Seven Spirits of God
The first phrase of the first verse of the book of Revelation identifies the central theme of this book:
Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants -- things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,
The book of Revelation gives a glimpse of the things that will soon come to pass, but the ultimate purpose is ‘The Revelation Jesus Christ’. Philippians 2 tells us that even though Jesus was in the form of God, He humbled Himself, took on the role of a bondservant and the appearance of man. He veiled Himself at His first appearance so that He could accomplish His purpose of dying on the cross for our sins. However, when He returns, the veil will be removed and His glory will be revealed. Every knee will bow in heaven, earth, and under the earth and every tongue will confess Him as Lord. He came as a servant to call the church to follow, but when He returns, He will come as the King of kings. Now continue with Revelation 1:
7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
Compare this to the Old Testament prophecy of Daniel 7:
13 " I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.
These two passages refer to the same event from two different perspectives. In the previous section, we saw that the tribes of the earth are the Israelites. The Bible tells us that they will see Christ whom they have pierced and inquire about His wounds. They will then understand that they crucified their Messiah and they will “mourn as one who mourns over the loss of a firstborn son”. The remnant of Israel will then repent and accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Savior. Daniel 7:12 tells us that the remnant of the Anti-Christ’s kingdom will lose their dominion but will have their lives spared for a period of time. We will cover this in greater detain when we look at the 1,000 year reign of Christ.
When Christ is revealed, every eye will see Him, His glory revealed and He will be known as He truly is. In the early chapters of the Book of Revelation, several things are revealed about Jesus Christ:
He is the Ruler over the kings of the earth (vs. 1:5)
He is the Almighty (vs. 1:8)
He is and has the Word (2:12)
He is the Alpha and the Omega; Beginning and the End; First and the Last (vs. 1:8, 1:11, 1:17, 2:8, 21:6, 22:13)
He is eternal - was, is and is to come (vs. 1:4 and 1:8)
He holds the angels of the seven churches (vs. 1:16, 1:20, 3:1)
He dwells among the seven churches (vs. 1:13, 1:20)
He washed us from our sins with His own blood (vs. 1:5)
He is Firstborn from the dead (vs. 1:5)
He lives, was dead and is alive again (vs. 1:18, 2:8)
He holds the keys to death and hades (vs. 1:18)
He has the key of David (3:7)
He has the Seven Spirits of God (1:4, 3:1, 4:5, 5:6, Isaiah 11:1-2)
He is Holy and True (3:7)
He is Faithful and True witness (3:14)
We could spend weeks examining each of these attributes in detail, however, in this portion of our Revelation study, I want to examine three of these that I believe all the other attributes are founded upon.
Christ is Eternally the same
He is the eternal Christ, the Almighty, the Word of God and the First and the Last. Each of these point to the deity of Christ. Revelation 1:8 says,
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End," says the Lord, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
This passage removes all doubt that Jesus Christ is equating Himself with God – just as all of scripture testifies. Throughout Revelation, Jesus repeatedly declares that He is the First and the Last. This points directly to Jehovah’s declaration in the Old Testament found in Isaiah 44:
6 "Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ’I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God."
When John looked to see who was speaking, he said,
“and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.” (Revelation 1:13)
In the gospels, John is referred to as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’. Of course Jesus loved all the disciples, but John had an affection for Christ that was evident by the fact that he was always the closest to Jesus. Therefore, when John looked at the voice of the Almighty who was speaking, there is very little doubt that he would have recognized Him. When John looked, he declared that the One in the candlesticks was like the Son of Man who he had dwelled with for 3 ½ years on earth. As most of us know, the ‘Son of Man’ is the title Jesus Christ called Himself throughout the gospels. Some Christians get confused with the term ‘Son of Man’ thinking indicates He was only a man. Jesus used this as a reference to prophecy so that those who knew the scriptures would understand the fulfillment of prophecy. When Pilot was examining Jesus before His crucifixion, He asked Jesus if He was the Son of God. Jesus acknowledged this to be true and then said, “I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven”. Jesus tied Pilot’s question about the Son of God directly to the title, ‘the Son of Man’. ‘Son of Man points directly to the Old Testament prophecy of His second coming. Look at Daniel 7:
13 " I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.
This is the foretelling of what we find in Revelation 1:7. The Son of Man was born as a man, but existed long eternally before His birth. The Christ is, was, and is to come. The Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
In the Old Testament, God said, “I am the First and the Last”. Now we see that Jesus declares, “I am the First and the Last”. In the Old Testament, God declared that He is the Almighty. In Revelation, Jesus declares that He is the Almighty.
