Thy Kingdom Come – the Book of Revelation
Class 3 - February 2026
The Church at Ephesus
Ephesus, one of the most ancient cities of Asia, was the geographic center of the Roman Empire and the capital of the Roman province of Asia (modern day Turkey). Key to the city’s importance was that it was located at the mouth of the Cayster River. As a result, Ephesus was a major business hub joining shipping from the west to the caravan routes to the east. For this reason it was a wealthy commercial and banking center of the empire. Its 250,000 citizens prospered as a result of the city’s desirable location, perhaps the reason it was named Ephesus that means desirable or appealing. The Ephesians were known throughout the Empire for their strong work ethic and knowledge.
Thirty years after Paul’s founding of the church in Ephesus in 60 AD and the ongoing teaching by Apollos, Timothy, and John, the Lord commends this church for its intense ongoing spiritual labor unto weariness in serving the Lord. Remember, these were people used to working hard in their business life, so it was natural they would put great energy into their spiritual life. They militantly fought for sound doctrine because they knew it well. The Lord offers no criticism of their actions and spiritual lives with respect to these activities, except for the “nevertheless” of verse 4….
Nevertheless, literally “despite all,” emphasizes a very strong word against them. This busy, industrious, laboring, discerning, persevering church that hated what the Lord hated apparently forgot their “first love” of Him! In fact they had not merely lost their first love as if it was something lost by accident and could not be found; rather this was a deliberate action on their part to turn their back and walk away from their first love. They had abandoned their “first love” for Him.
Here is the key point of this letter – the Ephesian believers had willingly allowed their first love to be abandoned.
