Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #3 in Revelation 2, and we will read Revelation 2:2:

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:

In our last Bible study, we looked at the first part of this verse, and now we are going to look at the last part of the verse, in Revelation 2:2:

…and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

First of all, we have to recognize that the congregation at Ephesus did its duty by trying these individuals who said they were apostles.  How did they do this?  In 1John 4, God lays out this principle, in 1John 4:1:

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

We are to try the spirits to see if they are of God, and the reason is because there are many false prophets, or false spirits.  They say they represent God and that they are speaking on behalf of God, and that the things they are teaching is faithful to what God has said in the Bible.  God is not saying, “Do not listen to any man.”  He does not say that, but He admonishes us to “try them.”  That is, as we listen, the ears try words like the tastebuds taste meat.  We listen carefully to what is being said, especially to the Scriptures that are being referred to, and then we test the teaching against the Bible by comparing spiritual things with spiritual. “Let us check that out, and let us examine the Bible, searching the Scriptures to see if it is so.” 

And the Bible will either prove it is a true teaching, or the Bible will disprove it, and that is how we try the spirits.  This is what the people in the congregation of the church at Ephesus were involved in, and the Lord is commending them for it.  It is a positive thing that they tried them who said,“…they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.”  They examined what they were hearing and discovered it was not true and faithful because the Bible did not teach it, and it was not the Word of God, and this revealed to them that these people who were doing the teaching were not true apostles.  They were false apostles, and they were lying apostles.

Regarding this word “apostle,” we associate them with the twelve (apostles) because they were called “apostles.”  But were they the only apostles?  Does the Bible refer to any other apostles?  Yes, the Bible does refer to other apostles.  It says in Acts 14:14:

Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,

Here, both Barnabas and Paul were called “apostles.”  It is true that the Apostle Paul was an apostle on the same level as the twelve.  The Lord Jesus had come to him when he was on the road to Damascus.  He spoke to him directly, and He commissioned him, sending him forth with the Gospel to the Gentiles.  Therefore Paul was the last of the “official” apostles, or those who had the office of “apostle.”  There were the twelve and the Apostle Paul, but there was also the apostle that replaced Judas.  We read about him in Acts 1:25-26:

That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Matthias replaced Judah and became one of the twelve.  And that was the office of “apostle.”  Barnabas was not of the office of “apostle.”  He was not one of the twelve.  He had no special circumstances like Paul, so how could he then be called an apostle?

Let us look at another verse in Philippians, and we will find another individual who is identified as an apostle.  It says in Philippians 2:25:

Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.

In this verse, the Greek word normally translated as “apostle” is translated here as “messenger.”  This man Epaphroditus was the messenger, or apostle, to the Philippians.  And notice that the Apostle Paul sent him: “Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus…your messenger (apostle)…”  Now Epaphroditus was not an apostle in the same way as the twelve, or as Paul, and yet he is called an apostle.  And the fact that he was sent is important, and Barnabas was also sent forth as a missionary to the Gentiles. 

The Greek word translated as “apostle” is also found in John 13:16:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

The word that is normally translated as “apostle” is translated by the phrase “he that is sent.”   This is very helpful because God has now defined what the word “apostle” means.  It means “he that is sent,” and that is why Barnabas is called an apostle.  Barnabas was sent as a missionary.  It is why Epaphroditus is called an apostle.  He was sent to the Philippians.  The Lord sends individuals to bring the Gospel as a missionary, like Barnabas and Paul, or He could send someone like Epaphroditus to the church at Philippi, and he ministered to the people there.   Of course when people are sent forth by the Lord, they are sent with the Gospel which they declare, which means they would teach and share the information they know to be true from the Word of God.

In the case of the church of Ephesus that we read about in the book of Revelation, there were some claiming that God had sent them, but they were found to be liars.  They were not speaking the truth.  They were false apostles, and that immediately reminds us of that enlightening passage in the book of 2Corinthians where God gives us some important information that is very helpful to the child of God.  If God did not let us know of Satan’s deceitful workings within the congregations, and if He did not detail these things, there would be great confusion: “How can there be so many Christians that lack understanding of the truth, and they live like the world?”  But when we come to passages like this, the Lord gives us valuable information that helps us to understand how it is that so many can profess to be children of God, and yet they are not.  It says in 2Corinthians 11:13-15:

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Here, we have an exact description of what those at the church of Ephesus discovered when they learned that certain apostles were not true apostles, but liars, and they actually uncovered the workings of Satan in that congregation.  Once again, just to remind us that when we read of the church of Ephesus (or any of the seven churches addressed in the book of Revelation), it applies to the church age and to all churches.  Therefore it is revealing to us that Satan did not always get away with his devises and his sowing of tares among the wheat.  There were congregations here and there that were faithful to the Word of God, and they did examine these teachers and so-called apostles.  They listened carefully to what they were declaring to be the Word of God, and as they “tried the spirits” these people searched it out in the Bible, and they concluded, “These men are not speaking the truth.  Therefore they cannot be true apostles.  God did not send them.  The Lord did not send them with this doctrine, or with this kind of a gospel.”  And they were found to be liars and not true apostles.

The churches as a whole ought to have been involved with this activity of examining the teachings that they were hearing throughout the entire church age.  But we know that church, after church, did not do this, and they failed the test, to the point that more and more churches became apostate and fell away from the truth.  Candlesticks were removed during the centuries of the church age, until finally God came and removed the light of the Gospel from the midst of all the churches of the world at the end of the church age, which took place in May 1988.

