The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
20. the mystery ] The use of this word in the N. T. is not very far removed from its primary meaning in classical Greek. We may paraphrase it, “the hidden divine truth, now made known, but made known to God’s favoured ones only:” see Eph 3:3-12 for the completest illustration of its meaning. Here the sense is, “I reveal to thee the secret and sacred meaning of ” The construction must be, “Write (among other things) the mystery of :” for the context shews that the word “mystery” is an accusative not a nominative.
the seven golden candlesticks ] In construction (but hardly in sense) these words are coordinate with “the mystery,” not a genitive case dependent on it.
the angels of the seven churches ] For the meaning of the word “Angels” here, see Excursus I.
the seven candlesticks ] Plainly this image is suggested by the seven-branched candlestick of Exo 25:31 sqq. still more by the mystical vision of one resembling it, in Zechariah 4. But here the image of seven detached candlesticks does not exactly correspond to the description of either, nor are we to assume that the significance of those is exactly the same as of these.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The mystery of the seven stars – On the word mystery, see notes on Eph 1:9. The word means, properly, what is hidden, obscure, unknown – until it is disclosed by one having the ability to do it, or by the course of events. When disclosed, it may be as clear, and as capable of comprehension, as any other truth. The meaning here, as applied to the seven stars, is, that they were symbols, and that their meaning as symbols, without a suitable explanation, would remain hidden or unknown. They were designed to represent important truths, and John was directed to write down what they were intended in the circumstances to signify, and to send the explanation to the churches. It is evidently implied that the meaning of these symbols would be beyond the ordinary powers of the human mind to arrive at with certainty, and hence John was directed to explain the symbol. The general and obvious truths which they would serve to convey would be that the ministers of the churches, and the churches themselves, were designed to be lights in the world, and should burn clearly and steadily. Much important truth would be couched under these symbols, indeed, if nothing had been added in regard to their signification as employed here by the Saviour; but there were particular truths of great importance in reference to each of these stars and lampbearers, which John was more fully to explain.
Which thou sawest in my right hand – Greek, upon my right hand – epi tes dexias mou: giving some support to the opinion that the stars, as they were seen, appeared to be placed on his hand – that is, on the palm of his hand as he stretched it out. The expression in Rev 1:16 is, that they were in ( en) his right hand; but the language used here is not decisive as to the position of the stars. They may have been held in some way by the hand, or represented as scattered on the open hand,
The seven golden candlesticks – The truth which these emblematic representations are designed to convey.
The seven stars are – That is, they represent, or they denote – in accordance with a common usage in the Scriptures. See the notes on Mat 26:26.
The angels of the seven churches – Greek, Angels of the seven churches: the article being missing. This does not refer to them as a collective or associated body, for the addresses are made to them as individuals – an epistle being directed to the angel of each particular church, Rev 2:1, Rev 2:12, etc. The evident meaning, however, is, that what was recorded should be directed to them, not as pertaining to them exclusively as individuals, but as presiding over or representing the churches, for what is recorded pertains to the churches, and was evidently designed to be laid before them. It was for the churches, but was committed to the angel as representing the church, and to be communicated to the church under his care. There has been much diversity of opinion in regard to the meaning of the word angels here. By the advocates of Episcopacy, it has been argued that the use of this term proves that there was a presiding bishop over a circle or group of churches in Ephesus, in Smyrna, etc., since it is said that it cannot be supposed that there was but a single church in a city so large as Ephesus, or in the other cities mentioned. A full examination of this argument may be seen in my work on the Apostolic Church (pp. 191-199, London edition). The word angel properly means a messenger, and is thus applied to celestial beings as messengers sent forth from God to convey or to do his will. This being the common meaning of the word, it may be employed to denote anyone who is a messenger, and hence, with propriety, anyone who is employed to communicate the will of another; to transact his business, or, more remotely, to act in his place – to be a representative. In order to ascertain the meaning of the word as used in this place, and in reference to these churches, it may be remarked:
(1) That it cannot mean literally an angel, as referring to a heavenly being, for no one can suppose that such a being presided over these churches.
(2) It cannot be shown to mean, as Lord (in loco) supposes, messengers that the churches had sent to John, and that these letters were given to them to be returned by them to the churches; for:
(a)There is no evidence that any such messenger had been sent to John;
(b)There is no probability that while he was a banished exile in Patmos such a thing would be permitted;
(c)The message was not sent by them, it was sent to them Unto the angel of the church in Ephesus write, etc.
(3) It cannot be proved that the reference is to a prelatical bishop presiding over a group or circle of churches, called a diocese; for:
(a) There is nothing in the word angel, as used in this connection, which would be especially applicable to such a personage – it being as applicable to a pastor of a single church, as to a bishop of many churches.
(b) There is no evidence that there were any such groups of churches then as constitute an episcopal diocese.
(c) The use of the word church in the singular, as applied to Ephesus, Smyrna, etc., rather implies that there was but a single church in each of those cities. Compare Rev 2:1, Rev 2:8,Rev 2:12, Rev 2:18; see also similar language in regard to the church in Corinth, 1Co 1:2; in Antioch, Act 13:1; at Laodicea, Col 4:16; and at Ephesus, Act 20:28.
(d) There is no evidence, as Episcopalians must suppose, that a successor to John had been appointed at Ephesus, if, as they suppose, he was bishop of Ephesus; and there is no probability that they would so soon after his banishment show him such a want of respect as to regard the see as vacant, and appoint a successor.
(e) There is no improbability in supposing that there was a single church in each of these cities – as at Antioch, Corinth, Rome.
(f) If John was a piclatical bishop, it is probable that he was bishop of the whole group of churches embracing the seven: yet here, if the word angel means bishop, we have no less than seven such bishops immediately appointed to succeed him. And,
(g) the supposition that this refers to prelatical bishops is so forced and unnatural that many Episcopalians are compelled to abandon it. Thus, Stillingfleet – than whom an abler man, or one whose praise is higher in Episcopal churches, as an advocate of prelacy, is not to be found – says of these angels: If many things in the epistles be directed to the angels, but yet so as to concern the whole body, then, of necessity, the angel must be taken as a representative of the whole body; and then why may not the angel be taken by way of representation of the body itself, either of the whole church, or, which is far more probable, of the concessors, or order of presbyters in this church?
(4) If the word does not mean literally an angel; if it does not refer to messengers sent to John in Patmos by the churches; and if it does not refer to a prelatical bishop, then it follows that it must refer to someone who presided over the church as its pastor, and through whom a message might be properly sent to the church. Thus understood, the paster or angel would be regarded as the representative of the church; that is, as delegated by the church to manage its affairs, and as the authorized person to whom communications should be made in matters pertaining to it – as pastors are now. A few considerations will further confirm this interpretation, and throw additional light on the meaning of the word:
(a) The word angel is employed in the Old Testament to denote a prophet; that is, a minister of religion as sent by God to communicate his will. Thus in Hag 1:13 it is said, Then spake Haggai, the Lords messenger (Hebrew: angel, mal’ak Yahweh – Septuagint: angelos kuriou, in the Lords message unto the people, etc.
(b) It is applied to a priest, as one sent by God to execute the functions of that office, or to act in the name of the Lord. Mal 2:7, for the priests lips should keep knowledge, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts – mal’ak Yahweh tsebaa’owt – that is, angel of the Lord of hosts.
(c) The name prophet is often given in the New Testament to the ministers of religion, as being appointed by God to proclaim or communicate his will to his people, and as occupying a place resembling, in some respects, that of the prophets in the Old Testament.
(d) There was no reason why the word might not be thus employed to designate a pastor of a Christian church, as well as to designate a prophet or a priest under the Old Testament dispensation.
(e) The supposition that a pastor of a church is intended will meet all the circumstances of the case; for:
(1)It is an appropriate appellation;
(2)There is no reason to suppose that there was more than one church in each of the cities referred to;
(3)It is a term which would designate the respect in which the office was held;
(4)It would impress upon those to whom it was applied a solemn sense of their responsibility.
Further, it would be more appropriately applied to a pastor of a single church than to a prelatical bishop; to the tender, intimate, and endearing relation sustained by a pastor to his people, to the blending of sympathy, interest, and affection, where he is with them continually, meets them frequently in the sanctuary, administers to them the bread of life, goes into their abodes when they axe afflicted, and attends their kindred to the grave, than to the union subsisting between the people of an extended diocese and a prelate – the formal, infrequent, and, in many instances, stately and pompous visitations of a diocesan bishop – to the unsympathizing relation between him and a people scattered in many churches, who are visited at distant intervals by one claiming a superiority in ministerial rights and powers, and who must be a stranger to the ten thousand ties of endearment which bind the hearts of a pastor and people together. The conclusion, then, to which we have come is, that the angel of the church was the pastor, or the presiding presbyter in the church; the minister who had the pastoral charge of it, and who was therefore a proper representative of it. He was a man who, in some respects, performed the functions which the angels of God do; that is, who was appointed to execute his will, to communicate his message, and to convey important intimations of his purposes to his people. To no one could the communications in this book, intended for the churches, be more properly entrusted than to such an one; for to no one now would a communication be more properly entrusted than to a pastor.
Such is the sublime vision under which this book opens; such the solemn commission which the penman of the book received. No more appropriate introduction to what is contained in the book could be imagined; no more appropriate circumstances for making such a sublime revelation could have existed. To the most beloved of the apostles, now the only surviving one of the number; to him who had been a faithful laborer for a period not far from 60 years after the death of the Lord Jesus, who had been the bosom friend of the Saviour when in the flesh, who had seen him in the mount of transfiguration, who had seen him die, and who had seen him ascend, into heaven; to him who had lived while the church was founded, and while it had spread into all lands; and to him who was now suffering persecution on account of the Saviour and his cause, it was appropriate that such communications should be made. In a lonely island; far away from the homes of people; surrounded by the ocean, and amid barron rocks; on the day consecrated to the purposes of sacred repose and the holy duties of religion – the day observed in commemoration of the resurrection of his Lord, it was most fit that the Redeemer should appear to the beloved disciple in the last Revelation which he was ever to make to mankind. No more appropriate time or circumstance could be conceived for disclosing, by a series of sublime visions, what would occur in future times; for sketching out the history of the church or the consummation of all things.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. The mystery] That is, the allegorical explanation of the seven stars is the seven angels or ministers of the Churches; and the allegorical meaning of the seven golden lamps is the seven Churches themselves.
