Book of Revelation: Chapter 2:1-7 "Ephesus"

BONUS EPISODE - A letter to the church of Ephesus. This is the first of seven specific churches that Jesus wanted to send His report card to. While there's so much to learn from their origin, history, and destiny, let's look closer at what we do good and where we fall short. Have we left our first love?

Transcript

[Music] good morning good afternoon or good evening wherever or whenever you are listening to us right now and welcome to this bonus episode of the Churchosity podcast my name is Heath Brady and I'm Andrea Brady and we are your Churchosity podcast Personnel these are the types of episodes that we like to call the Post scripts because these are the things that we like to think and talk about when the record button is off so thank you all for listening and welcome to the Inner

Circle well Andy here we are again I know it's getting pretty exciting we're off to a good start I think you think so yeah yeah you've been enjoying things so far mhm y up to this point what has been your favorite thing about our Revelation study um kind of just laying the foundation mhm and uh I don't know I don't have a favorite thing it's okay you don't have to have a favorite you could have a least favorite as well no I don't have a least the favorite thing either I just I'm excited and you know there's so much imagery and um there's just it's so deep and I'm excited to read it with you because I I mean I've read through the Book of Revelation before mhm on my own but it's just one of those things I didn't really spend a lot of time on sure it's kind of like one of those read through the Bible type things and I'm just going to you know Mark it off my list that I read through it sure and I didn't think too deeply about it because it was so complicated I don't know I never studied it before sure well I think that all of that is fair and that you and as well as myself we fall into a very large category of most Christians in the 21st century specifically in the west because mainly I think that it has been detrimental to our Biblical Savvy our Biblical literacy if you will to not really thoroughly grasp the Old Testament it's true as I've mentioned before the Book of Revelation it has 404 verses with with over 800 Illusions to Old Testament stuff so it's it's kind of a big deal I mean I'm guilty of spending more time in the New Testament than the Old Testament I mean I'm not saying that that's a bad thing no it's not but I'm just saying that that I think that for us in the 21st century it it when it comes to approaching the Book of Revelation and maybe gaining a little bit of understanding about what's going on that the Old Testament is probably primarily the greatest help well I think one of the things you said in our last episode which was really eye opening for me was when you explained I mean it was kind of a duh no duh moment when you explained that the New Testament really wasn't like the thing when this was written sure I mean obviously it's just that we don't from our perspective in modern day right we don't think about that when we're reading it sometimes and it makes sense so all of these things that he's writing referencing you know what he considers scripture the Old Testament sure it totally makes sense to them you know they can they can relate to all of the different references uhhuh yeah and it's really rich so does it help hearing that I want everyone of us as we read through the Book of Revelation to it with Old Testament eyes M does that help yeah it does help okay yeah it helped me awesome well I am really continually excited about our our time here there's there's just this is going to be so fruitful for all of us I I truly believe that um just to kind of set up this episode we are going to be starting in Revelation Chapter 2 but I just want to kind of as a refresher remind remind everyone that this is this book is called Revelation singular it's it's a little pet peeve of mine uh but there's only one Revelation and that Revelation is the complete unveiling the apocalypses of Jesus Christ and the Book of Revelation from verse one to the very end is the the depiction of the Risen resurrected savior of ours our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ unveiling himself MH uh throughout all of time I would argue and that'll make more sense as we go that last statement that I made there that it's how he has unveiled uh himself to us past present and future H yeah it's it's pretty provocative um especially as we go through chapters 2 and three h uh The Book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John I think that we've established that the disciple whom Jesus loved we read right out of the gate in chapter 1 the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him who did the Revelation go to John oh no no the Revelation to Christ yes it went to Jesus uhhuh the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him mhm to show his bonder servants the things which must soon take place and that that's kind of like a tachometer word it's not like they're going to happen soon it's more of once these things start to happen it's going to go quick got it kind of interesting that at the beginning of the book of Revelation we have this indictment to pay attention because these things are going to happen quickly and at the end of the book or Revelation there's the admonition of come quickly Lord Jesus H kind of provocative yeah wouldn't you say mhm um this is a letter that John was commissioned to write to seven specific churches in Asia and I want to explain for just a second that this is not Asia in the sense that we would understand Asia like the continent of Asia this is Asia for Century Asia which was a province of the Roman Empire uh we would consider this part of the world modern-day turkey so that's where these seven churches are located and you can you can look it up on any map um that pertains to first century biblical culture any any kind of first century map really and you can see where these Seven Cities are or or I should say where they were during the time that John is writing this letter there they were seven literal cities so they they did actually exist the