Matthew Poole and continuators on Revelation 1:20

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 .

See v. 12, 16.

That is, they signifie the Angels of the seven Churches. By Angels, he means God's Messengers and Embassadors to the seven Churches, called Angels, both in respect of their Office, being the Embassadors of Christ, 2 Cor. 5. 20. and of that Holiness which they should shew forth in their Doctrine and Life. To interpret the term of Angels by Nature, seems not agreeable to what we shall hereafter meet with, said to some of them, Christ would never have ordered Iohn to have charged them with a loss of their first love, or to admonish them to be faithful unto Death, or to repent. Whether the term, Angel, denoteth any particular superior Minister, or Bishop in those Churches, or is to be taken collectively for all the Ministers in those Churches, I shall not dispute. Certain it is, [non-Latin text not transcribed] signifieth no more than is common to all Ministers, viz. to be God's Messengers, and move upon his Errand.

The seven Churches mentioned, v. 11. Or else, seven being the Number of Perfection, all the Churches, which are fitly represented by Candlesticks, in the same sense as they are called Pillars of Truth in Paul's Epistle to Timothy, because they have not the Light they shew from themselves, only hold it forth from Christ. But▪ it is the Opinion of very learned Writers upon this Book, That our Lord, by these seven Churches, signifies all the Churches of Christ to the end of the World; and by what he saith to them, designs to shew what shall be the state of the Churches in all Ages, and what their Duty is. That by the Church of Ephesus, was represented the purest state of all the Christian Churches, which determined 30 years before this Book was wrote. By the Church of Smyrna, the state of all Christian Churches till the year 300. By the Church of Pergamos, all the Christian Churches, till Antichrist got up into the Saddle, and the Albigenses, and Waldenses were so persecuted. 4. By the Church of Thy[illegible: 1 letter]tira, the state of the Churches from that time, till our Reformation. 5. By the other three, the state of all Churches for 150 years last past, and which shall be to the end of the World. See Dr. More, Mr. Med[illegible: 1 letter], Cocceius, and Forbes, as learned and diligent Enquirers into the Sense of this Book, as any have been, give many reasons for this: 1. Because no reason else can be given, why Epistles should not be wrote to other Churches, as well as these. 2. He doth not call them the seven Churches of Asia, but seven Churches. 3. The Number, seven, is a Number used to signifie Perfection. 4. What is said of Christ's walking in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks having the Stars in his Right Hand, &c. agreeth to him, with reference to all Churches, not to these seven only. 5. His calling Ministers, Angels, speaks this a Prophecy, for that is a Prophetical stile. 6. The mentioning the same Number of Churches and Ministers, as of the Seals, speaks this part of the Revelation as comprehensive, with respect to time, as the other. 7. It is not probable, that these Epistles would have been ushered in with such a Vision, if they had been meerly Historical, and Didactick, not Prophetical also. 8. They argue from ch. 1.19. where Iohn is bid to write not only what is, but what shall come to pass. 9. They argue from the matter of the Epistles.—Let the curious Reader see more of this in the Authors themselves, as also in Mr. Brightman.

Marginal references: Mal. 2.7▪