Revelation chapter 1. You alright? I want to look at a couple of verses here in the Revelation. Once again, we approach everything looking for Jesus. You know, whenever we go to any passage of scripture, no matter where we're looking in the Bible, we're there to look to see how this pertains to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And, uh, here particularly we see in the revelation, uh, this is a revelation of Jesus Christ. It's a revelation of who he is, uh, his work, his person. Um, and, uh, I'd like us to look at verse 4, starting at verse 4, and I want to read down to verse 5. It says, 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.

Now, brethren, if you remember, again, this is the revelation of Jesus Christ, and here in verses four and five, I would put forth that this is not speaking of several different people here. This is talking about one person, Jesus Christ, and it is putting him forth in several different aspects. First, we see John says to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace and peace be unto you from him, which is which was and which is to come. Now, we think throughout the Scriptures, another way that Jesus is prescribed or portrayed, especially here in the Revelation, is He is the first and He is the last. He is the Alpha. He is the Omega. He is the beginning. He is the ending. Okay? He is before all things and He is the consummation of all things. In Him, all things began And with him, all things will be brought to their fulfillment and to their end. OK, so Jesus Christ is who is in view here and it says and to and from the seven spirits which are before his throne.

Now we see this phrase in a few other places here in Revelation. If you look with me over in chapter three. We see that phrase. In verse one and unto the angel of the church in Sardis, right? These sayeth he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. So here we see again in reference to Jesus Christ. We see he that hath the seven spirits of God. OK. and the seven stars. Of course, we've already learned, if you'll read through, we learned that the seven stars that they seen in the seven lampstands are the angels of the seven churches, right? Now, Jesus is said to have the seven stars. Look also over in chapter 4, we see this phrase again. I believe it's down in verse 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. Okay, so here we see here before the throne of God, and we learn that Jesus Christ is the one on the throne. within these passages. But we see, before the throne of God, there were seven lamps of fire burning, which are the seven spirits of God. So the seven spirits of God are also the seven lamps of fire. Remember that. Keep that in your mind.

And then look also over in chapter 5, at verse 6, we see this phrase one more time here. It says, and one of the elders saith unto me, weep not, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah. Now who are we speaking about when we say the lion of the tribe of Judah? Jesus, right? Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David. Remember that phrase also. Who is the root of David? Jesus Christ. hath prevailed to open the book, and to loosen the seven seals thereof. 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, And here we see that the eyes are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. So we see that Jesus Christ has the seven spirits of God. And we see that Jesus Christ in having those seven spirits of God, those seven spirits are identified as fire. And it's also identified here as as horns or excuse me eyes and we see it identified as Fire eyes and fire, right? And so notice if you would would that these seven spirits reside in the midst of the throne it resides with Christ Jesus in reference to Christ Jesus and And these seven spirits of God are spirits that are said to be fire and eyes.

Now, of course, we know the book of Revelation is full of of of of of signification. It's full of symbols. It's full of metaphors and and typology and things like that. And so we kind of need to look and understand what the rest of Scripture says about these things so that we might know what it's talking about. But Brethren, what my particular thought is this morning and where I want to lead with this and and hopefully go through the scriptures is to show that the seven Spirits of God is the work and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit of God. The ministry of Christ to his people as the Spirit of God. Now, the seven Spirits of God here, I believe, I'll just say it at the of the beginning here. Getting all tongue tied this morning. I believe the seven spirits of God is talking about the Holy Spirit of God. One spirit. It's not talking about seven individual spirits, individual persons or individual entities or identities. It's talking of one spirit. The Bible says that there is only one spirit, right? Ephesians tells us that there's one spirit. Now this spirit though is identified or this spirit works within seven different manifestations or as seven different gifts to God's people.

Okay, it's in the midst of the throne. Christ is on the throne. Christ is displaying as we see here at the beginning, especially of the revelation. We see this unveiling of Christ Jesus as Messiah as the as the Christ and as the hope for all his people. OK, he has John write these letters to the seven churches in Asia who are about to come and experience some great suffering whenever Jerusalem is sacked and destroyed. And he's writing comfort to them in preparation to all these things that are about to come upon them. And he's giving them comfort that, listen, there is one who sits on the throne, who controls all things.

