John's First Vision (Part 2) / John's First Letter
Notes
Transcript
So last week, we looked at the first part of this first vision that John was given. It is a vision of Jesus Christ Himself in all of His glory. The first half of the vision was John telling us in his own words what he saw before him. This last half of the vision is what Jesus Himself says concerning Himself.
17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.
18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.
19 Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.
20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.
Because much of what Jesus tells us concerning Himself was already covered in last week’s lesson, we are only going to hone in on a couple of key phrases here.
“Do not be afraid” (vs. 17)
Jesus tells John not to be afraid, so it is reasonable to deduce that John was struck with fear during this vision. The beginning of the verse also tells us that John fell at His feet as one being dead.
John is not afraid because what he sees is scary. Jesus is not wearing a clown mask, or holding some scary weapon in His hand. John is struck with fear simply from the sheer magnitude of Christ’s presence.
I have rarely heard of this in today’s time, but I have heard just a person or maybe two speak of this magnitude of God’s presence, as well as the fear that they felt in it. It came upon them during a moment of prayer. They were talking with God in private and God allowed His overwhelming presence to be felt by them. In that moment, they said it was as if someone placed 1,000 pounds on their chest. It was if the gravity in the room doubled or tripled. It almost took their breath and left them in this state of awe and overwhelming pride while at the same time completely struck with a Holy fear and reverence for God.
“I have the keys of Hades and Death” (vs. 18)
As the eternal I AM, Jesus holds these keys in His hand.
Hades in the NT is the equivalent of the OT term Sheol. Both of these terms refer to the land of the dead, or the place of the dead.
Death is simply the condition of those who dwell there. All of those found within this place are those who have chosen death over life. They have chosen to be separated from the giver of life, and therefore must live for the rest of eternity in that state… dead.
Jesus having the keys represents two things:
He alone has the access to this place apart from those who are confined within it. He has the keys to the door and no one else can enter or leave this place without His knowing of it.
It also represents His authority over this place. The one who once held those keys is no longer in control of the keys. Jesus has taken the keys from him and now alone controls the door.
19 Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.
This verse serves as an outline for the entire book of Revelation. Jesus tells John to write the things:
Which you have seen (The Past)
This is Revelation Chapter 1.
And the things which are (The Present)
This is Revelation Chapters 2-3
And the things which will take place after this (The Future)
This is Revelation Chapters 4-22
Next, we see the first of the seven letters that John is told to write to the seven churches of Asia Minor, what we know today as Turkey. Each of these churches are unique in that Jesus outlines a different issue within each of the churches.
All of these seven churches were actual physical churches that existed during John’s day, but these letters are written in a way so that they represent all churches throughout all time. Every church in existence today can relate to at least one of these churches, if not a mixture of a couple of these churches.
As we read through these letters, we do need to read them from a historical perspective to see exactly what the churches of that day were dealing with, but we should be looking to see if any of their characteristics exist within our own church.
This first letter sets the pattern for how each letter will be written:
The Destination: The church the letter is written too.
The Description: Jesus gives a description of Himself to each church.
The Discernment: Jesus acknowledges those good things within the church. (I know your works)
The Dilemma: Jesus then makes them aware that He knows the bad things that exists amongst them as well.
The Demand: Jesus gives instruction as to what they need to do.
The Declaration: Jesus gives a final warning and promise to those within the church. (He who has an ear, hear what the Spirit says to the churches)
1 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:
2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.
4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” ’
The Destination: Verse 1a
The Description: Verse 1b
The Discernment: Verses 2-3 & Verse 6
The Dilemma: Verse 4
The Demand: Verse 5
The Declaration: Verse 7
The Destination
The Destination
1 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write…
Out of all the of the seven churches, the Church at Ephesus perhaps had the richest heritage of them all. The Gospel was first introduced there by some of Paul’s friends and partners in ministry, Priscilla & Aquila (Acts 18:18-19). They were soon joined in ministry by Apollos, who was an eloquent preacher and a powerful debater (Acts 18:24-26).
Paul briefly stops here at the end of his second missionary journey (Acts 18:19-21), but his real ministry in Ephesus would take place on his third missionary journey (Acts 19).
