Revelation – Chapter One VI

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“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet” (Revelation 1:10).Trumpets served various purposes for the people of Old Testament Israel. For instance, trumpets were employed to gather an assembly, to signal an announcement, to summon military personnel, or to warn of an emergency. Modern-day societies continue to rely on various types of horns to signal an alert, an emergency, or a time of commemoration. These horns are effective because they command our attention, much like the voice John heard here in Revelation 1:10.

“saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,’ and, ‘What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea'” (Revelation 1:11). The seven churches discussed in this text were not symbolic representations; they were actual churches that existed in John’s era. In fact, one can embark on a tour of these church locations today. The distance between these congregations varied from approximately thirty to fifty miles (48 to 80 km), and a first-century messenger would likely distribute this book in the order mentioned here.

As mentioned earlier, the fact that seven churches are referenced in this passage should alert us to the possibility that there is something more to these messages. As we move into our exploration of Revelation chapters two and three, we’ll find that these churches also reflect various aspects of the historic Christian community and continue to do so today. Some of those characteristics are honorable and virtuous, while others are much less so.

“Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands” (Revelation 1:12).When John turned to see who was speaking to him, he witnessed seven golden lampstands. We don’t need to interpret the meaning of these lampstands, for Jesus will identify them for us in the closing verse of this chapter. There, we learn that these seven lampstands are the seven churches mentioned here in verse twelve. So what was the connection between these lampstands and the churches of verse eleven?

The answer to that question becomes easier when we consider the function of a lampstand. The purpose of a lampstand is to provide light to others. This correlates with Jesus’ message to His followers in Matthew 5:14: “You are the light of the world…” With this in mind, we can say that these lampstands represent the assemblies of God’s people who serve as the light of the world. But even more significant is the fact that Jesus is in the midst of these lights, as we’ll see next.

Image Credit: Jonadab Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons