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Scripture Reading: Rev. 1:4-5a; 4:5; 5:6; 2:1, 7a, 8, 11a, 12, 17a, 18, 29; 3:1, 6, 7, 13, 14, 22; 14:13b; 19:10b; 22:17; Zech. 4:2, 4-6
In the past few chapters in this book we have seen Christ as the wonderful One in the four Gospels, the Acts, and the Epistles. Now we must come to the last part of the New Testament, the book of Revelation. When we come to the Word, many times we simply cannot see the things that are there. This is why we need the revelation of the Holy Spirit. If we simply read the black-and-white letters and understand with our mentality, we never see the clear revelation in the Bible.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). By this verse we are clear that in the beginning Christ was God. We all must declare, proclaim, and announce to the universe that our Christ was God in the beginning! It is sad that today there are some so-called Christians who do not believe that Christ is God. But we do! Why do we believe? Simply because the Bible tells us so. The Bible tells us that Christ is God.
However, we must realize that this is in the beginning. When we have such a phrase, In the beginning, we realize that surely something will follow. The whole Bible opens with the same phrase: “In the beginning God...” (Gen. 1:1). In the beginning there was only God. God was God, and there was nothing else. But John 1:14 tells us something more: “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.”
Now we have a problem. John 1:14 tells us that the Word which was God became flesh. Is the term flesh in the Bible positive or negative? If you say that it is negative, how could God become anything that is negative? However, the Word tells us clearly that God became flesh. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word became flesh. In order to understand this, we must come back to the pure Word. God did not create flesh. God created a man. Originally, man was man; he was not flesh. The Bible does not say that man became flesh until Genesis 6. By this we see that flesh in the Bible is not a positive term but a negative one. By incarnation God became flesh. By the time God was incarnated, man was no longer pure; he had become fallen. Fallen man in the Bible is called flesh. Man became flesh, and no flesh can be justified out of works of law (Gal. 2:16). Flesh in the Bible is a negative term, denoting fallen, corrupted man.
How then could Christ as God become flesh? In this matter, we must be very careful. The Bible tells us that Christ became flesh but only in the likeness of the flesh of sin. Romans 8:3 says, “That which the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” When Christ became flesh, He did not take on the corruption of the flesh but only its likeness.
There is a type of this in the Old Testament. In Numbers 21 God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole to save those who were bitten by the fiery serpents. Then in John 3:14-15 we are told that this bronze serpent was a type of the Lord Jesus: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life.” Jesus was lifted up on the cross just as the serpent was lifted up on the pole by Moses. This means that when Jesus was on the cross for those six hours, in the eyes of God He was made a serpent. But He was a serpent only in form. Within Him there was no corruption.
What was the purpose of Christ becoming flesh? The first reason was that He could be our Redeemer. He was God in the beginning, and then He became flesh. John 1:29 then tells us that He is the Lamb of God. He became flesh so that He might be the redeeming Lamb. In God’s redemption the most important element is the blood. If there is no blood, there is no forgiveness of sins (Heb. 9:22). Without the flesh, Christ would not have any blood for cleansing us of our sins. Praise the Lord that He became flesh with the blood! Then He could shed His blood upon the cross for our sins. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Christ became flesh for the purpose of accomplishing redemption for us.
The second reason Christ became flesh is deeper. He became flesh to bring God into man, that divinity might be mingled with humanity. This is God’s eternal purpose—to work Himself into humanity. This work began with the incarnation of Jesus. When Jesus became man, that brought God into humanity. There was on the earth a man by the name of Jesus who was the mingling of divinity with humanity. Jesus was a wonderful person. He was nothing less than the mingling of God with man. This is altogether wonderful!
