Ephesus – To/From: Who Speaks, Who Listens, and Why Love Was Lost
Letter to the church in Ephesus: Symbolism and spiritual accountability in the church that forgot love

What went so wrong with the relationships between people and God that the letter to the church in Ephesus that Jesus warned them they could lose their lampstand? Are things really that bad? Can they be hard working, persevere through trials, and still be told to their first love? What does return to first love even mean?

Ephesus – To/From: Who Speaks, Who Listens, and Why Love Was Lost is article #05 in the series: Revelation: A book of hope through relationship. Click button to view titles for entire series

This is only the first of the seven letters to seven churches. As such, we’ll see it doesn’t get them off to a good start at all. Will they all be like this? Did Jesus save the best for last? Or did He make the first of the seven letters to the churches the best one and it’s all downhill from here?

Be patient. We’ll get there. But for now, …

,,, let’s take a look at the passage/Letter to the Church in Ephesus. Then we’ll break it down into significant parts, and examine each one to see what it meant at that time, 2000 years a ago. That’s followed by references to the language, culture, and history of the time period. Only then can we get a better understanding of what those words mean for us today.

There are so many ways to view Revelation. To some people, it’s a horror story they love to watch over and over on the big screen, small screen, read in a book, whatever. After all, it’s just a story. Isn’t it?

Other people view it as a mystery or a puzzle to solve. What or who will cause all these things to happen? No, not God – what kind of natural disaster or which world leader? After all, it’s just life and we all know that all the world’s a stage and we’re just the actors.

Maybe it’s an awesome multi-player video game. If not, it should be.

Even Christian fiction, whether books or movies tends to lead us in one of those directions, especially the movie, book, and something to figure who or what’s going to do it.

But if we get can look beyond those things, there’s much to learn about God and about us. That’s what this series is going to focus on. Relationships. Yes, we’ll talk about the events. They have a purpose. But understanding the gory details of the events isn’t why the letters were sent. No, the letters were sent to get people to turn to God.

To the extent we focus on what caused each event to happen, they become “weeds”. You know, like we can’t see the grass for the weeds in a lawn or a park. When we spend all our energy trying to figure out what causes each event and then get ready for the event, we lose sight of God.

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What’s coming up in Revelation: A book of hope through relationship.

The next seven major segments of this series will look at seven individual churches. We never meet or see any of the people in any of these churches. And yet, we do know them. Some of them are us. Some of them are friends of ours. Chances are some of them are also people we don’t really like. So yes, we do “know” them. While we won’t see faces, we will see the things they do. And well see those actions, inactions, indifferences, and all sorts of other behaviors that we should know are behind the words we read.

Yes, we should “see” all these things. That is, if we can get our minds off the weeds, out of the weeds, admiring the weeds or hating them, and onto the One who created us and promises us so much. If we read. If we understand. And if we act on what He said.

In other words, when we read the letters, Jesus speaks, but who listens? If we don’t listen to the real message, we’ll never understand that message or reap the benefits we could have from doing what Jesus said.

Have you read the following? If not, it’s a good idea to check them out, especially the first two if you know little to nothing about the book of Revelation. For more mature Christians, I recommend the third one, to see how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are portrayed in Revelation – plus the importance of each of them for the various statements and promises made to us throughout the Bible and how they come to interact in the final book of the Bible.

Image	Title	# in series	About
	What is the book of Revelation in the Bible?	1	What is the book of Revelation in the Bible? Sounds like a weird question. Everyone knows what it is…
	Revelation – The seven churches – Who or what are they?	2	Revelation is such a dramatic book. An apocalyptic vision. The last days of the earth. But there’s so much to …
	The Trinity in Revelation—Even If the Word Isn’t There	3	Wait a second. Where did that word Trinity come from? It’s not in the beginning of Revelation. Actually, it’s not …

What’s in the letter to the church in Ephesus? Who speaks and who listens?

Let’s begin with the letter. No explanation yet. Just read it. Think about it, of course. But get some first impressions. Or, if you’ve read it before, maybe some new impressions. Why? Because this isn’t likely to be anything close to how you’ve viewed it before.