1. IN the seven stars there may be an allusion to the seals of different offices under potentates, each of which had its own particular seal, which verified all instruments from that office; and as these seals were frequently set in rings which were worn on the fingers, there may be an allusion to those brilliants set in rings, and worn , UPON the right hand. In Jer 22:24, Coniah is represented as a signet on the right hand of the Lord; and that such signets were in rings see Ge 38:18; Ge 38:25; Ex 18:11; Da 6:17, Hag 2:23. On close examination we shall find that all the symbols in this book have their foundation either in nature, fact, custom, or general opinion. One of the cutchery seals of the late Tippoo Saib, with which he stamped all the commissions of that office, lies now before me; it is cut on silver, in the Taaleck character, and the piece of silver is set in a large gold ring, heavy, but roughly manufactured.
2. The Churches are represented by these lamps; they hold the oil and the fire, and dispense the light. A lamp is not light in itself, it is only the instrument of dispensing light, and it must receive both oil and fire before it can dispense any; so no Church has in itself either grace or glory, it must receive all from Christ its head, else it can dispense neither light nor life.
3. The ministers of the Gospel are signets or seals of Jesus Christ; he uses them to stamp his truth, to accredit it, and give it currency. But as a seal can mark nothing of itself unless applied by a proper hand, so the ministers of Christ can do no good, seal no truth, impress no soul, unless the great owner condescend to use them.
4. How careful should the Church be that it have the oil and the light, that it continue to burn and send forth Divine knowledge! In vain does any Church pretend to be a Church of Christ if it dispense no light; if souls are not enlightened, quickened, and converted in it. If Jesus walk in it, its light will shine both clearly and strongly, and sinners will be converted unto him; and the members of that Church will be children of the light, and walk as children of the light and of the day, and there will be no occasion of stumbling in them.
5. How careful should the ministers of Christ be that they proclaim nothing as truth, and accredit nothing as truth, but what comes from their master!
They should also take heed lest, after having preached to others, themselves should be cast-aways; lest God should say unto them as he said of Coniah, As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, were the SIGNET UPON MY RIGHT HAND, yet would I pluck thee thence.
On the other hand, if they be faithful, their labour shall not be in vain, and their safety shall be great. He that toucheth them toucheth the apple of God’s eye, and none shall be able to pluck them out of his hand. they are the angels and ambassadors of the Lord; their persons are sacred; they are the messengers of the Churches, and the glory of Christ. Should they lose their lives in the work, it will be only a speedier entrance into an eternal glory.
The rougher the way, the shorter their stay,
The troubles that rise
Shall gloriously hurry their souls to the skies.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The mystery of the seven stars, and the seven golden candlesticks: see Rev 1:12,16.
The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; that is, they signify the angels of the seven churches. By angels he means Gods messengers and ambassadors to the seven churches, called angels, both in respect of their office, being the ambassadors of Christ, 2Co 5:20, and of that holiness which they should show forth in their doctrine and life. To interpret the term of angels by nature, seems not agreeable to what we shall hereafter meet with said to some of them; Christ would never have ordered John to have charged them with a loss of their first love, or to admonish them to be faithful unto death, or to repent. Whether the term angel denoteth any particular superior minister or bishop in those churches, or is to be taken collectively for all the ministers in those churches, I shall not dispute. Certain it is, signifieth no more than is common to all ministers, viz. to be Gods messengers, and move upon his errand.
And the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches; the seven churches mentioned Rev 1:11; or else, seven being the number of perfection, all the churches, which are fitly represented by candlesticks, in the same sense as they are called pillars of truth in Pauls Epistle to Timothy, because they have not the light they show from themselves, only hold it forth from Christ. But it is the opinion of very learned writers upon this book, that our Lord, by these seven churches, signifies all the churches of Christ to the end of the world; and by what he saith to them, designs to show what shall be the state of the churches in all ages, and what their duty is. That by the church of Ephesus, was represented the purest state of all the Christian churches, which determined thirty years before this book was written. By the church of Smyrna, the state of all Christian churches till the year 300. By the church of Pergamos, all the Christian churches till antichrist got up into the saddle, and the Albigenses and Waldenses were so persecuted. By the church of Thyatira, the state of the churches from that time till our Reformation. By the other three, the state of all churches for one hundred and fifty years last past, and which shall be to the end of the world. See Dr. More, Mr. Mede, Cocceius, and Forbes, as learned and diligent inquirers into the sense of this book as any have been, who give many reasons for this:
1. Because no reason else can be given, why epistles should not be written to other churches as well as these.
2. He doth not call them the seven churches of Asia, but seven churches.
3. The number seven is a number used to signify perfection.
4. What is said of Christs walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks, having the stars in his right hand, &c., agreeth to him with reference to all churches, not to these seven only.
5. His calling ministers angels, speaks this a prophecy, for that is a prophetical style.
6. The mentioning the same number of churches and ministers, as of the seals, speaks this part of the Revelation as comprehensive, with respect to time, as the other.
7. It is not probable that these epistles would have been ushered in with such a vision, if they had been merely historical and didactic, not prophetical also.
8. They argue from Rev 1:19, where John is bid to write not only what is, but what shall come to pass.
9. They argue from the matter of the epistles.Let the curious reader see more of this in the authors themselves, as also in Mr. Brightman.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. inGreek, “uponMy right hand.”
the mystery . . .candlesticksin apposition to, and explaining, “the thingswhich thou hast seen,” governed by “Write.” Mysterysignifies the hidden truth, veiled under this symbol, and nowrevealed; its correlative is revelation. Stars symbolizelordship (Nu 24:17; compare Da12:3, of faithful teachers; Rev 8:10;Rev 12:4; Jdg 1:13).
angelsnot as ALFORD,from ORIGEN [Homily 13on Luke, and Homily 20 on Numbers], the guardian angels of thechurches, just as individuals have their guardian angels. For howcould heavenly angels be charged with the delinquencies laid here tothe charge of these angels? Then, if a human angel be meant (as theOld Testament analogy favors, Hag1:13, “the Lord’s Messenger in the Lord’s message”;Mal 2:7; Mal 3:1),the bishop, or superintendent pastor, must be the angel. Forwhereas there were many presbyters in each of the larger churches (asfor example, Ephesus, Smyrna, c.), there was but one angel,whom, moreover, the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls holdsresponsible for the spiritual state of the Church under him. The termangel, designating an office, is, in accordance with theenigmatic symbolism of this book, transferred from the heavenly tothe earthly superior ministers of Jehovah reminding them that, likethe heavenly angels above, they below should fulfil God’s missionzealously, promptly and efficiently. “Thy will be done on earth,as it is in heaven!”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand,…. The sense is, that John was to write the mystery of these stars, or the mystical sense of them:
and the seven golden candlesticks; the mystery, or mysterious sense of them also; for the words are in a continued connection with Re 1:19, and have respect to the following interpretation of them, and to the epistles in the following chapter, which are mystical, and prophetical of the state of the churches in all succeeding ages:
the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; that is, the seven stars which John saw in Christ’s right hand, represent the angels, or pastors of the seven churches of Asia, and in them all the pastors and ministers of the churches in all the periods of time until Christ’s second coming. Here it may be observed, that the ministers of the Gospel are not only compared to “stars”, for which
[See comments on Re 1:16]; but likewise to “angels”, which signifies “messengers”, as ministers are sent forth by Christ with the message of the Gospel to publish to the sons of men; and as the angels are Christ’s ministering spirits, so are the preachers of the Gospel the ministers of Christ, that wait upon him and serve him in the ministry of the word, and in the administration of ordinances; and there is some agreement between them in holiness, knowledge, zeal, diligence, and watchfulness, in their work; as also they may be so called for the honour and esteem in which they are, both with Christ and his churches; and who like the angels rejoice at the conversion of sinners, and the enlargement of the interest of Christ:
and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches; represent the seven churches, of Asia, and in them all the churches of Christ, in successive ages, to the end of time; the reasons why these are signified by “candlesticks”, [See comments on Re 1:12]; and that they are prophetic of the churches of Christ in the several periods of time, until he comes again, will appear from the following considerations: the whole book is called a prophecy, and a revelation of things that were shortly to come to pass, and it would be very strange, and very unsuitable to its title, should the three first chapters contain nothing prophetic in them; the characters of the divine Person under which these seven churches are saluted, as he which is, and was, and is to come, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, show that the things written to them belong to the Gospel church state, from the beginning to the end of it, for what other reason can be given for such a peculiar use of them? the very grand and illustrious appearance of Christ, antecedent to these epistles, when compared with the appearance of God, previous to the opening of the sealed book, and the seven seals of it, may induce one to conclude, that as the latter introduces the book prophecy in this revelation, so the former introduces the church prophecy; nor does it seem that such a magnificent appearance is necessary to the bare sending of some letters of advice to some particular churches: moreover, as there are some things in these epistles too common to all the churches and ministers to be restrained to some particular ones, such as Christ’s affording his presence among them, signified by his walking amidst the candlesticks, and his care of, and respect unto the ministers of the Gospel, expressed by holding seven stars in his right hand; for can it be thought that Christ only granted his presence to the seven churches in Asia? or that the pastors of those churches were the only ones Christ holds in his right hand? so there are others too particular to certain periods to belong to those churches, as that Smyrna should have a crown of life, Pergamos hidden manna and a white stone, Thyatira the morning star, and Philadelphia be delivered from a temptation that would reach all the world, and is not yet come; for which no reason can be given in the literal sense of these epistles; and it is strange that only seven churches should be sent to, and these only in Asia; why not to the churches in Africa and Europe? and these churches also, all but Ephesus, very obscure ones; why not to the churches at Antioch, Corinth, Rome, c. and it is stranger still, if, as Epiphanius says w, there was no church at Thyatira till after the writing of these letters: nothing can account for all this but their being prophetic, there being something in the number, names, situation, and case of these churches, which were emblematical of the state of the church in successive periods of time to which may be added, that the epiphonema at the close of every epistle, “he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches”, shows that each epistle to every church is not designed for that church only, but for churches; and for what churches but for those who are represented in that period of time, since they must be unsuitable to one another? and besides, this concluding sentence shows, that what is contained in each epistle is something intricate, abstruse, and parabolical, it being only used when some such thing is delivered; see Mt 11:15. There is one observation more to be made, and which runs through all the epistles, and that is, that the names of the several churches, and the titles which Christ assumes in writing to each, as well as the subject matter of the epistles, have respect to the several distinct periods of the church; all which will more clearly appear in the following notes upon them.
w Contra Haeres. l. 2. Haeres. 51.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The mystery of the seven stars ( ). On the word see on Matt 13:11; 2Thess 2:7; Col 1:26. Here it means the inner meaning (the secret symbol) of a symbolic vision (Swete) as in Rev 10:7; Rev 13:18; Rev 17:7; Rev 17:9; Dan 2:47. Probably the accusative absolute (Charles), “as for the mystery” (Robertson, Grammar, pp. 490, 1130), as in Ro 8:3. This item is picked out of the previous vision (1:16) as needing explanation at once and as affording a clue to what follows (Rev 2:1; Rev 2:5).
Which (). Masculine accusative retained without attraction to case of (genitive, ).
