5 Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. Revelation 2:5 (NASB)
In yesterday’s post, What is the relationship of our Salvation with Repentance? we saw that without repentance there is no salvation. In the passage I placed at the top of this post we see another element of repentance that is elemental for the spiritual health of believers.
In Revelation 2:5 our Lord Jesus Christ challenges the Ephesian believers, who had abandoned their first love for Him by commanding, “remember from where you have fallen, and repent…”. The Greek behind “remember,” mnēmoneuō, refers not only to the metal capability to recall something, but also “to be mindful” of it and “take [it] into account.” This is all in the present tense, yielding the idea of “keep remembering.” The Lord Jesus wanted the Ephesians to constantly take into account “from where [they] have fallen,” which implies two principles.