He's the one that has given the scroll of God that scroll of God representing the purpose and the predestination of God and everything that's contained within the decree of God has been given into the hands of the one and only one who can open those things and who can deliver those things and bring those things into being as though they those things that are not as though they were. The one who can bring the things that have been spoken by God, have been decreed by God before the foundation of the world, and create time, bring forth everything of creation, and within that creation bring forth everything in manifestation that God has already declared and finished before the foundation of the world. Jesus Christ is the one who's been given the power to do that. He's been given the authority to do that.

He is the one who has been granted of God to be the representative of God as his visible image, as the visible inhabitation of himself, that spirit that is invisible, has come to indwell Christ Jesus. And through Christ Jesus, the fullness of God is manifested to his creation and specifically in relation to his people.

Now, God, as God, the creator of all things, has a relation to everything in the world that he has created because he is the creator. The Bible says that everything in this world lives and moves and has its being in him. Okay, these birds that's out here, these trees that are out here, the grass that's out here, you and I that are here, all the inanimate objects within this house and outside of this house, all has their being and they consist and they hold together and are here because of God. That lamp right over there is staying held together because the molecules and the cells that's within the makeup of that thing are held together because God has chosen it to do so. If He didn't choose to do so, that thing would just turn into liquid and fall into the floor, or turn into dust and fall into the floor, or turn into nothing. But because of God's holding all things together by the power of His word, that lamp is a lamp and it looks like a lamp and it stayed together as a lamp. That's why I'm here today, not as a jellyfish, but as a walking, talking person. God has made me and made you and made all things. He's the creator. So in that aspect, God has relation to everything.

But brethren, listen, this revelation and this book in its entirety, not just the revelation, but this book right here and everything that's contained within it. And Christ Jesus, who was sent to be the Word incarnate, is given for His people. This Word is to us. It's for us. It's about our God and His deliverance of us. And the revelation is no different. The revelation is the revelation of our Savior and King and Supreme Ruler, Jesus Christ, and His relation to His people. And there is one way that He relates.

If you remember a few weeks ago, I made comment that Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and man. He mediates man to God and God to man He is there's a two-way mediation here And I hopefully I'll be able to bring that out here in a minute if I you know Don't get squirreled up in my in my thinking but Lord be my be my helper Jesus Christ is the one who mediates God to us and but he also mediates us to God. He did that in his life. The reason that Jesus came and lived those 33 years and died is to take your place to be our substitute. He came to be our substitute. That's what he did on man's behalf. Okay, he was the law keeper for man and he was the sin bearer for his people. But on the other hand, he also came to show us what God was like. See, there are a lot of people who push and say that the purpose of God is to get God into the man so that we as men might show everybody out there what God is like. What a poor, poor, poor, poor picture of God we had all seen. Because Paul says that the flesh is corrupt and cannot do any good, that every time he chooses to do good, evil is with him, and that all of his righteousness is his filthy rags. So even if we were to let God be God in us and us be a witness to this world, all they're going to see is a tainted version of God. Not even getting off the off the bottom level. of God.

God's purpose isn't to get God in the man so that man might show forth God so that people out there will see what God is like. That's what Jesus came for. Jesus came to show us what God was like. Jesus came to show us what righteousness, holiness, obedience was like, because we don't have it. We still don't have it. Even though we have the Spirit of God in us, we don't have obedience like God has. Jesus come to show us that. Jesus is the one.

Let's not pump up man and make something more of man to show who God is. That's pumping man up. That's boasting in the arm of the flesh. But let's turn around and let's give glory unto our Savior, Jesus Christ, whom God has sent. And in sending Christ Jesus, He sent Him to be our example. Not so that we could turn around and try to be Him. To show us as an example of who God is. to show us what God is like. So Christ is that mediator between God and He is the mediator between man and He mediates that Godward part to man.

