To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands’
— Revelation 2:1

Many Christians are familiar with the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation, the source of scare stories like “If you sin a lot, God will blot you out of the book of life” or “A Christian must be hot and on fire for God, or God will spit you out of His mouth”, and so on. It is interesting how the latter even came about, because Jesus doesn’t seem to object to the cold either — it’s the lukewarm He has a problem with. [Rev.3:16] So I wanted to dwell a little on these letters.

I want to point out straight away that the book of Revelation is first of all the revelation of Jesus Christ, not a revelation of the last days or of the antichrist. Whatever problem we have — symptoms of illness, financial difficulties, family problems — all we need is a fresh revelation of Jesus Christ. Paul writes to the Romans: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes… For in it the righteousness of God is revealed…” [Rom.1:16-17] Notice that the gospel of Jesus Christ is, first, the power of God to salvation [not only from hell, but from any problem] for everyone who believes, and second, in it the righteousness of God is revealed. How does salvation come? Through the revelation of the righteousness of God. And what, or rather Who, is the righteousness of God to which the Law and the Prophets bear witness? Jesus! That is why it is written: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy” [Rev.1:3]

So, all seven letters have a similar structure. First Jesus reveals Himself in a particular image, then, addressing the angel of the church, He points to some problem, and finally He speaks of the reward or blessing that this revelation brings. Why does Jesus reveal Himself differently to each church? Because by this revelation He gives the angel of the church the solution to his problem. Let’s take, for example, the first letter, to the angel of the church of Ephesus.

First Jesus reveals Himself: “These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands“. Then He speaks of the problem in the church of Ephesus. What had happened there? The angel of the church had fallen from grace, so Jesus says to him: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen.” He had left his first love. What is this first love? Grace, of course, in the person of Jesus Christ. For this is how we all receive the Lord and are saved — by grace, not by works. Jesus also tells him that He knows his “works, labor, and patience.” On the one hand it seems noble, but these works are not the works he should be doing, because a few verses later the Lord tells him to “do the first works.” [Rev.2:5] So what are these first works? Paul writes to the Thessalonians: “remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ…” [1 Ths.1:3] The angel of the church of Ephesus had works, labor and patience, but his works were not works of faith, his labor was not a labor of love, because he had left his first love, and his patience was not the patience of hope in the Lord. Works of faith are not works of the flesh, but a life under grace, relying in faith on Jesus’ finished work on the cross.

So it turns out that the church of Ephesus had fallen into the law, like the Galatians, and the solution to this was the revelation of Jesus that He gave. First, the Lord revealed Himself as the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. [Rev.1:20] And what, or rather Who, is God’s right hand? Who is seated at the right hand of God? The Lord is reminding the angel, who has forgotten that he cannot lose his salvation and is now trying to earn it by works, labor and patience. For Jesus Himself said that no one will snatch His sheep out of His hand and His Father’s hand. [Jhn.10:28-29] The Lord also turns the gaze of the angel of the church of Ephesus to where he had stopped looking: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.” [Col.3:1] After all, Paul had earlier written to this same church of Ephesus: “and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” [Eph.2:6]. And what about the revelation that Jesus walks among the lampstands? As I wrote in the article “Fallen from Grace? «Rise, Take Up Your Bed and Walk!»“, when a believer falls from grace he becomes bedridden and no longer walks in the Spirit, but busies himself with useless works. The Lord wants us to walk in the Spirit as He walks, and we can walk in the Spirit only when we live under grace.