To the Church in Ephesus 🔍

Rev 2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

Rev 2:4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Rev 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Breaking down the letter to the church in Ephesus into component parts

If you’ve read the previous segments of the series, you know that each letter to the churches follows a pattern. Many things can be learned by breaking the letter down into segments, since each of them has a purpose. While there are many ways to view pretty much everything in Revelation, in this series we’re focusing on relationships. Relationships between people, and of course, relationships between us and God. Som let’s see how this letter breaks down.

To	the angel of the church in Ephesus
From	him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands
Divine Knowledge	I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
But –	Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.
So –	If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Hear	He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To those who overcome	I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

So, what are your impressions after reading the letter to the church in Ephesus? Did you think about people? I hope so. As I said, this is going to be a look at relationships.

Relationships between God and us. Between us and God. There is a difference you know. We already saw how God gave us the book of Revelation with the rest of the Bible, because He loves us and cares about us. Do we return that same love and care?

To be honest, the best of us – which isn’t me – can’t hold a candle (or a lampstand) to His feelings for us. I mean, He even loves us enough to let us walk away, hate Him, and come back to Him, and He’s happy to see us. Too many of us don’t even think about Him.

We’ll see all the stuff above is just a small piece of what’s in the Seven Letters to the Seven Churches. Look for yourself. Look for your family. Your friends. And even strangers who maybe need you to tell them what you learn here.

Well, let’s get going. Take the letter apart. Break it into sections that appear in every single one of them. And see how they apply.

Remember, in the earlier segments, we learned that all seven letters apply to all of us, in one way or another, directly or indirectly, now – soon – later – or eventually.

Some things to think about for this study of the church in Ephesus

This is my 4th time writing about the seven letters. The first was more than 20 years ago. There’ve been major changes over the years. Different focus. Me, in a different stage of my faith. And now, this time, a request from some people to write about the whole book. I can’t imagine how long this is going to take.

Anyway, since I’ve done this part before, I’ll put in links to the most recent versions from the last rewrite. It was more focused on history, culture, sometimes the original languages of Revelation itself and some of the references.

But this time, since it’s about relationships, including with God, I’ll give some info on the other things, link to them for anyone who wants to check them out, and focus on the relationships. It seems like the right thing to do now, as we seem to be perilously close to being in a time when God might decide it is time, it’s those very relationships that will help us survive. Or maybe lead to on the path to personal destruction if we have relationships with too many of the people headed that way.

Many of those who know about this thing called the rapture will say it doesn’t matter because they won’t be here. It’s the prevailing thinking these days – that Christians won’t be here. It’s especially true here in the U.S., and even more so among evangelicals. While I’m in that very country, it’s not the way I look at it. I used to think we, Christians, would be here for half of it, then God would come and get us out of here with the rapture.

After getting into to more research and prayer, I’m more and more leaning towards, I hope you’re sitting, the rapture coming after the End Times events are over, and that it may not even include those still alive after it’s all over. I’m still working on that. You’ll find out when we get there.

But I include that maybe cryptic message here because, if it’s correct and that is a huge if, then barring death we all have a possibility of going through this. After all, Jesus never promised a wonderful life.

More information on Ephesus

Before we get into the relationships, I want to let you know about another series I wrote about these seven churches. It went into detail on the culture, language, history and other related things going on in each of the cities.

While these letters were about a period of time going back nearly 2,000 years, their issues really weren’t all that different from ours. They had various things, and people, competing with their time, priorities, money, etc. For instance, there were even labor unions involved in non-Christian activities that cost them a job if they didn’t participate. The one for the church in Ephesus is at https://godversusreligion.org/letter-to-the-church-in-ephesus/.

As we go through each letter in this new series, I’ll also add a link from each of the major sections of the letter to that church to take you to the corresponding section in the detailed article.

📬To / From in the letter to the church in Ephesus

Every letter has these To and From sections. The “To” portion is always the same, except for the name of the church. But the From portion? That always sets the tone for what follows. It’s the key to interpreting everything else said to that church.

✉️To: Will the recipients even recognize it’s to them?

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

As I said, the To portion changes only in terms of the name of the church. But that doesn’t mean it’s not important. It also doesn’t mean scholars agree, or know for sure to put it more succinctly, what it means. In other words, we don’t know for sure who the “angel of the church” is.

