The book of Revelation is very well composed. Following chapter one, chapters two and three give us a clear view of seven practical churches. These seven churches are excellent illustrations, revealing the local churches, not in doctrine, but in actual practice. By considering these seven churches we can see clearly what a local church is and should be.
The seven epistles in chapters two and three are the record of the actual situation existing in the seven churches at the time these epistles were written. However, since this book is a book of signs with a prophetic nature, the situations of the seven churches are also signs, signifying prophetically the progress of the church in seven stages. The first epistle, to the church in Ephesus, affords a picture of the church at the end of the first stage, during the last part of the first century. The second epistle, to the church in Smyrna, prefigures the suffering church under the persecution of the Roman Empire, from the last part of the first century to the early part of the fourth century, when Constantine the Great, the Caesar of the Roman Empire, brought the church into imperial favor. The third epistle, to the church in Pergamos, pre-symbolizes the worldly church, the church married to the world, from the day Constantine accepted Christianity to the time the papal system was established in the latter part of the sixth century. The epistle to the church in Thyatira depicts prophetically the apostate church, from the ordination of the papal system in the latter part of the sixth century to the end of this age, when Christ comes back. The fifth epistle, to the church in Sardis, prefigures the Protestant church, from the Reformation in the early part of the sixteenth century to Christ’s coming back. The sixth epistle, to the church in Philadelphia, predicts the church of brotherly love, the recovery of the proper church life, from the early part of the nineteenth century, when the brothers were raised up in England to practice the church life outside all denominational and divisive systems, to the second appearing of the Lord. The seventh epistle, to the church in Laodicea, foreshadows the degraded church life of the brothers in the nineteenth century, from the latter part of the nineteenth century until the Lord’s return. In this message and the following six messages we shall treat each of these churches respectively.
In this message we come to the church in Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7). The crucial words in this message are love, life, and light. The basic requirement for having the church life is our love toward the Lord. There is no problem, of course, with the Lord’s love toward us. He has loved us and He continues to love us. The problem is with our love toward Him. Although we have loved Him in the past and may love Him now, there is the danger that our love for the Lord Jesus might fade. The epistle to the church at Ephesus warns us of this. This letter also gives us a clear revelation of the source of the degradation of the church life — the fading of the first love. As we shall see, love gives us the position, the ground, the right, and the privilege to eat of the tree of life. Love gives us the supply of life. If we love the Lord, we shall have the full right to enjoy Him as the tree of life, as our life supply. Light always follows life, issuing out of the abundant supply of life. Life gives us light. In the tabernacle the lampstand comes after the showbread table, indicating that when we enjoy Christ as our life supply, we shall have the light of life. It is vitally important that we love the Lord. If we have love, then we shall have the life symbolized by the tree of life and the light signified by the lampstand.
In brief, the problem with the church at Ephesus was the fading of the first love toward the Lord. Because of this, the Lord came in to deal thoroughly with this church, warning her that if she did not repent, she was in danger of having her lampstand removed. Anyone among them who would repent and return to his first love would be considered by the Lord to be an overcomer. The Lord promised the overcomer the right to enjoy Him as the tree of life. Of course, the lampstand will always remain among those who have overcome. However, if we would not repent of our fading love toward the Lord, we will miss the right to eat of the tree of life and the lampstand will be removed from us. If this were the case, we would be without love, and light. What a pitiful condition this would be!
Revelation 2:1 says, “To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.” Each of these seven epistles begins with a description of the speaker. Before the Lord says anything to the churches, He declares who He is. In the first epistle, the Lord declares that He is the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand and who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. These two items prove that the Lord is so normal, genuine, and proper. He cares for the churches by holding the leading ones in His right hand and by walking among all the churches. The messengers of the churches, the spiritual ones, signified by the shining stars, who bear the responsibility of the testimony of Jesus, are held in the right hand of the Lord, and the Lord is walking in the midst of the churches, signified by the seven golden lampstands. What a wonderful scene! While the Lord is sitting at the right hand of God as our High Priest interceding for us, the churches (Heb. 7:25), He is holding the messengers of the churches and is walking in the midst of the churches to care for them.
