Revelation - The Church at Ephesus

History Founded about 1400 BC, Ephesus housed an early temple to the mother goddess Diana. It was taken over by the Persians in 541 BC and then fell to Alexander in 334 BC. It eventually became the Roman capital of Asia.

Geography It was called the “Queen of Asia”. It had the chief harbour of all Asia and all trade with Greece and Italy came through it’s port. It was an extremely wealthy and beautiful city.

Architecture It housed the largest theatre in the ancient world, at 495ft in diameter and held 25,000 people. There was a marble way that ran from the temple of Artemis to the Megnesia Gate, this was lined with statues and fountains. The main road from the theatre to the harbour was called Arcadian Way, it was 1735ft long and 70 ft wide, it was lined with columns and shops and was illuminated at night. The temple of Diana that was built here became one of the ancient 7 wonders of the world. It also was the city that housed the world’s first bank. New Testament Period It was still one of the largest cities in the world, but the harbour gradually became unstable. The Romans had cut down the trees surrounding the harbour and eventually silt filled the harbour. The city became the centre for the study of arts and magic. Ephesus also became the centre for the missionary operation throughout Asia. John spent time here with Mary, and his Gospel is suppose to have been written here. This is also the burial place of John and there is now a shrine on what is thought to have been the site of Mary’s home.

Title of Jesus Verse 1 “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;” “Midst of the seven golden candlesticks” - here he selects a very church central title, he is in the midst of the churches. Good News Verse 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.” He sees what we do for Him in a practical way. We can compare this verse with 1 Thess 1;3, but notice here love and hope are missing. What Ephesus did well was to test doctrines, they had taken Paul’s warning in Acts 20;25-31 to heart. Notice that there are 7 commendations. Criticism Verse 4 “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” No matter they have done for Christ they still left their first love. Love of Christ is the most important thing, everything else comes from it. The church was busy doing works, but they are no substitute for spending time with God. He expects devotion to Him. Remember the first commandment. Exhortation Verse 5 “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” They are given 3 exhortations 1. Remember - from whence thou art fallen 2. Repent - it is written in immediate tense, there is no delay 3. Repeat - the first works We must note the warning of what will happen if they do not do this. Verse 6 “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” Here we see the Nicolaitans mentioned. We see that God hates their deeds. These Nicolaitans are a bit of a mystery. The name comes from two words:- Nikao - to conquer Laos - people or laity One of the tragedies of the early church was the arrival of the concept of the clergy. They introduced the concept that they were above the ordinary person.

Jesus went to length in John 13 to lay out His order of importance. He washed the feet of the disciples, a job that a servant would do. He explains that he was setting an example of ministering to one another and that we are to serve one another, not think that we are above anyone else. The church at Ephesus was in favour of the clergy and didn’t agree to serving one another. Phrase 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.” Here we have the phrase that follows each letter - “He that hath an ear…” This means that everyone is responsible for listening to what is said and for attempting to understand what is meant. Also note, that it states that the letter is for all the churches, not just this one. There is a warning here for every church, not to fall into the ways of this church Promise to the Overcomer Again in verse 7 we see a promise given by God to those that overcome the criticism. The Tree of Life is first encountered in Genesis and we will see it once again later in Revelation. Today Ephesus is a desolate ruin, over 6 miles from the sea, unapproachable by ship.