In John’s last book, we come to a threefold consummation—the consummation of John’s writings, the consummation of the New Testament, and even the consummation of the entire Bible. As such a consummation, the book of Revelation is crucial. As a part of God’s New Testament ministry, this book has never been opened up so much as it has been since 1969, which was the time the Lord showed us the seven Spirits.
The first important principle in understanding the book of Revelation is that nearly every item in this book has been presented already either in the Old Testament or in the other books of the New Testament. You may be surprised or even shocked to realize that, basically, Revelation does not present anything new.
For example, the first point in the book of Revelation is the lampstands (Rev. 1:12, 20; 2:1). In the Old Testament there were lampstands in the tabernacle in Exodus and in the temple in 1 Kings (Exo. 25:31-40; 1 Kings 7:49). Furthermore, in Zechariah there is the lampstand with the seven lamps as the seven eyes of the stone of grace (3:9; 4:2, 10). Therefore, this term, the lampstand, is not a new expression in Revelation but is clearly from the Old Testament. (See also Matt. 5:15.) Whatever is found in Revelation is not a new item, but rather the full development of a particular item that has been presented already. The lampstand is not developed to its fullest extent until the book of Revelation.
Another illustration of this principle is the throne of God with the four living creatures before the throne (Rev. 4:2, 6-11; 5:6). These are not new items, because Ezekiel had seen and described them long before (Ezek. 1:5-26). Item after item which is presented in Revelation is the full development of something already presented in the Old Testament. This principle is crucial for our understanding of this book.
Even the New Jerusalem is not a new item in the book of Revelation. At the end of Ezekiel there is a city with twelve gates, a city called “Jehovah Is There” (Ezek. 48:30-35). The city with twelve gates is an old item renewed and developed in Revelation (Rev. 21:12-13). You may be surprised and even shocked to find that one item after another in Revelation is not new but is rather a further development of something already presented. Without this principle, you cannot understand this mysterious book.
Furthermore, even the revelation concerning the Divine Trinity has been developed in the book of Revelation. In Matthew we see the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (28:19). In theology, to indicate the Father you simply say the first in the Trinity, and everyone understands that you are speaking of the Father. Likewise, the second is Christ the Son, and the third is the Spirit. However, when we come to the first chapter of Revelation the sequence of the Divine Trinity is altogether changed. Verse 4 says, “from Him who is and who was and who is coming.” This expression, Him who is and who was and who is coming, is triune and is equivalent to the Old Testament expression for Jehovah (Exo. 3:14). In the Divine Trinity revealed in this book, the first One is triune and is Jehovah, the great Eternal, the great I Am, the great To Be, the One who is, who was, and who is coming, or who is to be. Therefore, even from this one point we can see that the Divine Trinity is very much developed.
After naming first Him who is, and who was, and who is coming, verse 4 continues, “And from the seven Spirits who are before His throne.” Here the second is not the Son, but the Spirit, and the Spirit here is not one Spirit but seven Spirits, a sevenfold development. In the development of the Divine Trinity in Revelation 1:4, the first becomes Jehovah, and the second becomes the seven Spirits. The third is in verse 5, “And from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth.” Here the third is not the Spirit, but the Son. This indicates that the sequence of the Divine Trinity is altogether changed. The faithful Witness refers to the Son’s earthly life, and the Firstborn of the dead refers to His resurrection. In addition, the Ruler of the kings of the earth refers to His ascension, to His present situation, and to His coming back.
Moreover, neither the term the Father nor the term the Son is used in these two verses, and the Spirit is mentioned as “the seven Spirits.” Surely this is the fullest development of the Divine Trinity, showing that all the creeds are inadequate. If you are going to accept any of the creeds, it is as if you need to cut your long feet to make them fit into a pair of short shoes.
In Revelation the Divine Trinity is not a new thing. At least in Matthew 28:19 the matter of the Divine Trinity has been developed. In fact, from Genesis 1:1 the Divine Trinity has been developed through all the books up to Matthew 28:19 and has been applied in the Acts, in the Epistles, and all the way to the book of Revelation. Now at the very opening word of this book you have the fullest development of the Divine Trinity. Moreover, the development continues in chapters four and five, where we are told that the seven Spirits are the seven lamps before the throne of God (4:5) as well as the seven eyes of the Lamb (5:6). The seven lamps before the throne are for God’s administration over the entire universe; the seven eyes of the Lamb are for Christ’s observing, judging, and infusing. What a further development of the Divine Trinity this is! In the development of the Divine Trinity, the Spirit becomes the eyes of the Son. The One called the third in traditional theology becomes the eyes of the second. How could you explain such a thing? Are they two persons or one? Surely the light in these few verses annuls the entire teaching of the traditional theology concerning the three persons. According to the terminology of traditional theology, if the third person becomes the eyes of the second person, you would lose one person, so that eventually you would have only two persons among the Divine Trinity. How could you count your eyes as a separate person from yourself? This one matter gives you a strong reason not to follow the traditional teaching concerning the Divine Trinity.
I have especially encouraged the young people to study Greek for the purpose of going on to see further things in the pure Word of God, not to go back to study those traditional things. The verses we have been considering illustrate the way to get into the pure Word of God apart from any influence of traditional teaching. Even our brief consideration of these few verses in Revelation leaves no ground for the erroneous teaching that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three separate persons. In fact, it destroys that wrong teaching.