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“Unto the angel of the church...”
To who are the letters to the seven churches of Revelation
chapters 2 & 3 addressed?
An honest and in depth study
By
David F. Iseminger
Iseminger Family Ministries
802 S. Moshannon Ave
Snow Shoe, PA 16874
(814) 777-4231
Forward
This booklet is not just a study of angels in the Bible, nor is it just a study of the angels of the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 & 3. Underlying those two themes you will also find helpful hints for your own personal Bible studies.
Heresy in our churches as well as cults and false religions are at an all time high. The reason for this is because the average American is Biblically ignorant. We do not read, let alone study our Bibles. Some have even paid thousands of dollars to spend four years at Bible college and did not learn any Bible or even how to study the Bible. Instead, they have been taught what Dr. _____Believes (who ever runs the school), but not why he believes it. We desperately need to learn to study our Bibles. II Timothy 2:15 says “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
The thought underlying every page of this study, every hour of research and the time spent organizing and typing, are the words Jesus spoke to Satan when he was tempted in the wilderness “...It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). God gave Isaiah the same thoughts when he wrote “But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.” (Isaiah 28:13). That thought is this: In order to understand what the Bible teaches on a subject, we must examine all that it says on that subject.
With that in mind, we will look at what the Bible says about angels and the angels of the seven churches. While you may not agree with my conclusions, I hope you will agree that we do need to study the Bible and we do need to study it properly.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1-“unto the angel of the church write”
Chapter 2-Angels of the Old Testament
Chapter 3-Angels of the New Testament
Chapter 4-Biblical use of messenger and messengers
Chapter 5-And now a word from our Commentaries
Chapter 6-Going Back to the Greek
Chapter 7-Bringing it all together
Appendix I-Use of Angel & Angels in the Old Testament
Appendix II-Use of Angel & Angels in the New Testament
End Notes
Introduction
While I was pastor of a small country church in Chaneysville, PA I taught Revelation, verse by verse, during our Wednesday night Bible study. I had not been saved long and was still attending Bible School so I was far from an expert. As I began to study chapter two I was confronted with “Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write...” (Revelation 2:1). Being the astute Bible scholar that I am I quickly discovered that each of the letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor were addressed to the angel of that specific church. I then noticed that my Scofield Reference Bible had a marginal note stating that the word angel should be messenger and a footnote under Revelation 1:20 which stated the same thing. I began to look at commentaries and found that every one I could find stated the same thing, that angel means messenger and these angels or messengers were the pastors of the churches. I said in our study that most “Experts” say that angel is talking about the pastor of the church. We discussed it momentarily and moved on.
As time went on, and we left our little church in the country to enter the field of Missionary-Evangelism, thoughts of Wednesday night Bible studies, angels and pastors were replaced with other more pressing issues. Then one night I heard a pastor preaching from Revelation chapter two, he stated that the angels spoken of were beyond any shadow of a doubt, the pastors of the seven churches. I jokingly questioned him about it later and found that he was just repeating what he had been taught in college and had no evidence to back up his position.
I like a good debate, so I began to study, and study and then study some more. What began as wanting to win a debate (don’t we all?), became a minor obsession, keeping me up at night (ask my wife), and taking time from many other things. It culminated in what you now hold in your hands. It is far from earth-shattering and I am far from an expert but I trust you will enjoy it.
“Unto the angel of the church write...”
Revelation chapters two and three contain the letters to the seven churches of Asia-Minor. There are several applications and interpretations of those letters of which time and space will not permit us to examine. However, each of the seven letters are addressed exactly the same. “unto the angel of the church of...” Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. Seven letters to seven different churches with seven different messages. Yet each is addressed to the angel of that specific church. Could this be a reference to the pastor? After all, the word angel does mean messenger as Scofield and many others are quick to point out. Or, could it be that God has an angel watching over each church? While I was attending Bible school, Pastor Tom Fry reminded us over and over again “if it makes sense literally interpret it literally.” Does it make sense that God would have an angel watching over all of the churches? If Jesus started the Church (Matthew 16:18), gave himself for it (Ephesians 5:25) and purchased it with his own blood (Acts 20:28) then I could understand God being concerned enough to place an angel watching over each church.
But will the rest of the Bible, line upon line, precept upon precept, support this literal interpretation? I think it is clear that not only will it support this logical interpretation, but that is the only conclusion you can come to.
Angels of the Old Testament
The word angel appears 104 times in 95 verses. The word angels appears 13 times in 13 verses (See appendix I).