churches there did actually exist um I'm going to mention this again later but these seven churches we do know for a fact were literal churches um archaeologists such as um Sir William Ramsey excavated all of them so like for instance with the church of Ephesus which we're going to talk about on this episode you can actually go there today and and have a tour of the ruins um it's not very beautiful today for lots of reasons because of history and what have you but you can still go there it's very easy to get to so we do know for a fact that these places exist these churches existed and John was commissioned by our Lord to write this letter to those seven specific churches so I think that that's kind of interesting yeah what else is kind of interesting is that Paul also wrote seven letters to seven churches oh yeah yeah you're right uh the seven Epistles M right uh what's interesting is that there's one church that got a letter from John and from Paul and we're going to talk about that church today that's Church of epes yeah um it's kind of interesting that it's the first one on John's list wasn't the first one on Paul's list as far as who to write to but we're going to talk a lot about Ephesus so I hope everybody straps in and is ready for kind of the Long Haul because there is so much cool stuff about Ephesus this letter um it's it's going to be fun so are you excited Andy yeah I'm totally excited all right right on well let's get into this shall we mhm uh I want to ask the question one more time why these seven specific churches well that's a good question I mean when when John writes this letter roughly 93 ad mhm there were o at least over a hundred Alive and Kicking churches and uh six of them are mentioned in Paul's Epistles but John doesn't doesn't write to them he doesn't write to the church in Rome right the the church in Corinth the church in Philippi you know the church in Jerusalem like well I would think that maybe um the problems that each of these seven churches were having or not having applied to all of them and so these were just the ones that he made an example of maybe that is an interesting observation can I ask you to put a pin in that for a little bit later sure because that is going to be a fun conversation trust me okay I'll bookmark that well when we approach The Book of Revelation because it's the last book of the Bible and there's so much as you mentioned Andy there's so much imagery and idioms and metaphors and allegories and beasts and all of these things right and some of the language because it's it because it is written in the genre of apocalyptic M we just naturally assume that this is the end of all things that this is the climax of all things and yet remember in Revelation 1: 19 we get this what I would call The divinely Inspired outline of how John is going to write the book write the things which you have seen which is all of chapter one the things which are which is I would argue chapters 2 and three and the things which will be after these things which is chapter 4:1 on so I don't want to sound I don't I don't want to come across with the view of a hard nose this is the climax of everything because the church is still in existence today like especially folks who fall into more of the dispensational type Camp they want to label this as like we're living in the church age or the church dispensation if I haven't done so already I guarantee you that by the time we are done with our study in the Book of Revelation we have we will have if we've done a good enough job we will have said at least one thing to offend everybody and I may have already done that but I I want us to remember that the focus of the Book of Revelation is not on dates and times and events and people and people groups and whatever it's literally verse one the revelation of Jesus Christ This is how Jesus is revealing himself to humanity right that is the focus everything about this is everything that is the focus of Revelation is Jesus revealing his glory his power his authority his lordship and his sacrifice to all of humanity and that's going to become more and more evident as we go through the book so I know you're all anxious to get into this letter I just have one more thing to add okay and then I promise we'll get into it okay I mentioned on the previous episode that I believe that these seven letters written to these seven specific churches are there by Design they're there for a reason because I believe that these seven letters are written on at least four different levels H what do I mean by that I can hear you now yeah it sounds deep yes well as I mentioned the first level it I would call the local level or the literal level because archaeologists such as Sir William Ramsay he excavated these cities as well countless other archaeologists they they were literal cities they were they were literal churches by the end of the first century um we know that these churches literally existed so this these seven letters were written to these seven literal churches at the time that they were in existence right the second level I would call an admonition a level of admonition to all churches because guess what um there's this phrase in there in each one of these letters that says he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches oh plural mhm so not only did John write a letter to all seven churches cuz that's chapters 2 and three mhm but the entirety of the book went to all seven churches yeah that's true so every Church got to see everyone else's report card and that can be a good thing or it can be a bad thing depending on the report card depending on who's reading it and who it's about you follow me yeah so this there's so much transparency going on here and it's it's kind of ironic that in the unveiling of Jesus Christ to his people the complete revelation of Jesus Christ to all of humanity there's also a level of transparency that is unveiled in us the church mhm so Food For Thought okay so first level the literal level second level the admonition level third level I would call it the private level or the personal level that phrase he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches oh well um that pretty much is everybody