And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Christ speaks to the church at Ephesus with full knowledge of its works, commending patient endurance of hardship and hard unfainting labor done for his name without giving up. This is high approval of firmness in bearing trial, of refusing evil and false teaching, and of holding the truth with steadfast loyalty. Yet all such perseverance and toil are worthless without living first love for Christ and for one another, and leaving that love is a fall that empties service of savor and power. The commendation is therefore joined to rebuke and to the call to remember from where fallen, repent, and return to the first love and first works, or the light will be removed. As one of the seven messages reaching to the end of time, it still searches every heart today, weighing character and calling God's people to humble self-examination and renewed love.
Speaker, Audience and Context
The words are those of Christ to the angel of the church of Ephesus, given to John on Patmos to be written and sent, sent through the aged prophet John. He who speaks them is He who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. He declares, I know thy works, and remains constantly present with authority and power. He is seen in the midst of the golden candlesticks walking from church to church, from congregation to congregation and from soul to soul in unwearied vigilance, for while undershepherds may be asleep or engrossed with matters of small importance, He who keeps Israel does not slumber nor sleep but is the true Watchman. His presence and sustaining grace are the secret of all light and life, and believers are kept by the power of God through faith, and that not of themselves, it is the gift of God.
The commendation of bearing and patience and unfainting labor for His name's sake belongs with a wider commendation of works and labor and patience. It includes refusal to bear evil and evil workers, trying those who say they are apostles and finding them liars, and exposing them. It also includes hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which Christ also hates. Such excellent qualifications mean approval and encouragement, a Well done pronounced upon the good and faithful servant, yet not acceptance without need, for the church is in a condition calling for reformation and individual heart-searching.
The message does not close with commendation, for Christ adds rebuke for leaving the first love and falling. Faithful endurance and hard labor for Christ's name do not excuse loss of love. Those commended are called to remember from where they are fallen, to realize the moral fall, to purify the heart by belief of the truth, to repent, and to do the first works and return to former works. Otherwise Christ will come quickly and remove the candlestick out of its place.
Endurance and Labor Commended
To have borne and to have patience and to have labored for his name's sake and not to have fainted means to have endured hardship and trial patiently, to have labored hard for Christ's name, and not to have grown weary or given up. This faithful perseverance did not remove the need for repentance and a return to first love and first works. The commendation does not cancel the warning that follows, for the church has left its first love and must repent and return.
The verse is Christ's knowledge and high commendation of firmness in bearing and patience and unfainting labor, a Well done upon the good and faithful servant. It shows approval and encouragement, that he cherishes carefully every act of love and endurance, and that he counts much that is commendable, yet dangerous to trust in if first love is left. It calls for diligence in God's service, for patience, self-control, and patient endurance, enduring hardness as good soldiers of the cross, especially by those in sacred office. The commendation stands together with works and refusal to bear evil and exposure of false apostles, and with the charge that first love has been left and the call to remember from where fallen, repent, and do the first works, or Christ will come quickly and remove the candlestick. It belongs to his message given to be written to come down through the ages to the end of the world, spoken by him who holds the seven stars and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks in unwearied vigilance as the true Watchman who does not slumber, whose presence and sustaining grace are the secret of all light and life, by whose power believers are kept through faith as the gift of God.
Bearing includes bearing difficult burdens in the heat of the day and ever having disagreeable tasks requiring much diligence and continual struggle with rigid impartial discipline to keep evil out of the church. It means bearing with souls in unselfish tender dealing with the erring, suffering long and being kind, covering sins rather than magnifying indiscretions, and binding the rough and stubborn and disagreeable close to a loving sympathizing heart. Laboring for his name means working continuously in public testimony as God bids despite suffering and affliction, sustained and comforted by the Saviour and the Holy Spirit. It is lifelong incessant strife against sin requiring self-denial, and doing work amid trials and exposure to persecution even to loss of life itself, so as not to become dim but to shine as lights amid moral darkness to eradicate sin, united in bearing burdens and made perfect in oneness. Patient workers who have thus borne the burden and labored without fainting are to be given due respect for their works' sake.
Endurance Without Love Insufficient
Endurance under hardship, patient labor for Christ's name, and refusal to faint do not excuse leaving first love, and those so commended must still remember, repent, and return to first love and first works. Diligence and endurance can coexist with serious lack of love for God and neighbor, with coldness and harshness toward others, with serious unfaithfulness and failure to work in harmony with God's mind, and with dishonest conduct that has not changed despite received light. Hard labor and doctrinal faithfulness therefore leave the need for repentance untouched, for loss of freshness and power remains fall and peril requiring return.
The commended condition of works, labor, patience, refusal to bear evil, and trying and exposing false apostles can be a high state of advancement in spiritual knowledge, yet exist when earnest vital love for Jesus is dying out. When love for God wanes, love for the brethren is lost with it, and unfainting labor without first love becomes cold legal religion of punctilious forms without vitality, like those rigorous in forms yet destitute of love. The remnant church may meet the whole Ephesian description and yet fail in vital godliness, showing decline in spirituality despite faithful effort. Instead of letting outward form take the place of inward piety and leaving undone the work to be done, light should grow brighter unto the perfect day by gathering light from Christ and sending its rays to a crooked and perverse generation.
