What Is The Sevenfold Spirit of God?

I started this blog to track the answers that I find as I explore my relationship with my loving adopted brother, my savior, my Lord, my King; Jesus Christ. Quite often I find that the enemy has placed agents here on earth to drive me off track. Their antics are puzzling, unbiblical, heretical, but always quite entertaining, and they even come with their own bartender. But their nonsense has one purpose only; to distract the believer away from the true Word of God. So to point out what they do I reserve one day a week to vent (Emergent Monday) and spend the rest of the week thanking God for the discernment he's blessed me with.

To be honest it feels good to put them on the shelf and concentrate on Him, and try to delve into His mysteries. Ever notice how you can read the bible and something hits you, something you've read before and didn't seem to notice now seems to demand attention or more information? Last night while reading Revelation again, and this was probably the 3rd time this year alone I've been though John's final work, the term "Sevenfold Spirit of God" leaped out at me and demanded my full attention. 

What is the sevenfold spirit or the seven spirits of God? They're mentioned in Revelation 1:4, Revelation 3:1, Revelation 4:5, Revelation 5:6. Seven spirits? I thought the trinity was tough to understand! 

First lets look at the number 7 itself. Seven appears in the bible 287 times (287 = 7 x 41) and the term "sevenfold" occurs 7 times. "A seventh", the fractional part, occurs 98 times (98 = 7 x 14) and if you total them up: 287 + 7 + 14 = 392. Even more interesting 392 = 7² + 7³ or we can show it as 392 = 7² x 8. Coincidence? Think about it - how many times do you use 1/7th? That's a clunky weird fraction, and percentage wise it's 14% (which is double 7%) more accurately it's 14.2% and if you add the numbers 1 + 4 + 2 you get 7. 

What does this mean? In the terms of our salvation absolutely nothing. It's pretty cool to think about but nothing to get really tangled up in. But know this: & is the number of spiritual perfection.  In the Hebrew, 7 is shevah. It is from the root savah, which means to be full or satisfied, have enough of. So on the seventh day God rested from the work of Creation. It was full and complete, and good and perfect. Nothing could be added to it or taken from it without marring it. Hence the word Shavath, to cease, desist, rest, and Shabbath, Sabbath, or day of rest. So anything marked in the bible with the number 7 means that particular thing has been marked with perfection and completeness in connection with which it is used. 

Here's a great example: God's blessing of Abraham was a seven part blessing -

² And I will make you a great nation,And I will bless you,And make your name great;And so you shall be a blessing;³ And I will bless those who bless you,And the one who curses you I will curse.And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” ( Genesis 12:2-3)

Examples of the use of seven go on and on, but most important in describing the spirit of God. Having a sevenfold spirit shows that God is complete and perfect. Isaiah describes the sevenfold spirit of God:

1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.² The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him,The spirit of wisdom and understanding,The spirit of counsel and strength,The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.³ And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,And He will not judge by what His eyes see,Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; (Isaiah 11:1-3)

This is a prophecy about Jesus Christ written about 700 BC. Jesus is the shoot or branch that springs from the stem of Jesse (Jesse was the father of David) He's called the shot, or the branch or the root throughout the bible: Psalm 80:15; Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 53:2; Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12; Romans 11:16-18; Romans 15:12; Revelation 5:5; Revelation 22:6. 

The seven spirits are the seven attributes that Isaiah describes:

Spirit of the Lord - The Spirit of Yahweh which means "I am who I am" The Holy Spirit that anoints Jesus is the Spirit of Yahweh. The name Yahweh refers to God’s eternal existence – He has always existed, will always exist. Everything else in the universe would cease to exist if God willed it.

Spirit of Wisdom - Wisdom is very important in the bible.  Biblical wisdom makes decisions that avoid waste, avoid losses, avoid harming others, and most of all, avoid offending God’s sense of righteousness and justice. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 9:10). People, in their flesh, constantly make foolish mistakes, wisdom looks ahead and channels our behavior to avoid problems.

Spirit of Understanding - This refers to seeing the true significance or meaning of events.   We often misinterpret things in our flesh. Sometimes man thinks something is unimportant, but God thinks it is very important, like the widow’s pennies (Luke 21:1-3)

Spirit of Counsel - Counsel is advice about what to do when faced with a decision or dilema. Counsel is the revelation about the next step we should take. When we face a difficult decision, the Holy Spirit can tell us the best thing to do.

Spirit of Power - The miracle-working power of God, the ability to defy the laws of science and probability, to accomplish anything. The problem is that the charismatic movement today focus exclusively on the Holy Spirit’s power and ignore his other attributes. They treat Him more like a circus sideshow than a Powerful Master.

Spirit of Knowledge - This refers to the Spirit’s ability to see all things, even things hidden from human eyes. He knows what is in your heart and mind, He knows what everyone is doing, what everyone is planning, and what everyone is hiding. He can reveal to us things we would otherwise not know. Jesus could see people’s hearts and thoughts, could know a man’s name before meeting him.

Spirit of the Fear of the Lord - Why would the Spirit of God fear the Lord? “The fear of the Lord” does not refer only to dread of punishment; nor is it “fright.” This Hebrew phrase connotes reverence that we voluntarily give to the Lord, our concern about the possibility of grieving Him, and respect for His absolute right to punish sin.

This is the sevenfold spirit of the Lord, and as we live in the Spirit, we experience these same eternal virtues of the Spirit of God.