In my right hand ( ). Or “upon,” but , etc., in verse 16.
And the seven golden candlesticks ( ). “The seven lampstands the golden,” identifying the stars of verse 16 with the lampstands of verse 12. The accusative case here is even more peculiar than the accusative absolute , since the genitive after is what one would expect. Charles suggests that John did not revise his work.
The angels of the seven churches ( ). Anarthrous in the predicate (angels of, etc.). “The seven churches” mentioned in Rev 1:4; Rev 1:11. Various views of here exist. The simplest is the etymological meaning of the word as messenger from (Mt 11:10) as messengers from the seven churches to Patmos or by John from Patmos to the churches (or both). Another view is that is the pastor of the church, the reading (thy wife) in 2:20 (if genuine) confirming this view. Some would even take it to be the bishop over the elders as in Ignatius, but a separate in each church is against this idea. Some take it to be a symbol for the church itself or the spirit and genius of the church, though distinguished in this very verse from the churches themselves (the lampstands). Others take it to be the guardian angel of each church assuming angelic patrons to be taught in Matt 18:10; Acts 12:15. Each view is encompassed with difficulties, perhaps fewer belonging to the view that the “angel” is the pastor.
Are seven churches ( ). These seven churches (Rev 1:4; Rev 1:11) are themselves lampstands (1:12) reflecting the light of Christ to the world (Matt 5:14-16; John 8:12) in the midst of which Christ walks (1:13).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Comment:
1) “The mystery of the seven stars,” (to musterion ton hepta asteron) “The mystery (coming of) the seven stars,” hidden meaning to be drawn from or represented by the seven stars – – Pastors, shepherds, messengers or guides of the flock (church) of the Lord, 1Pe 5:1-6.
2) “Which thou sawest in my right hand,” (ouseidesepi tes deksias mou) “Which you saw (perceived) on my right hand,” being held in my right hand, his hand of glory, might and honor -in this guardian care, Psa 34:7.
3) “And the seven golden candlesticks,” (kai tas hepta luchnias) “And the (mystery, covert meaning) of the seven golden candlesticks (lampstand),” what the matter represented is interpreted by the Lord himself who ” loved the church and gave himself of it,” Eph 5:25.
4) “The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches,” (hoi hepta asteres angeloi ton hepta ekklesion eisin) “The seven stars are (exist as) messengers, (pastors), or ministers of the seven churches, Rev 1:11; Rev 2:1; Rev 2:8; Rev 2:12; Rev 2:18; Rev 3:1; Rev 3:7; Rev 3:14. Those stars are shepherds who lead the way for the flock of God, 1Pe 5:2-4.
5) “And the seven candlesticks which thou sawest,” (kai hai luchniai hai hepta) “And the seven lampstands,” golden candlesticks-that you saw, Rev 1:12-13 – seven simply indicates adequacy or perfection, sufficiency in the message of the church, Mat 5:15.
6) “Are the seven churches,” (hepta ekklesiai eisin) “Are or exist (are in existence as) the seven churches of Asia, Rev 1:4; Rev 1:10. The church of our Lord is referred to as God’s candlestick and new olive tree of the Gentile Age, Rom 11:13; Rev 11:3-6.
3) “And his voice,” (kai he phone autou) “And the voice of him,” even his voice, which I heard (was) existed as, similar to a majestic, dynamic, authoritative voice, Eze 43:2.
4) “As the sound of many waters,” (hos phone hudaton pollon) “(was, or appeared) as the voice-sound of many waters,” Rev 14:2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(20) The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand.Having bidden him write the meaning of this mystery, or secret, He gives to St. John an explanatory key: The seven stars are angels of seven churches (or congregations): and the seven candlesticks (omit the words which thou sawest) are seven churches. The angels have been understood by some to be guardian angels; but it is difficult to reconcile words of warning and reproof (as in Rev. 2:4-5), and of promise and encouragement (as in Rev. 2:10), with such a view. More probable is the view which takes the angel to be the ideal embodiment (so to speak) of the Church. The more generally adopted view is that the angel is the chief pastor or bishop of the Church. The description of them as stars favours this view. Similar imagery is applied elsewhere to teachers, true and false (Dan. 12:3; Jud. 1:13. Comp. Rev. 8:10; Rev. 12:4). It is stated that the word angel was applied to the president in the Jewish synagogue. See, however, Excursus A.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. The mystery The symbolical import; which is its hidden meaning, and is a mystery until made clear. The word is an independent nominative, having no verb; and the sentence reads like a heading over the explanations of the next sentence.
Are angels Without the article in the Greek. What the angels are, is the problem of this verse. But,
1) We may exclude their symbolizing symbolical angels, (such as the angel over fire, Rev 14:18; of the waters, Rev 16:5,) for the stars would then be a symbol of a symbol. As the candlesticks symbolize concrete, literal, and living Churches, so the stars must symbolize concrete, literal, and living rulers of those Churches.
2) The uniform use of the second person singular, both of pronoun and verb, as applied to the angel, strongly negatives its being a collective body of rulers of each Church, (as Hengstenberg.)
3) The notion that the angels were seven “messengers” sent from the Churches, and present with John, is inadmissible. No such messengers are otherwise hinted at; and the writing to them an epistle, each, implies their being at a distance.
4) The legatus ecclesiae, or delegate of the Church, (held to be symbolized by Vitringa,) was the overseer of the services of the congregation, little above our sexton, but was not responsible for the piety, faith, or morality of the Church, and was too humble an officer to be represented by a star.
5) More probable than any of these is the view of Alford, that real, and not symbolical, angels of the Churches are meant. There are the child’s angel, Mat 18:10; “it is his angel,” Act 12:15; and the national angel-princes of Dan 10:21. The strict responsibility to which these seven angels are held for the excellence of their Churches, each, accords with the established idea of a strong connexion between the guardian angel and his ward. But it may be doubted whether any patron or guardian angel is ever in Scripture more than either a symbol or a popular imagination, as in Act 12:15.
6) As the candlestick is the symbol of the corporate human body of the Church, the analogy is strong for a human ruler or teacher of the Church. Thus in Mal 2:2, the priest is “the messenger (angel) of the Lord of Hosts.” Mal 3:1: “Behold, I send my messenger,” (angel;) the prediction of John the Baptist. Gal 4:14: “Ye received me as an angel of God.” That there were president-presbyters or bishops in Asia at this time, ordained by John himself, is as certain as any thing in primitive Church history. About this time Polycarp was bishop in Smyrna, and Ignatius in Antioch. Bishops were appointed, from a need of the times, as a stronghold against heresies, and as authentic preservers of the apostolic doctrines and of the sacred New Testament canon. This was specially important before the canon was completely established. And this gave, at that period, a special importance to a true succession of the bishops as a reliable chain of apostolic tradition. A successional ordination authenticated the officer to those who acknowledged the ordaining authority. But such facts fall far short of making an unbroken succession through centuries the authenticating test of a true Church. The bishop was very much “the successor of the apostles,” not by a continuation of the same line of office, but as a substitute, serving some of the same purposes. While episcopacy is thus sanctioned by apostolic authority as permissible, and perhaps always best, it is not made obligatory.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘The seven stars are the seven angels of the seven churches. And the seven lampstands are seven churches.’
What he is to write is here summarised, ‘the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands’. And what is that mystery? That the seven stars in His right hand are the (seven) angels of the seven churches, and the lampstands are the seven churches.
In the Old Testament the sevenfold lampstand was connected with the two sons of oil, the anointed servants of God (Zechariah 4), who received spiritual power from Him. In the New the seven lampstands are connected with seven powerful angels. So the churches can go forward in confident assurance, knowing that the coming Christ is among them and that the angels responsible for their wellbeing are held in His right hand. Though other angels may fail, no one will pluck these from His hand. He has full control over them, as He has over the churches.
In all this there are no grounds for making chapters 4-19 refer to something that only occurs in the distant future. They are, with the exception of the description of the Second Coming itself, (and like Peter and Paul before them they knew that they had no guarantee of survival to that glorious event), something that the churches will themselves experience This is reinforced by what is actually said to the churches, which includes references to later chapters in Revelation.
On the other hand it is not necessary, for this reason, to state that chapter 4-19 refer only to what will happen to the churches at that time. That they will happen in their near experience does not exclude their happening again and again throughout the period before the Second Coming. John foresaw that the churches would face what is described in the book. He foresaw events of the future. What he did not foresee was that such events would be repeated again and again through the ages at different levels of intensity. This it was not God’s pleasure to reveal. Whenever such things do reoccur His people can be encouraged by this vision.
Jesus, and the Bible, make clear that the timing of the second coming and therefore the things intrinsically related to it are totally unknown except to God. That timing is such a secret that it was even unknown to Jesus while He was on earth (Mar 13:32). Thus there must always be a valid distinction timewise between those things and the things that occur before. There must indeed always be an unknown gap between them, the extent of which cannot be postulated. Peter can see it in terms of ‘a thousand years’ (2Pe 3:8). Jesus certainly told men that His coming could not take place until the Temple had been utterly destroyed, for He knew that had to happen. He told them of other things that must take place. But He could give no idea of the time of His return because He specifically stated that He did not know it (Mar 13:32).
With regard to the view that the seven churches refer to stages in the consecutive condition of the church through the ages, this owes more to subtle selection from history rather than to truth, and to our conceit that the church in the Western world is mainly the one that matters. History is so diverse that any order of the seven churches could have been fitted into history. What is true, however, is that through history different parts of the church have regularly been in a similar condition to that pictured in the seven churches. At any one time all the churches described are typified somewhere. The view has truth in that the central message of Revelation did illuminate events through history.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rev 1:20 . , . . ., is to be regarded as dependent upon . This idea is already correctly explained by N. de Lyra: “the sacrament of the stars, i.e., the sacred secret signified by them.” and are correlate ideas; for a is all that man understands, not by himself, but only by divine publication and interpretation, [848] such as immediately follows. [849] When, now, John has seen the mystery of the seven stars which are at the Lord’s right hand, [850] and is to write of the mystery of the seven golden candlesticks, this is in no way undone by the second half of Rev 1:20 , where only the simple explanation of the mysterious symbol is given. As the words .