Leaving first love is losing sight of the Saviour and of His great love and infinite sacrifice to redeem fallen sinners, no longer realizing the greatness of God's love and no longer talking of it as once. It is no longer distinguishing sacred things from the common, but becoming strict about outward ceremonies, rigid in criticism, particular about theory of faith, looking for mistakes and defects in others, encouraging suspicion and doubt, and giving way to unkind criticism. With the love of God shut out of the heart, happiness and joy go out of life and the walk is in darkness, saddest of all without consciousness of the loss. Love in the church becomes almost extinct, the love of many waxes cold, brethren do not love brethren, and brother drawing apart from brother to fight him from his own wicked spirit proves Christ is not abiding in the heart by faith. Love for Christ includes love for the people for whom He died, so neglecting care for His followers, including those in need or darkness, is losing love for Christ Himself.
Without Christ and first love steadfastness of purpose is gone, and all profession of faith, knowledge, ability, outward zeal, hard labor, and service amount to nothing. They are unacceptable and worthless and lack the savor that gives them value in God's sight, so council meetings and church work amount to naught until repentance restores works of Christian love and fellowship. No outward service is sufficient if first love is left, for without it profession will not save a soul from death, no grace is received from Christ to impart to others, and light does not shine to the world. It is dangerous to trust in commended excellencies, since genuine heart service requires Christ kept in the service rather than man leaving Christ out and depending largely upon his own capabilities.
By leaving first love Satan's subtlety damages much of the good done, and keeping the faith is what keeps first love, while failing to keep it brings a long unsettled condition. Want of love for Jesus and one another extinguishes spiritual light and fruit-bearing to God's glory ceases, truth being kept unsanctifying in the outer court until the candle gradually goes out in darkness and grievous wolves enter in and spare not the flock. Ephesus once beloved, with powerful convincing truth burning brightly amid moral darkness, did not know her visitation, did not heed admonitions, and did not maintain vital connection by abiding in Christ and going from strength to strength. Because teachers have left first love the candlestick is being removed from its place, and those who make light of warnings and refuse to repent lose power of spiritual discernment, call darkness light and light darkness, follow confused human wisdom, lose interest in saving truth and will not receive it.
Prophetic Reach to End
The seven churches signify completeness and portray the condition of God's professed people throughout the Christian era, revealing the state of the church at different periods, with the number seven showing that the messages extend to the end of time. The names are symbolic of the church in different periods of Christian history, and the symbols reveal the condition of the church at different periods in the history of the world. The figures show the contrast between truth and error and between the wheat and the tares, with truth standing on its own eternal basis, and wheat developing among the tares. The messages revealed are light for later generations, to be understood and proclaimed to the world, and they portray the state of things existing in the churches of the religious world today and remain applicable and in force today.
The message given to John to be written was to come down through the ages to the end of the world, so with its symbols it remains God's message to His people now, given by One who has authority and not to be flippantly turned from. The whole book from beginning to close is to be read, studied most earnestly, understood and kept, and the great and solemn truths are to be proclaimed to the world and brought into the very designs and principles of the church. It contains vital truth for salvation that each must hear for himself rather than giving time to unrevealed speculations, and its specifications are to be studied by teachers in every line of work. It is words of commendation to Ephesus, a Well done upon the good and faithful servant for bearing and patience and unfainting labor for His name, including intolerance of evil and testing of false apostles, yet the commendation does not close the message but is joined to rebuke for leaving first love and a call to remember, repent, do the first works, and have love revived, lest the candlestick be removed.
The verse applies to those in this age who have had great light but have not opened the door of the heart to Christ's knock. The Lord has a controversy with His people because warnings from heaven have not been heeded, while the Spirit of God is withdrawing from the world and judgments such as the fires lately raging in New York and other cities fall by no accident but by the hand of omnipotent power. It warns God's own people to beware lest a similar condition come in among them and must be watched against. It belongs to the message of the first three chapters calling people to prepare to meet the Lord coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, rebuking indifference to the signs foretold and giving evidence that the end is right upon us, so each must know for himself what the Spirit says to the churches or he will fail and lose his bearings. Those who claim to believe the truth must watch and pray and trust the living Word, forming character after the divine similitude by daily conversion and willing consecration, being deeply earnest about scenes shortly to take place and learning individually what the Lord requires instead of doing as one pleases, for a little time remains to gain an experience in the things of God and be ready to meet the Lord with joy when He comes.
The warning about repeated failure to heed divine messages and abandon practices opposed to truth and righteousness had been fulfilled twice, with the question whether further fulfillments would follow, and the commendable endurance of hardship patiently and labor for Christ's name without growing weary did not remove the need to repent for leaving first love. The first churches did not keep their garments white but let go of purity and simplicity of faith, letting outward form take the place of inward piety and leaving undone the work that should have been done, and this decline came in gradually out of doubt and unbelief. Instead their light should have grown brighter and brighter unto the perfect day by gathering light from Jesus Christ and sending its bright rays to a crooked and perverse generation, leaving things behind and going forward to perfection. By faithful improvement of entrusted talents and privileges the church would stand on vantage ground with Holiness unto the Lord inscribed on every work, convincing poor souls in darkness and sin of the truth rather than remaining in moral darkness and inefficiency.
