As is the case with most titles for God in Revelation, he is identified as both “the Lord God Almighty” (1:8) and “the One who Is, who Was, and who is Coming” (1:8) in the prologue/ In 1:8 John binds these two titles together, placing the latter within the former, Kupioç o 0£oç, ô wv Kai 6 f)v Kai 6 âpxopEvoç, 6
TTavTOKpdTcop/ In the following discussion we will first show how “the Lord God Almighty” functions within the presentation of God as the only true and almighty king of creation who is present and worshipped as such in the heavenly realm,^ and second how the tripartite title emphasises the narrative of God’s sovereignty in relation to the earth, how he will establish de facto on earth what he is already de jure.
1. The Lord God the Almighty: The Constancy of His Sovereignty
Of the seven occurrences 6 K u p i o ç 6 0eôç ô r r a v T O K p d T w p ^ in Revelation,
all occur in doxologies set in heaven, except the first and the last one. The title is first used to identify who it is that says: “I am the Alpha and the Omega.” (1:8) This merism emphasises the constancy of God as the eternal one.^ By linking this self designation to “The Lord God Almighty,” Revelation emphasises who God is as the first and final word, namely the sovereign Lord who is the almighty. We meet the title for the last time in 21:22 where it depicts the eschatological establishment of God’s eternal sovereignty on earth: “The Lord God Almighty” and the Lamb are the temple of the New Jerusalem, the socio-religious centre of the eternal kingdom. What the first occurrence establishes as a fundamental part of who God is in his eternal constancy, the last occurrence describes as the defining fact of the eschatological reality.
Titles mentioned or anticipated in the prologue are “the Alpha and the Omega “(1:8), “the One who sits on the throne” (anticipated in 1:4), and King (anticipated in 1:6). The only other title, 6 ôecnTOTpç (6:10), is a functional synonym for 6 KÜpioç (ô Ô£ott6tt]ç is a common translation for the imperial titles domimis and princes, and might be used in 6:10 to contrast God with Caesar [Aune, II, 407]). ^ So also Bauckham 1993a:30. The two titles are not only closely linked here but the tripartite title is always linked closely to 6 Kupioç 6 Oeôç ô TtavTOKpdTwp (note that 1:4 forms an inclusio with 1:8). ® Although PaaïAeuç is most commonly used of the rulers of earth in their enmity to God and allegiance to the Draconic order (6:15; 16:12, 14; 17:2, 9, 12 (x2), 18; 18:3, 9; 19:18, 19—but note the positive depiction in 21:24), this is contrasted with God’s rightful rule when he is identified as
paaïAeüç tw v èÔvwv (or possibly alw vw v).
’ The full title occurs in 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 19:6; 21:22, and variations of it 4 times (6 0eôç 6 TravTOKpdrwp in 16:14 and 19:15 and Kupiog 6 0£oç in 18:8; 22:5; 22:6).
* “These merisms express God’s control of all history, especially by bringing it to an end in salvation and judgment.” (Beale 1999:199)
Elsewhere, the title occurs in heavenly worship. God is constantly praised as “The Lord God Almighty” in the inner court of heaven (4:8),^ and in 19:6, the last time the title occurs in worship, a great multitude in heaven worships him as such because now his rule has extended from heaven to the earth (19:6). In the three intervening occurrences, the 24 elders proleptically praise God for having assumed the position of authority on earth that is rightly his (11:17), the slain martyrs anticipate how the nations will come and worship God when his just authority is revealed (15:3), and the heavenly altar praises God for having vindicated the saints in judging Babylon (16:7).
Taken together, the Lord God Almighty speaks of God’s absolute sovereignty of the whole cosmos: he is the sovereign creator and sustainer of all things, and as such can and will bring about his rightful sovereignty on earth, a sovereignty revealed in His final acts of judgment^® and redemption, in which people share the destiny with the power to whom they have pledged allegiance. The doxological depiction of “the Lord God Almighty” who is enthroned in heaven is an important counter image in Revelation to the way in which the imperial cult was used as a pivotal tool to organise space and time, centring space in Rome and organising time primarily around
Augustus as well as the achievements of other emperors. As space and time are
expanded in vision and worship, Rome is displaced and the heavenly throne of God is seen as the true centre of the cosmos and the time of Rome is seen as an aberration between the Easter victory of the Lamb and the arrival of God’s city on earth.
The Lord God Almighty, the creator and sustainer of all things, is the one eternal sovereign who both has the power and right to exercise his absolute sovereignty. However, the doxologies also assume a narrative of God’s sovereignty,
that which he is de jure awaits its de facto establishment on earth. It is precisely this
Note how the worship of the living beings and the elders in 4:8-11 is closely linked together structurally and lexically as an eternal round of praise.