[851] are formally equivalent to the words , so, also, the mystery of the seven stars and candlesticks in substance corresponds thereto. The command to write this mystery is fulfilled by nothing else than the entire book: for the prophetic development of the hope of the victorious completion of the Church of Christ by his return depends upon the mystery of the seven stars in Christ’s hand, and the seven candlesticks in whose midst Christ walks; i.e., that Christ is the protector of his Church, vanquishing all enemies. This consolatory hope, perceptible only to believers, is the chief matter in the mystery of the stars and candlesticks which the prophet beholds, and whose meaning he is to testify to the churches. [852] If now, before the mystery of the seven stars with the entire treasures of prophetic admonition, warning, and comfort, be stated in this sense, [853] an express interpretation of the symbols beheld by John be given, [854] this is just the key to the entire mystery, the fundamental meaning, from which the correct application of all that follows depends. The essential meaning of the two symbols is unmistakable: the candlesticks are an easily understood figure of the churches, [855] which have received their light from Christ, and continue to be sustained by the Lord, who walks in their midst. [856] An allied idea must lie, however the be understood, in the symbol of the stars in Christ’s right hand, whereby, at all events, the of the churches are described, and that in such a way that to the churches themselves belongs [857] what is ascribed to their angels. [858] So far, all interpreters are unanimous. The controversy centres upon the word . This must mean either “messenger” [859] or “angel.” To the former meaning, Ebrard holds, by understanding messengers of the churches to John: not “ordinary letter-carriers, but delegates of the churches, who report to him, and are again to convey his apostolic prophecies to the churches; who therefore hold a similar position between him and the churches to that which Epaphroditus probably held between Paul and the Philippians;” [860] yet these messengers are represented as existing not in reality, but “only in vision.” “Beneath the stars, John is to regard himself the ambassador of the churches.” Against the unnaturalness of such an opinion, Vitr., [861] Wolf, Schttgen, Beng., Eichh., Heinr., [862] Ewald, etc., have guarded, who understand the “messenger” of the Christian churches, after the manner of the Jewish , of an officer subordinate to the priest, who has to read, pray, and care for external matters of many kinds. But apart from the question as to whether this messenger of the synagogue existed already in apostolic times, the same can only with difficulty be regarded a type of the Christian bishop or elder; for only that officer, and not the deacon, [863] dare at any rate be regarded such representative of the entire church, as the appears in the seven epistles. The latter view is taken by those who, appealing to Mal 2:7 ; Mal 3:1 , [864] and, as to what refers to the symbol of the stars, to Dan 12:3 , understand the , i.e., angels, as superintendents ( Vorsteher ), teachers, as bishops or presbyters. [865] So also R. Rothe, [866] who, however, in the angels of the churches perceives only “a prolepsis of bishops in the idea,” i.e., regards the bishops as an ideal whose realization is still to be expected. Here finally belongs, also, Hengstenb., who nevertheless [867] regards the angels of every individual church, not as an individual, but as “the entire church government,” i.e., the body of presbyters, eventually with a bishop at the head, together with the deacons. This manner of exposition, which in its original simplicity always commends itself more than in its elaborate modifications by Rothe and Hengstb., is at variance partly with the use of the word otherwise in the Apoc., and partly with the decisive circumstance, that, in the epistles which are directed to the of each congregation, the relations of the congregations themselves are so definitely and directly treated, that, for the full explanation of this appearance, the view that the bishops or the entire governing body of the church are the representatives of their churches, besides not being in itself entirely justified, is not at all sufficient. Thus the view still remains, that, as Andr. and Areth. already say, the angel of the church is the church itself. In a certain analogy with Rev 14:18 , Rev 16:5 , [868] where the angel of the elements, as the nations and the individuals are called, the of a church can be regarded [869] the personified spirit of the church. [870] This conception is not identical with that of the , [871] according to which, e.g., among the rabbins, the fundamental principle obtains, “God does not punish any people below without first casting down its chief from above,” [872] but has been formed in dependence thereon. [873] Against this, the objection cannot be made valid, that the article is absent before : for the question has to do only with what is comprised in . ., which is symbolized by the figure of the stars, without its being expressly marked here that the seven stars signify at any time one angel of the seven churches; just as, in the succeeding words, it is only expressly said that the seven candlesticks mean the seven churches, but not that the precise churches mentioned in Rev 1:11 are meant. But, as this designation of the conception is self-evident from the connection, so it is clearly inferred, from the superscription of the epistles which follow, that the angels of particular churches are meant. The most plausible objection against our exposition is made by Rothe; viz., that it is not proper, that, by the symbol of the stars, another symbol, viz., that of the angels, should be represented, especially alongside of the real ideas of the churches, which, also represented by a special symbol, are clearly distinguished from the . . But [874] the . . are to be regarded not at all as a symbol, but as of course ideally reality; and, according to this conception, to be in fact distinguished from churches that have been observed. If the , which is symbolized by the candlesticks, is considered, it appears variously composed of individual elements of various kinds, each of which is especially judged and treated of by the Lord; while, on the other hand, the . appears as the living unity of the one organism of the church, which, as it were, in mass clings to the Lord. Thus it is, that the epistles are directed, not to the angels of the churches, and besides to the churches, as must be expected even according to Rothe’s meaning, but only to the angel of each church; and yet in such way that their entirety as one person, one spiritual body, is declared. [See Note XXVII., p. 125.]
[848] Mat 13:11 ; Mar 4:11 ; Rom 11:25 ; Eph 5:32 ; Eph 1:9 .
[849] Cf. Rev 17:7 .
[850] , i.e., resting on the same, and therefore as to substance nothing else is to be understood that the , v. 16.
[851] In an apposition without the .
[852] Inconceivable, however, is the idea expressed by Klief., that, during the entire revelation (until Rev 22:5 ), the Lord remains standing alongside of John in the situation described in the vision, Rev 1:10-18 . Already in ch. 4 the situation changes.
[853] Chs. 2, 3, and also ch. 4 sqq.
[854] v. 20 b .
[855] Cf. Rev 2:5 .
[856] Cf. Mat 5:14 sqq.
[857] Rev 1:4 ; Rev 1:11 .
[858] Chs. 2 and 3.
[859] Luk 7:24 ; Luk 9:52 ; Jas 2:25 ; but certainly not 1Ti 3:16 , as Ebrard thinks.
[860] Phi 4:18 ; cf., also, Col 4:12 .
[861] Cf. De Synag. vet ., iii. 2; 2, 3.
[862] Yet cf. II. p. 205.
[863] Concerning whom it could formerly have been thought otherwise, with Ewald. Yet Ew. 2., the mediator, i.e., the Vorsteher , of the church.
[864] Exo 23:20 ; Isa 42:19 ; Psa 103:20 sqq.; Hengstenb.
[865] Primas, Beda, N. de Lyra, Zeger, Drus., Alcas., C. a Lap., Bossuet, Beza, Grot., Calov., Herder, Klief., etc.
[866] Anfnge d. christl. Kirche , i. p. 423 sqq.
[867] Cf. Brightman, Alsted.
[868] Cf. Rev 7:1 , Rev 9:11 ; Dan 10:13 ; Dan 10:20 ; Mat 18:10 ; Deu 32:8 (LXX.).
[869] Cf. Salmas, De episc. et presb ., p. 183; Wetst., Zll., Bleek, etc.
[870] De Wette, Lcke, p. 432.
[871] So Hilgenf., Introd., p. 412. But the contents of the epistles do not harmonize with the idea of an actual guardian angel. Gebhardt, p. 39 sq., has accepted the presentation as above given.
[872] In Wetst.
[873] Cf. also Volkm., who, however, mentions also that the . has “his earthly substratum” in the president of the congregation.
[874] Cf. Lcke.
In conformity with the vision, Rev 1:12 sqq., and the epistles which in chs. 2 and 3 are directed to the seven churches, [875] must be the answer to the question as to what is the significance of these churches in the sense of the writer of the Apoc. Of the two chief views that are possible, according to which they appear either in purely historical definiteness, or in a certain typical position, the latter in the nature of the case has to be presented with many modifications, which, taken together, depend more or less upon an historical view; while, according to the former view, [876] there is no denial of a more general significance of the seven churches, at least in the sense that the epistles directed to them share the universal ecclesiastical relation of all the apostolic writings to particular congregations. [877] But against this opinion of Hengstenb., who, in accordance with his false view of the relation of the section Rev 1:4 to Rev 3:22 to the whole book, [878] comprehends the seven churches collectively with the utmost limitation, [879] is, first, the number seven; [880] and, secondly, the meaning of that vision wherein Christ appears in the midst of the seven candlesticks, i.e., churches, which therefore cannot be without a typical significance, since Christ is Lord and Saviour of all the churches (with which it also harmonizes well, that Christ writes to the angels of the churches; a conception, which, since it is of a more ideal nature, especially adapts itself to the fact that the churches, while appearing in all their historical definiteness, yet at the same time are found in a typical sense); and, thirdly and finally, the contents themselves of the letters, whose pertinence to the universal Church [881] is not only expressly emphasized, [882] but also concurs in its essential leading features with the chief thoughts of the entire book. But the significance of the seven churches is not to be limited to the entire Church of Asia Minor, [883] which only then, through this intermediate member, attains its further reference to the Church universal: rather, in the seven churches, the entire Church of Christ is regarded, [884] since it is a peculiarity of the writer of the Apoc. to present the general and ideal realistically, and in a definite, plastic way. [885] But with this it is also established, that all further determinations which have been connected, even by a play of words, with the names of the individual congregations, [886] are entirely arbitrary. This applies especially to the strange controversy as to whether, in the seven epistles, the conditions of the Church of Christ be understood synchronistically, and that, too, eschatologically, i.e., so that only “at the end of Church history,” immediately before Christ’s return, are we to expect the corresponding forms of Christian Church-life; [887] or whether the prophetically portrayed conditions are to be understood consecutively of seven periods of Church history, succeeding one after another; [888] or, finally, whether they be partly consecutive and partly synchronistic. [889] The sort of foundations upon which such artificial interpretation is supported is shown, e.g., by Ebrard, who explains the first four epistles consecutively, because the promises in them [890] are regarded as derived “from consecutive epochs of O. T. history: Paradise, Death, the Departure from Egypt, the Kingdom of David.” The context shows that John has in view particular circumstances of churches present to him, and therefore that the number seven of these churches is contemplated as a mirror of the entire Church. [891] In a chronological relation, the apocalyptic prophecy of these seven epistles extends just as far, and is limited in the same truly prophetic way, as the apocalyptics of the entire book, which gives the full explanation of the fundamental thought contained already in the vision, Rev 1:12 sqq., and the epistles belonging thereto; viz., the unfolding of the prophecy, “The Lord cometh.”
[875] Cf. Rev 1:4 ; Rev 1:11 .
[876] Wolf, Harenburg (who nevertheless understand seven Jewish and Judaeo-Christian schools found in Jerusalem, and named after the Asiatic cities), Herder, Lcke, cf., on the other hand, Harenb., De Wette, Bleek, Hengstenb., etc.
[877] Hengstenb.
[878] Cf. on Rev 1:4 .
[879] Cf. Lcke, Ebrard, and already Vitr.
[880] For it is certain that in Coloss and Hieropolis (Col 4:14 ), and probably, e.g., in Tralles and Magnesia (cf. the Letters of Ignatius), there were churches; so that John, for the sake of the significative number seven (“completeness is symbolized by the number seven,” N. de Lyra, etc.), is compelled to limit himself to those mentioned.
