The Sevenfold Holy Spirit in Revelation
The Sevenfold Holy Spirit in Revelation.
“May grace be granted to you and spiritual peace from Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come. And from the seven Spirits of God – that is, the sevenfold Holy Spirit – before His throne.” (Revelation 1:4).
Seven: a Biblical symbol for perfection, completion, fullness, fulfillment, wholeness, finished. A case can be made that seven (7) is God’s favorite number. Because of what it represents, the number seven seems woven into the very fabric of Holy Scripture. Between the Hebrew Bible (OT), and the Gospels (NT), the number seven is mentioned in well over 700 passages. One particular number mentioned that many times is not coincidence. It is significant. Scripture reveals that seven represents an idea that is part of so many passages that it would be tiresome and tedious to relate them all. God decided in His wisdom to create the universe in seven days, and the number 7 has been kept busy ever since. Many theologians consider seven to be a holy number because of its weighty presence in Scripture. Knowing what seven means in the context of a biblical passage will help us to understand that passage better. Seven (7), the biblical number that tops all other numbers.
‘Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven pillars.” (Proverbs 9:1).
The Early Christian Church Understanding. As taught by the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the house of wisdom in Proverbs 9:1 was considered to be a direct reference to the Christian Church. The seven pillars holding up the Church were believed to be the ‘Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit’ as listed in Isaiah 11:2-3: “Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Might, Knowledge, Godliness, and Fear of God.” These seven qualities of the Spirit are the divine graces that rested on Christ, the perfection of His anointing at His baptism.
These seven attributes remained in the Christian tradition all the way to John’s book of Revelation, in which John refers often to the “Seven Spirits of God.” (Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6). The seven gifts of God are also referred to as the “Sevenfold Holy Spirit.” These attributes of the Spirit continue to this day as properties of the Spirit that we live into as we follow the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and godliness. His delight is in the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:1-3).
This passage in Isaiah 11:1-3 celebrates the profound giftedness of the Spirit as He came in full force upon the Messiah Jesus, and remained there forever. These sevenfold qualities represent the perfection of the Messiah’s anointing at His baptism, and they reveal divine gifts offered to believers which only increase in power and usefulness as the believer earnestly follows God. These gifts come in the believer’s anointing as a new believer, and are given to each Christian “according to each one’s ability to receive them.” (Maurus). The Spirit’s gifts “do not come through our natural abilities, but through the divine power that confers them.” (Maximus). As we exercise these gifts in the power of the Spirit, they increasingly become that much more of an ingrained part of our redeemed nature. The Spirit offers to us the probability of becoming wise and insightful, able to guide others with God’s strength and valor, gaining in spiritual knowledge and godliness, and of developing a deep reverence for God. In other words, the Holy Spirit enables each believer to become like Jesus. Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed One.
The Branch. The glorious kingdom of Christ had humble beginnings, a mere branch emerging from a seemingly dead stump in the ground, a tiny twig from a hidden root. As Isaiah says later in 53:2, “He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground.” But the Spirit of the Lord rested on this Branch, the Holy Spirit alighted on Him like a winged bird from heaven. One thinks here of the testimony of John the Baptist, when he “saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Jesus.” (John 1:32).