(avg. read time: 23–45 mins.)
Christology is rather obviously a major thematic concern of Revelation. The opening of the book refers to the “revelation of Jesus Christ.” Elsewhere, such a phrase is an objective genitive, where Jesus is the one being revealed, or is the content of the revelatory action (1 Cor 1:7; 2 Cor 12:1; Gal 1:12; 1 Pet 1:7, 13; 4:13; cf. Rom 2:5; 8:19; 16:25). In this case, however, the genitive phrase has more of a sense of source. It came from Jesus Christ. But he is the intermediate source in that God the Father gave it to him. Moreover, John says that he made it known by sending his angel to John. The intermediary character of Jesus as the source of revelation does not undermine the claim that he is also presented as God. Rather, this befits the fact that he is the Word of God, meaning that he is the very revelatory power of God, the one through whom God speaks, and the one who embodies his will. Furthermore, the fact that Jesus is said to send “his” angel is significant. Only God sends angels (Gen 24:7, 40; Exod 23:20; 33:2; Num 20:16; 1 Chr 21:12, 15; 2 Chr 32:21; Dan 3:28; 6:22), and they are “his” (besides all the references to the angel of the Lord, see Gen 24:7, 40; Job 4:18; Pss 91:11; 103:20; 148:2; Dan 3:28; 6:22; cf. Rev 3:5). This is also fits with other NT texts that say the same about Jesus/the Son regarding his authority over angels (Matt 13:41; 16:27 // Mark 8:38 // Luke 9:26; 24:31 // Mark 13:27; Acts 12:11; 2 Thess 1:7). This point is also conveyed in Rev 22:6, 16. (It is true that John also refers to Michael and “his” angels in 12:7, but he is never said to “send” angels in the way God and Jesus do, and this is only done in the case of this battle, where “his angels” is a way of referring to “his army.”)
Another feature of the opening of Revelation is the reference to the “word of God” and the “testimony of Jesus Christ” (1:2; cf. 17:6). As we noted last time, both terms refer to the gospel. The first phrase signifies the origin of the word. The second phrase is more of an objective genitive (at least in the usage of Revelation), where Jesus Christ is the object of the action of testimony. One could also think of it as the testimony “about” Christ, so that Christ is the content of the testimony. The word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ are one and the same in concerning the gospel. The word that comes from God is about Jesus Christ, as Jesus was, is, and will be the executor of God’s will. The word is about the Word through whom God accomplished his will, especially in his death, resurrection, and exaltation. Jesus is thus the medium and the message. Even as he is the Word with God who was God with whom God created in the beginning, he is the word of the gospel, and so his word is the gospel. That is why, even as the gospel is referred to as the “word of God,” it can also be referred to as Jesus’s word (note how he refers to “my word” in 3:8, 10).
The typical form of epistolary opening that we see in 1:4–6 also attests to Jesus’s equality with God the Father. Whenever the NT authors wish “grace and peace from,” they never say it is from anyone but God. Usually, the reference is to God and the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3; Eph 1:2; Phil 1:2; 1 Thess 1:1; 2 Thess 1:2; 1 Tim 1:2; 2 Tim 1:2; Titus 1:4; Phlm 3; 1 Pet 1:2; 2 Pet 1:2; 2 John 3), which shows that they can both supply what is being wished in the greeting of the letter. In this case, John references both God the Father and Jesus Christ, as is typical in the NT, and he also references “the seven spirits,” which is a reference to the Holy Spirit (more on that subject next time).
In elaboration of who Jesus Christ is, John presents a series of narrative tags that succinctly summarize the most revelatory events in Jesus’s life (1:5). That is, they summarize the major gospel events. He refers to Jesus as the faithful witness (cf. 3:14), which, in the context of Revelation as a whole, implies his faithfulness and testimony was unto death, specifically leading directly to his death (cf. Antipas in 2:13, the two witnesses in 11:3, and the blood of the witnesses in 17:6). But even if that were not so, his death and its efficaciousness in dealing with sin are still invoked in the next sentence in the verse. The reference to him being the firstborn from the dead is obviously a reference to his resurrection (cf. 1 Cor 15:20; Col 1:18). Finally, the description of him as the ruler over the kings of the earth refers to his exaltation. It was by these events that he showed who he is, and it is by these events that he has formed John’s audience into the people that they are in relation to God. More specifically, here invoking Exod 19:6, John says that Jesus “made us a kingdom, priests to God and to his Father” (1:6). By the gospel story, Jesus has executed God’s will in forming such a people for God. As in the Exodus text, this is work that God himself does, but on the other side of the gospel story, the work can be more clearly delineated and linked with the source and the executor. The efficacy of his work is a result of the fact that he is God the Son, so that his blood could release from sins everlastingly, and he could communicate everlasting life, as well as the authority to share in his divine reign. These are points to which John will return later, but it is important for him to state these facts here as an evocation of the story that unites the community, as identifying events of Christ who has revealed himself more directly and personally (in order that he may thereby reveal the Father), and as a way of anticipating the rest of the book.
