Revelation - the seven angels to the seven churches: do churches today have angels assigned to them?

Carmen. Here is an good verse to address your question quickly and to affirm that the book of Revelation is indeed a book given in signs.

Rev 1:1

The REVELATION of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to His slaves the things that must quickly take place; and HE MADE IT KNOWN BY SIGNS, sending it by His angel to His slave John.

Interesting observation sister. I have looked at some of the translations, some say " Angels' some say ' Messenger"

There is a very good book by a brother by the name of Watchman Nee, and in his book, `The Orthodoxy of the Church` I read this awesome passage concerning these angels or messengers.

``These seven epistles were written to the angels of the seven churches, differing from the first seven Epistles written by Paul. Paul wrote to the churches, although we see that there were all the saints, overseers, and deacons, especially in the book to the Philippians.

Here the epistles were written to the angels of the seven churches, not directly to the churches. However, they were the words spoken by the Holy Spirit to the churches. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. The word angel in Greek is angelos. This word represents one who is a messenger.

Many people, after reading Revelation 2 and 3, have tried to find similarities between the last seven epistles and the first seven and have injected all manner of wrong explanations regarding the messengers. Who is this messenger? The messenger spoken of here is singular in number; the epistles were written to a singular messenger.

However, this singular number is corporate in nature; that is why, at the end of each epistle, the calling is to the overcomers in plural. This messenger is a corporate messenger who can represent a minority in the whole church. At this point the way of God is different. Formerly, the church stood before the Lord; now the messenger stands before the Lord.

The light of the lamp is inferior to the light of the star. The Lord has chosen the inextinguishable starlight and said that this is His messenger. This star is in the Lord's hand. Today a group of people is a messenger in the eyes of the Lord; thus, the nature of the church today is entrusted to them. When the church has a problem before the Lord in her outward appearance, the Lord sees a group of people—a messenger—who can be the representative of the church.

Formerly, the representatives of the church were the elders with position and office; now the responsibility of representing the church is given to the spiritual messenger. This messenger is not necessarily the elders or deacons. Today God places the responsibility upon whoever can represent the church. Those who can represent the church have the responsibility committed to them by God. Today it is not a matter of position and office, but of having real spiritual authority before God—to such ones God turns over the responsibility.``

As you have said so well sister, the book of revelation is a book of signs , and it has been introduced this kind of prophetic book.

I read this concering the 7 churches that I think you may also find interesting.

``The seven epistles in chs. 2 and 3 are the record of the actual situation existing in the seven churches at the time these epistles were written.

However, since this book is a book of signs with a prophetic nature, the situations of the seven churches also are signs, signifying prophetically the progress of the church in seven stages.

The first epistle, to the church in Ephesus, provides a picture of the end of the initial church, the church in the first stage, during the latter part of the first century.

The second epistle, to the church in Smyrna, prefigures the suffering church under the persecution of the Roman Empire, from the latter part of the first century to the early part of the fourth century, when Constantine the Great, the Caesar of the Roman Empire, brought the church into imperial favor.

The third epistle, to the church in Pergamos, pre-symbolizes the worldly church, the church married to the world, from the day Constantine accepted Christianity to the time the papal system was established in the latter part of the sixth century.

The fourth epistle, to the church in Thyatira, depicts prophetically the apostate church, from the ordaining of the papal system in the latter part of the sixth century to the end of this age, when Christ comes back.

The fifth epistle, to the church in Sardis, prefigures the Protestant Church, from the Reformation in the early part of the sixteenth century to Christ's coming back.

The sixth epistle, to the church in Philadelphia, predicts the church of brotherly love, the recovery of the proper church life, from the early part of the nineteenth century, when the brothers were raised up in England to practice the church outside all denominational and divisive systems, to the second appearing of the Lord.

The seventh epistle, to the church in Laodicea, foreshadows the degraded church life of the brothers in the nineteenth century, from the latter part of the nineteenth century until the Lord's return.``

Hope this info was helpful sister.

