Revelation 2:1-7
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· 13 viewsRehoboth is to love God by shining the light of God by our faithful witness in Horsham.
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Appetiser
Appetiser
“The Letters to the Seven Churches: Christ Encourages The Churches to Witness, Warns Them Against Compromise, and Exhorts Them to Hear and to Overcome Compromise in Order To Inherit Eternal Life”
G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 223.
“Do you love me?”—Jesus asked Peter, three times. And each time he answered “yes”, Jesus said: “Feed my lambs.” “Take care of my sheep.” “Feed my sheep.” But the third occasion, which was Peter’s most emphatic “yes”, he went on, John 18:18-19.
He told Peter that by his willingness to pay the price of his life in order to glorify God he will also show how much he loved the Lord. “Then he said to him, ‘Follow me!’” And when Peter got distracted—immediately—by another disciple, Jesus reminded him: “You must follow me.”
This is what Christians have been struggling with always. To answer Jesus’s “Do you love me?” And it was a church-wide problem in the first letter from Jesus to His churches. And as we read this, Jesus is searching our hearts, individually as well as as a church: “Do you love me?”
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The church as God’s golden lampstand
The church as God’s golden lampstand
Deuteronomy 6:4-9: loving God and being orthodox are not two different things
Loving God and being orthodox are not two different things. If you do not strive to be sound in your understanding of God, your love for Him is not sound.
If your knowledge of God does not influence every area of your life, your love for Him is questionable. Love does not compartmentalise, but gives all for the one we love.
Loving God means knowing Him and making Him known
Adam was to fill the earth with the glory of the Lord
He was placed in Eden, so He can know His God
He had to “fill the earth”, implication: with the glory of the Lord, by ruling on His behalf.
He failed in this.
Israel was to be a light to the nations
The golden lampstand in the temple reminded them that they have the light of God: God has come to them. It represented the tree of life from the Garden of Eden: they, and they alone, had a piece of Eden!
Their calling as a priestly nation told them they were to spread this light, as Adam was supposed to do.
They failed at this, got swallowed up rather by the nations, so God removed them from His presence.
Yet, God promised that the day will come when: Isaiah 11:9
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Or as Habakkuk writes (Habakkuk 2:14
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
The church is to be God’s light to the world, 1:20
We have been bought by Jesus’s blood, and made into a priesthood: 1:5b-6a. We have the joyful duty of knowing God and making Him known, thereby bringing Him glory.
This lampstand is kept burning by the Spirit of God: the Church is made up by those with the Spirit of God, that is to say, born of the Spirit of God. As we saw last time, John’s vision in 1:9-20 recalls that of Zechariah in Zechariah 4, and we read in v6 the famous words: ““Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty.”—that is how we overcome the false gods of this world, the lies of this world, the dangerous and ungodly ideologies of this world: by the Spirit of God.
Therefore, unlike Adam and Israel, the Church will not fail in this mission. The gates of Hell will not prevail against her (cf. 1:18)
But—local churches which fail God will be removed from His presence. To put it in Revelation 1-3 language: the seven lampstands (the true church) will not fail, but the individual lampstands (the local churches) that lose their light will be removed.
The lampstand in Ephesus
The lampstand in Ephesus
Christ comes to His own, v1
As their God
As their priest, to tend the light, Leviticus 24:3-4
Outside the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps before the Lord from evening till morning, continually. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. The lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord must be tended continually.
Christ commends them for what they are doing right, v2-3, 6
Busy for the Lord, v2a
Zealously orthodox, v2b, 6. This sounds very much like Psalm 139:21-22 “Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.”
Patient endurance for Christ’s name, v3
Up to this point you should be seeking to become a member of the church in Ephesus. But Christ goes on.
Christ condemns them for what they are doing wrong, v4
First thought: How in the world is this possible?!
“the church at Ephesus was more than forty years old when Christ dictated this epistle. Another generation had arisen. The children did not experience that intense enthusiasm, that spontaneity and ardour which had been revealed by their parents when the latter first came into contact with the gospel. Not only this, but they lacked their former devotion to Christ.”
William Hendriksen, More than Conquerors: An Interpretation of the Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1967), 61.”
Cf. Judges 2:7, 10-11
The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.
The church in Ephesus did not turn to “the Baals”, but neither did they love the Lord. How can this be, when seemingly they did so? That’s precisely the soul-searching thing about this. It highlights our great dependency of God to keep us! (cf. Is 63:17)
Christ’s core message to them: “Repent”, v5
v5a lit. “Consider from where you have fallen.”
Looking at the threat in v5b being cast out of Eden is what is recalled. It recalls how the Lord speaks to the king of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:13-19) and to Assyria and Pharaoh (Ezekiel 31), which some say also speaks of the fall of Satan. It is possible that Christ refers to that, cf. 1 Timothy 3:7 “He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.”
But God calls the church to “repent”—to return to Him. He comes to them with grace if they do so:
Christ’s promise to them, v7
v7a reveals that there is hope for the Ephesian church.
It is how Christ used the parables, cf. Matthew 13:9-17
This is how God’s warnings work: His true people will respond to them, but unbelievers will refuse to heed God’s call to repent.
That Christ issues this warning to the church means that there are those in her who will respond favourably.
v7b promises that those who keep the lamp burning will eat the fruit from the tree it represents
Forgiveness!
Return of spiritual vigour for the repentant
Sustaining the ones who are seeking to be faithful; “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” (John 4:32)
Notice: “churches” in v7a. This isn’t only about Ephesus. It’s there for all churches.
Points of application
Points of application
It is possible to be orthodox and yet not love Christ
What this looks like (in light of the Ephesian church, “lampstand” imagery)
Dead orthodoxy.
No evangelism—cf. 1Ti 3:14-15
Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing to you with these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
Not aiming for a balance, but completeness, v5a
We are to aim for orthodoxy, the spiritual health of the church is vital. We are the bride of Christ—it’s a question of spiritual beauty, so to speak! Also, a church that is unorthodox and tolerates any kind of falsehood is going to emit a misleading light. At Rehoboth you will hear sermons that are dripping with the sweet honey of the Bible, end at Rehoboth, and if any of the preachers, including me, is not giving you the pure milk and the solid meat of God’s Word, you must come to the Elders and tell us. “Feed my sheep.”, Jesus says to us. Hold us accountable to this.
But we also are to aim to make this light known. We are not to hide it under a bushel. That’s not why God lit the light of our church. There are no details provided, but it’s very likely that his is precisely where the church in Ephesus was failing. They had the light burning—but they were not hiding it. Now it was quite unpopular to proclaim the One True God here; remember the riot in Ephesus Paul got into? Remember the letters to Timothy, and the struggles he faced as a pastor there? False teaching was everywhere. There’s nothing new under the sun. So Rehoboth, Brothers and Sisters: let the light of the knowledge of God, the Gospel, shine brightly, visibly. Let us pray to the Lord for one another, for our church.
A message to the Pastor and the church, emphasised in this letter, v1, 5
Pastor: 1Ti 4:16
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Church, Leviticus 24:1-2
The Lord said to Moses, ‘Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually.