Revelation 2:2

[The risen Lord said,] “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people.” These words come from the first of the seven letters to the churches, and they were addressed to the church in Ephesus. Pergamum was the capital city of the province of Asia, but Ephesus was in every way the greatest city. It had the largest port in the area and many major roads converged on it. It was particularly famous for its religious significance. The city was home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – the Temple of Artemis. It was a vast structure measuring 130 by 60 metres, and with 120 columns. Ephesus was also a notorious centre for pagan superstition. In short, it wasn’t the easiest place to establish a church, and the Christians were commended for their hard work and endurance. They could so easily have buckled in the face of the challenges, but they hadn’t. The word from the risen Lord to the Ephesian church was that he knew exactly what they had been through. He knew how tough it had been and commended them for how they had endured. Much of the Christian life is about ‘hanging in there’. This might not sound exciting or like the way we would want it to be, but the Lord calls us to be faithful. I have so often seen people faithfully serving God in small struggling churches, in villages, on housing estates and in city centres, and where it has been incredibly hard work just to keep the doors of the church open. I have seen people working in children’s and youth work with no thanks, and often much discouragement, but they have hung in there through good times and bad. We have all seen people caring for others in really tough circumstances, maintaining their loving care through the years with grace and incredible patience. Maybe that has been you. You’ve hung in there, and the risen Lord wants you to know that he has seen exactly what you have been doing and he wants to commend you.

Question Think about your own church. In what way do you think that the Lord would commend it?

Prayer Lord Jesus, help me to stand strongly for you, whatever the challenges and pressures and however great the temptation to give up. Amen

Revelation 1:12-14

John wrote: “When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow.” In order to understand these amazing verses, we need to appreciate that the Church at the time was very small and facing the brutal and powerful opposition of the Roman Empire. This must have been incredibly scary. It looked as if they were going to be crushed. So, it was vital for them to understand exactly who Jesus was and the reasons why they could be confident in him. This whole book told them that Jesus had won the final victory, so, even though there might be tough times ahead, they could be confident in him. The picture of Jesus that John gives us here sounds very strange to our modern ears, but what he was doing was bringing together lots of language from the Old Testament which showed that Jesus, the Son of Man, was nothing less than God himself. He wore a long robe like a priest, although no priest was important enough to wear a gold sash, and he had hair that was as white as wool, which reminds us of the picture of the Ancient of Days, God himself, as he was described in Daniel 7:9. The seven gold lampstands stood for the churches to which John was writing, and he wanted them to know that right in the middle of them stood Jesus himself. They might have felt scared and even overwhelmed at times, but they were not alone. Jesus was always with them and always would be. Our circumstances are different from the 1st century, but we still need to hear the same message. As we face the particular challenges and threats of our day, we need to remind ourselves constantly that we are not alone, and that Christ stands with us.

Question You might not want to describe Jesus as looking like someone with a long robe, a gold sash and white hair. How would you describe him?

Prayer Lord Jesus, thank you that you stand in the midst of your Church. Thank you that you promise never to leave us. Amen