Today, of course, we are living at the time after the end of the church age, and even after the Great Tribulation when God completed His judgment on the churches, and now His judgment has transitioned to all the world, so we are living at a time when all the churches and all within who profess to be sent forth by God and claiming that what they say comes from the mouth of God have been proven to be false apostles.  God has not sent them.  God has not sent the pastors who are continuing to preach in church, after church.  He has not sent the elders and deacons who continue to exercise authority in the congregations.  He has not sent the missionaries of the churches who go forth attempting to gain converts to their particular denomination.  God has not sent anyone with His Word, the Gospel message, from the churches at this time because the church age is over, and we are living in the Day of Judgment. 

We could also say that God is not sending anyone forth to evangelize at this time.  That is, they are not sent to give people false encouragement that they can get right with God today and become a child of God by finding salvation today.  No.  That day is over.  The day of salvation has come to an end.

Let us go back to the Old Testament book of Jeremiah in order to find a historical example of a “false apostle.”  We normally do not associate anything in the Old Testament with an “apostle,” but now that we understand the definition of an apostle as being one that is sent, then we discover a historical passage that relates to what we are reading in Revelation 2.  I am going to read the first four verses to begin with, in Jeremiah 28:1-4:

And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of JEHOVAH, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, Thus speaketh JEHOVAH of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of JEHOVAH'S house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon: And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith JEHOVAH: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

This prophet Hananiah was declaring things that were flatly contrary to the things declared by Jeremiah the prophet.  So Jeremiah responded in Jeremiah 28:5-9:

Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of JEHOVAH, Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: JEHOVAH do so: JEHOVAH perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of JEHOVAH'S house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this place. Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people; The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that JEHOVAH hath truly sent him.

Here, Jeremiah is pointing out, by the spirit of God, that true prophets of God prophesy of wars and pestilence, and they prophesy against countries and against kingdoms; and they prophesy of “evil” things.  That is, they prophesy of the wrath and judgment of God.  This is the nature and character of true prophecy.  The prophet that  prophesied of “peace” was Hananiah, but Jeremiah was speaking the Word of the Lord, saying that God was against His people Judah, and that God was using the Babylonians to gain victory over Judah due to Judah’s transgressions, and that the Jews were to go into captivity, submitting to the Word of God, for a long period of time.  And yet this prophet Hananiah was saying, “No.  This is what is going to happen.  God will fight for His people, and within two years the yoke of the king of Babylon will be broken, and those carried to Babylon will return, and even the king will return to Judah and Jerusalem.

Then Jeremiah said, “Amen,” to that.  That is, he is saying, “Look, I am a Jew, and that would be my desire.  I would want that for my own self.  I would want for our people to be victorious, for our king to return, and for our enemy to be destroyed.  However, I can only speak the truth that God has given me, and I can tell you that what you say is never going to happen – God has no such plan.  And what I am saying is in accord with what prophets of old have spoken, of things hard to hear and evil things, but Hananiah is declaring to you something that true prophets normally do not declare.”

In response to that, it says in Jeremiah 28:10-11:

Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and brake it. And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith JEHOVAH; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

It is significant that Jeremiah did not just “shoot right back” and say something.  Jeremiah was a true man of God, and he was waiting on the Lord.  Then later, the Lord came to him and told him what to say to Hananiah, in Jeremiah 28:15:

Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; JEHOVAH hath not sent thee…

Remember that to be an apostle means to be someone sent forth by God, and to be a false apostle means that you come saying, “Thus saith the Lord,” but the Lord has not sent you.  Historically, Hananiah is a good example of a false apostle, an individual that was not sent forth by God.  Again, it says in Jeremiah 28:15-17:

JEHOVAH hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith JEHOVAH; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against JEHOVAH. So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

It was said that Hananiah taught rebellion, and all he had said was that the Lord would break the yoke of the king of Babylon and restore the people that were taken captive.  You can imagine how well that message would have been received by the Jews of the land of Judah.  What a good message for the people!  Very patriotic!  It would be very encouraging to all the people that the troubles they were going through would be short-lived; they did not have long to wait, and God would fight for them as He had always done.  The only problem is that it was a flat-out lie.  It was a total untruth.  God did not send Hananiah, just like God has revealed through His Word to the true believers that the church age was over, and God was not using the churches and congregations, nor blessing any of the preaching of the pastors, elders and deacons, and He was not saving anyone in the churches anywhere in the world.  For those that were in the churches, they fought against this, and they said, “Not so!  The Lord has not given us up.  The Lord is still with us.  He has not deserted us.  He has not turned us over to Satan.  We are not under the judgment of God!”  It all sounded “well and good.”  It all sounded very loyal and honorable to the church itself.  And, of course, who would want Satan to be victorious?  So the people gladly received these things from their false apostles.  God did not send them with that message, but God sent the message that judgment had begun at the house of God, and it was time to flee and get out of the churches, to leave the congregations.  And those that taught otherwise were teaching rebellion against the Lord.

This is the unfortunate and tragic truth, but it is the truth, nonetheless, that God had brought judgment on the churches, and now that judgment has transitioned to the whole earth.  And when the Lord’s people share the information that the Lord has put out the light of the Gospel all over the face of the earth, and He is no longer saving people because the door of heaven is shut, it meets the criteria of the declaration and testimony that God had given His people of old that spoke forth the Word truly.  God had given them the message to share truths from the Bible against countries, against kingdoms, and against the sins of mankind.  God has given a message that is “evil” in the sense that has nothing good in store for those that are under the wrath of God at this time.  It is an “evil time.”  Judgment Day is an evil thing, and God’s people share this truth. 

Again, we can only say what the Bible says, the message that God has given us to share with others.  Next time we get together, we will continue on to Revelation 3:3, and we will look at how the Lord is continuing to commend those in the church at Ephesus (and those churches that did this throughout the church age) regarding what He says in Revelation 2:3:

And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

We will look at the words in this verse when we get together in our next Bible study.