What are the seven spirits of God? | GotQuestions.org

Today's question is, what are the seven Spirits of God? In this video I'll answer that question from a biblical perspective.

Then afterwards, as always, I'll share some helpful resources, so stick around until the end.

The seven Spirits of God are mentioned several times in the book of Revelation. Revelation 1, verses 4 -5,

John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia, grace and peace to you from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven

Spirits before His throne, and from Jesus Christ. Revelation 3, verse 1, to the angel of the church in Sardis, write,

These are the words of Him who holds the seven Spirits of God. Revelation 4, verse 5,

From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder. In front of the throne seven lamps were blazing.

These are the seven Spirits of God. Revelation 5, verse 6,

Then I saw a lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by four living creatures and the elders.

The lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

The identity of the seven Spirits is not explicit in the passage, but arriving at the proper interpretation is fairly straightforward.

The seven Spirits cannot be seven angelic beings, such as Seraphim or Cherubim, because of the context of Revelation 1, verse 4.

John says that grace and peace are coming to the churches from three sources, to Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, verse 4, the seven

Spirits before the throne, verse 4, and Jesus Christ, verse 5. This is a depiction of the

Trinity. Grace and peace are given by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the three coequal persons of the

Godhead. In Revelation 3, verse 1, Jesus holds the seven Spirits of God.

In John 15, verse 16, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit from the Father.

Both passages suggest the superordinate role of the Son and the subordinate role of the

Spirit. In Revelation 4, verse 5, the seven Spirits of God are symbolized as seven burning lamps that are before God's throne.

This picture agrees with Zechariah's vision, in which he sees the Holy Spirit symbolized as a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it,

Zechariah 4, verse 2. In Revelation 5, verse 6, the seven

Spirits are the seven eyes of the Lamb, and they are sent out into all the earth.

The seven eyes speak of the Spirit and the Lamb's omniscience, and the fact that He is sent into all the earth speaks of His omnipresence.

Once we identify the seven Spirits as the Holy Spirit, the question remains, why are there seven of Him?

The Bible, and especially the book of Revelation, uses the number seven to refer to perfection and completion.

John's vision includes a picture of the perfect and complete Holy Spirit. Isaiah 11, verse 2, also references the

Holy Spirit using a sevenfold description. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the

Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the

Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. The prophecy is that the Messiah would be empowered not by seven individual spirits but by the one

Spirit described seven ways. 1. The Spirit of the Lord 2.

The Spirit of Wisdom 3. The Spirit of Understanding 4. The Spirit of Counsel 5.

The Spirit of Power 6. The Spirit of Knowledge 7. The Spirit of the

Fear of the Lord The seven Spirits of God in the book of Revelation are thus a reference to the

Holy Spirit in the perfection of His manifold ministry. Want to learn more?

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