62. TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH AT EPHESUS

62. TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH AT EPHESUS

2:1. Ephesus: “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write.”

 The message is addressed to the "Angel of the Church." In Revelation 1:20 we see that the seven stars are the fire upon the top of the lampstands, as the light of a candle is on top of the candle itself; these Angels of the churches are the fire upon the candlesticks. 
These Angels are ministering spirits, Psalm 104:4  and Hebrews 1:7, 14. The Angels of the seven churches of Asia are spiritual entities, ministering spirits, which inhabit the natural pastors or leaders of the earthly churches, so long as they follow Christ. ( Review lesson number 53 "Christ Among the Lampstands.")

      The message to the Church at Ephesus was probably meant to be not only to the Ephesians, but also to the several churches on a trade route into Asia Minor.  The seven churches addressed in Revelation 2 and 3 were located in cities which constituted one of these trade routes. Ultimately the messages to the Churches are God's Word for the universal Church for all time.

In the message to the churches of Asia, two maps may be in view: the terrestrial and the celestial, (1Corinthians 15:40). The celestial heavenly map is of the polar region with Christ represented by the pole star and the seven stars by the constellation we know as Ursa Major, but which was known in Hebrew as ‘ash. The earthly, terrestrial map is of Asia Minor, wherein the seven contemporary churches lay in a configuration roughly comparable to that of the stars of the constellation in the heavens. (Note that Paul speaks of redemption as being in the heavenly places, celestial, Ephesians 1:3-7. The celestial is not to be worshiped, but is declaring the glory of God, Psalm 19:1.)

The earthly map of Asia Minor bears a remarkable resemblance to the head of a horse outstretched in a running position with ears laid back.[i] The city of Ephesus lay at the point resembling the horse’s mouth and indeed was the entry point for trade routes to the interior of the continent. The word Ephesus transliterated to Hebrew might be aph sus the “nose of the horse,” or peh sus, “horse’s mouth.” Since the apocalyptic writers typically employed words cryptically, that is, they played with the sounds and made puns on words, the word Ephesus could have been used as a pun for the Hebrew words peh sus “horse’s mouth.” The word Ephesus then would cryptically suggest that the “horse’s mouth” was the entry point to the other six churches.[ii]

The greater significance of this play on words is that it shows us the writer’s pattern for many other words in the Book of Revelation. We can discern several other significant uses of the play on Greek words, suggesting Hebrew meanings, as we shall see in the further discussions.

2:2. commendation: They recognize and deal with false apostles: “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.”

“Them which say they are apostles and are not.” This is in anticipation of the warning to Smyrna in 2:9 and to Philadelphia in 3:9 against “those who say they are Jews but are not.” These false apostles are judged just like the false Jews, – they are liars.

Eusebius quotes the writings of Hegesippus concerning “the seven sects” which divided the Church in his day:

Every man introducing his own opinion in his own particular way. From these in turn came false Christs, false prophets, false apostles, who split the unity of the Church by poisonous suggestions against God and against His Christ, (4.22.4).

2:4. Accusation: “Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 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”.

These words are those of a legal proceeding.[iii] The court is being informed of the accusation against the Church at Ephesus. The Church had fallen from the perfect or idealized place it should have in the heavenlies.They are urged to repent.

2:6. Nicolaitans: “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

The Church is also commended for hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans. The Hebrew word for hate in view here may have been chêt’, “to condemn in a forensic sense, declare guilty,” as in a court case. [iv] 

The deeds of the Nicolaitans may have been to follow after the error of Balaam. The Nicolaitans' doctrine was similar to that of Balaam through whose influence the Israelites ate things sacrificed to idols and committed fornication as also in Revelation 2:14-15. "His [Balaam's] error was thinking that God was the minister of his convenience rather than the Lord of his destinies."

However, the word Nicolaitans may have been a transliteration of the Hebrew word nakal which means “to act fraudulently.” Derivations of the word mean “machination, wile.” Derived nouns mean “fraudulent, deceitful, crafty.” The word nakal is translated “churl” in Isaiah 32:5-7: “The instruments of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.” 

Eusebius quotes Dionysus and Irenaeus concerning the sect of the Nicolaitans.[v] They attribute the founding of the sect to a certain Cerinthus who purported to have a special revelation of a secret writing from Nicolaus, one of the deacons appointed along with Stephen. This spurious revelation taught that the kingdom of Christ was to be an earthly kingdom of a thousand years where all of the lusts of the flesh would be indulged to the full. It thus encouraged utter promiscuity. “Cerinthus and the Nicolaitans tried to import into Christianity the notorious licentiousness of western Asia Minor,” (ibid. 138 note 3).

This spurious “revelation” which Cerinthus brought forth, was sometimes confused with the Book of Revelation given to John. This confusion brought discredit to the Revelation of John and caused some to reject it saying that it was not the work of a Christian but rather that of Cerinthus, (ibid. 7.25.6). In truth, this scripture in Revelation 2:6 clearly shows that the Revelation of John condemns the doctrines espoused by Cerinthus and his Nicolaitans.

The defendant Church is ordered to “repent,” or if they will not, the judgment will fall upon them quickly. Their candlestick will be removed. That candlestick is the ministering Spirit of the Church. To remove this candlestick is a spiritual disaster similar to the cosmic disaster of a falling star. In Isaiah 13, a prophecy is given against Babylon. It tells of God’s wrath against her on the “Day of the Lord.” In this day, “the stars of heaven and their constellations, [symbols of the ministers and their congregations], will not show their light.” A fallen candlestick.

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[i] See map of Asia Minor in Kee, Young, Froelich, Understanding the New Testament, 444.

[ii] See Lindsell, Harper’s Study Bible, p.1746.

[iii] Bandy, Alan S. The Prophetic Lawsuit in the Book of Revelation. New Testament Monographs, 29. Series Editor: Stanley E. Porter. Sheffield Phoenix Press. 2010.

[iv] Gesenius Lexicon, s.v., Hiphil (3).

[v] Eusebius, History of the Church, 3.28.1 and 3.29.1.

This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book Revelation In Context.

My Book is available at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma and is also available online at www.amazon.com  or www.xulonpress.com. Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net .