Revelation 1:4: "The Seven Spirits of God"

Revelation 1:4  John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; 

One of the goals for my study of Revelation is to show how Revelation is the culmination of the Bible, and with that in mind, to show how it links up with the rest of Scripture.  These verses are so packed that it took us one study just to go through verses 4-6.  Every phrase is powerful, and usually references other portions of Scripture, if not outright quoting them.  But as "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" these Scriptures are so powerful for communicating who Jesus is as we start this book.  Let's take a look...

John to the seven churches which are in Asia:

I read that while there were bishops over the different churches in the various cities, John, as the last living apostle, probably served as the bishop over Asia in a broader sense, giving guidance to these important churches in a larger role, than say, Timothy, as the bishop in Ephesus.  We will, of course, be looking at these churches in much more detail as we continue through chapters 2 and 3.

Grace be unto you, and peace,

The classic greeting, which Paul often used in his letters!  Grace, a play on the Greek way of greeting people, and peace, a play on the Jewish way of greeting people. Both elements as one church in this dual greeting.

From him which is, and which was, and which is to come;

It's tempting to skip over this as simply a way of referring to an eternal deity, which it certainly is, but let's think about why John is using this particular phrase.  It's repeated in verse 8, being said by "the Lord", in connection with being the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the Almighty, which Jesus claims to be throughout the book.  And it takes us back to the first time when Moses, at the burning bush, asked who he should say sent him.  God's response?

Exodus 3:14  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 

There's an eternal element to this, as well.  What else would you call Someone who Is, Was, and Is To Come? He would call Himself, "I AM." The significance of this phrasing in connection to Jesus cannot be overstated.  It's reminiscent of the words from Hebrews:

Hebrews 13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Some people would like to make a distinction between the persons referenced as the message being FROM the one who is, was, and is to come, and FROM Jesus Christ, as if there are two different people giving this message.  But I'm not sure that Revelation gives us that option.  What we know is that just as Moses was told that his message for the people of God was from "I AM", the message John receives for the people of God is from "Him which IS, and which WAS, and which IS TO COME."

And from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; 

And now we are at one of those head swivel moments in the book of Revelation.  What?? The seven spirits which are before his throne?  What is THAT about?  Now some would say that this is tapping into second temple Jewish literature which claims that there are seven archangels before the throne of God.  Could be.  It wouldn't change my theology a ton if that were true.  However, I do wonder if something else is going on.  What do we know about these seven spirits from the rest of the book?

Revelation 3:1  And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

The first thing to note about this is that Jesus "has" the seven spirits of God.  Is this verse conflating the seven spirits with the seven stars in his hand, which we know from Revelation 1:20 are the seven angels of the seven churches?  Possibly.  It does seem odd though that the message would be TO the seven angels of the seven churches which are the seven spirits of God FROM the seven spirits of God as in verse 4.  Let's look further.

Revelation 4:5  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Now we see seven lamps before the throne which seem to suggest the candlesticks, which are the seven churches.  But these seven lamps of fire are identified with the seven spirits of God once again.  Hold on to these images.

Revelation 5:6  And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Finally, the Lamb, which we would all agree (I hope) represents Jesus, has seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.  Seven eyes?  Is that how you usually picture Jesus? But this isn't the first time seven eyes are connected to God in prophetic literature.  It's time to rewind into the Old Testament.  John isn't just using this phrase out of nowhere.  This phrase has appeared before...

In the context of the rebuilding of the Temple after the Babylonian Exile, two prophets are instrumental in its rebuilding.  Haggai and Zechariah.  Zechariah is referenced a LOT in the New Testament, and in particular, the book of Revelation.  Zerubbabel was the political leader of the time that is called on to lead the people, and Joshua was the high priest.  In Zechariah chapter 3, the prophet sees a vision of the high priest, Joshua, being restored to his position as high priest.  And in the context of the vision, this little gem is dropped...

Zechariah 3:8  Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH. 

Zechariah 3:9  For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

There's a reference to a stone, which particularly in the context of rebuilding the Temple has Messianic overtones (the stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner, you know. ["The BRANCH" also has Messianic overtones.])  But there is something odd about the stone before Joshua, which we're supposed to look at.  It has seven eyes.  And there is a promise connected to it that the iniquity of the land will be removed in one day.  I have a theory about when iniquity was removed because the price was paid by Jesus...

