A. 2b,§45
Book Revelation §4,5, In Heaven: Seven Spirits of God
Shalom,
^ Prayer of them who, together with the Holy Spirit, wish to say to everyone, Rev. 22:17, <“Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.>
Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost would be the most important event of our life (Acts 2:38), Bert
¤ There is one Holy Spirit. But in heaven is seen that He appears in 7 different ways (cf. 1Cor. 12:8-11), Rev. 4:5b, <Before the throne burned seven torches of fire. These are the seven Spirits of God.>
Similarly it was written at the beginning of the Book of Revelation, Rev. 1:4-6, <John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from Him who is and was and is to come, and from the seven Spirits before His throne, 5. and from Jesus Christ, …. 6. …. .>
¤ This greeting can be compared to the greetings at the beginning of Paul's epistles, as in 1Cor. 1:3, <Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!>
Paul greeted alone from the Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus, as they were both in heaven.
¤ But he did not greet from the Holy Spirit, because He was here on the earth. This is one possible explanation. Before that time, here on earth, the Holy Spirit had fully filled Jesus (Luke 3:21-4:1).
And when Jesus was taken up into heaven, the Holy Spirit returned in the believers during the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 1-2).
¤ When of Jesus was spoken as the Lamb of God, is found (John 1:29, 36), Rev. 5:6, <…. a Lamb who appeared to have been slain, …. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.>
A horn represents power, just as the Holy Spirit is God’s Power (e.g. Luke 24:49).
¤ In addition, to the seven different Powers belong seven Eyes.
The Seven Spirits were sent into all the world, like the Lord Jesus sent the Holy Ghost (cf. John 14:16-26; 15:26).
¤ It is thus seen that in John’s greeting these 7 Spirits and the Holy Spirit are one and the same thing. And Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ. Would then ‘who is and who was and who is to come’, be the ‘Heavenly Father’? Usually such descriptions are found of Jesus (for example Heb. 13:8).
However, Jesus Christ is the same God, John 14:11, <"…. I am in the Father and the Father is in Me ….">
¤ From this we can see that the Heavenly Father has all the qualities that Jesus has. The Father in heaven was even greater than Jesus, here on earth (John 14:28).
Thus, He who is and was and is to come would be here the Heavenly Father (also Rev. 21:22).
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¤ Outside of the Book of Revelation, the same seven Spirits can only be found in the Book of Zechariah. The LORD of hosts, the LORD Sebaot, announced to the leaders of Judah the coming of the Sprout. There the seven Eyes were involved, all the Spirits of God, the Holy Spirit in manifold Power. Jesus Christ is the Root Sprout of David (Rev. 5:5), Zec. 3:8-9, <"…. Hear now, O high priest Joshua, you and your companions seated before you _indeed they are men who are a sign {of what is to come}._ For behold, I am going to bring My servant, sprout. 9. See the stone I have set before Joshua; on that one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave on it an inscription, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. ….">
Joshua and his companions were men of the prophetic sign because they had begun to rebuild their temple of God after the exile of Babylon. The temple was needed because Jesus Christ was coming to it (Mal. 3:1b; Heb. 13:20), the Lord, the Messenger (/Angel) of the Covenant.
¤ In connection with the same event Zechariah was told the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel, one of the leaders, Zec. 4:6, <"…. Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, ….">
Too, it is seen here that one Spirit in the singular, and the seven Spirits of God and the seven Eyes of Jesus would be one and the same thing, Zec. 4:10, <"…. But these seven eyes of the LORD, which scan the whole earth, ….">
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¤ In the first chapter of Revelation, the Lord Jesus stood in the middle of the lampstands with the stars in his hand. It is dark. The lamps, the churches, would shine and reflect the Light of the Oil of the Holy Spirit, in seven different manifestations. And in the ministries of His seven star-messengers God Himself, the Chief Shepherd, would lead His church people again and again back to the truth and to the abundant power of that truth (Rev. 1:12-20; 3:1).
The church at Ephesus represented the first revival period. In this revival everything had been, the Power, Gifts and Guidance of the Holy Ghost, and the Perfect Living Word of God. It is the Gospel of Grace, as shown around the Woman of Revelation 12:1 by the sun (3a§12).
¤ On the lamp base of the Menorah, all 7 lamps burned. But when the first love of the believers of that time disappeared, its lampstand was removed from its place {Rev. 2:4-5 (1b§1-3)}.
God drew, figuratively speaking, one part of his Spirit back to heaven. Thus, during the following revival, the Glory of the Holy Spirit was not that bright. The Light of the Gospel began to dwindle out.