Ephesus was rich in pagan worship. The temple of Diana was there, also known as Artemis. This was an enormous structure, and noted as one of the ancient wonders of the world. It was 425 feet long, 220 feet wide, with 127 pillars around it, each 60 feet high. Diana was the goddess of sex and fertility, so at any one point, there were a thousand temple prostitutes employed to serve the people.
Because of its terrible sinful influence, Paul spent more time here than in any other area he went. He spent three years in Ephesus (Acts 20:31).
Paul was so moved by the things he had witnessed in Ephesus that he sent one of his young disciples to stay there and lead the church as its Pastor. We talked about that a little bit this morning. It was young Timothy (1 Timothy 1:3). Onesiphorus and Tychicus, two more of Paul’s fellow laborers, also ministered in Ephesus (2 Timothy 1:16,18; 4:12).
Paul’s ministry here had a tremendous impact on the region. It was from this church, that all of the other six churches in Asia Minor would be born. God supernaturally affirmed Paul as His spokesman through a series of spectacular miracles while there (Acts 19:11-12). Paul’s ministry had such an impact on the region of Ephesus that it tells us in Acts 17:18-19
18 And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds.
19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver.
When this is calculated out, this would equal up to over 7 million dollars worth of books today.
By the time this letter is written by John, Paul has already been killed, along with many of the other faithful men and women who served in Ephesus at that time. There was new blood in the church, so to speak, and God decides to write to them so that they might remember what had taken place, as well as how things have changed amongst them since that time.
The Description
The Description
1 “… ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:
You will notice as we study each of these seven letters that the description the Christ gives of Himself in each of the letters is a description that we have already seen from Chapter 1.
This particular description that Christ gives of Himself is found in Rev 1:20 (also noted separately in Rev. 1:13, 16).
He does this, I think, to stress the fact that these letters are from Him. The fact that He describes Himself as the One pictured in John’s first vision helps to affirm this fact.
As explained in Rev 1:20, the stars represent the leaders (pastors, elders) of the churches, and the lampstands represent the churches themselves.
Remember that the number seven in Biblical Numerology speaks of fullness and completeness. This means that these seven churches represent the entire church of the living God, and the seven leaders of the churches represents all of the leaders of the church.
The fact that He is holding the seven leaders in His hand speaks to the fact that Christ is the head of the Church. He is the preeminent One (Col. 1:18). He has all authority in heaven and on earth (Mat. 28:18). He is the leader and protector of all things within the church.
The Discernment
The Discernment
2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.
Jesus offers His commendation to the church. Though the church at Ephesus is not perfect, which we will see more about in a moment, there are some things that they have done right.
He commends them for their labor, their patience, and that they cannot bear those who are evil. This means that they have worked hard within the church. They were not sitting around kicked back and waiting on God to do all the work, but were actively working within the community to expand the Kingdom of God.
They were also patient. This means that they did not try to rush things. They prayed through their ministry, found what God was in the middle of, and simply jumped on board. They did not try to start ministries prematurely. They did not try to force the church into something it was not ready for. They simply followed the leadership of the Lord.
They also did not allow those who were evil, that is those who were not truly Christian, to remain in the church. When someone came to the church, they tested their words and motives with that of Scripture to see if they were genuinely in the faith or not. If they weren’t, they were called out onto the carpet. They were challenged. In other words, they understood the importance of staying grounded in their faith and did not allow others to persuade them so easily to abandon it. They called out false apostles when they proved to be of another belief or mindset.
They have also persevered. This speaks to the persecution against the church. This could be physical persecution, verbal persecution, or any other form of it, but regardless, they persevered and did not become weary.
6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
He also commends them in vs. 6 for hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which it says that He also hates.
It needs to be noted that there is very limited information concerning who the Nicolaitans were. There are several theories that exist as to who this group was and the sin that is referenced here in this verse, as well as in the third letter to the church at Pergamos (Rev. 2:15).
One theory suggests:
Nicolaitans - made up of two Greek words:
“Nikos” meaning to conquer: (noun is “nike”) to have victory
“Laos” meaning laity.