Another element of this text that should be noted is the brief doxological statement: “to him be glory and strength forever” (1:6). As we noted last time, the ascription of glory is one of the fundamental expressions of worship. That is the sense when the speakers ascribe “glory, honor, and power” to the Father in 4:11. Even clearer in its sense that the Son/Lamb is worshiped with the Father is 5:12–13. The Lamb is ascribed “power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and praise.” And then immediately following this is the declaration that to the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb “be praise, honor, glory, and power forever and ever.” In addition to the ascription of glory, near the end of book we are told of the new Jerusalem, “The city has no need for the sun nor for the moon, that they should shine on her/it, for the glory of God is her/its light, and the Lamb is her/its lamp” (21:23). The Father and the Lamb share glory in a way that God does not do with anyone outside the Godhead. Even though the Son grants to those who are in union with him the authority to sit on the throne with him and to rule, and even though believers will be glorified, nowhere is it said that they have the divine glory that God has in the same intrinsic way, as we are bearers of God’s image and likeness.
Another way in which Jesus is identified with God—not God the Father as such, but God in the more general sense—is through the use of language from the OT. The first such instance we see of this is in v. 7, where John reminds his audience that Jesus is “coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even the ones who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him.” On the one hand, the description of him coming “with the clouds” has its source in Dan 7:13–14 with its reference to “the one like a son of man,” who, as we have noted elsewhere (as well as in my dissertation) is also a figure in some ways uniquely identified with God even as he is distinguished from the Ancient of Days. On the other hand, the reference to “the ones who pierced him,” while obviously being linked to his crucifixion, draws its language from the source of Zech 12:10, since it is also combined here, as there, with the description of those who see him mourning. Zechariah 12:10 had also been christologically applied in Matt 24:30 (where it is also combined with Dan 7) and John 19:37. In the text of Zechariah, the one who is pierced is God, and in the use of the same text in reference to Jesus, in line with what I have observed elsewhere, indicates that Jesus is identified with God here. Such a reading also fits with how John more generally identifies Jesus with God in this opening chapter.
Beyond what we have already seen, we see in 1:8, without an indication of changing who John is referring to, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, the one who is and the one who was, and the one who is coming, the All-Powerful/Almighty One.” This is how God the Father refers to himself in 21:6, as “the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” At the same time, later on when Jesus is identified as speaking in 22:16, he says in 22:13 that he is “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end [in the sense of “goal”].” He also identifies himself as “the First and the Last” in 1:17 and 2:8 (cf. Isa 41:4; 44:6; 48:12). Likewise, “Lord God” designates Jesus here when the word “God” and the combined “Lord God” typically refer to the Father. Similarly, one should note 22:6 in this regard. The point of both this descriptor and the one of him as “the one who is, the one who was, and the one who is coming,” is that he is the unifier of salvation history. He was there at work from the beginning—that is, from creation—and he will be there to bring about the completion of it all because he has the omnipotence to implement his faithful love.
In this same vein, as we have noted in the previous part, “Lord” in the NT most often designates Jesus while “God” most often designates the Father (as in the reference to Jesus as “Son of God” in 2:18), although there are obviously exceptions to those tendencies. In the OT, God was referred to as both, and the NT is consistent with this presentation of one God, though now the use of “God” and “Lord” is considered a fitting way of designating two persons as the one God (Mark 16:19; Acts 2:36; 20:21, 24; Rom 1:7; 5:1, 11; 7:25; 8:39; 10:9; 14:6; 15:6; 1 Cor 1:2–3, 9; 6:14; 8:6; 15:57; 2 Cor 1:2–3; 11:32; 13:14; Gal 1:3; Eph 1:2–3; 5:20; 6:23; Phil 1:2; 2:11; 1 Thess 1:1, 3; 3:11, 13; 5:9, 23; 2 Thess 1:1–2, 8; 2:13, 16; 1 Tim 1:2; 2 Tim 1:2; Titus 1:4; Phlm 3; 1 Pet 1:2; 2 Pet 1:2; 2 John 3; Jude 21, 25). Throughout Revelation, too, Jesus is often designated as “Lord” (besides 1:8, see 1:10; 11:8; 14:13; 17:14; 19:16; 22:20–21), but the fact that it can also refer to the Father (4:8, 11; 11:15, 17; 15:3–4; 16:7; 18:8; 19:6; 21:22), or it may be ambiguous (6:10; 11:4; 22:5–6), shows that both are being worshiped with the same name that there is but one of, according to the affirmation since the OT that there is one God and one Lord (Deut 6:4).
Interestingly, in 1:10 John describes being “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” The provocative phrase indicates Sunday (cf. Did. 14; Barn. 15:8–9; Gos. Pet. 35 [par. 9], 50 [par. 12]; Ign. Magn. 9:1; Justin, 1 Apol. 67). This day became an early Christian day of worship because of Jesus’s resurrection. This is a reference that exemplifies both how Christ is often called “Lord” as God the Father also is and how gospel events are referenced in declarations of Jesus as Lord and Christ. Note that this did not completely alter early Christian worship practice, as early Christians did not exchange worshipping on the Sabbath for worshipping on Sunday. They did both, and early Christian documents written centuries later attest as much. But the fact that early Christian worship practices still changed in such a weekly fashion as to include Sunday worship shows their acknowledgment that the Lord God acted on this day.
