Revelation 2:3 - Printer Friendly

ESV: I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.

NIV: You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

NASB: and you have perseverance and have endured on account of My name, and have not become weary.

CSB: I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name, and you have not grown weary.

NLT: You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.

KJV: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

NKJV: and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.

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.

In chapter 1, John introduced his order from Jesus Christ: to write out a message to seven churches in Asia (Revelation 1:9–11). Here in this chapter, John writes to the church in Ephesus, the church in Smyrna, the church in Pergamum, and the church in Thyatira. Chapter 3 will continue with messages to the other three churches. The rest of Revelation will explain future events connected to the ''end times.''

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''

Accessed 4/28/2024 10:07:51 AM