Ephesus was once beloved of God with powerful, convincing truth and once burned brightly to send light amid the moral darkness of error. She did not know the time of her visitation, did not heed solemn admonitions, and did not maintain a vital connection with Christ by abiding in Him and going from strength to strength and character to character. Want of love for Jesus and one another extinguished spiritual light, fruit-bearing to the glory of God ceased, truth was kept in the outer court unsanctifying the soul, the candle gradually went out until quenched in darkness, and grievous wolves entered in and spared not the flock. The same warning addresses churches claiming to believe the truth for the last days, who have evidence piled upon evidence yet are degenerating into weakness and inefficiency because the love of Christ is not burning upon the altar of their hearts and therefore cannot kindle love in others. Christ, the infinite forbearing One who paid the price of His own blood, still addresses His people with longing, yearning love, calling them to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, to repent and regain their first love, with the promise to him that overcometh to eat of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God.
Doctrinal Testing and Fidelity
The verse commends holding the truth, being established in doctrine, and being firm to condemn and resist evil by refusing to bear evil workers and by trying those who claim to be apostles and exposing them as liars. It shows the early believers still bearing trial with patience and laboring for Christ's name without fainting, knowing works and labor while holding what is true. That same commendation includes hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which Christ also hates.
The hated doctrine teaches that the gospel has made God's law of no effect and that by believing alone people are released from the necessity of being doers of the word. It holds that faith is all-sufficient and that the imputed righteousness of Christ fulfills the law for the sinner so there is no obligation to obey. That teaching perverts faith and the righteousness of Christ to serve error, makes His righteousness a cloak for iniquity, separates Christ and the law and the Father and the Son, and virtually teaches that Christ by His death saves men in their transgressions, which Christ unsparingly condemns.
Steadfastness without fainting includes holding firmly with the grip of faith to fundamental principles and to the foundation built up point by point by the ministration of the Holy Spirit through prayerful study. It means not yielding or removing one point or pin from that foundation and not giving heed to seducing spirits. Among those commended there can still be theories so objectionable that they endanger faith and spoil experience, so they must hold to right principles in unity in these last days rather than yielding any part of their foundation. Keeping the faith keeps first love, while failing to keep the faith leaves first love and brings a long unsettled condition.
Bearing and patience mean ever having disagreeable tasks requiring much diligence and continual struggle to keep evil out of the church through rigid, impartial discipline. This is necessary because there will be those with a semblance of religion who seek to undermine the faith of others while working secretly to exalt themselves and perpetuate their defects. The perseverance commended includes the continual effort needed to bear difficult burdens, remain patient, labor for His name, and not give up. It also calls for rebuke of carelessness, backsliding, and sin so that people may repent and confess, with power supplied by the First and the Last to those who seek to overcome as they struggle against sin without compromise.
Faithful labor for His name is done under Christ Himself as chief in authority, the One who has the seven stars in His right hand and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks in charge of the churches. Therefore no one man is to take jurisdiction as supreme authority over a church, school, sanitarium, or institution or have all difficulties and decisions brought to him. Ministers and physicians are to blend and consult together in united wise counsel, each acting from his own individual mind while seeking divine wisdom by prayerful study of the Word, with all superiority invested in Christ. Labor for His name must not leave first love out of its counsels.
Scriptural Links on Love
The love that must be reproduced in those commended for bearing and patience and unfainting labor is the love circulating in the character of God himself, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy and forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. That love is to be imparted to and reproduced in His children toward the world in loving God with the whole heart and neighbor as self, comprehending the first four precepts of duty to God and the last six of duty to fellow men. Unless they wake to this, remember from where they are fallen, repent, and do the first works, their candlestick will be removed despite a commendation that would otherwise make them appear perfect.
First love is the mutual love by which all know Christ's disciples, in loving one another. Love for Christ includes love for the people for whom He died, so that neglecting that love leads to losing love for Christ Himself. It must be shown in caring for His followers, including those who are in need or in darkness, for these virtues of endurance and toil could remain even when the love of Christ had dropped out of the life. Without that commanded love of Christ revealed, steadfastness of purpose is gone, all knowledge and ability and outward zeal and service are worthless and unacceptable to God, no grace is received from Christ to impart to others, and light does not shine to the world.
Believers are kept by the power of God through faith, and that not of themselves, it is the gift of God. His presence and sustaining grace are the secret of all light and life, given by Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, going from church to church and congregation to congregation and soul to soul in unwearied vigilance as the true Watchman who keeps Israel and does not slumber nor sleep while human undershepherds may sleep or be engrossed with matters of small importance. Patient bearing and labor for His name must therefore be joined with first love dwelling in the heart in response to the love in Jesus Christ, who gave His life and brings into right relation with Himself those who exercise that same love for one another, so that His light and love shine into the heart. Churches receiving divine rays of light are to gather them up and let them shine on the pathway of others, standing in living communication with God as the light of the world, doing their work amid trials and exposure to persecution even to loss of life without becoming dim or ceasing to shine amid moral darkness to eradicate immorality and sin. They are to unite in bearing one another's burdens as a combined, united power in love and efficiency, made perfect in oneness so the world may believe.