Let’s take a look at the situation as we “know/believe/hope/think” it is/might be.

How many of you truly think it was written to an angel who was supposed to read it to the people in the church? Or that it’s going to happen seven times?

So, if not a heavenly angel, then who is this messenger? Not of the church in Ephesus, but for all the churches in Revelation?

Shouldn’t there be an answer for this? I mean, as in one answer? Of course not!

Here’s a synopsis of an AI agent that comes with my digital library to give an overall general answer:

What do you think? Angel? Person? Spiritual essence?

When I first began working on this series, my plan was to call it Revelation without the weeds. In that sense, the weeds are the things that keep us from missing the true point of the vision and therefore of the entire book. One of the sources I used for research is Revelation: Four Views, by Steve Gregg.

He has an interesting view of the lampstands, which we’ll get to shortly, and the angels of the seven churches:

Jesus now explains one of the mysteries of the book: the meaning of the stars and the lampstands. The latter is intelligible enough. The lampstands represent the seven churches named above (see note on v. 12). The explanation of the seven stars, however, raises more questions still. These are the angels of the seven churches. But how are we to understand these “angels” of the seven churches? They are as mysterious as the “seven spirits of God” (v. 4), with whom they are somehow associated in 3:1. Whether the “angel” of each church refers to a heavenly being, like a guardian angel, or to an earthly messenger (Gr. angelos simply means messenger), like a pastor or bishop, has been disputed. In each of the letters that follow, the angel of each church is addressed as the recipient. Since these angels no doubt are expected to pass along to the churches the information communicated to them by Christ, many commentators feel they must be visible, human messengers in contact with the congregations. We may justly conceive of the communication between God and His heavenly angels as being somewhat more direct than to letters posted by apostles. ¹Gregg, S. (1997). Revelation, four views: a parallel commentary (pp. 61–62). T. Nelson Publishers.

That says a lot. Don’t overthink this. Compare and contrast the word we read as “angel” with what the original Greek word meant – messenger. Then look at communication methods. I mean, these were seven real churches at the time. The message was directed to one church among the seven, but was to be read to all seven. We already look at the why for that reading to all.

While it’s undoubtedly true that churches, as a group of people, tend to have a singular problem, it’s also true that not everyone in the church shares that problem. It’s also true that other outside that church will also have the same problem, although it’s not the major problem in the church they attend. Add to that the reality that as one problem is addressed, another will come to the forefront and need to be addressed. The chosen delivery method covers all possibilities.

Considering that, we can begin to imagine the issues that exist in a church. Yes, even in a Christian church. That shouldn’t be surprising. After all, we aren’t perfect. And we won’t be, this side of the next life. Add to that the reality that we don’t like to talk about problems in a church, and it’s no wonder there are relationship problems. Relationship issues between leaders, members, visitors – they all exist. And they all get in the way of our relationship with God. And then that further inhibits good relationships between the people. Rinse and repeat.

Maybe now we can also begin to appreciate how a church like this can lose its love like this one did.

Ultimately, the “To” portion of these letters covers all of us today, nearly 2,000 years later. Pretty amazing huh? Maybe it’s not actually the true solution. But it does give us what’s mostly the scenario(s) God wanted to address, and isn’t that the key point – without the weeds?

What does the angel of the church have to do with me? Is Jesus speaking to me?

OK – that’s all fascinating stuff, but so what? Even after everything you just read, you likely still think, “What’s that got to do with me? Surely, I’m not the angel of my church!”

That’s probably true. Statistically speaking, you almost certainly aren’t the angel of your church or any other church. But before you dismiss it entirely, think about this something we read above:

Arguments against the interpretation of literal angels include the fact that these “angels” are addressed with reprimands and held accountable for the churches’ conditions.

Now, think about something that happens more and more often these days, and was a problem even in the early days of the church:

No Other Gospel 🔍

Gal 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
Gal 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

So we see, even it the “angel of the church” is a real angel, the members of the church still need to watch for what’s taught. But then what? Are their false words just to be rejected and we move on? Uh – no.