[881] Cf. already the Fragment of Muratori: “For although in the Apoc., John writes to the seven churches, yet he speaks to all.” Wieseler’s Ausgabe in the Stud. u. Krit ., 1847, p. 815 sqq.
[882] Rev 2:11 ; Rev 2:17 , etc.; cf. Rev 1:3 , Rev 22:9 ; Rev 22:18 sqq.
[883] As Lcke wishes.
[884] Victorin, Areth., Beda, N. de Lyra, Grot., De Wette, etc.
[885] Cf. the idea of the seven angels and (Rev 1:4 ) the seven spirits.
[886] “ reminds them that they ought to be inflamed with the desire for eternal things, for is desire.” Grot. Cf. even Ebrard.
[887] Hofmann, Weiss, u. Erfll ., ii. pp. 320, 324.
[888] Mede, Brightm., Vitr.
[889] Ebrard.
[890] Rev 2:7 ; Rev 2:11 ; Rev 2:17 ; Rev 2:27 .
[891] According to Kliefolh, Zahlensymbolik der. H. Schr. Theolog. Zeitsch ., 1862, p. 53) what is consecutive lies just in the number seven . Similarly in Commentar (p. 271: “The number seven shows the development allotted the entire Church”). He understands the entire first part (Rev 1:20-3:22Rev 1:20-3:22Rev 1:20-3:22 ) as a statement of the (Rev 1:19 ), i.e., of those which are the things beheld (Rev 1:10-18 ) for the present course of time, while Rev 1:20 b gives the meaning of Rev 1:10-18 ; and then in chs. 2 and 3 are portrayed the developments of Christianity originating in the present, before the “far in the future” final period beginning with Rev 4:1 . Only in the last four epistles does Klief. find a reference to the parousia , as the circumstances portrayed therein are actually to extend in close consecutive chronological sequence until the epoch of the parousia . What is consecutive in the number seven, derived here (p. 163) from the order of the divine working, is referred, however, by Klief. (on Rev 17:9 , p. 210) to the relations of the anti-Christian world-power, which (iii. p. 258) is called “the final work of the Devil.”
NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
XXVII. Rev 1:20 .
In harmony with Dst., Gebhardt (p. 39): “ ‘The angel of the church’ represents it as a unity, an organization, as a moral person, a living whole, in which one member depends upon and affects the others, in which a definite spirit reigns, and by which one church is distinguished from another.” Lange: “The personified character or life-picture of the Church.”
Weiss ( Bibl. Theol. of N. T. , ii. 270) regards the angels of the churches as “their protecting angels.” Alford’s long argument is to the same effect.
Supporting the view that the angels are the superintendents, pastors, or bishops, are: Cremer ( Lexicon ): “To see in here a personification of the spirit of the community in its ‘ideal reality’ (as again Dsterdieck has recently done), is not merely without any biblical analogy, for such a view derives no support from Dan 10:13 ; Dan 10:20 ; Deu 32:8 ; LXX., but must also plainly appear an abstraction decidedly unfavorable to the import and effect of the epistles. It would have been far more effective, in this case, to have written . Assuming the . . to be those to whom the churches are intrusted, the only question is, To what sphere do they belong, the terrestrial or the super-terrestrial? Their belonging to the earthly sphere is supported above all by the address of the epistles; secondly, by the circumstance that the writer of the Apocalypse could not act as messenger between two super-terrestrial beings (cf. Rev 1:1 ; Rev 22:6 ); and, further, by the consideration that, as the candlesticks, so also the stars, must belong to one and the same sphere. But, if by this expression we are to understand men, it is natural to think of Act 20:28 ; 1Pe 5:2 ; and that, too, so that these or are those whose business it is to execute the will or commission of the Lord, in general as well as in special cases, to the churches, as those whom the Lord has appointed representatives of the churches, and to whom he has intrusted their care: cf. Act 20:28 ; Mal 2:7 .” Stier: “Persons who stood before the Lord’s view, as the representative leaders of the church, with or without prominent office, but in prominent spiritual position, and therefore assumed to be the receivers of that which was to be said in the church. They are by no means collectively the ‘teaching order,’ or ‘the eldership,’ or any thing of the kind, but actual individual persons.” Philippi ( Kirchl. Glaubenlehre , v. 3, 287): “The here is neither to be spiritualized as the personification of the spirit of the congregation, nor also to be taken collectively as the entire official body, or presbytery, of the church. But, as the spirit of the congregation is represented in the presbytery, so was the spirit of the presbytery in its official body, or bishop; and therefore he also, as not merely the official, but, at the same time, the spiritual summit of the entire body, is chiefly responsible for its spirit.” Luthardt: “God’s messengers, who speak in God’s name, therefore here die Vorsteher .” Trench argues at length (pp. 75 83) that the term can refer only to a bishop, and that, too, “not merely a ruling elder, a primus inter pares , with only such authority and jurisdiction as the others, his peers, have lent him.” Plumptre: “The word ‘angels’ might well commend itself, at such a time, as fitted to indicate the office for which the received terminology of the Church offered no adequate expression. Over and above its ordinary use, it had been applied by the prophet whose writings had been brought into a new prominence by the ministry of the Baptist, to himself as a prophet (Mal 1:1 ), to the priests of Israel (Mal 2:7 ), to the forerunner of the Lord (Mal 3:1 ). It had been used of those whom, in a lower sense, the Lord had sent to prepare his way before him (Luk 9:52 ), and whose work stood on the same level as that of the seventy. Here, then, seemed to be that which met the want. So far as it reminded men of its higher sense, it testified that the servants of God, who had been called to this special office, were to ‘lead on earth an angel’s life;’ that they, both in the liturgical and the ministerial aspects of their work, were to be as those who, in both senses, were ‘ministering spirits’ in heaven (Heb 1:14 ). It helped also to bring the language of the Revelation into harmony with that of the great apocalyptic work of the Old Testament, the prophecy of Daniel. On the other hand, we need not wonder that it did not take a permanent place in the vocabulary of the Church. The old associations of the word were too dominant, the difficulty of distinguishing the new from the old too great, to allow of its being generally accepted.” Tait: “This name is not, certainly, applied elsewhere in the New Testament to a bishop, nor is it applied to a presbyter; but it is in perfect accord with the symbolical character of the book in which it occurs, and is admirably adapted to express the nature of the office, and the responsibilities of those to whom the spiritual charge of the several churches was committed.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
REFLECTIONS
BLESSED! forever blessed, be God the Father, for the gift of his dear Son Jesus Christ. Blessed! forever blessed, be God the Son, for this gracious revelation of himself to his servant John, to comfort, and instruct the Church. And blessed be God the Holy Ghost, for causing so sweet and precious a record, to be handed down to the Church from generation to generation, of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ. Lord! add a blessing to the whole, and give grace to thy people, that they may hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.
May it be the blessedness and felicity of the Lord’s redeemed, to find grace and peace, according to the Apostle’s benediction, from Him, which is, and which was, and which is to come. Yea! may the Church daily find all Covenant blessings, from God the Judge of all, from Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and from the influence of the Holy Ghost, in his sevenfold gifts and graces, which are before the throne. Oh! the unspeakable mercy of God in Christ. He who hath made us Kings and Priests, unto God and the Father, having loved us, and washed us from our sins, in his blood!
Precious Emmanuel! thou who didst bless John with thy presence, and gavest him those blessed revelations, to deliver unto thy Church, condescend to visit thy people now. Thou art still the Alpha and the Omega. Thou art still all the blessedness of thy Church and people. Lord! visit thy Churches. No Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, or Laodicea, ever needed thee more, than the professing Churches of this land, where we dwell. Oh! then, come Lord, and take up thine own cause, lest our Churches, like those of Asia, which are now no more, be desolated, and without inhabitants. If Jesus will come forth with his people, if God the Spirit will ordain ministers, and walk up and down in the midst of his people; then will thy servants be as stars to the right hand of Christ, and his people, like the candlesticks, shining bright with the oil of grace, from Jesus walking in and out among them. Oh! for a little revival in the present day, that the Lord may not remove our candlestick out of its place!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Ver. 20. The mystery ] In this whole book there are so many words, so many mysteries, which made Cajetan forbear to comment upon it; a though many monks (far less able than he) thought it a goodly thing to be meddling in these mysteries, which they as little understood as he that derived Apocalypsis of , re, et clipsor, quod est velo, quoth Faber the Augustinian monk.
Are the angels ] Ministers are fitly called stars, which affect these inferior things by motion, light, and influence.
Are the seven churches ] Lighted by Christ the High Priest morning and evening continually; and thereby as much differenced from the rest of the world, as Goshen was from Egypt in that palpable darkness. But now (alas) they have sinned away the light, and are fearfully darkened. Let us take heed how we put our light, not under a bushel but under a dunghill, as do our libertines, so that we may well cry out with Polycarp, Deus, ad quae nos tempora reservasti? Lord, what times are these?
a Apocalypsim fateor me nescire exponere iuxta sensum literalem: exponat cui Deus concesserit.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
20 .] the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest upon (held in, and so standing over, as a wreath) my right hand ( . is in apposition with . . ., and governed by . Lyra interprets the word well, “sacramentum stellarum,” i. e. “sacrum secretum per ipsas significatum:” see reff.), and the seven candlesticks of gold (elliptic construction for ‘ and the mystery of the seven candlesticks ,’ &c.). The seven stars are ( the ) (the prefixed predicate , though on that account wanting the article, is rendered definite by the definite gen., . ., which follows) angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks are seven churches (the import of the has been much disputed. Very many Commentators take them for the presiding presbyters , or bishops , of the churches. So Primas [12] , Bed [13] , Joach., Lyra, Alcas., Corn.-a-lap., Ribera, Bossuet, Beza, Grot., Calov., al. m. So also Vitr., Whitby, and with some modification, Hengst. This view is variously supported. It derives probability from the analogy of the vision itself, in which, seeing that the candelabra represent the churches themselves, existing vessels containing much light, the stars, concentrated sparks of light, should represent some actually existing persons in or connected with the churches. Again it is supported by our finding that throughout the seven Epistles the angel is treated as representing and responsible for the particular church. But before we pass on to the other great section of interpretation, we may at once dismiss those forms of this one which make the ideal representative of the governing body (as Hengst.), or an ideal messenger from the church (as Ebrard), or a proleptic idea of the office of Bishop, not yet instituted, as Rothe, or, in short, any idealism at all. As the is an objective reality, so must the be, of whatever kind. This consideration will also affect the current of interpretation which takes the angels to be the churches themselves . So Andreas and Arethas (in Cat., , . , , ; . . .). The second line of interpretation is that which regards the as angels , in some way representing the churches. In favour of this Isa 1 ) the constant usage of this book, in which the word occurs only in this sense: 2) the further usage of this book, in which we have, ch. Rev 16:5 , the introduced without any explanation, who can be none other than the angel presiding over the waters: 3) the expression of our Lord Himself Mat 18:10 , , coupled with the saying of the church in the house of Mary the mother of John Mark, Act 12:15 , with regard to their disbelief of Peter standing at the door, : both asserting the doctrine that angels are allotted to persons, and are regarded as representing them: a subject full of mystery, and requiring circumspect treatment, but by no means to be put aside, as is commonly done. 4) The extension of this from individuals to nations in the book of Daniel, which is so often the key to apocalyptic interpretation. See Dan 10:21 ; Dan 12:1 ; an analogy according to which there might well be angels not only of individuals, but of churches. 5) The fact that throughout these Epistles, nothing is ever addressed individually as to a teacher, but as to some one person reflecting as it were the complexion and fortunes of the church in a way in which no mere human teacher or ruler could. That there is no exception to this in ch. Rev 2:20 , see maintained in note there.
[12] Primas ius , Cent y . VI.
[13] Bede, the Venerable , 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. “E,” mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
6) To the objection advanced in the comment of Arethas above, . . ., the reply may be made, with advantage to this interpretation, that there evidently is revealed to us a mysterious connexion between ministering angels and those to whom they minister, by which the former in some way are tinged by the fates and fortunes of the latter. E. g., in our Lord’s saying cited above, the place of dignity there asserted of the angels of the little children is unquestionably connected with the character of those whose angels they are: and it cannot be following out such a revelation too far to say that, if some of the holy angels are thus and for this reason advanced to honour, others may be similarly, and for the opposite reason, placed in less honour and relatively disgraced. That this idea is found expressed in the Rabbinical writings (see in Wetst.) is a mark of the further development of the truth which seems to have been first revealed to Dan 7 ) It will be perceived that this interpretation does not lie under any of the objections stated above as idealizing that which ought to be an objective reality. For it contemplates the angels of the churches as really existent, not as ideal beings. It is only when this latter is the case, that those objections can apply. 8) It will also be perceived, that both the circumstances, which were cited as making for the former interpretation, tell equally for this: viz. a) that just noticed, the actual existence of these persons in or belonging to the churches, and b) the fact that in the Epistles the angel is treated as representing and responsible for the particular church.
So that I cannot but regard this second view as far the more likely one. It has been taken by Origen, Greg.-Naz [14] , Jerome, Andr [15] , Areth [16] (in Catena: holding as above, the churches themselves to be virtually meant, inasmuch as the angel himself could not need repentance, &c.: but never doubting that by the angels are meant), Wetst., Zllig, Wahl, Bretschneider, Bleek, De Wette (see above), al.
[14] Nazianzenus, Gregory, fl. 370 389
[15] Andreas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Cent y . VI.
[16]
The attempt to defend the interpretation of as bishops by the analogy of the , legatus Ecclesi , in the synagogue, appears to be futile, inasmuch as that officer held quite an inferior place, in no way corresponding to a bishop, or any kind of president of the church.
I may also notice, that the weight laid by Brightmann, al., and recently by Ebrard, on the omission of the art. before is worth nothing (see the rendering above). Such a sentence as Ebr. suggests in case had been definite, . . . , could hardly be written in Greek: it would have stood . . The fact, that each succeeding epistle is addressed . , should have guided Commentators aright in this matter.
As regards the symbolism, stars are the symbols of the angels of the churches, inasmuch as angels are beings of light, Heb 1:7 (from Psa 104:4 ), where see note; Job 38:7 , where they are called the morning stars. The same symbolism is used in the prophets of Lucifer, the day-star, the son of the morning, Isa 14:12 ff., who would exalt his throne above the stars of God, ib. Isa 14:13 ; Rev 12:4 ; Rev 12:9 . See also Luk 10:18 . That stars are also used to symbolize earthly authorities, is what might be expected from the very nature of the symbol, and should never have been alleged here as a reason against the literal interpretation of .
The churches themselves are represented by candlesticks, agreeably with the universal symbolism both of the prophetic and evangelic Scriptures. Cf. Pro 4:18 ; Isa 60:1 ; Isa 60:3 ; Mat 5:14 ; Mat 5:16 ; Luk 12:35 ; Php 2:15 ).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 1:20 . . (as in Dan 2:27 , LXX; see below on Rev 10:7 ) = “the secret symbol”. These two symbols, drawn from the lore of contemporary apocalyptic, are chosen for explanation, partly as an obscure and important element in the foregoing vision which had to be set in a new light, partly because they afford a clue to all that follows (especially the opening section, Rev 2:1 ; Rev 2:5 ). The seven-branched lamp-stand was a familiar symbol, frequently carved on the lintel of a synagogue. Along with the silver trumpets and other spoils of the temple it now lay in the temple of Peace at Rome. The fanciful symbolism, by which the cressets shining on earth are represented in another aspect as heavenly bodies, corresponds to Paul’s fine paradox about the Christian life of the saints lying hidden with Christ in God; even unsatisfactory churches, like those at Sardis and Laodicea, are not yet cast away. Note also that the light and presence of God now shine in the Christian churches, while the ancestral Jewish light is extinguished (4 Ezr 10:22 ): “The light of our lamp-stand is put out”). It is curious that in Assyrian representations the candelabrum is frequently indistinguishable from the sacred seven-branched tree crowned with a star ( R. S. 488); Josephus expressly declares ( Ant. iii. 6. 7, 7. 7) that the seven lamps on the stand signified the seven planets, and that the twelve loaves on the shew-bread table signified the signs of the zodiac ( Bell . Rev 1:5 ; Rev 1:5 ), while Philo had already allegorised the lamp-stand (= seven planets) in quis haeres , 45. This current association of the with the planets is bound up with the astral conception of the angels of the churches ( . = “angels” as elsewhere in Apocalypse), who are the heavenly representatives and counterparts or patron angels of the churches, each of the latter, like the elements ( e.g. , water Rev 16:5 , fire Rev 14:18 ; see further in Baldensperger, 106, and Gfrrer, i. 368 f.), the wind (Rev 7:1 ), and the nether abyss (Rev 9:2 ), having its presiding heavenly spirit. The conception ( E. J. i. 593. 594) reaches back to post-exilic speculation, in which Greece, Persia and Juda had each an influential and responsible angelic prince (Dan 10:13 ; Dan 10:20-21 ; Dan 12:1 ), and especially to the Iranian notion of fravashis or semi-ideal prototypes of an earthly personality (here, a community), associated with reminiscences of the Babylonian idea that certain stars were assigned to certain lands, whose folk and fortunes were bound up with their heavenly representatives ( cf. Rawlinson’s Cuneif. Inscript. West. Asia Minor , ii. 49, iii. 54, 59, etc.). Afterwards ( cf. Tobit) individuals were assigned a guardian spirit. This belief (Gfrrer, i. 374 f.) passed into early Christianity (Mat 18:10 , Act 12:15 , where see note), but naturally it never flourished, owing to Christ’s direct and spiritual revelation of God’s fatherly providence. The association of stars and angels is one of the earliest developments in Semitic folklore, and its poetic possibilities lent themselves effectively as here to further religious applications; e.g. , Enoch (i. 18) had long ago represented seven stars, “like spirits,” in the place of fiery punishment for disobedience to God’s commands. As Dr. Kohler points out ( E. F. i. 582 97), the determining factors of Jewish angelology were the ideas of “the celestial throne with its ministering angels, and the cosmos with its evil forces to be subdued by superior angelic forces,” which corresponds to the punitive and protective rles of angels in the Johannine Apocalypse. But in the latter they are neither described at length nor exalted. They are simply commissioned by God to execute his orders or instruct the seer. The supreme concern of God is with the earth and man; angels are but the middle term of this relationship, at most the fellow-servants of the saints whose interests they promote (see below on Rev 19:9-10 , Rev 22:8-9 ). Christians, unlike the Iranians ( e.g. Bund. xxx. 23, etc.), offer no praises to them; they reserve their adoration for God and Christ. However graphic and weird, the delineation of demons and angels in this book is not grotesque and crude in the sense that most early Jewish and Christian descriptions may be said to deserve these epithets. Here the guardian spirit who is responsible for a church’s welfare, would, roughly speaking, be identified with itself; his oversight and its existence being correlative terms. Hence there is a sense in which the allied conception of . is true, namely, that the . is the personified spirit or genius or heavenly counterpart of the church, the church being regarded as an ideal individual (so Andr., Areth., Wetst., Bleek, Lcke, Erbes, Beyschlag, Swete, etc.) who possesses a sort of Egyptian Ka or double. By itself, however, this view lies open to the objection that it explains one symbol by another and hardly does justice to the nave poetry of the conception. The notion of guardian angels was widespread in the early church (Hermas, Justin, Clem. Alex., Origen, etc.), independently of this passage. Statius ( Silv. i. 241) says that Domitian “posuit sua sidera” ( i.e. , of his family) in the heaven, when he raised a temple to the Flavians a contemporary parallel upon a lower level of feeling, but indicating a similar view of the heavenly counterpart ( cf. Ramsay, Seven Letters , 68 f.) The Apocalypse, though presupposing the exercise of discipline and the practice of reading, prayer, and praise within the Christian communities, entirely ignores officials of any kind; and the following homilies are directly concerned with the churches (Rev 2:7 , , not the angels), their different members ( cf. Rev 2:24 ) and their respective situations. Hence the poetic idealism of the soon fades, when the writer’s practical sense is brought to bear. As the scene of revelation is and its author the heavenly Christ, the writer is instructed to address not ( e.g. , ), but their patron spirit or guardian angel. The point of the address is that the revelation of Jesus is directly conveyed through the spoken and written words of the prophets, as the latter are controlled by his Spirit.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
mystery = secret symbol. See App-193.
stars. Greek. aster, occurs fourteen times in Rev. (App-10)
in. Greek. epi.
are = represent, or signify.
the. Omit.
angels. App-120. Rev 1:2.
which . . . sawest. The texts omit.