Now how does He do that? If you remember, whenever I preach that message, He does that through the Holy Spirit. Christ mediates all the blessings of God, all the love of God, all the work of God on our behalf. He mediates that to us or he advocates that to us. He counsels that to us by the Holy Spirit. He does that by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the agent in which God makes God known to the children of God. You understand that?

And Jesus, if you remember, Jesus is the one who told us that I have to go away. If I don't go away, the comforter will not come. You say, well, who's the comforter? Well, Jesus had told them, I'm going to send you another comforter. But let's look here, before we get too far into that part, I want us to look at this as far as the seven spirits of God. I believe that the seven spirits of God are speaking of the Holy Spirit, and I believe that whenever it's talking about that, the term seven basically means the fullness or the perfection of the Spirit of God. But I also believe it actually literally means seven different aspects of the Spirit of God, the seven different workings of the Spirit of God. But I do believe that it means the completeness.

Whenever the, you know, all through the Bible, especially in the Revelation, numbers are a signatory of a lot of different things throughout the Bible. You know, you have the, you see seven a lot in Scripture. You see 10 a lot in the Scripture. or multiples of 10, whether it be thousands or 10,000 or thousands of thousands. That terminology is used often in reference to things throughout Scripture. And it's a symbolic language that we can see all throughout God's Word.

But Here's what I want us to look at, as far as the seven spirits or this fullness of God's spirit. I believe that whenever we look at this seven-fold spirit of God, we will see that it is speaking of, or I believe it's referring back to Isaiah. Turn with me if you would to Isaiah. Now keep in mind, in Revelation we've seen that the sevenfold Spirit of God, the sevenfold Spirit of God was referred to as fire, and it was referred to as eyes, and if you look in that third one in Revelation chapter 5, we also seen that it was something that was sent, right? It was sent throughout the earth.

So you have Now, in scripture, fire represents a lot of different things, but one thing fire does represent is light. A lamp stand has fire on it. They didn't have electric lights back then, flashlights. They didn't have glow sticks or anything like that. Back in those days, if there was any light to be had, what did you have to do? He had to start a fire and carry a torch around, carry something around that lit up because there was fire in there. So fire, to me, represents, and I think that these other verses we'll look at will bear this out, fire represents illumination.

We also see that it said that it is eyes, that the seven spirits of God are the eyes of God, are the eyes of Christ. Okay, Christ had seven eyes. Well, did did Christ actually have seven eyeballs on his head? No, it was symbolic of something else. He had seven eyes. It represents that not only does he know all things and see all things, but he himself himself is the illumination and the teaching or the sight that is given to his people. The Bible says that they shall all learn of me. How? by My Spirit. I will send My Spirit to teach them. He is the Spirit of Truth. That Jesus Christ is the one who is giving the illumination.

Why? Because number one, He's the Word of God. We don't know anything about God unless the Word of God is shared to us. God and all who He is has to be conveyed. And He does that through language. He does that through His Spirit. He does that through His Word here. He does that through these things, but it has to be conveyed. And the person who conveys them is Jesus Christ. The Spirit conveys the words of Jesus. The Father and all He is and all that He has spoken is heard through the mouth of Jesus Christ.

No one has seen the Father at any time except the Son and whomsoever it is revealed unto. And Jesus is the image of that invisible God. So we have not seen the Father except through Jesus Christ. But brethren, listen, we have not heard of the Father except through Jesus Christ as well. Nobody hears or learns of the Father except through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who is mediating to His people who God is.

But look with me if you would. Now remember, He's fire, He's eyes, and He is the one scent He is what is sent throughout all the world. So He in essence has a presence throughout the whole world and He has a ministry throughout the whole world. Look at Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Now we know this is in reference here to Jesus Christ, but it's referring back to his tie or his lineage, in human lineage, his tie back to David. Jesse is King David's father. Okay? And so this is a reference of Jesus' being tied into being the King of Israel. Being the one who is over Israel. But more specifically, it is Him being brought forth as THE Messiah. The Christ. the anointed one of God. That's what Jesus is. And so the reference to him coming forth of a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch out of his roots is in reference to his human lineage. Pointing to the fact that he is the spiritual king of all things. The Messiah, the true king of Israel. David was a king of Israel, but he wasn't the true king of Israel. David was a king that God set up.

