The Seven Spirits of God (Part 2)
The Way of Life
The second part of a future book on The Seven Spirits of God. It is being adapted from a series given at The Almond Branch. See the original message here.
We are doing a deep dive into the Seven Spirits of God. Look again at Isaiah 11:
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord.
(Isaiah 11:1-2 NIV)
This is the menorah God told Moses to design—and over a thousand years later, Jesus said this object represents the church.
Think of it… God is a Dad who teaches his kids things by drawing draws pictures for them! This particular picture is about people being “branches” connected to a center point—which is Jesus. He releases his life into us, which causes his light (or fruit) to come through the branch of our shared and individual lives.
Last time, we brought in another one of God’s pictures given to humanity: the rainbow. We looked at the link between the colors of the rainbow and the Seven Spirits of God. In the above image, we have the white light in the middle—white light that holds all other colors. In the same way, the Spirit of the Lord (the first thing Isaiah declares) includes and exudes six other “Spirits”: wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord.
In this session, we’re going to learn today how each of these operate and how there’s a sacred flow between them. Together, they teach us about the essence of life.
Color & the Glory of God
Years ago, I took some incredible courses on Hebraic dream Interpretation. These were taught through the ministry of a man named John Paul Jackson, someone who I found the Lord had imparted great insight concerning the language of symbols.
During that time, I learned how red is a color that connects to wisdom.
While preparing the material for this study, I recalled this bit of insight and thought that this was quite interesting considering how red is the first color on the spectrum of visible light and the first of the seven Spirits. The connection between red and wisdom then made even more sense when I considered a few other factors:
First of all, the New Testament declares that the message of Christ crucified is the very wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:23-24). Now red is obviously a symbol of blood. It’s also a symbol for humanity. The Hebrew word for Adam and the word “red” are very much connected.
So, the blood Jesus shed reveals the wisdom of God. Part of what this means is that laying down your life for another is the highest wisdom. To be wise is to learn to love. Red is the color often associated with love because of the heart from which blood flows. Therefore, all of the wisdom of the law and prophets is summed up in the reality of love—giving of yourself to God and others.
Now this is where we’ll bring back the science of color. We discussed last time how red is the lowest level of light energy—or the longest wavelength of visible light. In the same way, Christ is the infinitely intense and unimaginable God “slowed down” into visible form—into something human: Adam | red.
Jesus—particularly in his sacrifice of love—slows down and makes visible the infinite glory of God.
Wisdom is a life of love, sacrifice, and pouring yourself out. This is a Spirit—a Person—who gets embodied in human life. It’s a Spirit that fills our own personhood.
One other word about wisdom (and this will set us up for the Spirit of Understanding and everything else we’re about to discover). You can think of wisdom like this:
Wisdom is what to do.
Wisdom is what life is supposed to look like. Understanding is the why.
If wisdom is living a life of love—understanding is why you live that way.
You are supposed to love your neighbor. But why?
Understanding gives the deeper reasons behind things. You love your neighbor because you understand their value. You understand they are precious to God. You understand that you and your neighbor are connected—so to treat your neighbor well is to treat yourself well.
You can’t have wisdom without understanding. Wisdom without understanding is called “religion.” It tells people what to do without giving them a reason.
We do this with little kids to an extent. At first, we just tell children what to do. However, as they get older, maturity looks like understanding the why. As we mature, we’re supposed to know the reasons why we do the right things.
For example, wisdom is telling kids to keep sex within marriage. Understanding is why that’s so crucial—spiritually and biologically. It gives the underlying context to wisdom. It’s like the setting or the mount for the diamond in a ring. Understanding is the beautiful setting while wisdom is the precious gem within it.
To connect this back to color—the next color in the light spectrum is orange. This is our color for understanding. Interestingly, orange is a color within red. It is not a primary color. It comes from red and other combinations, which brings us to another science lesson:
The Primary Colors
In regard to light, the three primary colors are red, green, and blue. When you combine these colors, they produce white light. They can also produce every other visible color.
Some of you may remember the primary colors as red, blue, and yellow (or cyan, magenta, and yellow). This is mostly for painting. Paint pigments absorb light, which leads to a different system of color mixing. For the purposes of this study, we’re focused on how light works.
