The 7 Spirits Before the Throne

One of the most puzzling passages in the book of Revelation occurs in the very beginning of the book. In Chapter One, verses 4 and 5, we read: “John, to the seven assemblies that are located 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 the Messiah, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”

There has been some controversy over just who these "seven spirits" are.

In the past, I have taught, and been taught, that these seven spirits refer to seven different aspects of the Holy Spirit mentioned in Isaiah 11:2. The New American Standard version puts it this way: "The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord."

A lot of teachers see 7 aspects here: the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Strength, the Spirit of Knowledge, and the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord.

Unfortunately, this takes some pretty impressive Scripture twisting to arrive at 7 aspects.

For starters, the Spirit of the Lord is not an aspect. It is Who He is. And while wisdom and understanding are certainly aspects of His, the way that the Hebrew is structured, this phrase would be ONE aspect, not two ("the spirit of wisdom and understanding).

Likewise, the Spirit of Counsel and Strength would be another singular aspect, as they are grouped together, and the Spirit of Knowledge and Fear of the Lord would be another singular aspect.

So, taking the Hebrew in context, the Spirit of the Lord (the Holy Spirit) would have 3 aspects: (1) Wisdom and Understanding, (2) Counsel and Strength, and (3) Knowledge and Fear of the Lord.

Even if each word was taken as an individual aspect of the Spirit of the Lord, that would still leave six.

And the Greek in Revelation chapter 1 clearly refers to 7 spirits, not 7 aspects of 1 Spirit. And in Chapter 8, each of these 7 angels are given one of 7 trumpets of judgment. So the text makes it pretty clear that these are real angels, not 7 aspects of the Holy Spirit.

Another interpretation is that the 7 angels before the throne refers to the "angels" or messengers of each of the 7 churches named in the first few chapters of Revelation. But again, the Greek would not make sense, as,the letters to the churches were actually addressed to the angel (or messenger) of that church. If that were the case, the 7 angels would be sending messages to themselves.

So, what's the story?

Here is one possibility:

Many scriptures in the Old Testament refer to a Divine Council over which the Lord God rules. It is clear from the book of Job that this Divine Council comes before His throne regularly to give an accounting or report.

Many ancient Jewish texts refer to 7 archangels. One text names them by name: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Raquel, Remiel and Saraquel.

Is it possible that these archangels were what John was referring to? He certainly would have known of these ancient writings that named them, as they were commonly circulated.

In any case, the Apostle was giving a message of hope from the Father, the Messiah, and these celestial beings to the 7 churches (and, through them, to us as well) to persevere and keep faithful to our call.

And that's a message that we all need to hear.