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Scripture Reading: Rev. 1:4-5, 1:10-12; 4:2, 4:5; 5:6; 2:1, 7; 22:6, 22:17; 19:10; 17:3; 21:10
In the previous chapters we saw that in Romans the Spirit is the Spirit of the Son of God for our sonship. In 1 Corinthians He is the building Spirit, and in 2 Corinthians He is the transforming Spirit. In Galatians He is the Spirit for our life and walk, in Ephesians He is the Spirit for the Body, in Philippians He is the Spirit with the bountiful supply, and in Colossians He is the Spirit for our love and wisdom. In 1 and 2 Thessalonians He is the sanctifying Spirit, in 1 and 2 Timothy He is the Spirit for our exercise unto godliness, and in Titus He is the renewing Spirit. In Hebrews He is the eternal Spirit, in James the Spirit of envying, in 1 and 2 Peter the Spirit of glory, in 1 John the anointing Spirit, and in Jude the Spirit for our prayer. Now in Revelation, the Spirit is the seven Spirits of God for God’s administration.
Revelation 1:4 and 5 say, “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth.” These verses speak of the three of the Triune God. First is Him who is and who was and who is coming, second is the seven Spirits before the throne, and third is Jesus Christ. It is clear from this that the seven Spirits are reckoned as a person in the Triune God.
Chapter 4 speaks of the throne of God as the center of the universe. Verse 5 says, “Out of the throne come forth lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” In the Old Testament, Exodus 25 and Zechariah 4 speak of the lampstand with its seven lamps in type. In the fulfillment of the type in Revelation, the seven lamps are the seven Spirits, who are burning before God for enlightening and judging. Verse 6 of chapter 5 says, “I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing as having just been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” At this point the Lamb is no longer only for redemption. Now He is the Lamb with power, authority, and might, signified by the seven horns. Christ as the Lamb has seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth to fulfill God’s purpose throughout the entire earth.
As we have seen before, the Holy Spirit is mentioned and applied in each of the Epistles according to the subject of that Epistle. In Romans, for example, He is the Spirit of the Son for our sonship, because Romans shows us how sinners become the sons of God. The book of Revelation unveils the administration of God in His judgment. As the Ruler of the universe, God has His administration, His government. The sixty-six books of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, reveal the divine administration in a full way. The first item mentioned in the Bible concerning God’s administration is creation. However, after God created all things, this creation became fallen, so the second item of His administration is redemption. The final item in God’s administration is judgment. The first two chapters of the Bible are for creation. Then from the third chapter of Genesis to Jude is a long section for redemption under God’s mercy and grace and according to His righteousness. God has presented His redemption to man, and we must receive it. If someone does not receive it, the judgment of God will come to him one day. Therefore, in the last book of the Bible there is God’s administration in His judgment.
In Revelation there are four great “sevens”: seven churches (2:1—3:22), seven seals (6:1—8:5), seven trumpets (8:6—11:19), and seven bowls (15:1—16:21). Each of these four “sevens” is a part of God’s administration in His judgment. First, the revelation of the seven churches reveals God’s administration. Here, the Lord is not mainly the redeeming One but the judging One. The letters to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3 have much to do with judgment. Likewise, in the vision of the Lord in chapter 1, His appearance is not like that of the Redeemer but of the Judge. In his Gospel, John could recline on the Lord’s bosom (13:23), but in Revelation John fell at the Lord’s feet when he saw Him (1:17). This is because the atmosphere had changed from redemption to judgment. The Lord Jesus came as the judging One. In chapter 1 His eyes are like a flame of fire (v. 14), but by chapter 4 we see that He has seven eyes. These seven eyes, which are burning lamps, are searching, enlightening, and judging; nothing is hidden from them.
The seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls are also parts of God’s administration in His judgment. Therefore, in the book of Revelation the number seven signifies administration in judgment. This gives us the meaning of the seven Spirits. The Spirit of God in Revelation is mentioned as the seven Spirits because here He is not the Spirit of grace but the Spirit for the divine administration through the divine judgment. The Spirit is the seven eyes of the Lamb who can see into things clearly and the seven lamps that are burning and full of light. You can hide certain things from me, and I can hide certain things from you, but none of us can hide anything from the seven eyes of the Lamb. When the Lamb with the seven eyes looks at us, everything is exposed and searched out. Anything that is brought into the light is exposed. These searching and enlightening eyes of the Lord are for judgment. The seven Spirits of God are the burning fire and the searching eyes to search, enlighten, and judge.
In 21:23 the Lamb is the lamp, and God is the light within the lamp. This signifies that God is in the redeeming Lamb. Chapter 5 also tells us that the Spirit is the eyes of the Lamb, which are the shining lamps. God is in the Lamb, and the Lamb has seven eyes. God, the Lamb, and the Spirit as the seven eyes are the three persons of the Triune God. Our eyes are for administration, for directing us. Therefore, in the Triune God, the Father is the source, the Son is the expression, and the Spirit as the seven eyes is the administration. The seven Spirits have been sent into the whole earth for God’s administration. We may compare the seven Spirits to the headlights of a car, which are for “administration.” Wherever the lights shine, the car drives; the shining of the headlights is for driving, and driving is the administration of the car. Today God is operating in His divine administration, and this administration is through the seven Spirits as the seven lamps and the seven eyes.
Chapters 2 and 3 contain the epistles to the seven churches. Verse 1 of chapter 2 says, “To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, He who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.” No doubt, it is Christ the Lord who is speaking to the church. However, at the end of the epistle, verse 7 says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” At the beginning of each of the seven epistles, it is the Lord who speaks to a certain church (2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14), but at the end of the epistles, it is the Spirit who speaks to all the churches (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). This proves that the Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b) and that He speaks in the Spirit, with the Spirit, and through the Spirit.
