On the negative side, the seven Spirits of God deal with the enemy and all negative matters. As pertains to the children of God in particular, the seven Spirits are for purging and burning. First Corinthians 3:15 speaks of being saved, yet so as through fire. Hebrews 6 also mentions burning. Verses 7 and 8 say, “For the earth, which drinks the rain which often comes upon it and produces vegetation suitable to those for whose sake also it is cultivated, partakes of blessing from God. But if it brings forth thorns and thistles, it is disapproved and near a curse, whose end is to be burned.” Then 10:27 through 29 tells us that if anyone considers the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing and has insulted the Spirit of grace, he will have a certain expectation of judgment and fire.
In Matthew 3:10 and 11, John the Baptist said, “And already the axe is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not produce good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. I baptize you in water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is stronger than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He Himself will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.” These verses mention fire twice. It is not logical to say that the first time fire is mentioned it is negative, but the second time the same word is used it is positive. Therefore, baptism in fire does not have a positive meaning; it is not related to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Rather, it is the fire in the lake of fire. Verse 12 continues, “Whose winnowing fan is in His hand. And He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor and will gather His wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.” If a person is wheat, Christ will baptize him with the Holy Spirit, and he will have life. However, if he is chaff, He will baptize him with fire; that is, He will put him into the lake of fire. The evil ones, the Pharisees and Sadducees, came to John the Baptist in a pretentious way. It is as if John said, “If you do not bear fruit, you will be cut down and cast into the fire. You may fool me because I come only to baptize you with water, but you cannot fool Him. When He comes, He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He will clear up His threshing floor. If you are the real ones, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit for life. If you are the false ones, He will put you into the fire.”
At the end of the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is revealed as the burning Spirit. Before this, from Romans to Jude, all the aspects of the Spirit are positive. If we enjoy all those positive aspects and go along with them, that is very good. However, if we do not, the Spirit will be the Spirit of fire to us. If we receive Him, enjoy Him, and experience Him as the Spirit of life, the Spirit of the divine sonship, the transforming Spirit, the renewing Spirit, the speaking Spirit, and the Spirit in so many aspects, that is wonderful. If not, we will have to deal with Him in a different way—He will be the seven Spirits of God to us. He will search us, burn us, and judge us, and all the wood, grass, and stubble will be burned by His searching. This is a warning. We should not say that the Spirit is only wonderful. Eventually He may also be fearful.
Many times we are under the burning of the seven Spirits. This is why we often have sufferings. Sufferings are to burn off the things of the flesh, the old creation, and the self. The many sufferings mentioned in 2 Corinthians are also a kind of burning (1:5, 8-9; 4:8-12; 6:4-10; 11:23-28). The burning of fire for judgment is a great matter. If we do not understand this concept, we cannot understand the books of Hebrews and Revelation. Hebrews 12:29 says, “For our God is also a consuming fire.” Out of Him there is a stream of fire because He is the fire. The fire mentioned in Ezekiel 1 is the same in principle; it is fire as the judging element.
The searching, burning, and judging Spirit in Revelation is called the seven Spirits. Generally speaking, the number seven signifies completeness. In this book, however, seven not only means completeness but also implies judgment. In the entire book of Revelation there are four great sevens. First there are the seven epistles in chapters two and three. Then there are the seven seals (6:1—8:5), the seven trumpets (8:6—11:19), and the seven bowls (15:1—16:21). All these sevens relate to judgment. The seven epistles are judging epistles. They are different from all the previous epistles in the New Testament. All the previous epistles are nourishing epistles; only these seven are judging epistles. Likewise, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls also are for judgment. After these four series of judgments, some things will go to the lake of fire, and some will go to the city of water. It is by this series of four judgments that all things in the universe will be classified as to whether they belong to the lake of fire or to the city of water.
The number seven in this book is not only the number of completeness but also implies judgment. Therefore, the seven Spirits of God represent the governmental aspect of the Holy Spirit. The seven Spirits come out of the throne of God to judge and work governmentally. The Spirit of God is both the speaking Spirit for the testimony of Jesus, and He is the judging Spirit.
I hope that you all would spend the time to review all the aspects of the Spirit we have mentioned and pray over them. Then you will see that the Spirit is none other than Christ Himself for us to experience and taste. In the first part of the New Testament Christ is the Word, and in the latter part Christ is the Spirit with many aspects. Christ as the Word is for us to know, to “read,” and to understand, while Christ as the Spirit is for us to realize, enjoy, taste, and experience. If we enjoy Him in a proper way, He is the river of water. If not, He is the stream of fire to us, and something that we have will be brought into the lake of fire. Only when we enjoy Him is He the river of water to us; this river will bring us into the city of water. We need to spend time to pray over all these points, which are very meaningful and helpful.