Seven Spirits Part 1

Seven Spirits I. Scripture speaks of seven Spirits of God. REV 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6. A. There is literally only one Spirit of God. 1. He is the Holy Ghost, the Third Person of the Godhead. 1JO 5:7. 2. He is also known as the Holy Spirit, Comforter and Spirit of truth. JOH 14:15-17, 26. B. The “seven Spirits of God” in Revelation refers to the sevenfold ministry of the Spirit mentioned in the messianic prophecy of ISA 11:1-5. Jesus Christ “...hath the seven Spirits of God...” (REV 3:1). 1. Seven is the biblical number of fullness, completion, perfection as in: a. the seven days of the week. b. the seven abominable sins. PRO 6:16-19. c. the seven times needed to reform Nebuchadnezzar. DAN 4:32. d. the seven seals and seven thunders which denote the fullness of the program and judgments of God in the earth. REV 5:1, 5; 8:1; 10:4. 2. Jesus Christ uniquely was given the seven Spirits of ISA 11:1-2. a. The fullness of the Spirit was upon Him for His ministry in the earth, beginning with “...the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him...” ISA 11:2 c/w MAT 3:16-17; LUK 4:1, 18. b. God the Father gave not the Spirit unto Him by measure but in full. JOH 3:34. 3. How desperate must Mary Magdalene’s condition have been and how great a salvation did she receive! MAR 16:9. II. Jesus spoke of another seven spirits in LUK 11:24-26. A. The unclean spirit here is not cast out by a miracle of God’s power (MAT 8:16) but leaves and comes back, bringing with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself. B. Christ likened this to the fate of the generation of His day. MAT 12:45. III. The scribes and Pharisees were the particular targets of Christ’s words here. MAT 12:24, 38. A. The Pharisees were “...the most straitest sect...” of the Jews’ religion. ACT 26:5. B. They were rigid advocates of the law for justification but were selective and inventive in how it was to be applied. MAT 23:23; LUK 11:42. C. They believed the profits, not the prophets. MAT 23:14, 16-19 c/w 1PE 1:18. D. They revelled in outward piety to impress men, not God. MAT 23:5, 25-28. E. Such a spirit of religion (wealth, pomp, outward shows of piety, sensual, hypocritical) is a magnet for unclean spirits that are repulsed by a religion defined by spirit and truth, per JOH 4:23-24. 1. Accordingly, the Scarlet Harlot is depicted as having everything that appeals to the senses: beauty, wealth, power, commerce, instrumental music, etc. (REV 17:4-5; REV 18:12-22), yet full of sorceries and innocent blood. REV 18:23-24. 2. That system is described as having “...become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit...” (REV 18:2), very infected. 3. God is to be worshipped in the “...beauty of holiness” (PSA 29:2), not the holiness of beauty. 4. Per LUK 11:24, the unclean spirit doesn’t find rest in dry places. Neither does he find rest in churches defined by unadorned spiritual worship and truth rather than sensuality and entertainment. Seven Spirits 12-3-23 Page 1  a. Such places represent simplicity, humility, repentance, faith: Boring! b. Sensuality and raw emotionalism are devilish substitutes for the spiritual joy that is experienced by believers and followers of the truth. PSA 119:162; ROM 15:13; 1CO 13:6; PHIL 3:1-3; 1PE 1:7-8. c. The best way for churches to ward off unclean spirits is by adherence to or repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. 2TI 2:24-26. F. As an adjunct to LUK 11:24-26, Jesus also said that Pharisaism made converts twice the children of hell than themselves. MAT 23:15. G. Of historical interest, “...with the destruction of the Temple the Sadducees disappeared altogether, leaving the regulation of all Jewish affairs in the hands of the Pharisees... Henceforth Jewish life was regulated by the teachings of the Pharisees; the whole history of Judaism reconstructed from the Pharisaic point of view... Pharisaism shaped the character of Judaism and the life and thought of the Jew for all the future.” (The Unedited Full Text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, art. Pharisees) 1. Judaism is modern-day Pharisaism. 2. It is highly secular but even in its most orthodox religious form, it is antichrist. 1JO 2:23. 3. This is not slander or antisemitism: it is both the testimony of God and the admission of its adherents. If Judaism were Christian, it would not be Judaism. 4. The synagogue system which has continued to perpetuate Pharisaism in opposition to Jesus Christ is rightly called “...the synagogue of Satan...” (REV 2:9; 3:9). IV. Christ’s words in LUK 11:24-26 and MAT 12:43-45 particularly applied to that generation. A. If the seven Spirits of God which are the Spirit of Christ animated His adherents in one direction, what might be expected of those animated by seven counter-spirits which are the spirit of antichrist? B. All the good that is represented by God's seven Spirits could conceivably be Satanically reversed in these seven unclean spirits, turning the unbelieving portion of Israel into a diabolical madhouse rushing hell-bent to its own destruction. C. John Gill noted: “This parable fitly suited them, the Scribes and Pharisees, and the men of that generation, from whom in some measure the unclean spirit might be said to depart through the doctrine, and miracles of Christ, to go into the Gentile world; but being followed there with the preaching of the Gospel by the apostles, returns to the Jews, and fills them with more malice, blasphemy, and blindness, than ever, which issued in their utter ruin and destruction; of which this parable may be justly thought to be prophetical.” Seven Spirits 12-3-23 Page 2