In the Gospels the seed was sown. In the Acts there is the sprouting of the seed. In the Epistles we see the growth of the seed. And in Revelation there is the harvest. Christ, the wonderful One, was sown as the seed in the Gospels. Then He sprouted up in the Acts, and began growing in the Epistles. Eventually, there is a harvest in Revelation. Revelation 14 tells us that the harvest is ripe. The sowing was in the Gospels, and the reaping will be in Revelation. In the Gospels, the Lord Jesus told us that He was the sower who came to sow Himself into the human earth. Then in the Acts, the individual Christ sprouted from the human earth to be the corporate Christ. In the Epistles, this corporate Christ continues to grow in a big field of humanity. Then eventually in the book of Revelation the harvest is ripe, and the bride is ready to be the New Jerusalem as the Body-Christ for eternity. This is God’s goal. He was God in eternity. Then He came into time to become flesh. After passing through death and resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit to indwell His members. In this way He becomes the Body-Christ. This is for eternity. He was God, but eventually He becomes the Body-Christ, the full mingling of divinity with humanity.
Our God in Christ has already taken two steps and is now taking the third. We should never forget these steps. The first was incarnation; the second was death and resurrection; and the third is indwelling. By incarnation He became flesh. Through death and resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. As such a Spirit He is now taking the third step of indwelling to mingle Himself fully with us. We will be wholly saturated with Him, and eventually there will only be one entity, the mingling of divinity with humanity in a corporate way. This corporate mingling is the Body-Christ. Today in the church life we are enjoying the foretaste of the Body-Christ that will be consummated in the New Jerusalem.
Now we must come to the book of Revelation. This book starts with the seven Spirits. “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne” (Rev. 1:4). Is God’s Spirit one or seven? If it is one, why does it mention seven Spirits in the book of Revelation? To see this, we need a definition from Zechariah. “And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof....Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4:2, 5-6).
Zechariah the prophet saw a golden lampstand with lamps. Why is God’s Spirit one, yet seven? Look at the lampstand. It depends upon which end you see. From the lower end, it is one. From the other end, it is seven. So it is one in seven, or seven in one. The angel asked the prophet what this was and then answered himself, “This is the word of the Lord...Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.” The answer is that this is the Spirit. What the prophet saw was the Spirit. If we would know what the seven Spirits of God in Revelation are, we must go back to Zechariah. Nearly all the terms used in the book of Revelation have their source in the Old Testament. The Spirit of God in His ministry for God’s move is seven. The number seven means completion in God’s move. Therefore, the seven Spirits of God in Revelation do not mean seven different Spirits, but the one Spirit intensified seven times. If the one lampstand had only one lamp instead of seven, the light would not be that strong. If, however, there are seven lamps on the one lampstand, the light from the lampstand is intensified. This does not mean seven, separate, individual Spirits, but one Spirit with sevenfold enlightening. It is the intensified Spirit—one lampstand with seven lamps for intensified lighting.
The context of these verses in Zechariah shows that the lampstand, which signifies the Spirit of God in God’s move, is for God’s building. In the same principle, the sevenfold intensified Spirit in the book of Revelation is for the building of God’s dwelling place.