The number seven seems to have significance in nearly every corner of the universe. Seven colors in a rainbow, seven tones in a musical scale, seven days in a week, just to mention a few of the obvious ones. In the realm of religion it appears even more often. The Catholic church teaches of seven deadly sins. New Age gurus speak of seven chakras as significant power centers of the human body. Interestingly, the number seven is the most likely number to come up when rolling two six-sided dice, hence the term “lucky seven” commonly used among gambling establishments.
In biblical numerology, the number seven is sometimes referred to as “the number of God”, which six is references as “the number of man”. While numbers may be significant in the Bible, I am not a proponent of trying to figure out the secrets of God, or of humanity by using mathematical equations based on biblical numerology. For the purposes of this exercise, I will suffice it to say that in the book of Revelation the number seven is used often, and therefore is likely significant in understanding the main premise of the book.
After his initial statement of purpose describing the how and why of his writing of this letter, (found here if you missed the first post) John now gives a greeting to his first century audience to whom he is addressing the letter, and more importantly, informs us from whom he has received the information and instruction he delivers in the text that follows.
This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia. Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come; from the sevenfold Spirit before his throne; and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world.
Revelation 1:4-5 (NLB)
In the verses that follow the above quote John explains how, while exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching about Jesus, he hears a loud voice commanding him to write everything he sees in a book, and to send it to seven churches located in seven different cities which he then lists: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
When he turns to see who is speaking, he describes seeing seven gold lamp stands in the midst of which he sees the person who spoke to him. John describes the person as “someone like the Son of Man”, which is a reference to the resurrected Jesus. It is a rather stunning image, and as a result of seeing it John apparently passes out, but then is revived by a touch from Jesus with the ever popular command of supernatural beings appearing to humans in the Bible; “Don’t be afraid!”
In the last two verses of the chapter the mystery of the seven stars and the seven gold lamp stands is revealed:
“This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
Revelation 1:20 (NLB)
In the following seven posts, we will look at these seven messages Jesus directed to each of these seven churches, and consider how the principles found in each message might apply to us as followers of Jesus in our present day churches.
For those readers who may have found this blog who may not consider themselves followers of Jesus, I would invite you to continue exploring Revelation with us as there is no prerequisite that I am aware of that would exclude anyone from joining us on this journey.