The grand object of the church in this world was to be "the pillar and ground of the truth." It was set up to be a light-bearer for God. It is thus symbolized by a "golden candlestick"—a vessel which bears the light. It ought to have been a true witness of what God had manifested in Jesus on the earth, and of what He is now when Christ is in heaven. We further learn from this address, that the church, as a vessel of testimony in this world, is threatened with being set aside unless its first estate is maintained. But alas! it fails, as the creature always does. The angels, Adam, Israel, and the church, kept not their first estate. "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee," saith the Lord, "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."
There was still, however, much that He could praise, and He does praise all that He can. As an assembly, they had patience; they had labored and not fainted; they could not bear "evil men," or those who were seeking the highest place in the church. Nevertheless He feels the departure from Himself. "Thou hast left thy first love." He speaks as one disappointed. They had ceased to delight in His love to them, and hence their own love to Him declined. "First love" is the happy fruit of our appreciation of the Lord's love to us. "Outward testimony might go on," as one has said, "but that is not what the Lord most values, though value it He does, so far as it is simple, genuine, and faithful. Still He cannot but prize most of all hearts devoted to Himself, the fruit of His own personal, self-sacrificing, perfect love. He has a spouse upon earth, whom He desires to see with no object but Himself, and kept pure for Him from the world and its ways. God has called us for this: not only for salvation, and for a witness to Himself in godliness, though this is most true and important, but beyond all for Christ—a bride for His Son! Surely this should be our first and last, and constant and dearest thought; for we are affianced to Christ, and He at least has proved the fullness and faithfulness of His love to us! But what of ours!"
It was this state of things in Ephesus, and in the church at large, that called for the intervention of the Lord in faithful discipline. The church, as planted by Paul, had already fallen from its first estate. "All seek their own," he says, "not the things of Jesus Christ's," And again, "All they which are in Asia be turned away from me." Hence the tribulation spoken of in the address to the church in Smyrna. Though the Lord is full of grace and love in all His ways towards His fallen and failing church, still He is righteous withal, and must judge evil. He is not seen in these addresses as the Head in heaven of the one body, nor as the Bridegroom of His church; but in His judicial character, walking in the midst of the candlesticks, having the attributes of a judge. See chapter 1.
It will be observed by the reader, that there is a measured distance and reserve in the style of His address to the church at Ephesus. This is in keeping with the place He takes in the midst of the golden candlesticks. He writes to the angel of the church, not to "the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus," as in the Epistle by Paul.
There have been many disputes about "who is meant by the angel." He was a person, we believe, so identified morally with the assembly, that he represented it, and characterized it. The Lord addresses the angel, not the church immediately. "The angel," therefore, gives the idea of representation. For example, in the Old Testament we have the angel of Jehovah; the angel of the covenant; and in the New we have the angels of the little children; and so of Peter in Acts 12, they said, "It is his angel."
We will now briefly glance at