Then in the very next chapter, Zechariah is awakened out of his sleep to look at seven lampstands.  (Hint: this should ring a bell from Revelation chapter 4...scroll back up and reread that verse if you've forgotten...)  

Zechariah 4:2  And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: 

Zechariah 4:3  And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. 

Zechariah asks the angel that woke him up to look at it what these things are. The angel, seemingly surprised that he doesn't know, responds:

Zechariah 4:6  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. 

Oh, of course!  Why didn't I see that?  This is a pretty famous Scripture, but did you know it was prompted by the gold candlestick with seven lampstands?  Something about these seven lamps connected to the one golden candlestick has something to do with the empowering spirit of God.  Seven lamps connected with the Spirit of the LORD...

Zechariah 4:7  Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. 

Hmm...now we're talking about a headstone.  Weren't we just talking about a stone in front of Joshua with seven eyes?  Now that's interesting, isn't it?

Zechariah 4:8  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 

Zechariah 4:9  The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. 

Zechariah 4:10  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth. 

The direct context in Zechariah's day was in building the temple, and the promise is that the same hands of Zerubbabel that began the house will finish it.  This seemed like an impossible task by might or power, but with God's Spirit he will be able to do it.  And for anyone who despises the small start?  Guess what?  They will see the "plummet", which is a building tool associated with...wait for it...stones, with those seven (what seven? the seven lamps?), which are the eyes of the LORD running to and fro through the whole earth.  Hang on, we've seen that before in this blog post (but, of course, since we are studying Revelation, we approached it backwards).  The lamb had seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God, and there were seven lamps before the throne which are the seven spirits of God...

Okay, Michael, would you just get to the point and tell us what you think about this already?  I'll be honest, this is such a rich and complicated topic that it's hard for me to nail down a simple, straightforward answer to the question "What are the seven spirits of God?"  But as we look at this jewel with its multiple facets, I don't feel content to just call these seven angels.  I think there's more going on here.  Seven is obviously a very significant number in the Bible. It's spelled with the same Hebrew letters as the word for "complete" or "full".  Going all the way back to the Seven Days of Creation when God finished all His work and rested on the seventh day, we see seven being used to signal something that is complete or full.  I wonder if that's what's going on here? The complete and full Spirit of God, the complete and full vision of God...not just with two eyes like us, but with seven that see everything everywhere.  That's not the way we talk about things in our logical, western-minded culture.  We use words like "omniscient" and "omnipresent."  But mightn't the Bible use an image like the seven eyes of God to communicate the same concept?  Seeing everything everywhere?  All-knowing with His seven eyes.  

And I feel like it's not a coincidence that the symbol of the seven lamps with the one candlestick is used.  The sense of the candlestick with the seven lamps seems to me to be that, just as in the candlestick in the Tabernacle, the same oil flowed through the entire thing but produced seven flames, perhaps that's the same image being invoked by the seven spirits of God.  We know that there's only one Spirit of God, ultimately.

Ephesians 4:4  There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 

1st Corinthians 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 

1st Corinthians 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 

But it's just possible that the image being used here in Revelation is one of the full or complete Spirit of God in every aspect.  Many commentators point to Isaiah 11, as a reference point for these verses:

Isaiah 11:1  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 

Isaiah 11:2  And 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; 

Again, this is a prophecy of the Messiah (note the connection to "The Branch" in Zechariah 3:8), and of the Spirit that will be upon Him.  But how many Spirits?  Well, one, right?  But notice that there are seven attributes of that Spirit... (count them!)  The Lamb with seven eyes, Jesus who has the seven spirits of God.  If I'm right about the number seven representing completeness or fulness, and the Seven Spirits of God representing the entire, whole, complete, full Spirit of God--every aspect of it--that is pretty powerful in reference to Jesus!

Colossians 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 

But, wait, you might be saying, I thought the seven candlesticks represented the seven churches in Revelation 1!  Haven't you read ahead?  I have, but as I was reading Zechariah it hit me what an appropriate symbol it is to be connected with both Christ and the Church!  After all, what is the church?  The Body of Christ!  And, in theory, what are we supposed to be?  The light of the world!  (Matthew 5:14-16)  The same Spirit should be flowing through each part of the body, all of us drinking the oil flowing from the one Spirit through that gold candlestick, but producing seven distinct flames.  As individual churches, we just have one flame, but the same Spirit.  But Jesus was the Light of the World, in the sense that He is the One Candlestick WITH the seven spirits of God, the seven flames flowing out of Him!  Isn't that awesome?!  His identity determines OUR identity!  That's how the message could be FROM the Seven Spirits before the Throne of God, TO the Seven Stars, the Seven Angels of the Seven Churches, which are the Seven Candlesticks.  Jesus is in the midst of the seven lamps!

