The Infinite Concern of the Risen Christ for the
Well-Being
of His People As His Body on this Earth
by Samson Hutagalung
The Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ
The
book of Revelation is not the revelation of the apostle John but it
is the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ which God gave to John in
order to show to His servant the things which shortly must come to
pass. In Revelation 1:9 we
see
some of the things that the Lord Jesus
told to His beloved apostle, John and saying “I John, who also am
your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and
patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for
the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” In other
word, the apostle John was in exile under the persecution of Romans
Empire because of his uncompromised stand for the word of truth as
Jesus had committed to him as the last survival apostle.
In
Revelation 1:10-20 we see the mentioning of the seven churches in
the Asia Minor to which God also told His revelation through the
apostle John. “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard
behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and
Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a
book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto
Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and
unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned
to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one
like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot,
and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs
were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame
of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a
furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in
his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp
twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his
strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he
laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the
first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold,
I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of
death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which
are, and the things which shall be hereafter; The mystery of the
seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden
candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches:
and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven
churches.”
In
this passage in Revelation 1:19 we find the tremendous outline of
the whole book of Revelation. “Write the things which thou hast
seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be
hereafter.” What is the meaning of this passage? Jesus Christ must
have felt it was important not only to reveal Himself as in the
midst of seven golden candlesticks and holding in His hand seven
stars but also to explain to us what they meant to us by those
symbols.
The
lampstands (candlesticks) are the churches. This is the very
appropriate and beautiful symbol to describe the
church
of Jesus Christ.
Then we ask, what is the purpose of the lampstands? The main purpose
is to set the light to full view. This is the very magnificent illustration of the local church honouring the name of Christ to
send forth the light of our Lord Jesus Christ through His word and
the reflection of the lives of His people into the community of the
human beings where Christ is not known. It is supposed to be
obvious, the light is shining in the world that is full of darkness.
However perhaps it was not so obvious to these seven stars in His
right hand and Jesus called them the angels of the seven churches
which could mean “little angels but human messengers.” In both
Hebrew and Greek can be translated as angel or messenger which is
referring to human messenger. Some have suggested that these seven
messengers are the senior pastors of the seven churches. And some
also believe that they are real angel because the angels are the
ministry spirit (Hebrews 1:14). But the most important thing to know
is that the context alone can show us what it means.
As
the Lord Jesus Christ gave His revelation to His apostle John, in
Revelation 2, He further gave the details of the state of the
spirituality of those seven churches before the Lord. In this study
we need to consider one of these seven churches as the example of
the condition of the many churches in the world today namely the
church
of Ephesus.
The
Example of the Infinite Concern of Risen Christ for
the Well-Being of His People
The Church of Ephesus
The Qualification of Jesus Christ over His Church
In
Revelation 2:1-7 we find the first of the seven letters given to the
seven churches in Asia Minor. This letter is about the church of Ephesus
which
was the most strong of all from human’s perspective. This
church also was the most privilege church for there were three great
servants of God who ministered to her namely the apostle Paul,
Timothy and the apostle John.
In
Revelation 2:1-3 it describes the qualification of Christ over His
church in Ephesus. Then Jesus said,
“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.”
When
we read these few verses, we are reminded that these words were
given directly by the Lord Jesus Christ after a few decades of His
ascension to heaven. He is
the
second person in Triune God to whom
the universe is brought to the existence and apart from whom no one
in the human race will ever go to heaven. Only through Him alone by
His precious blood upon the cross and His bodily resurrection from
the death, the door has been opened by which forgiveness of sins,
justification and redemption can come to sinful man.
In
this passage, firstly, the Lord Jesus Christ introduced Himself when
He said to the angel of the church of Ephesus “These things saith he
that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand” (Revelation 2:1).
This verse tells us that every church in this world is absolutely
under His control. Jesus Christ Himself who causes the leaderships
and administration structures that teach the authority of every
church in this world namely the word of God. He is in control and
they are all absolutely in His control and
His hand.
However
when we see the churches in the world we wonder who leading those
churches
is. Sometimes we become so discourage when we hear tragedy,
apostasy, compromises and immorality that bring reproach to the name
of Christ. Then we say who is in control of all these churches? The
answer is that every church that truly believes the Lord Jesus
Christ as Lord and God and Saviour is under His ultimate control.
Thus we need to see how He deals with the church that is drifted
away from Him namely the church of Ephesus. We need to remember that the Lord
Jesus says He has all power and authority in heaven and in this
earth. This is to say that the Lord Jesus Christ asks us, not to
fear although the world terrifies and persecutes Christians and
destroys churches as happen in many countries in the world that
we are fully aware. But Jesus Christ is in control of His church and
He has never made any single mistake in His rulership, sovereign
control and direction of His people.
