NOTES for Rev 2:1-7
As we can see, each of the seven churches of Asia Minor to which the word of the Risen One was addressed had its own problems, and each of the messengers ("angels") heading to one church or another receives his own message to deliver to those to whom he is sent. Of course, such messengers could have been (and in this case really were) not angels in the sense we give the word today, but people sent on the apostle's behalf to a specific church community in order to deliver the message written for them and attest to its authenticity. On the other hand, the number seven is hardly accidental here: the seven-branched lampstand (menorah) symbolizes the light of God and the fullness of revelation, and in the New Testament context also the fullness of that sanctification which the world awaits from the Church. Understood in this way, the seven churches of Asia Minor become a symbol of the fullness of the Church, the fullness that the Church bears within herself throughout her whole history.
But the history of the Church differs from the history of any other community that has ever existed on earth in that it knows no development. Of course, external church forms change, but spiritually she always remains the same: at all times there is present in her both the righteousness by which the world is sanctified and the sin that hinders this. Of course, one can speak of better and worse times in church history, but here everything is relative: the universal Church is vast, and different communities can live, and in fact usually do live, in different ways, so that their spiritual condition can differ substantially even when the same historical period is in view.
This is also how the church of Asia Minor appears: the condition of specific churches (church communities) within it, as we can see, differs quite noticeably. Addressing the Ephesian church, Jesus points out to the Ephesian Christians that they have "left their first love" (v. 4), though He has certainly not forgotten their service and steadfastness during persecutions ("patience") (v. 3). It is possible that at this time the Ephesian church saw an intensification of the problems about which Paul had once written to the Ephesian Christians: a certain spiritual laxity and a known indulgence toward what are usually called sins of the flesh. In the setting of a large port city such as Ephesus, something of this sort can always be expected: bustle and petty fleshly sins are, as is well known, among the simplest temptations, yet they are very widespread, largely because their effect, especially at the beginning, is almost unnoticeable.
Considering that the Ephesian church had not lost its spiritual bearings, that it knew how to distinguish true apostles from false ones (v. 2), and that it was by no means trying to turn the sin of some of its members into a principle, as the Nicolaitans did (v. 6), the situation had not yet become catastrophic. Nevertheless, Jesus calls the Ephesian Christians to "remember their first love," to return to the purity of the first days when the Ephesian church had only just been born; otherwise, according to His words, the consequences may prove severe (v. 5). And He calls the Ephesian Christians to be more decisive and spiritually collected, so that through spiritual laziness and laxity they do not lose the fruit from the tree of eternal life that is intended for them in the event of victory (v. 7).