Epaggelia

v12, Seven Golden Lampstands, Jesus proclaimed that he is the Light of the world, Jn 8:12. In this vision, the stars (representing angels of the churches) are in the hands of Jesus. Lampstands are actually the congregations, v20, and Jesus is in their midst.  Paul describes the church as a pillar of the truth, 1^st Tim. 3:15, which again offers the idea of stability for projecting light, not the light itself. They originated as the Menorah in the Temple, destroyed in 70AD. 

v13-15, Jesus in a long robe with a golden belt, pure white hair, flaming fiery eyes, polished bronze feet and a trumpeting thunderous voice from a mouth that brought out a sword. The four features of hair, eyes, voice and mouth are all from a face as bright as the sun. Why? He is the light of the world and also the head of the church. His body is in a priestly robe fastened by a golden belt representing royalty and he moves with feet that can trample any enemy. The term Son of Man being given power from the Ancient of Days originates in Daniel 7:13. Now the church will announce, fight, suffer and win with the power prophesied from Daniel and fulfilled from John’s revelation. In 1^st Chron. 28:18 the Cherubim have these type feet and move with destruction. Paul talks like the war still rages on until Jesus defeats every enemy and submits his Kingdom to the Father, 1^st Cor. 15:24-26.  When he returns to judge the world, we will hear the roaring voice, 1^st Thes 4:16.  

v16, “Seven Stars”  & “Sword”, These represent angels. The word angel simply means a messenger. The angels in this vision are not figurative, they are real literal messengers within each church. In Gen. 18:1-3, Abraham met three angels, whom he recognized as mere men but also esteemed them as master or lord. The Hebrew writer claims that this similarly can possibly happen with Christians, Heb. 13:2.  In one sense, every Christian is a light that shines in a dark world, because we reflect the light of the world, Php. 2:15.  But these angels are seen as stars in each church because they are mature examples of Jesus seeking the lost and instructing the saved.  Jesus taught us that our charity on earth is rewarded in Heaven, when our good deeds to strangers are actually done to Himself, Mat. 25:34-40. In this vision, each church has revealed that they will likely have this encounter and they had better be ready to help. Obviously the Sword is the message itself, which the messengers would distribute, Eph. 6:17 & Heb. 4:12, and God would make good, effective and powerful. How can we use a sword that is alive?

v17, Jesus proves himself to be the Alpha & Omega,  Isa. 44:1-8, 48:12.  The glory and power of Christ in this vision, makes John collapse and faint as dead. Manoah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Jacob all come near to the presence of God and fall to faint, but none of them lose their consciousness.  The right hand that held the stars, touches John and brings him back to consciousness. It could be what miraculously happens to the soldiers in Gethsemane approaching Christ when he utters the words, “ I AM”, John 18:6.

v18,  He has the keys of Death and Hades (grave). This indeed is how Satan gets and remains locked within a chain and pit, 20:1-3.  The keys are similar to the key for the house of David, Isa. 22:22 and mentioned in Rev. 3:7. In Mat. 22:42, he accepts the term of Son of David, but this position changes from the cross, and at the resurrection he proves he is the Son of God. He qualified for and obtained the keys during the ‘three days’ in the grave!

v19-20, John must write what he is seeing and what he is about to see which will take place after the visions. The messengers to the churches will be making it clear and the message will strengthen the Christians to see the fulfillment, tasting the victory Christ gives them.  Job knows of this controlling power God has, which John sees in this vision, read Job 42:1-6.  The angels of the 7 churches could very well be executing the job Jesus mentions in Matthew 18:10-14. These 7 messengers or angels have a message to deliver, what is it? v11 & 19 would infer the entirety of Revelation, not just the individual statements referencing each congregation.

Angels have a big role in Revelation, v1 & 10:1. They still serve us, Heb. 1:14, Mat. 18:10.  John’s beatitude in v3 is for anyone who hears and obeys what the Revelation teaches to bless (Makarios) his readers who keep it. This promise is reminiscent of Psalm 1:1-3. Happiness is the purpose of God in giving this to us, not fear. God is the God of all comfort, 2Cor. 1:3-7. 

The phrase “7 Spirits” in v4 shouldn’t confuse us because Christ’s presence is for each of the seven churches. Seven often signifies perfection which is the kind of presence we need. He is omnipresent. Jesus is entitled Faithful Witness, Firstborn of the Dead, Ruler of earthly kings, The Alpha & Omega and The Almighty because his blood freed us and proved his love for us. He’s qualified to make us a Royal Priesthood (1^st Peter 2:9) and he will come again to show the entire global population his victoriously scarred body resurrected and ruling. This will make every knee to bow and tongue to confess Him as Lord, Romans 14:11, Php. 2:10 & Isaiah 45:22-25.  So we should confess him as Lord now before it is forever too late, Matthew 10:32. No one knows the day nor the hour…

1:9, In The Kingdom…On Patmos. Since Jesus is the Ruler of the kings of the Earth, we know that it doesn’t matter where we are or what circumstance we are in. He rules because of the power of his resurrection given to all subjects of His Kingdom, see Colossians 1:13, 1^st Peter 2:9.  Despite the pain John suffered he still believed Christ was ruling, this is possible for every Christian because we are all called to suffer, 1^st Peter 3:9-17. By enduring in this faith, we are winning the war of overcoming evil with good and bringing the deceptive kingdom of Satan in the world to a downfall. It is a real ‘wrestling’ match, see Ephesians 6:12.

v10, In The Spirit on The Lord’s Day. Jesus was raised from the dead on the 1^st day of the week (Mat. 28:1) and it became the day which superseded the 7^th day of the week (Sabbath) for worship amongst God’s faithful children. factually, during the mandatory Feast of Tabernacles, the 8th day was a holy day, Lev. 23:33-39. It was even carried over in their culture after they returned from captivity in Babylon, see Nehemiah 8:18 mentions an 8^th day (Neh. 8:18), and it seems prophetic that it became the Lord’s Day, Sunday. The Jewish Pentecost fell on a Sunday and became the ‘birthday’ of the Church, Acts 2. Leviticus 23:11-16 spells out how it would always fall on a Sunday, an ‘eighth’ day.  It is interesting to note that in the 1905 edition of Sgt. Burrell’s 1760 Diary of New England Shipping, the day is spelt with an “O”, not “u”.  The 2^nd century writings (Didache 14:1 and Ignatius’ letter to the Magnesians 9:1) both use the term “Lord’s Day” for the 1^st day of the week Christians worshiped on, as was instituted by the Apostles, Acts 20:7.   Are we always in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, or should we make preparations? See Jude v20, Eph. 6:18 and Php 3:3. Does the oil of the 10 virgins have any bearing on the spiritual welfare and attitude of the Christian on Sunday? (Mat.25:1-13)
v11, The Seven Churches. Each one of the cities lay on the same road and in the order they are written, in Asia Minor. Showing that God knows our exact location when living lives worthy of the gospel. Our position in Christ guarantees our position of safety no matter how dangerous being a Christian is. John would send them what he wrote from a trumpet sounding voice and several symbolic visions. The import of a trumpet sounding voice may lay in the fact that Moses spoke with God issuing the Law from Mt. Sinai with a shofar blowing louder and louder in Exodus 19:16-21. It was written while John was in the Spirit and it should be read as we are in The Spirit, 1^st Cor. 2:12-15. These messages in the Revelation held authority and could pierce their hearts as the peal of a trumpet.