Returning to Our First Love # 1

Returning to Our First Love # 1

"Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place - unless you repent" (Revelation 2:4-5).

Although our blessed Saviour never wrote anything Himself for the Church, yet we have in the evangelists many of His discourses in substance, if not entire; and here we have seven epistles dictated by Him, and communicated to His beloved John after His ascension to glory. The first of these was addressed to the church at Ephesus, and the other churches to which epistles were addressed were situated in the vicinity. As the apostle John had taken up his abode at Ephesus, these churches would naturally fall under his inspection and care.

The angels, through whom these epistles were addressed to the churches, are commonly supposed to have been the pastors; but a late writer of our own country has an ingenious conjecture that these angels were, in fact, the messengers of these seven churches who had been sent by them to attend to and comfort their beloved apostle in his exile in the island of Patmos.

Many interpreters, because these epistles are placed as a preface to a book of prophecy, have been of the opinion that they were of a prophetic character, representing seven successive periods of the history of the Christian church. But there is nothing in these letters to the churches of Asia which has the least appearance of prediction, except the threatenings and blessings which are appended to each epistle. The attempts to apply the supposed prophecies to the several periods of the history of the Christian church have utterly failed. Such force has been necessary to make out any correspondence between the matter of the epistles and the events of history, that every impartial reader must see that there exists no solid foundation for the opinion that these seven epistles to the churches of Asia were intended to be prophetic.

It may be satisfactory to some to mention that the name Asia, as that of Europe, was at first confined to a comparatively small district, of which Ephesus was the capital. Most of the cities to which these epistles were addressed are now in a state of utter desolation, and none more so than Ephesus, which was in the days of the apostle one of the most celebrated cities in the world.

The threatening against the church in this place, mentioned in our text, has been most signally fulfilled. Not only has the candlestick been removed, but the city in which the church was situated is a total ruin! There is something fearful, and at the same time admonitory, in viewing the utter desolation of many ancient cities, which seemed to have as fair a prospect of perpetuity as any which now flourish upon earth. Does the same doom await our great cities also? Will the candlestick be removed from them? Doubtless, these things were recorded for our admonition and warning of all succeeding churches to the end of the world.

There is a greater uniformity in God's government of cities, churches, and nations than most are willing to acknowledge. Without claiming anything of the spirit of prophecy, it may be predicted that when the cup of iniquity in our large cities is full (and the filling goes on rapidly), they also will be come desolate; and the ground now so highly appreciated, will become worthless. The churches which have been left or shall leave their first love and refuse to repent will be removed; no vestige of them shall remain, as is literally the fact in regard to Ephesus. Already, Ichabod may be inscribed on some churches in our land, for the glory is departed. And as it relates to the different denominations of evangelical Christians, it may be predicted that those which decline most from the truth and from the spirit of genuine piety, will, notwithstanding all their efforts to increase, and although they may for a while flourish in numbers and wealth, be cast off and be doomed to become desolate! Let all Christians, therefore, fear the wrath of that venerable personage described in the first chapter of this book, out of whose mouth proceeds a sharp two-edged sword.

Before speaking of the declension of these Ephesian Christians, it will be proper to say something of what is here called "first love." The prominent characteristic of every soul truly convereted to Christianity, is love to the Saviour. The faith which is the gift of God and which is wrought in Christians by the Holy Spirit, always works by love. Love is, therefore, set down as the first and principal fruit of the Spirit.

Now, there is something peculiar in the exercise of this first love of the young convert. Its exercise is fervent and tender - not founded, indeed, on such accurate views of the character of Christ as are afterwards acquired, and commonly less pure from mere natural excitement than that of the mature Christian, but accompanied with more joy and exultation.

These joyful frames, so common in new converts, may be ascribed to several causes. The first is the recent transition of the soul from a conviction of condemnation, ruin, and helplessness - to a state of favor and reconciliation. When the views of the way of salvation are clear and faith strong, there is commonly a joyful persuasion of safety and pardon; and even the hope of pardon after a dark season of distress and conscious condemnation is like life from the dead. This case is well illustrated by that of a criminal reprieved from death when under the gallows. His first feelings will be ecstatic, and though his safety is as certain years afterwards, he never will experience the same liveliness of joy.

~Archibald Alexander~

(continued with # 2)