so like me individually as opposed to like our modern day Church exactly got it I believe that the Book of Revelation was written to all churches of all time because everyone in all of the churches that have ever existed and ever will exist everyone in them has an ear I'm just saying right in other words this is a picture this is this is an idea that Jesus wants John to get across to the churches that it's for everybody does that make sense yep so you have the literal local level you had the you have the admonition level you have the private or personal level and then you have the fourth level which I can't give any other label to other than prophetic okay okay H because I believe that these seven letters to these seven specific churches are written in such a design that they literally spell out all of church history from beginning to Kingdom Come interesting and it's it's a provocative view don't take my word for it but there's a lot of uh research that I have done a lot of studying that I have done a lot of cross referencing that I have done over the years and I'm not I'm certainly not a phenomenal Bible scholar but I have sought the wisdom and counsel and picked the brain of several who I would consider phenomenal Bible scholars some of them have said you're a nut but the majority of them have said that is really provocative and interesting I think you might be on to something right I mean you can't build Doctrine on it but Bingo but it's a um interest thing to think about yes and especially because I think it will help us as we go through at least the linear aspect of the Book of Revelation so those are at least the four levels that I believe that the Book of Revelation or at least these specific letters were written on H kind of curious kind of interesting but I kind of wanted to give all of that information as sort of a precursor as we dive into this letter so Andy yes are you ready to get going yeah let's get started all right let's do [Music]

it Revelation 2 a message to the Church of Ephesus beginning in verse one to the angel of the church in Ephesus write the one who holds the Seven Stars in his right hand the one who walks among the seven golden lamp stands says this I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance and that you cannot tolerate evil men and you put to the test those who call themselves Apostles and they are not and you have found them to be false and you have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake and have not grown weary but I have this against you that you have left your first Love Therefore remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the Deeds you did at first or else I am coming to you and will remove your lamp stand out of its place unless you repent yet this you do have that you hate the Deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to him who overcomes I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God now do you understand why I can't guarantee that we'll get through one whole chapter on every episode yeah there's a lot going on there yeah there's an awful lot going on here letter to the Church of Ephesus so just a little bit of fun for outline sake uh each one of these letters is going to be very very provocative for for us there's going to be seven ironically seven aspects to each one of these letters each letter is going to have a name it's going to have a theme it's going to have a title Jesus chooses for himself which comes from chapter 1 okay it's going to contain a promise to the Overcomer it's going to have a report card it's going to have a conditional statement and it's going to have this phrase he who has an ear so it's an interesting outline another fun fact the first three of these seven letters that he who has statement is going to be outside the body of the letter kind of like a PostScript if you will okay but the last four it's going to be part of the body of the letter and I believe that's for a reason and I'll explain that when I need to okay all right all right the letter to the Church of Ephesus are we having fun yet yeah all right little background about the Church of Ephesus uh as I said Ephesus was a known City that was in Asia Minor that province that Western province of the Roman Empire mhm the city of Ephesus was established long before though it was established roughly around 1400 BC some of its historical notoriety is the Diana or Artemis worship they had this huge Temple there that was the Temple of Diana it's one of the seven wonders of the world and it was four times larger than the Parthenon in Athens oh wow so it's kind of a big structure I would say um Ephesus was a beautiful city it was a gorgeous City the architecture in the city of Ephesus still to this day baffles modern artists um the materials and the structure and design and intricate details that went into designing the buildings and the streets and everything are just phenomenal Ephesus was kind of located at um off of this particular cross roads in uh Asia Minor uh one road led to Ephesus the other one led to Smyrna and I forget the city that the other one led to but I like to say that Ephesus was kind of the Sears of of uh Asia Minor like you had to go through Ephesus to get to everywhere else I see it was like the central hub for Commerce and communication in in its in its time of notoriety it was also known as the center of the study of arts and Magic and it was an extremely extremely wealthy City I mentioned that it was the central hub for Commerce and communication uh militarily speaking it was also important because it had this enormous Harbor so it was like the primary uh Naval base if you will um during the Roman Empire oh cool um unfortunately because the Romans weren't very smart kind of like Sauron from Lord of the Rings they destroyed so much Greenery and Forestry around the harbor that the harbor itself began to erode and and over decades which turned into centuries that erosion got so bad that the harbor is actually 6 mies out to or 6 mies Inland so the city of Ephesus itself compared to how it was back during the time that John is writing this letter it's 6 Mi Inland yikes yeah so that Harbor doesn't even exist anymore but the point is