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The Person of God in the Book of Revelation

The book of Revelation remains a closed part of the Bible for many Christians. Many even have a certain resistance to the book. After all, doesn’t God appear in it as the One Who will send many disasters upon the world, saving only a handful of people? In this article we examine how God really shows himself in Revelation. And we will be surprised by His love.

God the Father

God the Father appears primarily in the book of Revelation as holy, glorious, omnipotent, and eternal. John looks at the throne of God and writes: And he who sat on it was like a diamond and a sardius in appearance. and there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald in appearance (Rev. 4:3). The description of the new Jerusalem (chapter 21) also shows the great glory of God, with the gemstones mentioned in particular pointing to his splendor and glory (Vuyst 1987, p. 130). The four animals in the middle and around the throne of God sing without ceasing: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who is and who was and who is to come (4:8). Various explanations have been given of these four animals (Boersma 1992, p. 64; Ouweneel 1988, p. 214), but it is certain that their appearance indicates a manifestation of the absolute holiness and omnipotence of God. The elders and the angels who stand around the throne also worship God and sing praises to Him, saying: Amen, praise, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and might, and might, be to our God forever. all eternities! Amen (7:11-12).

God’s sovereignty is also an important fact in Revelation. First, the sovereignty of God is evident from Creation. The twenty-four elders cast their crowns before the throne of God and worship Him for His sovereign work in creation (4:11). The sovereignty of God also emerges because God has accepted the kingship (probably in the sense of making public the fact that He always held the kingship, Bavinck 1952, p. 205), by judging the nations and to give the saints their reward (11:17-18). The elders worship and proclaim this sovereignty of God, and the angel who flies out to preach the gospel on earth calls to worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the springs of water (14:6-7) . Finally, God’s absolute sovereignty is evident from the fact that He can even direct the will of the beast and his helpers so that they will plunder and burn the whore (17:16-17; de Heer 1987, p.1066). Repeatedly

God’s awesomeness is mentioned. wrath, because of the sin of men. He hates the works of the Nicolaitans (2:6) and his wrath comes to judge the dead (11:18). The wrath of God has terrible consequences for those it is aimed at. This wrath is therefore indicated by terms that make it clear that it is untamed and unavoidable (van der Meulen p. 121), such as: wine of God’s wrath (14:10, 16:19), cup of his wrath (14:10 ), winepress of the wrath of God (14:19) and seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God (15:7). However, in his wrath, God always acts in justice. The wrath of God and the resulting judgments are a response to the sin of the people on earth. This sin had reached heaven (18:5). The revelation of the judgments of God is an occasion for the conquerors of the beast to sing praises to God and worship Him (15:4). A special theme in the book of Revelation is God’s righteous judgment on unbelievers in retaliation for the blood of believers. John hears the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous art Thou who art and who was, Thou Holy One, in having judged this. Because they shed the blood of the prophets, You also gave them blood to drink; they deserve it! The altar responds: Yes, O Lord God Almighty, your judgments are true and righteous (16:5-7). Furthermore, a voice from heaven calls on God’s people to rejoice over the fallen city of Babylon, for God has judged your case against her (18:20). And finally a great multitude in heaven sings of the salvation and the glory and the power of God, for true and righteous are his judgments, for he has judged the great whore, who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and has poured out the blood of his servants required of her hand (19:1-2).

In the book of Revelation there is not only mention of God’s judgment on the unrighteous, but also emphatically of his judgment of those who have been justified by the blood of the Lamb and who are written in the book of life (20:11-15). . How exactly this should be presented is as yet unclear, but believers can rest assured that they will by no means be exempt from their actions as Christians (Packer 1973, p. 193).

In the midst of judgment and judgment, the love of God especially comes to the fore. God will spread his tent over those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and he will care for them as a loving father. They will hunger and thirst no more, the sun will shine no more on them and He will wipe away all tears from (definitive, Hendriksen 1952, p. 115) their eyes (7:16-18). As noted above, God’s judgments are primarily about standing up for His own and taking revenge on those who took their lives. In carrying out his judgments, God ensures that his servants are spared. This is the case, for example, in 7:1-3, where a mighty angel calls on the four destroying angels to wait with judgment until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads (analogous to the measures God took to prevent the Israelites from being would be caused by the plagues in Egypt, especially the 10th: Vonk 1991, p.55). The context also shows that God’s sealing does not always mean that believers will not experience any of the misery and disasters that will hit the world, but that God will help them through it (Boersma 1992, p. 82-83, Hendriksen 1952, p. 106). At the same time, God repeatedly gives unbelievers opportunities to repent and urgently warns them about the coming judgments (Bavinck 1952, pp 189-191). For example, God sends an angel who proclaims an eternal gospel on earth, consisting of the call to fear God and worship Him, because the hour of His judgment has come (14:6-7). The description of the pouring out of the seven bowls of God’s wrath also shows that He was primarily concerned with getting people to repent and give Him glory. However, the unbelievers hardened themselves and even blasphemed the name of God because of the plagues they themselves had brought upon themselves (16:9, 11, 21).

