It has been said that if God sent one angel to the most splendid palace on earth and another to the worst slum on earth, the appointed destination would not matter to either because the sole reason for an angel’s existence is to do the will of God – nothing more, nothing less.
In the first chapter of the Book of Revelation, God reveals the future to Jesus, who sends an angel to speak to John, who then writes the Revelation to believers. In between, no speaker changes the meaning of the message or diminishes its authority. Voice procedure in God’s line of communication from heaven to earth is perfect. No angel would ever preface a message with, “Speaking for myself” because an angel speaks as God’s agent. Angels say nothing that would contradict what God has already said. The apostle Paul is adamant about this! (Galatians 1:8)
Although most people equate the word apocalypse with cataclysmic events, it actually means “unveiling”. Not an unveiling of Jesus but of future events. In the Book of Revelation, God unveils soon-coming events to Jesus, who sends his angel to John with a sealed scroll of “signs” sealed with seven seals.
The sequence is: God gives the revelation to Jesus Christ to show to his servants, and Jesus sends and signifies it by his angel to his servant John. (Revelation 1:1) John’s record is of “the word of God…the testimony of Jesus Christ, and…all the things he saw” (1:2). The sequence is God, Jesus, the angel, and John.
After an introduction that includes a blessing, a benediction, a eulogy, and a prophecy, John hears God say, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)
From behind John, a trumpet-like voice then declares: “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last” (1:11) He turns and sees “one like unto the Son of man” in the midst of seven golden candlesticks. After describing this “Son of man” in a series of wonderful word pictures, John falls at his feet in a dead faint. The glorious person tells John not to fear and identifies himself. “I am the first and the last, he who lives, and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (1:17, 18)
A comparison clearly shows that the “Alpha and Omega…the Almighty” of verse 8 is the “Alpha and Omega” of verse 1. Likewise, the one who is “the beginning and the ending” in verse 8 is also “the first and the last” in verses 11 and 17. We know this because the descriptions are identical.
We also find that the present, past and future tenses “who is, and who was, and who is to come” of verse 8 match “who lives, and was dead, and…am alive for evermore” of verse 18. He has the keys of hell and of death because he has conquered both. He was mortal but is now immortal. “He” is without doubt Jesus Christ – yet one would think from his manner of speech that he is Almighty God.
Jesus is speaking as God because he is speaking for God in the penultimate sense. In Exodus 23:20, 21, the LORD warns the children of Israel to pay attention to the angel He has sent ahead of them to guard their way, saying, “He will not forgive your rebellion, since my name is in him.” Meaning, “My identity, my attributes, and my authority are in him.” The Angel of the LORD had no discretionary power; that is, no power to forgive or to alter God’s purpose in any way or in relation to any matter.
Jacob “wrestled with God,” who appeared to him in the form of the Angel of the LORD. Jacob held an unbreakable grip on God’s earlier promise that in him and in his descendants all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 28:14 & 32:26). At that time, God had not yet fulfilled His promise. The soon-to-be parents of Samson also met the Angel of the LORD, who, despite their request, withheld his name because it was “Wonderful” or “Secret” (Judges 13:18).
Portions of dialogue in the Book of Job and in the Song of Solomon can be quite puzzling. Which person is speaking? Much more puzzling, though, is when more than one person in the Book of Revelation speaks as God. How can God, Jesus, and an angel all speak in the First Person, singular?
The answer is that Jesus and the angel speak as the voice of Almighty God. The sequence is much the same as when God puts His words in the mouth of Moses, who then puts them in the mouth of Aaron. “And you shall speak to him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. And he shall be your spokesman unto the people: and he shall be…to you instead of a mouth and you shall be to him instead of God.” (Exodus 4:16, 17)
The fourth chapter of Revelation clarifies the status of Jesus in relation to Almighty God. A voice like a trumpet calls John up through a door in the spirit to the throne of God in heaven. Four heavenly creatures around the throne worship Him day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” (4:8) Twenty-four elders fall down and worship Him, throwing their crowns before the throne and saying, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created.” (4:10, 11)
The question arises as to who is worthy to open the scroll in God’s right hand by breaking its seven seals. It is a matter of grief to John that no one is found worthy enough to open it or to read it. He weeps until one of the elders comforts and reassures him with the words, “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book, and to break its seven seals.” John looks and sees a Lamb that had been slain standing in the midst of the throne, the living creatures and the elders. His seven horns and seven eyes signify complete power and knowledge.