the. Omit.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
20.] the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest upon (held in, and so standing over, as a wreath) my right hand ( . is in apposition with …, and governed by . Lyra interprets the word well, sacramentum stellarum, i. e. sacrum secretum per ipsas significatum: see reff.), and the seven candlesticks of gold (elliptic construction for and the mystery of the seven candlesticks, &c.). The seven stars are (the) (the prefixed predicate , though on that account wanting the article, is rendered definite by the definite gen., . ., which follows) angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks are seven churches (the import of the has been much disputed. Very many Commentators take them for the presiding presbyters, or bishops, of the churches. So Primas[12], Bed[13], Joach., Lyra, Alcas., Corn.-a-lap., Ribera, Bossuet, Beza, Grot., Calov., al. m. So also Vitr., Whitby, and with some modification, Hengst. This view is variously supported. It derives probability from the analogy of the vision itself, in which, seeing that the candelabra represent the churches themselves, existing vessels containing much light, the stars, concentrated sparks of light, should represent some actually existing persons in or connected with the churches. Again it is supported by our finding that throughout the seven Epistles the angel is treated as representing and responsible for the particular church. But before we pass on to the other great section of interpretation, we may at once dismiss those forms of this one which make the ideal representative of the governing body (as Hengst.), or an ideal messenger from the church (as Ebrard), or a proleptic idea of the office of Bishop, not yet instituted, as Rothe, or, in short, any idealism at all. As the is an objective reality, so must the be, of whatever kind. This consideration will also affect the current of interpretation which takes the angels to be the churches themselves. So Andreas and Arethas (in Cat.,- , . , , ; …). The second line of interpretation is that which regards the as angels, in some way representing the churches. In favour of this is 1) the constant usage of this book, in which the word occurs only in this sense: 2) the further usage of this book, in which we have, ch. Rev 16:5, the introduced without any explanation, who can be none other than the angel presiding over the waters: 3) the expression of our Lord Himself Mat 18:10, , coupled with the saying of the church in the house of Mary the mother of John Mark, Act 12:15, with regard to their disbelief of Peter standing at the door, : both asserting the doctrine that angels are allotted to persons, and are regarded as representing them: a subject full of mystery, and requiring circumspect treatment, but by no means to be put aside, as is commonly done. 4) The extension of this from individuals to nations in the book of Daniel, which is so often the key to apocalyptic interpretation. See Dan 10:21; Dan 12:1; an analogy according to which there might well be angels not only of individuals, but of churches. 5) The fact that throughout these Epistles, nothing is ever addressed individually as to a teacher, but as to some one person reflecting as it were the complexion and fortunes of the church in a way in which no mere human teacher or ruler could. That there is no exception to this in ch. Rev 2:20, see maintained in note there.
[12] Primasius, Centy. VI.
[13] Bede, the Venerable, 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. E, mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
6) To the objection advanced in the comment of Arethas above, …, the reply may be made, with advantage to this interpretation, that there evidently is revealed to us a mysterious connexion between ministering angels and those to whom they minister, by which the former in some way are tinged by the fates and fortunes of the latter. E. g., in our Lords saying cited above, the place of dignity there asserted of the angels of the little children is unquestionably connected with the character of those whose angels they are: and it cannot be following out such a revelation too far to say that, if some of the holy angels are thus and for this reason advanced to honour, others may be similarly, and for the opposite reason, placed in less honour and relatively disgraced. That this idea is found expressed in the Rabbinical writings (see in Wetst.) is a mark of the further development of the truth which seems to have been first revealed to Daniel 7) It will be perceived that this interpretation does not lie under any of the objections stated above as idealizing that which ought to be an objective reality. For it contemplates the angels of the churches as really existent, not as ideal beings. It is only when this latter is the case, that those objections can apply. 8) It will also be perceived, that both the circumstances, which were cited as making for the former interpretation, tell equally for this: viz. a) that just noticed, the actual existence of these persons in or belonging to the churches, and b) the fact that in the Epistles the angel is treated as representing and responsible for the particular church.
So that I cannot but regard this second view as far the more likely one. It has been taken by Origen, Greg.-Naz[14], Jerome, Andr[15], Areth[16] (in Catena: holding as above, the churches themselves to be virtually meant, inasmuch as the angel himself could not need repentance, &c.: but never doubting that by the angels are meant), Wetst., Zllig, Wahl, Bretschneider, Bleek, De Wette (see above), al.
[14] Nazianzenus, Gregory, fl. 370-389
[15] Andreas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Centy. VI.
[16] Arethas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Centy. X.2
The attempt to defend the interpretation of as bishops by the analogy of the , legatus Ecclesi, in the synagogue, appears to be futile, inasmuch as that officer held quite an inferior place, in no way corresponding to a bishop, or any kind of president of the church.
I may also notice, that the weight laid by Brightmann, al., and recently by Ebrard, on the omission of the art. before is worth nothing (see the rendering above). Such a sentence as Ebr. suggests in case had been definite, . . . , could hardly be written in Greek: it would have stood . . The fact, that each succeeding epistle is addressed . , should have guided Commentators aright in this matter.
As regards the symbolism, stars are the symbols of the angels of the churches, inasmuch as angels are beings of light, Heb 1:7 (from Psa 104:4), where see note; Job 38:7, where they are called the morning stars. The same symbolism is used in the prophets of Lucifer, the day-star, the son of the morning, Isa 14:12 ff., who would exalt his throne above the stars of God, ib. Isa 14:13; Rev 12:4; Rev 12:9. See also Luk 10:18. That stars are also used to symbolize earthly authorities, is what might be expected from the very nature of the symbol, and should never have been alleged here as a reason against the literal interpretation of .
The churches themselves are represented by candlesticks, agreeably with the universal symbolism both of the prophetic and evangelic Scriptures. Cf. Pro 4:18; Isa 60:1; Isa 60:3; Mat 5:14; Mat 5:16; Luk 12:35; Php 2:15).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
angels
The natural explanation of the “messengers” is that they were men sent by the seven churches to ascertain the state of the aged apostle, now an exile in Patmos (cf) Php 4:18 but they figure any who bear God’s messages to a church.
churches
The messages to the seven churches have a fourfold application:
(1) Local, to the churches actually addressed;
(2) admonitory, to all churches in all time as tests by which they may discern their true spiritual state in the sight of God;
(3) personal, in the exhortations to him “that hath an ear,” and in the promise “to him that overcometh”;
(4) prophetic, as disclosing seven phases of the spiritual history of the church from, say, A.D. 96 to the end. It is incredible that in a prophecy covering the church period, there should be no such foreview. These messages must contain that foreview if it is in the book at all, for the church does not appear after Rev 3:22. Again, these messages by their very terms go beyond the local assemblies mentioned. Most conclusively of all, these messages do present an exact foreview of the spiritual history of the church, and in this precise order. Ephesus gives the general state at the date of the writing; Smyrna, the period of the great persecutions; Pergamos, the church settled down in the world, “where Satan’s throne is,” after the conversion of Constantine, say A.D. 316. Thyatira is the Papacy, developed out of the Pergamos state: Balaamism (worldliness) and Nicolaitanism (priestly assumption) having conquered. As Jezebel brought idolatry into Israel, so Romanism weds Christian doctrine to pagan ceremonies. Sardis is the Protestant Reformation, whose works were not “fulfilled.” Philadelphia is whatever bears clear testimony to the Word and the Name in the time of self-satisfied profession represented by Laodicea.
mystery (See Scofield “Mat 13:11”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
mystery: Mat 13:11, Luk 8:10
the seven stars: Rev 1:13, Rev 1:16
the seven golden: Rev 1:12
The seven stars: Rev 2:1, Rev 2:8, Rev 2:12, Rev 2:18, Rev 3:1, Rev 3:7, Rev 3:14, Mal 2:7
and the: Zec 4:2, Mat 5:15, Mat 5:16, Phi 2:15, Phi 2:16, 1Ti 3:14-16
Reciprocal: Exo 25:31 – a candlestick Exo 25:37 – seven Exo 37:23 – General Exo 40:24 – General Lev 24:4 – the pure Num 4:9 – General Num 8:2 – General Jos 6:4 – seven times 1Ki 7:49 – the candlesticks 1Ch 28:15 – the candlesticks 2Ch 4:7 – ten candlesticks Psa 68:18 – that Dan 12:3 – shine Mat 5:14 – the light Mat 24:31 – his angels Mar 14:22 – this Luk 8:16 – when Joh 10:2 – he that Phi 1:1 – the bishops 1Th 5:12 – and are Rev 1:4 – to the Rev 8:10 – a great Rev 9:1 – a star Rev 11:4 – two candlesticks Rev 12:1 – crown
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 1:20. A mystery is anything not revealed or understood, and it is here applied to some of the things which John hast seen and which until now had not been explained to him. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks represent the churches. Since the angel is telling John what are represented by the stars and candlesticks it is foolish for men to offer speculations on the subject. Angels of the seven churches. The word for angel in the New Testament is AGGELOS, which means primarily “a messenger.” But it has several shades of application and each case must be considered separately. We should adhere to what the text says and then we will be on safe ground. The angels of these churches are spoken of in the singular number for each church. The churches were estabilshed ones and hence had elders who are always spoken of in the plural. Therefore all we know and all we need to know is that these angels were not elders but were persons who were responsible for getting the letters before the respective congregations. For that reason John was instructed to write the letters to these angels, and they in turn would see that the documents would be delivered to the churches in the proper way to make them responsible for the admonition and/or encouragement contained therein.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 20
Verse 19-20
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE MYSTERY (Chapter 1:19-20.)
(1) The import of the mystery.
1. “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter” — Rev 1:19.
Underlining the word things, used three times in this verse, it gives emphasis, first, to the past–the things thou hast seen; and second, to the present–the things which are; and third, to the future–the things which shall be hereafter. But in each case it has reference to the revealed things of Revelation itself, not to the known events of the past, or present. The things seen were not optical or perceptive, but revealed, they were seen by Revelation. The things which are, were not the knowledge of present things, but a reference to that part of the vision, or the revelation, which involved the present. The things which should be thereafter were declared to be immediate-shortly to occur. It would not require an apocalypse to reveal the past events, but it was imperative that the churches should know the present, and those things which were immediately at hand.
2. “The mystery of the seven stars . . . and the seven golden candlesticks”– Rev 1:20 .
The use of the word mystery in Revelation comports with the meaning of the word as used elsewhere in the New Testament–that is, the spiritual truths not discoverable by human reason; understandable, but hidden from human knowledge until revealed. The word has the connotation of “secret doctrine,” hence, prior to revelation it was a hidden thing; but when revealed, it was brought within human intelligence and understanding.
The gospel mystery imbedded in the old dispensation, as in Rom 16:25; Eph 3:3-9; and Col 1:26, was hidden beneath the types and sacrifices of the law and the prophecies and promises, which were radiant with hope and joy to a guilty world, but were rather concealed than revealed, because of the metaphorical costume and figurative style they could not be discerned, and had to await revelation.
The word mystery did not mean mysterious. It meant that which could not be known until it was made known, or revealed, and in the references cited, it meant the gospel plan of salvation. The doctrine of the New Testament is in this sense called a mystery–“the mystery of the gospel,” as in Rom 11:25; Rom 16:25; 1Co 15:51; 1Ti 3:9; Eph 3:9. The truths thus requiring revelation and elucidation are classed as mysteries, as numerous other passages could be used to exemplify. But let it be emphasized, that in all of these examples the basic meaning inherent in the word mystery is that which cannot be known by the human mind, until by superhuman source it is made known to it.
