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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
‘Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent … or else I will … remove thy candlestick.’
Rev_2:5
I. The kindly admonition.
II. The earnest call to repentance.
III. The fearful threatening.
Illustration
‘At Ephesus, one of the seven golden candlesticks, set up in the midst of the heathen world, was once the most distinguished Church in Eastern Christendom. St. Paul had founded it, and loved it before all others, as his touching farewell to its presbyters at Miletus proves, as well as the glorious letter he wrote to it. St. John fostered it to the end of his days. It was privileged to harbour the loving disciple of Jesus long after the Lord came, at the destruction of Jerusalem, and to preserve in its bosom his honoured bones. Even in the circular letter of the Revelation, it still gets that praise from the mouth of the Lord, “I know thy works, thy labour, and thy patience.” And yet there follows upon it the admonition, “Think from what thou hast fallen. Thy star is on the wane. It grows pale.” ’
‘Repent, and do the first works.’
Rev_2:5
I. The inseparable moral connection between inward feeling and outward action.—Repent and do.
II. The outward aspect of humiliation and regret which the text wears for the sinner and the backslider.—‘Repent’—change your purposes and plans, and do now what you should have done years ago.
III. The inner heart of life and hope which this command bears in it for all men.—Repent! It can yet be done. There is not a more blessed thought in God’s Word. It is indeed God’s message of hope to men.