Now behind the book of Revelation is a love as old as time. That’s how we might put it, trapped as we are within this space-time continuum of this age. In fact, this love story has its origins before time, outside of time in God’s own love itself. We find in chapter 1 the Lover, or the Beloved, identified in chapter 1, verse 6: “him who loves us” – in the present tense. In fact the perfect tense, he constantly, ongoingly loves us and we had described in the opening chapter the object of his love – the bride of Christ, the community of those who’ve been freed from their sins; those who are now kings and priests to God. We had the Lover identified: he is the Living One, that is, he is the Living God, and he holds the keys of Death and Hades.  

And it’s that connection between the Divine Lover and Death and Hades that is one of the multiple links that we find in the book of Revelation with another book. The book that we know as the Song of Solomon or the Song of Songs, which describes the relationship between God the Father and Israel his wife, to whom he has pledged in covenant love to be God to her, and which crosses over into the New Testament – the relationship between Christ the Bridegroom and his church, that is, his bride. Because in the Song of Solomon we find these expressions “love strong as death, jealousy as fierce as Hades.” To love someone is to want them to be yours and to be yours exclusively, and God loves his church and wants her to be his exclusively. Or again “many waters cannot quench love.” “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” And as the song puts it,  

“The lovings of our bridegroom are better than wine.”  

Song of Solomon 1:2

Now like the lover in the song, Jesus in chapter 1 of Revelation is described in divine terms. There’s a similarity between what you read in the Song of Solomon, as the bride who has never met her bridegroom seeks to describe him using various minerals and elements of the creation to describe the one who’s the object of her affection. Whenever you find that happening in the Bible, it’s in a human attempt to describe the God who made the universe by using physical elements and using different characteristics like gold and precious metals and precious stones, as well as ordinary stuff in order to describe the God who made everything that we know and observe in the world. There in the Song of Solomon, right at the very heart of it, we discover the bride has never seen her beloved, but she has loved him and has known his love towards her. 

So the whole of Revelation then is a love letter from Jesus to his church, and this becomes very apparent in chapters two and three, which are absolutely foundational for the whole book. These two chapters are not irritants that we get through in order to get to the real, these two chapters actually tell us what the rest of the book is all about. And it’s all about Christ and his bride. And the culmination of the book will be when the bride who in the world is maligned, who in the world is sometimes well-dressed and sometimes not dressed, sometimes elegant and at other times worthless, when the bride eventually will be presented before a watching world and will come down out of heaven from God adorned for her husband, and the marriage we were made for will begin. 

Christ is in the church, and the church is in Christ. And he can say to each and every congregation: 

“I know your works. I know your works.” 

And what we learn in the book of Revelation is that we find out about the church at the very beginning, because what we’re going to understand as the book proceeds is that everything that happens in the world – every war, every plague, every spreading of false doctrine around the world, the devil’s lie, the profusion of scorpions that represent Satan who infect the minds of men, the attempts of the world to dethrone God – all of this stuff that’s happening in the world happens relative to Jesus’ bride, Jesus’ church. And that from a from a God perspective, what is really important that’s happening in the world are not elections, are not viruses, but is what God is doing in by and for his church. 

Now we learn three lessons from this passage this morning that I want to bring before you. First of all, Christ reveals himself as the One who holds the churches. He is the Divine Overseer of the church. Look at verse 1:  

“The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, and who walks among the golden lampstands.” 

Revelation 2:1

Now the one who’s doing the holding is Christ. A figure in chapter 1, a divine figure in a human form, a divine figure in terms of the description that we’re given, but in the form of the son of man, one like the son of man, one who has a human likeness, and this of course is the essence of who Jesus is. He is one person with two natures. One is divine, one is human. One person, two natures. So in chapter 1, we have divine attributes ascribed to Jesus. He is the first and the last, the beginning and the ending, he is the living one, that is, he is the living God by virtue of his eternal divinity, and he is the arisen or alive Savior by virtue of his resurrected humanity. He was dead and is alive. And these opening words in verse 1 of chapter 2 grab our attention: “the words of him.” 

Greg Beale, who teaches at Westminster, in his massive commentary on Revelation calls this expression “a stock formula that the Old Testament prophets use to introduce prophetic sayings from God himself.” So you have in the Old Testament “the words of the Lord Almighty,” “the words of the Lord,” “the words of him” here in chapter 2 verse 1. 