The labor is worthy because the reward at the end of the conflict is an eternal weight of glory that more than compensates for every wound and grief and sorrow. Every sacrifice brings returns of priceless treasure in the promises granted to the overcomer in the letters to the seven churches, each promise surpassing the one before it, including eating of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God. He who shuns self-denial in the lifelong and incessant strife against sin proves a coward and will miss that glorious reward to meet only shame and contempt hereafter, while Christ who paid an infinite price offers a love that passes knowledge to those who place their entire affections upon Him. God approves and remembers such cheerful faithful service, while neglecting duty or doing it unwillingly is not pleasing to Him. The commendation belongs not to decorative work spent on clothing or homes but to self-sacrificing service for Christ and others, which lasts, unlike work pictured as wood, hay, and stubble that the last-day fire will consume.
The order of commendation before reproof for leaving first love and losing the talent of love gives ministers today the example of commending earnest labor first and then reproving the loss of love, which is a most sacred trust, since it was the love of God that saved the fallen race from eternal death. Patient workers who have borne the burden in the heat of the day and labored for His name's sake without fainting are to be given due respect for their works' sake. Those entrusted with solemn truth are to love Jesus with the whole heart and with humbled hearts love God supremely and neighbor as self, and not counterwork His prayer while sinners are dying by contention and strife, joining politics, and showing differences and disunion to the world, and then the truth will prosper in their hands and go forth as a lamp that burneth because God sees it is safe to work with them and for them.
Call to Repentance Today
The commendation for bearing hardship patiently and laboring hard without giving up belongs to a call to God's people in their present displeasing condition that each one repent and stand on higher and holier ground without fault before the throne. Even with that endurance, first love has been left and self has swelled so that Christ is not manifested in the life, and now is the opportunity to purify the heart by belief of the truth and to regain the lost love through arousal to realize the moral fall. Differences of opinion must be put aside and the counsel of the True Witness heeded, with the fall remembered from where it occurred and repentance and the first works restored through humbling the soul and individually seeking the Holy Spirit with the whole heart, or the candlestick will be removed. Such repentance brings faces aglow with divine love and testimony that Christ's blood cleanses from all sin, while diligence in service still calls for patience, self-control, and patient endurance, enduring hardness as good soldiers especially by those in sacred office. The commendation for good deeds does not excuse sinful works but stands with the merciful warning to remember, repent, humble, confess, and do the first works.
Heeding that call means leaving a low standard to reach perfection through earnest striving for increased fervency and genuine love, which knits hearts together and gives powerful convincing evidence for truth to the world. Love must be cultivated and exercised to gain strength of character and moral vigor, bearing fruit in unselfish tender dealing with the erring. It suffers long and is kind, refusing to magnify small indiscretions into unpardonable offenses or to expose errors and weakness, but covering a multitude of sins and binding the rough and stubborn and sullen and disagreeable close to a loving sympathizing pitying heart with the untiring spirit that will not fail nor be discouraged.
The specifications apply to the church in all ages and are to be studied by teachers in every line of work, where deficiency calls for reproof and earnest labor and the love of Christ must be revived to embrace love for the brethren. They call to recognize duty and make personal efforts in Christ's work of saving souls. They confront selfishness that leaves destitute fields unworked and call for earnest effort to put workers into those fields.
The message strongly impresses hearers under the deep moving of the Spirit, calling all who desire to give themselves to the Lord to come forward wholly with prayer offered for them. It especially reaches those recently hearing the advent message who are in the valley of decision, strengthening the good impression unto whole consecration and conversion that they may sing a new song of praise to God. It is a call to be converted and feel travail of soul for the world and proclaim the last message of mercy, to qualify to a much higher standard of piety acting from the highest motives, and to prove obedient to the divine law in order to inherit eternal life. Each must know for himself what the Spirit says to the churches, watching and praying and trusting the living Word, forming character after the divine similitude by daily conversion and willing consecration in the little time remaining to prepare, becoming deeply earnest about shortly coming scenes and spiritually discerning so as to meet the Lord with joy when He comes in the clouds with power and glory.
God's people should now hold the position of standing shoulder to shoulder with one mind and one heart, working intelligently together and encouraging one another in faith, with faces to the foe fighting to be overcomers and not be overcome. Patient workers who have borne the burden in the heat of the day without fainting are to be given due respect for their works' sake, yet faithful endurance does not remove the need to heed the warning about losing first love. They must seek the Lord with all their hearts, love God supremely and neighbor as self, and humble their hearts before God, and then truth will prosper in their hands and go forth as a burning lamp because God sees it safe to work with them and for them.
That knowing scrutiny belongs to the present time when everything shakable is shaken so the unshakable may remain and every case comes in review as God measures the temple and the worshipers therein. It is given by One who has authority and is not to be flippantly turned from, for He knows works and history and experience and cherishes every act of love and endurance. He weighs the character of all taking His name, with every individual under His supervision, knowing thoughts and intents as well as every word and act and all about religious experience and whom each loves and serves, calling for close self-examination. The messages portray the state of things existing in the churches today, with the names symbolic of the Christian church in different periods, the number seven indicating completeness and extension to the end of time, and the figures symbolic of God's professed people as wheat developing among tares with truth standing on its eternal basis in contrast with error.
