![]() ![]() How can the Christian church be successful in its work for God when it is the despised minority? The answer is still the same. How were they to prevail against a Satanic empire? The answer remained the same: do not despise the day of small things and God’s work is to be accomplished not by might nor by power but by God’s Spirit. This message was greatly relevant to John’s first readers because they also constituted the vulnerable and disfranchised minority. Unbeknownst to Israel, God’s Spirit is actually powerfully at work. More importantly, such promises will be realised, not through might or power, but by God’s Spirit. How are the promises of God to be realised when Israel is so small when compared to the might of the Persian empire? Israel is not to despise the day of small things, such as the rebuilding of a small temple. Behind this pronouncement lay actually an implicit question. Zechariah 4 is well-known to many readers because of the famous quote: “not by might, nor by power but by my Spirit” (v. He wants to lead his readers to consider Zechariah 4 as the proper context for the understanding of their current situation. But he actually wants to say more than that. Thus, John may be referring to the fullness of the Spirit at work. If this is correct, what is John’s description of the Holy Spirit as seven spirits trying to tell us? First of all, seven is the number of fullness in Scripture. This strengthens the consideration that John might be alluding to Zechariah 4 when he mentions the seven spirits. The only other biblical text where seven lamps, seven eyes and the Spirit are connected is Zechariah 4! Revelation 11 provides evidence that John knows this passage and has appropriated the symbolism of the two olive trees. Seven spirits = seven lamps = seven eyes. We are also informed that they are to be equated with the seven lamps blazing before God’s throne (4.5) and the seven eyes of the Lamb, and they are sent out into all the earth (5.6). In all these occurrences, including 1.4, the seven spirits are connected with the throne of God and the Lamb (Christ). ![]() They are mentioned again in 3.1 4.5 and 5.6. Is John doing the same here and, by so doing, is he referring to the seven ministries of the Spirit?Ī better way forward is to look at the occurrences of the seven spirits in Revelation. It is true that NT writers often quote from the Greek version of the OT. The Greek version of the Hebrew Bible gives seven instead, adding in the quality of “godliness”. In the Hebrew text, which our English versions follow, only six functions are given. Some scholars have also suggested that the number seven refers to the seven functions of the Holy Spirit a là Isa 11.1-2. Furthermore, no angel in the Bible is ever described as standing equal with God in sending grace to God’s people (1.4-5). ![]() The trouble with such an explanation is that Scriptures never mention a group of seven principal angels. John might then be joining in and calling them the seven spirits. The Jews of John’s day speculated a lot about such heavenly beings (1 Enoch 20.1-8). The sevens spirits may refer to seven principal angels. Poring through the commentaries, you would probably have come across the following two explanations. If the concept of the trinity is already mentally trying what are we to do with a “nonanity”? What are these? Do we have here a kind of a “nonanity” (nine-in-one being). The mention of the seven spirits is unique to Revelation. At the beginning of Revelation, the reader is introduced to God - who is described as “the one who is, and who was, and who is to come” - Jesus Christ and the seven spirits before God’s throne (Rev 1.4-5). ![]() Even when we cannot solve the puzzle, we might still be able to get the point behind the giving of it. Thus, if we work at it with perseverance, we may yet solve the puzzle and behold its beauty. However, since God is gracious, we believe that He seeks to communicate important things even while puzzling us. Those among us who are impatient with these will easily throw up our hands and move on to more mundane things, or walk away thinking that a mystery is a mystery and that’s that, and we are none the wiser. GOD’S word can sometimes be full of puzzles. ![]()
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