THE SEVEN SPIRITS BEFORE THE THRONE

 John to the seven churches that 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

“Seven Spirits” – this is a difficult expression, but it appears refer to the Holy Spirit. (Cf. 4:5) The blessing of “Grace and peace” can only come from God (cf. Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:2; Eph. 1:2 etc.), and the source of the blessing here is three-fold: “Him who was and who is and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before the throne, and from Jesus Christ . . .” Who else but God could be joined to the other two? Revelation 4:5 calls this spiritual manifestation “the seven Spirits of God,” and likens it to “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne.” In 5:6 the “seven Spirits of God” are “seven eyes” who proceed from the slain Lamb and are sent out into all the earth. We see this imagery of eyes in Zechariah 3:9 and 4:10, clearly speaking of God’s omniscience. So we can conclude that the ”seven Spirits of God” refer to the omniscient Holy Spirit of God.

 Note well that John introduces figurative language from the very beginning of this highly symbolic book. Seven and multiples of seven range throughout. Other numbers also have figurative meaning.