(2) The explanation of the mystery.
The seven golden candlesticks denoted, that as organized bodies, a congregation receives light and reflects it. It is a significant illustration of the functions and the ministries of the local churches. The emblem of gold underscored the evaluation Jesus Christ makes of his church, and the estimate he has placed upon it. The seven stars were representative of position, such as Christ at the right hand of God, indicating that there is something in the symbol that has this representative place in the right hand of Christ. The figure calls for pause and reflection, by all who hold position in the church, lest we should become falling stars!
The angels of the churches are not to be taken as single representatives of the respective congregations, but rather the individual spirit of each church. It is the same in meaning as the description elsewhere of “the seven spirits before his throne.” It is a symbolic angel, and it refers to the spirit of the church itself.
When Paul commanded the Corinthian church to exclude the incestuous person from their congregation, he gave the reason: “that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” It seems the apostle’s reference to the spirit applied to the Corinthian church–that it might be saved from corruption, and thus to receive approval in standing before him. It is well to consider the spirit that is manifested in a congregation, and that motivates and controls all of its worship and service.
The connotation of the word angel may signify various ministries of physical and spiritual beings, both earthly and heavenly. It is used in Mat 24:31 in reference to the emissaries of the gospel; and in Heb 1:14 it refers to immaterial and spiritual but intellectual beings whom God employs to execute the orders of divine providence, as also employed in Rev 1:1; Rev 22:8. The apostle Paul applied the word, in 1Co 11:8-10, to the venerable men in the Corinthian church; and the angels (spirits) of little children are said by Jesus, in Mat 18:10, to behold the face of the Father in heaven. In Jud 1:6 it is used as an appellation for the early representatives of the race of man in an unnamed period, who forfeited their high estates by apostasy, and were condemned to darkness and judgment, and in Mat 25:41, and 2Co 11:14-15, it is used to describe the devil and his demons. But in Rev 20:1 the word applies to Jesus Christ himself.
This is rather a wide classification of the word angel, but it is used in all of these senses. In the vision of the first chapter of Revelation it seems evident that the word refers to the spirit of each church.
The stars in the vision are its members, every member –all members in the body of Christ, of the true spirit, are stars in His hand. There is no teaching that exalts one class in the church to any position above all the others, as all the members of Christ stand in equal relation to Him. For one to be exalted above another would “not be so among you,” Jesus said to his disciples, in Mat 20:26.
As each of the seven churches was individual in character and conduct, they were so in spirit also, and the letters of Jesus to these seven churches were addressed to the angel or spirit of each congregation respectively. The word angel, therefore, does not designate a representative person, but symbolically the representative spirit of each church– the spirit of the church.
(3) The central figure.
Jesus Christ was Himself the abiding presence in the churches, directing their work, walking and dwelling in their midst, as the centrifugal and the centripetal spiritual force in each congregation. He was holding the stars in his hand; he was walking among the candlesticks; he was the guiding presence, the moving energy, the inspiring influence, the infinite indweller in every faithful churchand that is true of every true and faithful church of Christ today.
The threefold description of the church was as gold in purity and worth–a golden candlestick; and as stars of glory in his possession, shining in his hand; and He Himself in the midst, as the sun around which the spiritual planets revolve.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 1:20. The mystery of the stars which thou sawest upon my right hand. It is generally agreed that the word mystery here depends on write, and that it is in apposition with the things which thou sawest The word denotes what man cannot know by his natural powers, or without the help of Divine revelation. It occurs again in chaps. Rev 10:7, Rev 17:5; Rev 17:7; and its use there, as well as its present context, forbids the supposition that it refers merely to the fact that the seven stars are angels of the seven churches, or that the seven candlesticks are seven churches. It includes the whole history and fortunes of these churches. All that concerns them is a part of the mystery which is now to be written, and which the saints shall understand, though the world cannot. We may further notice that, in the second clause of the first half of this verse, and the seven golden candlesticks, the last word is not, as we might have expected, dependent upon mystery. It is in the accusative not the genitive case; and would thus seem to depend upon the verb sawest, and to be subordinate to the first clause, though closely connected with it (comp. Joh 2:12; Joh 14:6). It so, the seven stars are the prominent part of the mystery, thus illustrating the unity of the Church with the Saviour Himself, for He is the bright, the morning star (chap. Rev 22:16). Further also we may notice the upon prefixed to my right hand instead of in as in Rev 1:16. Surely, in spite of the commentators, there is a difference. The Seer beholds the churches in the hand of their Lord as His absolute property and in His safe keeping. The Lord Himself beholds them upon His right hand, in a more upright and independent position: they are churches which He is about to send forth to struggle in His place.
An explanation of what the stars and the candlesticks are is now given. The seven stars are angels of the seven churches. It seems doubtful if stars are in all the typical language of Scripture symbols of lordship and authority ecclesiastical or civil (Trench). They are often emblems of light (Num 24:17; Psa 148:3; Jer 31:35; Eze 32:7; Dan 12:3; Joe 2:10; Joe 3:15; 2Pe 1:19; Rev 2:28; Rev 22:16), so that it cannot at least be inferred from the use of the word that the angels are persons in authority. What they are is more doubtful, and the most various opinions have been entertained regarding them. Several of these may be set aside without much difficulty. They are not ideal messengers of the churches, supposed to be sent on a mission to the Seer. He would then have replied by them, not to them. They are not the officials known as angels or messengers of the synagogue. Such an office is too subordinate to answer the conditions of the case, and there is no proof that it had been transferred to the Christian Church. They are not the guardian angels of the churches, for, instead of protecting, they represent the churches, and they are spoken of in the epistles which follow as chargeable with their sins. Two interpretations remain of wider currency or of higher authority. They are thought to be the Bishops or presiding ministers of the churches. But, even supposing that the Episcopal constitution of the Church at this early date could be established on other grounds, it is difficult to see how a personage whose name (angel, one sent forth) implies departure from a particular locality should be identified with the resident governor of the Church (Saul of Tarsus, p. 143); nor could a Bishop be appropriately commended for the virtues, or condemned for the sins, of his flock. The interpretation of some of the oldest commentators on the Apocalypse is the best. Angels of a church are a method of expressing the church itself, the church being spoken of as if it were concentrated in its angel or messenger. In other words, the angel of a church is the moral image of the church as it strikes the eye of the observer, that presentation of itself which it sends up to the iew of its King and Governor. There is much in the style of thought marking the Apocalypse to favour this view, for the leading persons spoken ol in the book, and even the different departments of nature referred to in it, have each its angel God proclaims His judgments by angels (chaps Rev 14:6; Rev 14:8-9, Rev 18:1, Rev 18:1; Rev 18:21); He executes them by angels (chaps. Rev 8:2, Rev 15:1; Rev 15:6); He seals His own by angels (chap. Rev 7:3); He even addresses the Son by an angel (chap. Rev 14:15). The Son in like manner acts by an angel (chap. Rev 20:1); and reveals His truth by an angel (Rev 1:1, Rev 22:6; Rev 22:16). Michael has his angels (chap. Rev 12:7); the dragon has his angels (chap. Rev 12:7; Rev 12:9); the waters, fire, the winds, and the abyss have each its angel (chaps. Rev 16:5, Rev 14:18; Rev 7:1, Rev 9:11). In some of these instances it may be said that the angels are real beings, but in others it is hardly possible to think so. The method of expression seems to rest upon the idea that everything has its angel, its messenger by whom it communicates its feelings, and through whom it comes in contact with the external world. The angels here spoken of are, therefore, not so much ideal representatives of the churches, as a mode of thought by which the churches are conceived of when they pass out of their absolute condition into intercourse with, and action upon, others. Perhaps the same mode of speaking may be seen in Dan 10:20-21; Dan 12:1, where Persia and Grecia are represented by angels.
With the view now taken the equivalent designation stars agrees much better than the supposition that these stars are persons in authority.
When it is said of the Son of man that He has the seven stars upon His right hand. it is much more natural to think that we have here a symbol of the churches themselves than of their rulers; and in chap. Rev 12:1 the twelve stars are not persons, the number twelve being simply the number of the Church. It may indeed be argued as an objection to the above reasoning, that it is immediately added in this verse that the candlesticks are the seven churches, and that we shall thus have two figures for the same object. But between the figures there is an instructive difference confirmatory of all that has been said; for the star represents the Church as she gives light in the firmament of heaven, as she shines before the world for the worlds good; the candlestick represents her as having her Divine life nourished in the secret place of the tabernacle of the Most High. The one is the Church in action, the other the Church in her inner life; and hence, probably, the mention of the former before the latter, for throughout the Apocalypse it is with the working, struggling Church that we have to do. Hence also in Rev 1:13 the Son of man is in the midst of the candlesticks; while the stars are upon His right hand (Rev 1:20), the hand that is stretched out for acting and for manifesting His glory to the world.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
20. The seven candlesticks are the seven Churches. From these Scriptures we see the sanctified, Holy Ghost religion is the essence of the Church; and Jesus holds the sanctified pastor in His right hand. When a Church falls below these conditions, she is no longer the Church of God.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
1:20 {14} The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the {l} angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
(14) That is, the thing which was mystical signified by the particulars of the vision before going.
(l) By angels he means the ministers of the Church.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus Christ then interpreted the meaning of some of the symbolic things John had seen. They were mysteries, revelations previously unclear until the Lord interpreted them for John. The seven stars represented the messengers of the seven churches. These may have been their angelic guardians. [Note: Swete, p. 22; Smith, pp. 57-58; Ladd, p. 35; Beale, p. 217.] Some interpreters have taken these angels as expressions of the prevailing spirit that characterized each church. [Note: E.g. Morris, p. 57; Mounce, p. 82.] Others view them as the human representatives or leading elders (pastors) of these churches, though "angel" is a strange term to describe an elder. These were probably men such as Epaphroditus, Tychicus, and Onesimus, who went to Rome to visit Paul in prison and carried messages from him to churches (Php 4:18; Col 4:7-9). Such representatives may have come to Patmos to visit John and could have carried Revelation back with them to their respective congregations. [Note: Thomas, Revelation 1-7, pp. 116-19. See my comments on 2:1.] The Greek word angeloi ("angels") frequently refers to human messengers (e.g., Mat 11:10; Luk 7:24; Luk 9:52; 2Co 8:23; Jas 2:25).
The lampstands figuratively supported the corporate witness of the Christians in each church as they lived in a dark world (cf. 1Ti 3:15).
God interpreted many of the symbols He used in Revelation elsewhere in Scripture. Correct interpretation of this book, therefore, depends on knowledge of the rest of God’s previously given revelation. This is also true of every other book of the Bible but to a lesser degree.