Wednesday's Big Idea: The Seven-Fold Spirit

I've always wondered about that phrase in Revelation, "The seven spirits of God" - also interpreted as "The seven-fold spirits". It always seemed an odd phrase, but John's Revelation was such an odd book so I didn't really think about it too much. Well, today my friend Jason pointed out an explanation which comes in the book of Isaiah.

The relevant passages are Revelation 4:

"Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits^[a] of God." (v.5b)

And Isaiah 11:

¹ A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

² The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -

³ and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;

So there it is right in front of my eyes (or at least a glimpse at it.)

1. The Spirit of wisdom
2. The Spirit of understanding
3. The Spirit of counsel
4. The Spirit of power
   
5. The Spirit of Knowledge
6. The Spirit of the fear of the LORD

There is one missing unless you count the overarching Spirit of the Lord, so I need to do some more digging on this, but for me this is great. I know I will be praying that the sevenfold spirit will rest on me and others.

Luke 11:13 says, "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" The Father longs to give us the Holy Spirit, if only we have the courage of children to ask.