Judgment is in view when navTOKpdcTwp occurs on its own, first in the anticipation of the final battle in 16:14 and in the actual depiction of it in 19:15.
" See Friesen 2001 for a detailed analysis on how the imperial cult functioned to both order time around significant events in the lives of the Caesars and space around Rome. Whereas “The Lord God the Almighty” points to his sovereignty as such, 6 KoOijpevoç err'i toO Opovou indicates the central
location of God’s sovereignty, how it functions as the ordering centre of the heavenly realm (note how chs. 4-5 organises everything in relation to the throne), as the source of the divine activity that prepares the way for the establishment of the throne on earth (8:3; 14:3; 16:17) and as the central location of the eschatological presence of God on earth: when the throne of the Beast has been judged and its kingdom darkened (16:10; cf. 13:2), the throne o f God and the Lamb will be the central reality of the New Jerusalem and the glorious light of the eternal kingdom (21:23; 22:2-3).
dual emphasis on the eternal constancy of God’s sovereignty and the narrative of how God exercises this sovereignty that John combines when he sandwiches 6 wv koX 6
fjv KQi Ô ê p x o p e v o ç between K u p io ç 6 G so ç and 6 n a v T O K p d rw p in 1:8, God’s
self-designation, “The Alpha and Omega,” points us to the eternal constancy of the sovereignty of the creator while the tripartite reminds us of the dynamic narrative by which he establishes his sovereignty on earth.
2. “...and the One who is Coming”: The Narrative of His Sovereignty
Although not the most frequent title for God in the book, the tripartite title is the most prominent title used of God in the prologue'^ and plays a crucial function in the book’s depiction of the narrative of God’s sovereignty. The full title occurs three times (1:4, 8; 4:8'^) while the last element, K ai ô èpxdpsvoç, is omitted in 11:17 and
16:5. Most commentators agree that the tripartite title is an interpretation of the divine name'"^ and that the last element is anomalous—instead of a future fonn of eipi we get K ai 6 epxdpevoç. Although the tripartite title may allude to the eternity of
God, how he is both Lord over time and not contingent upon it,^^ this anomaly suggests that John’s primary concern is with what God does in time. Therefore, many commentators rightly point out that the title is closely linked with the eschatological expectation of the book.^^ McDonough sees the incoi*poration of the expectation of God’s coming salvation into a divine title, especially as it is closely linked with the
It occurs twice, as the first title ascribed to God in the book (1:4), and as one of the titles by which God identifies himself in the book (1:8). For a comprehensive study on the Greco-Roman and Jewish background to the tripartite title and how it is used in Revelation, see McDonough 1999.
The first two elements are reversed here, perhaps because the context emphasises God as creator. (McDonough 1999:212)
McDonough 1999:201-202 has convincingly shown that the primary background for the tripartite title is Ex 3:14, which in later Jewish tradition was at times expanded in a three-fold temporal phrase; he also notes that it may also have a secondary polemic significance since such phrases were also used of Zeus. (197-98) On how other titles in Revelation allude to the divine name, see Aune 1997:57; Bauckham 1993b:27-28.
See McDonough 1999:208-209 for a helpful distinction between “hard line” understanding of timelessness, and the “soft line” reflected in Revelation, which simply affirms, without making any claim on what this means metaphysically, that as Creator God is Lord over time. If John has not simply what God does in time in view but also alludes to who he is by designating him as 6 wv, it may be significant that in 17:8, 11 the beast is depicted as ouk eariv, perhaps indicating its un- or anti reality. (McDonough 1999:206,227, 229)
Beale 1999:188; Beasley-Murray 1981:54; Sweet 1979:65; Fiorenza 1985:49; Caird 1966:141; Swete 1911:5; Charles 1920a: 10.
book’s christology, as “one of John’s supreme theological achievements.”*^ But what does it achieve?
We have already noted that in the prologue (1:4, 8) the title is closely associated with the affirmation of God’s sovereignty. This dominates also the context in the last occurrence of the full title in 4:8. John has patterned the worship of the four living beings after the doxology in Isa 6: Iff but with one significant alteration, in 4:8 after the affirmation “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty” we do not get Isaiah’s “the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isa 6:3) but “the one who was, who is and who is coming.”** We will return to the significance of this alteration but will first look at the two instances where xai 6 èpxdpEvoç is elided (11:17; 16:16).