The word Ephesus in Greek means desirable. This signifies that the initial church at its end was still desirable to the Lord; the Lord still had much expectation in her.
Let us now consider the virtues of the church in Ephesus. Firstly, she did many works for the Lord. The church in Ephesus was neither idle nor sloppy; she was quite good in working for the Lord.
This church not only worked for the Lord but also labored for Him (vv. 2-3). We must differentiate between work and labor. Labor is higher than work. While work is ordinary, labor is special. Those who worked full time on our meeting hall in Anaheim not only worked — they labored. If we had hired a contractor and had used union workers, they would have worked without laboring.
The church in Ephesus also had the virtue of endurance. This means that the church was afflicted and endured suffering.
The Lord said to the church in Ephesus, “You cannot bear evil men” (v. 2). The word men is not found in the Greek. I believe that the Lord’s word here regarding evil includes two things — evil men and evil matters. The church in Ephesus did not tolerate anyone or anything evil. It certainly was a good church.
The Lord also said, “You have tried those who call themselves apostles and are not, and have found them to be false” (v. 2). This church was very discerning, trying the false apostles and rejecting them. They discerned that the self-assumed apostles were false. Throughout the generations, there have been self-appointed apostles. This is also true today.
In 2:6 the Lord said, “But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” The church in Ephesus hated what the Lord hates — the works of the Nicolaitans. As far as virtues were concerned, this church was good, pure, right, and normal.
The Lord hates the works of the Nicolaitans. If you want to understand what the works of the Nicolaitans are, read Brother Nee’s book, The Orthodoxy of the Church. The works of the Nicolaitans refer to a hierarchy among the saints in which some set themselves to rule over others. This brings into being the so-called clergy and laity. In the church in Ephesus there was not the doctrine, the teaching, of the Nicolaitans. This was to develop later. But there were the works and activities of the Nicolaitans, that is, there was some type of hierarchy of clergy and laity. The word Nicolaitans is an equivalent of the Greek word Nikolaitai, the root of which is Nikolaos, composed of two Greek words — niko and laos. Niko means conquer or above others. Laos means common people, secular people, or laity. So Nikolaos means conquering the common people, climbing above the laity. Nicolaitans, then, must refer to a group of people who esteem themselves higher than the common believers. This was undoubtedly the hierarchy followed and established by Catholicism and Protestantism. The Lord hates the works, the behavior, of these Nicolaitans, and we must hate what the Lord hates.
God in His economy intended that all His people be priests to serve Him directly. In Exodus 19:6 God ordained the children of Israel to be “a kingdom of priests.” This means that God wanted them all to be priests. However, because of the worship of the golden calf (Exo. 32:1-6), they lost the priesthood, and only the tribe of Levi, because of their faithfulness to God, was chosen to replace the whole nation of Israel as priests to God (Exo. 32:25-29; Deut. 33:8-10). Hence, there was a mediatorial class between God and the children of Israel. This became a strong system in Judaism. In the New Testament, God has returned to His original intention according to His economy in that He has made all believers in Christ priests (Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9). But at the end of the initial church, even in the first century, the Nicolaitans intervened as the mediatorial class to spoil God’s economy. According to church history, this became a system adopted by the Roman Catholic Church and was also retained by the Protestant churches. Today in the Roman Catholic Church there is the priestly system, in the state churches there is the clerical system, and in the independent churches there is the pastoral system. All these are a mediatorial class, spoiling the universal priesthood of all believers. Thus, there are two distinct classes — the clergy and the laity. But in the proper church life there should be neither clergy nor laity; all believers should be the priests of God. Because the mediatorial class destroys the universal priesthood in God’s economy, the Lord hates it.
In Acts 6:5 among the seven serving ones was one named Nikolaos (Gk.). There is no trace in church history that this Nikolaos is the first of the Nicolaitans.
Although the church in Ephesus had so many virtues, it was degraded because it had left its first love. In verse 4 the Lord said, “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” The Greek word for first is the same as the word translated best in Luke 15:22. Our first love toward the Lord must be the best love for Him. The church in Ephesus had left this best love toward the Lord.
