Introducing the Lord Jesus Part 4
REVELATION Number 36
Introducing the Lord Jesus
Part 4
In Revelation 3:1 we find the Lord’s letter to Sardis. There, the Lord introduces Himself as “He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.” We know from Revelation 1:20 that the seven stars are the angels, or messengers, of the churches.
Having earlier written that I understand these angels to be the elders, overseers, or teachers of the churches. The Lord holds them in His hand, having authority over them and protecting them as ambassadors and under-shepherds of the flock. They are then responsible to read the letters and exhort those in their local fellowships.
I would be remiss however, if I did not refer you to the strong argument of G.K. Beale in favor of these stars being actual heavenly angels. Because Beale’s commentary is such a large and comprehensive work, it has been published in two formats. The longer version spells out his exegetically sound and well researched rationale in great detail. The shorter commentary summarizes it. He writes, in part, “The ‘angels’ are heavenly beings (the word is used with this reference approximately sixty times in Revelation) closely identified with the churches they represent and help.” He continues, “The churches are addressed through their representative angels apparently in order to remind the believers that already a dimension of their existence is heavenly and that their real home is not with the unbelieving ‘earth-dwellers’.” *
I think that no matter how one understands these angels, a central purpose of The Revelation is to reassure the Bride of Christ that she already exists in her heavenly home. The Lord Jesus makes clear that no matter the tribulation, turmoil, and trials of this temporal terrarium in which she finds herself, the Church is a citizen of the Kingdom of God, and her true home is not with the “unbelieving earth-dwellers.”
It is just such reassurance and encouragement for which The Revelation was given. The Lord takes very seriously any who would cause harm to His Bride. In 1 Corinthians 3:16–17 the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul makes this abundantly clear. That passage reads, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.” (NASB 2020)
As I am careful to point out nearly every time I share this passage, every single occurrence of the word “you” in this passage is in the plural. It is the Church, the Bride of Christ that is being addressed here. Each person in whom the Spirit dwells is a member of that Body, that Bride, the Church and therefore what is true of the Church catholic is true of us as individual members of it. We cannot be separated from the Body.
Since I am on the topic here, let me re-state something I said about my use of the words “church” and “catholic” earlier in the study.
“I may sometimes use the term, “the Church catholic” or even “the catholic Church.” I tend to avoid those phrases because they are prone to cause confusion because “the Roman Church” has chosen to call itself “the Catholic Church,” thus appropriating to itself the idea that it is the one true Body and Bride of Christ. But “catholic” simply means “all-encompassing or all-embracing.”
“When the word “church” is left in lowercase, I mean to refer to individual churches, local fellowships of believers. Generally, when I refer to the religious organization(s) commonly called the church, I use the term “institutional church” or something similar.”
The Lord said that He “has” the seven stars. He has the angels of these churches, and therefore, He has these churches. As we have seen, these letters are also directed to the Church in every age. Therefore, by extension, we today can take comfort in knowing that the Lord Jesus “has” us as well. Indeed, He told us this while on earth. In John 10:27–30 we read these comments, “My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (NASB 2020)
The Lord also introduced Himself as He who has the seven spirits of God. When we looked at Revelation 1:4-5a in an earlier segment of our study, I wrote about this.
Isaiah 11:1–2 sheds light on the idea of “seven spirits” representing the Hopy Spirit in completeness. The passage reads:
“Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.”
1) “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him,
2) The spirit of wisdom
3) and understanding,
4) The spirit of counsel
5) and strength,
6) The spirit of knowledge
7) and the fear of the LORD.”
(NASB 2020)
In verse two we see the Spirit of God who will rest on the Messiah characterized in His completeness by seven descriptive phrases. This has sometimes been called “the sevenfold Spirit of God.” I think that’s an apt phrase. Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father and the Son. Holy Spirit is just as righteous, holy, and perfect as each of the other two persons of the godhead. So true is this that there exists only One God.
Rightly then, John refers to the Spirit as seven, or complete. He is the totality of perfection, just as God the Father and God the Son are the totality of perfection.
In that earlier segment, we saw that the sevenfold Spirit was in front of the throne of God. Now we are told that the Lord Jesus “has” the sevenfold Spirit. As we saw in Isaiah, it was foretold that “the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him.” Indeed, our magnificent Lord “has” the Spirit. We also read that Jesus and the Father are One. So it is with the Father and the Spirit and with Jesus and the Spirit. These three are One The fullness of the deity lives in Jesus bodily.
As the Lord Jesus shows us over and over again, we are the children of God. We are the Body and Bride of Christ, who is God and in whom the fullness of (as the King James Bible puts it) “the godhead” dwells bodily. We read in 1 Corinthians 6:17, we who are joined to the Lord are one spirit with Him. Everything God is has become ours as an inheritance. We share in His nature (2 Peter 1:4) we have been given eternal Life, which is His Life (Galatians 2:20) and our lives are safely kept in God right along with the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:3).
What gratitude we can have toward the Lord Jesus for His multifaceted introduction of Himself to us in these letters. But wait, there’s more! Stay tuned for the next segments of our study of The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
*G. K. Beale, with David H. Campbell, The Book of Revelation: A Shorter Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI; W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; 2015), 50.