After becoming flesh, Jesus lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years. Then He took the second step. The first step was incarnation. The second was a step of death and resurrection. By this, He became the life-giving Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45 says that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. We know that the last Adam was Christ, the One who was God in the beginning and became flesh. In the first step He became flesh to be the last Adam. In the second step, through death and resurrection, as the last Adam He became the life-giving Spirit. Most Christians today only see that God is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Matthew 28:19 clearly mentions the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is no argument about this. But not many have seen the last part of 1 Corinthians 15:45. This verse tells us plainly that Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit. He became flesh for redemption; He became the life-giving Spirit for giving life. We not only need redemption; we also need life. Redemption is on the negative side; life is on the positive side. We do need redemption, but even more, we need life! Christ is not only the Redeemer but also the Life-giver. To be the Redeemer He became flesh; to be the Life-giver He became the Spirit. By becoming flesh, He accomplished redemption. By becoming the life-giving Spirit, He is now imparting life. Hallelujah! The Lord is not only our Redeemer; He is our Life-giver! In eternity past He was God. Then in time He became flesh and the life-giving Spirit.
But we must realize that this is not all. After these two steps He is now taking a third. He is becoming the Body-Christ! I realize that this is a new term. Some will say that this term is not in the Bible. But they need to read 1 Corinthians 12:12: “Even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.” I am afraid that when we read this verse, we would read, “so also is the church.” We know that Christ is the Head, but this verse says that Christ is the Body! We are clear that the Head is Christ and the Body is the church, but this verse does not say that the Body is the church. It says, “Even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.” So we do have the Body-Christ. Our Christ today is the Body-Christ. He was God. Then He became flesh, the life-giving Spirit, and the Body-Christ. The first step was by incarnation, the second step was by death and resurrection, and the third step is by indwelling. After the Lord became the life-giving Spirit, He came to indwell us. By this indwelling, He is day by day working Himself into all of us.
We may use petrified wood as an illustration. A wooden log falls into a flowing river, and water flows through the log, bringing in all the minerals and carrying away all the wooden essence. Eventually, the log still appears as a log, but the interior element has been discharged and replaced with something new. It has become a precious stone. This is what the indwelling of the Lord Jesus is accomplishing in us. In a sense, He is petrifying us. This is transformation. Today He is the living water flowing through us to bring in the divine minerals and replace all our old element. We are not under a kind of correction or adjustment: we are under transformation. Something new is coming in to replace the old. This is just Christ Himself. It is by this that we are made the Body-Christ.
God in the beginning was merely God. He was alone. But it is not good for God to be alone. He wants a counterpart. When Jesus came, He was recommended by John the Baptist not only as the Lamb of God but also as the Bridegroom: “He who has the bride is the bridegroom” (John 3:29). Jesus came not simply to be the Redeemer but to be the Bridegroom, and as such He needs a bride. Paul says that he has betrothed the Corinthian believers as a pure virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). Ephesians 5 tells us that the church is just like the wife, and Christ is the Husband. Then in the book of Revelation we are told that the wife has made herself ready, and the marriage of the Lamb has come (19:7). That will be a universal marriage. Who is going to be married there? Christ our God! From that time God will never be alone. Our God will be a married God! He will marry the holy city, the New Jerusalem, the bride. At the beginning of the Bible, God is looking for a counterpart. At the end of the Bible, He is no more alone; He is with a bride. This is a picture showing us God being mingled with corporate humanity. This is God’s eternal purpose. Look at the New Jerusalem. God is there as the center, and man is the corporate vessel containing God. The Spirit is flowing as living water, and the supplying Christ is there as the tree of life. This is the Triune God fully mingled with humanity. This is the Body-Christ. We must realize that today the genuine church life is just a miniature of that Body-Christ.
In the Gospels the seed was sown, in the Acts there is the sprouting of the seed, in the Epistles we see the growth of the seed, and in Revelation there is the harvest. Christ, the wonderful One, was sown as the seed in the Gospels. Then He sprouted up in the Acts and began growing in the Epistles. Eventually, there is a harvest in Revelation. Revelation 14 tells us that the harvest is ripe. The sowing was in the Gospels, and the reaping will be in Revelation. In the Gospels the Lord Jesus told us that He was the Sower who came to sow Himself into the human earth. Then in the Acts the individual Christ sprouted from the human earth to be the corporate Christ. In the Epistles this corporate Christ continues to grow in a big field of humanity. Then eventually in the book of Revelation the harvest is ripe, and the bride is ready to be the New Jerusalem as the Body-Christ for eternity. This is God’s goal. He was God in eternity. Then He came into time to become flesh. After passing through death and resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit to indwell His members. In this way He becomes the Body-Christ. This is for eternity. He was God, but eventually He becomes the Body-Christ, the full mingling of divinity with humanity.