The church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:23) is a matter of life; as the new man (Eph. 2:15), it is a matter of the Person of Christ; and as the Bride of Christ (John 3:29), it is a matter of love. The first epistle to the Ephesians tells us that for the church life we need to be strengthened in our inner man that Christ may make His home in our hearts, that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:16-19); and that it is for the church life that grace is with all them who love the Lord Jesus (Eph. 6:24). Now the second epistle to the Ephesians reveals that the degradation of the church begins with our leaving the first love toward the Lord. Nothing but love can keep us in a proper relationship with the Lord. The church in Ephesus had good works, labored for the Lord, endured suffering, and tried the false apostles, but she left her first love toward the Lord. Leaving the first love is the source of all the degradation in the following stages of the church.
We in the local churches today must be warned of the possibility of losing our first love for the Lord. We may work and labor for the Lord and we may be pure doctrinally and correct scripturally, yet not have the first love for the Lord. Perhaps in the coming years we shall not love Him as much as we do now. Beware of this. It is better to lose some of our work than to fail in our love for the Lord. Our love for Him must be the first love. We all must say, “Lord, I love You. I do not love the works I do for You, and I do not appreciate the labor I spend for You. Lord, I love You. If my labor for You frustrates me from loving You, I will cease laboring.” Do not allow anything to separate you from the love of the Lord. We must take care of the first love and constantly love the Lord.
I can never forget a short paragraph concerning John Nelson Darby. This paragraph reveals that when Darby was very old he was traveling and stayed in a hotel for the night. As he was going to bed, he prayed in a simple way, saying, “Lord Jesus, I still love You.” It is precious for an old saint to say this. John Nelson Darby began to love the Lord during his youth. After more than sixty years, he still loved Him. We all must daily tell the Lord, “Lord Jesus, I still love You. I may change in everything else, Lord, but I would never change in loving You. Rather, I want my love for You to increase all the time.” I read this paragraph about Darby more than twenty years ago, and I cannot tell you the help it has rendered me throughout the years.
We must constantly say, “Lord Jesus, I still love You.” Once we have fallen from our first love, our degradation has begun. We may remain the same in everything else — in work, labor, and in other things — but we are degraded because we have left our first love. Eventually, the church at Ephesus had more work but less love. Today, we all must say that we want more love and less work. If we would do any work, it must be out of our love for the Lord. Love should motivate everything we do for the Lord. If we cannot do a certain thing because we love Him, we should not do it. Our work should simply be an expression of our love for Him. We must be like this; otherwise, we shall not be kept in His presence.
In verse 5 we see the consequence of the church’s degradation: “Remember therefore whence you have fallen and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.” The consequence of the church’s degradation is losing the testimony. To lose the testimony simply means to have the lampstand removed. If we leave our first love toward the Lord and do not repent, we shall lose the testimony of the Lord and the lampstand will be removed from us. Years ago, the testimony with the Brethren was quite bright, but it is not so today. There is no doubt that the lampstand has been removed from most of the so-called Brethren assemblies. When you enter into their assemblies, you do not sense any shining there. There is no light, no testimony. We must be careful and constantly on the alert to avoid this consequence. Do not think that because we are the local churches as the lampstands and are the testimony of Jesus that we cannot lose our testimony. The day we lose our first love toward the Lord will be the day we lose the testimony. On that day, the lampstand will be removed.
The first part of 2:7 says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” At the beginning of each of the seven epistles in chapters two and three, it is the Lord who speaks (Rev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). But at the end of all seven epistles it is the Spirit speaking to the churches (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). Once again, this proves that the speaking Christ is the Spirit. Whatever Christ speaks, that is the speaking of the Spirit. No one can argue with this. Who was speaking to the church in Ephesus? Christ, the Son of Man holding the messengers in His right hand and walking in the midst of the churches. As verse 7 indicates, the speaker eventually is the Spirit. This proves that Christ is the speaking Spirit. This not only indicates that the Spirit is the Lord and the Lord is the Spirit; it also emphasizes the vital importance of the Spirit in the darkness of the church’s degradation as indicated by the sevenfold intensified Spirit in Rev. 1:4. The same emphasis is also seen in Rev. 14:13 and Rev. 22:17. It is foolish to say that Christ today is not the speaking Spirit, and it is ridiculous to separate the speaking Spirit from Christ. The two are one.
