“Unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus write; These things saith He that holdeth the seven starts in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou oanst not bear them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches:
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Rev. 2:1-7).
The City of Ephesus, often referred to as the third greatest city of faith after Jerusalem and Antioch, was situated in Asia. Pergamos was the official capital of the province of Asia, but Ephesus was by far its wealthiest and greatest city. It was the first and the greatest metropolis of Asia, which has been described as the light of Asia and the Vanity Fair of the ancient world. History has it that John, Mary, Peter, Andrew and Philip were buried there.
This greatness of the city showed the high esteem in which the Lord placed the Christians in the first church Age before they lost their first love and the seeds of the evils that will manifest in the latter Church Ages became sown in her: Two words “Aimed At” and (or) “Relaxed” describes accurately this Church Age: The age opened with great zeal for things pertaining to the spirit of God as the early Christians aimed for the high calling of God in a city where pagan religion was at its strongest.
Ephesus was the centre of the worship of Diana. It had famous temples to the godhead of the Roman Emperors, Claudius, Nero, Hardrain and Severus and was a notorious centre of pagan superstition famous for the Ephesian Letters, amulets and charms which were supposed infallible remedies for sickness, barrenness and failures in undertakings. Apart from this, it was also a centre of crime and immorality: The temple area possessed the right of asylum; any criminal was safe if he could reach it. The temple also possessed hundreds of priestesses who were sacred prostitutes.
But despite these, according to R.C. Trench, “Nowhere did the word of God find a kindlier soil, strike root more deeply or bear fairer fruits of faith and love than in Ephesus”. And that exactly is the story of the early church universally. After the ascension of Christ, Christians lived
amidst very hostile groups. There were the Jews who had rejected and killed Jesus Christ because His doctrines were contrary to theirs (Judaism); and there were the Rome overlords who were pagans.
These ones started to persecute the Christians because of their faith (for His name’s sake) – the Jews did not believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and that He resurrected while the Romans considered Jesus a threat to their rulership since the Christians called Him King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But despite the persecuted and tumultuous moments, they still held fast to the teachings of the apostles and continued to spread Christianity far and wide. They were able to discern the false apostles and to steer clear of them.
However, by the middle of the age, slackness started to set in, and the brethren started to relax. This was in two folds. One, the spate of persecution began to wear out the faith of many, especially the Hebrew Christians who because of Christianity had become outcasts and objects of ridicule in their lands, and many started abandoning the faith. A situation which made “Paul ” write the letter to be Hebrews in which he elaborated at length the saving grace in the Lord Jesus Christ and why one should not abandon the faith because of persecution.
Also, about this time, the zeal for spiritual things was dying as the people began to organize themselves under the leadership of man. Though this was not a prominent feature of the age as the Christians initially repulsed the influence of the false teachers – the Nicolaitans; but the seed of organization was sown in this age to manifest in the latter church Ages.