Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #5 in Revelation 2, and we will be reading Revelation 2:5:

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.

In this verse, the Lord Jesus is clearly giving a warning to the New Testament churches and congregations.  God is saying they must repent: “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent.”  That is, they must turn back to the “first works” of their initial obedience, however short that may been.

We know that Adam and Eve were obedient for a short period of time before they ate of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” and from that point on, they were living in a state of disobedience.

So too, when the churches were initially founded, for a very short period of time they did these “first works” in an act of love in obeying the commandments of God.  But it did not last long, and now Christ is commanding them to repent and return to them, and then He says, “…or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”  Even today when people are letting someone know, “You must do this, or there will be a consequence,” they still say, “or else.”  “You must do this, or else this punishment will come upon you.”  And that is exactly what Christ is saying.

The English translation “or else,” is actually a translation of three Greek words that mean, “but if not.”  That is, He is saying, “You must repent and do the first works, but if not, this is what you can expect, and this will be a consequence if you continue in rebellion against me.”  It was a clear warning to the churches.

But the New Testament churches chose to ignore it.  You know, God also gave them warning in the book of Romans when He was talking about the casting away of national Israel.  It says in Romans 11:15-19:

For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.

The branches that were broken off refer to national Israel, and the wild olive tree refers to the New Testament churches.  God gave up national Israel and forsook them, and in their place He raised up the New Testament churches, and they became His representatives to the world.  Listen closely what God says in Romans 11:20-21:

Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

That is very direct and to-the-point.  It was a clear admonition and warning to the congregations: “Look what I did to Israel.”  We know that God had a longstanding relationship with national Israel that lasted for many centuries, despite their failures, high places, and constant rebellion against Him.  He did not forsake them until a certain point.  And God has that prerogative, and it was His decision to maintain a relationship with them for centuries until the proper “time and season,” and then disassociated Himself.  He rent the veil of the temple in twain, breaking off the “natural branches,” and He graffed in the New Testament churches comprised of Gentiles.  Of course the Lord also points out here that a Jew could also be part of that body.  They could have entered into the churches as well as anyone from any of the nations.  So the Lord is using the example of what He did in cutting off Israel from being His holy people, and He is warning the New Testament churches: “If I did not spare the natural branches, take heed that I spare not thee.  You that are graffed in are not the natural branches, so take the warning, and heed the example.”  That is what the Lord said in 1Corinthians as He was speaking to the New Testament believers within the churches and congregations.  He says in 1Corinthians 10:6-12:

Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

This is a very similar statement to what we read in Romans11: “Be not highminded, but fear.”  In these Scriptures God is warning the New Testament churches and congregations not to think they are so special that they can get away with anything.  That was Israel’s mistake.  They thought that since they were children of Abraham, and since God gave the promises to Abraham and His seed, they could never be cut off or forsaken.  Yet they completely misunderstood their relationship to God.  They were obligated and duty-bound to obey Him and keep His commandments. 

God just put  up with them.  He endured their sins.  They wearied Him with their constant disservice to Him, but the Lord finally did remove Himself from them.  He took away the light of the Gospel and the light of salvation from national Israel, and He never returned again.

Likewise, God did a similar thing with the New Testament churches.  Yes, He had a longstanding relationship with them for 1,955 years, and throughout that time He put up with their sins, their high places, and their “idols” that were written within their confessions and creeds, and all their contrary doctrines and their development of “other gospels.”  God put up with it, but He reserved the right in His proper time and season to come and visit the churches, just as He visited national Israel.  He warned the churches: “Repent of these things!  If you do not, I will come unto thee quickly.”

Remember that we looked at that word “quickly” in an earlier study in Revelation, and we saw it means “in the proper course of events.”  As soon as the program God had developed for the churches expired, then immediately He would come quickly.  And what would the Lord do?  “I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”  The candlestick typifies the presence of Christ and the light of the Gospel because Christ is the light.  That candlestick would be removed, and without it, they would not have the spiritual light of His Word that brings salvation.  They would be in (spiritual) darkness.

To remind us of the nature of the “candlestick,” let us look at a few verses, beginning with Leviticus 24:2-4:

Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before JEHOVAH continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before JEHOVAH continually.

That would have been in the temple.  Likewise, they were in the tabernacle that Moses built in the wilderness.  It was similar for the temple that Solomon built in 1Kings 7:48-49:

And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of JEHOVAH: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread was, And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold,

The location of the candlesticks was in the temple, and God tells us in Hebrews 9:1-3:

Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;

The candlesticks were in the sanctuary in the temple.

So if God comes and removes the candlestick…and we have to keep in mind that national Israel was a type and figure of the New Testament churches, and so too is the temple, or the “house of God.”  They are figures used to point to the churches and congregations, as well as to the “true church,” the elect.  But that was where the candlestick was to be located, and that is where it was to be lit and to shine.

And if the Lord comes and removes the candlestick, for Israel that would have been a figure of removing God’s blessing from them, and for the churches it would have been a figure of removing the light of the Gospel from the midst of the congregations.  Remember Jesus was the one that was “like unto the Son of man” that was in the midst of the seven candlesticks, as we read back in Revelation 1:13.