If you remember whenever Solomon or Saul was set up as king, the people was being infiltrated or they were running and whoring with all the kingdoms of the earth. And they were saying, hey, all these people here have kings. We want a king. How come we can't have a king? We want a king like all them. And if you remember, the prophet was like, this ain't right. Are you listening to what you're asking for? You want someone to rule over you? You have God as your king. Why do you want a tyrant to rule over you? Because this is what's going to happen. If a human tyrant comes over you, he's going to take from you. He's going to take advantage of you. He's going to confiscate all that you have and all that you work for.

And listen, here we are today. People are just clapping and clapping. Oh, we want more government. We want more government. We want more government. And they don't even understand what they're asking. The more you build that government, and I don't mean to get off on a political rant, but it ties into what we're seeing here, the more you ask for more government, more government, the more they must take from you, take from you, take from you, and the freedoms that you would probably naturally have without them, guess what? They go away. because they have the rule over you.

Now, God controls all that, so I ain't worried about none of it. But God controls all those things. But that's what the prophet was telling the people whenever they said, hey, give us a king. So God did. He gave them a king and he gave him Saul. And Saul ended up not being a very good king. But then came David, the man after God's own heart, the one who God Himself anointed as the king of Israel. And He anointed him king of Israel so that he might also be a typology of the true king of the true Israel, which is spirit and not physical. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is king over His kingdom and His people, who are a spiritual people. This is who this is in reference to.

But look at verse 2, it says, And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. Now we know that the Spirit of the Lord did rest upon the Lord Jesus in the New Testament, right? In the New Testament, we see that Jesus walked however many miles to John the Baptist to be baptized. And upon his baptism, as he came up out of the water, the Bible says that the Spirit of God descended upon him and rested upon him.

But here we see the Spirit rested upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice it says that it rested upon him. It means that it came down and it fully came down on him and stayed on him. Now unlike a lot of things that we see in the Old Testament, a lot of times the Spirit would enable somebody for a time and then not, right? But here we see that the Spirit came down and rested upon, stayed upon Christ Jesus.

Not that He didn't have the Spirit already before He came there. I believe this was an outward visible manifestation of that to show forth not only as in fulfillment of the Old Testament, but also to show all those who were around to show them who He was. See, Jesus had the Spirit from all eternity. He is the eternal Spirit of God. Jesus Christ is God manifested in the flesh. Therefore, Jesus is God. And being God, He and the Spirit have been one. The Spirit is His Spirit. So Jesus had the spirit before the spirit rested up on him. But yet the spirit came and rested upon Jesus Christ as a symbolic gesture to show the people of God that were gathered there during this baptism and the voice that came out of heaven, the word coming out of heaven. So you had the father and the word and the Holy Spirit, all testimonies from heaven talking about Christ Jesus, giving witness.

There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit. And these three are one. And they all three bear record or bear witness, bear testimony of Christ, who is the fullness of that Godhead bodily, who is the one whom God has taken and chosen to be the representation of all of who he is. to His people. We know of God through Christ Jesus. And so that Spirit descending upon Christ was a symbolic gesture or a pictorial gesture of what was true in reality all along, but came down for our sakes, for our learning, for our hope and joy to see this truly is the Messiah. This really is God. This really is Him who was spoken of in the Old Testament. This is really Him who is the anointed of God, the Messiah. It isn't just some prophet that came out of nowhere and is preaching good things. It isn't just some trickster that's come to trick everybody. Some magician who's doing all these miracles by Beelzebub. No, this is truly Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who is the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Counselor, The mighty God. This is who it is. And he says here, the spirit of the Lord rested upon him.

