False Apostles and First Works
The messenger at Ephesus is commended for *rejecting false apostles, chastised for leaving his first love, and summoned to return to his first works.
In his exhortation to the “messenger”
at Ephesus, Jesus begins by stressing his intimate knowledge of all the churches
in Asia. He is “grasping” the seven messengers tightly in his
right hand, and “walking” continuously among the seven assemblies.
Therefore, he knows their “works and labor and endurance” – (Revelation 2:1-7). - [Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash].
Ephesus was the largest city in the province of Asia and its chief seaport and commercial center. But its most
prominent feature was the Temple of Artemis or
Diana, and the city was the provincial center for
the worship of the emperor. It had temples
dedicated to the emperor and Roma, the patron
goddess of Rome. The marginalized Christian congregation would have been a tiny
island of righteousness in a sea of paganism.
He praised the messenger for his “works and labor and endurance.” All three nouns
occur again in the fourteenth chapter with the promise for saints who overcome. “Endurance” means persevering for Jesus, especially when suffering for
his sake.
- (Revelation 14:12-13) – “Here is the endurance of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard the voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, declares the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them.”
That
Jesus has praised the messenger for his “endurance” suggests strongly
that he has suffered for his faith. And because “endurance” is linked
with “works and labors” indicates he has persevered in doing the deeds
that Christ expects of his servants.
Jesus commends the messenger for his faithfulness in rooting out “false
apostles.” Exactly who these men were or what they taught is not stated.
However, Jesus also acknowledged that the messenger “hates the works
of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” Undoubtedly, the “false
apostles” were proponents of that group’s teachings.
The passage states that the messenger found these self-proclaimed
apostles “false.” This represents the Greek noun pseudés, the
same noun applied to the “beast from the earth,” the “false
prophet” who used signs and wonders and economic sanctions to coerce men to
render homage to the “beast.” The noun can also mean “liar” and is so used
when warning that “all liars” will be cast into the “lake of
fire,” presumably including the “false apostles” from Ephesus - (Revelation
13:11-15, 20:10, 21:8).
The teachings of the “Nicolaitans” are not described. The
name is a compound of the Greek nouns niké (“victory”) and laos (“people”).
It may denote “victory people,” “victory over people,” or “he who conquers
people.” The latter sense is the likeliest, especially considering the later
descriptions of the “beast” that “conquered” the saints (nikaō).
Furthermore, the “false prophet” was given authority over “people”
or laos. The name anticipates the larger assaults by the “beast”
and its spokesman against the “saints” in the later visions of Revelation
- (Revelation 13:7-10).
But the messenger is chastised for
having left
his “first love.” The object of this “love” is not
specified, whether God, Jesus, or other men. However, since the messenger is
summoned to repent and “do the first works,” this critique
points to something he is failing to do rather than to his loss of love for the
Lord.
Since the messenger has been praised for his faithfulness in resisting deceivers and enduring “for my name's sake” without “growing weary,” the answer lies elsewhere. Moreover, his faithfulness in suffering for Jesus is another indicator that he has not lost his love for the savior.
His sin lies not in any gradual dampening of his love and zeal, but
in the deliberate abandonment of his “first works.” The Greek verb
rendered “left” means to “discharge, forsake, abandon, lay aside.” It
points to a choice the messenger has made. And the sin is serious, for if he does
not repent and return to his “first works,” Jesus will remove his “lampstand”
from its place.
Unfortunately, the passage does not identify what this failure
was, at least, not explicitly. Since the book of Revelation stresses the
importance of not compromising the faith and maintaining faithful testimony,
perhaps this rebuke points to a loss of zeal for bearing witness or the
tendency to compromise the faith under pressure from the larger pagan society.
But the exhortation is not just for the messenger of Ephesus. It
concludes with a summons for all the churches to “hear what the Spirit is
saying.” All seven congregations are exhorted to “overcome,” and
if they do, they will “eat of the tree of life in the paradise of God.”
This final clause alludes to the “tree of life” from the
garden of Eden. And here, “tree” translates the Greek noun xulon.
The common word for a living “tree” was dendron, but xulon refers
to dead wood from felled trees. Elsewhere in the New
Testament, it refers to the “tree” on which Jesus was “hanged.” Thus,
in the book of Revelation, the death of Jesus on the Cross represents the
symbolic significance of the “tree of life” - (Genesis
2:9, Matthew
26:47, 26:55, Acts 5:30, 16:24, Galatians 3:13, 1 Peter 2:24).
The reference to the “tree of life” also provides a verbal link
to the later vision of “New
Jerusalem” where the tree is found. Access to what Adam lost will be
restored in the “new heavens and new earth,” and the original “curse” will be reversed. That is what
awaits every saint who faithfully “overcomes” - (Revelation 22:1-3).
Repeatedly in Revelation, saints are
summoned to persevere in persecution, and not to compromise their commitment to
the faith regardless of what Satan or his earthly vassals do. They must “overcome”
by enduring faithfully to the end, even when doing so means a martyr’s death.
The brethren overcome the Devil by “the
blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and because they love not their
lives unto death.” The exhortation to return and “do the first works” is a
call to that level of commitment, and to engage in giving faithful “testimony”
before the world.
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