But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
This commendation belongs to Jesus' final testimony to John, given as message after message to the angels of the churches beginning with Ephesus and continuing to Pergamos, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, spoken by Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks and knows their works and labor, who has charge of the seven churches as chief in authority. Ephesus is shown in a high state of advancement in spiritual knowledge, with works and labor and patience, not bearing evil and exposing false apostles, yet rebuked for leaving its first love. The messages to the churches in Asia are symbolic and complete, portraying the state of things existing in the churches of the religious world today. Each church name is symbolic of the Christian church in a different period of the Christian era, and the number seven denotes completeness, symbolic of the fact that the messages extend to the end of time and are in force today. Their figures depict the state of God's professed people as wheat developing among tares, with truth standing on its own eternal basis in contrast with error.
The verse shows Christ's discrimination in weighing the characters of all who have taken His name as Christians, with every individual under His supervision. He is acquainted with the thoughts and intents of the heart as well as every word and act, knows all about religious experience, and knows whom each loves and serves, which requires close self-examination. What the Spirit says to the churches must be known individually, or a person will fail and lose bearings. Those claiming to believe the truth must therefore watch and pray and trust in the living Word, gaining now an individual knowledge of what the Lord requires and an individual experience in the things of God.
Ephesus is commended because it hates the deeds of the Nicolaitans as Christ hates them, and Christ unsparingly condemns those deeds. Their deeds and doctrine are the teaching that the gospel of Christ has made the law of God of no effect and that by believing people are released from being doers of the word. It is the claim that faith alone is all-sufficient, that the righteousness of Christ is the sinner's credentials and fulfills the law for him, that there is no obligation to obey the law of God, and that Christ came to save sinners in their transgressions so they are saved while transgressing the law. Such teaching perverts faith and the righteousness of Christ to serve error, makes Christ's righteousness a cloak for iniquity, separates Christ and the law and the Father and the Son, treats faith as a substitute for obedience, and makes Christ a stumbling-block. The passage itself does not explain the Nicolaitans or their deeds, while its message calls for carelessness, backsliding, and sin to be rebuked so that people may repent and confess, and calls them to overcome sinful practices without compromise.
The church that has left its first love is called to remember from where it has fallen and to repent and do the first works, under warning that its candlestick will be removed from its place unless it repents. The whole message from beginning to close is to be read and studied most earnestly to be understood and kept under the blessing promised to those who read and hear and keep the prophecy. The promise to the overcomer belongs with the promises to the overcomers in the letters to the seven churches, each promise surpassing the one before it, giving to him that overcomes to eat of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God. Winning it requires lifelong and incessant striving against sin and self-denial, with eternal glory more than compensating for every wound, grief, and sorrow and every sacrifice bringing returns of priceless treasure, while shunning self-denial proves cowardice and forfeits the glorious reward for shame and contempt hereafter.
Heeding the message to understand and regain first love means having an ear to hear what the Spirit says, securing the heavenly anointing to discern defects and destitution of love for Jesus, arousing and putting on Christ, and returning to the first works when the love of God pervaded the soul with energizing transforming power, with simple trustful faith, preciousness of the name of Jesus, melted and subdued heart, and opening the heart to welcome Jesus. It means seeking the Lord with all the heart, having due respect for those who have borne the burden in the heat of the day for their works' sake, loving God supremely and neighbor as self, and humbling the heart before God. It means watching and praying and trusting in the living Word, needing daily conversion to God, forming a character after the divine similitude through spiritually discerned truth, and gaining now an individual experience in the things of God. Because all superiority is invested in Christ alone as head of the churches, no one man is to take jurisdiction as supreme authority over an institution, church, or sanitarium and all difficulties are not to be brought to one man for decision. Ministers and physicians are to blend and counsel together, each acting from his own individual mind while seeking divine wisdom through prayerful study of the Word, and the work in schools and sanitariums is to be carried by united wise counselors who do not exalt one man's judgment and experience as supreme and who do not leave their first love out of their councils.
The message to Ephesus applies to people in this age who have had great light but have not opened the door of the heart to Christ's knock, showing the Lord has a controversy with His people. The fires lately raging in New York and other cities were no accident but the hand of omnipotent power, the Spirit of God is withdrawing from the world because the warnings of heaven have not been heeded, and a similar condition coming among God's people must be guarded against and beware lest it come in among them. Preparation to meet the Lord when He comes in the clouds of heaven with power and glory must be made now with joy, since forming a character after the divine similitude is the only hope. Each needs to be deeply in earnest in preparing for the scenes that shall shortly take place and no one can continue to do as they please and still be prepared, a little time is yet granted to prepare for the future life, the Lord will do much for His people if they willingly consecrate themselves to Him, and when they humble the heart the truth will prosper and go forth as a lamp that burneth and God will see it is safe to work with and for His people.