Put together, the word literally means, “To conquer the laity”.
To put this in a way that we can understand, it speaks to an hierarchical system where man stands between man and God. It is a form of governance within the church to where it is taught that you have to go through some member of the laity, the leadership of the church, in order to get to God.
The Roman Catholic Church is one example of this. Notice it says that Jesus hates the practice of the Nicolaitans. Jesus does not want this type of hierarchy within the Church. Jesus tore down the partition with His death and now every person who comes to God in faith has direct access to God. No man serves as a mediator between other men and God.
Another theory is that the Nicolaitans stem from the Nicolas that is mentioned in Acts 6, who was chosen to help with the distribution of food. The theory suggests that Nicolas was actually an unbeliever who became an apostate, but maintained influence within the church because of his credentials.
Some have said that the mentioning of them in the third letter to Pergamos should be linked to the false leadership of Balaam, who led Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, which resulted in eating things sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality.
Irenaeus was one of the early church leaders and wrote of the Nicolaitans that they, “lived lives of unrestrained indulgence.”
Clement of Alexandria was another early church leader and wrote that the Nicolaitans, “abandon themselves to pleasure like goats… leading a life of self-indulgence.”
(Both of these quotes come from John MacArthur’s Commentary on this passage.)
Whoever they were, we know that Jesus did not approve of their actions.
It seems as if the believers at Ephesus also condemned this action and did not practice this within the church.
The Dilemma
The Dilemma
4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Many things can be said of what a Christian is or what characterizes a Christian, but the greatest of all things that defines a Christian is that they have a love for God.
When asked by a lawyer what the greatest commandment of all of Scripture was, Jesus responded:
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and great commandment.
Jesus further illustrated the importance of this love for God when talking to His disciples:
37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
Jesus discerned Peter’s spiritual condition by asking three times, “Peter, do you love me?” (John 21:15-17).
Paul declared that Christians were those who were controlled by “the love of Christ” (2 Cor 5:14).
14 For the love of Christ compels us…
Despite all of the things that Christ could give commendation on concerning those in Ephesus, the greatest matter of all was that they had left their first love.
This is one of the most eye-opening Scriptures for the church today. Those within the Church at Ephesus were busy for Christ. There were several things that they were doing right, but in all of that business, they had left their love for Christ.
Many of those who were there when the church began were dead and gone now, and a new generation of believers had risen. Though this new generation had remained faithful in their doctrine and service to God, they had failed to continue in the most important thing: their love for God.
They were going through the motions of doing everything right, but in their hearts, they had lost the reason for why they did such things.
Unfortunately, many churches today could be characterized by this same problem. They are going through the motions, but they have lost their first love. They are no longer driven to do these works, but continue on in them for the sake of what has always been done, or what should be done. As a result, most of the churches in America today are in a decline. According to statistics, many churches (as many as 1,000) close their doors each year.
Notice that God did not leave them, but rather they left God. Regardless of what we do, we must make sure that we never leave our first love. Without our love for God, everything will become fruitless and barren.
The Demand
The Demand
5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
Christ’s demand was threefold: Remember, Repent, and Repeat.
They were to remember from where they had fallen. They were to go back in the archives of their minds and remember what it used to be like, remember how God had moved amongst them, remember the feeling of what it was like to have God in control of their lives, moving mountains that stood in their way.
They were next to repent of their sin, for not loving God with all of one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength is sin.
They were then to repeat their first works. Get back to what you used to do. Get back into the Word and study it fervently. Begin praying again with steadfast devotion. Regain your passion for worshipping your Heavenly Father. Repeat your first works.
His command came with consequence: If you do not do these things, “I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place.” In other words, God would removed their influence, their light, from the community. They would longer have the influence they had now. They would no longer be protected by God’s over-watch, which is mentioned by His holding them in His hand. The church would fall.
Repentance must take place. True repentance that led them back to their first love.
The Declaration
The Declaration
7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” ’
We now have this saying, which is repeated in all seven of the letters, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
In this case, those who obey to His commandment to repent and return to their first works would be allowed “to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
