Chapter 6. The Fourth Pillar of Trinitarianism: Revelation 1

Revelation chapter 1 is one of the four pillars of trinitar­ian­ism that I, in my trinitar­ian days, pressed into service for proving that Jesus is God, with the other three pillars being John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1. But a careful stu­dy of Revelation 1 will show that this chapter does not teach trini­tarian­ism or the deity of Christ. Our discuss­ion will be brief be­cause we will be dis­cussing related topics in the next chapter on the New Testament doxo­lo­gies. Here is the entire Revelation 1:

As trinitarians, we failed to notice or to emphasize sufficient­ly that the revel­ation of Jesus Christ did not origi­nate from Jesus himself but in fact came from God, who gave it to Jesus in order that Jesus may show it to his ser­vants (or slaves), notably the apostle John:

It is striking that the book of Revelation begins with a clear dis­tinct­ion of persons, different­iating Jesus Christ from God in the state­ment that God had given the revelation to Jesus Christ. In language that offers no support for trinitarianism, John simply says “God” instead of “God the Father,” making Jesus distinct from God and not simply from God the Father, who in any case is the only true God (John 17:3). Our conclusion is further strengthened by the fact that this verse (Rev.1:1) speaks of “the God” (ho theos) rather than “God” (theos).

The fact that the Revelation did not origi­nate from Jesus Christ but was something given to him by God the Father is ac­know­ledged by many trinit­a­rians. For example, H.A.W. Meyer says, “The revelation des­cribed in this book, Christ received from the Father,” and J.P. Lange says, “[the revela­tion] which God gave unto him—God, i.e., the Father”. [1]

Expositor’s Bible Commentary, on Rev.1:1, delineates the chain of author­ship that started from God: “there are five links in the chain of authorship: God, Christ, his angel, his servant John, and the servants in the churches.” Simi­larly, IVP New Testament Commentary, on Revelation 1:1, says:

But as trinitarians, we overlooked what was clearly stated in Revelation 1:1, and mis­takenly thought that the Revelation originated from Jesus. The fact is that even after his glorifica­tion, Jesus is not an inde­pendent authority from God, for even now he funct­ions in submission to the Father as he previously did on earth.

John’s salutation to the seven churches of Asia in verses 4 and 5 is remarka­ble for its use of terms that in the Bible are unique to the book of Revelation:

This greeting may be nothing more than a Johannine expan­sion of a Pauline greet­ing that was familiar to the early church: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”.[2] But if we take John’s salutation more literally, notably regarding the seven spirits who are be­fore the throne, it would be a message sent to the seven churches on behalf of three parties: God “who is and who was and who is to come”; the seven spirits [3] who are before God’s throne; and Jesus Christ. John again makes a distinct­ion of persons, this time different­iating Jesus Christ from the One “who is and who was and who is to come,” a divine title that in the Bible is uni­que to Revelat­ion. The title oc­curs three times in Revelation, the first time here (1:4) and repeated in 1:8 and 4:8, but also in shorter form in 11:17 and 16:5, for a total five times:

In none of these verses does the title “who is and who was and who is to come” (or a shorter form) refer to Jesus Christ. In each case, it refers to God, the Father of Jesus Christ, as acknow­ledged by many trinitarians.

Some trinitarians say that the three clauses in “who is and who was and who is to come” refer to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, res­pect­ively, but this conclusion is so bizarre and baseless that it is rejected even by trini­tarian works: Pulpit Comment­ary (Rev.1:4) says that “every clause applies to the Father, not one to each Person”. Alford’s Greek Testa­ment (Rev.1:4) says that the “com­pound appell­ation” is “to be applied to the Father”. Expos­itor’s Bible Com­ment­ary (Rev.1:4) says that the title, “who is and who was and who is to come,” refers specifically to “the Father”. It goes on to say that this title expresses Yahweh’s timelessness:

Commentary on the NT Use of the OT, on Rev.1:4, explains that “who is and who was and who is to come” refers to YHWH of Exodus 3:14, by pointing to John’s unusual use of Greek grammar. Some readers may wish to skip the following quotation because of its slightly technical nature:

All in all, the eternal title, “who is and who was and who is to come,” belongs to Yahweh God, not to Jesus, and expresses God’s eternal time­less­ness (Ex.3:14, “I am who I am”), as also brought out in Psalm 90:2: “Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God”. The picture of Yahweh as the One who extends His reach into the infi­nite past, through the present, and into the future, is elabo­rated in verse 8:

Yahweh is the Alpha, the first letter, for all things originate from Him. He is the Omega, the last letter, for all things re­turn to Him in the glor­ious accom­plishment of His purposes.

