The three powers of heaven are God, Christ, and angels (ie. Father, Son and holy spirits). There are many references to the three powers in scripture, without mention of any other; for example: “I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things” (1 Tim. 5:21). Also, “For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:26). These are the same ones who were present at the creation – “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? …. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7). Again, “Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne” (Rev.1:4). These seven spirits are later described as “seven lamps of fire” (Rev. 4:5) and as “the seven angels which stood before God” (Rev. 8:2).

Even in the process by which Revelation was given to John on the Isle of Patmos, the same powers are mentioned with the order of precedence clearly given – God gave to Christ, and Christ gave to His angel to give to John: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John” (Rev. 1:1).

The Heavens Declare – Object Lesson in the Skies

Ellen White described sun, moon and stars as the “three powers of heaven”. That is also correct. We recall that there are three heavens – the atmospheric heaven, the starry heaven and the heaven of heavens where God dwells. The three powers of the starry heaven are the sun, moon and stars. The heavens declare the glory of God. So, we see in the starry heaven, an object lesson about the three powers of the heaven of heavens – God, Christ and the angels. The Father dwells in light that no man can approach unto (like the sun), while Jesus is glorious but can be seen, reflecting His Father’s glory (like the moon reflecting the glory of the sun); and of course, the angels (stars) as smaller lights that are glorious but insignificant when compared to the sun and the moon.

Holy Spirit Both Person and Power

The Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, as a Person – He speaks, He can be grieved, He is sent, He is separate from Jesus, as seen when Jesus was in the water and the Holy Spirit appeared separately as a dove etc. – all scriptural; but many people add to the scriptures by saying that He is co-equal with the Father and should be worshipped – totally unscriptural.

The Bible uses the term “Spirit” in multiple ways. It is used in some cases to refer to a person’s inner being or mind, for example, “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11). But it also uses the term “Spirit” to refer to spirit-beings such as angels – “Are they not all ministering spirits”? (Heb. 1:14). Even God the Father, Himself is referred to as a “Spirit” – “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23,24).

The Statement of Fundamental Principles published in the 1889 Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook refers to the Holy Spirit as Christ’s “Representative”. Neither in scripture nor among the pioneers was there a notion that the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is someone to be worshipped, as we would worship God and Christ. Neither does the scripture teach anywhere that God, the Father, is only one-third of a three-part God. He is above all.

The Bible describes angels as ministering spirits – “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Heb.1:14). This is consistent with the Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma that are translated in the Bible as spirit. These words are also translated spirits, thus indicating that the Holy Spirit need not be seen, in every case, as one individual being but as many spirit beings representing God everywhere.

Holy Spirit, The Comforter, a Person

From this perspective, there is no denying that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, sent at Pentecost is a person – only not a God-being to be worshipped. Like the Angel of Revelation 18 who comes down from heaven with the latter rain – a similar occurrence as that which took place at Pentecost except more extensive – the Comforter would be seen as a messenger sent by Christ from heaven, as stated repeatedly in John 14-16. Ellen G. White describing the latter rain speaks of a mighty angel from heaven being sent to do this work and further said, “Angels were sent to aid the mighty angel from heaven” (Ellen. G. White, Story of Redemption, p. 399).

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit

It should be noted that Jesus’s warning against blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is not implying that the Holy Spirit is more to be revered than Jesus Himself. Jesus went back to heaven and promises to return to this earth to take us to His Father’s house in heaven. He left the Holy Spirit to guide us until He returns. If we reject that guidance by blasheming against the Holy Spirit, there will be nobody to guide us. The situation is similar to what God told the children of Israel in the wilderness – “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.” (Ex. 23:20, 21). It is simply warning us not to reject the Holy Spirit’s guidance. It is not forbidding us seeking to understand who the Holy Spirit is or what the Holy Spirit does.

God and Christ Alone Worshipped

Nowhere in the Bible is worship given to anyone else except the one seated on the throne who is referred to as “LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come” (Rev.4:8) and to the Christ, the Lamb, as it will be in the new earth – “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” (Rev. 21:22). God is the Father of Christ. Accordingly, Christ, the Lamb is seen with “an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads” (Rev. 14:1). It is the name of the Lamb’s Father that will be written in their foreheads.

Christ’s Representative

In summary, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter is Christ’s representative, sent to us from the Father, aided by other ministering spirits, to comfort and minister to us till Christ returns. Another similar representative, the Angel of Revelation 18 will come to dispense spiritual gifts on a scale far more extensive than was done at Pentecost. These representatives and ministering spirits should not be confused with the spirit that dwells in us, which is the mind of God, through His word and manifested in the exercise of God’s power.