“Seven” "Stands for the Whole!" Notes on Miller, the Seven Spirits and the Seven Churches

A concept for learning certain figures in Revelation. Also, Uriah Smith blown out yet again; the sad tragedy of a life's work on Revelation oddly perverted, because he daftly used the wrong sources.

Well, we had a good conversation after the meeting tonight, so I wanted to write and publish something about it. Here it is. I’m just mainly unedited, just to hit publish and send, all apologies for any imperfections.

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Quite a bit of learning anything is really just having access to materials, and caring enough to arriving at your own conclusions.

People are often satisfied with some vague notion of what they believe, but can’t really seem to express it. That’s because they’ve never made the observation themselves. They’ve heard a thing, but when you ask them for an explanation of it, you’ll often find their ideas are inchoate (not fully- formed).

They have no way to explain other than to make the assertion, or tell you who told them about it. They only act as a relay for somebody else. They are “repeater stations” and parrots on the pathway of life. If you find yourself doing this, take this as an opportunity to see that you’re doing something wrong.

This is why we want to continually conduct our own surveys, and to define our own beliefs— because if you don’t have your own definitions, if you can’t explain them, you don’t have a religion of your own. You’re mumbling along to a song you don’t even know.

I’m not saying anyone in our meeting was doing this, our people are really knowledgeable, they weren’t mumbling at all. I’m was referring to a common situation in the Christian world; an out-sourcing of responsibility in points of doctrine, a spiritual off-shoring— as though they’re saving time or money by not doing it themselves.

Religious Jews are known to do this also. They cite every maxim in the name of the Rabbi who said it, and think in so doing they are “saving the world.”

[“He who reports a saying in the name of its author brings deliverance to the world.” Megillah 15a, Chullin 104b.]

So, when the discussion of “Seven Spirits of God” came along (Isaiah 11:2; Revelation 1:4; Revelation 5:6.) I was not going to quote any Rabbis, I was going to show the work I did myself. We will not save the world with it. But, maybe we can save a few in the name of William Miller. He was a very thorough bible scholar, and if we can’t use his work directly, we can at least go by his example.

On the Seven Spirits question, we had a few people citing the Isaiah reference which is a good answer, and appears about as follows:

1. The Spirit of the Lord.

2. The Spirit of wisdom.

3. The Spirit of understanding.

4. The Spirit of counsel.

5. The Spirit of might.

6. The Spirit of knowledge.

7. The Spirit of the fear of the Lord.

These items amount to 7, and are obviously biblical, so this answer is not wrong at all. It is a good answer. It is indeed a definition, and it does illustrate a point about the number 7. Although I didn’t want to stop there, because there is much more going on.

This is why I wanted to get back to Miller to obtain a more comprehensive picture. He had an entire lecture on this subject, although this is no longer widely known.

It is Lecture 9: The Epistle to the Seven Churches of Asia, considered as applying to Seven Periods of the Gospel Church, from Miller’s Works, Volume 2, 1843, most of which I will not reference, but for this piece here:

“Again: the word seven is often used in the word of God as a mystical number, meaning the whole, as seven spirits, seven stars, seven angels, seven candlesticks, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vials, seven thunders, seven plagues, seven mountains, seven heads, seven eyes, seven horns, seven crowns, seven kings, and seven churches. All these are used in Revelation and apply to or concerning the whole Gospel period.” —William Miller

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Now somebody is going to think “seven” and “Sabbath,” and go off on a tear because they have a fascination with seven. [They may also have “777” in their email address.]

But this fascination with the number seven is not really biblical, nor an Adventist doctrine, but is kind of a historic or cultural phenomenon among SDAs. It’s a propagation of the fascination of W.K. Kellogg, who built a house with seven doors and seven gables, and all kinds of sevens in it which has literally nothing to do with how the word is is used in scripture. They just see it as a lucky number. Perhaps this just happens naturally.]

The word “Sabbath” in the bible is etymologically linked with seven (and rest, or cessation) but it’s really linked with the word for oath. It is in fact, the same word.

This is why "Well of the seven" and "Well of the oath" both refer to the same biblical site called Beersheba.

“So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.” Genesis 21:31.

Consider it:

“And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves? And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them.” Genesis 21:27-31.

So, there you have it: seven witnesses (who are indeed sheep, which sounds kind of funny), a well, a swearing, some witnesses, and an oath or covenant.

And, that’s all I care to say about that kind of seven at the moment, other than to say that seven representing THE WHOLE (vis Miller) in this situation is not what I’m talking about at all, although you might think you can see it in there. We are talking about Bible FIGURES and not concrete situations in the bible— not wells or oaths, or sheep which are countable, not even the Seventh-day Sabbath, which comes every week in a sequence. So in every scene or situation in the Bible, you’ll want to be sure to get the context, before you begin to interpret “seven applies to the whole”.

