Have sent mine angel - See the notes on Revelation 1:1.

To testify unto you - That is, to be a witness for me in communicating these things to you.

In the churches - Directly and immediately to the seven churches in Asia Minor Revelation 2:3; remotely and ultimately to all churches to the end of time. Compare the notes on Revelation 1:11.

I am the root - Not the root in the sense that David sprang from him, as a tree does from a root, but in the sense that he was the "root-shoot" of David, or that he himself sprang from him, as a sprout starts up from a decayed and fallen tree - as of the oak, the willow, the chestnut, etc. See this explained in the notes on Isaiah 11:1. The meaning then is, not that he was the ancestor of David, or that David sprang from him, but that he was the offspring of David, according to the promise in the Scripture, that the Messiah should be descended from him. No argument, then, can be derived from this passage in proof of the pre-existence, or the divinity of Christ.

And the offspring - The descendant; the progeny of David; "the seed of David according to the flesh." See the notes on Romans 1:3. It is not unusual to employ two words in close connection to express the same idea with some slight shade of difference.

And the bright and morning star - See the notes on Revelation 2:28. It is not uncommon to compare a prince, a leader, a teacher, with that bright and beautiful star which at some seasons of the year precedes the rising of the sun, and leads on the day. Compare the notes on Isaiah 14:12. The reference here is to that star as the harbinger of day; and the meaning of the Saviour is, that he sustains a relation to a dark world similar to this beautiful star. At one time he is indeed compared with the sun itself in giving light to the world; here he is compared with that morning star rather with reference to its beauty than its light. May it not also have been one object in this comparison to lead us, when we look on that star, to think of the Saviour? It is perhaps the most beautiful object in nature; it succeeds the darkness of the night; it brings on the day - and as it mingles with the first rays of the morning, it seems to be so joyous, cheerful, exulting, bright, that nothing can be better adapted to remind us of Him who came to lead on eternal day. Its place - the first thing that arrests the eye in the morning - might serve to remind us that the Saviour should be the first object that should draw the eye and the heart on the return of each day. In each trial - each scene of sorrow - let us think of the bright star of the morning as it rises on the darkness of the night - emblem of the Saviour rising on our sorrow and our gloom.

unto you—ministers and people in the seven representative churches, and, through you, to testify to Christians of all times and places.

root … offspring of David—appropriate title here where assuring His Church of "the sure mercies of David," secured to Israel first, and through Israel to the Gentiles. Root of David, as being Jehovah; the offspring of David as man. David's Lord, yet David's son (Mt 22:42-45).

the morning star—that ushered in the day of grace in the beginning of this dispensation and that shall usher in the everlasting day of glory at its close.

to testify, to bear witness to the truth of the things contained in it; to signify and show them, to set them forth in emblems and visions:

unto you these things in the churches; to the servants of the Lord, Revelation 22:6 to John, and by him to others, to the pastors of the seven churches, who were "over" the churches, as it may be rendered, and to the members of the churches, to all that were in them; for the Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions read "in"; the Syriac version renders it, "before the churches". What John saw he wrote in a book, and sent it to these churches, Revelation 1:11. The words may be rendered, "concerning the churches"; and then the sense is, that the angel was sent to show to John, and by him to others, even to all the saints in all ages, the things relating to the church of Christ, in the several periods of time, represented in succession by the seven churches of Asia. Christ gives a further account of himself, for the greater confirmation of the faith of his people, in the certain accomplishment of the things herein written, by saying,

I am the root and the offspring of David. The former of these is mentioned in the note; see Gill on Revelation 5:5; and the meaning of it is, either that Christ, as God, is David's Lord and head, from whom he had his being, both in a temporal and spiritual sense, and by whom he was supported and sustained; or that, as man, he sprung from the root of David, or descended from him; and so it falls in with the latter, which may be explanative of it, "the offspring of David"; that is, the soft of David, according to the flesh, a frequent name of the Messiah; See Gill on Matthew 1:1. God promised that the Messiah should be of the seed of David, and according to his promise he raised up unto Israel of his seed, a Saviour Jesus, the same person here speaking, Acts 13:23 who adds,

and the bright and morning star; Christ is compared to a "star", as in Numbers 24:17 for its light, the light of nature, and of grace, and of the new Jerusalem state being from him; and for its glory, his glory being the glory of the only begotten of the Father, and he having a glory, as Mediator, which his saints will ever behold, and be delighted with; and for its influence, all the blessings of grace, life, and righteousness, being from him; and to a "bright" star, because he is the brightness of his Father's glory, and so splendid, shining, and illustrious, that he is light itself, and in him is no darkness at all; and to a bright "morning" star, which shows the night is going off and the day is coming on, and is the phosphorus, or bringer of light; as Christ by his first coming, who was then the dayspring from on high, put an end to the night of Jewish darkness, and sprung the great Gospel day, so often spoken of by the prophets, and brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel, and showed the way to eternal life by himself; so by his second coming, to which this character refers, he will put an end to the night of antichristian darkness, Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan; so that there shall be no more night, and shall make an everlasting day, and bring such light into the holy city, that it shall need no candle, nor light of the sun or moon. The dawn of light at the Reformation was a presage of this, Revelation 2:28 called there the morning star. With great propriety and pertinence are these titles here assumed by Christ, as "the root and offspring of David", or David's son, when he was about to sit on the throne of his father David, and possess his kingdom in the most visible and glorious manner; and "the bright and morning star", when he was going to usher in such light into the new Jerusalem, as would make all other light unnecessary. Aijeleth Shahar, in the title of Psalm 22:1 which is a psalm that belongs to the Messiah, is, by some Jewish writers (l), interpreted, , "the morning star", the title of Christ here.

(l) Apud Kimchi in loc.

(8) The second passage of confirmation (as I said) is the speech of Christ ratifying the vocation of John, and the authority of his calling and testimony, both from the condition of his own person being God and man, in whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen; 2Co 1:20 and also from the testimony of other people, by the acclamation of the Holy Spirit, who here is an honourable assistant of the marriage of the Church as the spouse: and of each of the godly as members; and finally from the thing present, that of their own knowledge and accord, they are called forth to the participation of the good things of God; Ge 22:17.