Christ speaks to the church at Ephesus with full knowledge of its works, commending patient endurance of hardship and hard unfainting labor done for his name without giving up. This is high approval of firmness in bearing trial, of refusing evil and false teaching, and of holding the truth with steadfast loyalty. Yet all such perseverance and toil are worthless without living first love for Christ and for one another, and leaving that love is a fall that empties service of savor and power. The commendation is therefore joined to rebuke and to the call to remember from where fallen, repent, and return to the first love and first works, or the light will be removed. As one of the seven messages reaching to the end of time, it still searches every heart today, weighing character and calling God's people to humble self-examination and renewed love.
Speaker, Audience and Context
The words are those of Christ to the angel of the church of Ephesus, given to John on Patmos to be written and sent, sent through the aged prophet John. He who speaks them is He who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. He declares, I know thy works, and remains constantly present with authority and power. He is seen in the midst of the golden candlesticks walking from church to church, from congregation to congregation and from soul to soul in unwearied vigilance, for while undershepherds may be asleep or engrossed with matters of small importance, He who keeps Israel does not slumber nor sleep but is the true Watchman. His presence and sustaining grace are the secret of all light and life, and believers are kept by the power of God through faith, and that not of themselves, it is the gift of God.
The commendation of bearing and patience and unfainting labor for His name's sake belongs with a wider commendation of works and labor and patience. It includes refusal to bear evil and evil workers, trying those who say they are apostles and finding them liars, and exposing them. It also includes hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which Christ also hates. Such excellent qualifications mean approval and encouragement, a Well done pronounced upon the good and faithful servant, yet not acceptance without need, for the church is in a condition calling for reformation and individual heart-searching.
The message does not close with commendation, for Christ adds rebuke for leaving the first love and falling. Faithful endurance and hard labor for Christ's name do not excuse loss of love. Those commended are called to remember from where they are fallen, to realize the moral fall, to purify the heart by belief of the truth, to repent, and to do the first works and return to former works. Otherwise Christ will come quickly and remove the candlestick out of its place.
Endurance and Labor Commended
To have borne and to have patience and to have labored for his name's sake and not to have fainted means to have endured hardship and trial patiently, to have labored hard for Christ's name, and not to have grown weary or given up. This faithful perseverance did not remove the need for repentance and a return to first love and first works. The commendation does not cancel the warning that follows, for the church has left its first love and must repent and return.
The verse is Christ's knowledge and high commendation of firmness in bearing and patience and unfainting labor, a Well done upon the good and faithful servant. It shows approval and encouragement, that he cherishes carefully every act of love and endurance, and that he counts much that is commendable, yet dangerous to trust in if first love is left. It calls for diligence in God's service, for patience, self-control, and patient endurance, enduring hardness as good soldiers of the cross, especially by those in sacred office. The commendation stands together with works and refusal to bear evil and exposure of false apostles, and with the charge that first love has been left and the call to remember from where fallen, repent, and do the first works, or Christ will come quickly and remove the candlestick. It belongs to his message given to be written to come down through the ages to the end of the world, spoken by him who holds the seven stars and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks in unwearied vigilance as the true Watchman who does not slumber, whose presence and sustaining grace are the secret of all light and life, by whose power believers are kept through faith as the gift of God.
Bearing includes bearing difficult burdens in the heat of the day and ever having disagreeable tasks requiring much diligence and continual struggle with rigid impartial discipline to keep evil out of the church. It means bearing with souls in unselfish tender dealing with the erring, suffering long and being kind, covering sins rather than magnifying indiscretions, and binding the rough and stubborn and disagreeable close to a loving sympathizing heart. Laboring for his name means working continuously in public testimony as God bids despite suffering and affliction, sustained and comforted by the Saviour and the Holy Spirit. It is lifelong incessant strife against sin requiring self-denial, and doing work amid trials and exposure to persecution even to loss of life itself, so as not to become dim but to shine as lights amid moral darkness to eradicate sin, united in bearing burdens and made perfect in oneness. Patient workers who have thus borne the burden and labored without fainting are to be given due respect for their works' sake.
Endurance Without Love Insufficient
Endurance under hardship, patient labor for Christ's name, and refusal to faint do not excuse leaving first love, and those so commended must still remember, repent, and return to first love and first works. Diligence and endurance can coexist with serious lack of love for God and neighbor, with coldness and harshness toward others, with serious unfaithfulness and failure to work in harmony with God's mind, and with dishonest conduct that has not changed despite received light. Hard labor and doctrinal faithfulness therefore leave the need for repentance untouched, for loss of freshness and power remains fall and peril requiring return.
The commended condition of works, labor, patience, refusal to bear evil, and trying and exposing false apostles can be a high state of advancement in spiritual knowledge, yet exist when earnest vital love for Jesus is dying out. When love for God wanes, love for the brethren is lost with it, and unfainting labor without first love becomes cold legal religion of punctilious forms without vitality, like those rigorous in forms yet destitute of love. The remnant church may meet the whole Ephesian description and yet fail in vital godliness, showing decline in spirituality despite faithful effort. Instead of letting outward form take the place of inward piety and leaving undone the work to be done, light should grow brighter unto the perfect day by gathering light from Christ and sending its rays to a crooked and perverse generation.