It is a tragic thing that God is warning the churches about, and this is the admonition He gave them: “You must be obedient.  You must be faithful, and keep the true Gospel that I gave you.  If you deviate from this true Gospel, you will face the consequences, and you will no longer be my people.  Look what I did to national Israel.  I will do the same thing to you.  So do not be highminded.  Do not think you are above it all.” 

The churches have felt like they are “untouchable,” and they can get away with anything they want to do.  They can have the most outlandish gospel, and they can go off course in manifold doctrines, and then believe, “God still loves us.  God is with us.  God is still blessing us.  After all, the gates of hell shall not prevail against our church.”  And that is a complete misunderstanding of that verse.  They are not properly understanding that the gates of hell will not prevail against the “eternal church,” God’s elect.  But for the corporate church that was the outward representation of the kingdom of God during the period of the church age, it is another story, as God held them accountable.  They were responsible to remain faithful, and we know they were not. 

They never did repent, so God did fulfill His warning, and He did come at the end of the church age, which happened the day before Pentecost in 1988, and He removed the light of the Gospel.  He came out of the midst of the candlesticks, and immediately the light went out, and the wrath of God fell upon them quickly at the end of the church age, and judgment began at the house of God.  And that was the place where the “candlestick” had been located, historically, in the temple.  The judgment of God came. 

Christ came in judgment, and He came spiritually.  Just as no one could see Him when He was still in the midst of the candlesticks because He is spirit and invisible, no one could see when He departed out of the midst.  No one saw the figurative candlestick when it was lit, and no one saw the figurative candlestick when it was put out, at least not with their physical eyes.  God came and fulfilled His judgment.  He came to visit for those things, and He saw that there was no repentance on the part of the churches and congregations, and He ended the church age.  He did to the churches what He had previously done to national Israel, and He forsook them.  And that is the current condition of all the New Testament churches and congregations.  It does not matter what denomination, or what independent or house church it may be, it applies to all the corporate bodies of the New Testament churches.  They have been abandoned and forsaken.   God has left them, and this is the desolate condition that the churches are presently in, and they are just a “shell.”  They have “no man” inhabiting them because Christ has left, and there is no salvation there, and there has not been since 1988.  Those in the churches are not experiencing blessings at all.

Let us go on to the next verse in Revelation 2:6:

But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

The Lord is again returning to something positive.  After finding fault with them for leaving their first love and not doing the first works, He is commending them once again.  “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”  They were doing something right, and it was a good thing that they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans because God also hated it.  And if God hates it, it is right to hate whatever deeds they were involved with, which would have been sinful.  We can be sure of that.

That word “Nicolaitans” is found only one other time, and it is in this same chapter of Revelation where the Lord is addressing the church at  Pergamos, in Revelation 2:15-16:

So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

In the case of the church at Pergamos, they were holding to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, but those of the church at Ephesus were not doing so, which means that congregation was not deceived by this doctrine of the Nicolaitans, whatever it may have been.  God does not specify exactly what the doctrine was that He hated, and which those at Ephesus hated.  Notice that the Lord is saying consistently that He hates the doctrine, but we will never know what it was because God does not tell us.

First, let us ask the question: “Who were the Nicolaitans?”  This word describing these individuals that held to a certain doctrine comes from the name “Nicolas,” and that name is found only once in the Bible, in Acts 6.  Let us turn to Acts 6:2-6:

Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

In this passage, the Lord was setting forth the ministry of the “deacons,” and these seven men would become deacons.  Notice that they were looking for “men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.”  But it was not God who selected them, as it says in verse 5: “And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose…”

And you know, no matter how much the early church fathers, even the apostles, attempted to choose faithful men that were truly born again, there was always the possibility that among them could be someone who was not saved, and it seems that may have happened with Nicolas.  I should say that we cannot say this for sure because the only connection between this Nicolas and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans was the name, and there would certainly have been other men with that name.  But this is the only man that God names (in the Bible), so we are making the connection, and we could say it is probable, but not definite, that this Nicolas developed a doctrine that others began to adhere to and follow, and it was something hated by God.  But it is probable because this man was put in a position of authority, and in this position of authority he would have been well respected.  After all, Stephen was also chosen, and we know that Stephen was a faithful martyr, and Philip was chosen, and Philip was a faithful man. 

So the idea that an unsaved individual could have been chosen would not have readily been thought of, so others would have respected Nicolas’s position of being chosen as one of these seven deacons.  Therefore when he would have taught something, they would have given it special attention.  There are always people who follow what some individual says, not because it is faithful to the Word of God but because they have respect for that person, the pastor, or the elder.  He is a man of renown, in a way, so some individuals will follow that person’s teachings.  It seems that could have happened in the case of Nicolas, and he developed a doctrine that those of Ephesus were not deceived by, and they recognized that it did not line up with the Word of God.  Remember we read earlier of those that claimed to be apostles, and were not, and they “tried them.”  So we can understand that they would have listened to the doctrines of the Nicolaitans, and they found it to not be faithful to the Bible.  Likewise, they hated the deeds, or works, that came forth from the Nicolaitans.

We will discuss this a little further when we get together in our next Bible study.