If the speaker were only Christ without being the speaking Spirit, He could never speak some words into our spirit, and His speaking would not be very subjective and touching. But, as our experience testifies, if, as we read these epistles, we are open in our spirit to Him, the Spirit will immediately speak something of Christ into us. Because the speaker is not the objective Christ but the subjective Spirit, He speaks not only in the black and white letters of the Bible, but also in our spirit. Once we hear His speaking, something indelible is wrought into us, and nothing can take it away. Our Christ today is the speaking Spirit. I rejoice over this fact and I boldly proclaim it.
On the one hand, each of the seven epistles is the word of the Lord to a particular church; but, on the other hand, it is the word of the Spirit to all of the churches. Every church should not only give heed to the epistle written to her particularly, but also to all the epistles written to the other churches. This implies that all the churches, as the Lord’s testimony in the Spirit, should be the same. Since the Spirit today is speaking to the churches, we must be in the churches to be rightly positioned to hear the Spirit’s speaking. How else can we hear what the Spirit is saying?
The Spirit is speaking to the churches, not to any religion, denomination, or group of seeking Christians. This is the reason that not many Christians can hear the speaking of the Spirit. The Spirit does not even speak just to one church, but to the churches. Although some supposed churches want to be unique, we should not be a unique or particular church. If we are, we shall miss the speaking of the Spirit because the Spirit is speaking to the churches. In none of the seven epistles does the Spirit speak to a particular church. All the churches should be common, not unique. During the past years, I have heard many say that every church must be distinctive. Those who hold this concept say that every church must have its local uniqueness. Although this thought sounds attractive, actually it is quite repulsive. To make your local church unique is to separate yourself from all the other churches. If you do this, you are through with the Spirit’s speaking. Which is better — to be unique or to be common? Although you may say that it is better to be common, the fact is that everyone likes to be unique. In your heart, you want the church in your locality to be unique. Nevertheless, in the local churches, do not try to be unique. We all must be common because the Spirit speaks to the churches, not to any unique church. When we are in the church and among the churches, we have the right position and the right angle to hear the Spirit’s speaking.
In spiritual things, seeing depends upon hearing. The writer of this book firstly heard the voice (Rev. 1:10) and then saw the vision (Rev. 1:12). If our ears are heavy and cannot hear, then we cannot see (Isa. 6:9-10). The Jews would not hear the word of the Lord, so they could not see what the Lord was doing (Matt. 13:15; Acts 28:27). The Lord always wants to open our ears to hear His voice (Job 33:14-16; Isa. 50:4-5; Exo. 21:6) that we may see things according to His economy. The heavy ears need to be circumcised (Jer. 6:10; Acts 7:51). The sinner’s ears need to be cleansed with the redeeming blood and anointed with the Spirit (Lev. 14:14, 17, 28). To serve the Lord as priests also requires our ears to be cleansed with the redeeming blood (Exo. 29:20; Lev. 8:23-24). In this book, as the Spirit is speaking to the churches, we all need an opened, circumcised, cleansed, and anointed ear to hear the Spirit’s speaking.
Although our angle and position may be right, we still may not have the proper ear to hear. Chapter one emphasizes seeing and chapters two and three emphasize hearing. We need to both see and hear. Among our physical senses, which is more important — seeing or hearing? Suppose you had the choice of losing either your sight or your hearing. Which would you choose? We may say that seeing is more important than hearing, but hearing is deeper than seeing. Thus, we must tell the Lord, “Lord, I need to both see and hear. Have mercy on me, Lord, and grant me eyes to see and ears to hear.” We may have to struggle with the Lord, telling Him that we must be able to both see and hear.