For me, this concept is truly...wait for it...a Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 1:1-3: "The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ"

Revelation 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 

Revelation 1:2  Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 

Revelation 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. 

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

This is the key to the book to me. From what I understand about the Hebrew (and I'm no Hebrew scholar, but I've read some stuff about it in commentaries), the grammar could go either way here to say the revelation which comes from Jesus Christ or the revealing of Jesus Christ.  I prefer the latter construction because that's just what this book is.  If you go to it only for a revelation of end-time events, I think you're missing the chief beauty of this book.  Speaking of which, we should talk about what the word "apocalypse" means.

G602 ἀποκάλυψις apokalupsis ap-ok-al'-oop-sis

From G601; disclosure: - appearing, coming, lighten, manifestation, be revealed, revelation. Total KJV occurrences: 18

We get our word "apocalypse" from the Greek word translated as "Revelation".  But when you think of an apocalypse what do you think of?  Typically we think of the end of the world or cataclysmic events (due to the nature of the things described in Revelation).  However, when we realize that an apocalypse is simply an unveiling or revealing, and that this book is a revealing or uncovering or unveiling of Jesus Christ...we get a different understanding.  And this first chapter in particular unveils Jesus Christ in some magnificent, earth-shattering ways.

I have a friend, Antonio, who has a way of looking at the New Testament as a picture of the Tabernacle.  The four gospels are the foursquare altar where the sacrifice for atonement of Jesus is made.  The book of Acts is the laver of washing, where the church is born and receives the cleansing power of that sacrifice to be identified with Him, (through the preaching of the word, belief, repentance, baptism, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost.)  The church, the tabernacle/temple is established.  The epistles are like entering into the Holy Place, where there is light and understanding and revelation, teaching which provides nourishment like bread, and worship of God and prayers like sweet incense rising to His throne.  But then we get to the veil.  And when we push past that Vail, past the flesh, we get to see the glory of God, and Jesus unveiled in His glory, as He is.  This is truly a powerful book, and chapter 1 is beautifully book-ended by chapters 19-22 in their depictions of Jesus.  We'll see more of that as we explore Revelation, particularly these first several verses in the introduction.

Which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; ...... for the time is at hand. 

A big issue that comes up when interpreting Revelation is the time period the book is describing.  And yet, for all the wrangling of the preterist, historicist, futurist, and idealist viewpoints, this book has had meaning for Christians from the time it was written till today, and that is a fact we should consider carefully.  The question we must think carefully about is: what kind of meaning did God intend this book to have for His Church?  And there are some extreme viewpoints I think we should avoid.  Was this book written for the first century context in which John wrote it?  Certainly!  I believe these were seven literal churches that needed these specific messages.  And yet the cry goes out, "whoever has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."  The extreme error we must avoid is assuming all the events have already happened and therefore these prophecies do not apply to us.  Similarly, a viewpoint that puts these things entirely in the future might feel similarly.  But Jesus says the blessing in reading and hearing and keeping these words is emphasized by the fact that "the time is at hand."  Only for those first century readers?  I think not.  Is Philippians 4:5 only for first century readers when Paul says, "Let your moderation be known unto all men; the Lord is at hand."?  I believe the entire church age over the last 2,000 years comprises "the last days".  We are the people Paul described as those "upon whom the end of the world has come".  Revelation is for US.  We are living in the time that Jesus brought about in enacting the New Covenant, and as such these are the last days.  Let's not make the mistake of the mocking scoffers in 2nd Peter chapter 3.  I like the quote from Aslan when Lucy presses him on what he means by "soon" in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Aslan responds, "Child, to me, all times are soon."  We musn't blow off the timeless message of Revelation by trying to tie down events to a particular time in human history.  Yes, it was for them in the past, and yes, this is for them in the future.  But it's also for us.  And isn't that just how the One who Was and Is and Is to Come would deliver a message?

