It has been a matter of conjecture as to who the angel or messenger was that Christ sent to deliver the prophecies to John.  Some suppose it to have been Gabriel, because of his having been a chosen instrument to deliver similar prophecies to Daniel.  Some think it was Elijah, he having been translated that he should not see death, and afterwards appearing on the mount of transfiguration.  Others think it was one of the redeemed sons of earth; because afterward, when rejecting the worship John was about to tender him, he says, “See thou do it not:  I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus:  worship God.”  Chaps. 19:10; 22:9.  But we can not identify this messenger positively, as no definite information is given.  To these revelations received John bore a faithful record of all things that he saw, implying the fact that they passed in vision before him and he beheld them as in a picture.

    4.  JOHN to the seven churches which are in Asia:  Grace be unto
    you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is
    to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

5.  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.  Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

    6.  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father;
    to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.  Amen.

    7.  Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him,
    and they also which pierced him:  and all kindreds of the earth
    shall wail because of him.  Even so, Amen.

    8.  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the
    Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the
    Almighty.

The Apocalypse opens with the salutation of John to the seven churches in Asia, unto whom it was particularly addressed, and for whom special messages were prepared.  There were other congregations of the church of God in Asia, or Asia Minor, besides the seven to whom the Revelation was sent, such as Colosse, Miletus, Troas, etc.  Why only seven were addressed, we do not know, unless it be that the number seven is used, as elsewhere in the Sacred Volume, to denote fulness or completeness, being, as has been said, “a kind of memorial of the great facts of the first seven days of time which have divided all ages into cycles of weeks.”  So when we read of Christ’s walking in the midst of the seven churches, we are to understand that he is in all the congregations of his people; and the ministers of the seven churches who are upheld by the Lord himself are representative, in one important sense at least, of the entire Christian ministry; for Christ has promised to be with them alway “even unto the end of the world.”  Mat. 28:20.