CHAPTER EIGHT
In this message we shall consider the Spirit in the book of Revelation. In Revelation we see that the Spirit of God is now the seven Spirits. The term the seven Spirits is found four times in Revelation. Revelation 1:4 speaks of the seven Spirits who are before God's throne; 3:1, of the seven Spirits of God; 4:5, of seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; and 5:6, of the seven eyes of the Lamb, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. The seven Spirits of God are called the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne and also the seven eyes of the Lamb. They are the seven Spirits of God; yet these seven Spirits are the seven lamps of fire burning before God's administrative throne and also the seven eyes of the redeeming Lamb. Before you came into the church life, you probably never heard a word about the seven Spirits of God being the seven lamps and the seven eyes. Nevertheless, this is found in the book of Revelation.
Hardly anything in the book of Revelation is new. Revelation is not a book of new things; rather, it is the conclusion of the things revealed in the foregoing books of the Bible. The book of Revelation is the consummation of all previous revelation. It contains few new things, and the new things it does contain are related to the foregoing revelation. This is true with respect to the seven lamps and the seven eyes. Both are references to the Old Testament. The term the seven Spirits, however, is a new term; it cannot be found in the Old Testament. But the seven lamps and the seven eyes are found in the Old Testament. In Exodus chapter twenty-five, the first mention of the lampstand, we read of the seven lamps. Hence, the term the seven lamps found in Revelation is a reference to the Old Testament.
The thought of seven lamps burning and shining before God is not new; it had already been presented in the Old Testament (Exo. 25:31-37). The lampstand in the tabernacle had seven lamps burning before God. The lampstand signified not only God's testimony, but also God's administration. God's administration cannot be separated from His testimony because God's testimony is for God's administration. Most Christian teachers, however, have seen only that the lampstand is a testimony. They have not seen that the lampstand also refers to God's administration. God's administration is carried out through the shining of the lampstand.
We need to consider this lampstand in more detail. The lampstand with its branches is all-inclusive. It provides a clear picture of the Trinity. In the lampstand we have the Triune God. Firstly, the lampstand is solid gold, made of a talent of gold. Thus, gold is the essence, the substance, of the lampstand. In typology gold signifies God's substance, God's nature. No doubt the gold of the lampstand signifies that the source of the lampstand is the Father in the Godhead with the divine substance. Secondly, the stand itself is the embodiment of the gold. Without the stand, the gold would not have any embodiment or form. But with the stand the gold has a form and an embodiment. The stand as the embodiment of the gold signifies the Son, the second in the Trinity, who is the embodiment of God the Father. The Father is the substance, and the Son is the embodiment. Thirdly, we have the seven lamps which refer to the Spirit. The seven lamps, obviously, are the expression. The gold is the substance, the stand is the embodiment, and the lamps are the expression. Therefore, in the lampstand we have the Father as the substance, the Son as the embodiment, and the Spirit as the expression. This is the Triune God: the substance, the embodiment, and the expression. In substance the lampstand is one, but in expression it is seven. At the bottom the lampstand is one, but at the top it is seven.