“… we … have all been made to drink into one Spirit …”
(1 Cor. 12:13, NKJV)
On Patmos God granted the apostle John the opportunity to, also on behalf of us, experience the fulfilment of the Day of the Lord, when Christ “is all and in all” (Col. 3:11).
In the midst of this great experience John says: “And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!’” (Rev. 19:6). Take note – it is a “great multitude”, “many waters,” “mighty thunderings,” all plural, but it constitutes just ONE voice. It is clearly a corporate voice which speaks as “of one accord, of one mind” (Phil. 2:2) – this is clearly the Christ who now speaks (2 Cor. 2:17)!
It is well-known that the Holy Spirit as Messenger/Angel lives within every born-again believer; their bodies are their temples (1 Cor. 6:19). When the corporate or collective nature of this temple is mentioned, it is called the Father’s house (John 14:2), God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9), and the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2), the tabernacle of God with people (Rev. 21:3). From this corporate unity one united voice will emerge, but it is only possible when the corporate Body also has only one Spirit: “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body … and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Cor. 12:11-13).
When Rev. 22:8-9 speaks about this angel’s “feet,” at which John falls down, the symbolic language can fool us, where it seems as if he, as “fellow servant,” could not be the Holy Spirit, as our stereotypical idea of an angel renders this image incongruent. But according to The Complete Wordstudy Dictionary, feet metonymically refer to “the oriental mode of making supplication or of doing reverence and homage to a superior by prostrating oneself before him”. Thus the “fellow servant” is merely: “(a) ministrant of the same master” (Strong).
The Voice of the corporate Christ as messengers is directed by the Spirit as Messenger. Clearly the angel of the book of Revelation is a very successful symbol of the living (rhema) words of God that is brought through revelatory knowledge! Therefore Ps. 104:4 (KJV) makes it clear: “(God) maketh his angels spirits …” Martin Luther’s 1578-Geneva Bible translates it as “maketh his spirits his messengers”! In this context, one could easily present the Angel as a collective of rhema words that carry the message of the Christ. Therefore Heb. 1:14 (KJV) speaks of all angels as “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation”. Ps. 103:20 thus makes it clear: “Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.” Yes, this is “… the Holy Spirit [who] testifies in every city” (Acts 20:23) – but through His Body (1 Pet. 4:11). It is then not at all strange that Paul notes in Gal. 4:14: “you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus”!
- Selah: Can you picture yourself as “an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus”?
- Read: Acts 19-21
- Memorise: Acts 20:23 (what beautiful synchronicity!)