<p>2:5- see on 3 Jn. 10; Rev. 1:20.</p><p><em>Therefore remember from where you have fallen and repent, and do the first works. Or else, unless you repent, I will come to you and move your candlestick out of its place</em>- As noted on :4, the supreme place of <em>agape</em> love is such that without it, the Spirit would not burn within them. John in his letters has connected such love with the indwelling of the Spirit, the oil within the candlestick. The lack of such love reflected a lack of the spirit or mind of the Lord Jesus; and without that, we are &quot;none of His&quot;. So the candlestick was no longer burning; which is why the Lord spoke of removing it, because it had gone out and was just useless clutter. Thus is pointed up an utterly fundamental point: that doctrinal purity and religious zeal, including exclusion of false teaching, is not the same thing as being in fellowship with the Lord. Without love, the spirit of Christ, we are just religious clutter, a candlestick with no oil lamp burning in it. The huge &quot;fall&quot; spoken of here uses the same word as in Gal. 5:4, where the Galatians 'fell' from grace because of Judaist influence. And we suggest the same influence was at work here in Ephesus.</p><p>Rev. 2:5 does not tell the sound members of the ecclesias to disfellowship those who had not done &quot;the first works&quot;. The &quot;first works&quot; of Ephesus were her &quot;first love&quot; (<em>agape</em>). The Lord is using &quot;works&quot; here (as often in the New Testament) to refer to attitudes- Ephesus were doing all the right actions, but the &ldquo;work&quot; of a loving mind was missing. Note a selection of passages where &quot;works&quot; refers to abstract spiritual fruits like faith, rather than to physical actions: Jn. 6:29; 8:39; Prov. 12:22 LXX; Rom. 2:15; Col. 1:10,11; 2 Jn. 11,7; Rev. 2:6 cp. 15.&nbsp; And that loving mind would naturally be manifest in &quot;works&quot;.</p><p>Notice the end-time language found throughout the letters to the seven Ecclesias: <br /><strong>Ephesus:</strong> &nbsp; repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly. (<strong>2:5</strong>) <br /><strong>Pergamos:</strong> Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. (<strong>2:16</strong>) <br /><strong>Thyatira:</strong> Behold, I will cast her Jezebel into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. (<strong>2:22, 25</strong>) <br /><strong>Sardis:</strong> If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. (<strong>3:3</strong>) <br /><strong>Philadelphia:</strong> Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly. (<strong>3:10-11</strong>) <br /><strong>Laodicea:</strong> Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.&nbsp; (<strong>3:20</strong>) <br />This is initially speaking of the state of the ecclesias before AD 70. But it is also a prophecy of the end time condition of the ecclesia churches. We can therefore conclude that the various problems and states of spirituality described in these letters looks forward to that of the last days. Between the seven churches here mentioned, we have a picture of the wider state of affairs in the body of believers at the time of the Lord's return.</p>