is uh the Apostle Paul used Ephesus as his Center of operations where for instance um most of his evangelism and tent building Ministry came uh he operated out of there it was his favorite City uh he wrote to them often uh when when he when he was in prison he was upset that he couldn't get back to Ephesus like he loved the city of Ephesus it was it was his place after Paul had visited Ephesus for at least the second time on his travels um later on you can read about this in the book of Acts there were many imitators of Paul that came you can read about them in chapters 18 19 and 20 of the book of Acts but I want to read something kind of provocative okay in Acts chapter 20 there's this very curious farewell address that Paul gives to the city of Ephesus and he's not even in Ephesus he's actually in the city of madus he was sailing on board a ship to try to get to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost and so he begrudgingly skips past Ephesus and continues to meatus or Milius and while he's in Milius he summons the Elders of the Church of Ephesus to come to him because he needs to talk to them because there's something urgent he has to tell them so in Acts 20 starting in verse 17 it says this is talking about Paul from militus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the Elders of the church and when they had come to him he said to them you yourselves know from the first day I set foot in Asia how I was with you the whole time serving the Lord with all humility with tears and with trials which Came Upon me through the plots of the Jews H how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you publicly and from house to house solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and now behold Bound by the spirit I am on my way to Jerusalem not knowing what will happen to me when I am there except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city saying that bonds and afflictions await me so he has a lot to look forward to it sounds like but I do not consider my life of any count as dear to myself so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus Christ to testify solemnly of the Gospel of the grace of God and now behold I know that all of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will no longer see my face oh this is his Farewell yeah he's saying goodbye to Ephesus a here's where it gets intense mhm therefore verse 26 I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God in the Greek that's the whole counsel of God right here we go verse 28 be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers read that pastors to Shepherd the Church of God which he purchased with his own blood I know that after my departure Savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock and from among your own selves men will arise speaking speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them and he would know this because of Galatia right cuz the the judaizers were were on his coattails with Galatia right mhm verse 31 therefore be beyond the alert remembering that night and day for a period of 3 years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears and then he goes on to say some more things but in context to the conversation I want to have here this is Paul addressing the leadership of the Church of Ephesus and warning them to be on guard yeah because there were some uh apostates and false teachers and who knows what that were going to create into their Church even from among the very leadership yikes remember in verse 30 he said from among you from among your own selves men will arise so there's going to there there's going to be kind of this full frontal spiritual attack if you will from the outside and from within to drag this church down and render it ineffective MH and he warns them to be on guard to be alert uh to be sober of mind if you will it's interesting because this is this is the church that John writes his first letter to as well but what's even more interesting is that Paul's farewell here in the book of Acts is roughly 30 years before John's letter in the Book of Revelation oh interesting so obviously the church in Ephesus heeded the words of Paul because in Revelation 2 we read that Jesus says he knows their deeds and their toil and their perseverance and they cannot tolerate evil men and they put to test those who call themselves Apostles and are not so you follow me yeah just like Paul told them that would happen exactly and they heeded his words right kind of reminiscent of verse three of chapter one blessed are those who read and hear and heed the words of this prophecy look what benefit there is to obedience and being in action to what you hear and what you read from the Lord Paul instructed and warned those leaders in the Church of Ephesus to protect the flock they did they kept the crap out of their church and they were phenomenal at it they did what they were supposed to do mhm it's kind of exciting that is but we'll get to the butt speaking of John John also found Ephesus to be a special place of interest for him because when John is finished with his sentence roughly 95 ad in Ephesus he writes not only his Epistles 1 2 and 3rd John but also his gospel oh John didn't write the Gospel his gospel until after patmas oh interesting I didn't know that but doesn't that make like even more sense of why John's gospel is separate from the other three yeah Matthew Mark and Luke M and it's different yeah because it's so theological mhm well guess what Andy what Jesus Christ himself completely unveiled himself to John whom the disciple loved while on the aisle of Patmos right which is why he would start off his gospel with in the beginning was the word you follow me right okay it's really fascinating to me yeah wow John writes some pretty powerful things in he like he writes his gospel as I mentioned but he also writes his Epistles 1 2 and third John second John most people believe is a letter to Mary and her closest friends why do I say that because Mary is in John's care and that transition of care was given to John at the foot of the cross when Jesus was hanging on the cross remember he looked down and John and Mary were there and remember when Jesus