Secondly,
He says, “I and he who walketh in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks” (v.1). The Lord Jesus Christ was saying that He is
walking in the midst of His church. On the other hand we wonder
because we did not see Him for
almost
2000 years. Did he leave His church
alone in this wicked world? The answer of course, not, because the
Lord Jesus has sent the comforter to dwell in the midst of His
church. In one sense He is not here if He is here there is no need
for the Second Coming. He is not here because He is in the right
hand of the Father in the third heaven. But in another sense He is
here. By virtue, the fact that He is God and He cannot be confined
in one place. In additional sense He is here through His special
representative the blessed Holy Spirit, the third person
in
Triune God.
He is the comforter who came on the day of Pentecost and indwells in
the church individually and in the life of
every true
Christian.
Where the
Holy Spirit is,
the Lord Jesus Christ is being honoured because He has come to bear
witness of Him. This is
a very difficult thing to
keep in balance, if we are not careful we will misunderstand. Thus
we need to understand that Jesus is
in
heaven in one sense but He is
here in another sense. His present must be central of our thinking.
He is in the midst of His church. He knows exactly what happen in
His church, because He has all authority and He is omnipresent. As
Jesus said before Jesus left His people, “lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). The great
commission is not only for the apostles but also for all Christians
because He said this for all Christians. Thus He is
in
the midst of
His
people until the end of age. Jesus said, “For where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”
(Matthew 18:20).
The Qualification of the church of Ephesus
Thus
Jesus said to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:2-3, “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.” The Lord Jesus Christ could describe what the church of Ephesus was doing in the ministry of the
Lord. Jesus was saying here that the Christians in the church of Ephesus
firstly were zealous for the Lord. Secondly, they had
high moral standard for their church. Thirdly, they had
very strict doctrine of theological standard for their church. These
were very
important commendations from Christ to the local church. The
church
of Ephesus was
the perfect church from human’s perspective in their obedience to
what the Lord commanded His church to do. We should not
underestimate what this church had done.
The church of Ephesus was the best in their works in
comparison to the rest of the churches mentioned in Revelation 2 and
3. Jesus knew what they had been doing and He
was impressed for
their works. Apparently our own church has already fainted out in
comparison with the church of Ephesus in this respect. Furthermore
Jesus said verse 2, “thou canst not bear them which are evil.” The
meaning of this verse is that the
church
of Ephesus has
the very high expectation and standard for people in good standing
of membership and leadership position in the church. They simply did
not tolerate immorality because they knew Jesus Christ, his infinite
purity and holiness. They knew that apart from sanctification nobody
would see the Lord. These
were some of the qualification of this
church that the Lord Jesus Christ also acknowledged. Therefore the
church
of Ephesus was
highly sensitive to the most potential disasters in terms of their
effectiveness. They would not tolerate immorality as God defines
immorality in the New Testament for their leadership and membership.
In
the same verse also Jesus said to the church of Ephesus, “thou hast
tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found
them liars” (v. 2). This is to say that the
church
of Ephesus had
a great discernment of truth and error. This can be understood
better in the light of 1 John 4:1 that says, “Beloved, believe not
every spirit, but try the spirit whether they are of God.” Thus the
church
of Ephesus had
been working very hard to apply what the Lord has commanded to His
Church. Although the church of Ephesus stood in the centre
of the power
of Satan, immorality, and demonism because of the
temple of Diana in
the city of Ephesus. And the Lord Jesus Christ commended this church
that they stood firm
in the absolute inerrant authority of the word
of God and the whole counsel of God as it
was entrusted to them.
The church of Ephesus was capable to test those who
said they were apostles or sent from God. They found that those who
claimed
to be sent by God,
in reality
they were not, because what they said was contradictory to the word
of God and they were liars. This is not the easy and pleasant work
because there is a price needs to be paid in order to be firm on the
truth of God. Just like the pastor who points out the errors of other ministers, he needs to pay the price
because some people would accuse that pastor to one extent and
another of being un-loving. They would say to the pastor, “you do not
love all God’s people, because you are so strict.” Thus to point out
the errors in the midst of so-called “apostles and pastors” is the
heavy burden for Christian leader. However he needs to be faithful
to the truth of God no matter what. Pastors who truly love God and
His word must follow the motto that Paul gave in 1 Corinthians 13,
“that love rejoices on the truth.” Apart from the truth there
is no biblical love, because apart from the revealed truth, love
will be suffocated for there is no foundation in which it can
function. The church
of Ephesus was
perfect in terms of their obedience to the commandments of the Lord
that
was given to His church.