The phrase angel of the Lord or angel of God is used 65 times in the Old Testament. Many times where this phrase is used it is a reference to God himself. Not one time in the Old Testament is the phrase angel of the lord or angel of God used to refer to a man. The phrase either refers to an angel from heaven or it refers to God Himself.
The phrase angel of his presence is used one time in Isaiah 63:9. This is clearly a reference to deity.
The word angel is used alone 38 times. A look at each of these uses in its context will reveal that each of these 38 uses of the word angel is referring to an angel from heaven.
Angels, the plural form of the word angel appears 12 times in the Old Testament. Twice it is used in the phrase angels of God and 10 times it is used alone. Each of these uses is referring to angels from heaven.
The word angels’, the possessive form of the word angel appears once. It as well, is a clear reference to an angel from heaven.
Consider a few examples of these words used in the Old Testament:
1) Hagar was visited by an angel of the Lord in
Genesis 16:17
2) When Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac, it
was the angel of the Lord that called out to him
and told him not to in Genesis 22:11
3) It was an angel that fed Elijah under the juniper
tree in I Kings 19:5
4) When Daniel survived the night in the lions den,
his testimony was that God sent his angel to
shut the mouth of the lions in Daniel 6:22.
The other 113 times that angel or angels is used in the Old Testament are as clear as these four. But don’t take my word for it, turn to Appendix I or get a concordance and look them up and see for yourself.
Angels of the New Testament
The word angel appears 97 times in 97 different New Testament verses. The word angels appears 81 times in 79 different New Testament verses (see appendix II).
The phrase angel of the Lord or angel of God is used just 13 times in the New Testament (as compared to 65 in the Old Testament). Each of these 13 times it is referring to either an angel from heaven or to deity. Never, in 78 uses does the phrase angel of the Lord, or angel of God, refer to a man.
The word angel is used alone 84 times. 77 of the 84 times it is clearly referring to an angel from heaven. The remaining 7 times are the angels of the seven churches in Revelation 2 & 3.
The word angels is used 81 times in the New Testament. 80 of those 81 times are clear references to angels from heaven. One time in Revelation 1:20 the word angels is used referring to the angels of the seven churches.
Consider these examples of the use of the word angel in the New Testament.
1) It was the angel of the Lord that told Joseph to
take Mary as his wife in Matthew 1:20
2) The angel of the Lord told Phillip to arise and
go south toward Gaza in Acts 8:26
3) It was an angel of God that spoke to Cornelius
in Acts 10:3
4) Paul said that if anyone, including an angel
preached another gospel, they were accursed
in Galatians 1:8
To summarize the Old and New Testament together, the word angel appears 201 times in 192 different verses. Of those 201 times, there is not one clear example of the word angel referring to a man. 194 times it is clearly either deity or an angel from heaven. the remaining 7 times are all in Revelation 2 & 3 referring to the angel of the seven churches.
The world angels or angels’ appears 94 times in 92 different verses. of those 94 times, there is not one clear example of the word angels referring to a man.
So we have words used 295 times in 284 different verses. Of those 295 times there is not one place that it can be remotely assumed that the word is referring to a man. But then after 65 books of consistent usage, we get to two chapters of Revelation and all of the sudden for 8 times in two chapters God changes the way he uses a word, and uses angel 7 times to refer to a man, and angels 1 time to refer to a man. Then at the end of Revelation chapter 3, God goes back to the way he uses the word from Genesis to this point and closes out the Bible that way. That sounds a little far fetched, doesn't it?
That is exactly what the commentators and “Bible Scholars” would have you to believe if they are right. Line upon line, precept upon precept, from Genesis to Revelation God never used angel, angels, or angels’ to refer to a man, Revelation chapters 2 & 3 included. Regardless of what any expert says there is no evidence in the Bible to support the fact that the angel of the church is the pastor. Let’s dig a little deeper just to be sure.
Biblical use of Messenger and Messengers
The word messenger appears in the Bible 34 times in 32 different verses. It appears 29 times in the Old Testament and 5 times in the New Testament. Messengers appears 79 times in 74 verses. It appears 75 times in the Old Testament and 4 times in the New Testament (See Appendix III).
Every time the word messenger appears in the Bible it is a clear reference to a man. Consider several examples:
1) Joseph’s brothers sent a messenger to him in
Genesis 50:16
2) In I Kings 22 King Ahab sent an Officer to get
Micaiah in vs. 9. In vs. 13 that Officer is called
a messenger.