said woman behold your son son behold your mother it was this passing of the torch of responsibility of caring for for Jesus's mother so John even though he's he's been serving roughly 10 years of a sentence on the aisle of Patmos he's still going to take take that charge from Jesus Christ very seriously and he's going to go care finish caring for his mother so he goes to Ephesus and he cares for Mary and she is buried there there's actually a shrine to Mary that's there to this very day in that area interesting so most people most scholars believe I don't the jury is still out for me personally but most people believe that second John was written to Mary and her closest friends in Ephesus but that first John was specifically an admon an admonition written to Ephesus huh and he says some John writes some interesting things in his first epistle 1 John in chapter 4 and now here's where I'm going to get myself into trouble and start offending people are you ready yeah starting in verse one beloved do not believe every Spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the World by this you know the spirit of God every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God you ready this is the spirit of the Antichrist of which you have heard that is coming and now it is already in the world so I said the big a word Antichrist oh my gosh now all of a sudden everyone's paying attention the spirit of antichrist the spirit of antichrist and in fact that word their spirit it's italicized which means it's not in the original mtic translation so it should just say and this is the Antichrist which you have heard is coming and is now and now is already in the world it's it is but it is the spirit this atmosphere of antichrist and it's and it literally means the adversary of the Messiah right this is going to make a lot more sense as we get deeper into the Book of Revelation but John in this epistle 4:3 is not speaking of a specific person he's speaking of a specific movement the spirit of antichrist because it already existed he says it's now already in the world right well if if this was a specific person this person will be dead by now I'm just saying right I mean but if you read in context starting with verse one like you did then I mean it's talking about Spirit testing the spirits yeah testing the spirits that everyone who comes to you that everyone everyone who is prophesying everyone who is teaching um because there are so many false teachers and so many you know even at the time of Christ there were already false teachers you know G Jesus predicted that in the future Israel would chase after false teachers because they tickled their ears Paul warns about it in his Epistles that the time will come when men will not seek sound Doctrine anymore so this this is an admonition to the church in Ephesus the Believers in Ephesus to literally test every single person that comes to them mhm because there is this spirit this this mood this movement that is anti- Messiah that Jesus is not from God that's the context m that Jesus didn't really come etc etc does that make sense yes so I I wanted I I didn't want to drift off into the weeds and have an antichrist conversation I wanted to use these verses to simply not only stir up a little trouble but also really emphasize just how important Ephesus is to John to Paul and especially to Jesus this church in Ephesus has a specific love for for it you follow me yes so let's pick it apart a little bit shall we yeah the letter that is back to Revelation 2:1 mhm to the angel of the Church of Ephesus remember that angel Angus that's messenger that could be an angel that could be a pastor it could be both right then Jesus's title we get this in chapter one the one who holds the Seven Stars in his right hand the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands remember the lampstand or or lightbearers right they are not the sources of light they are the projectors of the light because Jesus is the light right mhm so Jesus presents his title gives his authority to as a precursor to say what he needs to say because I am this here what I have to say you follow me got it mhm I know your Deeds that can be be scary I saw what you did yeah I saw what you did I know your deeds and your toil well we kind of talked about that toil back when Paul addressed the leaders of Ephesus 30 years before this letter was written Jesus sees their toil and their perseverance and that they cannot tolerate evil men I love that they took Paul's warnings so seriously they could not even tolerate evil men they tested the spirit as John addressed them right and you put to the test those who call themselves Apostles and they are not those false Apostles those antichrists if you will yep and you found them to be false and you have perseverance he says it again he said perseverance in verse two in verse three he says it again you have perseverance so there's a lot of persevering going on yeah and you have endured for my name's sake and have not grown weary man verse 2 and verse three I would love to have Jesus say all of that to me no kidding I don't know about you but I certainly wouldn't want to have verse four said to me yeah but but in the Greek nevertheless right I have this against you that you have left your first love now honey yeah we here in the United States of America we hear that term first love mhm what comes to mind when we think of first love in our culture like your first boyfriend or girlfriend sure right the first person that you thought you were in love with right okay that is not what this is okay I just I just want to make sure that we're not thinking like a Westerner and we're thinking like an Old Testament Jewish scholar if you will right this this here in the Greek this first love it's an espousal love it's a first ranked love ooh first ranked it's like when you say your vow uh forsaking all others yeah right so it is the highest valued love this is It's the espousal I am joined to this person and nobody else it is the highest ranked the most cherished the most favored the most valued the most dear and darling to me right that's what this means bring me a higher love whoa exactly all right Jesus is giving this report card to a church that has done incredible stuff but they forgot why they were a church in the first place they love

