“John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.” - Revelation 1:4-5a
The Triune God
If anyone tries to tell you that the trinity is not in scripture—a popular dissension from orthodox Christianity today—one of the places you can point them is the introduction of Revelation, because John addresses the churches in the name of the triune God.
Father
In his gospel, John uses the Greek “ego eimi” more than any other author of scripture. It is the verb “to be” combined with the singular personal pronoun. In other words— “I am.” Christ says this of himself famously in several places in John, angering the Jews as they understand that by making the statement “I am,” Jesus is claiming to be the same as the God of the Old Testament.
“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’”
- John 8:58
The same God who called himself “I Am” when he spoke to Moses from the burning bush in Exodus 3. (The corresponding Hebrew is hayah which also means “to be.”)
“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” - Exodus 3:14-15
The word LORD in that passage is the divine name—YHWH, or Yahweh, which, again, is connected with the hebrew verb “to be.”
In addressing the churches, John references this title again in so many words by calling the Father “him who is and who was and who is to come.” (You’ll recall that we briefly acknowledged this cadence in part 3.) This is a long way of saying “he is,” as in he exists, he is self-sustaining. The Father, the “I Am,” isn’t described as being something. He just is. He is, he always was and he always will be. It is a statement about the eternality of his existence.
Holy Spirit
The second person of the trinity in John’s greeting is the Holy Spirit—“the seven spirits who are before his throne.” We could also phrase that another way you may have heard before: the sevenfold Spirit. There are a couple of verses we can factor into interpreting it this way.
First:
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.”
- Isaiah 11:1-2
Symbolic Sevens
The number seven is found frequently in prophecy because it represents the spiritual completeness and holiness of God. In fact, it is found more than 700 times in the Bible and is repeated 50 times in the book of Revelation. This is only the beginning of our journey reading symbolic numbers in this book.
Often times people will interpret some of the numbers in Revelation symbolically, such as in this case with the seven spirits of God (because we know there are not actually seven spirits—only one Holy Spirit), but then start to interpret other numbers literally, such as the 1,000 year reign. No, we have to be consistent when reading this book. Remember this is a reality John is painting for us using symbolic images, and his paint brush is his words. If we start trying to match historical events or concepts with literal numerical values, we will start to get confused and the book will become foreign to us rather than draw us closer to Christ.
The Spirit of Completeness
Returning to the point, many scholars have connected the Isaiah 11 passage to Revelation’s reference to the seven spirits of God because seven are listed: The spirit of Yahweh (the LORD), wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and fear of Yahweh. These seven spirits form a composite image of the Holy Spirit, which we know rested on Christ (pictured by the dove that descended at his baptism in Matthew 3:16-17). These seven spirits are also the characteristics the Holy Spirit grows in us when we are indwelt by him. And this he will do until we are spiritually complete, as the number seven is meant to suggest.
"He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” - Phil. 1:6
The Holy Spirit is completely holy because God is completely holy and it is his Spirit; Christ is completely holy and, because we are in him and he is in us via the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we are declared completely holy and our holiness will effectively be made complete at “the day of Jesus Christ.”
Lampstands
Second:
“And he said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it.” - Zech. 4:2
This prophetic vision (again, one that was seen as opposed to heard) from Zechariah is recalled in the book of Revelation several times. Here in particular it aids our interpretation of the seven spirits of God that are before the throne. We have just determined that seven is representative of spiritual completeness, which is the Spirit of God—the Holy Spirit. The Hebrew name for the Holy Spirit literally reads “the set apart Spirit.” And it is not just he who is set apart, but setting apart is what he does.
We will see in the upcoming verses Christ walking among the lampstands, and these are the churches (Rev. 1:20). The same image is being invoked in Zechariah, but in a more concealed way, which we will unpack when we come to the later verses on the lampstands. For now, what we can conclude is that the same symbolic seven is being used to convey holiness when Zechariah lists the seven lamps with seven lips.
It is God’s Holy Spirit who sets apart the lampstand because the Holy Spirit is what illuminates the truth. It is this Spirit that is “before the throne.” Again, I am barely touching on this as it will take an entire article by itself at a later point.
Thus far, we have in these two persons (Father and the Sevenfold Spirit) two truths expressed about God: his eternality and his complete holiness and separateness.
Son
We are then given our first description of the Son: “Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.” Again, we see our cadence. Within the three persons of trinity, we see another three arise in the form of the three descriptions given of the Christ.