3) Elisha sent a messenger to Naaman in
II Kings 5:10
4) John the Baptist is called a messenger in
Mark 1:2
Now follow the Logic here for a moment. Time and time again in commentaries, Bible Dictionaries and Reference Bibles we are reminded angel means messenger. I am not disputing that at all. What I am saying is that God has taken two synonyms and used one for heavenly messengers, and one for earthly messengers.
We have angel and angels used 295 times without once referring to a man. Then we have messenger and messengers used 113 times, referring to a man every time. It makes sense that this pattern would continue through the whole Bible. Therefore if God was writing to the pastor of the church the Bible would read unto the messenger of the church of... But it doesn’t, does it?
I Corinthians 14:33 remind us us “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” as you study your Bible this is one thought that you must keep in mind.
At this point, I hope you see that the Bible is consistent in its use of the words angel, angels, messenger and messengers. That should prove that the angel of the church can not be the pastor. There is still one more nail for the coffin, but before we drive it home, let’s stop for just a minute and look at what the commentators have to say on the subject.
And now a word from our commentaries
I could quote and reference hundreds of commentaries which say basically the same thing. I looked at a number of different books and selected five to mention in this section. There are several reasons why I chose the books that I did. They are all well know and widely distributed, they are all currently still in print and they are all reasonably priced. In other words these are the books that the average Baptist today is likely to have in their library.
So as not to be accused as attacking anyone or playing favorites I have listed these books by date of copyright, oldest to newest.
“The Revelation verse by verse study” by Dr. Oliver B. Greene 1 . Dr. Greene state his opinion of the angels of the churches in dealing with Revelation 1:20, He states: “Why are the stars in his right hand termed angels? The stars represent the spiritual leaders in the church-persons responsible to God in giving forth the message of life...”
Dr. Greene goes on to state: “(Read Luke 7:24; Luke 9:52; II Corinthians 12:7; James 2:25) In these verses angel or angels is used referring to those sent as messengers to deliver various messages.”
This is the same logic you find in a Scofield Reference Bible, however if you check the Scripture references that Dr. Green cites, you will see that in all of the verses the word is translated messenger not angel.
“Let’s Study the Revelation” By Dr. Jack Hyles 2. In this transcription of the verse by verse study of Revelation taught on Wednesday nights at his church, Dr. Hyles deals with Revelation 2:1 as follows: “UNTO THE ANGEL. The word angel means messenger. Probably this pertained to the pastor of the church.” At least he said probably. But as we have seen over and over again, If God was writing to the pastor it would read messenger not angel.
“Behold, he Cometh! a verse by verse Commentary on the book of Revelation” By Dr. John R. Rice 3. Dr. Rice deals with the passage this way: “Unto the angel of the church in... so each of the seven letters begins. The word angel is the Greek word aggelos. Young’s analytical Concordance defines the word “messenger or agent.” It is translated a good many times angel, but seven times in the New Testament in the King James it is translated messenger and does not mean a heavenly being...”
Dr. Rice almost got it, aggelos is translated messenger 5 times and messengers 4 times (see the next chapter). The truth is right there on the page, When it does not mean a heavenly being it is translated messenger. But here the Bible says angel.
“Revelation Volume I” By Dr. J. Vernon McGee 4.
Dr. McGee loves to rewrite the Bible as his commentary on revelation shows. In dealing with Revelation 1:20 he states: “The seven stars are identified as the seven angels. The stars represent authority...The word angel literally means messenger...I like to think that it refers to the local pastors of the seven churches...So, If you don’t mind, I’ll hold to that interpretation.”
I wouldn’t mind, as Dr. McGee put it, if he had at least given us one little verse to support his opinion.
“All the Angels in the Bible” By Herbert Lockyer5
This is one of a series of 20 books about all of this and all of that in the Bible. There is some good information in this book but what I found most interesting is one of the lists it contains.
Towards the end of this book there is a section called “Every reference to angels in the Bible.” This is Genesis to Revelation, every verse in the Bible referring to angels. When you get to the section on revelation, lo and behold there you find Revelation 2:1; 2:8; 2:12; 2:18; 3:1; 3:7 & 3:14. Seven verses which all of the “experts” say are not references to angels at all are in the list of every reference to angels in the Bible.