“You are worthy,” sing the four creatures and the twenty-four elders, who fall down before the Lamb – “every one of them with harps, and golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s holy people. John records that the song they sing is a new one: “You are worthy to take the book, and to open its seals: for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and have made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” (5:9, 10)
The scene draws to a close with John hearing “the voice of many angels round about the throne and the creatures and the elders…” The angelic host, which numbers “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands”, shouts loudly, “Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.”
John hears “every creature” respond to this seven-fold cry of praise with, ”Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, to Him who sits on the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” The four creatures say, “Amen” and the twenty-four elders prostrate themselves in worship (5:11-14). It is an awesome scene.
From this it is clear that while Almighty God alone is entitled to receive “blessing, and honour, and glory, and power” at the highest level, Jesus receives the same – plus “riches, and wisdom, and strength” – as the Lamb of God. The sacrifice of the Lamb is blessed and praised, and the creatures and the elders prostrate themselves before him, as Almighty God receives the divine worship that is His and His alone. There are two words for worship in New Testament Greek. One describes an act of reverence or homage, to men or to God; the other describes the act of divine service, which is offered to God exclusively.
For the next 18 chapters, the only words spoken are between John and the angel. Then in chapter 22, the angel suddenly says, “Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he who keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” (22:7) John prostrates himself before the feet of the angel, only to be told not to do it! The angel identifies himself as John’s fellow-servant, who is “of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the sayings of this book,” and tells John to “worship God”!
The angel has spoken in the First Person, as though he were God, but would not accept worship, because he had merely spoken God’s words – as had the prophets, including Moses and Aaron – and the apostles. This is the sense in which the angelic messenger is John’s fellow-servant.
After instructing John not to seal the scroll because the time was at hand, and warning of the need for a clear separation between the unjust and unclean and the righteous and holy, the angel suddenly says, “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. I Jesus have sent my angel to testify these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” (22:16)
Say again? “I am the Alpha and the Omega…”? “I Jesus have sent my angel to testify unto you…”? The angel first speaks as though he is God and then as though he is Jesus. He does so because he is delivering the revelation that God gave to Jesus and that Jesus then gave to him (1:1). When speaking for the person who has sent him, the messenger speaks as that person. He speaks as Jesus, and as God. (22:13; 22:16)
In John 14:9 Jesus speaks in the First Person to Philip, as though he were the Father, but then qualifies what he has said when he adds, “The words I say are not my own…” (“New Living Translation”) Or as the KJV puts it, “I speak not of myself…” The Old Testament prophets had spoken for God, but because they prefaced their prophecies with “Thus says the Lord!” they had not spoken as God.
Paul writes of the churches in Galatia receiving him “as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus (despite his “infirmity of the flesh”). (Galatians 4:13,14) The messenger may have been weak, but the message was not.
Those Christians who worship Jesus as Almighty God give him glory that his Father alone is entitled to receive. However Jesus is worthy of the glory that is his alone as the Lamb of God. There are degrees of glory: the intrinsic glory of the Most High God being by far the greatest. The Son’s glory is granted to him as the worthy Saviour of the world. The apostle Paul writes of increasing degrees of glory in the process of our transformation (2 Corinthians 3:18), and of differing degrees of glory in the stars of the heavens above (1 Corinthians 15:41).
The Book of Revelation draws to a close with an invitation to “whosoever will” and a solemn warning against adding to or taking away from the prophecy. The final words of Jesus, which are spoken by the angel in the First Person, are “Surely I come quickly.”
John now understands that a revelation from Almighty God retains its authority when spoken in the First Person by Jesus Christ, or by his angel. He knows who is speaking in heaven’s name. The amazing events signified to John were unveiled to prepare the readers of Revelation for “things that must shortly come to pass.” However the visions and voices of the first and last chapters of Revelation can be quite puzzling, until we understand that the messenger speaks for – and with the full authority of – the One who sends the message.
“Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus,” John responds, and closes with the Bible’s final benediction: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” Since the time when John wrote these words, the question has never been “Who in heaven’s name is speaking?” but rather, “Who on earth is listening?”