Much of the rest of ch. 1 is taken up with a christological presentation, as in the course of this vision when John turns around to see the voice speaking with commanding him to write what he sees, he sees a vision reminiscent of multiple texts from Daniel, although not everything is drawn from that text. That is, he sees one like a Son of Man walking in the midst of seven golden lampstands, wearing a long robe girded with a golden sash, with a head and hair white like wool and snow, eyes like a blazing fire, feet like glowing burnished bronze, and a voice like the sound of many waters. The reference to one “like a Son of Man” is another clear reference to the figure in Dan 7, who in the fullness of time would come to be known as Jesus, the one who would call himself the Son of Man in his own teaching (so distinctively that despite his plethora of self-references in this way, the term only appears sparingly outside of the Gospels in Acts and Revelation). Likewise, the imagery of having the hair of his head be white like snow derives from the description of the Ancient of Days in Dan 7:9. Other descriptions for Jesus here are drawn from the description of the Ancient of Days with less precise equivalence. The golden lampstands also evoke sacred space imagery of the tabernacle and temple, though here it is in reference to the heavenly counterpart. The attire he wears could be priestly, even as later imagery in Revelation implies (15:6), or it could simply signify his majesty. The eyes of blazing fire and feet like burnished bronze derive from and expand on imagery in Dan 10:6 to describe the angel who appeared to Daniel to give him his last message to record. The voice like the sound of many waters recalls the description of God’s voice in Ezek 1:24 and 43:2 (cf. Rev 19:6). In short, Jesus draws together these strands of hope and fulfills them all as the one who shares God’s authority, functions as the one who sanctifies the people to have communion with God, and is more glorious in appearance and authoritative in speech than any angel. He is the unifier of all of salvation history and its various institutions.
Beyond this OT-resonant imagery, we are also told that he has seven stars in his right hand, a sharp, double-edged sword coming from his mouth, and a countenance like the sun shining in its power (1:16). The seven stars are later said to be the angels of the seven churches Revelation is addressed to (1:20). The command implied of angels here fits with what we have already noted about the unique divine authority over angels. The sharp, double-edged sword coming from his mouth introduces an image that will be invoked once in a letter (2:16) and again near the end of the book (19:15, 21). This imagery declares the power of his word because he himself is the Word (19:13). Even as he is the Word with God who was God with whom God created in the beginning, he is the word of the gospel, and so his word is the gospel. That is why his word is said to be involved in the final judgment, since he himself is involved in the final judgment. As such, his word is life-giving because he is the life-giving Word. And because the apostles will proclaim him, they too are proclaiming his word about the Word Incarnate and what he came to do. The faithful participate in the victory that his word will bring because of their proclamation of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus and their lives of faithful obedience in light of the same. However, it is only Jesus himself who will achieve this victory by bringing the word of his promise in the gospel to consummation; we are only participants in the victory by virtue of our union with him. Finally, his face shining like the sun does not have a specific OT connection, but it does signify his glory, and it resonates with the description of him in his transfiguration (Matt 17:2) while also foreshadowing how he will be a light source to surpass the sun for his people (Rev 21:23; 22:5).
Naturally, this vision is all quite overwhelming for John. He had not beheld a vision quite so magnificent as this before. But Jesus assures him, telling him not to be afraid, an extremely common word of exhortation God gives throughout the Bible. In line with the description of being the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus first says, “I am the First and the Last” (1:17). All of history and creation is ultimately in his hands, as he was the one through whom it was created and he is the one who will bring it to its completion. He also says of himself that he is, “the Living One, I died and behold I am alive forever, and I have the keys of death and Hades” (1:18). This declaration of identity and authority is followed up with a “therefore” of John being commanded to write what he sees. The reference to him as the “Living One” resonates on at least two levels. One, God is traditionally referred to as “the living God,” often in contexts distinguishing from idols/false gods (Deut 5:26; Josh 3:10; 1 Sam 17:26, 36; 2 Kgs 19:4, 16; Pss 42:2; 84:2; Isa 37:4, 17; Jer 10:10; 23:36; Dan 6:20, 26; Hos 1:10; Matt 16:16; 26:63; Acts 14:15; Rom 9:26 [Hos 1:10]; 2 Cor 3:3; 6:16; 1 Thess 1:9; 1 Tim 3:15; 4:10; Heb 3:12; 9:14; 10:31; 12:22; Rev 7:2), though it also signifies that he is the only one who has life in himself and others have it only because he gives it to them (e.g., John 5:26; Acts 17:25; 1 Tim 6:13–16). Two, it fits as a descriptor of one who has risen from the dead with eternal life that utterly conquers death. This, too, signifies that he has the divine life untouched by any trace of mortality (though we will see later the reminder that his body bears the memory of mortality), and that he has fulfilled God’s will by executing his salvific plan, though the consummation is yet to come. We also see here how his identity has been declared in the gospel story, as the same threefold pattern we saw earlier in 1:5 reappears here in his death, resurrection to eternal life (“I am alive forever”; cf. 2:8, which invokes both his death and his resurrection), and exaltation in the authority he has over life and death, signified by having the keys of death and Hades (1:18). Such authority is uniquely God’s, and Jesus has it because he himself is God, specifically God the Son. Elements of this vision also reappear in Jesus’s self-identification portions of the letters to the churches in Rev 2–3, specifically in the ones from ch. 2, so we will not be repeating observations in that portion of text.
The first recurring and formulaic element of the seven letters to note is the use of τάδε λέγει (“thus says”), which is then followed by the identification of the speaker (in every case, it is Jesus, but he refers to himself in different ways). This phrase is the LXX translation of כה אמר, a typical (but not exclusive) marker of prophetic speech conveying what the Lord has said (Exod 4:22; Josh 24:2; Judg 6:8; 1 Sam 2:27; 2 Sam 7:5, 8; 1 Kgs 11:31; 2 Kgs 1:4, 6, 16; Isa 7:7; Jer 2:2, 5; Ezek 2:4; Amos 1:6, 9, 11, 13; Obad 1; Mic 2:3; Nah 1:12; Hag 1:2, 5, 7, 9; Zech 1:3, 4, 14, 16, 17; Mal 1:4 and many others). As I said, it is not exclusively a mark of divine speech, but in prophetic contexts like Revelation this is more clearly the sense, and it comports with what can be gathered from other aspects of Revelation.
