The seven letters in Revelation 2 and 3 describe seven church ages, each letter fitting the church of its own age. This study covers the first three: Ephesus (AD 53–170), Smyrna (170–312) and Pergamos, the age that follows.
Each letter is addressed to a church's messenger but meant for the whole church.
Ephesus: the first love left
Paul began his far-reaching work in AD 53 and is the messenger of this age. The Lord's praise for their labour and patience belongs to all the believers who worked alongside him. After Paul the work weakened, and the next generation did not labour with the same strength, which is why the Lord says they had left their first love.
They hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans. The name joins the Greek nikao, to lead or conquer, and laos, people: leading people after oneself. At first the church was one body: the apostles, evangelists and thousands of believers shared everything in Jerusalem, all on one level. In the Ephesian age levels began to appear, with a leader in front and others following. The Lord hates that attitude of "follow me" in place of belonging to the church.
To the overcomer he promises the fruit of the tree of life. The tree of life is Jesus Christ, and to receive him is to eat its fruit: eternal life. The Old Testament era made no such promise. Christ brought it, so it was precious to the Ephesians.
Smyrna: persecution and a poverty of the Word
Christ introduces himself as the One who was dead and is alive, because believers in this age were fiercely persecuted by Rome: seized, imprisoned, beaten and some killed. The emperor Diocletian became notorious for it.
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
— Revelation 2:10
The Lord knows their tribulation and poverty, yet calls them rich. The poverty is not of money but of the Word. The last apostle, John, passed away in AD 96, and no apostle remained to explain God's word. Irenaeus, who learned from Polycarp, a disciple of John, is counted as this age's messenger. He gathered the apostles' letters, drew out passages to show where the teaching of the day was mistaken, and joined the writings into one set, what we now call the New Testament. The church was rich because it had these writings.
Those who said they were Jews and were not, a synagogue of Satan, taught things at odds with what Christ taught. Most of what the church held was right; the wrong teaching came from such people.
The overcomer will not be hurt by the second death. The first death is the body's; the soul then waits in the realm of the dead, or with the Lord, for the resurrection. After judgement, anyone thrown into the lake of fire is destroyed in soul as well as body: that is the second death. The believer who holds to God even to death will be raised and will not suffer it.
Pergamos: the church and the king
Christ comes to Pergamos as the One with the sharp two-edged sword, which is his word. After the persecutions, Constantine made the Christian faith legal and, near the end of his life, accepted it himself.
But some things went wrong. Because the king had become a Christian, many followed him without knowing why they should believe. The king's orders now stood above the teaching of Christ and the apostles, which should hold the highest place. Bishops were appointed by the king, and all had to obey them or face the king's soldiers. These bishops had no real faith or understanding, so their decisions went the wrong way. This is why the Lord says the church lives where Satan's throne is.
Martin, a soldier who became a missionary, is counted as the messenger of this age. He went to France and founded churches among people who followed many gods. His faith was sound, received before things went wrong. But the trouble was growing in Rome while he worked in France, and the Lord holds it against the people of that age.
Balaam, the Nicolaitans and the new name
Some held the teaching of Balaam. Balak, who had summoned Balaam to curse Israel, found that Balaam could only bless them. He saw that Israel could be beaten only if it sinned, and Balaam taught him to lead the people into idol worship and immorality. Israel sinned and was defeated. So too, once the king's bishops and officials held power, images of Mary, Joseph and others were made and candles lit before them, and idol worship crept in.
In Ephesus the Lord spoke of the Nicolaitans' deeds; now he speaks of their teaching. What began as an attitude had become a system, and leadership training is now common, though in the early church everyone stood on one level. Such leaders will remain until Christ returns; then he will fight them with the sword of his mouth, his word (Revelation 19:21). No one is to follow a man. We follow Christ, and the Holy Spirit leads us.
The overcomer is also promised a white stone with a new name written on it, which raises the question of the name. In Constantine's day a new doctrine, the Trinity, took hold where it had been taught that God is one. People pictured the Father and the Son as two bodies, but the Father is Spirit, and holy, so the Holy Spirit is God's own Spirit. At Nicaea it was decided that the Father and the Son share one substance but differ in identity, yet no one could say what that substance is: it is Spirit. In time the teaching hardened into three wholly separate persons who together are one God, and when asked how, people call it a mystery. That made it hard to see that the name of that one Spirit is Jesus.
Takeaway
Hold to Christ and to what the apostles taught, not to any human leader or decree. Stay faithful even to death: the first death is not the end, and the overcomer will not be hurt by the second. There is one church of Christ across the whole world, and no one may gather followers to himself.