slipping they were so focused on the business of the king mhm that they didn't have enough time for him wow that doesn't sound familiar mhm m remember I said that the Book of Revelation is Christ's complete unveiling to people of all time yeah do these words that I'm talking and discussing about right now not resonate yeah it does right this very moment

yeah it dawned on me it made me think of some of the Psalms and stuff where David talks about how what what God prefers you know like a a a contrite and prostrate heart before the Lord is what he desires right God prefers devotion in addition to Doctrine these people were so good at weeding out false teachers weeding out false Doctrine they were so focused on making sure that their Theology and their Doctrine was all stellar and on point and they didn't let anybody speak against against it teach against it Etc mhm and all of that's great I say it all the time theology Prime is so important having a a good hermeneutic is so important but it's not the most important what's the most important is the espousal love wow that Devotion to God God prefers devotion in addition to Doctrine it's tense yeah it is verse 5 therefore here's another really good reason to know what the therefore is therefore you've done all of these things I see all these great things that you have done but you've left me in the dust therefore go back to the place where you fell figure out find out discover for yourselves where it was when it was how it was that you you took your focus off your Devotion to me all of that is contained in that first phrase therefore remember from where you have fallen mhm and repent do a 180 and go back and do the Deeds you did at first or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place that's weird unless you repent yeah this is weird to me why is it weird well he's giving like a remedy for their having lost their first left their first love mm by saying to go do the deeds and we think that our first love has to do with feelings M now you're catching on I just realized that as I'm reading it like okay here's the remedy mhm and it's like oh but okay love is not a feeling is it guess the warm and fuzzies nope it's not oh just as a fun side note yeah Jewish marriage back in the day yeah had nothing to do with love no you fell in love with the person that you were married to yeah there's a difference now I'm not advocating for that today don't hear me say that see I'm getting myself into trouble again but you're you're exactly right honey that this is not a feeling that we're talking about here see it was it was the Deeds that they were doing that invigorated that espousal love their acts of service to the king if you will made them more devoted to their darling the the person the the thing that they cherish the most right great Point great observation well it's kind of like in marriage you have you work at it you know marriage takes work what are you talking about yeah it does I mean you make time for each other to spend time together and you know do things together and enjoy each other and it it's invigorating funny that you would bring up marriage yeah what example does Scripture give to describe what the relationship between Christ and his church is supposed to look like well he's the bridegroom right marriage yeah we're talking about marriage here right yeah mhm who wrote that Paul oh Paul yes and who did and which letter did he write that in Ephesians oh my gosh it's all coming together now kind of creepy huh see ladies and gentlemen if you haven't figured out yet the Precision of scripture gives me tingles yeah Goosebumps Goosebumps because you have this letter right out of the gate to a church that matters a heck of a lot to our Lord and savior mhm to the Apostle Paul m to the Apostle John and the thing that they had left behind the thing that they were guilty of was leaving their first

love and marriage is the example that popped into your head wasn't it honey it it did interesting huh yeah well highest love highest love Yeah on Earth the espousal love yeah verse 5 is very very important you want to know how to get on the right track how remember uhhuh repent repeat okay remember where you have fallen mhm repent and then repeat it cuz he says remember where you have fallen repent and do the Deeds you you did at first unless you repent it says repent twice oh remember the law of double mention if something is mentioned twice pay attention mhm remember repent repeat and then he gives us little addendum which is so much fun verse six yet this I do have so I know this is bad news I know that if you don't repent and repeat your repentance and go back to the way things were before I'm going to remove your lampstand and you're not going to exist anymore there is still some good news yes yet this I do have that you hate the Deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate h Andy do you have any idea who the Nicolaitans were well not really you sure no I don't think I I think I'm sure none whatsoever well sounds like Nickelodeon to me are they about to get slimed yeah that is that is a fun educated guess I like that um well it sounds like Nicholas Nicholas sure there's there's a school of thought that these are members of a sect of followers of someone named Nicholas okay um I won't go into details about all of that but it's probably not accurate okay this is this is more along the lines of I I I would argue that this is I I would probably more so agree with the scholars who say that this word is untranslatable M because it's a combination of two different Greek words H the word n which means to rule mm and the word Laos which means people so you put that together and it means to rule over the people one thing that was really really present at the end of the first century in the church as a whole now remember I told you I believe that these letters are written on multiple levels so this is to all the churches is that level that I'm talking right here mhm there's this concept of clergy that we're ruling over the people oh now certainly we we get kind of a