Indeed, the human eye is designed with three receptors for colors called cone cells. They are made to specifically receive red, green, and blue.
So, orange is a color that emerges after combining red with other colors.
In the same way, understanding is a necessary by-product of wisdom. Wisdom is what it is. It is settled truth. Yet, understanding addresses the questions of why that wisdom is so powerful.
And understanding is also a Person! It is part of God’s very nature—and the life he shares with us.
Next, we have the Spirit of Counsel. If wisdom is what to do, and understanding is why you do it, what do you think counsel is about?
Counsel is the how. You know what to do and why to do it, but how does this actually play out? Counsel is the practical, strategic outworking of wisdom.
For example: wisdom means loving my spouse and giving my life for her. Understanding tells me it’s because she is a precious gift from God, and that we are One.
Counsel is how do I practically lay down my life for my wife?
Thus, I take wisdom and understanding and then say: I am going to go out of my way each week to do something that makes my wife feel seen and heard… I am going to protect a certain time during the week for us to connect… I am going to lay down my opinion in one area and die a little bit to myself, and let her win!
If that sounds like being crucified to you: congratulations, welcome to marriage and the Christian life! Welcome to the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and counsel! You may not have any clue as to what you’re getting into with this teaching. Though I promise, this is leading to the true, delicious fruit of the tree of life—what was lost in Eden…
Now, if we stay on the path of the rainbow, we have counsel lining up with yellow. This works well because yellow is very much the symbol of hope and direction. Sunlight is associated with yellow—it brightens the path before you. When you have counsel, there is a hopeful direction.
Yellow also comes from red. It’s a secondary color. So wisdom contains both understanding and counsel. Wisdom is everything. Understanding and counsel are really aspects of what is underneath wisdom and what it looks like in action.
Therefore, you can think of this progression as the color red getting more intense. Indeed, when light is energized, it moves from red to orange and to yellow. There’s a message in that of the practical nature of wisdom becoming movement.
And this leads to something totally different. It brings us to the Spirit of Might—which also brings us to a whole new primary color: Green.
Think about the progression here. You know what to do, why to do it, and how to do it…
Might is DOING IT.
Action.
Might is the energy and ability to walk out the counsel, understanding, and wisdom of God. Might is life itself. Therefore, green is perfect because it’s the color of life.
This is an amazing connection because sometimes the word “might” is translated as power. As a result, this gives us a beautiful way to understand power.
God’s power is not defined by the way the world defines power. God’s power is linked with resurrection life. His Spirit in the Bible is called the Spirit of Life. The might of God is his power over death. Creation testifies to this all over the place. (Such as a little “shoot” growing from a cut down tree . . . that is God’s power)
Green is like a brand-new entity arriving on the scene. It’s quite different from those warmer hues of red, orange, and yellow. This brings us back to the primary colors.
I mentioned last time that there is a Trinitarian revelation here. I believe God made these three colors (with the human eye fine-tuned to behold them) in order to point to his Triune nature. The primary colors also give us a metaphor for how everything flows from the Trinity interacting with One Another.
Red easily points to Jesus. As we’ve already covered, red is more earthly and speaks of sacrifice.
Green points to the Spirit—who is the Life of God and the loving connection between the Father and the Son.
Blue speaks to God the Father. Blue is a heavenly color. God the Father is our Heavenly Father. Blue (and purple) point to his majesty and royalty.
A Disclaimer! None of this is meant to be a perfect interpretation of color and scripture. Watch out for those who claim to give the secrets of the universe without any humility that says they could be wrong, or that there could more nuance to things. Much of what we’re discussing here is just a guide into some of the mystery of how God speaks.
Part of God’s love language is symbols—which he utilizes all through creation. This is not about knowing cool ideas. This is about a God who is reaching out to his kids as a Dad who happens to be an unimaginably good artist.
Back to the Seven Spirits: we have wisdom, understanding, counsel, and might. All of this is meant to lead us into this reality of knowledge . . . The Spirit of Knowledge.
The word “knowledge” in the Hebrew is not about knowing facts. This word here is about an experiential knowing. When you understand something and walk it out, it becomes part of you. You know it in an intimate experienced way.