Now, notice if you would, there's one spirit, right? The spirit of the Lord. But notice what else we see here. That's one. The spirit of wisdom. And the spirit of understanding the spirit of counsel. Spirit of might, Spirit of knowledge, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. That's seven. There are the seven Spirits of God right there, brethren. The seven Spirits of God, not seven individual entities, but seven manifestations or workings of the one true Spirit of God, who is manifested in Christ Jesus, whom Christ sends on His own behalf. who by the way, he also says he sins in behalf of the Father as well in John 14. He sins on his behalf to his people to continue to be their comforter, their counselor while he is away. And what does that spirit that is as illumination, that is as understanding or as in perception, and as in ministry, what is that spirit doing? It's a spirit that is a spirit of the Lord. It is pointing to the Lord. Of course, who do we find out is the Lord? Well, we read it in Revelation a while ago, it is He who is, who was, and is to come. Who is the Lord? Who is Jehovah? Who is Yahweh? It is Christ Jesus, the Everlasting Father. It is Christ Jesus who is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the One who has been set up from all eternity, the One who is the right hand of God, the One who inhabits the throne of God, the One who is the Word of God, the power of God, the counsel of God. It's all about Jesus Christ.

But notice, it is the Spirit of the Lord the wisdom, the understanding, the counsel, the might, the knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Now, brethren, I put forth to you that that sevenfold spirit that we see here in 11.2 is the same sevenfold spirit that we see before the throne of Christ, who is his spirit that he sends out into all the world. Why? Because his seed is scattered throughout all the world. And everywhere His seed is scattered, He sends His Spirit to be their comforter. Why? Because Jesus promised that He would be their comforter, right? He promised that He would be that. We'll get that here in just a minute.

But notice, if you will, with me. Are these not the very workings of the Spirit that He gives to His children? He gives them, number one, the Spirit of the Lord to indwell them. I will send my Spirit. I will give them the Spirit. I will take out of their heart the heart of stone, and I will give them the heart of flesh. I will send my Spirit into them. He sends His Spirit into us because we are His sons, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord rests upon us, just like He does our Father.

but also see what this manifestation of the Spirit does to the people. He says it's the Spirit of wisdom. It's not the Spirit of God given to us to give us wisdom. Doesn't the Bible say that of Jesus Christ, of Him, has He been made unto us both wisdom and righteousness and sanctification? He is made unto us wisdom. How is He made unto us? How is Jesus made unto us wisdom? By His Spirit that He gives us. His Spirit gives us wisdom. In 1 Corinthians, the first couple of chapters, we learn that wisdom doesn't come from natural understanding. Wisdom doesn't come from the natural mind. Wisdom is something that is spiritually obtained through spiritual teaching. Wisdom is something that comes from God that man is void of by nature, but yet that wisdom comes because God has given him the spirit of wisdom. And that spirit of wisdom teaches us.

You have no need that any man should teach you. That anointing that you have from above, It will be your teacher. What's the anointing that is above? That's the Lord Jesus Christ coming to dwell in you by His Spirit. He says He gives us understanding. So He not only gives us wisdom, but He gives us understanding. We talked about that a little bit last week or the week before last. He gives us understanding, wisdom and understanding.

We don't understand the things of God. No man knoweth the things of God except the Spirit. But you have the Spirit of God. Therefore, you have an understanding given to you as it's revealed to you, as it's taught to you as we grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says that He has the Spirit of counsel. He said that I will send you another comforter and He will be your comforter. You know what that word comforter means? That word comforter, the Greek word behind that is paraclete. The word paraclete means an advocate, a counselor, someone who will come and counsel you. That word comforter isn't just, I'm going to send my spirit in there to make you feel oh so ooey gooey about God. You know, I watch these preaching shows and stuff every now and then on TV or YouTube and everything. And it's just this all these people just out there and they're about to faint over because of their love for God.

