9 I am John, your brother who shares with you in the suffering and in the kingdom and in the patient waiting that are our experience in Jesus. I was detained on the island of Patmos for sharing the word of God and the truth as revealed by Jesus. 10 I was filled by the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard a loud voice behind me that sounded like a trumpet. 11 It told me, "Write down in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."
20 The meaning of the seven stars that you saw me holding in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks is this: the seven stars are the angels1:20. Angel means "messenger." of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches."