In the next two chapters (chapter two and three) Jesus dictates seven letters to seven churches in Asia which John oversaw. The seven churches are: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Jesus addresses his letter to the "angel," or aggelos in the Greek, which means "messenger." Aggelos is used to refer to angelic beings who serve as messengers for God, but here in Revelation it would appear that these letters are being addressed to God's "messenger" in the church which would be the pastor or an overseeing elder (Men who are referred to as "messengers" with the Greek word aggelos are found in Matt. 11:10; Mark 1:2; Luke 7:24, 27; 9:52). This is probably not Jesus giving John a message to write on a scroll that is to be handed to an angelic being. It makes more sense to interpret aggelos as the man who speaks to the church who is to receive a scroll from John the Apostle who received the message from the Lord.
Jesus identifies himself at the beginning of each letter to the seven individual churches with a unique reference to himself, his character, his responsibility or his role as the head of the church.
To Ephesus Jesus is the one who holds the seven stars, or the seven pastors in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands, or the seven churches. This is an image of Jesus in his heavenly temple serving as the high priest attending the churches who are his representatives in Asia. Jesus says that he "holds," or kraton, which means "to hold authoritatively" the pastors of the churches.
To Smyrna Jesus is the "First and the Last, who died and came to life again." Jesus' reference to himself being the "First and the Last" is a direct OT reference to the eternal God who has eternally existed and will continue to exist eternally. Yet, in this eternal state the eternal God entered creation and died as a man on the cross, but returned to life. Jesus eternally existed before all things outside of time, space and matter, but he entered creation as a man and suffered the worst fate only to conqueror death itself and be raised back to life.
To Pergamum Jesus is speaking as the one "who has the sharp, double-edged sword." In the Greek there are articles in front of the words "sword," "two-mouthed (or, "two-edged") and "sharp." So, the Greek literally says, "These things says the one having THE sword THE two-edged THE sharp." The articles add emphasis to the fact that even for those who are living under the authority of the Roman empire, Jesus is the one who has The Sword, The Sharp Sword, The Double-Edged Sword, which means no one else has The Sword! Jesus does not also have a sword, he has The Only Sword! The word for "sword" is rhomphaia which is the long spear like sword used fro piercing and cutting, and not the machaira, which a dagger like sword less than 16 inches long. When Jesus returns in Revelation 19:15, 21 he has the rhomphaia with him.
To Thyatira Jesus is "the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze." Eyes, fire and bronze are all symbols of judgment in the Old Testament and in other places. This time the judgment comes from the glorious eternal Son of God whose own eyes, or what he sees, brings the fire and whose own glorious feet of glowing metallic judgment will trample his opposition in his glorious march of resurrection victory. |
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