And listen, brother, I'm not downplaying love for God. But you see it whenever just those one certain songs get you, they get you in the fields. They get you in the field so much that you sing it 15 times. And after you get down to that 15th line, The 15th time, you start back again. And you sing it again. And the more you sing it, the more in love with God you get. And the more in love you get with God, the more times you sing that same stanza. And it's just over and over again. But whenever you talk about the sovereignty of God, you talk about the power of God, you talk about the election of God, you preach about the particular nature of Christ's atonement, all of a sudden the feels for God leave. They only feel for God when their heartstrings are pulled and tugged about how much God is going to give them and how much God has done for them as far as giving me money and family and houses and all kinds of stuff. But whenever we start talking about the doctrinal things of God, all of a sudden the love for God goes away. We don't want to hear that. All of a sudden we just kind of stand and stare and look at each other. Did he really say that? Did he really say that? I don't know if I'm in the right church.

Listen, if the sovereignty of God in all things doesn't move you to worship Him, you don't have the love of God in your heart. You don't have the love of God shed abroad in your heart. You have some fanciful humanistic love that's in your heart towards some idol that you've built in the name of Jesus. Jesus said that my name shall be called I am that I am, and this will be my memorial to all generations. God said my sovereignty will be the memorial to all the generations of my people, and my people will be comforted whenever they are told of the things that I have done for them, not what they are to do for me. But yet out here we have religion telling everybody what they need to do for Jesus, and they find comfort in that they have a laundry list that they feel able to be able to go out and accomplish. They have a love for works and self-righteousness, but not a love for God.

Brethren, the Spirit of God is given to us so that we could have wisdom and understanding in those things, but also to be a counselor unto us on what are the true things of God. The Teacher is coming to us and advocating to us, counseling to us what is true and what is not. The Bible says, test the spirits to see whether they are God. Right? Test the spirits to see whether they are of God. What do we do whenever we hear things from people that are saying Jesus loves everybody, God died for everybody, God wants to get God back into man so that man can be the image of God, so that everybody will know what God's like, so that they'll worship God more. We test the spirits. And what do we do when we test the spirits? We find out that even though their theories are latent with scriptures, they all come up short in the witness of Christ, in the witness of God. That's what His counsel does. It says, ".. .in the spirit of might." He gives us the spirit of might. Listen, it's not by our might, but by His might that we overcome. We are overcomers because of His might. We continue on and persevere being preserved. Two sides of the same coin, I believe. It's God's work. He preserves. We persevere. We don't persevere, and therefore, God says, you persevered, so I'm going to preserve you. That ain't how it works. God is the one who has given us the might to walk in faith.

It says here that He has given us the spirit of knowledge. We already talked about knowledge. And of the fear of the Lord. Reverence to God. He's given us the reverence of God. All of these are the attributes or the characteristics, the manifestations, or should I say the blessings of the Spirit of God to His people. And that is that sevenfold witness of the Spirit that is before Christ and has sent out into all the world and to all of His people.

Look with me, if you would, Zechariah. We'll see some parallels here. Look at chapter 4, Zechariah chapter 4. Verse 1, it says, And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me as a man that is waked out of his sleep, 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 on top thereof. So the prophet sees a candlestick here. But if you drop down, to verse 6, it said, Then he answered and said, 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. So the very fact that God has given us his spirit, that's where the might comes from. The might to do what? To understand. The might to have wisdom. The might to have knowledge. The might to have reverence to the Lord. The might of His counsel and how it can uphold us and teach us and direct us and to keep us from error in doctrine.

He says, not by might nor by power, that is not by your might or by your power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. So here we see that it is the Spirit of God who is the power. And then drop down if you would, verse 10. It says, 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 that are the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth. So here we see again the reference that we've seen in Revelation. We see in here as it pertains to the seven eyes being sent throughout all the world. Here we see the seven eyes of the Lord are sent throughout all the world. It's the Spirit of God being sent to the people of God to give them illumination, to give them understanding, to give them wisdom, to give them counsel, to give them might, to give them knowledge, to give them the fear of the Lord. This is God's presence within His people and it's Jesus Christ.

Now brethren, we see this in Jesus' own words back in John. I preached on this and I preached on it really not real long ago. And I refer to this quite often, but brethren, I am convinced in my heart and in my mind that the Word of God upholds these very things, that it is the truth of God whenever Jesus says these things. And I'm becoming more and more convinced of the oneness and the unity of God in Christ Jesus.

