The Complacent Church

There the conclusion was that the title is a reference to the Holy Spirit against a background of Zech. 4:1–10. That Christ holds the seven spirits is reminiscent of the doctrine of the procession of the Spirit from Christ (cf. John 15:26; Rom. 8:9). The identification of the seven eyes of Zech. 4:10 with the seven spirits in Rev. 5:6 symbolizes the Spirit’s omniscience.
His further identification with the seven lamps of Zech. 4:2 (cf. Rev. 4:5) is a picture of the testimony He bears.
The author of this message is one who is represented among the churches by the third Person of the Trinity, who knows all and whose purpose is to testify through the seven lampstands established in these seven cities.
He wants to ensure that the lampstand in each community is shining brightly as it should. Sardis represents a situation where the church was surely not emitting spiritual light as it should have been.
Anticipation of wearing such apparel and enjoying the personal companionship of Christ provides ample incentive for continued faithfulness for the few in Sardis who were standing against the tide of apathy that had gripped the majority in the church.
Revelation 13:8 lends itself to two possible interpretations. Either the book was written from the foundation of the world, or the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. If the former is the meaning, the time of the writing is explicitly placed before the foundation of the world. If the latter interpretation of 13:8 is correct, the time is still, by implication, the same because it is “the book of life of the Lamb” (cf. Rev. 21:27). The slain Lamb (cf. Rev. 5:6) is the one to whom the book relates, and its existence can presumably be traced to the time (in God’s eternal plan) of His slaying, i.e., before the foundation of the world (Caird).