Week 2: Ephesus

Main passage: Revelation 2:1–7

Letter to the Church in Ephesus

Read Revelation 1 and 2, with careful attention to 2:1–7.

For background on the Ephesian church, read Acts 19:1–20, 23–37.

For Jesus’ teachings on love, read Matthew 5:43–47 and Matthew 22:36–40.

Read Revelation 22:2–3, 14. See also Genesis 2:9; 3:22–24.

What promise of Jesus to the Ephesian church (see Revelation 2:7) is fulfilled in the new creation?

1. How is Jesus described in Revelation 2:1? (See also Revelation 1:20) By using this imagery, what does Jesus want us to know about him?
2. Read Acts 19. What do you learn about the church in Ephesus? How was their passion and love for Jesus evident?
3. What is Jesus’s commendation for the church in Ephesus in verses 2–3? From what you learned of the Ephesian church in Acts 19, what are some of the works they accomplished and the hardships they endured?
4. Jesus rebukes the Ephesians for having abandoned their first love. What things in your life compete to be your primary love? Are there things that crowd out your love for God and people?
5. In verse 5, what three commands does Jesus give the church as a remedy to having lost their first love? How can we apply these three commands to our own life to guard ourselves from abandoning our love for God and for people?
6. Read Revelation 2:7 and 22:2,14. What does God want to reward to believers who persevere and conquer? What does this reveal about the heart of God?