If you look in John chapter 14, And if you look with me at verse 16. Says and I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter. Remember that word that I that word there comforter means counselor. It means an advocate. OK, I shall give you another. Now that word another there, I've been told by many men who have come and in love have tried to correct me on my understanding of the Godhead. And I appreciate their love for me. I do. I appreciate that. And I've listened to their counsel on what they say. I've grown up in their understanding. So I know exactly where they come from, and what they preach, and what they teach, and what they're trying to say, because that was once my position. And while I love those brethren that come, and I don't despise them, and while I appreciate all the passages of Scripture that they've shared with me, I'm not convinced that the interpretation is the interpretation that Scripture bears out.

Whenever He says that I will send you another comforter, He's not saying another person as a comforter. Because they'll say, here's the Trinity right here. I will pray the Father. There's one person. And He shall give you the comforter. There's another person. And I'm the one praying. That's the Son. That's the third person. That's three persons right there. So you have the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, or Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All right there, that's proof that there are three separate and distinct individuals, because Christ is praying the Father that He might be sending a comforter, that's two different people, and it's Christ the one who's doing the praying. Brethren, I don't see that there is any harm in the Scripture, nor in the Godhead, nor in the Gospel, to say that this is all speaking of Christ. Christ is praying that God, Jehovah, the one who these Jews only knew as the Father, Yahweh, Jehovah, the only God, the mighty God, they only knew Him as Him, but yet Christ throughout His whole entire ministry was preaching and declaring that He was the image of the invisible God. That He was God manifested in flesh. That He was God. And Paul and Peter and all the epistles back up the fact that that was the very thing. Jesus was crucified because He claimed to be God. Paul tells us that Jesus is the image and the face and the manifestation of that Spirit who is God, the invisible Spirit. And that all the fullness is Him.

So He says, I will pray the Father and He shall give you another comforter. I don't believe that another comforter is another person, but another kind of comforter. It's another in kind. I have been your comforter, your advocate, your counsel, as I've been here with you in person. But I am going away, and if I go away, I am going to send you another kind of comforter. One that is not on the outside of you, who is giving you knowledge and information and things like that, but I'm sending one who is going to be inside of you. And this Counselor that I'm sending to you is going to be the Spirit of Truth that is going to lead you into all truth as it pertains to God, specifically revealed in me.

He says, And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. See, I am not abiding with you now in flesh. But I'm going to send you another kind of Comforter, which is a Spirit who will come and reside in you and be upon you, and He will be with you forever. Even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him." There's the eyes. There's the understanding, the illumination, and the fire. We see that. We see the perception there. The eyes cannot see. It has no light of understanding. But ye know Him, for He dwelleth within you. He's been sent to you. He's been sent throughout all the world.

The eyes of the Lord have been sent out through all the world to give to His people that they might have the eyes of God in their heart to see and receive Christ Jesus as who He is. God manifested. in the flesh, their Redeemer, their King, their Lord, their God, their Father, their Counselor, their mighty God. He says, I will not leave you comfortless. And look here. He says, I will come to you. He's saying, I'm going to send you the comforter. And everyone else is saying, that's a third person of the Trinity. That's a separate, distinct individual who he is sending. But yet here he says, I will come to you. He's still saying, this is me who's coming.

We've already seen in Revelation, we've seen in Isaiah, we've seen in Zechariah, we've seen throughout almost all the Scriptures that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God, who they say is the third person of the Trinity, the Bible says is the very Spirit of Christ Himself, who is the Spirit of God. You can't separate them. There aren't multiple spirits. There's one Spirit, brethren. It's not the Holy Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus and the Spirit of the Father. There's one Spirit. It's the Spirit of God. And Christ is the embodiment of that God. He says, Yet a little while, and the world seeeth me no more, but ye see me. Because I live, ye shall also live. He said, A little while they shall see me no more, but ye see me. How do you see me? How are you going to see me? Do we have binoculars that look into heaven to see Him sitting on the throne? No. How do we see Him? The eyes of the Spirit have been given to us that we might see God in the face of Christ.