Our God in Christ has already taken two steps and is now taking the third. We should never forget these steps. The first was incarnation, the second was death and resurrection, and the third is indwelling. By incarnation He became flesh. Through death and resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. As such a Spirit He is now taking the third step of indwelling to mingle Himself fully with us. We will be wholly saturated with Him, and eventually there will only be one entity, the mingling of divinity with humanity in a corporate way. This corporate mingling is the Body-Christ. Today in the church life we are enjoying the foretaste of the Body-Christ that will be consummated in the New Jerusalem.
Now we must come to the book of Revelation. This book starts with the seven Spirits. “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” (1:4). Is God’s Spirit one or seven? If the answer is one, why does the book of Revelation mention seven Spirits? To see this, we need a definition from Zechariah: “He said to me, What do you see? And I said, I see that there is a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl on top of it and its seven lamps upon it, with seven pipes for each of the lamps on top of it...And the angel who spoke with me answered and said to me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, sir. And he answered and spoke to me, saying, This is the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says Jehovah of hosts” (4:2, 5-6).
Zechariah the prophet saw a golden lampstand with lamps. Why is God’s Spirit one yet seven? Look at the lampstand. It depends upon which end you see. From the lower end, it is one. From the other end, it is seven. So it is one in seven, or seven in one. The angel asked the prophet what this was and then answered himself: “This is the word of Jehovah...Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit.” The answer is that this is the Spirit. What the prophet saw was the Spirit. If we would know what the seven Spirits of God in Revelation are, we must go back to Zechariah. Nearly all the terms used in the book of Revelation have their source in the Old Testament. The Spirit of God in His ministry for God’s move is seven. The number seven means completion in God’s move. Therefore, the seven Spirits of God in Revelation do not refer to seven different Spirits but the one Spirit intensified seven times. If the one lampstand had only one lamp instead of seven, the light would not be that strong. If, however, there are seven lamps on the one lampstand, the light from the lampstand is intensified. This does not mean seven, separate, individual Spirits but one Spirit with sevenfold enlightening. It is the intensified Spirit—one lampstand with seven lamps for intensified lighting.
The context of these verses in Zechariah shows that the lampstand, which signifies the Spirit of God in God’s move, is for God’s building. In the same principle, the sevenfold intensified Spirit in the book of Revelation is for the building of God’s dwelling place.
Why is there the need of the sevenfold intensification of the one unique Holy Spirit? It is because at the time of the writing of the book of Revelation, the church had become degraded. On the day of Pentecost the church was initiated, and for the accomplishing of the proper church life, there was the need of elders and deacons, and the sisters practiced the matter of being under the headship in a living way by wearing a head covering. But not long after the church life was established, it became another religion. The Jews did the same thing with the commandments in the Old Testament given by God. They systematized everything and put it together to make a dead religion called Judaism.
The living Christ is against any kind of dead, systematized religion. When He came, He behaved in a way that denied, rejected, and renounced everything of religious Judaism. While they were keeping the regulations and forms, offering sacrifices on the altar, and worshipping God in the temple according to scriptural instructions, the Lord Jesus never joined them. Who was He? He was the very God whom they presumed to worship. But the very God was not in the temple anymore. While they were praying and worshipping in a formal and religious way, Jesus went into a common house in Bethany (John 12:1-10). At that time, where was God? Was He in the temple or in that common house? It is certain that He was in that common house. The religious people thought they had the proper worship according to their Scriptures, yet they did not know that they missed God. God had no intention of keeping all those religious regulations. He purposely did things to break their religious Sabbath. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that He did things again and again on the Sabbath day. He led His disciples to eat in the cornfield on the Sabbath day (12:1), and the religious Sabbath patrol caught them. They caught a Sabbath breaker, and the Sabbath breaker was God incarnated as a man! God came to break the regulations of the Sabbath.