Leaving first love is losing sight of the Saviour and of His great love and infinite sacrifice to redeem fallen sinners, no longer realizing the greatness of God's love and no longer talking of it as once. It is no longer distinguishing sacred things from the common, but becoming strict about outward ceremonies, rigid in criticism, particular about theory of faith, looking for mistakes and defects in others, encouraging suspicion and doubt, and giving way to unkind criticism. With the love of God shut out of the heart, happiness and joy go out of life and the walk is in darkness, saddest of all without consciousness of the loss. Love in the church becomes almost extinct, the love of many waxes cold, brethren do not love brethren, and brother drawing apart from brother to fight him from his own wicked spirit proves Christ is not abiding in the heart by faith. Love for Christ includes love for the people for whom He died, so neglecting care for His followers, including those in need or darkness, is losing love for Christ Himself.
Without Christ and first love steadfastness of purpose is gone, and all profession of faith, knowledge, ability, outward zeal, hard labor, and service amount to nothing. They are unacceptable and worthless and lack the savor that gives them value in God's sight, so council meetings and church work amount to naught until repentance restores works of Christian love and fellowship. No outward service is sufficient if first love is left, for without it profession will not save a soul from death, no grace is received from Christ to impart to others, and light does not shine to the world. It is dangerous to trust in commended excellencies, since genuine heart service requires Christ kept in the service rather than man leaving Christ out and depending largely upon his own capabilities.
By leaving first love Satan's subtlety damages much of the good done, and keeping the faith is what keeps first love, while failing to keep it brings a long unsettled condition. Want of love for Jesus and one another extinguishes spiritual light and fruit-bearing to God's glory ceases, truth being kept unsanctifying in the outer court until the candle gradually goes out in darkness and grievous wolves enter in and spare not the flock. Ephesus once beloved, with powerful convincing truth burning brightly amid moral darkness, did not know her visitation, did not heed admonitions, and did not maintain vital connection by abiding in Christ and going from strength to strength. Because teachers have left first love the candlestick is being removed from its place, and those who make light of warnings and refuse to repent lose power of spiritual discernment, call darkness light and light darkness, follow confused human wisdom, lose interest in saving truth and will not receive it.
Prophetic Reach to End
The seven churches signify completeness and portray the condition of God's professed people throughout the Christian era, revealing the state of the church at different periods, with the number seven showing that the messages extend to the end of time. The names are symbolic of the church in different periods of Christian history, and the symbols reveal the condition of the church at different periods in the history of the world. The figures show the contrast between truth and error and between the wheat and the tares, with truth standing on its own eternal basis, and wheat developing among the tares. The messages revealed are light for later generations, to be understood and proclaimed to the world, and they portray the state of things existing in the churches of the religious world today and remain applicable and in force today.
The message given to John to be written was to come down through the ages to the end of the world, so with its symbols it remains God's message to His people now, given by One who has authority and not to be flippantly turned from. The whole book from beginning to close is to be read, studied most earnestly, understood and kept, and the great and solemn truths are to be proclaimed to the world and brought into the very designs and principles of the church. It contains vital truth for salvation that each must hear for himself rather than giving time to unrevealed speculations, and its specifications are to be studied by teachers in every line of work. It is words of commendation to Ephesus, a Well done upon the good and faithful servant for bearing and patience and unfainting labor for His name, including intolerance of evil and testing of false apostles, yet the commendation does not close the message but is joined to rebuke for leaving first love and a call to remember, repent, do the first works, and have love revived, lest the candlestick be removed.
The verse applies to those in this age who have had great light but have not opened the door of the heart to Christ's knock. The Lord has a controversy with His people because warnings from heaven have not been heeded, while the Spirit of God is withdrawing from the world and judgments such as the fires lately raging in New York and other cities fall by no accident but by the hand of omnipotent power. It warns God's own people to beware lest a similar condition come in among them and must be watched against. It belongs to the message of the first three chapters calling people to prepare to meet the Lord coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, rebuking indifference to the signs foretold and giving evidence that the end is right upon us, so each must know for himself what the Spirit says to the churches or he will fail and lose his bearings. Those who claim to believe the truth must watch and pray and trust the living Word, forming character after the divine similitude by daily conversion and willing consecration, being deeply earnest about scenes shortly to take place and learning individually what the Lord requires instead of doing as one pleases, for a little time remains to gain an experience in the things of God and be ready to meet the Lord with joy when He comes.
The warning about repeated failure to heed divine messages and abandon practices opposed to truth and righteousness had been fulfilled twice, with the question whether further fulfillments would follow, and the commendable endurance of hardship patiently and labor for Christ's name without growing weary did not remove the need to repent for leaving first love. The first churches did not keep their garments white but let go of purity and simplicity of faith, letting outward form take the place of inward piety and leaving undone the work that should have been done, and this decline came in gradually out of doubt and unbelief. Instead their light should have grown brighter and brighter unto the perfect day by gathering light from Jesus Christ and sending its bright rays to a crooked and perverse generation, leaving things behind and going forward to perfection. By faithful improvement of entrusted talents and privileges the church would stand on vantage ground with Holiness unto the Lord inscribed on every work, convincing poor souls in darkness and sin of the truth rather than remaining in moral darkness and inefficiency.