Now earlier on in chapter 1, it was said that this heavenly being, this divine being in human form, has seven stars in his hand. Seven stars represent the seven churches. The number seven is the number of perfection and fullness and completion. So those seven representatives of the churches, together they form a representation of the church as God sees it in the world. The fact that they’re in Jesus’ hand tells us that all the church is together with God even as it’s diversely scattered here on earth. We are together with God so that we come to worship Sunday by Sunday, Lord’s day by Lord’s day, when we gather here, we gather by live stream, we are gathering together with the saints all through history. Those who’ve been and those who are still to come, who are all together before the throne of God above. He sees the whole church all together as one as we gather together in our separate churches. 

But here we’re told not only that he has the churches, but that he holds the churches. They’re not only his possession, but they’re under his protection, they’re in his power, the churches are his. The church as a whole is his bride. “From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride.” And the churches are located in particular places. So there’s a church of God at Corinth, or there’s the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, and here we have Jesus speaking directly to the church at Ephesus. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been at, you’re in in a church. Whether you belong to another church, wherever your church is, wherever it’s to be found, that church is both Jesus’ possession, is under Jesus’ protection, is in his power. And as the churches face tough times, as they endure harsh days, as they encounter fierce temptations to error or evil, they are in his hand. He has a firm grip on his church. He holds the churches. 

Secondly, he knows the churches. In chapter 1, we’re told he stands in the midst of the lampstands. The lampstand was a representative of a local church. But he walks among them, here in chapter two, he walks among them. He said to us on one occasion, Jesus, that 

“where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst.”  

Matthew 18:20

In other words, Jesus is present – present in his churches, present in person to inspect them, to pass to them, he is in their midst and he moves among them and he moves with them. He is along, he is beside us, as it were, on the journey. You know when we talk about the second coming of Jesus, we’re not talking about Jesus coming from a long distance. We’re not we’re not thinking of him being removed from us. 

I remember once being at the Keswick Convention in northern England, and Billy Graham was to be the main speaker. It was the 100th anniversary and everybody went to a field outside the town that led down Lake Windermere – I think it’s one of the lakes, and I should know, but I’ve forgotten, and we were watching, waiting for him to come. We heard that he was delayed from coming, so many people were coming into Keswick, the traffic was so heavy to come to hear Billy Graham that he couldn’t get there himself. So I think it was Cliff Barrows who was leaving the meeting, he said “If you look over my shoulder, you’ll see across the lake Dr. Graham is on that boat. Why don’t we sing to him while he comes across the water? Well, there was a bit of a parallel with somebody else who was on a boat coming across the water, but we didn’t make it any parallel between Jesus and Billy; but I’m going to use Billy as an illustration here. Jesus is not where Billy was coming towards us. 

When we’re gathered as his church Jesus is among us. The second coming is not him coming from a distance, it is him appearing. He has always been there, but he appears. I remember once when we were little, playing monsters in the dark and one of our older cousins went to hide and we had to go looking for him and we looked everywhere and we ended up in this one room, and we could not find him anywhere when suddenly, suddenly, there from behind the curtain he appeared, and we ran for our lives. He had been there all the time. It’s a bit like that with Jesus – not, not running for your life. But Jesus is with us all the time, who’s to appear. The second coming is the “Parousia,” the appearing of one who is already there. He said to us, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” He says to us,  

“Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  

Matthew 28:20

So here’s Jesus with and in and among his churches. He patrols the churches. His presence is coextensive with the church. He knows them – he knows the good, the bad, and the ugly. He knows the face of the church is the face of a sinner. He knows this church in Ephesus and he knows our church here.  

He knew the background to Ephesus, that it was a provincial see, the provincial government, was an economic hub, a major port, and was a religious center hosting the goddess, the temple of Artemis and the mother goddess who dominated that region. Jesus comes to that church, and he says,  

“I know your works, I know your toil, I know your patient endurance.” 

Revelation 2:2

I know your works – these aren’t the works of the individuals in the church, these are the works of the church. They pertain to human actions as a corporate body, and these works can be either good or bad, eliciting either praise or blame. And among the works of the church is the labor of her overseers, those who labor in word and doctrine. You can commend, for example, the church of Thessalonica for their “work of faith, their labor of love, and their steadfastness of hope.” 

