{"id":604,"date":"2017-10-05T06:41:01","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T14:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=604"},"modified":"2017-10-05T06:41:01","modified_gmt":"2017-10-05T14:41:01","slug":"devotion-revelation-21-7-letters-to-seven-churches-letters-to-us-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=604","title":{"rendered":"Devotion\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 2:1-7\u00a0\u00a0 Letters To Seven Churches, Letters To Us\u00a0 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Revelation 2:1-7 <\/strong>&#8211;<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u00a0\u201cTo the angel\u00a0of the church in Ephesus\u00a0write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand\u00a0and walks among the seven golden lampstands.\u00a02\u00a0I know your deeds,\u00a0your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested\u00a0those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.\u00a03\u00a0You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name,\u00a0and have not grown weary.\u00a0 4\u00a0Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.\u00a05\u00a0Consider how far you have fallen! Repent\u00a0and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand\u00a0from its place.\u00a06\u00a0But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans,\u00a0which I also hate. 7\u00a0Whoever has ears, let them hear\u00a0what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious,\u00a0I will give the right to eat from the tree of life,\u00a0which is in the paradise\u00a0of God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u201c<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">To the angel\u00a0of the church in Ephesus\u00a0write<\/span>\u2026\u201d Jesus directed that the John write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus.\u00a0 So, here, it might lend weight to those who believe that the \u201cseven stars are the angels\u00a0of the seven churches\u201d (<strong>Revelation 1:20<\/strong>) are not in fact angels (celestial beings) but are in fact, some actual person of the church, such as a pastor, elder or bishop.\u00a0 Also, if angelic being are being expressed, how is this correspondence to be delivered to them?\u00a0 However there are problems with this understanding, as there are with the varying viewpoints of the identity, or nature, of the angels of the churches.\u00a0 Glaringly, if the verse were referring to a pastor, elder, or bishop, why not just say that?\u00a0 Also, though this word can mean \u201chuman messenger,\u201d it is most often used of heavenly beings.\u00a0 Apart from the first three chapters of Revelation, where some assume a human being is being referred to, clearly nowhere else does it mean a human being.\u00a0 In fact, it is mentioned sixty-seven times in this book and in review of these, a heavenly being is what is always being referred to.\u00a0 Thus, it seems that what is being described here are angelic heavenly beings whose duty it is to watch over the churches.\u00a0 Angels assigned to watch over God\u2019s people are not foreign to the Word of God.\u00a0 The Archangel Michael is a messenger and guardian to Israel (<strong>Daniel 10:13, Jude 1:9, Revelation 12:7<\/strong>).\u00a0 <strong>Daniel 12:1<\/strong> says that Michael stands up for, or has a charge (obligation) to Israel (From God\u2019s direction).\u00a0 Even demons are assigned to protect their satanic interests as shown in <strong>Daniel 10:20<\/strong>.\u00a0 In <strong>Revelation 12:7-9 <\/strong>Daniel and his angels (yes there is an angelic hierarchy) fought against the devil and the devil was defeated.\u00a0\u00a0 The point is that angels are not solely messengers who bring news from God, but are mighty and are sent to defend.\u00a0 In <strong>2 Kings 6:15-17<\/strong> we see that an army of angels was protecting Elisha and his servant. Angels are also protectors of Jesus (<strong>Psalm 91:11-12<\/strong>) as even the devil admitted was true (<strong>Luke 4:9-11<\/strong>) Though of course, the devil was twisting and misusing the verse).\u00a0 Jesus said that, if He asked Father God, legions of angels would be sent to protect Him (<strong>Matthew 26:52<\/strong>).\u00a0 Though it is understandable to interpret differently, these seven stars, these angels, do appear to be heavenly beings that are sent to the churches to protect them.\u00a0 There is deep and powerful spiritual warfare happening with Satan himself involved. In fact, the church of Pergamum is said to reside where Satan has his throne (<strong>Revelation 2:13<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<p>These angels do not fight against and defeat the enemy by their own power but their power comes by the power and will of God (<strong>Jude 1:9<\/strong>).\u00a0 God assigns them and empowers them.\u00a0 Hasn\u2019t God declared Himself our protector (<strong>Psalm 91<\/strong>)?\u00a0 Yes, He has assigned His angels to protect us and He empowers them.\u00a0 A great delight is to know that though the church at Pergamum lives on the devil\u2019s front lawn they have not been defeated.\u00a0 Yes, the enemy has gotten in His blows, but the church is not dead.\u00a0 In fact, though admonished, the church is told to fight on, to be victorious, and they shall see the Lord who shall give them a white stone with a personal new name written on it (<strong>Revelation 2:17<\/strong>).\u00a0 A name that is personal and intimate and between the beloved of the Lord and the Lord.\u00a0 Family, we are loved and protected by God and He has assured our protection.\u00a0 We rest in the Lord\u2019s protection.\u00a0 We have nothing to fear.\u00a0 Though the enemy encamps around us, we are relaxed and enjoy the love and blessings of God (<strong>Psalm 23:5-6<\/strong>).\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Psalm 150:6<\/strong>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Micah 7:7<\/strong>\u00a0&#8211; <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Micah 6:8<\/strong>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Revelation 2:1-7 &#8211;\u00a0\u201cTo the angel\u00a0of the church in Ephesus\u00a0write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand\u00a0and walks among the seven golden lampstands.\u00a02\u00a0I know your deeds,\u00a0your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested\u00a0those who claim to be apostles&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[1982,2452,1477,2450,160,7,2188,2148,106,101,94,2451,17,711],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-angel","tag-archangel","tag-daniel","tag-ephesus","tag-family","tag-god","tag-jude","tag-kings","tag-luke","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-michael","tag-psalm","tag-revelation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=604"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":605,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions\/605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}