One of the other recurring elements of the seven letters to the churches in Rev 2–3 that is interesting for our purposes is Jesus’s statements of “I know.” Most of the time, this refers to him knowing the works of the audience (2:2, 19; 3:1, 8, 15). In the other two cases, it refers to knowing the suffering of the audience (2:9) and where the audience lives (2:13). The significance of the first declaration is that it is appropriate to God’s work of final judgment that Jesus should know our works and have an account of them. The second also fits with how God has been portrayed as knowing the suffering of his people, as in Exodus and beyond. The final one is not significant because of him simply knowing that the audience lives in Pergamum; it is significant because of the insight about where they live: “where the throne of Satan is” (2:13). This is part of the general character of the Apocalypse (and other apocalyptic literature), in which Jesus, the Revealer, is showing the audience through John a vision behind the veil of empirical reality to show what is really going on and who is at work. This insight also applies in the other cases, for the works may seem to convey one thing when in truth they are otherwise, and Christ sees through it all to what the churches really are.
Related to this, Jesus says as a result of his judgment, “all the churches will know that I myself am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works” (2:23). The first part of the statement is reminiscent of an incredibly frequent refrain in Ezekiel. Some variation of the statement “you/they shall know that I am the Lord” appears sixty-two times in Ezekiel, most often as a result of a divine action of judgment. The second part parallels God’s self-description in 1 Chr 28:9; Jer 17:10; and Rom 8:27, and further accentuates his role in judgment as being the divine one.
Yet another of the formulaic recurring elements of each of the seven letters John is directed to write to the seven churches is the closing: ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω τί τὸ πνεῦμα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις (“The one who has an ear should hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches”; 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13; 3:22).1 This closing reiterates the importance of hearing and responding appropriately to what the audience hears. The formulaic reference to the churches also indicates that these letters were circular. Even as specific messages addressed specific churches, all of the churches were to heed all of the words of the Lord. Finally, the fact that the words of Christ are identified as the words of the Spirit indicates one can no more separate the words of Christ and the Spirit than separate the throne of Christ and the Father. Again, Christ and the Spirit are not one and the same person, but they can be spoken of so interchangeably because they are one God.
The promises that provide a recurring element of the letters are also interesting on a christological level. First, the fact Jesus is able to make the promises that he does is indicative of him being God, that he can promise what only God can deliver. Second, of course, the contents of the promises are noteworthy. In the first promise he gives (the right) to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God (2:7), and only God can give such a gift of everlasting life, as only God can permit access to his paradise. In the second promise he promises the one who is faithful unto death, the one who conquers, will receive the crown of life and not be harmed by the second death (2:10–11). These are two ways of referring to the promise of everlasting life, which is the exclusive gift of God, and so the fact that Jesus promises it clearly indicates that he is one with God the Father as being the one God who is the source of life. In the third promise he says he will give of the manna which has been hidden and give new names to his followers (2:17; cf. 3:12). The latter evokes stories of the OT when God gave people new names, while the fact that he can give the manna shows that he has the life-giving power and authority that the OT revealed about God. In the fourth promise Jesus says that the one who conquers and “keeps my works” will receive from him authority over the nations as he received from his Father, along with the morning star. The former aspect of this promise shows that he is giving authority only God can properly give, for it is in line with his promise in Ps 2:8–9, and the latter aspect of the promise is a promise of authority that also signifies union with Christ, given his self-identification as the morning star in 22:16 (cf. Num 24:17). In the fifth promise Jesus says he will not blot out that one’s name from the book of life, and the OT clearly attests only God decides who is written in and blotted out of the book (Exod 32:32–33; Ps 69:28; cf. Isa 4:3; Dan 12:1; Mal 3:16). As in other references to this book in Revelation, Jesus is identified as the one who gives life and dispenses judgment through reference to this book (13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27). In the sixth promise Jesus says he will make that one a pillar in temple of God, and write names on them of God, the city of the new Jerusalem, and a new name from him. As the temple is the new Jerusalem itself because God and the Lamb are there, this signifies his divine salvific power, as well as his sanctifying power in bringing us into union with God so that we may dwell where he dwells in the new creation and not be removed from there because of his guarantee. Finally, in the seventh promise, as we reviewed in the previous part, he brings to a climax the victory language in chs. 2–3 by showing that the victory of believers is ultimately participatory in the victory of Christ, which is the divine victory of sharing in the divine throne. This promise brings to fruition the human identity of bearing the image and likeness of God by participating in the reign of God in Christ. This is something Jesus can give because he himself shares the reign of God.
The self-identifications of ch. 3 are also worth reviewing, as unlike those that appear in the first few letters, they are not reusing elements from the vision in ch. 1. The first of these involves Jesus identifying himself as “the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars” (3:1). The latter clearly resonates with referring to the seven churches in ch. 1, but the former is not explicitly said in ch. 1. That he “has” the seven spirits clearly links him intimately with the unique Spirit of God, but it also distinguishes him. The same applies when he says he has not found the works of those in Sardis as completed “in the presence of my God.” Even as Jesus is identified with God, he is not identified with the Father, but he is distinguished from him in the way that he is distinguished from the Spirit, even as all of them are one God.