Here is a beautiful portrait of Jesus Christ, who is the “faithful witness” to his Father even unto death, just as it is said of him in Phil.2:8 that he was obedient unto death, even death on the cross. Hence, in Revelation, the first thing that is said of Jesus’ earthly life is his absolute faithful­ness to Yahweh his Father, both by his life and by his death. Jesus’ per­fection lies in his absolute faithful­ness to his Father in carrying out the work that had been entrusted to him, to witness to the Father. Perfection is not an abstract ideal but some­thing which is displayed in Jesus’ matchless life quality.

Because of Jesus’ faithfulness unto death, the Father raised him from the dead. Thus he is the firstborn of the dead (v.5) who has the keys of Death and Hades (v.18). As the first­born, Jesus is the first and the last (v.17), both the begin­ning and the goal of the new creat­ion which effect­ively began with his resurrection from the dead.

Although “the first and the last” refers to God in Isaiah 44:6 and 48:12, in the New Testament there are several ways of reflecting on this title as applied to Jesus, not least from his own life and teaching: “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last and the servant of all” (Mk.9:35). “The last will be first, and the first will be last” (Mt.20:16).

Jesus is the first and the last as the Good Shepherd. The shepherd is the first for leading the sheep forward, and the last for look­ing back to see if any sheep is straggling behind, just as a guide would lead a group of climbers up a mountain, yet look back to see if anyone is left behind.

Finally, Jesus is the first for being “the firstborn of the dead” but also the “firstborn of all creation” (Col.1:15), a reference to the new creation rather than the old (as we saw in chapter 4). In this new creation, Jesus is the author and completer of our faith (Heb.12:2), hence the first and the last.

The third element in Revelation 1:5, coming after “faith­ful witness” and “firstborn of the dead,” is “ruler of kings on earth,” an echo of the exalt­ation of Jesus in Phil.2:9. This third ele­ment has not yet come into full force (“we do not yet see everything in subject­ion to him,” Heb.2:8) but will be fully realized at his “coming with the clouds,” at which time “every eye will see him” (Rev.1:7).

As ruler of the kings on earth, Jesus has been given the high­est position in the human sphere. In an earthly war waged against Jesus who is called the Lamb, he is also called “Lord of lords and King of kings” (Rev.17:14). Un­like others who are called “king of kings” (Artaxerxes in Ezra 7:12, Nebuch­ad­nezzar in Dan.2:37), Jesus has all author­ity in heaven and on earth (Mt. 28:18), though not over God, for Jesus will live in subject­ion to God for all eternity (1Cor.15:27-28). Jesus also says, “I myself have received auth­ority from my Father” (Rev.2:27), implying that his supreme authority is not an intrinsic authority but something given to him by the Father.

The saints who are being persecuted (Rev.1:7) will look to Jesus’ coming with eager expectation. They have much to be grateful for amid their suffer­ings which are a consequence of their following him on earth, and grate­ful above all for his saving love: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a king­dom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and domi­nion forever and ever.” (vv.5-6)

The verse just quoted says that Jesus has made us “priests to his God and Father” (v.6), not priests to Jesus himself. He redeemed us by his blood, not so that we may live for our­selves or even ultimately for him, but that we may serve “his God and Father” as priests. Jesus’ self­lessness, yet another aspect of his perfection, is seen powerfully in his self-giving love by which “he freed us from our sins by his blood”(v.5).

