In Revelations, Jesus gives John 7 letters to 7 different churches. Scholars debate who these 7 churches are. Personally, after studying prophecy for years under many different teachers with different viewpoints, I believe these 7 churches are correctly interpreted by both sides of the debate. One side says these are the 7 churches that existed on earth in the time of John. The other side says that these are the 7 churches of the ‘Church Age’. I say that the 7 churches are both.
Jesus took actually 7 churches in the time of John that were actually meeting and used each one to describe the Universal Church as the Church progresses through the Church Age. The Church Age is the Time Period between Jesus Commissioning the 12 Disciples to the time the Anti-Christ Confirms the Covenant with many. Christians will still be on earth doing that 7 year time period, but it will not be called the Church Age, but now it “Jocab’s 70th Week”, this is when God deals with the Jewish people again.
In Revelations, 1:12 John saw 7 Golden Lampstands. In Revelations, 1:16 John saw 7 Stars. In Revelations 1:20 he is told the 7 Stars are the 7 Angels that are sent to the 7 churches. The Greek word for Angel can also mean Messager, ἄγγελοι, so God is sending a message to each church. The 7 Golden Lampstands are the 7 churches, as the same verse says.
Understanding the Number 7
The number 7 is significant. The number 7 is a sign of completion. We see God created the world in 7 days. The Geneology of Jesus has 21 (7 – 7 – 7) records of people leading to the birth of Jesus. God uses the number 7 as a way of saying something is complete. Even before sending the letter, Jesus makes a statement, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’. Showing he is himself is complete and his word is completely true. We see in Chapter 4 Verse 5. John saw the throne of God and he saw 7 Torches of Fire and he says they are the 7 Spirits of God. So God has 7 Spirits. There are 7 churches. So taking a guess each Church receives its own version of the Holy Spirit of God. Which this would make sense since Speaking in Tongues was only in the 1st Century Church. Some gifts don’t come with each spirit. Each version of the Holy Spirit might come with a different set of gifts.