bird's eye view of well more than a bird's eye view of that with the Pharisees in the time that Jesus was on the earth you had the religious leaders who were ruling over the people right but now this is in the church and it's really kind of curious how we always draw con draw comparisons between between uh the way that Israel was in relation to Jehovah and the way that the church is in relation to Christ it's very similar Behavior right we just kind of rinse and repeat the mistakes of old so there's this concept of clergy ruling over the people and it says that Jesus says that this was a good Mark on their report card that they hated this that the church in Ephesus hated this kind of behavior so that's a good thing right yeah no kidding think about um the contrast of you know the the clergy rule versus uh Jesus in John Chapter 13 where he's washing his disciples feet oh and he says that the uh the servant the Savior did not come to to be served but to serve mhm mhm suppose just for a second what it would be like if we were ministering to each other in that way rather than having these ranks in our churches that would be really awesome yeah well what's Curious to me is that here in this letter to Ephesus Jesus says he hates it he hates it so I don't know yeah that's just really kind of provocative for me that he calls out this specific way of doing church if you will mhm and tells and and and um gives an accommodation an an extra accommodation to the church in Ephesus that they hate this way of doing things which he also hates mhm it's pretty fascinating to me H and then in verse 7 the infamous phrase he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches all people in the Church of all time hear what Jesus is about to say to him who will overcomes I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God H interesting the Overcomer is for the Overcomer gets to have access to the Tree of Life well what is the Overcomer Andy do you have any guesses oh boy who are the

Overcomers well we are I [Laughter] hope kind of makes me think of first John 5:4 yes for whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith and then read verse 5 who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the son of God same guy wrote this okay just saying thanks John you see the connection here yeah Jesus tells John to write this and and say that to he who overcomes the one who says that Jesus is the son of God the one who has put their faith in Jesus Christ for their salvation mhm he will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God now you want to sit here for another hour or do you want me to just like quickly summarize this which part the part about the Tree of Life yeah I want to I want to know what that's about okay well a as as I probably mentioned before just as in in Genesis you have the beginning of everything mhm uh even the things that go bad especially the things that go bad I would argue in the Book of Revelation you have the reconciliation of it oh awesome the fixing of it if you will mhm it's the cleaning up and putting things back into the original state that they were meant to be in that's what Revelation is doing and explaining to us right right well along those same lines Andy where do we hear about the tree of life for the first time in Genesis in Genesis right and where specifically can you think I am going when I say is the Tree of Life mentioned in the Book of Genesis in the Garden of Eden correct Genesis 3 this is after Adam and Eve have fallen this is after Adam and Eve have been judged and so has the serpent and Adam and Eve are now driven out of the garden verse 24 so he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of Life wow what does that have to do with what we're talking about well law first mention law of first mention first of all right right I did say that H in the Garden of Eden there are two trees that are specifically mentioned the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil MH and the Tree of Life mhm the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil was forbidden to Adam and Eve do not eat of the fruit because when you eat it you will surely die right right which would imply because because God in in Genesis tells Adam and Eve you can eat from every other tree in the garden read that including the tree of life Wow but once they had eaten from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil everything changed and so God drives them out of the garden and now we're all victims of our Sunday school coloring books because how many of us have seen this depiction of this like nasty old finger pointing and Adam and Eve cowering and crying and you know like walking shamefully out of the garden and there's these two angels back in front of this tree that look all you know angry don't come near here right right right like everybody out of the pool kind of a thing right yeah well he drove them out he drove them out yeah but the Holy Spirit drove Jesus Into the Wilderness okay there's an intent and purpose behind Adam and Eve being driven out of the garden mhm it wasn't necessarily to shame them but I would argue it was to protect them oh protect them from what the tree of life and why would they need to be protected from the Tree of life because if they ate from it it would keep them in the state that they're in Forever correct oh my gosh had Adam and Eve continued to have access to the Tree of Life they would have forever remained in their fallen State H and that is why that is part of the reason why there are not one but at least two cherubim that are placed with a flaming sword to guard the way to this tree now I ask you Andy would God need even one cherub to keep Adam and Eve out of the garden I mean Adam and Eve are a human man and woman right I mean he certainly wouldn't need two no right is my point okay so then why would he need at least two cherubim to guard the way because it's more than just making sure that Adam and Eve don't go back to that tree and ruin everything for eternity for themselves there's something else going on here that's true so who is who is the tree of life actually being guarded