The fact that Jesus has made us priests to his God and Father offers noth­ing in support of Jesus’ alleged deity, but instead tells us that God is also “his God and Father”. Later on, in the space of one verse, Rev.3:12, Jesus speaks of God as “my God” four times:

In retrospect I wonder how as trinitarians we believed that Revel­ation chapter 1 offers support for trinitarianism and the deity of Christ. On the contrary, it reveals just the oppos­ite: Revelation 1 proclaims Jesus as man, through whose blood—the essential ele­ment of human life—sinners are freed from their sins (v.5). Man has sinned and it is by a man that he is redeemed. Redemp­tion is not carried out by means of a God who cannot die but by means of a man who can die. This was what Yahweh in His perfect wis­dom had planned before the ages (2Tim.1:9; 1Cor.2:7; Titus 1:2), having in view a perfect man through whom He will save all who call on His name.

That Jesus has made us priests to his God and Father implies that there is a temple in which to serve God, for where do priests serve if not in a temple? And indeed, on the Lord’s day (Rev.1:10), John sees “seven golden lamp­stands” (v.12) which in the Bible always stand in the Holy Place of the temple. In “the midst of the golden lamp­stands” John sees “one like a son of man” (v.13), a clear reference to Daniel 7:13 (“one like a son of man”). The one standing in the midst of the lampstands is “clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest” (Rev.1:13). This is a picture of the high priestly gar­ments (Ex.28:4; 29:5), but the picture alone is not suffi­cient to tell if Jesus is wearing high priestly garments. That is because the seven angels in Rev.15:6 are similarly clothed: “out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with gold­en sashes around their chests.”

What is more determin­ative of the priestly nature of the one “like the son of man” is the fact that he stands in the midst of the golden lamp­stands. Whereas household lamp­s are found in ordinary homes (Mt.5:15; Lk.8:16), golden lampstands are hardly household items, much less when seven of them are standing together. The num­ber seven points to the per­fect heaven­ly temple on which the earthly temple was modeled (Num.8:4; Ex.25:9,37,40; Acts 7:44; Heb. 9:2).

Whereas Rev.11:4 depicts, in a different context, two powerful prophets as “two olive trees and two lamp­stands that stand before the Lord of the earth,” the seven lamp­stands in Revelation repres­ent the seven churches of Asia (Rev.1:20). Stand­ing amid the lampstands is “one like a son of man,” the church’s high priest (Heb.2:17; 3:1; 4:14-15; 5:10; 8:1-3; 9:11). “It was fit­ting that we should have such a high priest, holy, inno­cent, un­stained, sep­a­rated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens” (Heb.7:26). Note the many adjectives used of Jesus’ perfect­ion: “holy, innocent, un­stained, sepa­rated from sin­ners” (ESV) or “holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners” (NIV).

There can be no doubt that this glorious divine-like “son of man” (Rev.1:13) who stands among the lampstands is Jesus himself, for he is the one who also says, “I died, and behold I am alive forevermore” (v.18); verse 5 speaks of Jesus as “the first­born of the dead”.

Amazingly, the form and appearance of Daniel’s “son of man” has, in the Revelation, changed to resemble that of the Ancient of Days in Daniel: “The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow” (Rev.1:14). This is similar to the picture of God in Daniel: “the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool” (Dan.7:9). Jesus the son of man has—after his death, resurrection, and exalt­ation—become the image of the Ancient of Days! God the Almighty now manifests Himself in the man Jesus, the one who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth! God’s glory shines in the face of Jesus Christ (2Cor.4:6). Jesus per­fectly fulfills God’s original pur­pose in creating man as “the image of God” (Gen.1:27). Because Jesus is the perfect image of the invisible God (Col.1:15), to see Jesus is to see God. Even his voice which is “like the roar of many waters” (Rev.1:15) is like God’s voice (Ezek.43:2). The perfect man is a perfect reflection of God.

“In his right hand he held seven stars” (Rev.1:16) which are “the angels of the seven churches” (v.20). And “from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword” (v.16), an allusion to Isaiah 11:4: “he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked,” a reference to the Mess­iah king of the Davidic line. Indeed, the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb.4:12).

The glorious picture of Jesus in Rev.1:16 (“his face was like the sun shin­ing in full strength”) is similar to that of the mighty angel in Rev.10:1, “I saw an­other mighty angel com­ing down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.”