This commendation belongs to Jesus' final testimony to John, given as message after message to the angels of the churches beginning with Ephesus and continuing to Pergamos, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, spoken by Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks and knows their works and labor, who has charge of the seven churches as chief in authority. Ephesus is shown in a high state of advancement in spiritual knowledge, with works and labor and patience, not bearing evil and exposing false apostles, yet rebuked for leaving its first love. The messages to the churches in Asia are symbolic and complete, portraying the state of things existing in the churches of the religious world today. Each church name is symbolic of the Christian church in a different period of the Christian era, and the number seven denotes completeness, symbolic of the fact that the messages extend to the end of time and are in force today. Their figures depict the state of God's professed people as wheat developing among tares, with truth standing on its own eternal basis in contrast with error.
The verse shows Christ's discrimination in weighing the characters of all who have taken His name as Christians, with every individual under His supervision. He is acquainted with the thoughts and intents of the heart as well as every word and act, knows all about religious experience, and knows whom each loves and serves, which requires close self-examination. What the Spirit says to the churches must be known individually, or a person will fail and lose bearings. Those claiming to believe the truth must therefore watch and pray and trust in the living Word, gaining now an individual knowledge of what the Lord requires and an individual experience in the things of God.
Ephesus is commended because it hates the deeds of the Nicolaitans as Christ hates them, and Christ unsparingly condemns those deeds. Their deeds and doctrine are the teaching that the gospel of Christ has made the law of God of no effect and that by believing people are released from being doers of the word. It is the claim that faith alone is all-sufficient, that the righteousness of Christ is the sinner's credentials and fulfills the law for him, that there is no obligation to obey the law of God, and that Christ came to save sinners in their transgressions so they are saved while transgressing the law. Such teaching perverts faith and the righteousness of Christ to serve error, makes Christ's righteousness a cloak for iniquity, separates Christ and the law and the Father and the Son, treats faith as a substitute for obedience, and makes Christ a stumbling-block. The passage itself does not explain the Nicolaitans or their deeds, while its message calls for carelessness, backsliding, and sin to be rebuked so that people may repent and confess, and calls them to overcome sinful practices without compromise.
The church that has left its first love is called to remember from where it has fallen and to repent and do the first works, under warning that its candlestick will be removed from its place unless it repents. The whole message from beginning to close is to be read and studied most earnestly to be understood and kept under the blessing promised to those who read and hear and keep the prophecy. The promise to the overcomer belongs with the promises to the overcomers in the letters to the seven churches, each promise surpassing the one before it, giving to him that overcomes to eat of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God. Winning it requires lifelong and incessant striving against sin and self-denial, with eternal glory more than compensating for every wound, grief, and sorrow and every sacrifice bringing returns of priceless treasure, while shunning self-denial proves cowardice and forfeits the glorious reward for shame and contempt hereafter.
Heeding the message to understand and regain first love means having an ear to hear what the Spirit says, securing the heavenly anointing to discern defects and destitution of love for Jesus, arousing and putting on Christ, and returning to the first works when the love of God pervaded the soul with energizing transforming power, with simple trustful faith, preciousness of the name of Jesus, melted and subdued heart, and opening the heart to welcome Jesus. It means seeking the Lord with all the heart, having due respect for those who have borne the burden in the heat of the day for their works' sake, loving God supremely and neighbor as self, and humbling the heart before God. It means watching and praying and trusting in the living Word, needing daily conversion to God, forming a character after the divine similitude through spiritually discerned truth, and gaining now an individual experience in the things of God. Because all superiority is invested in Christ alone as head of the churches, no one man is to take jurisdiction as supreme authority over an institution, church, or sanitarium and all difficulties are not to be brought to one man for decision. Ministers and physicians are to blend and counsel together, each acting from his own individual mind while seeking divine wisdom through prayerful study of the Word, and the work in schools and sanitariums is to be carried by united wise counselors who do not exalt one man's judgment and experience as supreme and who do not leave their first love out of their councils.
The message to Ephesus applies to people in this age who have had great light but have not opened the door of the heart to Christ's knock, showing the Lord has a controversy with His people. The fires lately raging in New York and other cities were no accident but the hand of omnipotent power, the Spirit of God is withdrawing from the world because the warnings of heaven have not been heeded, and a similar condition coming among God's people must be guarded against and beware lest it come in among them. Preparation to meet the Lord when He comes in the clouds of heaven with power and glory must be made now with joy, since forming a character after the divine similitude is the only hope. Each needs to be deeply in earnest in preparing for the scenes that shall shortly take place and no one can continue to do as they please and still be prepared, a little time is yet granted to prepare for the future life, the Lord will do much for His people if they willingly consecrate themselves to Him, and when they humble the heart the truth will prosper and go forth as a lamp that burneth and God will see it is safe to work with and for His people.