Revelation 2:1-5 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

I am going to ask you to read these verse five times before you continue. Five verses, five readings. Go.

Ready?

What is missing? What isn’t addressed? If you do not see it, then look again for what is not talked about.

See it?

Candles. Nothing is said about the candles. The candlestick is the church. It is a place in which candles are held up, to shine, but nothing in these verses directly relate to any individual candle. Do you find that just a little strange?

The right hand is the hand of execution of power. We have been speaking about executing power in accordance with God’s will, so this a lesson to look at in reference to the meaning of being taken away. It is not a removal of the candle. It is a removal of a place to be held.

What is the Lord saying to you if He is not speaking to you, the candle, but rather the church which is a place to be held up to shine?

Isaiah 30:24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

Provender is a mixed grain. It is not wholly of one type or another. The winnowing and fan serve two purposes, to mix evenly and to remove anything that is not meant to be eaten. Say what you will about the animals but they are service animals. Are we not servants of the Lord?

I see two very distinct lessons in this verse. One is a diet that contains both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Is your diet thoroughly mixed or are you fond of only eating from the New Testament because you like the taste better? If I only ate of the New Testament, how would I have known of the lesson contained here in Isaiah 30:24?

Yes we follow Jesus. Yes the structure of the church in found in the writings of Paul. Yes there is a more clear understanding of scriptures that are quoted from the Old Testament. But….

John 1:1,14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Since He was the Word even before the world began, He is found in all of the Word and not just parts of the Word. To know Him and to know His will and to know His ways, we cannot ignore the mixing of the Old and New.

The second issue I see here is the mixing of teaching and personal study. Any teacher with any salt of their own will encourage you to perform personal bible study. That does not mean picking up a book written by a renown bible author, preacher or doctor of divinity. It means allowing the scriptures to speak to you personally, directly through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is how we come to know the will of God.

What does your provender look like?