Revelation 1:20

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. IN, [ epi (G1909), 'Aleph (') B C] - 'upon my right hand;' but A [ en (G1722)], 'in.' THE MYSTERY ... CANDLESTICKS - in apposition to, and explaining, "the things which thou hast seen," governed by "Write." Mystery, the hidden truth veiled under this symbol, now revealed: its correlative is revelation. Stars symbolize lordship (Numbers 24:17: cf....

12-20 The churches receive their light from Christ and the gospel, and hold it forth to others. They are golden candlesticks; they should be precious and pure; not only the ministers, but the members of the churches; their light should so shine before men, as to engage others to give glory to God. And the apostle saw as though of the Lord Jesus Christ appeared in the midst of the golden candlesticks. He is with his churches always, to the end of the world, filling them with light, and life, and love. He was clothed with a robe down to the feet, perhaps representing his righteousness and priesthood, as Mediator. This vest was girt with a golden girdle, which may denote how precious are his love and affection for his people. His head and hairs white like wool and as snow, may signify his majesty, purity, and eternity. His eyes as a flame of fire, may represent his knowledge of the secrets...

Verse Revelation 1:20. _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 επι της δεξιας, _UPON the right hand_. In Jeremiah 22:24, Coniah is represented as a _signet_ on the right hand of the

THE MYSTERY OF THE SEVEN STARS - On the word “mystery,” see notes on Ephesians 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 symb

EXPOSITION THE TITLE. The simplest form of this, as of other books of the New Testament, is the oldest: 'The Revelation of John' (Αποκάλυψις Ιωάννου). Other forms worth noting are: 'The Revelation of John the Apostle and Evangelist;' 'The Revelation of the holy and most glorious Apostle and Evangelist, the virgin, the beloved, that leaned on the breast, John the Divine.' 'The divine' as a title for St. John, which is retained here in both the Authorized Version and the Revised Version, is certainly as old as Eusebius ('Praep. Evan.,' 11.18). Recent discoveries at Ephesus have shown that "divines" (θεολόγοι) was a title of the chief priests in the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. It is possible, but hardly probable, that this suggested the title for St. John. It probably points to his witness to the Divinity of the Logos or Word. Eusebius ('Hist. Eccl.,' III. 24.13) remarks that John omit...

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 Revelation 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 Gos

Revelation 1:1. _The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw._ John was a most suitable person to see and to bear record of the Word of God, for in his gospel (John 19:35) he describes himself at the cross as both seeing and bearing record. So now that his once-crucified Lord is in his glory, it seemed meet that the same beloved disciple should both see him and bear record concerning him. No eyes were so fit to see the glory of Christ as those which had looked with so much love into the eyes of Jesus of Nazareth in the days of his humiliation. The head

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 (compare (Philippians 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"; and (4) PROPHETIC, as disclosing seven phases of the spiritual history of the church from, say, A.D. 96 to the end. It is incredible t

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE PATMOS VISION OF THE GLORIFIED SON OF MAN CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The introduction (Revelation 1:1)_ 2. Greeting and benediction (Revelation 1:4) 3. The praise (Revelation 1:6) 4. The testimony of the Almighty (Revelation 1:8) 5. John in Patmos (Revelation 1:9) 6. The vision of Christ in glory (Revelation 1:12) 7. The commission ...

THE PROLOGUE gives an account of the vision of the Son of Man, and the manner in which the messages to the seven churches came to the seer. Revelation 1:9. John your brother: the term brother in the NT is used to signify fellow-Christian, the members of the same Christian community (_cf._ the phrase our brother Paul, 2 Peter 3:15; see Harnack, _Mission and Expansion of Christianity_ 2_,_ i. 405 f.). TRIBULATION refers to the persecutions. The order of the words is significant, kingdom coming after tribulation and before patience, and reminds us of the words, Through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom (Acts 14:22). PATIENCE: _i.e._ patient endurance. We must not only enter