Jesus the Lord over the Body of Christ.
The Lord holds the scepter of supremist authority and administration. This is portrayed as the `seven stars in His right hand. ` (Rev. 1: 20) It is a picture of the Pleiades, (7 stars) which draw our solar system around the Milky way over a thousand years. If the Lord has power to do that how much more is He able to manage the Body of Christ over the centuries and across the world.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the founder and perfector of the Church and is shown as its competent Administrator. He is walking amongst the seven golden lampstands. Each lampstand fitted on to a common base representing the complete Church, the Body of Christ. The number seven in Hebrew means complete. (Rev. 2 & 3)
Thus, looking back through history, we can see that these seven churches are an overview, showing the entire history of its development and conflict against the enemy, while displaying Christ`s competence to meet all challenges, finally culminating in the completing of the mature Body of Christ, His glorious Church.
Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ directs John to write to these seven churches in Asia who are representative of all the local churches, the believers who are the Body of Christ.
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
The Lord addresses each group particularly, giving words of commendation and encouragement or chastisement and warnings. Christ then counsels each group presenting Himself in clarity and truth. The response is but to repent and obey His Holy Spirit.
Each church, each group of believers would be encouraged, comforted, or challenged by the Lord`s discernment of them. Then down through the centuries as other believers read, they also could receive what Christ is saying by His Holy Spirit.
Now finally today there are believers who have left their first love, as did Ephesus, servants being martyred, as in Smyrna, others engrossed and overcome with worldly indulgences, and so on.
Then we see that the church of Laodicea, the final group of believers having to face `every wind of doctrine, ` being `tossed to and fro ` Yet the encouragement is to press on to maturity in Christ and to reach the unity of the faith (what we believe) and the knowledge of the Son of God. (Eph. 4: 13 – 16)