Something interesting happened here, so I’m going to include it. I asked MS Copilot for verses on members of a church having responsibility for what’s taught in the church – even if it’s leaders teaching something. Here’s what it gave me:

Post Name 🔍

2Ti 3:10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2Ti 4:1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

2Ti 4:6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Yes, it does tell Timothy, a leader, to teach the right things. And it does speak about a time when people will want to hear the wrong things. But where does it talk about members responsibility to let leaders know if/when their teaching isn’t proper? Seemingly, it doesn’t.

But when I questioned this, Copilot gave me some “hidden” sources that it didn’t reveal for the response

There’s much written in the New Testament about appointing good leaders and paying attention to whether or not what is taught is correct. But what are we to do when it isn’t? At the end of the very short book of Jude, we finally get a direct answer:

A Call to Persevere – Jude 🔍

Jude 1:17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

Jude 1:20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

Jude 1:22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

So, there it is. Finally. When we realize incorrect things are being taught, we are not to sit by, watch, and think, “At least I know this is false and I’m saved”. No. We’re supposed to do something. Even if we’re not in a position to confront the leaders who teach wrongly, we do still have a responsibility to others in that church community.

To that end, it’s important that we also pay attention to this letter to the angel of one of the churches. Even if we aren’t that angel, we are responsible for what happened in our community. And to the extent that we do nothing, we hasten the time when people in our church reach the point where they not only listen to the false teaching, they’ll believe more and more of it, and eventually want it!

Further, at the core of being able to do the things above. we also need to realize that we’re members of the church Jesus was writing to – and we share the issues with those people. To kind of paraphrase something Jesus said, we need to take care of ourselves before we can tell others to take care of themselves.

Judging Others – Luke 🔍

6:37-42 pp — Mt 7:1-5

Lk 6:37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Lk 6:39 He also told them this parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
Lk 6:41 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

I know – this passage says don’t judge others. But the previous ones say we do have some responsibility. The thing is, there’s a huge difference between fulfilling responsibility and judging someone. We can’t live passive lives as Christians when we’re called to be different. However, we can be different in a way that shows grace, mercy, forgiveness – and stops way short of judging. I know – we don’t seem to really get that difference too much anymore. And yet, that’s what we’re called to do.

So yes, on a number of counts the letter is to each and every one of us. Yes, some of us are in leadership positions or at least in a position where we can confront leadership. But even if not, we are still part of our church community and we have a shared responsibility for each other. It’s what our Leader commanded. King Jesus. Can we really do anything less than that and still call ourselves Christians?

As I was typing that, I already realized that the answer is yes. The better question is this: If we don’t accept our shared responsibility for our church community, will our true Leader consider us t be true followers?

Well – that turned out way longer than I expected. But it’s important. For all of us. After all, if we can’t accept that the letter is to us, why even read the rest of it?

Then of course, if we do choose to disregard all of this, it will impact our relationships. Within the church and maybe even more do outside the church. And certainly, it will mess up our relationship with God. How can I say that? Hey – God’s trying to get our attention right here in this letter. If it wasn’t important, God wouldn’t waste our time or His trying to get this message across. And as we say already just from reading the letter, the relationship implications are widespread and eternal.

📨From: It’s from Jesus, but even then will we listen?

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands:

OK – we know it’s from Jesus, if for no other reason than the letters are in red. Hopefully, we know for other reasons as well. Then the questions become: what are the seven stars and the seven lampstands? Not to mention, is there any significance to Jesus holds the seven stars in His right hand and that He walks among the seven lampstands?

The last time I updated this series, I kept this part very short:

One way to look at it is this:

The reference to Christ as the one who holds the seven stars in His right hand and who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands(v. 1) may call attention to the fact that, while the church’s heavenly existence is secure in the sovereign care of Christ, he must visit the earthly counterparts to inspect and correct their conduct and attitudes. As a priest in the temple tends the lamps to keep them from growing dim or going out, Christ moves among the churches to attend to the purity and brightness of the light they give to the world.  ²Gregg, S. (1997). Revelation, four views: a parallel commentary (p. 64). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers.

That was followed by some passages from the New Testament to support this as the Christian viewpoint.

