Further reflections on the nominative in Revelation 1:4: “from he who is, was, comes.” As Michael Wilcock and others point out, John’s grammatical “error” makes a theological point: God is not subject to declension. He is always subject, never object. Remarkably, though, John does change tense: He is, and He was. We have no future tense, but instead a participle of erchomai , which stands in for the future. God doesn’t decline. But He does conjugate. Read more
Jesus tells Nathanael that he will see angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. The Son of Man is Jacob’s ladder to heaven, but when? and how? As noted in the previous post, John speaks writes of the exaltation of the Son of Man on the cross. When the Son of Man is lifted up in death, He becomes the ladder to heaven; that’s when the heavens are opened; that’s when the One who descended begins to ascend... Read more
What makes John link the Passover prohibition of breaking bones (Exodus 12:46) with the Zechariah 12 prophecy that “they shall look on the one whom they pierced” in John 19:36-37? One of the links is Passover itself. “Not a bone shall be broken” is clearly a Passover text, but so is Zechariah 12, the mourning in each household resembling the mourning of the Egyptians at Passover. John witnesses an event that is already testified by two witnesses, the double witness... Read more
Revelation 1:7 quotes and/or alludes to Daniel 7 and Zechariah 12. The usual interpretive procedure is to move from Daniel and Zechariah, through Matthew 24:30, which quotes both passages, and on to Revelation. Many commentators note in passage that John 19:37 also quotes the same piercing passage from Zechariah 12, but not much is made of it. I suspect that the genealogy should pass through John. Though John does not quote Daniel 7 in John 19, the whole scene is... Read more
A big title for a small post. Revelation 1:4 summarizes Jesus’ work with three phrases: faithful witness, firstborn out of dead, ruler of kings of the earth. That is, He was faithful to death, rose again, and was exalted over all. Now, in the context, Cur Deus Homo ? Assume John’s notion of “witness” from his gospel, with its background in the Isaianic (and generally prophetic) divine lawsuit. Jesus had to die because that was the limit of faithful witness.... Read more
Commenting on the ungrammatical nominative in the phrase “from he who is and was and comes,” Caird says, “God is, so to speak, always in the nominative, always the subject; he always holds the initiative, and things happen because he chooses, not because men force his hand and so put him into the accusative.” Nominative God = Impassibility. Read more
Zechariah 12 begins with a siege of Jerusalem (12:3), but the Lord promises that He will intervene to save Judah and Jerusalem (vv. 6-9). In Zechariah 12:10-13:1: the siege has been lifted, and during this respite, the Lord promises to pour out His Spirit upon the house of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem. The effect of the pouring out of the Spirit is mourning. What instigates the mourning is that they look on “Me,” the Lord, whom they have pierced... Read more
Beale points out that the description of Jesus in Revelation 1:5 is drawn from Psalm 89:27-28, 37. All three phrases – firstborn, ruler of the kings of the earth, faithful witness – are found in the Psalm. One important modification of Psalm 89 is that the Jesus is not just designated as firstborn, but is the firstborn from the dead. Given the roots of this phrase in Psalm 89, this is not just a reference to the resurrection, but a... Read more
Like Paul, John begins his “letter” with a benedictory greeting: Grace and peace. The blessings does not end until verse 8, and it is chiastically structured: A. From Him who is, was, coming B. From seven Spirits C. From Jesus Christ D. Glory to Him C’. Behold, He comes (who? see C: Jesus) B’. Every eye sees, they pierced, they mourn (cf. “spirit” poured out in Zechariah 12:10-14, quoted here) A’. Alpha and Omega; the Is, Was, Coming Read more
Isaiah 8 gives Israel a choice of water. If they don’t want teh gentle waters of Shiloah, He’ll provide other water. Shiloah is the water source for Jerusalem. It was a stream running from outside the city into the city, and it was the source that kept Jerusalem fruitful and alive. Isaiah uses that water source as an image of Yahweh’s provision, of Yahweh Himself. He is the gently flowing waters of Judah, the source that turns Jerusalem into a... Read more
Leithart
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In