Ultimately it appears that God’s intention is to always be together with His own in a wonderful community, in accordance with His promise to Abram in Gen 12:3 (de Vuyst 1987, p. 131). When the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven, the tent of God (a reminder of Israel’s wilderness journey, where the tent of God marked a beginning of communion with God, the Lord 1987, p 1070) will be with the people, and He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them (21:3). The Greek word used here for dwelling indicates a complete identification of God with people (as in John 1: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, Vonk 1991, p. 132). The one who overcomes will know God as God and as Father (21:7). The people of God may then rejoice forever in the light of His glory in a kind of great family reunion (Packer 1973, p. 193) (21:23), while they may drink in the river of living water (22:1 ) and while they may live with God face to face (22:4).

God the Son

Love is the attribute of Christ that stands out most strongly. In the book of Revelation He is frequently referred to as the Lamb. It is the title that highlights that Jesus saved others and reconciled them to God by sacrificing his own life. This is a reason for John to praise Christ right at the beginning of his book, who loves us and has redeemed us from our sins through his blood (1:5,6). Christ’s self-sacrificing love is the reason He is found worthy to open the scroll and is worshiped as the Lamb (5:9, 12, 13, 14).

Even in the midst of the full manifestation of glory and power, Christ shows his love. In various parts of the book of Revelation it is emphasized that Christ identifies with His own, exalts and comforts them and walks with them as their leader and shares His glory and power with them . When John falls at Christ’s feet as if dead, He lays His glorious right hand on John and tells him not to fear (1:17). To those who will overcome He promises the fruit of the tree of life (2:7), the crown of life (2:10), and new name and hidden manna (2:17), power over the Gentiles (2:27 ), white robes, like Himself (3:4), a position as a pillar in God’s temple (3:12), and a place on His own throne (3:21). When Christ’s victory over the beast and the ten kings is foretold, it is emphasized that the Lamb will overcome them (for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, together with those who are called and chosen and faithful (17:14) When the real battle breaks out, Christ is indeed shown to be together with the hosts who are in heaven and who follow Him on white horses, clothed in clean and fine linen (19:14). Like a real army led by Christ, the Faithful and True, they wage war against the beast and the kings of the earth and are victorious (19:11; 19-21). Together the believers may then reign with Christ in the Millennium (20:4).

that the Son of God is committed to having a very close relationship with his own , the believers, is especially evident in the image of the wedding (19: 6-10). This image emphasizes that man and the Son of God find their ultimate and complete destiny in each other. The believers give their hearts to the Lamb of God and He to them, just like a bride and the groom (van der Meulen, p. 142).

The love of the Son of God is matched by His unimaginable grace and patience. This is evident, for example, from the letters to the seven municipalities. As the Lamb of God who had shed His own blood to save people, He naturally demanded and expected complete loyalty and devotion from His followers. Unfortunately, practice turned out to be different, but instead of pronouncing judgment, He warns the churches. The church of Laodicea had even shut Christ out (Ouweneel 1988, p. 201), but even then He stands at the door and knocks, ready to enter and dine with them, as soon as they listen to His voice. hear and open the door (3:20).

The appearance of Christ to John shows that Christ is clothed with heavenly glory and power. Various images underline this: the robe girded with the golden belt, the hair that is white as snow-white wool (as Daniel saw God, Dn. 7:9; Boersma 1992, p. 31), the eyes that flicker like flames, the feet that glowing like metal in a furnace, the voice like many waters, the seven stars in the right hand, the two-edged sword out of the mouth, and the face like the sun (1:12-16). In accordance with His appearance in majesty, Christ introduces Himself as the mighty and eternal: I am the first and the last, and the living, and I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and Hades (1:17,18).

The omnipotence of the Son of God is especially evident from his kingship. Christ, the Lamb of God, is the only One who can accept the scroll and is worthy to break its seals (5:7, 9). As a result, He has assumed leadership over world events (Boersma 1992, p. 68-69). As king and commander, He enters into battle and carries out the judgments of God (19:11-16). When the beast is defeated by Him, He reigns as King for the thousand years (20:4), and in the center of new Jerusalem stands the throne of God and of the Lamb forever (22:1,3).

Christ also appears as one who is very fervent and zealous. In his ruthless love, the Lamb of God made the most far-reaching sacrifice possible. As a result, He has acquired unprecedented glory and dignity, which He now uses to definitively defeat the devil and to make believers perfectly happy forever. In this context, it is good to understand that lukewarmness in the church (which is especially evident when people rely on wealth and become complacent, Schroten 1977, p. 46) is, in the eyes of the Son of God, a horrible and almost incomprehensible must be a sin. The church of Laodicea, which suffered from this, is therefore seriously warned. If they do not change, Christ will spew them out of his mouth (3:16; Packer 1973, p. 156).