Revelation 1:16

In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. (Rev 1:16)

I wonder what the seven stars appeared to be. I assume it was as seven stars we would see in the night sky. Even so, what a brilliant visualization to see. Where they held like marbles in His hand or did they float above His hand? I find the image fascinating. 

Verse 20 tells us that the seven stars represent the seven angels for the churches. There are other interpretations to go with that.

1. One is that that this is also a reference from Greco-Roman culture and their pagan understandings of the Zodiac. In short, they thought they understood the skies to be a swirling ocean since the stars don’t stay in the same place. Astronomers of their day also noticed there were seven stars that did not move according to the same pattern (the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn). Obviously, the Greco-Romans connected these to their pagan gods and mythology, but to say you “hold the seven stars in your hand” would be a way of saying you control the universe. 
2.  In addition to this, there was a great crisis in astronomy. In the cosmology of the ancient middle-east, the earth was the center of the universe and the stars were all attached to a great shell, referred to as ‘the heavens’. Between the earth and the heavens were seven ’stars’, the sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Where the crisis occurred was when Greek astronomers found ancient records indicating that during the Vernal Equinox the sky was in Taurus, not Aries. Not understanding that the earth’s “wobble” would take it through each of the signs of the Zodiac, changing every 2160 years, the astronomers realized that something had “killed” Taurus, giving way to Aries. That “something” had to be bigger than the heavens, and controlled the seven stars. So, they made up a new god and named him Mithra. Again, this vision of Jesus holding the seven stars would indicate He was the real authority and power.

I believe the Word that these seven stars were the angels for the churches. I also believe that God does all things perfect and in so representing that He has full control over heaven, to include angels, and He walks among us as well, He could just as perfectly been intent to show any non-believer who would read this that He also has full authority and control over the universe. God’s Word is timeless and seems to be able to always relate to those who lived then and to us who live now to show who He is whether they believe faithfully or not. 

The fact that the stars are in Jesus’ right hand indicates that they are important and under His authority. The word “angel” literally means “messenger.” But that leads us to the question—are these messengers human messengers or heavenly beings? 

It could be that every local church has a “guardian angel” who oversees and protects that congregation. Even if that is the case, one interpretation of the “messengers” is that they are the pastors of the seven churches, symbolized by the lampstands. A pastor is God’s “messenger” to the church in that he is responsible to faithfully preach God’s Word to them. John’s vision shows that each pastor is being held in the Lord’s right hand. And, as we learn in John 10:28, no one can snatch them out of Jesus’ hand.