Revelation

The author of the message addressed to the angel of the church in Ephesus, as we can see from the first verse, is He who holds the seven stars in His right hand and He who walks among the seven golden lampstands. This proves to us that the Saviour, in all His glory which He has from the Father, continues to be interested not only in the spiritual state of His servants, but is present in the midst of all His Churches through the Holy Spirit, fulfilling His promise:that He will be with them until the end of the ages (Matthew 28:19-20) The content of the message has eternal value. The majority of those who served in the Christian churches over approximately twenty centuries were confronted with the ever present problem, the battle that unfolds on three fronts. The first conflict took place in an ideological plan against the pagan influences, which are to be firmly rejected by Christians. The pagans' concept about the world and life affected society in such a way that the people behaved like mindless idiots, because they were permanently being dominated by an uncontrolled pressure. The seductive rituals that took place at the pagan temples had an irresistible influence on the worldly people. The choicest pieces of food, alcoholic drinks, frenetic rhythm of the music and the sensual, provocative dances stimulated the public's passions, preparing them for the act of "sacred" licentiousness. In the overwhelming majority of institutions, in the goods and food markets, at every street corner or in every compartment of life, the simplistic philosophy presented them with the concept: "food, drink, licentiousness". Ephesus, with its two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, was a metropolis of all misdeeds. Only a divine miracle could wrest the people away from such a medium, to change their mentality, their preferences and their way of life. Preparing the Christians with the whole armour of God had become an urgent necessity, because the battle wasn't against mankind, but against the demonic spirits which dominated society (Ephesians 6:11-17). On the second front the Christians were called to defend themselves from the influence of the Judaisers, who sowed confusion by their teachings. These Jews filtrated among the Christians who had come from the Gentiles, teaching them to be circumcised and to keep Moses' Law.They maintained an incorrect teaching by saying that the Christians who had come from among the Gentiles couldn't be saved if they didn't fall in line with the Jewish religious principles (Acts 15:1,5,24). These Pharisees (a Jewish sect) couldn't understand that the Saviours's sacrifice was enough to save mankind, without them having to become Jews (Ephesians 2:17-21; Tit 3:5). Most of the Jews who became Christians were well intentioned, but because of their lack of spiritual maturity , they continued to have a zeal for the Mosaic Law (Acts 21:17-20). As they matured in the Christian teachings, they became aware that salvation cannot be obtained through the Mosaic Law, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. This saving faith isn't lacking in deeds, but rather, it is confirmed by the deeds which God has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:8-13) These deeds which rise up out of our saving faith are greater than those which are contained in Moses' Law. Sin and death were revealed to us through Moses' Law, whereas through the Law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ, we were delivered from the power of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2) On the third front, the Christians had to battle with...