{"id":9496,"date":"2020-05-27T20:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T03:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=9496"},"modified":"2020-05-25T18:28:37","modified_gmt":"2020-05-26T01:28:37","slug":"revelation2_1-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/revelation2_1-7\/","title":{"rendered":"The Angel of the Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revelation 2:1-7\u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Revelation 2:1-7.\u00a0 There are so many powerful lessons we can learn from this passage.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Revelation 2:1 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“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:<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 1:\u00a0 Starting in chapter 2 John records 7 messages from Jesus that he is told to send to 7 churches in the province of Asia.\u00a0 The first message is for the church of Ephesus.\u00a0 Notice that the way the message is worded is \u201cTo the\u00a0angel<\/em>\u00a0of the church in Ephesus\u201d.\u00a0 Who is this angel?\u00a0 The Greek word for angel here is\u00a0angellos<\/em>, which is mostly translated in the New Testament as \u201cangel\u201d but is sometimes translated as \u201cmessenger\u201d.\u00a0 Thus, according to some scholars, the two main possibilities for what the \u201cangel\u201d is referring to are: (1) the \u201cangel\u201d refers to an actual angelic being who supernaturally watches over the church; or (2) the \u201cangel\u201d refers to the pastor of the local church, who practically serves as a messenger, the one who delivers messages, to the church and who would likely be the one to receive and read out this particular message from Jesus to the church.<\/p>\n

If \u201cangel\u201d is read here to mean an angelic being who supernaturally watches over the church, what a comfort it is to the church to know that it is not just human leaders presiding over the church, but that heaven has also sent a supernatural messenger to watch over them as well.<\/p>\n

If \u201cangel\u201d is read here to mean the pastor of the church, and if each angel is symbolized by the \u201cseven stars\u201d (see Revelation 1:20), then every pastor can find great comfort in Jesus\u2019 words when He describes Himself as the one \u201cwho holds the seven stars in his right hand\u201d (v1).\u00a0 It means that Jesus holds pastors in the right hand of His favour, blessing, strength and protection.\u00a0 What a great comfort and encouragement this is for pastors who, according to this interpretation of Revelation 1 and 2, are described as stars and angels in Jesus\u2019 right hand.<\/p>\n

Praise God that, however you interpret \u201cangel\u201d in verse 1, we know that Jesus Himself walks among His churches, represented by the \u201cseven golden lampstands\u201d.\u00a0 Praise God that\u00a0Jesus stays close to His church<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Revelation 2:2-6 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Remember the height from which 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.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 2-6:\u00a0 As you read the different messages Jesus has for the churches, you\u2019ll notice a pattern: in almost every case (5 out of the 7 churches), Jesus will speak an encouraging and affirming word to the church before he rebukes them.\u00a0 Except in extreme cases, Jesus tends to celebrate the positives before He points out the negatives.\u00a0 What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Jesus keeps a close, watchful eye on each of His churches.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0He doesn\u2019t treat them all the same but recognizes that each has unique strengths, weaknesses, victories and challenges.\u00a0 He is such a good shepherd.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0When you have a tough word to speak to someone, unless it is an extreme case, start with the positives before addressing the negatives.<\/strong>\u00a0 By affirming the person first, you show that person that you are on their side.\u00a0 That person will then be less defensive and more open to hearing what you have to say.\u00a0 Pointing out the positives first also helps you and the other person to keep things in perspective, helping you see that the situation is not necessarily all bad.\u00a0 This is what we call speaking the truth in love.<\/p>\n

Particularly in the case of the church of Ephesus, Jesus commends them for their acts of service, their hard work and their perseverance (v2a).\u00a0 He also commends them for how they have stood up for the truth and stayed clear of false teachers (v2b).\u00a0 Though it has not been an easy time for this church, they have persevered and kept moving forward (\u201cnot grown weary\u201d – v3).<\/p>\n

