‘John to the seven churches who 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 which are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the rulers of the earth.'
This greeting is so full of significance that it requires careful examination.
The book is written to ‘the seven churches who are in Asia'. These were individual churches probably selected because they illustrated the conditions John wants to draw out, but their number as seven, the number of divine perfection, points to the fact that they are seen as representing the whole church. This is confirmed in that they are seven lampstands (Revelation 1:20) which parallel the sevenfold lampstand in the Tabernacle. They are God's witness and His light shines out through them to the world.
1) ‘From him who is and who was and who is to come.' In this description of God, the order is significant. While He is saying that past, present and future are in His hands because He is personally present in all three, He is also placing the stress on the fact that He is the ‘One Who is'. He Who was responsible for the past and Who controls the future, is the Ever Existing One Who is present with them in whatever present situation that they face so that they need have no fear. As at the Exodus, when, as the ‘I am', He guaranteed to deliver His people from their great tribulation (Exodus 3:14), so here as the ‘I am' He will again deliver His people from the tribulation that is coming. They can therefore rest assured that in all their tribulations He is ‘the One Who is there'.
2) ‘And from the seven spirits who are before his throne'. In the light of the content of the book this must refer to the seven angels who blow the seven trumpets, ‘the seven angels who stand before God' (Revelation 4:5; Revelation 8:2), for we know that angels are also called ‘ministering spirits' (Hebrews 1:14). We can compare the usage here with 1 Timothy 5:21 where God, Christ Jesus and the ‘elect angels' are also mentioned together, and how the angels are brought in in Revelation 3:5 along with the Father. These seven angels are the ones who will issue in the judgments of God, and they are here shown to be on the side of His people. Because of their special and central part in what lies ahead they are included in the greeting to show their special concern for God's people.
John may well have in mind the seven ‘angels of the Presence' of Judaism but if so he is concerned not to name them. (Later they would be known as Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Sariel, Remiel, but these are in the main traditional not Scriptural names). One of these was ‘Michael the archangel' (Jude 1:9 compare Revelation 12:7), ‘one of the chief princes' (Daniel 10:13), and the special prince of Israel (Daniel 10:21; Daniel 12:1), and another was ‘Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God' (Luke 1:19). (The apocryphal book of Tobit mentions Raphael as ‘one of the seven holy angels who present the prayers of the holy ones and go in before the glory of the Holy One' (Tob 12:15), giving us an indication of certain Jewish beliefs at that time). The point of these words is to remind the churches that all the forces of Heaven are behind them, as they were behind Elisha (1 Kings 6:17).
These seven spirits of God are described as ‘seven lamps of fire burning before the throne of God' (Revelation 4:5). We can compare this with Hebrews 1:7 where the writer says ‘he makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire' (Hebrews 1:7). This fire is representative of purity and fiery purpose.
They are also ‘sent out into all the earth' (Revelation 5:6). It is not necessary to assume that they are the same as the seven angels of the seven churches described as stars in Christ's right hand (Revelation 1:20), for this latter indicates that every church has an angel watching over it, and seven angels are mentioned because there are seven churches (compare Matthew 18:10). The guardian angels were not limited to seven.
That it is not the Holy Spirit Who is referred to comes out in that:
a) The Holy Spirit is never linked with God the Father and Jesus Christ in a greeting elsewhere.
b) The Holy Spirit would not be ‘before the throne' which is the position of servants (compare the seven angels who stand before God (Revelation 8:2) who are servants of God).
c) Angels are regularly called ‘spirits' (Hebrews 1:7; Hebrews 1:14; Psa 104:4; 1 Kings 22:21; Revelation 5:6).
d) Even given the meaning of the term seven as signifying divine perfection and completeness, it is difficult to see how the Holy Spirit could be called ‘seven spirits', especially when they are described as seven lamps of fire before the throne of God (Revelation 4:5) and ‘seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth' (Revelation 5:6). This compares with the ‘seven eyes of YHWH which run to and fro through the whole earth' of Zechariah 4:10, compare Zechariah 3:9 where it is extremely unlikely that it refers to ‘the Spirit of YHWH'.
This is especially true in that in Revelation 3:1 the seven spirits are active along with, and parallel, (or possibly are the same as by translating ‘the seven spirits of God, even the seven stars') the seven stars which are the seven angels of the churches. There clearly are seven angels of the churches, which suggests that there are also seven spirits.
e) The seven spirits are mentioned after the twenty four elders and before the four living creatures in Revelation chapter 4, which does not accord with them signifying the Holy Spirit. What the verse is saying is that God is depicted as being there, along with His seven chief assistants who will have a major part in what is to come, in a book full of God's use of assistants, ready for action. It then centres in on Jesus Christ as the great Mediator, the other important figure in the book.
f). In contrast the Holy Spirit is revealed as speaking to each of the churches (Revelation 2:7; Revelation 2:11; Revelation 2:17; Revelation 2:29; etc) as an individual. He also speaks in Revelation 22:18. Compare how John is ‘in the Spirit on the Lord's day (Revelation 1:10), and John was in the Spirit when he was taken up into heaven (Revelation 4:2; compare also Revelation 17:3; Revelation 21:10). So in these cases the Spirit is seen as one Spirit.
3) ‘And from Jesus Christ who is the Faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth.' This phrase sums up the life, death, resurrection and exaltation of Jesus Christ, and encourages His people.
He is ‘the faithful witness', the One Who fully made God known to men and Who witnessed faithfully even to death. He is uniquely God's witness and the prime example of what all who serve God are called to be. There is almost certainly in the phrase an emphasis on His faithful witness through His great suffering and death. He was to be seen as an example to all martyrs.
He was the first to rise again as ‘the firstborn from the dead'. This was ‘the first resurrection'. He led the way from death to life, and because He lives we shall live as well (John 14:19). And others rose with Him as a result of His resurrection (Matthew 27:52-53). He is thus the guarantee that all His people too will rise when all is over. But Scripture emphasises that just as those Old Testament saints did, we already live and share in His resurrection life (Ephesians 1:19 to Ephesians 2:7; Colossians 3:1-2; Galatians 2:20). Thus do we partake in the ‘first resurrection', His resurrection, in which we partake when we become Christians, raised into heavenly places in Christ to share His throne (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1), and in which the martyrs have their full share (Revelation 20:5). Later we will partake in a resurrection in a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:44) which is the consummation of what we already have in Christ. He was the firstfruits of all those who sleep (1 Corinthians 15:20).
The term ‘firstborn' signifies not only precedence but also pre-eminence and unique relationship. Thus He is the firstborn of all creation - Colossians 1:15. And He is now over all, exalted at God's right hand as ruler of the rulers of the earth, as one day His people will also be, whatever men may seek to do to them.
Compare here Psalms 89:27; Psalms 89:37 where all three titles are used of the Davidic king. Their use here stresses that He is great David's greater son, the heavenly Messiah. Important for all to recognise here is that He is therefore alive and Ruler over persecuting kings, including the Roman emperors and their successors through history.