,, 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; 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.”
Rev.2: 1-3
Here in the second chapter we have the revelation of Jesus that John wrote to the church of Ephesus. Ephesus is a city that was oriented towards idolatry and the worship of false gods, and the symbolic meaning of saying Ephesus is "desired".
"Write to the angel of the church of Ephesus" this angel is a preacher of the church in Ephesus and we have seen it before, otherwise the meaning of the word angel in Greek is a newspaper and that is in fact the purpose of preaching "revelation of news or revelations" which arrived as we saw in the first chapter from the Lord Jesus Himself.
,, The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.”
Rev. 1:20
we can say that this was an encouragement to the preacher in the church in Ephesus and to all the other preachers who preached the revelation of Jesus Christ. Revelation sent through John. The same is the case with the preachers today that is why Jesus addresses everyone and says that he holds them in the right hand of his power and authority, "Thus says He who holds the seven stars in his right hand."
This speaks of the great importance of the preachers who are to transmit the revelations of God written in the Bible and that is why they are called "stars" and the church is called "the golden saint"
"Since Ephesus was under the influence of false gods the preacher and the church to which Jesus addresses should be of good material and Jesus himself is in the middle of the church and He knows what is happening because He sees everything and everything knows.
,, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send [it] unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.”
Rev. 1:11
These were local churches that functioned independently of each other but were connected in the love of Jesus Christ and each had its own preacher and the head was the Lord Jesus ,,
... as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body."
Eph.5: 23
In the center of those churches was the Lord Jesus, and even today the Lord Jesus Christ should be, not a man, because the Lord is the savior, he writes.
,, For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Mt.18: 20
"I know your deeds" clearly states that Jesus knows what is happening in the church and of course what the preacher and members of the church do because he further writes, "I know your deeds and your work." The members of the church in Ephesus worked hard and tried to In addition to the deeds they had and the effort, another characteristic of the members is mentioned here, "and your suffering". Although they lived in difficult and dangerous times, the church in Ephesus was patient and resisted the pressures that were certainly because they lived differently from other Jews and did not want to continue living as recommended by the rabbis and tradition, but lived according to the new higher standards of Jesus Christ, and that bothered the religious leaders, "And you endured a lot, and you have suffering, and for my name's sake thou hast labored, and hast not ceased.
We further read that false apostles came to them with their teachings, but they did not receive them before the examination, and when they saw that they brought another doctrine, they did not receive them into their church, and that you cannot bear evil, and you tempted those who say that the apostles, and they did not, and you found them false. "And they could recognize them because they were true believers, they knew what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus working for the Lord.
,, And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all [men]: and they counted the price of them, and found [it] fifty thousand [pieces] of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.”
Acts 19: 17-20
The apostle Paul warned about the false apostles, but it was necessary for the church in Ephesus to know God's word well in order to recognize the true ones from the false apostles. Paul warns:
,, Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.”
Acts 20: 28-30
And the apostle John writes about this:
,, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. "
1 Job 4: 1
And we read about which false prophets they were in the sixth verse..But you have this that you hate for the deeds of the Nikolins, which I also hate. "So there were the Nikolins who were a" sect "founded by a man named Nicholas who was probably from Jerusalem. Misconceptions practiced by the Nikolinci: they tried to divide the church into priests and lay people, ie those who rule and those who are obedient. This was already a practice that was applied in some churches because the apostle John writes:
,, I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not."
3 Job 1: 9
and secondly, they taught and practiced that sin after conversion is not a sin, and the apostle Paul, who says, fights against this;
,, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”
Romans 6: 1
Here we see that Satan tried to corrupt the church in Ephesus but the church recognized the false doctrine and rejected such teachings and that is why the Lord Jesus praises them and adds, "which I also hate." Here the church harmonized its way of life and worship of God with the will God's, and that is exactly what God wants each of us to do, because we have received God's revelation in advance, and everything we need to know is said there
,, Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.”
Acts 27:25
