“Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.” Revelation 4:4.
The above has been included for context; this post will be on Revelation 4:5-6a.
“And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Revelation 4:5.
The fact that lightnings, thunderings, and voices emanate from the throne indicates that this is a throne of judgment. It also confirms that the tribulation judgments are from God.
This last fact is important because some folks say that the destruction that occurs during the first three and a half years of the tribulation is man made.
While we will see when we study the four horsemen of the apocalypse in Revelation 6:1-8 that man, as always, creates nothing but misery for himself and those around him; yet the judgments still come from God.
The “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne” are already identified as being “the seven Spirits of God” which are not seven different Spirits, but seven different manifestations of the one Holy Spirit.
“The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him [Jesus], the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.” Isaiah 11:2.
These seven are the Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of wisdom and understanding, Spirit of counsel and might, Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Notice that the last six are coupled together by twos.
The first mentioned is the Spirit of the Lord, which has the meaning of, the Spirit of “the existing One”.
The second Spirit is one of wisdom, which has the meaning of prudence in religious affairs, both ethical and religious, in Christ the meaning is one of perfect wisdom in all things.
The third manifestation of the Spirit is understanding, which has the meaning of intelligence, insight, and discernment.
The fourth manifestation of the Spirit is counsel, which is a faculty of forming plans, prudence, and wisdom.
The fifth manifestation of the Spirit is might, which is strength, valor, and bravery.
The sixth manifestation of the Spirit is knowledge, with this there is perception, skill, discernment, understanding, and wisdom.
This seventh and last manifestation of the Spirit is, fear of the Lord, which actually means to reverently trust; not to be scared stiff, though it is sometimes meant in that way.
The number seven is a number of completeness or perfection, so this description of Him gives us a look at the Holy Spirit in all His glory and perfection.
Once a person accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior the Christian is sealed with the Holy Spirit.
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14.
Since we as Christians have the Spirit dwelling within us, we have access to His attributes. If someone comes to you with a need for counsel in a matter, it is possible, if you are willing to listen to the Spirit, to give them godly counsel. If they seek wisdom, you can help them.
If you seek to reverently trust God in all things, the Holy Spirit can help you. If you truly wish to know more about God, the Holy Spirit will guide you into ever greater knowledge of the Lord. You are complete in Christ.
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” Colossians 2:8-10.
“And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Revelation 4:5.
As we can see above we know that the lamps of fire before the throne are the Holy Spirit, but why is this description different from the one in Revelation 1:4b?
“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…” Revelation 1:4b.
And why is Revelation 1:4b above, similar to verse 20b, in that no fire is mentioned? In fact in Revelation 1:4b no lampstands are mentioned either.
“The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.” Revelation 1:20b.
An unlit lampstand does not fulfill its function, so to represent the seven churches as lampstands that appear to be unlit must have some significance. The fuel for the lamps in this case is olive oil, the symbol of the Holy Spirit.
“Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues [known languages], as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:1-4.
“… [Jesus said] I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12.
Jesus also said the following to His followers.
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify Your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16.
Throughout the church age the light, whether dim or bright shined. Unfortunately it has become very dim in this age.
The sequence of events then, is this; in Revelation 1:4 the Holy Spirit is shown before the throne of God the Father where Jesus, God the Son also is seen in verse 5.
“John, to the seven churches which 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 from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priest to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Revelation 1:4-6.
This is all part of the salutation in the letter to the seven churches, so the churches are not seen before the throne.
Next in Revelation 1:12 and 20, the seven churches are introduced as seven lampstands which are to become the light of the world. Since, as yet, the church age had not begun; the lampstands were not lit.
It was not until Pentecost that the lamps were filled with a limitless supply of the olive oil of the Holy Spirit, and lit by Him. See Acts 2:1-4 and John 8:12 and Matthew 5:14-16 quoted earlier above.
Finally here in Revelation chapter four wherein the church age has ended and the seven churches are now in heaven, having fulfilled their purpose of being a light to the world and glorifying God.
These, “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne” are the Holy Spirit of God which indwelt and empowered the seven churches.
While historically the book of Revelation was written about 90 A.D. and the church age began about 33 A.D. approximately 60 years earlier the first church age was already in progress when Revelation was written.
The reason for this strange sequence of events is to show that the entire Godhead, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were there before the church age began, Revelation 1:4-5.
The seven unlit lampstands Revelation 1:12 and 20 reveal the seven churches as having Christ as head and the one who calls them out, yet they are not yet filled with the Holy Spirit.
The filling of the Holy Spirit occurred at Pentecost, Acts 2:1-4 quoted earlier sometime after Jesus Christ’s ascension, see Acts1:1-11.
Finally, the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne in Revelation 4:5 indicate that the seven churches having completed their function on earth have been raptured, and taken to heaven.
“Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal.” Revelation 4:6a.
A good explanation as to what this represents is found in the laver in the tabernacle and the corresponding sea in Solomon’s temple.
“You shall also make a laver [basin] of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it, for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it.” Exodus 30:18-19.
The last sentence above says that, “Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet…” curious is it not that they wash their feet?
It makes sense that they wash their hands because they would get quite dirty, but why the feet?
The reason is this, the hands represent the things we do, and the feet represent the places we go, so then Christians being priests to God must cleanse themselves of their sinful acts and their sinful habits.
This is done by the washing of the water of the word of God which, in time will cleanse both the hands and feet.
Solomon’s laver in the temple is so much bigger that it is called a sea.
“Then he made the Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other; it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.” 1 Kings 7:23.
Fifteen feet across, seven and a half feet high with a circumference of forty-five feet and a staggering capacity of about 12,000 gallons of water.
If it were not a sacred thing, it would make a beautiful swimming pool, and a very expensive one.
This is what it means for the Christian, when viewing the tabernacle the first thing one would see is the brazen altar where the sacrifice was killed and burned, this is a type of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
One cannot enter the tabernacle without being cleansed of sin. Once this is done they next come to the bronze laver where the priests were required to ceremonially wash themselves when making sacrifices or entering the tabernacle.
Though Christ’s payment for sin is once for all time and it is the end of sacrifice for the Christian, yet the laver is still there for us to wash before going into the tabernacle.
The laver and the washing is a picture for us; speaking of the church Scripture says that Christ wants to:
“…sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word…” Ephesians 5:26.
So by going to the laver, the Bible, the believer is continually cleansed by the word of God, and thus becomes more sanctified (set apart) and Christ like through washing in the water of Scripture.
Interestingly enough there were no measurements given to Moses for the laver in the tabernacle; this would indicate that there is no limit to what we can learn from the Bible if we go to it with a whole heart.
The “sea of glass, like crystal” then gives us cleansed and undefiled Christian’s, who, like the sea of glass are fixed and no longer in need of washing.
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
Revelation 4:5-6a taken from godisrevealed.com updated on 10-18-16, reposted on 6-2-22.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.