from well who else is the Cherub the evil one the devil yeah seriously Isaiah 14 Ezekiel 28 they describe describe Lucifer as being the anointed cherub who covers he was literally the highest ranking cherub in heaven that God created this is why there needed to be at least two or more cherubim there because Lucifer's a pretty powerful cherub H but if he was lurking around in the garden to tempt Eve in the first place couldn't he have eaten it then maybe it's not for the sake of him eating it maybe it's kind of like Snow White action maybe it's for the sake of and taking something off the tree of life and going to feed it to the man and woman oh maybe I don't know why it doesn't explicitly unpack that all I'm trying to get at here is that there are at least two or more cherubim here that are guarding the way with a flaming sword to the Tree of Life to not only make sure that Adam and Eve do not forever remain in their fallen state but also keeps the devil away wow and God did that mhm so on the one hand we're victims of our coloring books from Sunday School of Adam and Eve cowering in Despair and shame as they're being kicked out hoisted out of the garden mhm by some mean old angels with a flaming sword right but on the other hand when I look at this I see God's grace yeah because he doesn't remove the tree it's still there and it matters because he's guarding it now why does all of that matter because according to Revelation 2:7 to him who overcomes to him who puts their faith in Jesus Christ to him who declares Jesus as their lord and savior he will grant to eat from the Tree of Life Again

wow thank goodness it speaks of reconciliation yeah it comes full circle Bingo yeah that which was broken in the beginning is reconciled at the end it's powerful it's so beautiful and this is this is the message that Jesus wants everyone in all of the churches of all time to hear and that's part of the reason why it's outside the body of the letter yeah Ephesus had all of these things that they did great and then they had these issues and Jesus wants to deal with them and then outside the body of that letter he wants every single member of every single church that is ever lived past present and future that if you are an overcomer you will regain access to the tree of life in his paradise amen isn't that amazing yeah so what's the application here we have to pick something there's so much you see why this I love the Bible like I don't understand why people are afraid to study this book because we've only just picked apart seven verses remember repent and repeat repeat yeah sure so that's a good application um yeah one more little tidbit about about this first love Yeah First Love is the abandonment of all for a love that has abandoned all oo and that's the love that the Church of Ephesus left one last thing I mentioned that there are at least four levels that I believe these letters are written on okay oh yeah the last one being prophetic okay that each of these seven letters in the order that they are written lay out all of church history from an cost forward oh this one's kind of easy and I you know I can't validate that view based off of this one letter but it's going to get more provocative as we go but let me just say if we're looking at this through the lens of church history this obviously speaks to the Apostolic Church okay the the original Church era if you will the the times of the Apostles and church planting and and it's obvious that these seven specific churches had some issues that needed to be dealt with mhm it's comforting to know that you know ironically even this soon after the Lord ascended and Paul planted churches they were already getting themselves into trouble it's comforting to know that the problems and trials that our churches today go through are so similar to the problems and trials that the church went through at the beginning yeah that is a little comforting yes not that I am comforted that we have problems and trials I'm comforted that it's kind of like the Book of Ecclesiastes that nothing is new Under the Sun what happened before will happen again exactly that I meant it more along those lines mhm but Jesus says that he is the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end scripture says that he is the same yesterday today and will be forever and what's so cool about about that is that this Jesus who walked Among Us and instructed the apostles on what to go do and then they went and did it he's in the midst of the church today wow he's walking amongst the lamp stands today the light bearers today and he's issuing report cards and so the question that I have for all of us cuz this isn't just for you listeners this is for me too Andy I'm sorry this is for you too I already know it's for me the question this this this letter obviously begs the question not just in your local church context but in your own personal devotional life where is your first love where is your first love where do you rank your Devotion to Jesus Christ now I don't mean to creep anybody out here I mentioned that I believe that all seven of these letters are here by design for so many different reasons on so many different levels that even the very name of the church speaks to the theme of the letter the overall theme of this letter Is This espousal Love yeah guess what Ephesus means in the Greek uh what darling Oh really the church is our Lord's darling we are his bride so the question again I would ask not only in our local it's very easy to look at this letter and go oh my church is like that oh so and so is like that no no no no no remember this letter is written to he who has an ear mhm let's look at ourselves compare it to this letter and say hey do I work hard for the faith Faith yes or no do I have perseverance yes or no do I tolerate evil men yes or no do I put to test those who are teachers yes or no but more importantly have I left my first love yes or no that's all we have to say about that thank you for listening to the Churchosity podcast the post scripts on our next episode we'll be taking a look at the letter to the Church of Smyrna which is one of the two letters that the Lord has not one bad thing to say about them but until next time this is the Churchosity podcast Personnel saying

peace