XIV. THE SEVEN SPIRITS,
WHO ARE THE SEVEN EYES OF GOD
AND THE SEVEN EYES OF CHRIST
The seven Spirits are the seven eyes of God and the seven eyes of Christ (Rev. 1:4c; 4:5b; 5:6; Zech. 3:9; 4:10). The seven Spirits are the sevenfold intensified Spirit. In essence and existence, God’s Spirit is one; in the intensified function and work of God’s operation, God’s Spirit is sevenfold. In my home I have a seven-way lamp, which the brothers made for me. Each time the switch to this lamp is turned, the shining becomes brighter and brighter, more intensified. Many lamps today are three-way lamps, but today the all-inclusive Spirit is seven ways, that is, sevenfold intensified. This is for the Spirit to go forth into all the earth.
A number of brothers and sisters among us have recently gone to Russia. These dear brothers and sisters went in the intensified Spirit. I also believe that the ones who are now preparing to go to Russia are intensified in their spirit. We may be able to rest and take it easy here, but the ones who are going to Russia cannot take it easy. They have to go to encounter all kinds of troubles. Our brothers and sisters first went to Russia in October, at the beginning of winter. The Russians who have been brought into the church life were very grateful to the saints for coming to them in the deep winter. They said that no foreigners would come to their country to carry out a project in the winter because it is too cold. But the brothers and sisters came in the deep winter to help them. Often, a number of the brothers did not have the time to eat dinner because they were so busy. I believe that their spirit is intensified. Many of us here, on the other hand, are not intensified. We may come to the meetings in a loose, relaxed, and unexercised way. Among us, whose spirit is intensified? We are like the "four fingers" thinking that they can function without the "thumb," that is, without the Spirit.
Going out to foreign countries to carry out the gospel for God’s economy is through the Spirit sent to all the world as the sevenfold intensified One. This Spirit is the seven lamps of fire before the throne, and the throne is for God’s administration. No doubt, the sevenfold intensified Spirit is to carry out God’s administration.
These seven Spirits are the seven eyes of God. Some have said that the three persons of the Godhead are separate. But according to the scriptural revelation, the Spirit is the eyes of God. In other words, the Third of the Trinity is the eyes of the First. The eyes are for expressing the sentiment. When I look at you, my eyes express my feeling, my sentiment, about you. In addition, the eyes are for observing and transfusing. When one person looks at another person, he transfuses his feeling into that person. Thus, the eyes are for expressing, for observing, and for transfusing.
The seven Spirits are not only the eyes of God but also the eyes of Christ. Thus, the Third of the Divine Trinity is the eyes of the First and the Second. Zechariah 3:9 tells us Christ is the engraved stone. Christ as the stone was engraved on the cross for us, and on this stone there are seven eyes. The seven Spirits are the seven eyes of Christ.
At the time when we are preaching the gospel, speaking about Christ, the Spirit looks at us to transfuse us, to express Christ’s feeling about us, and to infuse His love into us. In other words, on the crucified Christ, there are eyes expressing His sentiment concerning us. The eyes on the crucified Christ infuse His feeling, His love, into us. By this infusion, we become inspired. We feel that our Christ is so lovely and so good. Our Savior, the crucified One, has seven eyes to express His sentiment concerning us and to infuse His love into us. The stone in Zechariah is not a bare stone, but a stone upon which are seven living eyes. We are preaching a living stone with living eyes to infuse Himself into us and to express His dear sentiment into our feeling.
XV. THE SPIRIT
John 3:6b says that we have been born of the Spirit. John 7:39 says that before Christ was resurrected, the Spirit was not yet. The Spirit is the processed Spirit, the consummated Spirit. Before Christ’s resurrection, the consummation of the Spirit was not completed, so this Spirit was not yet. The Spirit of God was in Genesis 1, but in John 7:39 the Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified. Jesus was glorified in His resurrection (Luke 24:26). In resurrection Jesus in the flesh became a life-giving Spirit, and that life-giving Spirit is the Spirit. In Christ’s resurrection the Spirit of the Triune God was consummated in the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Eventually, He will be the Spirit as the processed and consummated Triune God to be one with the bride as the corporate, regenerated, and transformed tripartite man (Rev. 22:17a). The consummated Triune God and the transformed tripartite man will be married to be one heavenly, universal couple.
(The Christian Life, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