It’s like the difference between someone who knows about cars and someone who knows cars. A person can read a book on mechanics. They can watch videos. They can be very knowledgeable in our modern sense of the word. But it’s really not until they get under the hood, hands dirty, driving multiple vehicles over multiple years, that they the know the thing.
Someone who can tell you wise things doesn’t mean they’re truly knowledgeable. (A good reason why pastors, authors, and public figures should not be idolized.)
But the word “knowledge” goes even deeper. It’s more than just knowing the right things, understanding them, and doing them.
This is also the word for intimacy. It’s where we get the Hebrew term for a husband and wife knowing each other physically.
This has to do with an intimate relationship with God and others. The goal of wisdom, understanding, and walking in good counsel all leads to experiencing intimate connection with God and others.
This is what life is all about! This is what is happening within the circle of the Trinity—and they have chosen to share it with us!
This is who they are, and we have been given bodies, personalities, and relationships to experience this flow of life (the flow of the Spirit of Life) together.
The word for knowledge is also connected to the New Testament term for revelation. The apostle Paul prays for “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” to hit people in Ephesians 1. He is speaking about the Spirit of Wisdom and the Spirit of Knowledge there.
Revelation is when something hidden gets revealed. This connects to intimacy because intimacy is to see and know something about someone that others don’t—something that’s not on the surface. It’s a special awareness you have. A husband knows his wife in a way no one else does and vice versa.
Therefore, knowledge or revelation is to know God and the mysteries of his heart. It’s not just about knowing his commands and counsel—although those are very important. All of this is meant to lead to relationship.
In regard to color, this ties into something else I learned in those Hebraic dream interpretation courses. Blue is a color for revelation and intimacy. I learned this almost 20 years ago and I was blown away when I was going down the line of the Seven Spirits matching the colors of the rainbow.
So, we now have wisdom, understanding, counsel—what do to, why to do it, how to do it. All of it leads to the actual flow of these of things in our lives. This is the green blossoming Spirit of power. This produces true knowledge: experience and intimacy with God. In this, we come into greater and greater revelation of who he is (and who we are as his image-bearers).
This leads to this final Spirit erupting in our lives. It brings us to the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord.
The word “fear” in the Hebrew is different than the Hebrew word to be afraid. This is not always the best translation. In fact, when Jesus quotes the Old Testament that mentions “you shall fear the Lord your God”—Jesus translates it as worship (compare Matthew 4:10 with Deuteronomy 6:13): “You shall worship the Lord your God.”
It is a word that speaks to praise, awe, and reverence.
Now, this is the final part of the progression, because when you know God more—when you see into his heart (meaning you have revelation of who he is)—that leads to being overwhelmed in awe. It produces within you a true sense of honor, respect, and adoration for him. All of this is wrapped up in the phrase the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord.
This is about pure worship. It’s where you recognize who God is and his beauty overwhelms you and delights you.
Nonetheless, we can’t completely throw out the word “fear,” for there is an element of holy terror as we encounter something absolutely beyond our control. We’re talking about a beauty and power that is beyond our ability to understand or contain . . . which is humbling. Thus, the fear of Lord confronts and burns away pride and all the darkness (sin) that attaches itself to pride’s delusions.
But here’s something else amazing—recall that a rainbow is actually a circle . . . this blew my mind when I realized the Scriptures says over and over again: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (see for example Proverbs 9:10).
The fear of the Lord brings you back to Wisdom. It brings you back to Christ, and to the simplicity of his love. It brings you back to the blood of Jesus.
When the priest entered the most intense and holiest part of God’s temple—the Holy of Holies—he found a mercy seat sprinkled with blood. Within the infinite glory of God’s presence is the purest mercy and kindness!
To reiterate: Jesus is the Almighty and incomprehensive God slowed down for us to see and touch and draw near.
Though an overwhelming experience of worship can be terrifying (because you recognize your desperate need and pride is exposed and burned away)—we come back to the place of rest as we surrender. We are brought back into safety. The Almighty becomes an all-comforting presence.
