Lesson 621

(Lesson 621)(04-30-13) Revelations 2:1-7, "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; 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: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 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. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 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."

Todays lesson is directed to the Church at Ephesus. John warns that there are shortcomings within that Church and that failure to return to the pure gospel of Jesus Christ could result in the destruction of that Church.

Jesus defined "candlestick" as the Church itself, "the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.". There are those who contend that the candlestick is the "spirit" of the Church. This may well be true, however, using Jesus' definition, the Church itself would be disestablished by the removal of the "candlestick".

John gives the Ephesians credit for their hate for the Nicolaitans. "Strong's bible dictionary defines Nicolaitans as: "a sect mentioned in Rev. 2:6,15, who were charged with holding the error of Balaam, casting a stumbling block before the church of God by upholding the liberty of eating things sacrificed to idols as well as committing fornication."

"The error of Balaam" is the practice of introducing, or following after foreign or alien doctrines. It behooves us all to contemplate what this warning means to us as modern Christians.~