Revelation part 5
Eternity Online: John Edmiston (Editor)
Eternity-Inspiration for Monday 20th October 1997
Revelation part 5
(Revelation 1:4-5a NKJV) 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, {5}
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the
dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
"from the seven Spirits who are before His throne". This is a
puzzling reference. A Trinity is hard enough to comprehend but the
Holy Spirit having "seven Spirits" is a difficulty indeed! There are
two main lines of thought that I have come across. (1) That seven is
symbolic of perfection and the immense spiritual complexity of God
the Holy Spirit. This has some weight in a highly symbolic book like
Revelation which uses numbers in their symbolic meanings quite often.
(2) That it refers to the seven spirits found in Isaiah 11:2 "(Isaiah
11:2 NKJV) 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." The seven spirits being
the spirit of 1)the Lord 2)wisdom 3)understanding 4)counsel 5)might
6)knowledge 7)fear of the Lord. Both are good interpretations and
in such cases it is not wrong to grab hold of both - perhaps God
meant us to see both meanings.
What does this say to us then? That the grace and peace which was
being extended to the seven churches from God was extended through
the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit who is prefect and complex
and who would work among them to fill them with the Lord Himself,
wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and fear of the
Lord. Theologically this is consistent with other verses on how the
Spirit operates in the church (1 Cor 2:10-16, 1 Jn 2:20,27, Jn 14:26
etc) and with the testimony that when the Spirit is present in power
people experience a deep "fear of the Lord" and emboldening in
"might" and an increase in "understanding" of the things of God. I
suppose all seven attributes are present when the Spirit comes in
true personal or corporate revival.
The seven spirits are "before His throne". They are tied in with the
holiness and justice of God and are His to sovereignly appoint. They
can perhaps be said to have a "holy majesty". This is reflected in
the other references to them in Revelation
(Revelation 3:1 NKJV) "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 NKJV) 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 NKJV) 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.
The seven Spirits of God are flames of fire before the throne and
they are the Lamb's "eyes" - organs of perception, sent out into all
the earth. They are also essential to true spiritual life for the
dead church in Sardis. They belong to both the Father and the Son in
that they are part of the vision describing the Father in Rev 4 and
then part of the vision describing the Lamb in chapter 5.
Despite the almost bewildering complexity we feel when we touch on
such holy topics there is a core that is certain. God is Spirit and
is unimaginably holy, complex and perfect. He sees all and knows all
and pentrates into our lives with utmost clarity. Like a fire the
Holy Spirit tolerates no sin and no impurity and is entirely pure in
Himself. Let us finish with a few verses from Hebrews that amplify
this theme.....
(Hebrews 4:13 NKJV) And there is no creature hidden from His sight,
but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must
give account.
(Hebrews 12:28-29 NKJV) Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom
which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear. {29} For our God is a
consuming fire.
Prayer:
Lord God Almighty we are unclean except that You make us clean. Your
Holy Spirit is too holy for us unless the blood sanctifies us. May
the seven Spirits of God which are before your throne indwell our
hearts with power so that we may show Jesus to the world in wisdom,
understanding , counsel, might, knowledge , and fear of the Lord.
Amen
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