Ephesus was once beloved of God with powerful, convincing truth and once burned brightly to send light amid the moral darkness of error. She did not know the time of her visitation, did not heed solemn admonitions, and did not maintain a vital connection with Christ by abiding in Him and going from strength to strength and character to character. Want of love for Jesus and one another extinguished spiritual light, fruit-bearing to the glory of God ceased, truth was kept in the outer court unsanctifying the soul, the candle gradually went out until quenched in darkness, and grievous wolves entered in and spared not the flock. The same warning addresses churches claiming to believe the truth for the last days, who have evidence piled upon evidence yet are degenerating into weakness and inefficiency because the love of Christ is not burning upon the altar of their hearts and therefore cannot kindle love in others. Christ, the infinite forbearing One who paid the price of His own blood, still addresses His people with longing, yearning love, calling them to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, to repent and regain their first love, with the promise to him that overcometh to eat of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God.
Doctrinal Testing and Fidelity
The verse commends holding the truth, being established in doctrine, and being firm to condemn and resist evil by refusing to bear evil workers and by trying those who claim to be apostles and exposing them as liars. It shows the early believers still bearing trial with patience and laboring for Christ's name without fainting, knowing works and labor while holding what is true. That same commendation includes hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which Christ also hates.
The hated doctrine teaches that the gospel has made God's law of no effect and that by believing alone people are released from the necessity of being doers of the word. It holds that faith is all-sufficient and that the imputed righteousness of Christ fulfills the law for the sinner so there is no obligation to obey. That teaching perverts faith and the righteousness of Christ to serve error, makes His righteousness a cloak for iniquity, separates Christ and the law and the Father and the Son, and virtually teaches that Christ by His death saves men in their transgressions, which Christ unsparingly condemns.
Steadfastness without fainting includes holding firmly with the grip of faith to fundamental principles and to the foundation built up point by point by the ministration of the Holy Spirit through prayerful study. It means not yielding or removing one point or pin from that foundation and not giving heed to seducing spirits. Among those commended there can still be theories so objectionable that they endanger faith and spoil experience, so they must hold to right principles in unity in these last days rather than yielding any part of their foundation. Keeping the faith keeps first love, while failing to keep the faith leaves first love and brings a long unsettled condition.
Bearing and patience mean ever having disagreeable tasks requiring much diligence and continual struggle to keep evil out of the church through rigid, impartial discipline. This is necessary because there will be those with a semblance of religion who seek to undermine the faith of others while working secretly to exalt themselves and perpetuate their defects. The perseverance commended includes the continual effort needed to bear difficult burdens, remain patient, labor for His name, and not give up. It also calls for rebuke of carelessness, backsliding, and sin so that people may repent and confess, with power supplied by the First and the Last to those who seek to overcome as they struggle against sin without compromise.
Faithful labor for His name is done under Christ Himself as chief in authority, the One who has the seven stars in His right hand and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks in charge of the churches. Therefore no one man is to take jurisdiction as supreme authority over a church, school, sanitarium, or institution or have all difficulties and decisions brought to him. Ministers and physicians are to blend and consult together in united wise counsel, each acting from his own individual mind while seeking divine wisdom by prayerful study of the Word, with all superiority invested in Christ. Labor for His name must not leave first love out of its counsels.
Scriptural Links on Love
The love that must be reproduced in those commended for bearing and patience and unfainting labor is the love circulating in the character of God himself, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy and forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. That love is to be imparted to and reproduced in His children toward the world in loving God with the whole heart and neighbor as self, comprehending the first four precepts of duty to God and the last six of duty to fellow men. Unless they wake to this, remember from where they are fallen, repent, and do the first works, their candlestick will be removed despite a commendation that would otherwise make them appear perfect.
First love is the mutual love by which all know Christ's disciples, in loving one another. Love for Christ includes love for the people for whom He died, so that neglecting that love leads to losing love for Christ Himself. It must be shown in caring for His followers, including those who are in need or in darkness, for these virtues of endurance and toil could remain even when the love of Christ had dropped out of the life. Without that commanded love of Christ revealed, steadfastness of purpose is gone, all knowledge and ability and outward zeal and service are worthless and unacceptable to God, no grace is received from Christ to impart to others, and light does not shine to the world.
Believers are kept by the power of God through faith, and that not of themselves, it is the gift of God. His presence and sustaining grace are the secret of all light and life, given by Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, going from church to church and congregation to congregation and soul to soul in unwearied vigilance as the true Watchman who keeps Israel and does not slumber nor sleep while human undershepherds may sleep or be engrossed with matters of small importance. Patient bearing and labor for His name must therefore be joined with first love dwelling in the heart in response to the love in Jesus Christ, who gave His life and brings into right relation with Himself those who exercise that same love for one another, so that His light and love shine into the heart. Churches receiving divine rays of light are to gather them up and let them shine on the pathway of others, standing in living communication with God as the light of the world, doing their work amid trials and exposure to persecution even to loss of life without becoming dim or ceasing to shine amid moral darkness to eradicate immorality and sin. They are to unite in bearing one another's burdens as a combined, united power in love and efficiency, made perfect in oneness so the world may believe.