Since then though, some things have changed. I recognize that the New Testament is the fulfillment of many of the promises and prophesies of the Old Testament. So, while we Christians focus on the New Testament, we lose a lot if we don’t go back to the Jewish viewpoints to see what “our” scripture means. What’s the best way to do that? By looking at a Messianic-Jewish view of both Testaments. Therefore, I’ve enhanced my own research library with books/commentaries from both more traditional Jewish sources as well as Messianic-Jewish writers.

🕎 The seven lampstands

It’s unfortunate that the explanation of the seven stars is so short:

The seven stars … the seven gold menorahs. See 1:12–13, 16, 20 and 1:12N.  ³Stern, D. H. (1996). Jewish New Testament Commentary : a companion volume to the Jewish New Testament (electronic ed., Re 2:1). Jewish New Testament Publications.

Unfortunate, but still very telling. Of course, many/most Christians will probably be like me – scratching our heads and wondering where does this “seven golden menorahs” come from? It’s not, as it may appear on first glance, saying the seven stars are seven golden menorahs. It is saying that the seven lampstands are seven golden menorahs.

When we go back – way back – we find that the seven golden menorahs has much deeper meaning that our seven golden lampstands.

You may remember this, from Exodus:

Post Name 🔍

Ex 24:1 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, 2 but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”

Ex 24:3 When Moses went and told the people all the LORD’S words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” 4 Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.
He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.”

…

Ex 24:12 The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.”

Ex 24:13 Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”

Ex 24:15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Yeah – that far back. To when Moses went up Mount Sinai. And while he was there, Aaron made the golden calf. An important time. Also, a time that would set the tone for people’s (our) behavior that will remain unchanged until all is fulfilled.

In any case, part of what was given to Moses back then was this:

The Lampstand 🔍

The Lampstand

25:31-39 pp — Ex 37:17-24

Ex 25:31 “Make a lampstand of pure gold and hammer it out, base and shaft; its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms shall be of one piece with it. 32 Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. 33 Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. 34 And on the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. 35 One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. 36 The buds and branches shall all be of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.

Ex 25:37 “Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it. 38 Its wick trimmers and trays are to be of pure gold. 39 A talent of pure gold is to be used for the lampstand and all these accessories. 40 See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

So Messianic-Jewish scholars look at the seven lampstands as seven menorahs. Of course, Jewish people don’t have Revelation as their scripture. But Messianic Jews, using both Old and New Testaments, believe this.

But then, now does it tie together? Of course, it’s from a book in the Old Testament.

The Gold Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees 🔍

The Gold Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees

Zec 4:1 Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me, as a man is wakened from his sleep. 2 He asked me, “What do you see?”
I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it, with seven channels to the lights. 3 Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

Zec 4:4 I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”

Zec 4:5 He answered, “Do you not know what these are?”
“No, my lord,” I replied.

Zec 4:6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.

Zec 4:7 “What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’ ”

Zec 4:8 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.

Zec 4:10 “Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.
“(These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range throughout the earth.)”

Zec 4:11 Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?”

Zec 4:12 Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?”

Zec 4:13 He replied, “Do you not know what these are?”
“No, my lord,” I said.

Zec 4:14 So he said, “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.”

A Jewish View

The JPS (Jewish Publication Society) says this about the Zechariah passage: (although there are many points made about differences over time, please don’t worry about that – I’ll make a comment about it later)

Zechariah 4:2.

I see a lampstand Zechariah’s vision of the lampstand (menorah) and lamps (or spouts) is different from the two major descriptions of these sacred vessels elsewhere in Scripture. He envisions a single stand with seven lamps surmounted on its top (with each lamp possibly having seven spouts, thus forty-nine lamps total) and apparently without branches. By contrast, the account of the Tabernacle describes a single lampstand with branches supporting the lamps (Exod. 25:31–40), and the depiction of Solomon’s Temple notes ten stands (apparently without branches) set in two groups of five on each side of the inner sanctum (1 Kings 7:49). Moreover, early rabbinic tradition presumed the ten stands to be in addition to the Tabernacle menorah and fit for service (Baraita de-Melekhet ha-Mishkan 10). These were taken as booty by the Babylonians (Jer. 52:19). Zechariah’s version seems to be a conflation of older forms, possibly based on priestly memory.