The self-identifications for the letters to Philadelphia and Laodicea should be treated together in light of their overlap. In the first of these letters, he identifies himself as “the Holy One, the True One, the one who holds the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one can open” (3:7). In the second of these letters, he identifies himself as “the Amen, the Faithful Witness and True One, the Ruler/First of God’s creation” (3:14). That he holds the key of David pertains more to his messianic identity, but it serves the description of him as one who cannot be gainsaid on what he opens or closes, signifying his ultimate/final power as Judge and Deliverer. The reference to him as “the Holy One” fits with how God is described as “the Holy One (of Israel)” (2 Kgs 19:22; Job 6:10; Pss 71:22; 78:41; 89:18; Prov 9:10; 30:3; Isa 1:4; 5:19, 24; 10:17, 20; 12:6; 17:7; 29:19, 23; 30:11–12, 15; 31:1; 37:23; 40:25; 41:14, 16, 20; 43:3, 14–15; 45:11; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7; 54:5; 55:5; 57:15; 60:9, 14; Jer 50:29; 51:5; Ezek 39:7; Hos 11:9, 12; Hab 1:12; 3:3; cf. Rev 16:5).
He is also the “Amen” (ἀμήν). This term—a Greek transliteration of a Hebrew term—is usually a certification, validation, and affirmation that a statement is true and thus it appears at or near the conclusion of that statement (cf. 1:6–7; 5:14; 7:12 [2x]; 19:4; 22:20). This is the only instance in the NT in which it is used as a title and it likely alludes to Isa 65:16, the only use of it as a title in the OT, in which it is applied to God. The nearest equivalent otherwise is the statement in 2 Cor 1:20 that Jesus is the “Yes” to all of God’s promises and that through him is the “Amen” to God. In all cases, the terminology serves as the certification and affirmation that God will do what he has promised. In the case of the NT, it certifies that Jesus is the executor of God’s promises, the one who will bring them to pass. Its appearance at the beginning of this statement (and as a title) also expresses assurance of the truth of what Christ will say as if he has already spoken.2 Finally, it is noteworthy that the Isaianic version of this title immediately precedes the promise of new creation in Isa 65:17. Because it is such a unique title with this unique association, one might expect links to new creation promises. Indeed, the use of the title here foreshadows God’s statement of new creation in 21:5, which is reminiscent of Isa 65:17. As I argue below, the most probable framework for understanding the second and third identifications in v. 14 is new creation.
Jesus also refers to himself as πιστὸς καὶ ἀληθινός (“faithful and true”), as well as “the True One” in the first letter. This is arguably an augmentation of the identification as the Amen. These words have overlapping semantic domains, as demonstrated by the multiple versions of rendering the Hebrew אמן from Isa 65:16 in Greek. Symmachus, like John, renders it as the transliterated ἀμήν, Aquila renders it as a form of πιστεύω (πεπιστωμένως), and the LXX/OG renders it as τὸν ἀληθινόν. Jesus is given this full description only one more time in Rev 19:11, and then it becomes a descriptor about the message of new creation (21:5; 22:6), expressing the surety that this consummate promise will also come to pass. It will come to pass because of what Jesus has accomplished in his earthly ministry, in which he was the faithful and true witness unto death and resurrection (1:5–6; John 3:11; 4:44; 5:31; 7:7; 8:13–14, 18; 13:21; 18:37).3
Finally, Jesus is the ἀρχὴ τῆς κτίσεως. Scholars have translated the word ἀρχή variously as “beginning,” “source,” “principle,” or “ruler.”4 Although there are distinctions in the first three possible meanings, they all relate theologically to Christ’s role in the origination and possibly sustainment of creation. Generally, the decision is thus between this kind of meaning and the political/royal meaning. Unfortunately, it may not be possible to convey both senses in a smooth English translation, despite the likely presence of a double entendre here (“first” or “foremost” may be sufficiently ambiguous, but such options are not sufficiently communicative and can lead to confusion).5 One piece of evidence that makes it probable that there is a double entendre here is the traditional link between God’s action as Creator and God’s action as Lord (Pss 65:5–13; 74:12–23; 89:5–18; 93; 97:1–6; 104; 135:5–7; 136:5–9; 145:15–16; 146:5–7; 147:4–5, 8–11, 14–18; Isa 40:12–31; 41:17–20; 44:24–28; 45:12–18; 48:7–13; 55:10–13; Jer 31:35–37; 32:17–19; 33:20–26). Just as God’s action as Creator serves as the foundation for God’s action as Lord and Savior, God’s action and character as Lord is the link that binds together protology and eschatology. Likewise, on the basis of parallels with Rev 1:5–6 and Col 1:18 (also see here), it is likely that the inauguration of the new creation and the inauguration of Christ’s rule are two aspects of the same results of Jesus’s death, resurrection, and exaltation.6 These aspects can only be distinguished, but not separated. The stress is not so much on Jesus’s sovereignty from the beginning, but on his sovereignty established by his earthly work to bring God’s promises of new creation to pass (as the other two titles imply). As such, it seems best to interpret this word as a double entendre in this instance.
The basic message of this christological introduction is that the one who says these things is the absolutely and inexorably faithful one, the ruler of creation and new creation, the one who has spoken and will do it, the one whose promises—no matter how seemingly extravagant—will be fulfilled. Christ is the conquering king whose faithfulness is beyond all resistance. He is the Amen because he validates all of God’s promises. He is the faithful and true witness because he speaks the truth without dilution and is faithful to enact God’s promises. He is the inauguration and ruler of the new creation because of what he has already accomplished and will yet consummate. He has blazed the trail of faithful testimony to God unto death that leads to resurrection and enthronement. Thus, he is able not only to address the problems of the unfaithful Laodiceans, but also to make them into conquering kings like himself.
Jesus recedes into the background from ch. 4 until reemerging in ch. 5 as the Lamb. Before he does, though, we should take note of the very opening of ch. 4. Jesus’s work as Revealer still undergirds everything that John sees, as the rest of the visions in the book are initiated with the voice John had heard “speaking like a trumpet” told him to come up to heaven through the door opened for him. As ch. 1 shows, that voice was the voice of Jesus.
When Jesus reemerges, a predominant emphasis is on what I mentioned in the previous part about him being the executor of God’s will. That is why he has conquered, since he has fulfilled God’s will, and why he is worthy to open the scroll that proclaims his will. The referent for his “conquering” (5:5) is the gospel story. The reference in 3:21 indicates that his victory was similar to what he calls upon others to do in being faithful and true witnesses, which means faithfulness unto death, and in his case further meant resurrection, which is still in the future for his followers. That resurrection encapsulates his victory, which is what precedes him sitting with the Father on his throne, as his resurrection preceded his exaltation in the gospel narrative. It is signified in this text by the fact that the Lamb standing in the midst of the throne (signifying his exaltation) is as one who was slain (rather obviously invoking his death), and yet the fact that he is standing is indicative of his resurrection (5:6). This is why he is present to take the scroll and continue executing the will of God (5:1, 7).
It is also noteworthy what the portrayal of 5:6 says about the Lamb’s relationship with the Father and the Spirit. On the one hand, we are told that he stands on the throne, occupying the space reserved for God. As the one who sits on the throne is the only one worthy of worship, the fact that the Lamb occupies it shows that he is also worthy of worship, which is exactly what he receives in vv. 8–14. Worshiping the Lamb is clearly part of worshiping the one God who permits no competition for worship (this is all the more distinctly confirmed when angels refuse worship in 19:10 and 22:9, telling John to “worship God”). On the other hand, the Lamb is described as having seven horns and seven eyes, “which are the seven spirits of God who were being sent into all the earth” (5:6). This is one way in which it is conveyed that Christ “has” the seven spirits/Holy Spirit and that they are inextricably identified together, even as they can be distinguished. Where the Spirit is, there Christ is, for the Spirit is communicating his salvific work across the earth and conforming people to Christ.
When the living creatures and the twenty-four elders sing a song to Christ declaring his worthiness to receive the scroll and open its seals, they recite a summary of the gospel story. He was slain, and by obvious implication he has risen to life. In the process, his atoning work constituted a people for God to making them a kingdom and priests (5:9–10). The fact that they will reign on the earth (5:10) is derivative of his own exaltation after faithfully executing the will of God, as earlier parts of Revelation have established, so it is also implicitly evoked here. The fact that his worthiness is tied to the gospel story while the worthiness of God is tied to being the Creator implies a link seen throughout the Bible between God as Creator and God as Redeemer/Savior. Christ’s action in redemption brings to fruition God’s will as Creator, as indicated by the description of the people as a kingdom—given how the kingdom of God in its consummation and the new creation are two ways of referring to the same thing—and priests fulfills his covenantal will for his people as expressed in Exod 19:6 and his creative will for humans as expressed in the priestly king imagery of Gen 1–2 and Ps 8. The new creation brought about the unfolding of the gospel events is the fulfillment of God’s creative will, and so God’s work of redemption in Christ is ultimately of one piece with God’s work of creation through the Son.
After this, the living creatures and the elders join with the myriads of angels to worship the Lamb. As we have already noted, this in itself is significant because worship is due only to one God. What is also significant is how the angels express their worship in saying that the Lamb who was slain is worthy to receive (i.e., be ascribed in worship) “power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and praise” (5:12). Most of these have already been ascribed to the one who sits on the throne. Likewise, in 5:13, the worship of the one God means worshiping the one who sits on the throne and the Lamb. They are distinguished but not separated, and both receive/are ascribed praise, honor, glory, and power forever and ever.
The focus of ch. 6 christologically is simply that Christ opens the seals on the scroll one-by-one (6:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12). As in the gospel story, he is executing God’s will, and in this case, it is God’s will for judgment. The people on earth recognize as much, as they are said to want the rocks to hide them from “the one who sits on the throne and the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come” (6:16–17). Of course, this is just the beginning of presenting Christ in this way in Revelation.
The last note to make about ch. 6 is simply to reiterate what I said last time about vv. 9–10. The text referring to the opening of the fifth seal (6:9–10) gives us an ambiguous referent to the Lord. We have seen in Revelation that there are cases where this name refers primarily to the Father, and in other cases it refers primarily to the Son. It could be that the Son is in implied focus here, since he is at the forefront of ch. 6 in being the one who opens the seals, he is described as “holy and true” in ch. 3, and white clothes are associated with his work in chs. 3 and 7. Or it could that the Father is in implied focus here, since they may be asking of this of the one whose “word” (6:9) they have given their lives for, and naturally he has been called holy and true many times over in the OT. But I am inclined to think that the ambiguity is for a reason (as notably in 1 Cor 15). Since both the Father and the Son are one God, and “Lord” applies to both of them throughout Revelation, it could just as well refer to both of them here, and there is no reason to be more specific here.
In ch. 7 we see once again how closely tied Christ is with the one who sits on the throne. Implicitly, he is the reason for those who have the seal of the living God to be so sealed (7:2–3, which is made more explicit by his name and his Father’s name being written on the 144,000 in 14:1). Explicitly, his blood is the means of everlasting salvation, being what purifies the uncountable multitude (7:14; cf. 7:17 where his life-giving power is likewise invoked). When the multitude worships, they worship the one who sits on the throne and the Lamb (7:9–10). Indeed, the Lamb is said to occupy the throne that is God’s (7:17). The text also evokes God’s promised action in Isa 49:10, as we observed last time. Notably, it is the Lamb here who is the Shepherd of the people who are not returning to the Zion of the present age, but to the new Zion, the new Jerusalem that is coming. They are coming to their inheritance for which they have been prepared and the Lamb who is the Shepherd will make sure that none of the forces that bear down upon mortals in the present time will have any power over those conformed to his image (7:16–17).
As I noted in the last post, 11:4 refers to “the Lord of the earth” in a way that appears deliberately ambiguous and general in referring to God rather than to a particular person of the Godhead. By the same token, this chapter mixes references. On the one hand, 11:8 refers to the city where “their [the two witnesses’] Lord” was crucified (11:8). On the other hand, the heavenly chorus speaks of the kingdom of the world as becoming “our Lord’s and his Messiah’s” (11:15; cf. 15:3). And even as “Lord God Almighty” in 11:17 appears to refer primarily to the Father, we can see from v. 15 that the heavenly chorus understands the rule of the Father and his Messiah’s as one and the same. Christ has executed God’s will in establishing this kingdom through the gospel story, and thus, as the rest of Revelation will show, he will execute the divine will in ruling as one God, he will execute God’s wrath, and he will execute judgment for the dead, including by rewarding the faithful with everlasting life with him.
Chapter 12 reiterates that the Son shares in God’s throne (12:5, 10). It also continues paralleling God and Jesus in terms of the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus (as with the word of God and testimony of Jesus earlier; 12:17). Finally, in further stress of the theme of participatory victory we identified earlier, the great voice in heaven proclaims that the faithful conquer Satan by the blood of the Lamb, meaning that they thereby participate in the victory he won in the gospel.
For ch. 14, it is significant that the 144,000 are described as the ones “who follow the Lamb where he might go” and as “bought from humans as first fruits to God and to the Lamb” (14:4). God receives such offerings because he is the one who provided them in the first place, and in the case of both the offerings and the people, they both represent what they are taken from and serve as a promise/pledge of more to come. And because people are involved here, we are speaking both of sanctification in terms of their being set apart and of their being devoted in allegiance to God as the only one who is to receive such allegiance of worship (cf. 14:7). It is thus notable that the Lamb is mentioned in the same way as the Father in having such first fruits of worshipers. The description of how they follow the Lamb is also reminiscent of shepherding descriptions that fit when God is referenced as Shepherd of his people (Gen 48:15; 49:24; Pss 23:1; 28:9; 80:1; Eccl 12:11; Isa 40:11; 63:11; Jer 31:10; Ezek 34:11–22, 31; Mic 7:14).
Three other points from ch. 14 are noteworthy for our purposes. One, the Lamb is said to be present in the final judgment of destruction with fire and sulfur (14:10). Two, in a variation on what we have seen elsewhere, God and Jesus are also paralleled in that the saints who persevere are described as keeping “the commandments of God” and the “faith/faithfulness of Jesus” (14:12; cf. Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16 [2x]; 3:22; Eph 3:12; Phil 3:9). As with the “testimony of Jesus” this refers to the gospel story and, by extension, the life apposite to the same for the faithful. (Alternatively, if the phrase is an objective genitive, it would refer to faith “in” Jesus, similarly to “faith in God.”) Three, the faithful are said to die “in the Lord” in 14:13, which refers to their salvific union with Christ/the Lord by the Spirit (as the Spirit’s own subsequent statement implies).
The one point of interest from ch. 17 for our purposes is the declaration of who the Lamb is. The angel describes the enemy powers who array themselves against the Lamb and his faithful ones, but he also says that the Lamb will conquer them, “because he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings” (17:14). Likewise, in 19:16 the name written on his thigh is “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” We see phrases identical or similar to one or both in Deut 10:17; Ps 136:13; Dan 2:47; 4:37; 2 Macc 13:4; 3 Macc 5:35; 1 En. 9:4; and 1QM XIV, 16. In the NT both phrases appear together in 1 Tim 6:15. The exact name does not appear in reference to God elsewhere in Revelation, but in light of how we have seen God referred to as “King of the nations,” “Lord,” “Lord God Almighty,” and so on, the implications of this name clearly identify Jesus with God, even if not with the Father as such. His victory foretold in ch. 17 and realized in the rest of the book is a result of who he is. He is the King who is also the Creator, Judge, and Savior, and he is able to conquer all usurping powers that attempt to destroy his creation and kingdom. This is demonstrated in the gospel story, but the gospel only revealed what was true of who he was all along.
The Son/Lamb is again foregrounded in ch. 19. At first, this is because of the declaration of the wedding feast of the Lamb and the bride, the city/people of God (19:7–9; 21:2, 9–11; 22:17), being adorned for that wedding. The adornment is said to be shining pure linen that is the righteous deeds of the saints on the one hand (19:8), and it is said to be the glory of God on the other hand (21:9–11). The glory ultimately comes from God and the righteous deeds have the shape of Christ, not only because of the Spirit’s work in conforming the people to Christ, but because here, as elsewhere in Revelation, the faithful are marked by the testimony of Jesus in the declaration of the gospel and in being faithful and true witnesses in testifying as he did (19:10).
Indeed, when Jesus actually appears in this chapter, he is called “Faithful and True” (19:11). This resonates both with the description of him as faithful and true witness, and with the descriptions of God in the OT, as we have observed previously. God makes grand promises and is faithful to keep them; his word is truth and his action is reliable; his power serves to guarantee that he will make his word come true; and his faithful love is thus inexorable. Jesus, the executor of God’s will, thus bears this name as he is in his very person the bearer of God’s faithfulness and truth. He has already fulfilled and is fulfilling many wonderful promises God has made, and so we can have confidence that the rest will yet have their “Yes” in him as well (cf. 21:5). Here, his work in executing God’s will is applied specifically to executing his judgment in righteousness/justice by going out to do battle (19:11, 15). This is also related to him executing God’s will by participating in the divine rule, as he is said to wear many diadems on his head (19:12; in contrast to the parody kings that demand worship in the dragon and his beast in 12:3 and 13:1), and his garment is dipped in blood to signify his execution of God’s will in his death that purchased God’s people (19:13; as his death is elsewhere in Revelation and the NT connected to his exaltation via his resurrection).
Jesus is also referred to as the Word of God (19:13), as he was in John 1:1–18. That was primarily in reference to him pre-Incarnation. But here, it is in reference to his work before, throughout, and in the culmination of history. He is the one through whom God’s will for creation was first implemented. He is the revealer of God, especially in his incarnate life and his return. And ultimately, he is the one who will fulfill the plan of God by bringing his salvific will to fruition in raising the dead, executing the final judgment, and establishing the new creation. He is the executor of God’s will from creation to eschaton and beyond.
I will have more to say about resurrection in ch. 20 another time, but it is interesting that just as the one sitting on the great white throne for the final judgment is not explicitly identified, neither is the person who raises the dead. In both cases, this appears to be so because there is no perceived need to distinguish; as all three have the same power, they each are attributed with raising the dead elsewhere in the NT. The Trinity raises the dead and judges them; there is no need for greater specificity. It should also be noted that the faithful who receive the first resurrection are defined by the testimony of Jesus, are priests of God and Christ—making them the singular subject of devotion—and are said to participate in the rule of Christ (20:4–6), as will be reiterated later (22:5). As for the final judgment scene, the decisive book opened in the judgment is the book of life (20:12, 15), which is elsewhere described as the Lamb’s book of life (e.g., 3:5) and signifies how the Lamb is the one who gives everlasting life, as he communicates God’s life to us (esp. 21:27).
In the vision of the new Jerusalem John tells us that there is no temple in it because “The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is its temple” (21:22). Such a statement could be said about God and no one else, meaning that Christ is identified with God, even if he is not the Father. Another parallel statement to this same effect identifies God and the Lamb as the source of light and glory for the new Jerusalem: “the glory of God is its light and the Lamb is its lamp” (21:23). This makes the referent for “Lord God” in 22:5 deliberately ambiguous, as God and the Lamb are said to shine on/in the city/new creation. Likewise, the throne is ultimately identified as “the throne of God and lamb” from which everlasting life comes (22:1, 3). And, of course, God and the Lamb are worshiped as one God (22:3). Fittingly, the last two times Jesus is referenced in Revelation, it is as “Lord Jesus” in entreating him to come quickly and for his grace to be with the audience (22:20–21).
The translation reflects the suggestion of Mathewson to convey the strength of the directive in the third person imperative as focusing on the subject performing the action (David L. Mathewson, Revelation: A Handbook on the Greek Text, BHGNT [Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2016], 22).
Louis A. Brighton, Revelation, ConcC (St. Louis: Concordia, 1999), 99; Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 1-7: An Exegetical Commentary (Chicago: Moody, 1992), 99.
G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC (Grand Rapids; Cambridge: Eerdmans; Carlisle: Paternoster, 1999), 298.
Brian K. Blount, Revelation: A Commentary, NTL (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2009), 81; Brighton, Revelation, 97; Timothy L. Decker, “‘Live Long in the Land’: The Covenantal Character of the Old Testament Allusions in the Message to Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22),” Neot 48 (2014): 423–24; Craig R. Koester, “The Message to Laodicea and the Problem of Its Local Context: A Study of the Imagery in Rev 3.14-22,” NTS 49 (2003): 411–12; Pierre Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, trans. Wendy Pradels (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004), 213–15; Clare K. Rothschild, “Principle, Power, and Purgation in the Letter to the Church in Laodicea (Rev 3:14–22),” in Die Johannesapokalypse, ed. Jörg Frey, James A. Kelhoffer, and Franz Tóth, WUNT 287 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012), 276–78; Stephen S. Smalley, The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Apocalypse (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 97; Thomas, Revelation 1-7, 303.
David E. Aune, Revelation 1–5, WBC 52A (Dallas: Word, 1997), 256; Beale, Revelation, 301; Craig S. Keener, Revelation, NIVApp (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 158; Mathewson, Revelation, 52; Grant R. Osborne, Revelation, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002), 205.
Beale, Revelation, 298; Brighton, Revelation, 100; Decker, “‘Live Long,’” 436. Most of the textual variants in this passage involve omissions or disagreements on grammar and syntax. One exception is that א alone attests to reading τῆς ἐκκλησίας (“of the church”) instead of τῆς κτίσεως (“of the creation”). Although it is a singular reading, it may be evidence that early interpreters were already connecting Rev 3:14 with Col 1:18.