John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” Revelation 1: 4, 5.

Please explain why this verse cannot be used to support the Trinity?

Answer:

This has been a puzzling verse to a number of people. Why does John send a greeting “from the seven Spirits which are before his throne?” We need to allow the Bible to explain itself and the difficulty will vanish. Some questions that we need to answer are:
1. What is meant by the seven Spirits?
2. Why are the seven Spirits mentioned in the greeting?
Let's start with the first question. The seven spirits are mentioned 4 times in the Bible. Remember that the number seven is a number that represents perfection. It is seen throughout scripture many times. Let us see what we can learn as we look up the other instances regarding the seven Spirits:

Revelation 3:1 “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”

Revelation 4:5 “And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.”

Revelation 5:6 “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.”

From this we learn that Christ has the seven Spirits of God. It is also called seven lamps and seven eyes. Christ has the seven Spirits of God. But what do the seven lamps and eyes represent?

In Zechariah 4: 1-10 we read that the seven lamps also represent the Spirit of God “And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:……Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”

Then in verse 10 we are told “For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.”

So as we can see, the seven lamps are the eyes of the Lord, representing the Spirit of God. It is by the Spirit that God is present in all places. Other passages use this symbolism to represent this truth.

2 Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.”

Proverbs 15:3 “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.”

By His Spirit God is everywhere present; as shown above, the seven spirits of the Lord mean or represent the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. This is not referring to another person, for Christ has the seven Spirits.

Now to our second question: why are the seven Spirits mentioned in the greeting? The answer lies in the greeting itself. Notice, the greeting is directed to the seven churches. These seven churches are addressed individually in chapters 2 and 3. God has bestowed a special portion of His spirit to each church. Through that Spirit God ministers His grace to the seven churches. This, naturally, is brought out every time God addresses the churches when He says “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” (see Revelation 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13,22). This occurs seven times in the book of Revelation, once for each church, and it is for this reason that John mentions the seven Spirits which are before the throne.

“John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,”

This form of greeting is very common in the New Testament. Here are some examples:

“Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 1:2

“Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:2 (see also Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:3; Colossians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:2; 1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4; Philemon 1:3; 1 Peter 1:2).

“Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.” 2 John 3

As can be seen, all the writers, including John the Revelator, used the greeting of grace and peace from the Father and the Son. In Revelation 1:4 John adds “the seven spirits” which, as we saw, is the Holy Spirit. The Grace and peace of God come through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5; 15:13). It is called the seven Spirits because there are seven churches being addressed each time by the Spirit. This beautiful truth shows how intimately and personally God's spirit operates. Christ, who has the seven Spirits, is personally interested in every individual member in His church and He come to us by His Spirit.