What does Revelation 2:3 mean?
This verse continues Jesus' commendation of the church at Ephesus. He compliments the Ephesian believers on their steadfast endurance of hardships and persecution. In 2 Timothy 2:24, the apostle Paul instructed Timothy that the servant of the Lord must patiently endure evil. Timothy was pastor of the church at Ephesus when Paul wrote those words. It seems that Timothy practiced patient endurance and inspired the church to follow his example. For more than forty years, from its inception, the church had endured antagonistic treatment for Jesus' sake, but it had not fainted.In writing to the Galatian churches, Paul addressed this quality of faithfully serving the Lord without giving up. He wrote: "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9). The church at Ephesus was exemplary in regard to its perseverance, but it was not perfect, as we learn from the next verse.
Revelation 2:1–7 is the first letter Jesus dictated to John, intended for the church at Ephesus. This congregation is praised for patient endurance and for rightly rejecting false apostles. Despite such an excellent beginning, however, Ephesus had abandoned its first love. They were drifting into coldness and rote religiosity. Jesus instructs the church to remember its early days, repent, and conduct itself as it had done initially. He promises a reward to the victor.
The contents of Revelation 2 are miniature letters to four churches, dictated by Jesus to John. Ephesus and Smyrna were coastal cities, whereas Pergamum and Thyatira were inland cities. Three more such letters are in Revelation 3. Each of these messages contains a unique description of Jesus, a command, a promise. All but one—the church in Laodicea—receive some commendation. All but two of the seven letters—those to the churches in Smyrna and Philadelphia—also contain a critical rebuke. Like churches today, most of the congregations addressed by Jesus had both good characteristics and at least one point which needed correction.
