He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,
18and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
20The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lamp stands are seven assemblies.
Apparently the book that John wrote was a circular work that traveled to each of the seven churches in Asia Minor in the late first century that are mentioned in Revelation 2:1—3:22. Some interpreters, however, believe that these seven congregations represent seven different periods in church history.
There are two major problems with this view. First, taking the churches as references to periods of history is to minimize or invalidate them as historical churches that were on a Roman road circuit in which a courier could deliver copies of the Revelation. This allegorical approach to interpreting the book as spiritual messages that relate to events in church history that have little to do with the historical period of the late first century A.D. Often those who adopt this approach find historical periods, periods, and events through the last two thousand years, such as the rise of the papacy, the Reformation, and the present era. Second, there is much disagreement among biblical scholars who hold this view, as is often through of allegory, in which there are as many interpretations as interpreters.
The literal interpretation, however, does provide helpful understanding of the early church in the apostolic period and the kinds of believers in that time, with their strengths and weaknesses. This makes the promises of God and warnings within the letters valuable for every church throughout history.