CAB: The sevenfold Glory of His Person:

5. In His Right Hand Were Seven Stars.

58-3 "And He had in His right hand seven stars." Now of course we already know from verse twenty what the seven stars actually are. "And the mystery of the seven stars are the angels (messengers) of the seven churches." Now we couldn't make a mistake here on any account, as He interprets it for us. These seven stars are the messengers to the seven successive church ages. They are not called by name. They are just set forth as seven, one to each age. From the Ephesian Age on down to this Laodicean Age each messenger brought the message of truth to the people, never failing to keep it the Word of God to that particular church age. Each one held to it. They were steadfast in their loyalty to the original light. As each age pulled away from God, His faithful messenger turned that age back to the Word. Their strength was from the Lord or they never could have stemmed the tide. They were safe in His care, for nothing could pluck them out of His hand, and neither could anything separate them from the love of God, let it be sickness, peril, nakedness, famine, sword, life or death. They were truly yielded to Him and kept by His omnipotence. They were not concerned about the persecution that came their way. Pain and derision was but cause to give glory to God that they were counted worthy to suffer for Him. And in thankfulness for His salvation they burned with the light of His life and reflected His love, patience, meekness, temperance, gentleness, faithfulness. And God backed them up with wonders, signs, and miracles. They were accused of being fanatics, and holy-rollers. They were denounced by organizations and held in mockery, but they kept true to the Word.

59-1 Now it is not hard to stand up and keep true to a creed. It is easy, for the devil is right behind all that. But it is something else to be true to God's Word and go back to what the Word originally produced after Pentecost.

59-2 Not long ago a man said to me that the Roman Catholic church had to be the true church as it had been true to what it believed over all the years, and kept on growing and not changing. That isn't so at all. Any church with the government behind it, and with its own creed which isn't the Word at all, and with no manifested ministry to cause the devil to get aroused, could surely carry on. That was not a criterion. But when you think of that little group whose members were sawn asunder, fed to lions, persecuted and driven from pillar to post and yet stayed true to the Word--now definitely that would have to be God. How they survived their battle of faith and carried on still: THAT is a miracle.

59-3 And this comfort is not for the seven church age messengers only. Every true believer is in the hand of God and can draw from His love and power, and receive the full benefit of all that God is to the believer. What God gives the messenger, and how He blesses and uses the messenger, is an example to all believers of His goodness and care to ALL members of His body. Amen.