Firstly, the very Almighty God is the Father. The Father is nothing less than God Himself. His being the Father means that He is the source. The Father is also the Lord, and, as 1:4 makes clear, He is the One who is, who was, and who is coming.
In Revelation, the sequence of the Triune God is different from that found in Matthew. In Matthew 28:19 the sequence of the Triune God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But in 1:4 and 5 the sequence is changed. The seven Spirits of God are listed in the second place instead of the third. This reveals the importance of the intensified function of the sevenfold Spirit of God. This point is confirmed by the repeated emphasis on the Spirit’s speaking in 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22; 14:13; 22:17. At the opening of the Epistles, only the Father and the Son are mentioned, from whom grace and peace are given to the receivers. Here, however, the Spirit is also included, from whom grace and peace are imparted to the churches. This also signifies the crucial need of the Spirit for God’s move to counteract the degradation of the church.
Let us now see why in Revelation the Spirit occupies the second place in the sequence of the divine Trinity. It is because in this book the age has been changed from the Son to the Spirit. In the book of Revelation, the age is the age of the Spirit, and in this age the Spirit has been intensified.
Because the Spirit in 1:4 is the intensified Spirit of God, He is called the seven Spirits. The seven Spirits are undoubtedly the Spirit of God because they are ranked among the Triune God in verses 4 and 5. We cannot understand the Bible according to our natural, limited mentality. According to our concept, the words seven Spirits denote seven individual spirits. But this is not the meaning. The number seven here does not refer to seven different spirits but to one sevenfold Spirit.
Seven is the number of completion in God’s dispensational move, while twelve is the number of completion in God’s eternal administration. For example, God created the earth in six days plus one Sabbath day. Furthermore, there are seven dispensations in the Bible. For God’s move today, the church has the number seven. In the book of Revelation the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls are all for God’s dispensational move. Thus, the sevenfold Spirit is the intensified Spirit in God’s move today. He is the seven Spirits of God for God’s move.
As seven is the number for completion in God’s operation, so the seven Spirits are for God’s move on the earth. In substance and existence, God’s Spirit is one; in the intensified function and work of God’s operation, God’s Spirit is sevenfold. It is like the lampstand in Zechariah 4:2. In existence it is one lampstand, but in function it is seven lamps. At the time the book of Revelation was written, the church had become degraded and the age had become dark. Therefore, the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God was needed for God’s move and work on the earth. We all are familiar with three-way bulbs, light bulbs that can be switched to three successive degrees of illumination. When we do not need very much light, we switch the bulb to the first degree, but when we need more illumination, we switch it to the second or third degree. In like manner, the seven lamps on the lampstand were the sevenfold, intensified light. In the four Gospels, the Spirit of God was onefold because at that time there was not the need for so much light. However, after the church had been degraded and the age had become exceedingly dark, there was the need for the Holy Spirit to be intensified sevenfold. In this way the one Spirit of God has become the sevenfold Spirit. In existence, the Holy Spirit, like the lampstand in Zechariah, is one, but in function the Holy Spirit is seven.