The Disqualification of the church of Ephesus
When
one reads the first three verses of Revelation 2, he will find the
great qualification and distinction of the
church
of Ephesus from
the rest of the seven churches. However what a shock to read the
next
verses that tell us the disqualification of her which spoils all the
qualifications mentioned above. In Revelation 2:4 “Nevertheless I
have somewhat against thee (the church of Ephesus), because thou hast left thy
first love.”
When
we see verse 4 we notice the reason they
were disqualified before
the Lord was because they left their first love. So what is the
first love? This is the love that we first were given for Jesus
Christ by the Holy Spirit when we believe in Him and the message of
the gospel. As John explained it in 1 John 2:20, “But ye have an
unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” because the Holy
Spirit has opened our hearts and eyes to the marvellous glory of
Jesus Christ. This happens when the first time we believe
in Him and
He gave us the first love for Him. The new birth in Christ provides
that first love, the glimpse of his glory, and the overwhelming
appreciation for knowing what He has done for us. We love Him
because He first loved us. Thus this is the first love. However
sometimes it can imply that the first love can faint out into just
monotonous and routine for the sake of tradition and repetition of
what people thinks of us without looking to Him and thinking about
Him first and foremost.
The church of Ephesus when they
were
first
born into God’s family they had the first love for God. This occurred when
Paul preached the gospel
in
the city of
Ephesus. The ministry in
Ephesus
continued even the absent of Paul because they had the elected
elders and other fellow servants of God sent by Paul namely Timothy.
The church of Ephesus
grew and hundreds of hundreds of people brought to the saving
knowledge of the Saviour. When apposition arose, Paul set a group of
believers to study the
word of God
at the Bible
college
of Tyranus. As
a result all the people of Asia Minor
heard about the gospel of Jesus Christ, both Jews and Greeks
believed in Christ Jesus. All these happened because of the first love
of the Christians in the church of Ephesus for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus
the church of Ephesus was convinced overwhelming to
spread the message and established the church for Jesus Christ. They
were convinced that high standard of morality and doctrine have to
be maintained. They were not about to change their doctrines or
their standard. However as the years went by, there was something
happened in the church of Ephesus.
They were so preoccupied in what they were doing in their programs,
activities and doctrinal statements or the moral standards that they
began to take their eyes out of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The
church
of Ephesus was
doing the works for their own motives. That is why Jesus said
the Ephesians you
have left your first love.
The Remedy for the Restoration of the church
of Ephesus
Having
seen what the church
of Epehsus had
been doing, the Lord Jesus gave
them the second chance that they might come back to the right
way and serve the Lord Jesus Christ with their first love. So Jesus
said in Revelation 2:5 Firstly, “Remember therefore from whence thou
art fallen.” Secondly, “repent.” This is to say that they need to
change their mind and direction. And thirdly, “do the first works.”
What is the first work here? The first work is the same as what they
had been doing with the different motive. At the beginning they
gave to the Lord, searched the Scripture and went to the worship
services because they loved the Lord Jesus Christ. If the first love
was
lost then everything
was gone. Thus it
was an invitation to the church of Ephesus
to come back and do the first work for the glory of God.
Now
one may ask these questions, “Does really Jesus Christ need my help?
Does he really need my money?” The answer is that the Lord Jesus
Christ does not need anything. He has all power in heaven and in
earth. He has the entire world.
Then, if Jesus does not need anything what the use of giving
money, time and energy to the church? This is
a hard question. However
perhaps this is the answer that God is not interested on what we get
and have, but He is interested in us individually. Therefore He said
to His people, Israel, “And thou shalt love the
LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). This is the most important. If it
is lost, then soon or later, everything will collapse because the
Lord Jesus Christ says, “or else I will come unto thee quickly, and
will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent”
(Revelation 2:5). It does not mean that the Lord Jesus Christ will
smash the church building. He will not remove the congregation,
neither the pastor but there is something far worse namely He will
go away Himself from them. He just departs gradually and reluctantly.
This
was the things happened to the church of Ephesus. Although we do not know in what
year the Lord Jesus Christ left the church of Ephesus but as the
most obvious proof is
that the
Land of Turkey which
was Ephesus is the
most spiritually death on planet earth. We cannot find any church
there for the enemy of the gospel has moved and destroyed them
because the Lord Jesus had
left them for they had lost their first
love.
However
there is a compliment and encouragement from the loving Lord Jesus
Christ in verse 6 when He says, “But this thou hast, that thou hatest
the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” This was known as,
“the doctrine of the Nicolaitans” (Revelation 2:15). Thus to every
individual and apostate
denomination, the Lord Jesus Christ said in
verse 7, “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.” We need
to understand that this word
was
given not only for the
church
of Ephesus but
throughout churches and Christians. If we believe in Him we will
partake in the glorification.
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God,
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when
he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he
is” (1 John 3:2).