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So, what is with this “Seven Spirits” of God business? Is it seven individuals, a countable noun? Is it seven spirits, or seven literal persons? Does it imply the Holy Spirit in a figure— with seven representing the whole? Well, these are some good questions to be asking.

I want to focus for a moment on things which you can find in nature, and others things which you’ll never find anywhere.

You might find SEVEN CROWNS or SEVEN CANDLES, but you will never find SEVEN HEADS or SEVEN EYES on something, at least not on any living creatures we know of. I mean, you can go look for them, but you’d soon learn nothing like that exists in natural.

[Neither will you find Seven Spirits. Most can not find even one spirit, let alone seven of them.]

EYES are a prophetic indicator, as EYES often indicate the prophetic gift of “seeing,” [There are two words in Hebrew for SEER]. This is true, although I won’t try to prove it much beyond showing the relationship with Balaam, who was a non-Israelite Prophet of the Lord.

So, eyes goes with seers and visions, and seeing the supernatural, or seeing the future, often along with the Holy Spirit in close proximity. Balaam who was notably wicked later on, was actually a very privileged individual who both saw and beheld Christ, before he was born.

“I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel,” Numbers 24:17.

[This has nothing to do with seven, but it does do with eyes and seeing.]

We also find at least some instances the use of seven for things that can never occur in nature, namely the seven eyes of the Lamb in Revelation 5:6. But because there were seven of them, we understand that John was not seeing a natural creature. There are many creatures with eyes, but no living creature has quite so many.

[Some say the seven eyes represent omniscience or omnipresence, and will go on to interpret “SEVEN” to mean “ALL” and “EYES” to mean “SEEING” (so, they’ve just discovered Free-Masonry), but I would suggest either Prophecy, (ie, “seeing”) Divine Providence (the “vid” in providece means “to see”, as providece means “to see ahead”) or as the True Witness (who would obviously be “witnessing” something) although the bible literally states they ARE the SEVEN SPIRITS of GOD. That is what the eyes are, and also the horns. These should be understood as attributes, or as illustrating the work of the Holy Spirit. Revelation 5:6. But, none of these are really points I’m trying to make right now.]

So, we must accept that at least one, and possibly all of these references are symbolic, similar to the way the strange creatures in the book of Daniel are not real, but symbolic, and are more like stylized compositions than real creatures. They are used to illustrate certain characteristics, through the use of features, which anyone could recognize— wings like an eagle, a goat with a notable horn, and so on. [The word like itself being a good indicator of the use of a symbol, figure, or metaphor.]

[If you think you’re getting tired by reading, just think of me and what I’m going through. My copy editor is already saying “it’s too long”, “break it in pieces,” “go to bed,” and things like this to me now. It’s already after 12pm, and yet here we are, pressing onward.]

So, we see seven here being applied to something not natural, which of course, must make it belong to something entirely figurative, else we would have no basis to understand it at all. It would be a mythological creature like a Griffin or Glashtyn (Celtic Horse-Goblin) which have never existed, although though people draw lots of pictures of them.

Therefore we go now to collect another clue from William Miller:

Again: the word seven is often used in the word of God as a mystical number, meaning the whole, as seven spirits, seven stars, etc…these are used in Revelation and apply to or concerning the whole Gospel period.

This is where we learn that whole does not mean whole, as by careful reading we see he applies “seven” as symbolic of whole, but then qualifies it as the WHOLE of the GOSPEL TIME PERIOD. [This limits the scope of “all” to a certain duration.]

This is much different than a general “all” or “whole” universal, (such as eyes which are “all seeing”) and is really quite specific. It answers not what the eyes would be seeing, but when they see it. It is all happening in the gospel dispensation.

Therefore these particular sevens in Revelation are not “countable” numbers, intended for enumeration, but are used more as a link identifier.

It is something of a categorical connector, joining these figures together. And what it means, according to Miller, is that the symbol in question (seven) applies to the whole “gospel dispensation”.

This was called by the Millerites the “PRESENT DISPENSATION” [See Advent Tracts 3 & 4] and also the “Times of the Gentiles.”

The number seven is the golden link which ties this period together in Revelation, and by it is meant that we should understand it’s not the time of the Jews (ancient), nor the Millennial Desolation of Earth, nor even the Restoration in the New Earth. These sevens apply to the whole GOSPEL time period, or dispensation— by linking all of the depictions together, through the copious use of the number seven.

Well, didn’t it get a lot more interesting?

I also want to say that John saw the Lamb having this, and having that, “having seven horns and seven eyes, which ARE the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” [Did you want to ask what the eyes are? The bible tells you exactly right there.]