But notice how he commends this church: first of all, you cannot bear those who are evil, you cannot bear those who are evil. Who are those who are evil? He is not speaking here about the world. He’s not speaking about your views or my views about what the world is like. Jesus does not come to condemn the world, but he does come to investigate his church. The evil here – those who are evil – is a reference to people within the church. It’s a reference to those in the church who profess the faith, but they don’t follow the faith. They say they hold to the word of God, but they don’t obey the word of God. In particular, there were those who took on a position of leadership,  

“Those who call themselves apostles and are not, and have you found them false.” 

Revelation 2:2

When the Apostle Paul planted the church at Ephesus and stayed there for two years and then came to leave them, he told the local elders this – he warned them that fierce wolves would come into the flock in sheep’s clothing. Jesus had described them show having a show of godliness, claiming for themselves importance that was not theirs, wanting to be received and of course, financially supported by the people there. Well, Jesus speaks to that church, and he says, “What have you done? You have put them to the test. Did you ask of them letters of recommendation as the Apostle Paul speaks of, or did you ask them some of the hard questions that John the Apostle himself recommends in his little letter of First John?  

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they’re from God… every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come into the world is from God, but if they don’t then it’s a spirit of antichrist.”  

Revelation 4:1,3

Jesus commends this church because they examined people, they wanted to see if people claim the faith believe the faith.  

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.”  

2 Corinthians 13:5

That is, in what we believe about Jesus. Jesus commends this church because it stood for truth against error. And Jesus is the truth. It gave no shelter to false teachers who made exalted claims for themselves. Now this business of knowing the truth and speaking the truth and defending the truth takes time, makes enemies, threatens friendships, requires fortitude, and necessitates toil, and Jesus commends that.  

“I know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, that you have not grown weary.”  

Revelation 2:3

They had labored in defense of the faith. They’d endured the taunts of their enemies, and they had not grown weary of well doing. That’s the context in which Jesus says to them,  

“But I have this against you, that you’ve abandoned the love you had at first.” 

Revelation 2:4

And I’m afraid those last words there are the point at which most commentators abandon the text and supply what this love they’ve lost is and it’s quite distressing. But I think the text tells us what the love they lost is, as we shall see in a moment. Because I don’t want to take away or steal my own thunder here. I’ll leave you in anticipation. But we remember that Christ the Bridegroom is speaking to his bride. He’s addressing those who love him, and he is questioning whether they love him as once they did.  

And how is that love demonstrated? Look at the context: what is the subject? It is the commendation of the work they did in defending Christ, in defending the honor of Christ against false teachers and against evil men, that’s the context. So there is a connection between the works they are commended for in verse 2, and the works that they are commanded to renew in verse 5. The Lord is gracious. He commends them, and he tells them he is this against them and then to make sure we see the connection with what he’s just said, he adds this comment: “Yet this you have – you’re not as enthusiastic as once you were – but you hate the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” 

We don’t know who these people were, and I’m not going to go into the speculations as to who they were, but here’s the thing, it was quite obvious that you would hate the Nicolaitans. There was no question about that. There was no toil involved there, no endurance required there, it was quite straightforward, and they were on board with Jesus here.  

Jesus knows the church and then lastly, thirdly, Jesus rules the church. Here’s what he says to them: 

“Remember from where you have fallen.” 

Revelation 2:5

Now all those speculations that we might come up with would not help us to even imagine what they’d fallen from here.  

“Repent, and do the works you did at first.”  

Revelation 2:5

I suggest what are these works, well, they’re precisely those Jesus has mentioned.  

“Your works, your toil, your patient endurance, how you cannot bear those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not.”  

Revelation 2:2

And it’s all related to what? Love. It’s the love the church has for the Lord Jesus. Because what is the point of defending the faith, that is, what we believe about Jesus? What is the point of doing that? Well the point of doing that is that his name, his reputation, his character, how we understand his very being, his way of operating, how we understand who Jesus is. We understand by taking hold of the faith. The faith is that set of that piece of knowledge that God has given to us in his Word, by which we understand who our beloved is.  

And if I should get weary in defending the faith, if I should begin to get tired and to want to do other things, or perhaps to appreciate the fact that we’re no longer struggling to defend the faith of Christ and engaging the kind of arguments sometimes that we have to do in order to defend his Word and his truth. If I get weary of that, if I slide back from that, if I don’t speak up when his name is defamed, when his character is impugned, when what he is and who he is recast. Why am I not standing up for him? Has my love for him waned, that I will not put myself out? That I will not speak up for him? That I will be more afraid with what people think of me than what they think of him? Because this is the heart of the business. What is the church in the world for? It is the pillar and ground of truth. And Jesus is the truth. 

