Thinking in 3’s - Revelation 1:4-5 - Holy Trinity

Thinking in 3’s - Revelation 1:4-5 - Holy Trinity

Rev. 1:4   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, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

There are many places in Scripture where the three Persons of the Trinity are mentioned together. There are many other places where they are mentioned separately, or where they are mentioned in pairs. But here we have them all together - the Holy Trinity.

All three Persons of the Trinity share the traits of divinity. Divinity is distinguished from humanity at least in part by the idea of infinity. God is infinite. Man is finite. All three Persons, then, are infinite in all the aspects of their character, including love and justice; holiness and compassion. God knows all (omniscience), and has all power (omnipotence). All three Persons have this omniscience and omnipotence, though the Son of God, in the incarnation, gave up the use of some attributes as He took on human flesh.

God the Father is described above as “Him who is and who was and ho is to come.” This refers to His eternality. He always was. He always will be. He never is out of existence. He is always there. He is always present. That should be great encouragement for His children. He may not always answer immediately when we call, but He instantly hears, and in fact knows what we ask before we know to ask it. He does not always do what we ask, but He, in His infinite wisdom, will always do what is right, and what is best.

“The seven spirits before the throne” refers to the Holy Spirit, in my understanding. In Revelation 4 and 5, angels and elders are around the throne as worshippers, but not this seven-fold spirit, as though the Holy Spirit would be relegated to worshippers. He, as a member of the Holy Trinity, is to be worshipped along with the Father and the Son.

You may know that John in Revelation is big on numbers. Certainly the number “3” is important. But the number “7” is even more so. It is the number of completeness or fullness. This Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is fullness of Spirit. He is the Spirit of full and overflowing. He is the abounding Spirit. He is able to take the fullness of God, and to communicate and apply all the resources from the throne of God in full measure to every single believer. There is no limit to His ability to encourage and enable, to convict and convince. We may need more Spirit, but that is no fault of the Spirit. We may need more Spirit because we live too much in the flesh. That is on us, not on Him.

God the Son is here referred to as “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness (I’ve written earlier concerning the “3” that includes witness; firstborn; and ruler).” “Jesus” is His earthly name, given to Him by Mary and Joseph at the instruction of the angel of the Lord. “Christ” is His office, the Messiah, the One anointed and appointed by God to be the central figure for the accomplishment of the redemption and formation of the people of God. 

“Faithful witness” is an interesting term. A “witness” is either someone who has witnessed something, or someone who gives testimony about what He has seen. As a witness, Jesus can share with us (and He has) what He has experienced as a member of the Holy Trinity. He can share with us things about the Father and the Spirit that we could not possibly otherwise know. But as a witness, He also represents us to the Father. He lived with us, with people like us, and He shared our skin, our dust, and knows us inside and out. He vouches for us, though we be so often fickle and unfaithful. But He vouches for us nonetheless, because He knows what He has done for us.

No other religion worships the Holy Trinity. And thus, no other religion as an adequate, or saving, understanding of God. We should treasure this wonderful and Biblical teaching.