The Seven Churches ( John's Vision)

  I was in the Spirit [rapt in His power] on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a great voice like the calling of a [i]war trumpet,

Saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. Write promptly what you see (your vision) in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia--to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.

Then I turned to see [whose was] the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,

And in the midst of the lampstands [One] like a Son of Man, clothed with a robe which reached to His feet and with a girdle of gold about His breast.

His head and His hair were white like white wool, [as white] as snow, and His eyes [flashed] like a flame of fire.

His feet glowed like burnished (bright) bronze as it is refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.

In His right hand He held seven stars, and from His mouth there came forth a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full power at midday.

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last,

And the Ever-living One [I am living in the eternity of the eternities]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore; and I possess the keys of death and Hades (the realm of the dead).

Write therefore the things you see, what they are [and signify] and what is to take place hereafter.

As to the hidden meaning (the mystery) of the seven stars which you saw on My right hand and the seven lampstands of gold: the seven stars are the seven angels (messengers) of the seven assemblies (churches) and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.