In the foreground of this picture the Son of God stands conspicuous.  His dress corresponds to that of the Jewish high priest, and the whole description of His person has obviously a reference, either to His own divine perfections, or to His offices as the Saviour of sinners.  He himself is the expositor of two of the most remarkable of the symbols.  “The seven stars,” says He, “are the angels of the Seven Churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest, are the Seven Churches.” [264:3]

But though the symbol of the stars has been thus interpreted by Christ, the interpretation itself has been the subject of considerable discussion.  Much difficulty has been experienced in identifying the angels of the Seven Churches; and there have been various conjectures as to the station which they occupied, and the duties which they performed.  According to some they were literally angelic beings who had the special charge of the Seven Churches. [264:4] According to others, the angel of a Church betokens the collective body of ministers connected with the society.  But such explanations are very far from satisfactory.  The Scriptures nowhere teach that each Christian community is under the care of its own angelic guardian; neither is it to be supposed that an angel represents the ministry of a Church, for one symbol would not be interpreted by another symbol of dubious signification.  It seems clear that the angel of the Church is a single individual, and that he must have been a personage well known to the body with which he was connected at the time when the Apocalypse was written.

It has often been asserted that the title “The angel of the Church” is borrowed from the designation of one of the ministers of the synagogue. [265:1] This point, however, has never been fairly demonstrated.  In later times there was, no doubt, in the synagogue an individual known by the name of the legate, or the angel; but there is no decisive evidence that an official with such a designation existed in the first century.  In the New Testament we have repeated references to the office-bearers of the synagogue; we are told of the rulers [265:2] or elders, the reader, [265:3] and the minister [265:4] or deacon; but the angel is never mentioned.  Philo and Josephus are equally silent upon the subject.  It is, therefore, extremely doubtful whether a minister with this title was known among the Jews in the days of the apostles.  Even granting, what is so very problematical, that there were in the synagogues in the first century individuals distinguished by the designation of angels, it is still exceedingly doubtful whether the angels of the Seven Churches borrowed their names from these functionaries.  If so, the angel of the Church must have occupied the same position as the angel of the synagogue, for the adoption of the same title indicated the possession of the same office.  But it was the duty of the angel of the synagogue to offer