Do you think that God cares for religion? I can tell you that He does not. This is why when we come to the book of Revelation, there is the sevenfold intensified Spirit. Not long after its establishment, the church became a religion, with positions, regulations, and forms, having little that was living or real. In the first three chapters of Revelation, the churches, with the exception of the church in Philadelphia, had become degraded and had missed the reality of Christ as the life-giving Spirit. They worshipped an objective Christ, One who was sitting in the heavens. They had very little if any experience of Christ as the life-giving Spirit indwelling them as a spiritual reality. They had degraded into religion. This is why in the book of Revelation it is difficult to find any kind of doctrine. There is no doctrine of justification, holiness, foot-washing, head covering, or baptism. There are absolutely no forms or positions. There is no mention of elders or deacons. In this book there is nothing but the sevenfold Spirit. Christ as the life-giving Spirit today must be intensified! We do not need to talk so much about doctrine. We need the intensified Spirit. How poor it is to degrade into a religion and leave the Spirit!
In today’s Christianity, nearly everything is forms, regulations, doctrines, and positions. Even the singing has become formal. All this must be cast into the lake of fire! We do not need all these formal, religious things. We need the living Christ! We need the sevenfold intensified Spirit. So many sisters cover their head in the meetings, but when they get home, they cover the head of their husband. There is no spirituality, just a form. The Lord hates this. With our head covering we need the sevenfold intensified Spirit! Everything in the church life must have the sevenfold Spirit.
The leading ones in the churches in Revelation are not called elders but angels. These angels are the shining stars in the Lord’s hand. There is no position; they are just the shining ones. But in today’s Christianity there are all kinds of positions. In the church life we do not need positions; we need the shining ones burning with the sevenfold Spirit. In the book of Revelation, the Lord denounces all forms. There is only the sevenfold intensified Spirit.
There is another change in Revelation. In Matthew 28:19 the Spirit is ranked third in the mentioning of the Triune God: “Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” But in Revelation 1:4-5 the order is changed: “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.” Here we see that the seven Spirits are listed second. I did not change the one Spirit to the seven Spirits, and I did not make the Spirit second instead of third. This is all mentioned by John in the book of Revelation.
What is religion? Religion is to worship God, to do good, to help others, and to adjust and correct yourself—all without Christ. Anything that is good for God or man, yet without Christ, is religion. In the church life we must not do anything without Christ. We are just for Christ. Our worship to God must be with Christ. Our goodness must be Christ. Without Christ, everything is religious. We may dress nicely to attend “church” on Sunday morning, carrying our Bible in our hand, but all without Christ. This is just a religion. If a young man who was on drugs two weeks ago came into the service shouting his praise and love for Jesus, he would be told not to make noise like that in the Sunday morning service. But let us be fair. Which do you think God prefers? The dressed-up religious one without Christ, or the crazy, praising, shouting one? I can boldly tell you that God is pleased with such a new lover of His, shouting, Hallelujah! This is not something of religion; this is something of the sevenfold intensified Spirit.
So many today are concerned about right doctrine. But in Revelation there is no doctrine, just the sevenfold Spirit. Whoever is only for doctrine will miss God’s presence. They are today’s scribes and Pharisees, so scriptural, but missing the living Christ. I do not mean that we do not need the Bible. I believe that I love the Bible as much as anyone. But I know that without the Spirit, the Bible is merely dead letters, only good for mental knowledge, which kills. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:6, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” All the Pharisees and scribes were killed by Bible knowledge. They sentenced Christ to death according to the Bible! (John 19:7). Satan is so subtle. He can use everything, even the Bible. There is only one thing that he cannot use, that is, Christ as the life-giving Spirit. Satan does not fear the Bible in letters, but he flees when he hears someone calling on the name of the living Christ.
