“John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne…“

from Him who is and who was and who is to come

The Book of Revelation comes from three sources, all indicated by the word “from.” The first source is “from Him who is and who was and who is to come.” Who is this? This is the One who was past, is present, and will come. God has no derived existence. He is the self-existing One. He is of ineffable grandeur.

“The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: ’Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!’” (Revelation 4:8).

That is God, the Father.

“And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: ’We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,
And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,
And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,
And those who fear Your name, small and great,
And should destroy those who destroy the earth’” (Revelation 11:16-18).

This again is God the Father.

John describes God the Father as the One who exists eternally in the past, present, and future. This may allude to the whole Trinity and may be an allusion to Exodus 3:14, where Yahweh means “the one who is.”

Revelation deals with the total eternal program of an eternal God. His name here carries the idea of immutability and absoluteness. He is the self-existent One. He cannot change.

“Who is to come” may refer to the coming incursion into time by an eternal God. He will right all wrongs. It may appear that God is ambivalent about the injustices of this present time, but He has a program to correct the injustices of life.

and from the seven Spirits

The Book of Revelation is also from “the seven Spirits.” Who is this expressed in figurative language? The “seven Spirits” refers to the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity. The phrase “seven Spirits” is a symbolic reference to the Holy Spirit in His seven ministries of Isaiah 11:2.

It is impossible to ignore the number seven in the Book of Revelation. “Seven” here may refer to the plenitude of the Holy Spirit. The number seven is the number of perfection in Scripture (1:20; 3:1; 5:6; compare, Isaiah 11:1,2).

who are before His throne

God’s sovereignty operates in sight of the fullness of the Spirit.

Principle:

The Trinity is the source of grace and peace.

Application:

God is a giving God. He is also a God who gives peace. We often think that the Christian life depends upon us. When we lose this focus, we lose the essence of Christianity.

We need the plenitude of the Holy Spirit’s filling to execute the Christian way of life.