Then comes the rebuke:\u00a0 Jesus challenges the church of Ephesus on how they have forsaken their first love.\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 \u00a0It means that though they had persevered through hardship, their hearts were not as passionate and devoted as they used to be.\u00a0 He tells them to repent (i.e. to agree with God that they have gone astray, to feel remorse and to turn their feet in a new direction).\u00a0 In particular, He tells them to \u201cdo the things you did at first\u201d (v5).\u00a0 Though we don\u2019t know what those things are exactly, we can guess that these were things they did in the past when they were more passionately in love with Jesus.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0God wants our hearts and not just our service.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0God wants an intimate love relationship with us and not just a master-servant relationship.\u00a0 So don\u2019t just get busy serving the Lord.\u00a0 Make time to draw close to Him just you and Him. \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s like the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10.\u00a0 It is good and important to serve Jesus, but it\u2019s even more important to draw close to Jesus.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0If there\u2019s a relationship in your life that has grown cold, try doing the things you used to do when the relationship was hotter.<\/strong>\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s about spending more quality time together again, or speaking encouraging words, or preparing a heartfelt gift \u2013 whatever your particular language of love may prefer.<\/p>\n

Revelation 2:6 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 6:\u00a0 Jesus follows up his rebuke to the church in Ephesus with some more encouragement.\u00a0 He commends them on how, like Him, they hate the practices of the Nicolaitans.\u00a0 While it is not clear who the Nicolaitans are, notice that Jesus does not say that He hates the Nicolaitans, but rather their practices.\u00a0 Whether they were spreading false teaching or doing something else that Jesus hated, the lesson for us is that sometimes we must distinguish between hating a person and hating what they do.<\/p>\n

Revelation 2:7 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 7:\u00a0 In each of Jesus\u2019 messages to the seven churches, He will say \u201cHe who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0We want to be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit has to say to us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Finally, when Jesus says, \u201cto him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God\u201d, what is Jesus referring to?\u00a0 First, the kind of overcoming that Jesus is referring to is hanging on to your faith in Jesus (1 John 5:4).\u00a0 When you hang on to faith in Jesus, you are an overcomer and you get to eat from the \u201ctree of life\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 The tree of life is first mentioned in Genesis 3:22 in the Garden of Eden, with the promise that those who eat from it will live forever.\u00a0 Whether the tree of life is an actual tree in heaven that we can eat from or another name for Jesus (whom we eat by faith to receive eternal life as per John 6:53), the lesson is that\u00a0through faith in Jesus we are overcomers and have eternal life<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, thank You for every precious lesson we can learn from Your Word.\u00a0 Thank You for staying close to Your church and keeping careful watch over us.\u00a0 Thank You for wanting my heart and not just my service.\u00a0\u00a0 Thank You for showing us how to speak the truth in love.\u00a0 Thank You for being the strength by which we overcome.\u00a0 Thank You for being our tree of life by whom we can live forever.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Revelation 2:1-7.\u00a0 There are so many powerful lessons we can learn from this passage.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Revelation 2:1 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0“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:<\/p>\n

On verse 1:\u00a0 Starting in chapter 2 John records 7 messages from Jesus that he is told to send to 7 churches in the province of Asia.\u00a0 The first message is for the church of Ephesus.\u00a0 Notice that the way the message is worded is \u201cTo the\u00a0angel\u00a0of the church in Ephesus\u201d.\u00a0 Who is this angel?\u00a0 The Greek word for angel here is\u00a0angellos, which is mostly translated in the New Testament as \u201cangel\u201d but is sometimes translated as \u201cmessenger\u201d.\u00a0 Thus, according to some scholars, the two main possibilities for what the \u201cangel\u201d is referring to are: (1) the \u201cangel\u201d refers to an actual angelic being who supernaturally watches over the church; or (2) the \u201cangel\u201d refers to the pastor of the local church, who practically serves as a messenger, the one who delivers messages, to the church and who would likely be the one to receive and read out this particular message from Jesus to the church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9499,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9496"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9501,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9496\/revisions\/9501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}