Ephesus- First Church

Rev 2:1	Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; Sevens : seven verses in 1. 1 x 7. Seven stars, seven goldensticks, seven angels, seven spirits, seven horns, seven streams, seven churches, .... seven is the number of God. 7 x 1.
Rev 2:2	I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: This economical trinity is applied to the first believers, the 1rst Century Apostles and churches. Labor, patience, and intolerant of false teachings.
Rev 2:3	And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. The good news is that this church was persistant, but, the latter premonition, is ominous. "Hast not fainted." Fainting is not always a bad thing, in the Bible, because, it can precede great revelations, but, this use of the english word, "fainted" is meant to convey unconsciousness, not religious ecstasy.
Rev 2:4	Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. This is the fatal blows of a church. When we use the pulpit to justify sins, and man over God, then, it results from falling out of love with God. It's like a bridegroom coming back from out of town, to marry his fiancee, and take her to his father's house, as his wife. This is how Jesus is portraying his relationship with each church, not just Ephesus. What if in between the passion of face to face love between a couple, was dulled when out of sight, and out of mind. What if a fiancee was not faithful? That's the allegation always levelled against Mary. That's why she left Israel, and went to Ephesus. This is God's divine plan. But, it's not easy.
Rev 2:5	Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. To get back, to where we once belonged, we have to dig deep. We have to start with the original God of man, the God of Adam. We need to understand sin, the knowledge of good and bad. Then we need to be illuminated by the light of the Sun of Righteousness, our Messiah, who redeemed mankind with his blood, flesh and Spirit.
Rev 2:6	But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. These were false gnostic teachers, who connected the Christ of the Jews, with the ancient gods, like Osiris, Isis and their societies of intelligence. Too many religions today put emphasis on things that do not edify. This is inclusive in this stern warning to all of us, descendent from the first church, in Ephesus.
Rev 2:7	He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

This is powerful to me, because, he is constantly
amazing.

The word that jumps out at me, is OVERCOME.
Greek word- nikao {nik-ah'-o}

This word is used frequently in the NT,
specifically:

Strong's Number 3528 matches the Greek nikao

For the unrelated Hebrew word for

03528 (k@bar)

click here.

1) to conquer

a) to carry off the victory, come off victorious

1) of Christ, victorious over all His foes

2) of Christians, that hold fast their faith even unto death against the power of their foes, and temptations and persecutions

3) when one is arraigned or goes to law, to win the case, maintain one's cause

To further appreciate the message to Ephesus, it's
helpful to reread Paul's stellar Epistle, to the Ephesians.
There are many goldmines in those messages, in
every conceivable sense.

Ephesus is the first church, and the foundation
for the other branches, in Asia Minor, and
then throughout the entire world.

They are warned to return to their first love,
which is God, in Jesus, and God who is
the Supreme Being. We've diminished God
in the Church, subdivided far beyond the
seven churches being addressed.

There is only one God, and whosoever
cannot approach the Trinity, shouldn't
teach false things. God sends them
delusions, in denigrating the God
of the Universe, and Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God, who has the keys
to Hell and Death.

We need to accept God's mercy
and forgiveness. We have got
to stay clean, each day seeking the
Lord, by doing good, not evil, praying
and studying the Word.