In the postexilic period, Ben Sira seems to refer to a single candlestick (Ben Sira 26:17), and this is also Josephus’s testimony after the invasion of Pompey in 63 B.C.E. (Antiquities xiv, 14,4). The earliest representation of a seven-branched candelabrum appears on the coins minted for Antigonus Mattathias, the last of the Hasmonean dynasty (40–37 B.C.E.); and with the destruction of the Temple by Titus, Domitian’s masons (ca. 81 C.E.) carved such a candelabrum on his victory arch. Since Hasmonean times, the lights of the candelabrum have symbolized political freedom and religious liberty; the symbolism of an exiled menorah would be plain to all.  ⁴Fishbane, M. A. (2002). Haftarot (pp. 227–228). The Jewish Publication Society.

Yes, there are differences. Whether they are from memory lapses, incorrect following of instructions, whatever, these things to me are very much like “the weeds” we’re trying to avoid in this series. Remember, these people – just like us – so often wandered from God. Following or even remembering God’s words wasn’t always that important. They were shocked when, after losing the Book of The Law, to find out how far off they were when it was found – as are we when we walk/run away and then later return to God.

What the people did isn’t as important to us as what God wanted them to do. Shouldn’t we build our image of God and the symbolism is His words from His intention rather than the human foils that keep His word from being carried out correctly?

And as for something as basic as one menorah in Exodus and seven in Revelation – wasn’t Exodus a beginning and Revelation the end? And so, is it that hard to imagine one menorah as the beginning of God building His church and the seven in Revelation symbolizing the completeness of God’s plan?

Put it all together

So now the Christian view of the lampstands, regardless of what we call them, is still the local churches. Seven isn’t a number, as in how many. Rather, seven is God’s way of telling us that it’s the complete church here on earth. All churches that follow His ways.

What’s the symbolism behind the lampstand(s)?

Of course, it’s about relationships.

Think about Exodus. There was one lampstand. In the most holy place in the Temple. Accessible by one person. That’s one person allowed to be in the light of the menorah.

Yes – all of that in Exodus, and yet, only one person experienced it. God “speaks”. One person “listens”.

But with the birth, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, things are different. The question below is asked in a very specific way to bring out an important detail that maybe we don’t all get:

Now, with the Holy Spirit, God speaks to millions of Christians. And He will speak. The questions is, will we listen when God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit?

Now think about the one menorah – one high priest in Exodus as compared to the number of baptized Christians who have the Holy Spirit, the presence of God in them.

No one but the high priest got to see the light of God from the original menorah. But now, every true Christian can reflect the light of God to everyone who sees them. That’s a huge change. The potential for amazing relationships among people and between people and God are unimaginable.

Unfortunately, those relationship opportunities don’t often get fulfilled to a great extent. And when we get the letter telling us Jesus is walking among the lampstands, it must be our lampstand He’s looking at. If not, why bring it up? Will Jesus have something good or bad to say? As we know, it wasn’t good.

⭐ The seven stars

If the seven lampstands are the totality of Christian churches here on earth, then what are the seven stars? We can probably make an educated assessment now. The thing is, we aren’t really all that educated about what goes on in Heaven, so I don’t know that we can safely assume much of anything beyond what we read above:

The reference to Christ as the one who holds the seven stars in His right hand and who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands(v. 1) may call attention to the fact that, while the church’s heavenly existence is secure in the sovereign care of Christ, he must visit the earthly counterparts to inspect and correct their conduct and attitudes. As a priest in the temple tends the lamps to keep them from growing dim or going out, Christ moves among the churches to attend to the purity and brightness of the light they give to the world.  ⁵Gregg, S. (1997). Revelation, four views: a parallel commentary (p. 64). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers.

Almost every commentary I read declares the seven stars are angels. I feel like that’s an unwarranted assumption. It might be correct. But i find it interesting that the word for the one to receive the message is translated as angel, and the star is actually an angel. It’s odd.

Again, we don’t know, but the concept that the star represents someone/something in Heaven and the angel of the church represents someone here on earth makes sense. That God doesn’t tell us also probably means we don’t need to know, we aren’t capable of truly understanding. and/or if we thought we knew we’d put that knowledge in a box and make assumptions about what it isn’t. All of those things can only serve to lead us astray.