Ty for asking about this matter. Its so good to look into these portions of the Word.

The word "angel" is messenger. We assume the messengers referred to in Rev. 2-3 are spiritual beings. There is nothing preventing the angels from being human messengers, like pastors. The word messenger can be assigned to spiritual beings or it can refer to human messengers. Both concepts are possible.

William Branham, went into great detail on the seven church ages (his ministry followed Watchman Nee by about ten years, but they did not cross paths). Branham felt history and Scripture show each of the seven ages in Revelations as prophecy about the church moving through time to the present hour. The word to the churches of John's day being also a word for days to come when God would would speak to and through certain men to move his plan of salvation through each age; until the dispensation of grace is ended.

Branham gave these angels names in order of the seven churches in Revelation as shown below. It is worthy of note that in all cases the men named were ignored or rejected by those in positions of power who scheduled services, collected tithes, appointed workers and otherwise dealt with the body political of their day. If such was not the case there would not be any sense in seeing these church names as representing the flow of the Holy Spirit down to our time.

St. Paul, Ephesian

St. Irenaeus, Smyrnaean

St. Martin, Pergamean

St. Columba, Thyatirean

Martin Luther, Sardisean

John Wesley, Philadelphian

(___________,) Laodicean

Branham did not name a messenger nor call for people to leave their place of worship but in the end many thousands left Catholic and Protestant churches or moved to more Pentecostal venues in America and other countries; with the conviction that Branham was the seventh messenger to the present age and a prophetic voice. Nee, preaching and teaching in China, seldom did more than mention that the seven churches did in fact represent time periods.

Branham was eventually rejected in the main stream religious community and not long after died in an auto accident in Texas. His influence however continues. I find around the country many who borrow from his sermons without credit. Nee also continues as a major influence though he spent the last 20 years of his life in prison for the gospel. He was in tune with Branham on divisions in the church but even more more out spoken than Branham; telling the Disciples of Christ, and in them all other Christian groups, that their divisions were an affront to Almighty God; a slap in God's face.

What ever you may think, you will find some interesting reading in Christian church history if you follow up on the idea of these men as messengers. Many Christians are not familiar with Irenaeus, Martin or Colomba; while Protestants are famous for seldom considering that any Christians existed between St. Paul and Martin Luther; unless their names be listed in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

Hi Grey Tower,

The term 'angel' has several different meanings. The meaning of the ones you mention who are in charge of the seven churches are 'natural human ministers' of the seven churches that John The Beloved had set up, and because of his incarceration on the Isle of Patmos, God told him to write to them about God's concerns regarding their churches. God would hardly need to write to celestial angels. Incidentally the problems and the positives still exist in all churches today. When God warns that if some of these issues are not corrected He will withdraw His Spirit still happens in churches. This is referred to as 'Ichabod', which when interpreted means 'glory departed'. This is exactly why today one can experience a dead church, and on the flip side one can experience an alive to Christ church. Some have dead form left; others have an ear to hear what The Spirit saith.

The Book of Revelation (meaning 'the unveiling of Christ') is less symbolic than you may think. If we read it slowly, and thoughtfully we will notice that there is often an explanation of what the symbols for-mentioned mean. Also it is generally believed to be chronological (continuous, and in series), which is very different from other books.

Regarding the question as to 'are angels in the church today', I think that since the church is not a building, but rather a group of believers; angels come in different form: a) human ministers. b) ministering spirits sent from God to assist and do battle in the heaven-lies on believer's behalf (we fight not flesh and blood, but spiritual wickedness in high places). c) guardian angels appointed to us by God. d) Celestial angels who visit to give a specific dream,vision or strength or protection. Celestial beings are much greater in strength, and entirely faster than we are. we are bound within a finite frame of time - they are not. Since we have the record in the old testament of their purposes; it is entirely likely that God still uses them (a good example of this is when they were sent to minister to Jesus when He was so distraught in The Garden of Gethsemane prior to His arrest, as He knew before hand exactly what He was going to have to endure for us).

