Revelation 2:5,6 & 7

Rev 2:5Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place, unless you repent. 6Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.'(esv)


Verse 5;
Ephesus church was doing good works, fighting the good fight and trying to endure.   But, something was missing......love had left!   Therefore, Christ makes three requests here.  First to remember.   For those of us who know Christ and believe, the first step is to remember where we came from, what we went through to get here and the rewards Christ has so generously given us already.
Then Christ ask that we repent.  Figure out where we have fallen away and fix it!  Acknowledge we are to blame, take personal  responsibility and ask for forgiveness.
Finally Christ ask us to go on and "do".   Get back on track, sin no more, accept the grace of God and do what needs to be done.


Verse 6:
Nicolaitans in the Greek is made up of two words:  Nico meaning "overcome" and Laitanes which means "lay people".  There has always been people who want to build a hierarchy within the church.  A righteous ruling group, making themselves better than the common person.  Fornication was prevalent among the leaders of the Nicolaitanes.  Here we read the Lord commending the church of Ephesus for not allowing these type of leaders in the church.


Verse 7
We read here that all the letters were meant to be read to all the churches.   There are great principles in each letter that are helpful for all churches everywhere. 
In 1 John 5:4 we see that a believer who has the Holy Spirit within automatically has the power to overcome by being born again by faith.  For those of us who overcome, there is a promise, "to eat of the tree of life".  This reference takes us back to the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:9), there we find the tree of life which was forbidden to be eaten because the fruit would make a man like God.  


This concludes the first letter!  Plenty to think about here and hopefully, act on!


Blessings to all,


Calabash