It is the Holy Spirit which the Lord Jesus is “having” here, not some third independent being, but a Spirit, which He (Christ) is in control of.

The Holy Spirit, or Spirit of God, he has and is in possession of, and we can have it also, at any time throughout the entire Gospel dispensation. What a relief it is to read and learn that Jesus has it.

[If there was no other reason to praise God today, this would be more than enough. You can ask Christ for the Holy Spirit. It is in His possession.]

Now I want to go on quickly, because I’m running out of brain wattage.

How this 7 gets applied across these figures, and particularly the Seven Churches is a major contention, since there is more than one way to do it, and what prevails today is entirely the wrong one.

I will illustrate through the use of plates. We can draw a circle, representing the gospel dispensation. [The 7 Churches of Revelation].

It would look like a flat Basketball.

This is precisely the BRHC page 412 picture of the seven churches, [although this one is round, and not linear, but it’s the same idea] it does represent the whole time period, with seven consecutive churches, each occurring at a certain time period, and each being deprecated or surpassed by the one to follow it, leading us down to a time at the end of the Gospel age, with only one church remaining. Laodicea— the LAST CHURCH— labeled as “going through … TO THE END!” [Although spewed out is written plainly in the text of the bible] with the preceding churches being so thoroughly dismissed, they may as well be crossed out and cast away forever.

This is the picture to which I refer. The Bible Readings for the Home Circle, page 412 Chart. You might consider it as the circle unfolded.

This image is an existential crime against God and all of humanity. Can you imagine circumventing a message of Christ to his Church? — putting them into ANCIENT TIME as expired, and veritably throwing away 6 out of the seven letters of our Lord and Saviour? Who would do this? Who indeed would edit and publish the best selling book the denomination ever had, which was in fact, doing just that?— the Head of the “Bible Readings” “Bureau,” holding the initials “US”. None other than Uriah [No Middle Initial] Smith.

What then is the true picture? Well then, I’m glad you’ve asked. Since I already have exposed this with all kinds of quotes [at the links below] I won’t bother to use them all again, but to just to drop a few from my Myth-Busting Uriah Smith article, first sent out over 5 years ago:

BIBLE READINGS FOR THE HOME CIRCLE

URIAH SMITH — MYTHS BUSTED!

MYTH: That the Seven Churches of Revelation 1-3 apply to SEVEN DISTINCT PERIODS of TIME

"The seven churches, and the messages addressed to them, apply to seven distinct periods of the Christian church, reaching from the beginning of Christ's public ministry to his second advent." --Uriah Smith, Bible Readings for the Home Circle. [1889] (414) [This has become a contemporary teaching that spans through all the Denomination's literature and materials.]

SPIRIT OF PROPHECY: Not Periods but “Messages,” and ALL of the MESSAGES apply ALL of the TIME.

"The words uttered were NOT ALONE for John on the Isle of Patmos; they were NOT for THE CHURCHES ALONE; but THROUGH these churches was to come the inspired MESSAGE for THE PEOPLE, to have its powerful impression in EVERY AGE to the close of this earth’s history. " --Ellen G. White, MS 53, 1890. [1890]

"In these words are warnings, reproofs, threatenings, promises, from the True Witness, he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand. “The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.” When this church is weighed [FUTURE] in the balance of the sanctuary, it is found [FUTURE] wanting, having left its first love." --Ellen G. White, RH February 3rd, 1891. [1891]

"The Lord has a controversy with those who are ever ready to reprove and to irritate others. We are not to imitate them. Many have excellent qualifications as had THE CLASS [NOT PERIOD] to whom the True Witness says, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent." --Ellen G. White, Letter 92, 1895. [1895]

"John was instructed to write the THINGS which he HAD SEEN, “and the THINGS which ARE, and the THINGS which SHALL BE [FUTURE!] hereafter; The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars ARE the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest ARE the seven churches.” [Revelation 1:19, 20.]" --Ellen G. White, Letter 119, 1895. [1895]

So the true picture then, of the Seven Churches is more like this;

It’s a big STACK of plates, which show the time as three-dimensional— with ALL messages applying at ALL TIMES in every AGE of the GOSPEL DISPENSATION, the “STACK” representing the WHOLE time period.

To Wit: “All these [sevens] are used in Revelation and apply to or concerning the whole Gospel period.” - William Miller.

In this we find what a sad little picture Uriah Smith gave the church in BRHC 412, likely in no small part responsible for its sad LAODICEAN condition.

I’ve got much more of this material, but it’s too late to compile it right now. Also, I’ve become quite tired.

Also remember, that the SEVEN SPIRITS of GOD means “the Holy Spirit throughout the whole Gospel Dispensation.”

Salutation, In the name of William Miller.

-Warren

PS: read on if you care to. I’m going to bed now.

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