It also proves that the Lord is speaking as the Spirit not only to a certain church but to all the churches. The Spirit as the eyes of the Lord looks into the situation of all the churches, and He speaks concerning the whole situation. The Lord as the Spirit speaks to the churches without any limitation of time and space. While the church in a certain locality reads the epistle to Ephesus, the Spirit looks into the church in that locality and speaks to the ones there. The seven Spirits of God are sent forth not only to Ephesus but to Los Angeles, to London, and to the whole earth. The seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3 are words spoken by the Lord Jesus, but today when we read them, the seven Spirits of God speak these words to us in our spirit for the purpose of God’s administration. This proves that the Spirit is one with the Lord, and the Lord is one with the Spirit. The Lord speaks in the Spirit, through the Spirit, and with the Spirit, because He is the Spirit.
Verse 17 of chapter 22 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” Chapters 2 and 3 tell us that the Lord speaks with the Spirit, but in this verse the Spirit speaks with the bride. In chapters 2 and 3 the Lord and the Spirit are one, but now at the end of the book, the Spirit and the bride are one. When the bride speaks, the Spirit speaks, and when the Spirit speaks, the bride speaks, because these two are one. Perhaps if we were John, we would have said, “The Spirit says, Come! and the bride follows to say, Come!” However, the way John rendered this verse is very meaningful. That the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” means that the Spirit and the bride have become one.
Moreover, this verse does not say, “The Spirit and the church”; rather, it says, “The Spirit and the bride.” This is because the bride is the completed church. There is no doubt that the bride is the church, but the church today may not yet be ready to be the bride. It is when the church truly becomes the bride that it will be one with the Spirit. The church must be completed so that there will be a true oneness between the Spirit and the bride. At that point, the church will be one with the Spirit, who is one with the Lord. In chapters 2 and 3 the Lord speaks in the Spirit and with the Spirit, but in chapter 22 the Spirit speaks in the church and with the church. This Spirit is the seven Spirits of God for God’s administration today. He is waiting for the opportunity to permeate the church so that the church may become one with Him as the bride.
The last part of 19:10 says, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of the prophecy.” The spirit of the prophecy is the reality, substance, disposition, and characteristic of the prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus for God’s administration. If we do not read this book in the spirit, we will receive only the predictions in it concerning the things to come. We will not have any sense, feeling, or realization of Jesus Himself. However, this book of prophecy is not merely a book of predictions about things to come. This book of prophecy is a book full of the testimony of Jesus. Therefore, in reading it we should fully pay our attention to Christ. In order to realize the testimony of Jesus, we need to be in the spirit as John was (1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10). Then as we are in the spirit, this book will attract us to Jesus.
Verse 6 of chapter 22 says, “He said to me, These words are faithful and true; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent His angel to show to His slaves the things which must quickly take place.” The Lord is the God of the spirits of the prophets. In the same principle today, the Lord is the God of our spirit and in our spirit. Therefore, in order to contact Him, we need to contact Him in our spirit.
In addition to revealing the four great “sevens,” Revelation unveils four great visions: the vision of the churches (chs. 1—3), the vision of the destiny of the world (chs. 4—16), the vision of Babylon the Great (chs. 17—20), and the vision of the New Jerusalem (chs. 21—22). At the beginning of each of these visions, the apostle John says that he was in spirit. Verse 10 of chapter 1 says, “I was in spirit on the Lord’s Day and heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.” In the Greek text, there is no article before spirit, indicating that it is our human spirit, which is mingled with God’s Spirit. Verse 12 continues, “And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.” John saw the vision of the churches as the seven golden lampstands in his spirit. We need to see all the matters related to the local churches not in our natural mind and understanding but in our spirit. We need to reject our natural mentality and turn to the spirit. There in our spirit we will see the vision of the churches.
Verse 2 of chapter 4 says, “Immediately I was in spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne there was One sitting.” John also saw the vision of the situation of the world in his spirit. Even today, we can understand the real situation of the world only in our spirit. Even the best politicians do not know the true situation of the world. If we are in spirit, the situation of the world will be clear to us.
Verse 3 of chapter 17 says, “He carried me away in spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” This sinful and awful woman is Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and the abominations of the earth (v. 5). The scarlet beast is both the Roman Empire and Antichrist, and the woman sitting upon the beast is the apostate Roman Catholic Church. This indicates a confederation between the false religion and worldly politics. Again, the principle is that in order to see the vision of the mysterious Babylon, we need to be in spirit. If we are in spirit, we will be clear that the Roman Catholic Church is the great harlot on the earth (v. 1), the counterfeit of the New Jerusalem that corrupts and damages the Lord’s Body.
In the last of the four visions, 21:10 says, “He carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” In order to see the vision of Babylon the Great, we need to be in the wilderness, but to see the New Jerusalem we must climb a high mountain in the spirit. We must be in spirit to see the vision of the churches as the seven golden lampstands, the vision of the world situation, the vision of Babylon the Great, and the vision of the New Jerusalem. How much we need to be in spirit! To see the heavenly visions requires us to be in our spirit.
In summary, Revelation tells us that the Spirit of God today is the seven Spirits of God for God’s administration in judgment, that the Lord is one with this Spirit in speaking to and dealing with His church, that the Spirit is one with the completed church as the bride, that the Lord is the God of the spirits of the prophets, and that in order to see the heavenly visions we need to be in our spirit. It was in the spirit that the writer of this book, the apostle John, saw the visions concerning all the great matters — the churches, the destiny of the world, Babylon the Great, and the New Jerusalem.
