This is the mystery of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and of the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lamp stands are seven assemblies.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.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 are seven churches.
4 sermons cite this verse
… these that are and those that are to take place after this, as for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands, Well, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven lampstands are the seven churches themselves. And all God's people said, amen, amen. You may be seated. You may be seated. Keep your Bibles open, if you will, and jump back to verse one. Verse one, the revelation of Jesus Christ. The revelation in Greek means literally the unveiling. This book is the unveiling of Jesus Christ. But the first question that presents is, what is it exactly that is being unveiled? Is Jesus the one doing the unveiling or is it Jesus himself who is being unveiled? You see how that phrase could mean either? If I said to you, ladies and gentlemen, today we're going to have the presentation of Pastor Curtis. I might mean that Pastor Curtis is going to come up here and present something to us. …
… Now that has to be Christ. The seven golden lampstands are the seven churches. Go down to verse 20. As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and we'll comment on that later, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches or the messengers of the seven churches, the representatives of those churches. And the seven lampstands are the seven churches. So he's seeing the seven churches. Those lampstands are sort of symbolic of these seven churches, which are symbolic of the whole church in the vision. They would be lit with oil, and that's what John sees in a visionary way. But more importantly, in the middle of the lampstands, in verse 13, I saw one like a son of man. This language, son of man, comes from Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14, where the prophet says concerning the coming Messiah, "'One like a son of man was given dominion, glory, a kingdom that all people and nations and men of every language might serve Him, and this is an everlasting kingdom that will never be destroyed." So the Son of Man was a title for a Messiah. …
… those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are of the seven churches. To the church in Ephesus. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the works you did at first if not I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent yet this you have you hate the works of the Nicolaitans which I also hate he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to the one who conquers I will grant you eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. …
… in a kind of symbolic way. Every eye will see him. The conservative churches have said, yes, we take this as a real historic, actual future event. But the conservative churches have tended to obsess on when will it be? What year will it be? What will the signs be? So that we can predict his coming. Now, not only did Jesus repeatedly say, no one knows the day or the hour, Nobody knows when that's going to be. In fact, Jesus, when he was on earth, said even he didn't at the time know when it would be. But to even try to guess shows that you don't understand how this doctrine is supposed to really shape our lives. So what is this doctrine? Well, take a look here. Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him, so may it be. Amen. Now, all Bible scholars over the years have said that the book of Revelation, more than any other New Testament book, draws on Old Testament imagery. …