At the time the Revelation was given, Ephesus was the chief capital of Proconsular Asia and its pride and glory.  It was also that country’s chief mart of idolatry, containing, as it did, the magnificent temple of Diana, which is reckoned as one of the seven wonders of the world.  This temple, according to the disclosures of modern excavations, was four hundred and eighteen feet in length, and two hundred and thirty-nine in width, with one hundred beautiful external pillars of Parian marble, each a single shaft about fifty-six feet high.  The city was proud of the title it had received, “Servant of the Goddess,” and even the Roman emperors vied with wealthy natives in lavishing gifts to her.  One of the latter, named Vibius Salutaris, presented a large quantity of gold and silver images to be carried annually in procession.

In this proud, wealthy, idolatrous city the apostle Paul planted a Christian church, and the great inroads the gospel made into the prevalent system of idolatry is shown by one circumstance mentioned in the Book of Acts.  “And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds.  Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men:  and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.  So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.”  Acts 19:18-20.  Fifty thousand pieces of silver would be equal to ten thousand dollars’ worth, or, according to some estimates, six times that amount.  But ten thousand dollars’ worth of books on incantation and magic alone destroyed, considering the scarcity of books in that day, shows the wondrous extent to which the gospel had been accepted.  This was made the occasion of a great tumult in the city, when one, Demetrius, seeing that the prestige of Diana was diminishing, stirred up the people of the city against Paul and his companions, and cried vehemently, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” The souvenir silver shrines and images of this goddess, which had been in such demand by the multitudes of people constantly visiting the city, were no longer sought for when the knowledge of the one true God was made known; and well might Demetrius and his fellow-craftsmen be alarmed as their means of wealth disappeared.

The spiritual condition of this church in Paul’s time is worthy of notice; for it presents a striking contrast with its condition at the time when the special message of the Revelation was addressed to it.  Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians taught them the glorious doctrine of entire sanctification (chap. 5:25-27), and they had received the experience; for he gives them the express command, “Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”  Chap. 4:30.  And again, “After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.”  Chap. 1:13.  Their ministers, also, had been placed in their position by authority of the Holy Ghost, and