To the seven churches
The number seven is symbolic in biblical literature, often representing completeness or perfection. The seven churches mentioned are literal congregations in Asia Minor, but they also symbolize the universal Church throughout history. This duality emphasizes the timeless relevance of the message.

in the province of Asia
This refers to the Roman province of Asia, located in what is now modern-day Turkey. The historical context is crucial, as these churches were situated in a region known for its diverse cultures and religious practices, often facing persecution and challenges to their faith.

Grace and peace to you
This greeting is a common apostolic salutation found in the New Testament, combining the Greek "charis" (grace) and the Hebrew "shalom" (peace). It reflects the dual heritage of the early Church and underscores the unmerited favor and wholeness that come from God.

from Him who is and was and is to come
This phrase emphasizes the eternal nature of God, echoing the divine name revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14, "I AM WHO I AM." It reassures believers of God's sovereignty and unchanging presence throughout time.

and from the seven Spirits
The "seven Spirits" is a complex phrase that has been interpreted in various ways. It may refer to the fullness of the Holy Spirit, as seven signifies completeness. This interpretation aligns with Isaiah 11:2, which describes the Spirit of the Lord with seven attributes. It highlights the active and perfect work of the Holy Spirit in the Church.

before His throne
The throne symbolizes God's ultimate authority and majesty. The imagery of the throne room in Revelation is rich with Old Testament allusions, particularly from the books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. It serves as a reminder of God's supreme rule and the heavenly reality that underpins earthly events.

Seven churches.--It has been maintained by some (notably by Vitringa) that the epistles to the seven churches are prophetic, and set forth the condition of the Church in the successive epochs of its after-history. The growth of error, the development of schisms, the gloom of superstition, the darkness of mediaeval times, the dawn of the Reformation, the convulsions of after-revolutions, have been discovered in these brief and forcible epistles. Such a view needs no formal refutation. The anxiety for circumstantial and limited fulfilments of prophecy has been at the root of such attempts. When we read God's words as wider than our thoughts we stand in no need of such desperate efforts at symmetrical interpretations; for the truth then is seen to be that words addressed to one age have their fitness for all; and that these epistles are the heritage of the Church in every epoch. In this sense the churches are types and representatives of the whole family of God. Every community may find its likeness here. This much is admitted by the best commentators of all schools. "The seven churches," says St. Chrysostom, "are all churches by reason of the seven Spirits." "By the seven," writes St. Augustine, "is signified the perfection of the Church universal, and by writing to the seven he shows the fulness of one." And the words, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches," 'are, as has been well observed, a direct intimation that some universal application of their teaching was intended.

Grace be unto you, and peace.--Three apostles, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. John, adopt the same salutation. Not only is this a kind of link of Christian fellowship between them, but its adoption by St. John, after St. Paul had first used it, is a slight token that the Apocalypse cannot be regarded (as some recent critics would have it) as an anti-Pauline treatise. As the Christian greeting, it transcends while it embraces the Greek and Hebrew salutations. There is no tinge of the sadness of separation; it is the greeting of hope and repose, grounded on the only true foundation of either, the grace of God, which is the well-spring of life and love.

From him which is, and which was, and which is to come (or, which cometh).--The phrase presents a remarkable violation of grammar; but the violation is clearly intentional. It is not the blunder of an illiterate writer; it is the deliberate putting in emphatic form the "Name of Names." "Should not," says Professor Lightfoot, "this remarkable feature be preserved in an English Bible? If in Exodus 3:14 the words run, 'I AM hath sent me unto you,' may we not also be allowed to read here, from 'HE THAT IS, AND THAT WAS, AND THAT IS TO COME?'" The expression must not be separated from what follows. The greeting is triple: from Him which is, and which was, and which cometh; from the seven Spirits; and from Jesus Christ--i.e., from the Triune God. The first phrase would therefore seem to designate God the Father, the self-existing, eternal One, the fount and origin of all existence. Professor Plumptre suggests that the phrase used here may be used in allusion and contrast to the inscription spoken of by Plutarch, on the Temple of Isis, at Sais: "I am all that has come into being, and that which is, and that which shall be; and no man hath lifted my vail." The heathen inscription identifies God with the universe, making Him, not an ever-being, but an ever-becoming, from whom personality is excluded: the Christian description is of the personal, everlasting, self-revealing God--who is, who was, and who cometh. We should have expected after "is" and "was" "will be;" but there is no "will be" with an eternal God. With Him all is; so the word "cometh" is used, hinting His constant manifestations in history, and the final coming in judgment. This allusion to the Second Coming is denied by Professor Plumptre, but as he admits that the words, "He that cometh," used in the Gospels, and applied by the Jews to the Messiah, may be designedly employed here by the Apostle, it is difficult to see how the Advent idea can be excluded. The word appears to imply that we are to be always looking for Him whose "comings" recur in all history as the earnests of the fuller and final Advent.

From the seven Spirits.--The interpretation which would understand these seven Spirits to be the seven chief angels, though supported by names of great weight, is plainly untenable. The context makes it impossible to admit any other meaning than that the greeting which comes from the Father and the Son comes also from the Holy Spirit sevenfold in His operations, whose gifts are diffused among all the churches, and who divides to every man severally as He will. For corresponding thoughts in the Old Testament, compare the seven lamps and seven eyes of Zechariah (Zechariah 3:9; Zechariah 4:2; Zechariah 4:10), "the symbols of eternal light and all embracing knowledge." It may not be inappropriate to note that Philo speaks of the number seven in its mystical import as identical with unity, as unity developed in diversity, and yet remaining one. This unity in diversity is the thought St. Paul seems anxious to keep before the minds of the Corinthians, lest their gifts should become the source of division. All work that one and self-same spirit (1Corinthians 12:11). The after-recurrence in this book of the number seven is, I think, selected to support this thought of completeness and variety; the dramatic unity is preserved, though the scenes which are unfolded are amply diversified; and the seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials, are not three successive periods, but three aspects of one complete period presided over by that one Spirit whose guidance may be seen in all ages, and in diverse ways. The Spirits are before the throne. This reference to the throne gives a touch of authority to the description. The Holy Spirit who pleads with men is the Spirit from God's Throne. . . .