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This is the bit I don´t get. You say Revelations is simply symbolic. Yet it is in the Bible. So what stops the whole thing from being just symbolic? You are pick-and-mixing the Bible. It lacks any credibility whatsoever.

Why couldn't you just translate it as messengers assigned to the church? (senior pastors) The Greek allows such a translation.

According to your beliefs, why don't you just ask god for the answer, or stop an angel the next time you see one?

Or are you going to believe what someone else tells you who has taken the time to study the fairy tale and provide you with answers?

There are no churches today, just a mess of man's denominations.

Blessings to all.These seven letters set forth His eternal "game plan." So it's a grievous mistake to slight the crucial importance and timely relevance of these letters. They are filled with both warning and encouragement to churches that are struggling with sin and complacency within, and persecution without. In these letters, our Lord teaches the church how to live as light in a darkening world while also confronting the sin and error that threatens the health and life of the church."the pillar and ground of truth." That is the mystery and the mission of the church. God intends the church to exert tremendous influence over the affairs of the world.There were many churches in the province of Asia at the time John wrote this letter. Other churches could have been chosen. In fact, many other churches were better known — churches such as Colossae, Tralles, and Manisa. But the Lord chose these seven churches because they represent conditions that have prevailed throughout church history, from the beginning to the end.

In other words, there are seven basic types of churches that exist in any period of church history. Every church that truly knows Jesus as Lord can be recognized as fitting one of these seven models at some particular moment in its history. By either repentance or disobedience, a church may change from one classification to another of these seven basic types — but it can always be found somewhere within this sevenfold pattern.

Moreover, as many Bible scholars have pointed out, these letters also serve as a preview of the entire history of the church, from its beginning to its consummation. They represent seven stages or key periods in church history. This view is suggested by verse 1:3, which calls the entire book of Revelation a "prophecy." This prophecy includes chapters two and three as well as the rest of the book.

Revelation 1:3

3 Blessed (happy, to be envied) is the man who reads aloud [in the assemblies] the word of this prophecy; and blessed (happy, to be envied) are those who hear [it read] and who keep themselves true to the things which are written in it [heeding them and laying them to heart], for the time [for them to be fulfilled] is near. AMP

The Light of Truth

As we've previously noted, seven is the number of completeness. These seven letters, then, constitute our Lord's complete overview of the church, stage by stage, from beginning to end.

We must never forget that all of Revelation was written for these seven churches. Each church — not just one particular church from chapter 2 or 3 — is expected to know and understand the entire book. As we explore these seven letters we will briefly trace the different historical periods of the Christian church, while also carefully examining what the Lord says to each of these seven historical churches.

Somewhere in this sevenfold list we will find your church and mine.

Light has a special significance throughout the Bible. The first words of God ever recorded in Scripture are the words He spoke at Creation: "Let there be light!" And the findings of science confirm the significance of light in the created order. Astronomer Carl Sagan says that in the first moments after Creation "space was brilliantly illuminated" and did not become dark as we now see it until much later. A science book published by Encyclopaedia Britannica reports that the early universe "was flooded with a light that was denser than matter."

In Scripture, light appears as a symbol of God's Word, of God's truth, of God's righteousness and justice, of God Himself and His Son Jesus Christ. In Matthew 5:14 and 16, Jesus used the symbol of light to describe us, His followers, and the impact we are to have upon the world. "You are the light of the world," He said. "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."Angels in the Church

In Revelation 1, light again is used as a powerful symbol. Jesus is described in this passage as holding seven bright stars in His right hand, and He is surrounded by seven golden lampstands. In verse 19 the Lord commands John,

Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 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.

Note that a lampstand is not the light. It is the bearer of the light. A light-bearer holds the light so that the light itself can shine forth, illuminating its environment. The light, of course, is the truth God reveals to the world in Jesus Christ.

The world is full of learned men, of prestigious universities, of libraries that are great repositories of knowledge. Yet, despite the great accumulation of knowledge our race has amassed over the centuries, there are many truths which are unknown to man in his natural state. One place