Maybe you've tried reading the book of Revelation on your own but can't get into it due to the symbolism and you have trouble figuring out what it all means and how it ties into the rest of the Bible. We'll take a look at different chapters in the b...
After John writes the letters to the 7 churches, he suddenly finds himself in the throne room of heaven in the spirit. Chapter 4 is largely him describing what he sees. We first get a description of God's throne and the appearance of God himself, "...and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald," (Revelation 4:3).
From the throne was lightning, thundering, and voices while before the throne he sees a sea of glass resembling crystal (Revelation 4:5-6). We have to keep in mind that John is using limited human language and understanding to describe things that are beyond human comprehension. Next are the 24 elders, "Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads" (Revelation 4:4).
He sees seven lamps around God's throne which represent the 7 spirits of God (Revelation 4:5). Lastly, he describes 4 "beasts", "And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back" (Revelation 4:6). Although chapter 4 is relatively short and straightforward, it comes with a lot of questions; who are the 24 elders? What are the 7 spirits of God? What are the 4 beasts or living creatures? I have examined the identity of the 24 elders who I believe to be a picture of the newly raptured church and the 4 beasts who are Seraphim. In this article I'll be taking a look at what the 7 spirits of God are.
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In the book of Revelation, we're first introduced to the mention of the 7 spirits of God in 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 1:4).
We also see this mentioned in Revelation 3:1, and then Revelation 4:5, and Revelation 5:6. If you've read some of my previous articles such as the 7 churches of Revelation, you've probably come to the understanding that many of what's in Revelation is a reference to the Old Testament. Likewise, we can look to the Old Testament to gain further insight into the 7 spirits of God. Isaiah 11:2 lists this out for us:
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
God uses numbers to signify many things and the number 7 is one of them. It signifies perfection or completion and is something we can see illustrated throughout the bible. We see the same number pattern in Revelation 1 with the 7 lampstands and 7 stars, followed by the 7 churches in Revelation 3-4 and with the 7 seal, 7 trumpet, and 7 bowl judgments.
By looking into Isaiah 11:2, we've been able to identify each of the 7 spirits of God. I do believe though that the 7 spirits may be a symbolic picture of the holy spirit as well, but this isn't where it ends! In Revelation 5:6 we get a strange symbolic picture of the lamb that was slain – Jesus, "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," (Revelation 5:6). We'll take a look at this in part 2.
