Revelation - Chapter 1

The 7 Lamp Stands, Spirits, and Stars

Revelation 1:4 – John to the seven assemblies that [are] in Asia: Grace to you, and peace, from Him who is, and who was, and who is coming, and from the Seven Spirits that are before His throne, (YLT)

Revelation 1:11-12 – ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last;’ and , ‘What thou dost see, write in a scroll, and send to the seven assemblies that [are] in Asia to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.’ And I did turn to see the voice that did speak with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lamp-stands, (YLT)

Revelation 1:20 – the secret of the seven stars that thou hast seen upon my right hand, and the seven golden lamp-stands: the seven stars are messengers of the seven assemblies, and the seven lamp-stands that thou hast seen are seven assemblies. (YLT)

What are these passages talking about? First of all, you have to know about the physical golden lamp stand, which is called the menorah in Hebrew. The lamp stand weighted over 100 pounds and stood on the south side in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle as mentioned in Exodus.

Exodus 25:31-32 – ‘And thou hast made a candlestick of pure gold, of beaten work is the candlestick made; its base, and its branch, its calyxes, its knops, and its flowers are of the same; and six branches are coming out of its sides, three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the second side; (YLT)

There are seven branches of the lamp stand, hence giving us the seven lamp stands mentioned in Revelation. What do these represent? Revelation 1:20 says that the seven lamp stands are seven assemblies. Revelation 1:11 says that the seven assemblies are the seven churches:

1. Ephesus
2. Smyrna
3. Pergamos
4. Thyatira
5. Sardis
6. Philadelphia
7. Laodicea

Note that these churches are not only physical churches during John’s time, but also represent seven church ages which we will talk about later.

Next is the seven spirits mentioned in Revelation 1:4. The Bible often compares the Holy Spirit to light. Also, each of the seven lamp stands have lights on them. So the seven lights and the seven spirits are the same thing. The names of the spirits can be found in Isaiah:

Isaiah 11:2 – Rested on him hath the Spirit of Jehovah, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and might, The spirit of knowledge and fear of Jehovah. (YLT)

Therefore the list of the spirits is as follows:

1. The Spirit of the Lord
2. The Spirit of Wisdom
3. The Spirit of Understanding
4. The Spirit of Counsel
5. The Spirit of Strength
6. The Spirit of Knowledge
7. The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord

These spirits are the aspects of God. Jesus Christ had all of these spirits within Him. Isaiah and John are saying that for any man to have the fullness of the Holy Spirit, they must have all seven of these aspects of God.

Lastly is the seven stars mentioned in Revelation 1:20. These are referring to actual stars. Look at Genesis:

Genesis 1:14 – And God saith, ‘Let luminaries be in the expanse of the heavens, to make a separation between the day and the night, then they have been for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years, (YLT)

Therefore, the stars and constellations are prophetic signs, but not in the way horoscopes claim they are. They represent God’s plan to redeem mankind. We could go into detail about each constellation, but let’s stay on the topic of the seven stars. In the constellation of Taurus, there is a open star cluster called Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters. Pleiades can be seen by the naked eye because it is only about 8 light years away. (see picture below) In Hebrew, Pleiades is called Succoth, which also means the Feast of Tabernacles, which I mentioned in my article on The Second Coming. The Feast of Tabernacles represents a very important age which begins with the second coming of Jesus Christ.

To summarize, here are the symbols:

1. seven lamp stands = seven churches
2. seven spirits = seven aspects of the Holy Spirit
3. seven stars = Pleiades = Feast of Tabernacles

Finally, remember from the Lake of Fire that a Jubilee cycle is 49 years, which is 7x7. So if each of the seven churches gain all seven aspects of the spirit, this will lead to spiritual fulfillment, and thus the age of Tabernacles when Christ comes again.

Page 2 of 6

< Previous                                            Next Page of Revelation >