Let me say this about commentaries and study notes if I may. We need to learn to be careful. At the present time there is not one commentary in my library, I have had some in the past and I will probably have some in the future, but at present I don’t have any. It is my belief that with a King James Bible, Exhaustive concordance, good English dictionary and the Holy Spirit leading you and Guiding you, you don’t need one. Why would you want to look at what man says the Bible says, when the Holy Spirit can show you what God Says the Bible says? After all, He wrote it. There are several things you should be aware of as you read commentaries and look at study notes in your Bible.
1) Just Because a man is a Doctor does not mean he is smarter than you are. The vast majority
of those with a Doctorate hold an honorary degree. Anyone with a big wallet or a big
reputation can get one and he is not one ounce smarter after he is doctored than he was
before.
2) Anyone who writes a commentary or publishes a study Bible is considered to be an expert.
Someone has said an “ex” is a has been and a “spurt” is a drip under pressure. The more I
study the Bible the more questions I have.
3) Even the best commentary in the world was written by a man. Every man who has ever
lived has been wrong on some things.
4) The only perfect 100% accurate book you can own today is a King James Bible.
Now that we have seen what the commentators have said and not said regarding the angels of the churches let’s look at one final area and then try to tie it all together.
Going back to the Greek
Before we jump into this section, let me state two things. First, I am far from a expert on New Testament Greek. Second, you do not need to know any Greek at all to understand your Bible. God promised to preserve His word (see Psalm 12:7; Matthew 5:18;24:35), The originals have been gone for hundreds of years. If God kept his promise, and he did, then the preserved word of God is the King James Bible. You might ask, so why look at the Greek at all then? Because every person who tries to explain away the English does so with the Greek. A quick examination will prove that the Greek will solidify the position we have taken with the English.
The Greek word for angel is the word aggelos, (ang’-el-os). It is used in the New Testament 185 times in 180 verses. As we have already stated, angel is used 97 times in the New Testament, angels is used 81 times, messenger 5 times and messengers 4 times. This is a total for these four words of 187 times in the New Testament. The word aggelos is only translated into angel, angels, messenger, and messengers. These four words are not translated from any other Greek word. The two extra occurrences are Italicized words added by the King James translators in 1611 to allow for proper textual flow.
The Greek word aggelos does mean messenger, but every time it is referring to a heavenly messenger it is translated angel or angels. Every time it is referring to an earthly messenger it is translated messenger or messengers. Revelation 2:1 and following is to the angel not to the messenger of the church.
Bringing it all together
It is time to bring all of the information in the previous 6 chapters together and see how it all fits. We have stated that:
1) angel and angels appear in the Bible 295 times.
2) each of those 295 times the word is referring either to Deity or to an angel from heaven.
3) messenger and messengers appear in the Bible 113 times.
4) each of those 113 times the word is referring to a man bearing a message.
5) The letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 & 3 are addressed to the angel of the church.
6) This angel can not be the pastor.
That is systematic Bible study. Line upon line, precept upon precept. Genesis to Revelation. This is the best way to determine what the Bible says and teaches.
There is not a doubt in my mind that people will say “That can’t be” or “It has to be the pastor of the church” or “That's not what Dr. ____ believes”. Suit yourself, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But don’t you dare say “I believe the angel of the church is the pastor.” And then in the same breath say “I believe the King James Bible is perfect.” Because if the angel of the church is indeed the pastor, then it is a translation error.
But there are no errors in the King James Bible. Therefore the angel of the church must be an angel, just like it says.
