Is the trinity in view at Revelation 7:17?

Question

Revelation 7:17 (ESV):

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Notice the similarity with John 7:37-39 (ESV):

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

So, in Rev 7:17 do we have in view the Son (the Lamb), the Father (God) and the Holy Spirit (springs of living water)?

Answer 1

Is the trinity in view at Revelation 7:17?

Revelation 7:17 (ESV):

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Is the trinity in view at Revelation 7:17? The answer is "NO"

God: is Jehovah.

The Lamb: is Jesus.

Springs of living water: Are the provisions made by God for gaining everlasting life, by means of the ransom, God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Rev. 22:1-2 and 21:4 state the benefits to the obedient human-kind.

Revelation 22:1-2 (NET Bible)

22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life—water as clear as crystal—pouring out[c] from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 flowing down the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river is the tree of life producing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month of the year. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations.

Revelation 21:4 (NET Bible)

4 He[a] will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist

Jeremiah 2:13,18 states the unfaithful Israelites committed two bad things. 1/ They rejected me (Jehovah), the fountain of life-giving water and, the God of true guidance and protection, and 2/ they sought protection from Egypt and Assyria. Jeremiah 2:13,18 writes.

Jeremiah 2:13,18 (NET Bible)

13 “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: They have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot even hold water. 18 What good will it do you[i] then[j] to go down to Egypt to seek help from the Egyptians?[k]What good will it do you[l] to go over to Assyria to seek help from the Assyrians?[m]

Answer 2

Not so fast - it is certainly agreed that water is often used as a metaphor of the Holy Spirit as per John 7:37-39.

However, in the book of Revelation, we have the technical phrase "springs of water" which occurs in Revelation in the following chiastic pattern:

• 7:17 A: The Lamb leads the righteous beside springs of living water
• 8:10 . B: star from heaven falls on the springs of water & embitters
• 14:7 . . C: Worship Him who made…the springs of water
• 16:4 . B: An angel turns the springs of water to blood
• 21:6 A: Thirsty offered drink from the spring of water of life

Notice that the star is parallel to the angel as elsewhere in Revelation. In Isa 49:10 and John 4:14 the springs of water represent Jesus and His truth of the Gospel of Salvation. Thus, the plagues in 8:10 (caused by Satan) and 16:4 would represent a counterfeit heresy of false salvation. This is appropriate since the truth of salvation in Jesus is a sweet truth and the false salvation is a bitter heresy. This is reinforced in the fifth trumpet where people seek death. Thus, the middle “C” instance is literal, the “B” occurrence is counterfeit and the “A” is genuine.

Thus, the precedent for the references to the spring of the water of life appears to be John 4:14 and Isa 49:10 -

• John 4:14 - But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
• Isa 49:10 - They will not hunger or thirst, nor will scorching heat or sun beat down on them. For He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

Both these appear to allude to Jesus Himself as the "Good Shepherd" as described in Ps 23 and John 10 as the source of eternal life.

Answer 3

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Revelation 7:17, KJV)

Notice the similarity with Revelation 5:6, just two chapters earlier.

And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. (Revelation 5:6, KJV)

Are there seven "Gods" because God has "seven spirits"?

Proper hermeneutics requires that we lay aside our biases and preconceptions and understand the spirit of what the Bible is saying without reading more into it than what it says. The Bible is exceedingly clear that there is one, and only one, true God (see Mark 12:32; John 17:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Deut. 6:4). The Bible teaches that God is spirit (see John 4:24) and that God was IN Christ (2 Cor. 5:19), the Son of Man.

Neither the word, nor the concept, of "Trinity" is in the Bible. If one were to read the Bible looking for evidence of multiple God-entities, Revelation 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; and 5:6 all speak of the "seven Spirits" of God. That's more textual evidence than there is for the supposed Trinity.

Shall we then believe in a Septinity?

Conclusion

No, Revelation 7:17 does not address, nor imply, a Trinity. It neither mentions the word, nor makes any clear statement pertaining to three God-entities or beings.

Answer 4

Whatever translation you use, and whether 'pneuma' has a capital 'S' or not, and whether springs of living water refer to the Holy Spirit or not, the point of that verse is the location of the Lamb of God. It is because of where he is that he can feed the innumerable great crowd of people, and give them living water.

Where, then, is the Lamb located? He is in the centre of the throne of the Almighty - he is in the midst of it. (That point is also stated in Rev.5:6 & 22:1-3 making a three-fold witness.)

Further, two verses previously we learn that this multitude of people out of all nations and tribes are "before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple, and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them" (verse 15). Does not the Lamb dwell amongst his people, the people of God, and that by the Holy Spirit? Yet the single verse you ask about does not actually make that point, in itself.

There is clearly a trinitarian link between the Almighty sitting on that throne, and the glorified Son of God (the Lamb) in the centre (midst) of that one throne (for those with eyes to see it). But to find the link between God, Christ and the Holy Spirit in the book of the Revelation, other verses need to be invoked.

Go back to where that one glorious throne is described in chapter four. One aspect of the description is "and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God" (verse 5). Then, in chapter five, the Lamb makes his first appearance where the description of him includes, "a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth" (verse 6)

The number seven represents heavenly perfection, so the throne of the Almighty is perfectly guarded by the surrounding seven-fold spirit of God, which also acts as the Lamb's (symbolic) seven eyes. And that is the seven-fold spirit of God now going through the earth since Jesus was gloriously resurrected and made his return to heaven. There you have Revelation's clear connections between the Almighty's throne, and the Lamb's position in the midst of that throne, and the Holy Spirit's guarding and all-seeing aspects in regard to both God and the Lamb. Nobody can break that triple link. They can dismiss that link if they like, but the Holy Spirit guards and sees and freely moves. The symbolic aspects of Revelation's descriptions teach as much about the Holy Spirit as it teaches about God and Christ. But Rev.7:17 does not have "the trinity in view" as you ask. Read the rest of it for that.

Answer 5

The word trinity defines God as being one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial persons:God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit — three distinct persons sharing one essence (from Wikipedia) . The trinity is not in the bible. Comparing Revelation 7:17 which says, because the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and wipe away shall God every tear from their eyes. There is nothing in this verse that substantiate the trinity according to its definition.

In Revelation 4:8 and 11, creation is attributed to the Almighty God. Jesus never once called himself the Almighty God, Jesus attributed creation to God, not to himself Mark 13:19 For those days shall be tribulation, such as there hath not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never shall be.

The Lamb in Revelation 5:6 is Jesus who was slain and resurrected. In contrast, God is immortal. Jesus who called himself the faithful and true witness could not be considered truthful if he claimed to be the Creator but is actually not, making his statements in Mark 13:19 ASV, Matthew 19:4 and Mark 10:6 false. Mark 13 :19 says, For those days shall be tribulation, such as there hath not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never shall be". Matthew 19:4 ASV says, And he answered and said, Have ye not read, that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female. Mark 10:6 YLT says, but from the beginning of the creation, a male and a female God did make them.

The Lamb/Jesus has a God as Revelation 3;12 shows. Revelation 3:14 shows that Jesus was created. The same with John 3:16 Jesus was begotten. Revelation 3:14 says, And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. This verse again confirms that Jesus ascribes creation to God not himself. Jesus is dependent on the Father. In John 5:26-27 ASV For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself and he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man. Note that Jesus did not say he has "life in himself". The Father "granted" to the Son to have the same. According to Jesus nothing is essential to the Father. Unlike Jesus, the Father is not dependent on anyone to "grant" him the possesion of life within Himself. Jesus is begotten, The Father is not.

The trinity is not in view in this verse.