Spending Time with Us

"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands . . .” (Rev. 2:1).

The meaning of this statement is found in chapter 1.

I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone “ like a son of man” . . . In his right hand he held seven stars . . . The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.* (Rev. 1:12-13, 16; 20)

The marginal note for the word “angels” is “messenger.” My understanding, then, is that the seven stars were the pastors of the seven churches.

So throughout Revelation, we see Jesus as Mighty God, but also—here in chapters 2 and 3—as the one who spends time in the midst of his churches and holds their pastors in his right hand. How privileged are we as members of the Church, and how secure are Christian pastors!

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*Rev. 1:4 identifies further these churches as "the seven churches in the province of Asia."