This is what we find in revival testimonies from the 1700s and 1800s. Prominent preachers who saw people encounter the fear of the Lord during different spiritual awakenings would remark that people who never moved beyond the groaning and crying over sins were never truly “converted.” It was those who experienced the true joy of God’s salvation who bore lasting fruit in their lives.[1]
This idea of the fear of the Lord bringing us back to wisdom connects us back to the musical scale as well. We discussed briefly last time the connection between the Seven Spirits, the colors of the rainbow, and the seven notes of the western musical scale. When you reach the most intense note on the scale (ti), you go back to you started (do); however, this is now at a different level known as an octave
The fear of the Lord corresponds to the most intense color in the spectrum, which is purple (or violet). It also connects to the most intense musical note. But again, it leads you back to a new beginning—a new octave.
In God, there is an infinite experience of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge—leading to more and more and more wonder and worship—which brings you back deeper into wisdom, understanding, and so forth. And, as hard as it is to fathom, it never gets old.
The Spiraling Paths of Divine Life
So, this teaching is called The Way of Life. We could have also called it the “paths of righteousness” from Psalm 23 where David says God is a shepherd who leads his sheep in the paths of righteousness.
In the land of the Bible, shepherds did not take their sheep straight up a mountain. They walked them in circles around a mountain, ascending higher and higher at a pace they could handle. So these paths would be more like a spiral.
Indeed, the paths of righteousness are a circular spiral. Our very DNA is designed after this pattern—it is a spiraling ladder. This is because life itself is a spiral upward the Seven Spirits of God!
The fear of the Lord—true worship—is the pinnacle experience of the “ladder” of life. It is the crescendo of everything. Yet at the same time, it is a painfully overwhelming experience. Like the highest note—ti—it makes you long for a resolve—do. And just when you are totally undone and think you can’t handle anymore, the resolve comes. Things quiet down. You come back into the white light of his glory, which is the place of rest (more on that in the next session).
Then, as you rest, that slow “red” wave comes back: You come back into a fresh discovery of his tender mercies. It’s the sweetest and greatest thing you could ever know.
One final thing we’ll explore from God’s creation: God’s design of human sexuality. There is a connection to what we’re learning here.
God created the idea of marriage. This was meant to be a relationship that begins with a covenant of the kind of wisdom we’re talking about: the promise to love another and lay your life down. In the case of marriage this culminates into something (like moving from red to purple). It leads to a physical union, which then goes on to repeats the “circle of life”—literally. Life comes out of that intense union. Human life with red blood flowing through its veins.
Yet, right before that happens, there is a “climax” of intensity—one of the most intense feelings a person can experience. It’s a feeling of that employs both the pain and pleasure sensors.
As strange as it might sound to people’s ears, there is a correlation to worship and the fear of the Lord here.
In fact, the pornography problem is a false grab at the Knowledge (intimacy) and the Fear of the Lord (worship). Think about it… We are made intimacy, beauty, and ecstasy. We long for connection and encounter. Pornography is a quick and false grab at it.
Thus, a lot of men struggle with worship because they’re already worshiping at broken altars and having this false religious moment of ecstasy (which actually sucks life of them as they literally their life-seed on that idolatrous altar).
So, every level of life points to the mystery of knowing God and experiencing his sevenfold Spirit. This is the essence of what life is about—the way and path of righteousness.
We are made to experience wisdom, understanding, and counsel, which leads to action—might—which then builds experience upon experience, cultivating intimacy with God that blossoms into intimate and powerful worship. And these encounters with him then lead to spiritual life, just like the intimacy between a husband and wife. We become fruitful! We multiply.
Then, we pass our wisdom to others. We ourselves learn to slow down like that red wave as pour into someone else’s life. Or, in other words, as we incarnate into someone’s world. This is the end game for our personal journey—which is a really a new beginning . . . a new octave. All of this is found on spiraling ladder of life in Christ.
Some of us may be stuck on a certain part of the ladder . . . but God wants to bring us higher . . . so we can actually lower—and bring others up with us!
Father, thank you for the path of life you’re revealing to us in your Word! Draw us deeper into your presence. Awaken us to the intimate knowledge of Christ within. Thank you that He is our inheritance. He is our wisdom, our understanding, our might. He is the fear of the Lord.
Father, open our eyes to Christ within and lead us higher into your glorious ways. We pray this in the mighty name of Christ. Amen!
[1] See Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards (1746).