Hearing is more intimate than seeing. Our closest friends will speak intimately to us. If you lose your hearing organ, you will be unable to enjoy this intimacy with your loved ones. In chapter one, John saw; in chapters two and three, he heard. We need to see the church life and we need to hear the intimate contents of the church life. To see the church is one thing, and to hear the intimate contents of the church life is another. Although many of us have seen the church, not many have heard the intimate contents of the church life. Hence, we need an ear to hear. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Now we come to the promise to the overcomer: “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (v. 7). To overcome in these seven epistles means to overcome the degraded situation of the churches. In this epistle, it means to recover our first love toward the Lord and to hate the works of the Nicolaitans, the hierarchy which the Lord hates.
In 2:7 the Lord said that to him who overcomes He will give to eat of the tree of life. Religion always teaches, but the Lord feeds (John 6:35). The apostle Paul did the same thing, feeding the believers (1 Cor. 3:2). For the proper church life and the recovery of the church life, that is, for the proper growth in the Christian life, what we need is not merely the mental apprehension of teachings, but the eating in our spirit of the Lord as the bread of life (John 6:57). Even the words of the Scripture should not be considered as merely doctrines to teach our mind, but as food to nourish our spirit (Matt. 4:4; Heb. 5:12-14). Here in this epistle the Lord promises to give the overcomer “to eat of the tree of life.” This refers back to Gen. 2:8-9, 16 concerning the matter of eating ordained by God. In the epistle to the church in Pergamos, the Lord promises the overcomer to eat of “the hidden manna” (2:17), which refers to the eating of manna by the children of Israel in the wilderness (Exo. 16:14-16, 31). And in the epistle to the church in Laodicea, the Lord promises to dine with the one who opens the door to Him (Rev. 3:20). To dine is not merely to eat one food, but to eat the riches of a meal. This may refer to the eating of the rich produce of the good land of Canaan by the children of Israel (Josh. 5:10-12). This indicates that the Lord desires to recover the eating by God’s people of the proper food, as ordained by God and typified by the tree of life, the manna, and the produce of the good land, all of which are types of the various aspects of Christ as food to us. The degradation of the church distracts God’s people from the eating of Christ as their food to the teaching of doctrines for knowledge. In the church’s degradation are the teaching of Balaam (Rev. 2:14), the teaching of the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:15), the teaching of Jezebel (Rev. 2:20), and the teaching of the deep things of Satan (Rev. 2:24). Now the Lord comes in these epistles to recover the proper eating of Himself as our food supply. We must eat Him not only as the tree of life and the hidden manna, but also as a meal full of His riches.
The word for tree here, as in 1 Pet. 2:24, is wood in Greek, not the usual word used for tree. In the Bible, “the tree of life” always refers to Christ as the embodiment of all the riches of God (Col. 2:9) for our food (Gen. 2:9; 3:22, 24; Rev. 22:2, 14, 19). Here it refers to the crucified (implied in the tree as a piece of wood — 1 Pet. 2:24) and resurrected (implied in the zoe life — John 11:25) Christ who is in the church today, the consummation of which will be the New Jerusalem, in which the crucified and resurrected Christ will be the tree of life for the enjoyment of all God’s redeemed people for eternity (Rev. 22:2, 14).
It was God’s original intention that man should eat of the tree of life (Gen. 2:9, 16). Due to the fall, the tree of life was closed to man (Gen. 3:22-24). Through the redemption of Christ, the way to touch the tree of life, which is God Himself in Christ as life to man, has been opened again (Heb. 10:19-20). But in the church’s degradation, religion crept in with its knowledge to distract the believers in Christ from eating Him as the tree of life. Hence, the Lord promises to grant the overcomers to eat of Himself as the tree of life in the paradise of God as a reward. This is an incentive for them to leave the knowledge of religion and to return to the enjoyment of Himself. This promise of the Lord restores the church to God’s original intention according to His economy. What the Lord wants the overcomers to do is what the whole church should do in God’s economy. Due to the church’s degradation, the Lord comes to call the overcomers to replace the church in the accomplishment of God’s economy.
