love for Christ higher or lower than it was 3 months, 3 years, or 30 years ago? How about our church as a whole?
II. Church #2: The Church at Smyrna (Rev. 2:8-11).
A. A brief history of the city of Smyrna: Smyrna was a large (200,000 population) and beautiful seaport city located 35 miles north of Ephesus. In modern Turkey, it is now called Izmir and is known to be the birthplace of Homer. It was an educational center for the area, wealthy, and a center for imperial worship as well as the Greek temples of Cybele, Zeus, Apollo, Asclepius, and Aphrodite. Under the Roman Emperor Domitian (81-96 A.D.) emperor worship became compulsory. A Christian who refused to worship Caesar or any of the other numerous Greek gods risked societal alienation, persecution, and death.
B. Christ’s attributes, assessment, and award for the congregation at Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11).
1. Christ’s attributes for the church to meditate on are found in Revelation 2:8. He identifies Himself as the churches’ promised Old Testament king and Messiah (Rev. 1:17; Isa. 44:6) that has made and will make everything right in the end. Yahweh Jesus suffered, died, and rose again and He will supply strength for the believers in Smyrna to do the same.
2. Christ’s assessment of the situation without a rebuke (Rev. 2:9, 10).
a. Christ knows that the Smyrnan church has had suffering (“thlipsis,” distress, ordeal) and economic hardship due to their stand for Christ. Evidently, Jewish non-believers have made matters worse for them by aggressively persecuting them and reporting Christian non-compliance (verse 9).
b. Christ knows that the Smyrnan church will still suffer some more specific things in the future and will experience a certain amount of fear. For a specific ten day period of time (same as Dan. 1:12-15), they would undergo very severe suffering and they are encouraged to remain faithful (verse 10a,b,c).
3. Christ’s award for the faithful Smyrnans (Revelation 2:10d, 11).
a. Christ’s faithful sufferers will receive a crown of life. The crown (“stephanos” Greek) was a reward given to the winner of the Olympic Games receiving a laurel wreathed (woven branched) crown. This seems to be a consistent specific reward for faithful suffering (James 2:12) which overcomers are rewarded with to lay before Christ’s throne in worship (Rev. 4:10d).
b. There is a universal call to all of His churches then and now to overcome and know that even though the first death hurts, the second death (being thrown into Hell, Rev. 20:6, 14, 15) will never hurt them (Rev. 4:11).
THOUGHT: Let’s meditate on our Yahweh Jesus’ attributes this week and receive
His strength.
