Revelation 2:1-5 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
I am going to ask you to read these verse five times before you continue. Five verses, five readings. Go.
Ready?
What is missing? What isn’t addressed? If you do not see it, then look again for what is not talked about.
See it?
Candles. Nothing is said about the candles. The candlestick is the church. It is a place in which candles are held up, to shine, but nothing in these verses directly relate to any individual candle. Do you find that just a little strange?
The right hand is the hand of execution of power. We have been speaking about executing power in accordance with God’s will, so this a lesson to look at in reference to the meaning of being taken away. It is not a removal of the candle. It is a removal of a place to be held.
What is the Lord saying to you if He is not speaking to you, the candle, but rather the church which is a place to be held up to shine?
I love your in-depth observations. The message to me is that when the church (group of people) quit shining, the Lord will remove the church. This is caused by allowing evil to come into the midst. Evil comes in with compromise, and compromise is allowed when the standards step off the Word of God….this is leaving “first LOVE”. The “angel of the church” is the pastor, or those in responsibility, and when leadership fails, the group goes down. The absence of the mention of the candles and their light shows, that as far as the Lord is concerned, the LIGHT was already out. Gracious Lord that He is, He still wants repentance……He is the “God of second chances”!! PTL. Sad that the leadership didn’t return to their “FIRST LOVE”.
If we as individuals want to rekindle our “first love”, I suggest reading the book of Song of Solomon…it warms the heart. For all in leadership who desire to remain faithful to our Lord Jesus, DON’T step off the Word of God!!! Thank you, dear brother for this great message, and your faithfulness.
Interesting. I had not thought of the candles being already used up. I was looking to the individuals as being candles not yet placed in the candlestand. It looked like the candle had the choice to move on, to another church body where they would and could shine. We should always look to see if there is a place to serve where ever we go and not to make a place for ourselves. Thank you for the good thoughts. Something more for me to chew on.