Look, if you would, with me over to John chapter 16. Or excuse me, 15. But when the Comforter is come, verse 26, but when the Comforter is come, whom I will send, first the Father was going to send Him, right? I'm going to pray that the Father will send the Spirit to you. Now Jesus is saying, but when the Comforter come, whom I will send, well, wait a minute, I thought you were praying to the Father for the Father to send the Spirit. One and the same God, brethren. There isn't three gods. There isn't three distinct people. There's one God. And Jesus is just speaking of the three manifestations or the three characters of God as it relates to His people. God is a Father to His people. God is the Word to His people. And God is the Spirit to His people. And Jesus Christ is the vehicle in which that invisible God is manifested to us and is conveyed to us and is related to us. and relayed to us how we feel God, we feel because of Christ through His Spirit.

He says, But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceeded from the Father, He shall testify of me. He's not testifying of the Father. He's not testifying of Himself. Who's he testifying of? He's testifying of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The eyes of the Spirit are testifying of Jesus Christ, are illuminating us to Jesus Christ, are giving us perception of Jesus Christ, is letting us feel the presence of Jesus Christ, to know the wisdom and the guidance of Jesus Christ, the strength and the power of Jesus Christ, the sanctification of Jesus Christ, the comfort and the fellowship of God in Jesus Christ. That's every bit of the seven manifold Spirit of God before the throne of God.

And the Bible says that it's sent out into all the world. And it's told to us here, specifically by Jesus' lips in the New Testament, the fuller revelation and understanding of those hidden things in symbology. It said it's Jesus. It's Jesus. Jesus is the one. Jesus is the one who sends it. Jesus is the one who is the embodiment of it. Jesus is the one who is the fulfillment of it. Jesus is the one who is enacting it. He's the one who is giving all the witness behind it.

Because he's not speaking of anybody else. He's speaking of Christ. Therefore, the testimony of the Spirit is Jesus Christ. The testimony of the Spirit is Christ.

And what testimony is that? Well, number one, that He is God. Second of all, that He is finished at all. He is the fulfillment of all things.

He says, Even the Spirit of truth which proceeded from the Father, He shall testify of Me, and ye shall also bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning. But look also in chapter 16 and verse 7, He says, nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And in verse 13 he says, how be it? When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you."

Sevenfold Spirit of God. What a blessing it is to have that given to us, brethren, in Christ Jesus. Brethren, it's all about Him in every aspect. They can bring up anything that they want about anything else, but brethren, I tell you what, if Christ isn't the center of focus of it all and Him being the magnification that comes from it, then it's not of any worth. It's not of any good. It's just temporal. The thing that is the last is the thing that He is conveying to us. It's Himself. So may we be ever enlightened and illuminated by the fire in the eyes from the almighty throne of God.

All right, anybody got any questions, comments, corrections, or rebukes? All right. Let's bow. Father, we come to you this morning and we thank you so much for your word. We thank you for Christ Jesus and we thank you for the Spirit of God that is given to us to illuminate and to bring us into all understanding of our Heavenly Father. And Father, we are grateful today that you have done that. Father, we know that apart from your grace and your mercy, we would be as the rest of the world and not have eyes to see or ears to hear, that our heart would be still dull and hard and Lord, that we would not come to you Father, we know that we could never live up to any expectation, nor could we ever live out any revelation of who you are. But thankfully, you have sent Christ Jesus, the manifestation of all that you are, to be the picture of who God is. While man was created in your image, that man fell into sin and death. And from that day forward, men was made after the image of Adam. Every one of us in the image of our father in nature, sinful, death-covered Adam. But Father, the second Adam has come and has been a light and life to all his people, not only for them, but to them. And so, Father, we just thank you so much for all that you have done in grace and in mercy. And by your love, have given us Christ Jesus. We praise Him and honor Him as you enable us to do all the days of our lives. For it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.