J Philip Bible Readings

"“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

² “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. ³ I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ⁶ Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’"

Revelation 2:1-7

All seven letters follow a similar pattern. First of all there is Christ's designation of Himself, followed by His commendation of the church in question: then come words of warning, if not condemnation, and finally His counsel and exhortation. It is important to see that these designations of Christ come from the general description of Christ given in the vision of chapter 1. It is as if the total vision were now being broken up into its component parts, as white light can be broken up by a prism into all the colours of the spectrum. The various aspects of the vision are made to match in a very wonderful way the different needs of the Churches. For example, one of the problems in Ephesus was the danger of false apostles (2) and false teaching. And to this Church Christ announces Himself as the One Who holds the seven stars in His right hand, Who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. The assurance that is given is that, yielded to His control, the Church may be sure of its ministers. Let the Church be under her Lord's sovereign control and submitted to Him, and the problem of ministry - both in quality and quantity! - will be solved.

The thought that Christ 'comes' to His people in such a way as to match special and particular needs is a very encouraging one, and explains how it often happens that in a service of worship where the Spirit of God is present, one believer may be searched and challenged to the very heart of his being, another may be wondrously comforted and assured, one to be rebuked and convicted, another to be encouraged and uplifted - all by the same Word, in the same sermon, from the same passage of Scripture, because He matches His gracious sufficiency to individual needs throughout the congregation. Such is our wonderful Christ!