The Faithful Witness
He is first named the faithful witness, meaning he imaged the Father perfectly when he walked among us. While man continues to hide his face from God in shame, continuing the legacy of his father, Adam; while man continues to be unfaithful to his covenants with God; while man continues to witness the wisdom, might, and holiness of God and forget. Christ enters the world as the faithful witness, who has seen the Father, who does not hide his face, who upholds all righteousness, and embodies all of the wisdom, might and holiness of God.
“Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’”
- John 18:37
Jesus states his purpose as the faithful witness plainly to Pilate. Another fitting verse from John on this topic expounds Jesus bearing witness and witness being borne about him:
“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.”
- John 5:30-38
This language of testimony, judgment, witness… it’s a courtroom. In jewish culture, two witnesses were required to decide a matter (Deut. 19:15) and, here, Jesus is appealing to that. Not only does he have the testimony of the Father, but John the Baptist bore witness about Christ. (Ah, there’s that lamp reference again! Did you catch it?) And, finally, Christ’s works bore witness about him. (I think of this as a reference to the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is God’s work in the world.)
But this is not just a one way street!
The persons of the trinity all bear witness about each other, and this is why we have the law regarding two witnesses. The Holy Spirit and the Son give testimony of the Father. Likewise, the Son and the Father give testimony of the Spirit. And the Father and Spirit give testimony of the Son, as Jesus explained in John 5. To summarize: Each person in the trinity bears witness of the other two. And each person of the trinity operates in the presence of two witnesses.
But we return to the point that Jesus Christ is the person of the Godhead that most exemplifies this characteristic of “faithful witness,” as he was specifically sent to bear witness to us of the Father and the Holy Spirit, whom he later sent to enable us to also be witnesses (John 14).
The Firstborn of the Dead
Jesus then is called the firstborn of the dead, referring to his being forsaken by the Father at his crucifixion and experiencing the separation of death.
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” - 2 Corinthians 5:21
Christ tasted not only the physical separation of death, but the spiritual separation that we all would face for eternity if not for his sacrifice. The agony of knowing the glory of God and God turning his face away. From this state of death that we are all under, and that Christ took upon himself, he was resurrected. And he was the first, of course. And we who abide in him have also been resurrected (spiritually) and will be as he is (physically).
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” - John 12:24
The Ruler of Kings on Earth
Finally, the Son is described as the ruler of kings on earth. Now, at face value we tend to take this to mean that Jesus rules over the kings of geopolitical entities on this earth, that he is supreme over them. And that is true. But I think what is really being described here his rulership over us who reign with him as co-heirs. It isn’t just a vague reference to the kings who rule the kingdoms of this world, but a very specific reference to the order of the kingdom of God.
See, what is true of Christ is true of us. Don’t mistake that for the heresy of Christ being merely a man or that man can become Christ, no. But because we are his bride, we are one with him. We touched on this in part 2 of this series. This is what the man and wife becoming one flesh is meant to illustrate. They live and move and have their being together.
Christ is the faithful witness, and, in him, we become faithful witnesses.
Christ is the firstborn of the dead, and, in him, we are born again from the dead.
In the same manner, Christ is the King of kings, as it is later expressed in Revelation 19:16—Ruler of kings on earth. In him, we are the kings of the earth.
Not what it seems
Does it appear that way?
No.
But we said that at the outset. This revelation comes to us to show us that the world is not as it seems. Christ exemplified that first.
Though he was a faithful witness, he was not upheld, but was slain for his testimony. Though his death appeared to be defeat, he was raised again. And though he is King over all the earth, he was spat on as a beggar.
It is no different for us because we are one with him. What we see with our eyes does not match the reality we feel in our hearts. We hope for what we do not see.
The faithful witnesses are not upheld, but are slain for their testimony.
Our deaths appear to be our defeat, but we will rise again.
We are cast aside as beggars, but in truth we reign with Christ as kings.
From Him
Even if you try and imagine the God behind the composite image we’ve been given, you can’t imagine him. But he certainly gives us a picture to start with. That picture is the gospel, which, believe it or not, is encapsulated in this introduction of the triune God.
“John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace…”
From whom does John deliver to us grace and peace?
From him who is and was and is to come, eternal, completely holy and separate from all that we see; and yet condescending into his broken creation as the faithful witness by his life, the firstborn from death, and the resurrected king reigning over all the earth. From him. That’s who.
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