6 And I looked, [c]and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
6 And I looked, [c]and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain,
Being in the midst of the throne tells us that Jesus is part of God’s eternal providence and rule through His pre-existence.
Being in the midst of the elders tells us that only He can represent us through His righteousness
John sees a slaughtered Lamb
standing
He is the sacrifice who died “as though it had been slain” and the One who rose victorious from the dead “standing”
Isaiah 53 tells us that Messiah would BEGIN His kingdom by being rejected by man and by God, just as we see Jesus was rejected
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no [a]form or [b]comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no [c]beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and [d]rejected by men,
A Man of [e]sorrows and acquainted with [f]grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our [g]griefs
And carried our [h]sorrows;
Yet we [i]esteemed Him stricken,
[j]Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded[k] for our transgressions,
He was [l]bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes[m] we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord [n]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from [o]prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And [p]they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to [q]bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 [r]He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the [s]spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
This chapter also shows His torture, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection as all a part of God’s plan
Because the result of His work is the redemption of man
This chapter also describes the Messiah as being the Righteous Servant and ties in all those passages in Isaiah
This ends up describing Jesus as He is, the Suffering Servant and Kingly Messiah
The term “Messiah” or “Mashiach” in Hebrew means “Anointed One,” and it comes from the act of the Jewish people’s custom of consecrating their priests and kings by pouring anointing oil over them. The oil was symbolic of being set apart and endowed by God for special service
During the prophetic period of Israel’s history, the people were promised that a redeemer would be raised up by God to deliver her from their enemies, restore the Temple, and reinstate the rule of King David
In the Second Temple period, during the life and ministry of Jesus, Israel was still looking for the political Messiah to come and deliver them from Roman rule.
Even the Disciples had that same hope
Acts 1
1 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day in which [a]He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many [b]infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
The Holy Spirit Promised
4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be [c]witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Jesus Ascends to Heaven
9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
The Jewish leadership had the same wrong idea about Who He was as well
So, after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, and after being scattered into Asia and other countries, Israel was still hoping for this Davidic Messiah to now bring them back to the Holy Land and establish God’s kingdom
Many false Messiahs stood up and deceived Israel.
Traditional Judaism, which includes Orthodox and Conservative Judaism never viewed the Messiah as a God-Man but only a man endowed with special powers from God
The Zohar, a Jewish mystical writing, studied by certain offshoots of Orthodoxy, gives, in some of its writing’s, a dual role, or better yet, two distinct Messiahs, expected in the future.
The “Suffering Servant” or Messiah Ben Joseph, of the tribe of Ephraim, would come first. He would be a political and military leader who would die in battle against all the enemies of God, preparing the way for the second Messiah.
The second would be a descendant of king David, called Messiah Ben David. He would redeem Israel and rule over her in the end of days by bringing peace, restoring the Temple, and reinstituting the sacrificial system.
It is stated that both don’t necessarily have to come and this is contingent upon the reaction of Israel as a whole
Messiah Ben Joseph does not have to appear before David, it all depends on the spiritual condition of the people at the time redemption is to take place
In a sense, Israel was and still is looking for a lion (David) and a lamb (Joseph) in the Messiah and this is why we are witnessing this in heaven right now.
Jesus Christ is both but Rabbis claim that all the things that we find in Isaiah are not about Jesus and not even about the Messiah but are speaking of Israel and they wait for a Messiah who will never come
He is ruling now
stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
This image deals with the kingdom through the “seven horns” as opposed to Satans illegitimate horns
The Jews of the first century were waiting on a warrior who would establish the kingdom with a sword and force the Gentile nations to submit.
Premillennial adherents are also expecting the Lion to return and force the world to submit.
Yet verse 6 tells us that the Lamb is ruling. Horns denote rule and the number seven symbolizes fullness.
This gives us the idea that He rules fully as the Lamb now and later, not as a Lamb now and then a Lion.
This means that, unlike the dragon, who rules by force, Jesus rules through redemption, through salvation
If you submit to salvation, you will meet the Lamb but those who don’t accept the Lamb get to meet the Lion and will suffer the consequences
Both images relate to His present rule that resulted from His ascension to the Father
The Lamb also correlates with the seven messages to God’s people.