Appendix I
Use of Angel and Angels in the Old Testament
Angel
Genesis: 16:7,9,10,11 21:17 22:11,15 24:7,40 31:11 48:16
Exodus: 3:2 14:19 23:20,23 32:34 33:2
Numbers: 20:16 22:22,23,24,25,26,27,31,32,34,35
Judges: 2:1,4 5:23 6:11,12,20,21,22 13:3,6,9,13,15,16,17,18,19,20,21
I Samuel: 29:9
II Samuel: 14:17,20 19:27 24:16,17
I Kings: 13:18 19:5,7 II Kings: 1:3,15 19:35
I Chron: 21:12,15,16,18,20,27,30 32:21
Psalm: 34:7 35:5,6 Eccles: 5:6
Isaiah: 37:36 63:9 Daniel 3:28 6:22
Hossea: 12:4
Zechariah: 1:9,11,12,13,14,19 2:3 3:1,3,5,6 4:1,4,5 5:5,10 6:4,5 12:8
Angels
Genesis: 19:1,15 28:12 32:1 Job: 4:18
Psalm: 8:5 68:17 78:25,49 91:11 103:20 104:4 148:2
Appendix II
Use of Angel and Angels in the New Testament
Angel
Matthew: 1:20,24 2:13,19 28:2,5
Luke: 1:11,13,18,19,26,28,30,34,35,38 2:9,10,13,21 22:43
John: 5:4 12:29
Acts:5:19 6:15 7:30,35,38 8:26 10:3,7,22 11:13
12:7,8,9,10,11,15,23 23:8,9 27:23
II Corinthians: 11:14 Galatians:1:8 4:14
Revelation: 1:1 2:1,8,12,18 3:1,7,14 5:2 7:2
8:3,5,7,8,10,12,13 9:1,11,13,14 10:1,5,7,8,9
11:1,15 14:6,8,9,15,17,18,19
16:3,4,5,8,10,12,17 17:7 18:1,21 19:17 20:1
21:17 22:6,8,16
Angels
Matthew: 4:6,11 13:39,41,49 16:27 18:10 22:30 24:31,36 25:31,41 26:53
Mark: 1:13 8:38 12:25 13:27,32
Luke: 2:15 4:10 9:26 12:8,9 15:10 16:22 20:36 24:23
John: 1:51 20:12 Acts: 7:53
Romans: 8:38
I Corinthians: 4:9 6:3 11:10 13:1
Galatians: 3:19 Colossians: 2:18
II Thessalonians: 1:7 I Timothy: 3:16 5:21
Hebrews: 1:4,5,6,7,13 2:2,5,7,9,16 12:22 13:2
I Peter: 1:12 3:22 II Peter: 2:4,11
Jude: 1:6
Revelation:1:20 3:5 5:11 7:1,2,11 8:2,6,13 9:14,15 12:7,9 14:10 15:1,6,7,8 16:1 17:1 21:9 21:12
Appendix III
Use of Messenger and Messengers in the Bible
Messenger
Genesis: 50:16 I Samuel: 4:17 23:27
II Samuel: 11:19,22,23,25 15:13
I Kings: 19:2 22:13
II Kings: 5:10 6:32,33 9:18 10:8
II Chronicles: 18:12 Job: 1:14 33:23
Proverbs: 13:17 17:11 25:13 Isaiah: 42:19
Jeremiah: 51:31 Ezekiel: 23:40
Haggai: 1:13 Malachi: 2:7 3:1
Matthew: 11:10 Mark: 1:2
Luke: 7:27 II Corinthians: 12:7
Philipians: 2:25
Messengers
Genesis: 32:3,6
Numbers: 20:14 21:21 22:5 24:12
Deuteronomy: 2:26 Joshua: 6:17,25 7:22
Judges: 6:35 7:24 9:31 11:12,13,14,17,19
I Samuel: 6:21 11:3,4,7,9 16:19 19:11,14,15,16,20,21
25:14,42
II Samuel: 2:5 3:12,14,26 5:11 11:4 12:27
I Kings: 20:2,5,9
II Kings: 1:2,3,5,16 7:15 14:8 16:7 17:4 19:9,14,23
I Chronicles: 14:1 19:2,16 II Chronicles: 36:15,16
Nehemiah: 6:3 Proverbs: 16:14
Isaiah: 14:32 18:2 37:9,14 44:26 57:9
Jeremiah: 27:3 Ezekiel: 23:16 30:9
Nahum: 2:13 Luke: 7:24 9:52
II Corinthians: 8:23 James: 2:25
End Notes
1) Greene, Dr. Oliver B. “The Revelation verse by verse
study” The Gospel Hour, Inc. Greenville, SC
Copyright 1963
Page 56, paragraph 2
2) Hyles, Dr. Jack “Let’s study the Revelation”
Sword of the Lord Publishers Murfreesboro, TN
Copyright 1967
Page 14, paragraph 1
3) Rice, Dr. John R. “Behold He Cometh! a verse by
verse commentary on the book of Revelation”
Sword of the Lord Publishers Murfreesboro, TN
Copyright 1977
Page 49, paragraph 2
4) McGee, Dr. J. Vernon “Revelation Volume I”
Thru the Bible Books Pasadena, CA
First Printing 1979
Page 58, paragraph 3
5) Lockyer, Herbert “All the Angels in the Bible”
Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. Peabody, MA
Copyright 1995
Pages 150, 151 & 164
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