And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 

John sees his role here as a witness and a mediator.  Which is exactly what we are! Even if we haven't seen a miraculous vision, we can bare record of the Word of God, of the testimony of Jesus, and of the things we have seen God do in our own lives.  Like Peter and John said to the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:20, we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.  This threefold testimony of being familiar enough with God's Word to use it as evidence, with who Jesus is in the gospels and in our lives, and of our own experience is how we become God's witnesses in this world, as He intended Israel to be in Isaiah 43:10.

Revelation 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: 

As I mentioned in my last post, there is a blessing to those who read and hear the words of this prophecy, but there's one more catch.  Blessed are those who KEEP those things which are written therein.  That means that this is a book to be obeyed, whose principles must be remembered and guarded, and that we should keep present in our minds and hearts.  I have felt convicted that I have largely neglected teaching out of Revelation because I'm afraid of being drawn into controversy and uncertainty.  But I feel very strongly now that this book is for us, now, today, and for all of God's people in all times.  This book is crucial to know, and there is an inherent blessing in reading and listening to these words.  I hope in the upcoming blog posts you will also be blessed!

Ground Rules for a Group Study of Revelation

Currently, I am leading a Bible study that is going through the book of Revelation.  I have led Bible studies verse by verse through many books of the Bible over the years, really getting a lot out of even books that people find difficult like Leviticus or Ecclesiastes.  But I have tended to stay away from Revelation simply because I don't have my own eschatological views firmly established, and it can become very contentious very quickly.  I remember deciding I would read through it with a brother one time and we would just take it as it is, but we gave up at chapter 6.

This particular group however kept pressing me, and I realized how foolish it was to avoid the climactic, culminating book of the Bible that brings the whole story together.  Just because it's controversial doesn't mean we should ignore it.

But that being said, I knew I didn't want just a free-for-all.  So I told them we would do Revelation if we came up with some ground rules.  These are the ground rules I came up with and decided I would share them on my blog in case it's helpful to someone else.  I'm also going to try to post insights from the book as we go along. (We'll see if I can keep up with it!)  But for what it's worth, here are my group study ground rules for studying what some people may consider the weirdest book of the Bible!

 Ground Rules for Study of Revelation:

          As I set out these ground rules, please remember that I am not saying this is the only legitimate way to study Revelation or that you cannot make your own applications in other ways.  But with my limited knowledge, and with my lack of certainty, and with the nature of our group, and with considering other people’s GREAT certainty, this is how I am asking that we proceed forward with this study.  I am actually very excited about it, and believe it will be a HUGE benefit, but it IS going to be different from how many people approach it.

• I am not interested in trying to match the predictions in Revelation to specific events, current, historical, or otherwise.
• I am not interested in trying to construct a timeline, so leave your timeline charts at home.  Literary structure charts of the book, on the other hand, are fine.
• We are taking the book as a literary whole, meaning we are not trying to find out if the events predicted themselves are chronological, but rather, why they have been given to us in this order, and how it fits into the structure and themes of the book.
• Revelation is not a stand-alone book.  It is the culmination of the entire Bible, Old AND New Testaments, which means that it wraps up the overall story told in the prior 65 books. We will be seeking to explore those themes and interpreting symbols in Revelation based on the allusions it is making to the rest of Scripture.  If you have not read those other books, now would be a great time to start!
• We will be interpreting Revelation in light of the rest of Scripture, but also, the rest of Scripture in light of Revelation.  In other words, Revelation has some incredibly profound things to say by tying up threads left hanging in other places in the Bible, but we will need to understand the context of those previous hanging threads in order to understand what Revelation is teaching about them.
• Rather than viewing Revelation as a crystal ball to see the future (or the past, depending on your interpretation), in this study, we will be viewing Revelation as a book of teaching with instructions to be obeyed (Rev. 1:3; 22:7).  Therefore, our first thought as we read any passage will be to understand its theological implications (what does this say about God?), its practical obedience implications (what does this say about us and how we should live?), and its worldview implications (what does this say about our world and the spiritual and physical realities of it?).
• Finally, if a discussion is getting too heated about a particular viewpoint, we will close the discussion and move on to the next passage.  I don’t want this to be a battle of viewpoints, but rather an honest and open search for truth, so it is super important that we treat each other and each other’s views with grace, love, and wisdom.

Hope that all makes sense!  Again, I’m not trying to say that constructing timelines or matching events is an invalid way to study Revelation…that’s just not what we’re trying to do here.  And I hope that many people can come and be blessed and enriched by this study!