Firstborn from the dead
Jesus is the firstborn from the dead because He is the resurrection and He was raised first. Firstborn is always a reference to honor and authority. In the Old Testament, the firstborn son was always given a double inheritance and was the one who had authority over his brothers and sisters. The Bible calls us sons and daughters of God, but also joint heirs with Christ. It is because we first become children of God that we are born into His kingdom and become fellow laborers and heirs to His kingdom. We become children of God by being washed in the blood of Christ. He washed our sins away by His shed blood on the cross and we inherit His righteousness when we are born into His kingdom. He declares of Himself, “I was alive, was dead, and am alive again”. It is His resurrection that validates His sacrifice on the cross and testifies on behalf of His claim, “I am the resurrection”. It was through His death and resurrection that He took the keys of death and Hades. He holds the power over death and the grave; He took away the sting of death and the victory of the grave.
The keys of David refer to the future of Israel. In Revelation 3:8, Jesus told the faithful church, “I set before you an open door that no man can shut”. The opportunity to spread the gospel and accomplish God’s will cannot be hindered by anyone when God has opened the door. The same is true for Israel. When Christ opens the door for Israel to return, the world cannot hinder the work of God. Israel has a point in time when they will see the door of the gospel opened to them (Romans 13). Jesus holds that key and at the appointed time, He will open that door again. He rules the throne of David. There will be a time when He will claim that throne.
Seven Spirits of God
Many often wonder at this passage. How can there be seven Spirits of God if there is only one God? As always, the only way to faithfully interpret scripture is by scripture. Let’s look at broader view and see how the rest of scripture defines this attribute.
Revelation 1
4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,
Revelation 3:1 "And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ’ These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
Revelation 4
5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Revelation 5
6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
Just in the book of Revelation alone, we see that there are several keys provided to help us understand the seven Spirits of God. Revelation 1 tells us that the churches are greeted by Jesus Christ and the Seven Spirits before His throne. Revelation 3 says that Jesus has the Seven Spirits of God. Revelation 4 tells us that the Seven Spirits of God are the lamps of fire before the throne. Finally, Revelation 5 tells us that the seven eyes of the Lamb (who is Christ) are the seven Spirits of God. These four passages provide four attributes of the seven Spirits of God:
1. Seven Spirits of God greet the churches
2. Jesus has the Seven Spirits
3. Seven Spirits are the seven lamps
4. Seven Spirits are the seven eyes of the Lamb
Now let’s go to the Old Testament where the keys of interpretation of the book of Revelation are always found. Look first at 2 Chronicles 16:9
"For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is completely His.
We can understand the eyes of the Lamb being the seven Spirits of God because this passage explains the same principle. Nothing escapes the eyes of God. The person whose heart is loyal to God will have the power of God even if all of life is stacked against them. This concept has been lost in the church today. We now think that we must make right every wrong. The average Christian today is not willing to miss out on pleasure and is not willing to make a sacrifice because we simply do not believe that God is watching and we don’t truly believe that God will show Himself strong in our lives. We constantly hear people teaching about what God can do for us, but there is no call to live godly and walk by faith. Walking by faith is not believing that God is going to do what I want or give me what I desire. Walking by faith is believing God will show Himself strong when life is not going according to my plans or desires. Faith is believing that God’s plan is always good – even when I don’t see it from where I am. A man or woman of faith will not take desperate measures to gain control of their world, but will trust in God who is always in control and will commit themselves to living according to God’s will. Many are willing to sacrifice principles for gain, but few will sacrifice gain for godly principles. This was rare in the Old Testament and is even more rare today. God searches the hearts and tests the minds to give each person according to their ways and the fruit of their works (Jeremiah 17:10).
Another passage that explains the seven Spirits of God in great detail is Isaiah 11:
1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
3 His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
…
10 " And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious."
According to this passage, the seven Spirits of God are:
1. The Spirit of the Lord
2. The Spirit of Wisdom
3. The Spirit of Understanding
4. The Spirit of Counsel
5. The Spirit of Might
6. The Spirit of Knowledge
7. The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord
According to the book of Revelation, Jesus has these seven Spirits of God. This agrees with the rest of scripture. Look at Colossians 2
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
“In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily”. Can scripture be any clearer than this? Colossians 1 also agrees with this principle and also supports many of the other attributes of Christ we looked at earlier. Colossians 1
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,
20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight –
Many of the references to Christ in the Old Testament paint this picture of His Spirit that agrees with these passages in Revelation. Sometimes Jesus is revealed in the Old Testament with amazing detail, but veiled in a mystery that could not be understood until looking through the cross. One such example is Proverbs 8:
11 For wisdom is better than rubies, And all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.
12 " I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And find out knowledge and discretion.
13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength.
15 By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice.
16 By me princes rule, and nobles, All the judges of the earth.
17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.
The same seven Spirits found in Revelation and in Isaiah, are also found here. Though the Old Testament prophets did not know Him by name, He clearly revealed to them that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. The Old Testament revealed His attributes; the virgin birth revealed His name; the Cross revealed His plan; and the book of Revelation reveals His glory.