The labor is worthy because the reward at the end of the conflict is an eternal weight of glory that more than compensates for every wound and grief and sorrow. Every sacrifice brings returns of priceless treasure in the promises granted to the overcomer in the letters to the seven churches, each promise surpassing the one before it, including eating of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God. He who shuns self-denial in the lifelong and incessant strife against sin proves a coward and will miss that glorious reward to meet only shame and contempt hereafter, while Christ who paid an infinite price offers a love that passes knowledge to those who place their entire affections upon Him. God approves and remembers such cheerful faithful service, while neglecting duty or doing it unwillingly is not pleasing to Him. The commendation belongs not to decorative work spent on clothing or homes but to self-sacrificing service for Christ and others, which lasts, unlike work pictured as wood, hay, and stubble that the last-day fire will consume.
The order of commendation before reproof for leaving first love and losing the talent of love gives ministers today the example of commending earnest labor first and then reproving the loss of love, which is a most sacred trust, since it was the love of God that saved the fallen race from eternal death. Patient workers who have borne the burden in the heat of the day and labored for His name's sake without fainting are to be given due respect for their works' sake. Those entrusted with solemn truth are to love Jesus with the whole heart and with humbled hearts love God supremely and neighbor as self, and not counterwork His prayer while sinners are dying by contention and strife, joining politics, and showing differences and disunion to the world, and then the truth will prosper in their hands and go forth as a lamp that burneth because God sees it is safe to work with them and for them.
Call to Repentance Today
The commendation for bearing hardship patiently and laboring hard without giving up belongs to a call to God's people in their present displeasing condition that each one repent and stand on higher and holier ground without fault before the throne. Even with that endurance, first love has been left and self has swelled so that Christ is not manifested in the life, and now is the opportunity to purify the heart by belief of the truth and to regain the lost love through arousal to realize the moral fall. Differences of opinion must be put aside and the counsel of the True Witness heeded, with the fall remembered from where it occurred and repentance and the first works restored through humbling the soul and individually seeking the Holy Spirit with the whole heart, or the candlestick will be removed. Such repentance brings faces aglow with divine love and testimony that Christ's blood cleanses from all sin, while diligence in service still calls for patience, self-control, and patient endurance, enduring hardness as good soldiers especially by those in sacred office. The commendation for good deeds does not excuse sinful works but stands with the merciful warning to remember, repent, humble, confess, and do the first works.
Heeding that call means leaving a low standard to reach perfection through earnest striving for increased fervency and genuine love, which knits hearts together and gives powerful convincing evidence for truth to the world. Love must be cultivated and exercised to gain strength of character and moral vigor, bearing fruit in unselfish tender dealing with the erring. It suffers long and is kind, refusing to magnify small indiscretions into unpardonable offenses or to expose errors and weakness, but covering a multitude of sins and binding the rough and stubborn and sullen and disagreeable close to a loving sympathizing pitying heart with the untiring spirit that will not fail nor be discouraged.
The specifications apply to the church in all ages and are to be studied by teachers in every line of work, where deficiency calls for reproof and earnest labor and the love of Christ must be revived to embrace love for the brethren. They call to recognize duty and make personal efforts in Christ's work of saving souls. They confront selfishness that leaves destitute fields unworked and call for earnest effort to put workers into those fields.
The message strongly impresses hearers under the deep moving of the Spirit, calling all who desire to give themselves to the Lord to come forward wholly with prayer offered for them. It especially reaches those recently hearing the advent message who are in the valley of decision, strengthening the good impression unto whole consecration and conversion that they may sing a new song of praise to God. It is a call to be converted and feel travail of soul for the world and proclaim the last message of mercy, to qualify to a much higher standard of piety acting from the highest motives, and to prove obedient to the divine law in order to inherit eternal life. Each must know for himself what the Spirit says to the churches, watching and praying and trusting the living Word, forming character after the divine similitude by daily conversion and willing consecration in the little time remaining to prepare, becoming deeply earnest about shortly coming scenes and spiritually discerning so as to meet the Lord with joy when He comes in the clouds with power and glory.
God's people should now hold the position of standing shoulder to shoulder with one mind and one heart, working intelligently together and encouraging one another in faith, with faces to the foe fighting to be overcomers and not be overcome. Patient workers who have borne the burden in the heat of the day without fainting are to be given due respect for their works' sake, yet faithful endurance does not remove the need to heed the warning about losing first love. They must seek the Lord with all their hearts, love God supremely and neighbor as self, and humble their hearts before God, and then truth will prosper in their hands and go forth as a burning lamp because God sees it safe to work with them and for them.
That knowing scrutiny belongs to the present time when everything shakable is shaken so the unshakable may remain and every case comes in review as God measures the temple and the worshipers therein. It is given by One who has authority and is not to be flippantly turned from, for He knows works and history and experience and cherishes every act of love and endurance. He weighs the character of all taking His name, with every individual under His supervision, knowing thoughts and intents as well as every word and act and all about religious experience and whom each loves and serves, calling for close self-examination. The messages portray the state of things existing in the churches today, with the names symbolic of the Christian church in different periods, the number seven indicating completeness and extension to the end of time, and the figures symbolic of God's professed people as wheat developing among tares with truth standing on its eternal basis in contrast with error.