The eating of the tree of life not only was God’s original intention concerning man, but will also be the eternal issue of God’s redemption. All His redeemed people will enjoy the tree of life, which is Christ with all the divine riches as their portion for eternity (Rev. 22:2, 14, 19). Because of religion’s distraction and the church’s degradation, the Lord in His wisdom makes the enjoyment of Himself in the coming kingdom a reward to encourage His believers to overcome religion’s distracting knowledge of teachings and return to the enjoyment of Himself as the life supply in the church today for the accomplishment of God’s economy.
As we have seen, the promise to the overcomers in the church in Ephesus was to eat of the tree of life. The tree of life is in the paradise of God. If we know the Bible, we shall realize that the paradise of God in Rev. 2:7 is not the garden of Eden but the coming New Jerusalem. The paradise in Luke 23:43 is the pleasant and restful place where Abraham and all the dead saints are (Luke 16:23-26). But, as we have pointed out, “the paradise of God” in this verse is the New Jerusalem (Rev. 3:12; 21:2, 10; 22:1-2, 14, 19) of which the church is a foretaste today, Adam was in the garden of Eden, and Abraham and all the dead saints are in paradise. We are waiting to enter into another paradise, the paradise of God in the New Jerusalem. As we are waiting for this, we have a miniature of the New Jerusalem today — the church life. In the church we enjoy the Lord Jesus as the tree of life. We are enjoying the crucified and resurrected Christ as the tree of life, the food supply in our spirit, as a foretaste today in the church. This enjoyment of the foretaste will usher us into the full taste of the crucified and resurrected Christ as the tree of life, our nourishment of life in the New Jerusalem for eternity. The promise of eating the tree of life given to the overcomers in Ephesus indicates that they shall eat Christ in the church life today and eat Him as the tree of life in the New Jerusalem for eternity. Our experience confirms this.
Strictly speaking, “to eat of the tree of life...in the paradise of God” in this verse refers to the particular enjoyment of Christ as our life supply in the New Jerusalem in the coming millennial kingdom, because this is a promise of reward made by the Lord to His overcomers. The enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth will be the common portion of all God’s redeemed people, whereas the particular enjoyment of Him as the tree of life in the New Jerusalem in the coming millennial kingdom is a reward only to the overcoming believers. If we overcome all distractions in the church’s degradation to enjoy Christ as the tree of life in the church today, we shall be thus rewarded. Otherwise, we shall miss this particular enjoyment in the coming kingdom, though we still shall enjoy Him as the tree of life in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth for eternity. All the Lord’s promises concerning the reward and all His predictions concerning the loss at the end of each of the seven epistles refer to His dealing with His believers in the coming millennial kingdom. These promises have nothing to do with eternal destiny — eternal salvation or eternal perdition.
This matter of eating the tree of life brings us back to the beginning (Gen. 2:9, 16) because at the beginning there was the tree of life. The tree of life always brings us back to the beginning where there is nothing but God Himself. There is no work, labor, endurance, or anything else — only God Himself. In the church life, again and again we need to be brought back to the beginning, forgetting all other things and enjoying God Himself as the tree of life.
When we are back to the beginning with the tree of life, we enjoy Christ as the life supply. Eating the tree of life, that is, enjoying Christ as our life supply, should be the primary matter in the church life. The content of the church life depends upon the enjoyment of Christ. The more we enjoy Him, the richer the content will be. But to enjoy Christ requires us to love Him with the first love. If we leave our first love toward the Lord, we shall miss the enjoyment of Christ and lose the testimony of Jesus; hence, the lampstand will be removed from us. Loving the Lord, enjoying the Lord, and being the testimony of the Lord go together.
If we would be brought back to the beginning, we should forget everything and simply enjoy Christ as the life supply. For this, we must love Him above all things, above our work for Him and whatever we have for Him. By simply loving Him, we shall be brought back to the beginning where we care for nothing except God Himself as our life supply in the tree of life. This is the proper way to maintain the church life and to be kept in the church life. Here we have the best love, the tree of life as our life supply, and the lampstand with the shining light. How marvelous! The more we love Him, the more we have the right to eat of Him and to enjoy Him as the tree of life. Then, as a result of this, the light of His testimony will shine brightly.