Today we are not in the Acts or the Epistles. We are living today in the book of Revelation, where there are no doctrines, forms, regulations, or positions. Rather, there is the sevenfold Spirit as seven lamps of burning fire. “Out of the throne...there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God” (4:5). The sevenfold Spirit is like seven lamps of fire burning us. In the last book of the Bible, the Spirit is not the Spirit of gentleness but a burning fire! Many times while at home I felt I should be more moderate in my speaking. But in the meetings when I stand to speak, I simply cannot contain myself. I know how to speak so as not to offend anyone. I realize that the things I say are very offensive to many dear Christians. But I cannot help it. I am under the burning of the sevenfold Spirit. If I do not speak what the Spirit burdens me to speak, I have no peace for days. I must speak according to the burning of the sevenfold intensified Spirit.
This Spirit burns us to burn others. If we are not on fire, we are not qualified to be in the church life in a practical way. The whole church life is a burning fire. Everyone who is in the church ought to be on fire. On the one hand, they are being burned, and on the other hand, they are burning others.
The seven Spirits of God are not only burning but also enlightening and searching. They search the inmost part of our heart, discerning our thoughts and motives with sharper perception than any x-ray. Such a Spirit searches us, enlightens us, and burns us.
This is not all. Revelation 5:6 tells us that the seven burning Spirits are the seven eyes of the Lamb: “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.” Here is a Lamb standing with seven eyes, and these seven eyes of the Lamb are the seven Spirits of God. We all know that eyes are not only for seeing but also for observing. If I were to keep my eyes upon you, it would mean that I mean business with you. This is an intimate, dear visitation. The Lord Jesus today has seven eyes. When He looked at Peter while He was on earth, He only had two eyes. But today when Christ comes to see us, He has seven eyes. This means that today the Lord’s visitation is more serious and intensified. Yes, our Lord is the redeeming Lamb. But this Lamb has seven eyes, and His seven eyes are seven burning lamps. In one sense He is visiting us, and in another sense He is observing us and burning us. I do not believe that I am speaking mere knowledge. This is the reality of the sevenfold Spirit today.
Whenever anyone goes to a meeting of the church, they are under a special kind of observation. Just by going to one meeting, they begin to sense the living observation of the sevenfold Spirit. Before they went to the meeting, they said what they liked; but after going, Christ always seems to be there to regulate their speaking. In the evening some kind of inner voice within them urges them to go to the meeting. They really do not want to go, but they cannot help it. Then when they arrive at the meeting, they touch the living Christ again. Praise the Lord! It is not up to us; it is up to the visiting Christ. He is so gracious, yet He is rather terrifying. In the book of Revelation He has seven eyes! I have full assurance that today in the local churches the seven eyes of Jesus are here. The burning, searching, enlightening, and observing reality of Christ as the life-giving Spirit is in the local churches.
All seven epistles written in the first three chapters of Revelation begin by saying, “These things says...,” and the Lord Himself is presented in a particular aspect as the speaking One. But at the end of each epistle it says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” This proves that what the Lord says is what the Spirit says. Instantly, the Lord speaks to one church in particular, but constantly, the Spirit speaks the same word to all the churches. Some say that the seven churches are independently different. But every epistle is not only to one particular church but to all the churches. It is clear that these seven churches are only different in negative things. In all the positive matters, they are the same. They all are golden shining lampstands. In their degradation they are different, but in nature, in essence, in purpose, and in ministry they are all the same.
Here in the book of Revelation we see the reality of the Spirit. Today is not the age of doctrine. Today is the age of the speaking Spirit. In all the other Epistles, Peter speaks, John speaks, and Paul speaks. Only the book of Revelation mentions the Spirit speaking: “Yes, says the Spirit” (14:13). This is not any kind of doctrine or teaching but the living reality of the speaking Spirit.
Originally, it is the Spirit speaking to the churches; eventually, it becomes the speaking of the Spirit and the bride: “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” (22:17). Eventually, the Spirit and the bride have become one, so they speak as one. At the beginning of the book, the Spirit was the Spirit, and the churches were the churches. But at the end of the book, the Spirit and church have become one.
May the Lord have mercy upon us today. If we are still in the realm of doctrine, arguing about which doctrine is right and which is wrong, we have missed the mark. Today is a day of degradation. In this kind of situation, the Lord asks us to listen to the sevenfold intensified Spirit with the seven burning lamps and the seven eyes.