In the context of the proleptic depiction of the future in 11:15-19, the 24 elders respond to the heavenly voices’ proclamation of the regime change: “We give thanks to you. Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was,” and now instead of “the one who is coming” they say “because you have taken your great power and have
begun to reign.” This suggests that what K ai 6 èpxopevoç anticipates is precisely the
arrival of God’s sovereignty within the earthly realm, the moment when what is true of God and which is established in heaven will also be established on e a r t h . T h i s is depicted in 11:15-19 as God assuming the position of geopolitical authority that is now occupied by the powers of the world.^**
It is the negative aspect of God’s assumption of his reign that is at the fore when the title is used in 16:5. Here, the third bowl in which the rivers and springs of water are turned to blood is seen as the just answer to the martyrs’ prayer for
vindication in 6:10. Here God is called “you who are and who were, the Holy One.”
Perhaps John replaces 6 èpxopevoç with ô oaïoç here in order to indicate the covenantal relationship between God and his people.^' If this is the case, then 16:5
McDonough 1999:214.
The order of the first two designation may have been reversed here because John now focuses on God as creator. (So Sweet 1979:120)
Bauckham 1993b:32.
See previous chapter. As we noted there, the seventh trumpet emphasises how this means the vindication of the saints and judgment on God’s enemies, precisely what the prophets anticipate at the coming of the Day of the Lord. (McDonough 1999:215)
In the LXX ôaïoç is most often used as a translation of lOH, and most often refers to people, of their holiness as those who fulfil their duties in their covenant relationship with God. But it can also be used of God when describing his covenantal activity with Israel, as e.g. in Ps 99:3 where God is proclaimed holy in the context of establishing his justice in Zion (so also Ps 111:9; cf. Beckwith 1919:675)
emphasises that when God comes in final judgment on his enemies, this is part of his covenantal faithfulness to his people.
The positive aspect of John’s use of covenantal language reaches its apex in the depiction of God’s dwelling with his people in 21:3-5. And it is in the vision of
the New Jerusalem that precisely that element in Isaiah that the tripartite title replaces
in 4:8 comes into full prominence. In 4:8 John omits “the whole earth is full of his glory” (Is 6:3) because at the beginning of the vision the glorious presence of the sovereign Lord is only present in the heavenly realm but absent on e a r t h I n its place is a title for God that anticipates how what is already established in the heavenly realm is what God purposes to establish on earth as well. By describing God as “the one who is, who was and who is coming” the living beings anticipate the day when what is true in the heavenly realm, that it is full of the glorious presence of God, will be realised on e a r t h . A n d this is precisely what 21:1-22:5 depicts, the descent of the New Jerusalem which centre is the throne that God and the Lamb occupy, whose glory is the light by which all its inhabitants walk. (21:11, 23-24)^"*
When John describes God as “the one who is coming” instead of as “the one who will be” he has embedded into one of his major titles for God the anticipation that runs throughout his vision, namely the realization of God’s proper rule on earth. The incongruence between the confession of God as Sovereign creator and how things appear on earth is resolved in the depiction of the constancy and narrative of the sovereignty of God within the vision’s spatial and temporal expansion of reality. God has always been the true sovereign over heaven and earth, he has established this
sovereignty in the heavenly realm, and he will come and establish it on earth. On the
McDonough 1999:225 rightly notes that John reads Isa 6:3 with other OT passages, such as Ps 72:18-19, that anticipate how “God’s glory will fill the earth.”
^ Moltmann, therefore, correctly observes that the basic eschatological question is “when will God show himself in his divinity to heaven and earth?” and the fundamental answer is found “in the promise of the coming God: ‘the whole earth is full of his glory’ (Isa. 6.3).” (CoG, xvi)
Moltmann then is right when he says this title for God in Revelation “already sets present and past in the light of his eschatological arrival, an arrival which means the establishment of his eternal kingdom, and his indwelling in the creation renewed for that indwelling.” (CoG, 23) However, against Moltmann, the way the title is used in Revelation does not suggest that God comes to us from the future and the future therefore “must become the theological paradigm for transcendence.” (CoG, 24; cf. GiC,
132-35) If anything, the opposite seems to be the case in Revelation: since God who comes, comes from the heavenly realm, transcendence is the paradigm for the future—but not transcendence as the eternal moment that can meet us at any moment, but as the realm where God’s sovereignty is already established, and from which he will come to establish it on earth.
crucial role this title plays in the interplay between the temporal and spatial expansion of the text, Gilbertson says,
God, the coming one, brings about a transformation of the earthly present (chs. 6-19) in order to achieve the consummation of chs. 21-2. The process does not grow out of earthly reality: it comes from the ultimate to transfonn the earthly present. Thus, spatially, the process consists of the extension of manifest divine rule downwards from heaven to embrace the rest of the cosmos. Temporally, the process consists of the transformation of the present, via the penultimate future, to bring it into line with the peace and justice of God’s kingdom in the ultimate future.^^