Ephesus, your assembly is representative of the birth and early years of God’s community, the Church. From disciples and apostles and from Acts to the epistles, a foundation was established.
You existed in a secular culture of commerce, religion, and philosophy… yet you thrived. Your opportunities were manifold, and your influence was strong. This message to you is from Jesus Christ Himself. He is the Head, the ultimate authority, of all of the assemblies in your immediate periphery and around the world. He initiated them in His providence, and walks among them to provide for them and to preserve them as they proclaim His Kingdom. They are not the Light, but they display light as they are the candlesticks and lampstands.
Jesus Christ knows with absolute clarity and accuracy your works and deeds, your labor and hard work, your patience and perseverance, and your steadfast and hope-filled endurance. You do not tolerate or endure those aggressive and/or deceptive ones who are evil and who practice evil. Pretenders find no comfort or acceptance in your gatherings. You examine and test those who claim to have the spiritual authority of apostles; they find themselves exposed as false and as liars.
You have persevered and endured hardships of all kinds, yet you are steadfast and persistent. Your fortitude is on display for the sake of the Name of Christ and His Kingdom. Through this persecution and stress, you have not grown weary. You never seem to wear out.
Every assembly needs to be in a state of constant reformation. As for you, your relationship with Christ has drifted. It has eroded slowly and imperceptibly. You are no longer desirable; you leave much to be desired.
You have no idea how far you have fallen; how far you have wandered. When you no longer delight in Christ, duty compensates, and you will crash into your own inadequacy and insufficiency. Your fervency will dissipate, weakness and infidelity will appear; discontent will turn to gloom, pessimism, and subtle despair. You fail to recognize and challenge your deficiency. It takes the form of a critical spirit, of drudgery and depression, of pessimism and cynicism. You desperately need to remember, recollect, rehearse, and retrace your memory back to where this all started. And when you discover it, waste no time in repenting. Change your mind about the direction you are headed and focus on keeping yourselves in love with Christ. Refusal to do this will result in your removal of your influence and opportunities as a Kingdom assembly. Your light will diminish and eventually disappear. This is an urgent matter!
You do have this in your favor. You detest and despise the deeds of the Nicolaitans. They exercise unwarranted authority and control over the assemblies by allowing themselves to be exalted to celebrity status. This spawns all kinds of strange ideas and practices. Jesus Christ hates this also.
Are your ears awake to attentively hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the local assemblies collectively as the Body of Christ? For those of you who make the serious and intentional choice to overcome – to conquer, to prevail, to subdue, and to gain the victory by following instead of fighting – Jesus will give the privilege to eat from the Tree of Life which is in the very center of the Paradise of God. Having and appropriating this sustenance produces completeness and wholeness. This is where you want to be! Revelation 2:1-7, an expanded translation.
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