When people abandon the faith, I mean Saint Athanasius talks about this in one of his writings, he talks about championing the faith, and he says, he says about this the martyr, “What makes the martyr isn’t just refusing to burn a bit of incense to idols, but by refusing to deny the faith.” Scripture condemns not only those who turn away to idols, but also those who betray the truth. Judas Iscariot betrayed the truth. Hymenaeus and Alexander are mentioned in First Timothy as having fallen away, not because they worshipped idols, but because they made shipwreck of their faith.  

Jesus commends the church for being like that in the beginning. He sees that their urgency to defend the faith, “what is received and believed amongst us about Jesus” was so fundamental to them in those days, because they were in love with Jesus. They wanted to speak up for him. Imagine somebody insulting the person you love most in your life, saying anything negative or unworthy of them. You would want immediately to leap to their defense, to tell the truth about them. This is what Jesus is urging us to. 

You see, if we stop talking about the faith that has been given to us, this deposit of truth about Jesus that we’ve been led to believe, people will begin to get false notions of him. The church of Jesus Christ is only ever one generation away from losing the gospel. So we need to keep re-articulating it. We need to keep telling people so that, so that they don’t get false ideas about who Jesus is and what he has come to do. We are to maintain the faith out of love for Christ. And you see this very briefly in those three words that he uses. “Remember, remember,” Jesus says. Just as Paul writing to the Corinthians asks them to  

“Remember the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.”

1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Remember. Or remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead as preached in my gospel. Remember that the battle for the truth is the battle for Christ. At stake are the divine rights of our Redeemer. At stake is his honor, his name, his reputation in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of men. And I tell, I tell you this: love for Christ and his truth is what will bind us together. It will create in us the sense of being a band of brothers and sisters in the battle. It will sharpen our sense of our identity. It will make us lean on one another in the conflict. It will make us work together as a body of Christ, as brothers and sisters in the battle for faith and truth, and the glory of Jesus. Remember, and repent. Repent, change your ways. This is a word to the whole church: Repent. Because if not, Jesus says, if you do not repent, he repeats the word, “I will come to you.” This is not the second coming; this is a private coming. A private coming of Christ to the church in crisis, when by his Spirit he visits churches. And he promises where a church does not face up to its demons and repent, it will be removed. It may just be allowed to wither away. Its place of importance may be taken by another church. But the church will suffer. We need to be on our toes all the time. We cannot sit back and be at ease in Zion. 

Remember, repent, and renew. Jesus says do the works you did at first. Recovering a lost love is not recovering lost feelings, it’s renewing old actions. You can imagine, can’t you, you can imagine, you can imagine a couple who have ceased to tell each other that they love one another. Well, one of the ways back, ways back into the relationship is to start doing that, isn’t it? Return to the work she did it first, Jesus says.  

I ask you this, if you love the Lord Jesus, are you jealous for his honor? Do you have a passion for his truth? Are you clear where there’s error that you will avoid it and expose it even? This is what this book is all about. The Lord, as the supreme pastor of his church, is preparing his people for an imminent ordeal through which they will go. Perhaps they thought that they’d already fought and won the battle of truth. Perhaps they thought that these were their retirement days, where they could settle back and be at ease. But Jesus comes to them, and he speaks a personal word to each individual within the church.  

“To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” 

Revelation 2:7

This is what’s at stake. This is what’s always at stake. In Eden, humans were banned from the tree of life because of believing in Satan’s lie. It was doctrinal theological error that led into sin. So it is doctrinal and theological truth that leads us to holiness. False doctrine precipitated humanity’s fall. Christ is speaking to us and saying,  

“Recover your first love.” 

And to conquer means to overcome Satan and all his works. And to eat of the tree of the of life is to know the forgiveness of God. It is to be present in paradise, that represents the final joy of the saints and the presence of God and of Christ. We’re in a battle. It’s a battle against error and against evil. It’s a prolonged battle. To deny that the battle exists is to opt out of full-on Christian discipleship, and to run the risk yourself of making shipwreck of your faith. But if you persist in the battle, the battle of life which is a battle for the truth, you will hear Christ’s “Well-done, good and faithful servant.”