Study In Revelation 5 Series

Study in Revelation 5

Chapter 2: 1-7 Ephesus

Chapter 2 is the beginning of Christ message to the seven churches of Asia. In verse one He is addressing the Church at Ephesus, but He is in the midst of all the churches.

*The significance here is; even though He is speaking to one church, the message is for all believers to hear.

*If Jesus was giving this revelation to all believers, why address it to just seven churches? Why not address to all of the churches?

Revelation was personally addressed to the seven churches in Asia:

*Ephesus *Smyrna *Pergamos *Thyatira *Sardis *Philadelphia *Laodicea

Revelation was not personally addressed to these churches IN Asia:

*Troas Acts 20: 5 2Cor.2: 12 *Miletus Acts 20: 17 *Colossae Col. 1: 12 *Hierapolis Col. 4:12

And there were more churches down through history beyond these 11 churches. You would think that Jesus surely knew about these other churches, so why just direct the message to these 7 if the message is for all of us?

*John doesn’t say, but there are a couple of hints we can look at.

1. The 7 churches must be representative of other churches. There are certain characteristics found in each of the 7 churches that must be in other churches. So each of these 7 represent a certain type or kind of church. No matter what we may think of our selves, if we will be spiritually honest we can find Elim Bible Church in, at least, one of these 7 churches; and so can every other church in the world.

2. The conditions that existed in each church were different from the rest. No two were exactly the same, so Christ used these 7 individual churches to represent the “Church universal”. Seven different characteristics, seven different churches, each one pointing to every church down through the ages.

Jesus’ message was not just for these seven churches. He expects every church and every believer to pay close attention to the message and to apply the solutions to our problems. Every believer, every church is expected to search their own hearts and see where they stand with Christ. We are not to make ourselves better or worse than we really are but to see exactly who we are before God and make the proper adjustments to become the church He desires us to be.

SO! Let’s look at our first church, Ephesus.

**When you first start reading this passage, you may think, “Man these guys are looking good.”

Ephesus is an orthodox church. Here we see a church that was faithful to Christ and to the Word of God, But Ephesus was a church without love.

*The first church to receive a message from Christ is:

 First Baptist The church at Jerusalem Ephesus

*Where is Jesus when He speaks to the Church at Ephesus? Standing on the edge of Heaven Standing right next to their candlestick Still standing in the midst of all the candlesticks

*The significance here is; even though He is speaking to one church, the message is for all believers to hear.

*If Jesus was giving this revelation to all believers, why address it to just seven churches? John was in cramped quarters so 7 was all He could squeeze in There was only 7 churches in Asia These were the only churches that were giving Him a problem These churches represent the different characteristics of all of the churches

*Revelation was personally addressed to seven churches in Asia, can you list them?

a.______________ b.________________ c.__________________ d.____________

e. __________ f._________________________ g.___________________

*Can you think of at least four other churches in Asia? a.______________ b.______________ c.___________ d.______________

Have the group write the corresponding scripture verses below each of the four churches

Read verses 1-4.

If you had just read this for the first time, what impression would you get about the church at Ephesus?

We see something different when we look at the whole picture.

We are going to focus on seven topics in this passage, so get your pen/pencils ready because here we go.

1. THE RECIPIENTS OF THE LETTER: v.1

The letter is addressed to the minister of the church as well as to the body of believers. This is somewhat frightening for those of us who call ourselves “Pastor” God holds the minister responsible for the church and for her welfare. God not only expects the minister to study the message but to apply it to his own life, and to lead the believers under his care to apply it as well.

1. THE RECIPIENTS OF THE LETTER: v.1

The letter is addressed to “The __________ of the church”

The “Angel” represents the _______________ of the church.

Does God hold the minister of the responsible for the church’s welfare? Yes No

Brief history lesson