Remember from whence thou art fallen
Rev 1:19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
Rev 1:20 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.
John is being told to write the things he had just seen. The things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.
Amazing isn't it? Told to write the things which are- something we all could do. I could sit here and write about the things I'm seeing right now without a problem- what I can't do is write about how things will be in the future because I don't know the future. John is being asked to write about things which shall be hereafter - that's the future - that's prophecy.
John is told the mystery of the seven stars which he saw in Jesus' right hand and the seven golden candlesticks.
The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.
The seven candlesticks are the seven churches.
God's people make up God's church. The perfect church. The true church. God's people throughout all time. God's people from then and hereafter- future.
God's people will one day be before Him. There is no wonder that the seven candlesticks represent the perfectness of God's people before Him.
The mystery was revealed. John saw a vision and the vision was interpreted.
Rev 2:1 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;
Rev 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Rev 2:7 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.
Unto the angel write- the seven stars in Jesus' hand were the seven angels of the churches. John was to write to the first of those angels - the angel of the church of Ephesus.
Jesus who was and is, who died and lives, the alpha and omega; Jesus who holds the seven stars, the seven angels, who walks among the seven churches- Jesus who lives among His people. This message was being sent to them by Jesus' and the message was...
Rev 2:2 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:
Rev 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted
God's people working- their laboring, their patience, their abhorrence of those who do evil and claim to follow God, their patience all for Jesus and without fainting- Jesus recognizes it all! The work does not go unnoticed and yet there is more He notices.
Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Jesus has somewhat against the first church, against His people, those who lived when the apostles lived and this message is for all time because we learn from mistakes of the past don't we? Shouldn't we? If we don't learn from mistakes then we are guilty of being negligent aren't we? Of not learning when we had everything available to us to learn.
Jesus has somewhat against His people of Ephesus, He says- Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love.
Thy first love.
How easy it is to leave our first love in all things. Think about it. How many things have you once love and no longer love? How many things do you love but not in the same way? Most people who have experienced love understand how easy it is to lose that newness of first love. When we lose our first love with Jesus what are we losing? Our first love - losing it is losing what it's all truly about. If we lose Jesus as first and foremost in our lives then we've lost it all. Anything that comes before Jesus will only get in the way of Jesus. We can't lose our first love of Jesus. The love is everlasting and if we find ourselves putting anything before the love of Jesus we need to repent. We have to keep Jesus as our first love.
Another important thing to note is that the Papacy loves to proclaim that it has existed from the time of the Apostles. We know for a fact that deception infiltrated the new church from the get go.
1Jn 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
Antichrists- those in place of Christ. Right then in the new church, those who claim to believe in all Jesus brought to them, the gospel of the kingdom, salvation, were infiltrated by those who would take the place of Christ. So when the Papacy holds up its proud head it really has no reason to because we know what prophecy has shown us to be true. The counterfeit which is close to the truth, the deception which is so close to the truth is alive and well. Jesus knew it would enter the church quickly, Jesus had warnings. The first love would be lost- the pure love of Jesus would be lost and in its place a false love.
Rev 2:5 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.
Remember! Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent! Repent! Do the first works. Works brought on by having the first love- Jesus. Jesus first! Or else Jesus will come quickly and take away the fact you are God's people. You will no longer be God's people, because the candlestick is the church, the church is God's people, and if the candlestick is taken away then the consequence is the people that were once making up the church are no longer the same people making up the church. Repent.
Repent- ask for forgiveness and return to the first love, to putting Jesus first above all else. Amazing advice, amazing encouragement, loving guidance from the source of Love. May we all heed the advice given to us by our Lord and Savior! By His mercy and grace may we repent and keep Him our first love, forever!
Amen.
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