The idea that there are two components to what goes on isn’t strange at all. Consider Jesus, who walked the earth, and the Holy Spirit that resides in us. Both are of the same mind – the mind of God. But Jesus clearly told us it’s best for us if He left and we get the Holy Spirit instead. The same, but different. And beyond our comprehension.

But ultimately, it seems there must be a component of God’s church that is, as Paul often wrote, teaching from a firm foundation and a component here on earth watching over our churches. And isn’t it also comforting that there’s also a component in Heaven under Jesus’ control/command, that watches over us?

To get back to the weeds one more time – do we really need to know more than that? Or will our desire to know more and the time and effort we put into trying to know more either leave us exhausted or frustrated along the path to knowing God? It might even put us so far off the path that we never know God.

Isn’t it better to rely on the Holy Spirit to keep our “eye on the prize” and our feet on “the narrow path”?

⭐ What’s the symbolism behind the star(s)?

We should fully realize by now, this is about one particular star. The star belonging to the church in Ephesus. Jesus holds all the stars in His right hand. But again, this letter lets the church in Ephesus know, it’s their star He’s going to talk about.

Given just what we glean from the letter with no further examination, we no this isn’t good news.

Just think about all the relationships that are potentially in huge trouble here.

The relationships between the people in this church, obviously. We know those relationships aren’t good now. But we also know they could get worse. We also find out they could be extinguished, at least the good in them could be.

But relationships of Christians don’t/shouldn’t stop at the church doors. Remember the reference to the light on the hill? Well, even we we’ve lost our love, when we continue to attend church people will still look at us as examples of what Christians are like. What they see won’t be “good”. They may very well like what they see, but it won’t be Christian and it won’t lead them to God.

On the other hand, to the extent our relationship with God good, we can help others in our community stay in touch with God as well as introduce others to God.

Conclusion – Letter to the church in Ephesus: To/From: Who speaks and who listens

What did we learn from the first installment of the Letter to the church in Ephesus? Overall, we know this church, like most of them back then and today, has some good things problems. Specifically, the problem has to do with the Ephesus church losing their first love. That didn’t just happen overnight. Something led to it. But then, something can also bring them back out of it.

That’s where the To and From portion come in.

The letter is address to an unspecified “angel” of the church. We saw some options as to who that might be. But ultimately, the key for us thar is that we, the people in every church that existed then and exists today, have a role to play in both how these issues get started, whether they continue, and how to bring them to a satisfactory end.

Jesus used the From part of the letter to give us some clues. We found out that the very existence of this church is at stake both on this planet and in Heaven.

Therefore, we know what follows in the remainder of the letter will address those issues. We also find some encouragement will be delivered as well.

And then, as happens throughout the Bible, when God delivers bad news, warnings, etc. they always come with a way to avoid the inevitable conclusion if nothing changes.

In other words, whatever else is said, this first letter sets the tone that there us still a way to get back on the right path. There’s time to turn back to God. To rebuild the broken relationships between members of the church and between churchgoers and God.

That good news of an opportunity comes because God loves us, even when we turn away from Him. He wants us to return to Him. And He reminds us of the good things He has made available to us all along.

The thing is, as we learn in the To/From portion of the letter, we must recognize the letter is for us. Yes, it’s addressed to the angel of the church. But the contents, the warnings, the acknowledgements of what we are doing right, and the encouragements to return to the narrow path that leads to an eternal relationship with God – they are only meaningful if we listen.

Of course, listen back then meant more than listen. It means hear, understand with the help of the Holy Spirit, and then follow through with the corrections in the letter, once again with the help of the Holy Spirit.

What’s next in the letter to the church in Ephesus?

🌟 Divine Knowledge

Jesus will tell this church what He knows about them. We’ll see what that is and how it relates to what we just read.

We know it’ll have something to do with what they’re doing. And yet, we also know it seems to pale in comparison to their lost love.

Once again, there will be impacts on relationships, so we’ll check that out as well.

Hope to see you in the next segment of the Ephesus letter about hard work and perseverance, but …