The Rhythm and Significance of Three
REVELATION Number 17
The Rhythm and Significance of Three
Revelation 1:4–5a (NASB 2020)
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 the kings of the earth.”
If you have not given up waiting for the next installment in our study of The Revelation, I applaud you and I am very grateful that you have decided to hang in there for such a long time. The last segment in our study covered the same passage we will examine this time.
YouTube recently suggested that I watch a video on The Revelation by someone named Voddie Baucham. I was glad I did! Voddie pointed out a detail I had missed. It’s so beneficial to our study that I wanted to present it to you.
Please note that, as I have mentioned before, I do not agree with or in any way mean to recommend everyone I may quote. When I do recommend them, I’ll be clear about it. I am not very familiar with Mr. Baucham’s theology and teaching, but I found great value in this particular point.
Mr. Baucham pointed out that along with the repetitive use of fours, six, sevens, tens, and twelves in The Revelation, we should be careful to watch for occurrences of three. As we go through The Revelation, we want to be very aware of these numbers.
Three is the number of God. He is triune. He made us tripartite—that is to say, having three parts, body, soul, and spirit. Interestingly, when we look for threes in The Revelation it provides us with an almost musical rhythm. In reading The Revelation we move from one triad to the next, almost as if it were musically scored in 3-3 time.
Here are three examples from the first three verses of the book.
Revelation 1:1–3
1The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,
2who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, everything that he saw.
3Blessed is the one who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it; for the time is near. (NASB 2020)
God gave Jesus The Revelation, Jesus sent it to John, John testified to it.
John testified to: the word of God, the testimony of Jesus Christ, and everything he saw.
Blessed is the one who reads, those who hear, and those who keep the things written in The Revelation.
In just the first verses we find a triad of triads!
Now in Revelation 1:4–5a we find:
“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 the kings of the earth.” (NASB 2020)
Him who is, Him who was, Him who is to come—The Father (and a triad within the larger Triad of the Trinity)
The seven spirits—the Holy Spirit (more to come on this)
Jesus Christ—the Son of God.
The Trinity is seen and the Lord Jesus, about whom this Revelation is written is presented this way, “, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”
By now, I’m sure that you are beginning to see what Mr. Baucham meant in describing the recurrence of three as a kind of rhythm. Let’s be on the lookout for that as we study together.