Overcomers are not rewarded with prosperity or happiness in this life. They are rewarded through death
In letter 1 the reward is being able to eat from the Tree of Life or entering into eternal life as opposed to eternal death
In letter 2 overcomers won’t be hurt by the Second Death. This can only happen after the first death
In letter 3, overcomers will receive a new name that is inscribed on a white stone, representing a not-guilty verdict allowing them entry into the kingdom
In letter 4, overcomers are rewarded with rule over the nations during the Millennium
In letter 5 overcomers will be given white garments, representing perfect purity
In letter 6 overcomers will be kept from the time of trial coming upon the whole world
In letter 7 overcomers will sit with Jesus on His throne, something that seems to only happen during the Millennium
and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
This symbolizes the fullness of the Holy Spirit going out into all the earth. This also represents the fact that He is not limited in any way and He sends the Spirit out into the earth
John seems to be alluding to the book of Zechariah here where God is addressing Joshua, the then High Priest of Israel, about the issue of rebuilding the Temple immediately following the Babylonian exile
Zechariah 3
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan[a] standing at his right hand to oppose him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.
4 Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.”
5 And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.”
So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.
The Coming Branch
6 Then the Angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts:
‘If you will walk in My ways,
And if you will keep My command,
Then you shall also judge My house,
And likewise have charge of My courts;
I will give you places to walk
Among these who stand here.
8 ‘Hear, O Joshua, the high priest,
You and your companions who sit before you,
For they are a[b] wondrous sign;
For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH.
9 For behold, the stone
That I have laid before Joshua:
Upon the stone are seven eyes.
Behold, I will engrave its inscription,’
Says the Lord of hosts,
‘And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
10 In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts,
‘Everyone will invite his neighbor
Under his vine and under his fig tree.’ ”
We learn here that the seven eyes set in stone are in some mysterious way related to the removal of guilt from the land of Israel in one day through the sacrifice of atonement by the Messiah at a time when the Temple is standing and in operational
We learn more in chapter 4
Zechariah 4
Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?”
So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. 3 Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.” 4 So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?”
5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?”
And I said, “No, my lord.”
6 So he answered and said to me:
“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel:
‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’
Says the Lord of hosts.
7 ‘Who are you, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!
And he shall bring forth the capstone
With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ’ ”
8 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
9 “The hands of Zerubbabel
Have laid the foundation of this [a]temple;
His hands shall also finish it.
Then you will know
That the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.
10 For who has despised the day of small things?
For these seven rejoice to see
The [b]plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.
They are the eyes of the Lord,
Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.”
11 Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees—at the right of the lampstand and at its left?” 12 And I further answered and said to him, “What are these two olive branches that drip [c]into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?”
13 Then he answered me and said, “Do you not know what these are?”
And I said, “No, my lord.”
14 So he said, “These are the two [d]anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.”
These 7 eyes symbolize 7 lamps and these 7 are for the purpose of allowing God to see what is going on over all the earth. Not that He needs these physical eyes to see but they represent the case, for us, the complete knowledge of God, and the fact that nothing can be hidden from Him
Bringing this allusion to Revelation 5, then we see the Lamb, Jesus Christ, Who was slain but now standing alive through resurrection and Who holds complete power, through the 7 horns, as well as possessing complete knowledge, through the 7 eyes, of everything that happens throughout the earth and the universe
Since God the Son has been given a Kingdom by God the Father.
A Kingdom that consists of the earth and everything that exists upon it and every activity that occurs upon it
A Kingdom which extends to the known universe and all dimensions and as we will see, every being, physical and spiritual
That’s what we are seeing here and what John is telling us
Jesus Christ is ruling at the right hand of God
But what about the issue of the 7 spirits of God?
We have seen the 7 aspects of the Spirit in Isaiah and that what this is the complete work of the Holy Spirit
In Jewish thought, during this period, there was a belief that 7 archangels were near God, serving Him in Heaven
There was yet another belief held by Judaism that attempted to explain the 7 spirits
We see it in the book of 1 Enoch but all we get is another mysterious term
“The Lord of Spirits”
1 Enoch
Chapter 46]
1 And there I saw One who had a head of days, And His head was white like wool, And with Him was another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man, And his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels. 2 And I asked the angel who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, concerning that 3 Son of Man, who he was, and whence he was, (and) why he went with the Head of Days And he answered and said unto me: This is the son of Man who hath righteousness, With whom dwelleth righteousness, And who revealeth all the treasures of that which is hidden,
Because the Lord of Spirits hath chosen him, And whose lot hath the pre-eminence before the Lord of Spirits in uprightness for ever.
Some say that this “Lord of Spirits” may have something to do with the 7 Spirits mentioned in this chapter but it seems to be another title for God
2 Maccabees 3
24 But just as Heliodorus was arriving at the treasury with his bodyguards, the Lord of spirits and all authority produced an apparition so great that those who had been bold enough to accompany Heliodorus were panic-stricken at God’s power and fainted away in terror.
Walking by Faith 