Revelation 2:1-7 – “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 hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
“These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.” Jesus describes Himself as the one who hold the seven stars (angels of the seven churches) in his right hand. Jesus is in control. The seven stars do the will of God. The right hand of God of God signifies a special place. In these biblical times if a person of high rank put someone at their right hand it was a place of special honor. The person, wherever he went, would carry the authority of the supreme. What the honored declared was as the same as if the ruler had declared. If he passed a judgement, it was if the king passed the judgement. The right hand signified power and authority. These seven stars are held, and kept, by the power and authority of Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord!
Jesus also describes Himself as the one who walks among the seven lampstands. We know that the lampstands represent the church. So, Jesus is saying that wherever His church is, He is with them. We remember that He promised “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20). God has promised to never leave or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrews 13:5, 1 Chronicles 28:20). Here Jesus states that He is walking among us as is stated in Leviticus 26:12. Just as when He walked with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they were put into the fiery flames (Daniel 3:25), the Lord is ever with His beloved children. Someone who is always with you and never, no not ever, leaves you, is someone who knows you better than anyone else. He knows all the wonderful things that you do. He also knows all the sins that are in your heart and come out in word and deed. He is with us because He loves us and has promised to be always with us. So He knows us. Yes He knows us.
“I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance.” Knowing that He is always with us He sees all the good things that we do. He first uses a word to express a general idea of things that we do. Not breaking them down, just saying to us that He knows everything that we do. Also of course, He knows us because He is omniscient. He knows us because He is always with us and because He knows all things. So all those good deeds that no-one knew about, He does. He sees and is pleased.
He says that He knows the hard word that they, and we do. This is not going out to dig a ditch. He is talking about us doing the works of God, being the hand of God, though we may suffer for it. It is standing up for God when ridicule will come. It is continuing the work of God when it is not convenient, or when we’re tired, or when our health, our safety, even our lives are at risk. It is refusing to yield to an Antichrist government when they threaten our lives and the lives of our families. And Family, please be convinced, that we must be so convinced. We must be so that we will not lose our lives by trying to save it (Matthew 16:25). We must not think that we can deny Him and it is okay because He will forgive us (2 Timothy 2:12). Are not those who make the choice to be take the mark of the beast forever dammed (Revelation 14:11)? We must not convince ourselves that would be okay. Peter believed that He would never deny Jesus (Matthew 26:35). His denial was not pre-planned. It was not in his heart. It was fear and confusion that arose (John 18:15-18, 25-27). And then He wept bitterly in His shame (Luke 22:62). Yes, Jesus forgave him, but Peter did not plan to sin, but rather succumbed to it. Let us not be so deceived as to think that we say in our hearts that I will renounce God to evil men because He will forgive me (1 John 3:9). Thinking that puts one in great peril indeed. He has called us to stand strong for Him. Those who truly love Him will not deny Him. Those who do not truly love Him, are not His.
The hard work He sees the Ephesians doing is hard work that comes at a cost, perhaps being beaten or causing suffering. Yet they are continuing to hold up the name of Jesus, and to serve Him, whatever the cost may be. The Ephesians continued on in their obedience to God. They continued in their works. Whatever may come, they persevered doing the works of God. They did their devotions. They read the scriptures and they prayed. They went to church and they sang worship songs and listened to sermons. They ministered to each other. They gave and tended to the poor. They did those things that they were taught to do. They persevered.
Jesus also praised the Ephesians for not tolerating “wicked” people. Their wicked deeds were put to the test, and when found false, were not tolerated. Yes, people we are fruit of men inspectors (Matthew 7:15-20). We are called by God to be so. Here Jesus confirms it and states that it is a good thing to not tolerate the wickedness of wicked people. It is a good thing not to allow wickedness to have a place in our family, lest our family become infected (1 Corinthians 15:33). Jesus makes that clear. Let us rise up at false doctrine when attempted to be spread. What is a lie has no alignment to what is true. Let us stand strong for the Truth, expose the lies, and purge the lies from us. Now if someone repents, then that is good. It is the wickedness that we don’t around, not the person. If the person repents, then we rejoice.
Jesus praised them for fighting the good fight and not giving up. Family, may we all continue to have as our highest priority the loving and glorifying of Jesus our Savior and Lord. It is as the Father would have it. May we please God with bended knee, humbled hearts, but heads lifted up to keep our eyes firmly focused on Jesus. He will put His hand beneath our arms and lift us up to walk with Him. May we ever and always walk with Him who ever and always walks with us. May we walk with Him who first loved us (1 John 4:19). Family, we have a wonderful forever in front of us. Let us walk with God. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.