Revelation 1:20

the mystery The use of this word in the N. T. is not very far removed from its primary meaning in classical Greek. We may paraphrase it, "the hidden divine truth, now made known, but made known to God's favoured ones only:" see Ephesians 3:3-12 for the completest illustration of its meaning. Here the senseis, "I reveal to thee the secret and sacred meaning of …" The constructionmust be, "Write (among other things) the mystery of …:" for the context shews that the word "mystery" is an accusative not a nominative.

the seven golden candlesticks In construction (but hardly in sense) these words are coordinate with "the mystery," not a genitive case dependent on it.

the angels of the seven churches For the meaning of the word "Angels" here, see Excursus I.

the seven candlesticks Plainly this image is suggested by the seven-branched candlestick of Exodus 25:31 sqq. still more by the mystical vision of one resembling it, in Zechariah 4. But here the image of seven detachedcandlesticks does not exactly correspond to the description of either, nor are we to assume that the significance of those is exactly the same as of these.