Jesus’ glorious appearance brings to mind the transfigur­ation which took place in his earthly life: “he was trans­figured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Mt.17:2). Like­wise, through redempt­ion in Christ, “the right­eous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Mt.13:43).

When John saw Jesus in the Revelation, he saw what Paul calls “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Cor.4:6). Then John fell at Jesus’ feet (Rev.1:17) which is similar to what Ezekiel did when he saw Yahweh’s glory: “Such was the appear­ance of the likeness of the glory of Yahweh. And when I saw it, I fell on my face” (Ezek.1:28). Similarly, Daniel said, “I saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me … I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground” (Dan.10:8-9; cf. vv.17-19).

Jesus put his right hand on John and said, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forever­more” (Rev. 1:17-18).

Likewise Yahweh says, “I am the first and I am the last; besides Me there is no god” (Isa.44:6; 48:12; cf. 41:4 and 43:10). Jesus now acts on Yahweh’s behalf as His only begot­ten Son and regent over all creat­ion, especially the new creation consisting of true believers, and here specifi­cally the believ­ers of the seven churches of Asia.

In this brief survey of Revelation 1, we have found nothing that supports the deity of Christ. The trini­tarian title “God the Son” is found nowhere in it. What we see instead is the glory of the Perfect Man, who is the perfect image of God; he is God’s representative who shines forth God’s glory with match­less power and splendor.

From the monotheistic character of the Revelation, we should learn to be cautious about hastily assuming, as I had done in the past, that what appears to be Old Testament titles of God can simply be assumed to have the same meaning when used of Christ. For example, “I am the first and the last” in Rev.1:17 is also found in Isaiah 44:6 and 48:12 (cf. 41:4). Are we to assume without further ado that “first and last” means the same in both cases, such that the one who says, “I am the first and the last” in Rev.1:17 is one and the same as Yahweh God?

In saying “I am the first and I am the last; besides Me there is no god” (Isa.44:6), Yahweh reveals Himself as the only God, an identifica­tion that cannot be applied to Jesus because that would exclude His Father as God (contra John 17:3, which says that the Father is the only true God).

However, the truly divine title that expresses God’s eternal time­less­ness, being rooted in God’s self-revelation to Moses at the burning bush, is “who is and who was and who is to come” (Rev.1:4,8; 4:8). This divine title is unique to Revelat­ion and is never applied to Jesus, a fact that is con­sistent with the uncom­prom­ising monotheism of the Revelation.

It is more in line with Scriptural teaching to say that God has con­ferred on Christ some of His divine titles and attri­butes. Christ acts as the Father’s plenipotentiary such that when he speaks, it is God who speaks through him; when he does some­thing, it is the Almighty who works in him; and when he comes in the name of his Father, the Lord God comes in him (Rev.22:12-13).

By far the most frequent title of Jesus in Revelation is “the Lamb”. It is used of him 28 times in the book of Revelation (= 4 x 7; the spirit­ually signi­ficant num­bers 4 and 7 appear throughout Revelation).

In Rev.13:11 there is another “lamb” who makes his ap­pearance in the world as an imitation of God’s Lamb with the purpose of deceiving the world: “Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.” This different lamb, by its approp­riat­ion of the title “lamb,” is sym­bolic of a “different Christ” (cf. 2Cor.11:4).

The atoning death of Jesus the Lamb of God is central to the New Test­a­ment from start to end, but is given heightened focus in Revelation which, as the last book of the Bible, can be said to be the climax and conclusion of the New Testa­ment. It is the only book that gives a blessing to its readers (Rev.1:3; 22:7). In Revelation, Jesus stands out as the slain Lamb of God.

One third of each of the synoptics (Matthew, Mark, Luke) is focused on Jesus’ final days, that is, on his suffering and death. This theme is even more emphatic in John: almost half of his gospel is focused on Jesus’ final days, his death, and his resurrection.

Already at Jesus’ birth, his death was foresha­dowed by the imagery of a sword piercing his mother’s heart (Lk.2:35).

The title Lamb of God that is central to Revelation already appears early in John’s Gospel (Jn.1:29,36). The theme of the Lamb of God per­meates the New Testament. It is the hub from which every other teaching radiates, forming the circle that encom­passes NT teach­ing. Conversely, every teach­ing in the NT is related to this hub, for inas­much as it radiates from it, it can be traced back to it.

In 1Cor.5:7 Paul invokes the imagery of the Lamb at the Passover, though he would more often write instead of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrect­ion by God’s power. Jesus’ suf­fering is given much prominence in the book of Hebrews but also in the apostolic preaching after Pentecost, in the book of Acts.

Without the Lamb of God, there would be no regenerat­ion, no renew­al, and no perfection in the believer’s life. When we see the deep things of the Lamb of God, we will under­stand the deep things of the New Testa­ment. The Lamb of God is the fountain from which every­thing flows. It is the cen­ter of the New Testa­ment, the remain­der of which con­stitutes its expo­sition and application.

The sacrificial lamb must be without spot or blemish (1Pet.1:19). That is why only Jesus the perfect man can be “the savior of the world” (Jn.4:42; 1Jn.4:14). “There is no other name under hea­ven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

The Greek word for “worship” is proskyneō, which occurs 60 times in the New Testament, with 24 of the occur­rences (40%) found in Revelation. That is a high number for one book, yet none of the 24 occur­rences of pros­ky­neō in Revel­ation refers to Jesus with one possible exception! The object of worship in the Revelation is Yahweh alone and not Jesus Christ.

This fact may be unsettling to Christians, yet it aligns with the fact that the book of Revelation gives far less promi­n­ence to Jesus than to God. The name “Jesus” occurs only 14 times in Revelation, a small number given that “Jesus” occurs about 917 times in the NT (even Philip­pians, a short letter, has 22 occur­rences). The word “Christ” occurs over 500 times in the NT, but only 7 times in Revelation (versus 46 times in Ephes­ians). Does it not indicate that Jesus Christ is not the central fig­ure in Revelation?

In BDAG and Thayer’s Greek-English lexicon, proskyneō fundamentally means “bowing the knee” (see chapter 8 for the full details). It can be used in the weak sense (bowing the knee without worship) or in the strong sense (wor­ship). An instance of the weak sense is found in Rev.3:9: “I will make them come and fall down at your feet and ac­knowledge that I have loved you” (NIV). Here the prostration is not an act of worship but of submission before believers.

It will come as a surprise to trinitarians that the book of Revelation never uses proskyneō of Jesus, neither in the weak sense nor the strong sense, with the sole and limited except­ion of Rev.5:14. To demonstrate this, we now do a quick overview of proskyneō in Revelation. Along the way we will encounter another word, piptō (to fall).

The word proskyneō is used twice of John’s bow­ing before the angel who was show­ing him the heavenly things: “Then I fell down at his feet to worship him” (Rev.19:10); “I fell down to wor­ship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me” (22:8). John bowed before the angel, but the angel stopped him and said, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” (22:9)

In Rev.1:17, John collapsed at Jesus’ feet out of fear, but this time the word used is not proskyneō but piptō (to fall):

A few chapters later, in Rev.5:8, piptō is used again in relation to Jesus: “the four living creat­ures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb”. In all English Bibles, pip­tō is here rendered “fell down” (or simi­lar) rather than “worshiped”.

There is only one other similar use of piptō in Revela­tion. In this instance the Lamb is not by himself but is at the right hand of God who is seated on the throne:

The two passages just cited, Rev.5:8 and 5:13-14, are the only ones in Rev­elation that come close to the worship of Jesus. In 5:8, the heavenly beings fall before Jesus but there is no men­tion of worship. In 5:14, just quoted, we see the two afore­mentioned Greek words: piptō (translated “fell down”) and proskyneō (translated “wor­shiped”). Worship is mentioned this time because it is directed mainly to the one “who sits on the throne”—that is, to God.

Here is a crucial observation: In the book of Revelation apart from 5:14, proskyneō always refers to God and never to Jesus, without except­ion. [4] Hence it is clear that when proskyneō is applied to both God and Jesus in the sole verse Rev.5:14, it is God and not Jesus who is the prin­cipal reason for the use of proskyneō. This is consist­ent with the fact that in the immed­iate context of Rev.5:14, the central figure is God seated on His throne.

We are reminded of the way the people of Israel bowed before God and before King David (note the highlighted words):

In the Hebrew text of this verse, YHWH occurs three times. In the LXX of this verse, the word translated “bowing down in homage” is prosky­neō, the very word used in Rev.5:14. The use of proskyneō in 1Chr.29:20 is crucial be­cause it tells us that the LXX translators did not hesitate to apply proskyneō to David when proskyneō is also applied to Yahweh! The parallel between David in 1Chr.29:20 and Jesus in Rev.5:14 is height­ened by the fact that Jesus is the prophesied Messiah from David’s line.

We note that in 1Chr.29:20 the main intended recipient of the worship is not David but Yahweh by the fact that David said, “Now bless Yahweh your God.” Yet that does not rule out David participa­ting with Yahweh as the recipient of the proskyneō.

The combination of piptō and proskyneō appears also in Rev­.7:11, but not in reference to Jesus:

There is mention of God who is seated on His throne but there is no men­tion of the Lamb. The combin­ation of piptō and proskyneō is seen also in the fol­lowing:

The 24 elders give thanks to the One “who is and who was,” which, as we have seen, is a title of Yahweh. The elders fall on their faces and wor­ship God, but again there is no mention of the Lamb.

The last verse in Revelation to have both piptō and pros­kyneō is 19:4 which does not mention the Lamb at all: “And the 24 elders and the four liv­ing creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne.”

In my trinitarian days, I saw Jesus as the central object of worship in Revelation. Yet only one verse (Rev.5:14) has any poss­ible support for that, but it is weakened by the fact that the Lamb appears not alone but alongside God who is seated on His throne. The sole instance of the adoration of Jesus alone is in Rev.5:8, but it is expressed not by proskyneō but by piptō, a word that is not translated “worshiped” in English Bibles. In fact, Rev.5:8 is sand­wiched in between Revelation chapters 4 and 6, both of which are centered on the worship of Yahweh.

In Revelation, the central object of worship is not the Lamb but the One who is seated on His throne. The Lamb is not the main occu­pant of that throne for it belongs to God who is mentioned about a dozen times as being seated on it. Jesus has his own throne but it is distinct from God’s (Rev. 3:21). We are granted to sit with Jesus on his throne just as Jesus is granted to sit with his Father on his Father’s throne.

Monotheism is powerfully entrenched in Revela­tion. In John’s heavenly visions, no one but God is wor­shipped above all else, and He is the One who sits on the central throne.

Here we cannot assume that just because v.12 has the words “I am coming soon” that the passage refers to Jesus. Owing to the trini­tarian marginali­za­tion of Yahweh in the church, it is not generally known that Yahweh’s glory will be revealed at Jesus’ return. This is not to deny that Revelation speaks of the return of Jesus (Rev.1:7; 22:20). Yet it is equally im­portant to note that many Bible verses ou­tside Revelation speak of Yahweh’s coming in various scen­arios: “Yahweh came from Sinai and dawned from Seir” (Dt.33:2); “Our God comes” (Ps.50:3); “Yahweh my God will come” (Zech.14:5); “Yahweh is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt” (Isa.19:1); “the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Isa.40:5); “the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones” (Jude 1:14). We see this also in Revelation:

Here the plural “their” (“their wrath”) refers to two persons: Yahweh God seated on His throne and Jesus Christ the Lamb. If Yahweh is not mani­fested in some visible way (note the word “face”), why would the people of the world try to hide from Him? Yahweh, who is seated on His throne, is men­tioned before the Lamb, for the coming involves Yahweh and then also the Lamb.

In Rev.22:7 is the declaration, “Behold, I am coming soon”. Against our expectations, the two verses preceding this verse speak of God: “the Lord God” (v.5) and “the God of the spirits of the prophets” (v.6). Verse 3 speaks of “the throne of God and of the Lamb,” again differentiating God from the Lamb. There is no doubt that Yahweh is the one who is speaking in verse 7 (“Behold, I am coming soon”), and that He will return with the Lamb.