Introduction to the Book of Revelation
Revelation 1:1-3,9-11 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“1This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, 2who testifies to everything he saw. This is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and obey what is written in it, because the time is near.”
“9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance that are in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and my testimony about Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11saying,e ‘Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.’”
Letters to The Churches Part 1
Revelation 2:1-7 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles. 3Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name.
“4But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love. 5Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6But you have this to your credit: You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God.”
The Church in Ephesus
The church in Ephesus was the biblical body of Christ throughout the entire city of Ephesus of that time which possibly had a population of about 250,000 people (based off multiple internet sources). And back then, mostly the Christians did not meet in large buildings like we have today, but mostly they met in people’s homes, most of which were also not large. So this wasn’t about just one large gathering of people, but this was about multiple gatherings of Christians all within the confines of the city of Ephesus.
Your Deeds, Labor, and Perseverance
This is Jesus Christ speaking to the body of Christ in the entire city of Ephesus. Now these words may not have applied to every single individual Christian within the city, but it appears that what is described here covers the condition of the church (the body of Christ) as a whole unit within the entire city. And so He begins on a positive note encouraging them in the ways in which they were doing what is right in the eyes of God, for they had endured many things for the sake of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But..
But they didn’t have everything right. They were failing in at least one specific area. They had abandoned their first love. And what was their first love? He was their Lord Jesus Christ, and it was their commitment to the Lord to following Him in all of His ways and to doing all that He commanded them that they must do. Their lives were no longer surrendered fully to the Lord in going wherever He would send them and to saying whatever He commanded them to say, and to doing whatever He had for them to do.
They may have been going through the motions of religious practice, but their lives were not fully given over to the Lord. He was not first place in their lives. They were not listening daily for the voice of the Holy Spirit within them leading them in what they were to do that day in love response to God and to His grace and to His calling upon their lives. Their all was not on the altar of sacrifice laid with their hearts fully under Holy Spirit control. But, to some extent, they were still deciding their daily life course.
So Repent
If you identify with them in any way here with respect both to the good they were doing and/or with regard to what was missing in their lives and in their walks of faith in daily surrender to and in obedience to the Lord, I pray you will repent of your sins today, and that you will walk (in conduct) fully in the ways of the Lord in doing and in being all that God has for you to be and to do as a genuine biblical heart-felt follower of Jesus Christ. Whether or not you were ever truly totally sold out to God, I pray you will do so today.
Or else what? What was their lampstand? Certainly it was their testimony i.e. their witness for Christ by how they lived, i.e. they would cease to exist, i.e. they would become extinct. And, according to “Barnes’ Notes on the Bible,” they did cease to exist, which is a sign that they refused to repent. And I sense that the modern day “churches” which exist in the USA today, and perhaps throughout the world, which are following the ways of man and of the flesh and not God, are also beginning to crumble and to close their doors. So much of what is called “Church” is not the biblical body of Christ.
Who Has an Ear?
In other words, I do believe so much of what is called “church” today is not of God, and its gatherings are not being conducted according to the teachings in the Scriptures on what our gatherings are supposed to look like. For the church is not a building, and it is not a corporation under the state, i.e. it is not to be in partnership with the government and with the world, and it is not to be turned into a business to be marketed to the world. Its purpose is not to entertain the world but to win people to faith in Christ.
[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]
For the church is the biblical body of Christ, comprised of all people who are of genuine biblical faith in Jesus Christ. We the people of God are the church. And our gatherings are not for the purpose to draw in the world and/or to entertain the world, but they are for us who believe in Jesus to encourage and to strengthen one another in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord in surrender to His will, as each part (each of us) does its work, i.e. the work of the Spirit of God within us working His will and purpose out through us.
[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 28:18-20; John 4:31-38; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18,42-47; Acts 26:18; Romans 10:14-15; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:11-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20; 1 Peter 2:9,21; 1 John 2:6]
The Gospel Truth
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to Him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) Him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to His commands, in His power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in Him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
The Revelation of Jesus Christ
An Original Work / October 10, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Recording Via Gerry Peters, music producer and arranger
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
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