Seven Spirits for the New Age

Doug Koop
CW Editorial Director
dkoop@christianweek.org

I wasn't quite sure what to make of it when I read about "the seven spirits of God" in the letter to Sardis (Revelation 3:1). Sounds New Agey, I thought. And when I looked into it a little further, I discovered it really is-the seven spirits of God are harbingers of the real New Age. And this is a good thing. We want these seven spirits; we want this New Age.

You have to go back to Isaiah to make the connection. Some 700 years before Jesus was born, the prophet was eloquently decrying the sins of Israel and proclaiming the demise of the surrounding nations when he suddenly shifts into comfort mode and speaks of a Saviour and a New Age to come (Isaiah 11:1-9).

In the midst of warfare and enmity, he heralds a day when a kingdom of righteousness and justice will be restored, where "the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them" (11:6). That is indeed a New Age.

But it's the description of the tender "shoot," the coming Saviour (Jesus), and the "branch" from the same root (the church), that intrigues me. "The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord" (Is. 11: 2).

There are seven spirits there. They are evidence of a holy calling, a holy equipping, holy discernment and holy empowering in the service of a holy God and His holy plans. We are so blessed to be part of this. I cannot begin to comprehend how our God would choose such broken vessels to carry His living water, but He does.

And this is my desire for our churches and for this newspaper:

We want to be places where the spirit of the Lord abides.

We want to be places where the spirits of wisdom and

understanding are resident.

We want to be places known for good counsel

and mighty power.

We want to be imbued with the spirit of knowledge.

We want to be places where God is properly revered.